Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer [31]
Root hauled open the first hatch. It swung easily enough. The commander sniffed. The Mud People had greased the hinges with whale blubber. Was there no end to their depravity?
The corridor was steeped in viscous darkness, so Root flicked down his infrared filter. Okay, so sometimes technology did come in handy, but he wouldn’t be telling Foaly that. The maze of pipes and grilling before him was immediately illuminated with an unnatural red light. Minutes later, he was regretting even thinking something nice about the centaur’s technology. The infrared filter was messing with his depth perception and he’d whacked his head on two protruding U-bends so far.
Still no sign of life—human or fairy. Plenty of animal.
Mostly rodents. And when you’re just topping three feet in height yourself, a good-sized rat can be a real threat, especially since rats are one of the few breeds that can see straight through a fairy shield. Root unstrapped his blaster and set it to level three, or medium rare, as the elves in the locker room called it. He sent one of the rats scurrying away with a smoking behind as a warning to the rest. Nothing fatal, just enough to teach him not to look sideways at a fairy in a hurry again.
Root picked up his pace. This place was ideal for an ambush. He was virtually blind with his back to the only exit. A Recon nightmare. If one of his own men had pulled a stunt like this, he’d have their stripes for it. But desperate times required judicious risk-taking. That was the essence of command.
He ignored several doors to either side, following the beacon. Ten feet now. A steel hatch sealed the corridor, and Captain Short, or her corpse, lay on the other side of it.
Root put his shoulder to the door. It swung open without protest. Bad news. If a live creature were being held captive, the hatch would have been locked. The commander flicked the blaster’s power level to five and advanced through the hole. His weapon hummed softly. There was enough power on tap now to vaporize a bull elephant with a single blast.
No sign of Holly. No sign of anything much. He was in a refrigerated storage bay. Glittering stalactites hung from a maze of piping. Root’s breath fanned before him in icy clouds. How would that look to a human? Disembodied breathing.
“Ah,” said a familiar voice. “We have a visitor.”
Root dropped to one knee, leveling the handgun at the voice’s source.
“Come to rescue your missing officer, no doubt.”
The commander blinked a bead of sweat from his eye. Sweat? At this temperature?
“Well, I’m afraid you’ve come to the wrong place.”
The voice was tinny. Artificial. Amplified. Root checked his locator for life signs. There were none. Not in this chamber at any rate. He was being monitored somehow. Was there a camera here somewhere, concealed in the maze of overhead plumbing, that could penetrate the fairy shield?
“Where are you? Show yourself!”
The human chuckled. It echoed unnaturally around the vast hold.
“Oh, no. Not yet, my fairy friend. But soon enough. And believe me, when I do, you’ll wish I hadn’t.”
Root followed the voice. Keep the human talking.
“What do you want?”
“Hmm. What do I want? Again, you will know soon enough.”
There was a low crate in the center of the hold. On it sat an attaché case. The case was open.
“Why bring me here at all?”
Root poked the case with his pistol. Nothing happened.
“I brought you here for a demonstration.”
The commander leaned over the open container. Inside, in snug foam packing, were a flat vacuum-packed package and a triple-band VHF transmitter. Resting on top was Holly’s locator. Root groaned. Holly wouldn’t willingly give up her equipment; no LEP officer would.
“What sort of demonstration, you demented freak?”
Again that cold chuckle.
“A demonstration of my utter commitment to my goals.”
Root should have started to worry about his own health then, but he was too busy worrying about Holly’s.
“If you’ve harmed one tip of my officer’s pointy