Star Wars_ The Dark Lord Trilogy - James Luceno [90]
Lost among countless footprints that covered the floor.
“Unless we can find prints that say otherwise, there’s no guarantee our quarry gained entrance to the sub-basement from Five Hundred Republica itself,” Dyne pronounced, switching his handheld processor to standby mode. “He may have entered from the tunnels that connect to the east or west skydocks.”
“In other words, he could have arrived here from just about anywhere on Coruscant,” Shaak Ti said.
Dyne nodded. “Presumably.”
Mace gazed down the tunnel the team had taken.
“Could we have missed something along the way?”
“The droids wouldn’t.”
Mace gestured to the smudged and stained ferrocrete floor. “Why would the prints suddenly end right here?”
Dyne compressed his lips and shook his head. “Maybe someone carried him here by repulsorlift. Unless you’re suggesting he levitated across the floor.” He thought about it for a long moment, then said: “All right, for the sake of argument, let’s say that he did levitate here.”
“There’ll be prints at his starting point,” Mace said.
Dyne scanned the sub-basement, pursed his lips, and blew out his breath. “We’re going to need a lot more probe droids.”
“How many more?” Mace said.
“A lot.”
“How long to bring them here and search this entire level?”
“With all this machinery, the skydock access tunnels, the waste and supply turbolifts … I couldn’t begin to guess. What’s more, we’re going to need additional security clearance to search the tunnels.”
“You’ll have whatever clearance you need,” Shaak Ti promised.
Mace glanced around. “You’ll have to run imaging scans of the partitions and the exterior walls.”
“That could require several weeks,” Dyne said cautiously.
“Then the sooner we begin, the better.”
Dyne took a comlink from his belt and was about to activate it when the floor began to tremble.
“A quake?” Mace asked Shaak Ti.
She shook her head. “I’m not sure—”
A second jolt shook the sub-basement, strong enough to dust the team with loose ferrocrete from the high ceiling.
“Feels like something rammed the building,” Dyne said.
It wouldn’t be the first time an intoxicated or exhausted driver had veered from one of the free-travel skylanes and plowed into the side of a building, Mace told himself. And yet—
The next shudder was accompanied by the distant sound of a powerful explosion. Lights in the sub-basement faded momentarily, then returned to full illumination, sending the custodial and maintenance droids into frantic activity.
Also at a far remove, klaxons and sirens blared.
“My comlink isn’t working,” Dyne said, jabbing at the device’s frequency search control with his forefinger.
“We’re tiers below midlevel,” Shaak Ti said.
Dyne shook his head. “That shouldn’t matter. Not in here.”
Stretching out with the Force, Mace sensed danger, frenzy, pain, and death. “Where’s the nearest exit?”
Dyne pointed to his left. “The tunnel to the east skydock.”
Mace’s thoughts swirled. He turned to Valiant. “Commander, Shaak Ti and I will need half your squad. You and the rest of your team will assist Captain Dyne with the search. Keep me informed of your progress.”
“What about me, sir?”
Mace looked at TC-16, then at Dyne. “The droid stays with you.”
Flanked by commandos, Mace and Shaak Ti raced off. The tunnel to the east skydock shook as they hurried through mixed-species crowds of frightened pedestrians heading toward and away from 500 Republica. Ahead of them loomed a square of dim sunlight, almost aquatic in quality, typical of the lower reaches of Coruscant’s urban canyons.
On the huge quadrangular skydock, humans, humanoids, and aliens were crouched behind parked limos, taxis, and private yachts, or hurrying for the entrance to the upper-level mag-lev platform. Shouts and screams punctuated the drone of overhead traffic. Panic gripped the free-travel skylanes. Taxis and transports were swerving