Before going anywhere else, the group stops to pick up Rainer. They’re in a small room nearly identical to the one Austin was in, handcuffed to a chair like Austin was, but they’re conscious, and don’t look too worse for wear. It seems like Finn wasn’t lying about not wanting to mess with them. Austin doesn’t blame him. Most vampires can put people in a thrall, sometimes using only their voice, and implant suggestions in their minds. Rainer could have made Finn let them go as soon as he’d started interrogating them. If he’d let slip that his arm had a gun in it, they could even have started convincing him to shoot himself.
“What’s going on?” Rainer asks, as soon as they’re free from the chair, standing and grimacing slightly as they rub their wrists.
“Agent Warcrest, meet Finn O’Toole, head of the Underground. Finn, meet Agent Warcrest, my handler.” Dallas facilitates the introductions, smiling brightly. “Finn’s helping us with the investigation, on account of how much he likes the Department President.”
Rainer looks at Finn, furrowing their eyebrows. “I thought -”
“We should save the questions for the people we’re here to question,” Austin says quickly, glancing sidelong at Finn and Dallas. He doesn’t want to compromise what might be their only chance at either catching Abbott, or getting valuable information about where else Abbott could be hiding out. And if they ask the wrong questions, Finn might decide very fast that they’ve overstayed their welcome.
Dallas laughs as they file out of Rainer’s room, tousling Austin’s hair. “This one gets it. You know what they say about curiosity and the cat, Agent Warcrest.”
Satisfaction brought it back, Austin thinks, but doesn’t say.
“Well,” Rainer says, sounding defeated, “where are we going, anyway?”
“The labs,” Finn says. “All the science-y people down here have set up shop in what was left of the DPR compound. If you’re looking for someone who worked with Abbott way back when, you’d probably find ‘em there.”
“How many people who worked for him are still down here?” Austin asks.
“More than you’d think,” Dallas says, falling into step beside him. “After the cave-in, Abbott was convinced the DPR would find us and start making arrests, and he made a run for it. The rest of us stayed back and tried to find a way to get to the rest of the folks on the other side of the rubble.”
“Did you?” Austin looks up at Dallas, who nods.
“We wanted to dig through, but we were afraid it’d make even more of the place collapse, so we started looking for other passageways, and above-ground entrances. We found out this place was a lot bigger than just labs - there was some kind of earthquake ages ago that made a bunch of buildings sink underground, and they were just built over. So there’s all kinds of things down here. We found a bunch of ways in and out of the place, too. Seems like it was used for all kinds of other stuff before the DPR started turning it into labs.”
Huh, Austin thinks, and makes a mental note to ask Richard about the tunnel system later, or look it up in the DPR records. It’s hard to think of what it would have been used for, other than crime - running contraband or something.
“Anyway,” Dallas goes on, as the group turns down another hallway, “we never were able to track down the other Project Circe folks. It was like they just up and disappeared.”
“Maybe they found their way out before you got there,” Rainer offers optimistically.
“Maybe,” Dallas agrees. “Or they got so lost that we couldn’t find them. Anyway, I’m going to go look for Nat. I’ll catch up with you all.”
He starts to break off from the group, to head down a side tunnel, but Rainer grabs his arm. They have a wry expression on their face - one that says Dallas has tried to do this before, that they know what his game is. Austin pauses to watch, and even Finn stops in his tracks, glancing over his shoulder to see what the matter is.
“Uh-uh,” Rainer says. “You don’t go anywhere without a handler, remember?”
“Ah, yes, how could I have forgotten my autonomy being a privilege.” Dallas smiles, as if he’s made a joke. “How about you come with me, then, Agent Warcrest? I’ll introduce you to Nat - Dr. Buranek. She taught me just about everything I know, and she worked pretty closely with Abbott. I’m sure she could point us in the direction he might have run off to.”
There’s no trace of malice in his tone - it seems entirely earnest, though it’s hard to think too much of the earnestness of someone who just had a friend hold him at gunpoint for a prank. Rainer casts a look back at Austin. Austin’s teeth worry at his bottom lip. There’s a chance he’s leading Rainer into a trap. Who knows how long we were knocked out - he could have had hours to make a plan with people. But we don’t know for sure that Dallas was lying about people disliking him for selling out to the DPR. Sure, Finn trusts him, but other people around here? Maybe not so much. And Rainer…well, they must be able to hold their own, if they’re his handler. If all else fails, they can mind control him back to us.
“How do you know this Nat person isn’t in the labs?” Austin asks, testing the waters.
“Well, if she’s there, then you’ll find her first. But she’s a mortician by trade, and there aren’t many dead bodies to speak of down here. Most people do us the courtesy of dumping them in the lake.” Dallas laughs. “Agent Warcrest and I will check out her room, and if we don’t find her, we can catch up with you at the labs.”
“Yeah,” Austin says finally, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Okay. If you’re so sure she won’t be in the labs, then you go and look for her.”
“And no distractions,” Rainer tells Dallas, as the two break away from Austin and Finn, heading down the side tunnel. Dallas laughs again, and says something else, but Austin’s already tuned the two of them out, refocusing on Finn now that the two of them are alone.
“When did you promise Jacob you would help catch Abbott?” he asks.
Finn smirks, starting to walk again. He’s slower than he was before, consciously keeping pace with Austin.
“I visited him in the hospital,” he says. “Brought him flowers. I think I was the first one - he didn’t have a guard outside or anything.”
Austin nods. He wants to ask more, ask how the hell Jacob and Finn met, and why Jacob neglected to mention being friends with the head of the Underground, but that’s all information he can squeeze out of Jacob later, in the hospital room or at home. It’s probably more important to focus on the task at hand.
Not too far ahead of them, half of the hallway opens up into a large, doorless entryway to a room roughly the size of the cubicle-filled floor of the DPR. In strong contrast to the dingy, tunnel-like hallways, the room is bright, with white walls, and a white linoleum floor. It’s lit by strong fluorescent lights, and has a sterile smell that makes Austin wrinkle his nose. Empty hospital beds, and a few gurneys, are stationed around the edges of the room, as well as some spaces with privacy curtains drawn around them. The center is filled with lab benches, stations with sinks, and cabinets that Austin would guess are filled with medical supplies. On the back wall are several doors, each with a small sign plastered to it featuring a last name: FONTAINE, AUSTERLITZ, CAMPBELL-MYSZKOWSKI, EBERHARDT.
“That one used to be Dallas’s,” Finn says, pointing at the CAMPBELL-MYSZKOWSKI door as he catches Austin looking. “There’s been a big to-do about it since he left. Some of the people working in the smaller labs want their own office so they can have a bit more elbow room.”
“They’ll have to break in,” a deep, amused voice says, from behind Finn and Austin. “I heard he locked it and took the key with him.”
Austin turns, finding himself face-to-face with a man just slightly taller than himself, with dark red hair sticking out at a wild, seemingly random angle. His face is speckled with stubble, and his right eye has a circle underneath of it so dark that it nearly looks like a bruise. His other eye is covered by a simple, black eye patch.
“Hey,” Finn says cheerfully, “just who I was looking for. You don’t have any important engagements today, do you?”
“Me? No.” The man smiles. It’s vaguely warm, but something in his eyes and posture is uncomfortable. Anxious, almost. “What do you need?”
“Just to ask some questions about your previous employment.” Finn glances around the room for a moment, and lowers his voice. “Abbott stabbed the President of the DPR, and now he’s on the run. Austin here,” he gestures at Austin, “is leading the manhunt.”
“Ah.” The man looks towards Austin. “Well, I suppose I’d better introduce myself.”
He glances at the palm of his hand for a moment, and wipes it on his jeans before offering it to Austin, who takes it tentatively.
“I’m Fritz Eberhardt,” the man says, and shakes Austin’s hand precisely once before dropping it. He smiles strangely again, his eyes flicking towards the floor. “I was the head doctor for Abbott’s drug trial. I think the two of you should probably step into my office.”
“Suppose we’d better,” Finn says.