Aleiagha, Shadick, and Zack stood in the doorway of the tunnel's makeshift prison cell, peering in at the empty bed. There was a mixture of emotions: anger, shock, and disbelief. Kaul had vanished, and they had no idea how he did it.

"How the hell can he be gone?" Aleigha hissed, rushing into the room. Her face was pale with anger. She felt the bed with her hands to make sure he wasn't wearing a cloaking shield. The bed was empty; the chains were scattered on the floor around the bed. "How the fuck did he escape. I knew it. There really were militia members down here in the tunnels. He was sedated. How could he have escaped on his own!"

Aleigha paced the small room in anger. She had a feeling earlier that there was someone down there with them. She should have gone back out into the tunnel and investigated. If she had, Medic Kaul might not have disappeared.

Shadick moved into the room, feeling the bed for himself, then walked the entire area of the room, feeling for a cloaked body. There wasn't any. "I don't know how they could have gotten him without someone knowing. Are all the cloaking shields accounted for?" Shadick asked, directing his question to Aleigha.

"Guard Commander Drevick has all twenty of them for moving people down here. Mine is accounted for. I don't know if Jada's are," Aleigha told him.

"All of mine are accounted for, too," Jada said from behind them. Her eyes were scanning the room. Her jaw clenched in anger.

Everyone turned to look at Jada. "You were the last person in this room. You were watching Kaul until Aleigha showed up." Shadick told her.

Jada flinched at the accusation. "It was taking a while longer than her shift, so I went to find her. I saw her asleep on the bed, so I went to the bathroom. When I got out, you were all in here looking at an empty bed," Jada explained. She folded her arms across her chest, waiting for someone to challenge her words.

"So, in the time it took you to come get Aleigha and use the facilities, someone came in here and took Kaul?" Zack stated evenly. "Someone is down here with us that shouldn't be. They are probably watching us. Guard Commander Drevick and Council Leader Vorik need to know. We need to lock down the tunnels."

Shadick and Zack rushed to the tunnel entrance. "Someone needs to stand guard. If this door even opens slightly, we detain whoever it is. Even if it turns out to be Guard Commander Drevick or Council Leader Vorik. We detain first and explain later. I'm pretty sure both will understand," Shadick explained as he pulled out his comm link. "Sir, we have a situation. We need to lock down the tunnels."

Moments later, Council Leader Vorik's voice came over the small device. "We are on our way."

Shadick turned to the watching group, scanning them before speaking into the comm link. "Prepare to be detained. We need to detain anyone who enters the door of the tunnels until we know who it is," Shadick warned. He was worried that someone would sneak through using a cloaking shield and escape the tunnel, or somehow sneak in.

"Understood. I believe your precaution is justified. There will be two of us. The door will slide open only wide enough for one to enter at a time. When it opens, feel for us. If you get more than two bodies, there is a problem," Council Leader Vorik stated. There was a hint of panic in his tone. Shadick knew he was worried about his mate being stuck in the tunnels, not even knowing why or what the danger was. If someone were down in the tunnels with them, everyone hiding in the hidden city would be in danger.

"Yes, Sir," Shadick responded.

Shadick and Zack positioned themselves, touching the tunnel entrance door, waiting for it to open. They made sure their bodies were in the way. In order to get through the door, in or out, they needed to move for anyone to be able to pass. It was a precaution so that no one could sneak past them.

Aleigha went to get Nikie. They left the two sleeping infants with Carrie, thankful that she was willing to babysit while they tried to resolve the situation.

The sisters each had their bladed staffs extended. Starting from the door, they positioned themselves next to each other, making sure there was no room for anyone to pass them. The blades of their staffs were only centimeters away from the tunnel wall.

Swinging their blades in a figure-eight motion at a rapid speed that made it so you couldn't even see the blades, they quickly walked the corridors. If their staff hit something cloaked, they would be dead. The purpose was to clean out the tunnels if someone had gotten hold of a cloaking device and hid in the tunnels with those who were hiding. They were walking fast enough that if someone ran from them while cloaked, their footfalls would be heard. The sound would bounce off the tunnel walls and echo through the tunnels.

Niki and Aleigha followed the tunnels all the way to the end of each one. There appeared to be no one hiding in the corridors. Their razor-sharp blades hit nothing but air. They did the same thing on the way back as a precaution.

Behind them, the tunnel door opened. Shadick and Zack turned to the open door and felt for bodies. There were only two. When the door slid shut again, Council Leader Vorik and Guard Commander Drevick appeared as they deactivated their cloaking shields to reveal themselves.

Council Leader Vorik was the first to speak. "What's going on? What happened?" he asked, looking to Shadick, then Zack. His jaw was clenched as he braced for the answer. He knew with the sudden extra precaution that whatever it was, it was bad.

Shadick folded his arms across his chest. "Either Medic Kaul found a way to escape, or someone from his militia is down here with us. He's gone. He was sedated, so it is unlikely that he escaped on his own. That means that someone got him out."

Guard Commander Drevick immediately rushed off toward the makeshift prison cell. When he entered the room, he scanned the small room, then the bed.

Pulling the bag of cloaking disks from a pouch hooked to his belt, he counted. "These are all accounted for."

"I have mine, too," Aleigha stated. Her voice was even. She didn't like that Kaul had escaped.

Jada watched, not saying anything. Aleigha knew about her having a stash of cloaking shields, but didn't want to advertise that she had them if no one else knew about them. Aleigha felt that she wouldn't have given any out freely.

"We need to find him," Council Leader Vorik growled. "I should have killed him when we had the chance. Now, it's probably too late. He's going to recruit more minions, making this militia never-ending. It will never be safe."

Niki spoke up. "Is there any chance he might have left the tunnels?" she asked. "The guards don't acknowledge when someone comes or goes. All he would have had to do was just leave. You guys don't speak to the guards when you leave, only when you enter," she pointed out.

Council Leader Vorik couldn't help it. He growled in agitation. "If he's inside the tunnels, we need to find him. If he's inside the dome, we need to scour the city to find him. We can't open up communications with the other domes or the fleets until we find him."

"So we interrogate the rest of the population," Guard Commander Drevick stated, coming out of the makeshift cell. "We need to find him," he stated evenly; his features were hard. "We need to find him now."

Aleigha turned to Niki. "Did anything unusual happen when I took a nap?" She asked.

Niki shook her head. "Nothing. Nothing at all." She said quietly. She looked like she was thinking, trying to come up with something.

Aleigha turned to Jada. "Did you notice anything strange, anything unusual?"

Jada shook her head but didn't say anything. She looked like she was in deep thought.

Niki watched her. "Jada, I know you are upset about him disappearing. We'll find him. He's yours to kill."

Jada relaxed. "He's mine to kill. When he's found. I get to kill him immediately," she shot out. She looked around the room before she wrapped her arms around herself. She looked upset, yet somehow undecided.

Council Leader Vorik nodded. "Agreed." Looking at guard Commander Drevick, he said, "We begin a sweep of the dome first thing. We've been literally battling all night. We need rest. I can't think while I'm this exhausted."

Guard Commander Drevick nodded. "I agree. We make mistakes when we are this exhausted. We need to get some rest before we do anything else.

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