Brutus (Iron Battalion MC #6)

Prologue

brUTUS

Hours Ago

“This is a good spot for one. Scout, hold this shit.”

“Ranger, stay careful. We can’t make it look like anyone was in here. No breaking shit.”

“Ghost. With me. Let’s take a look over here.”

“Hey, take a microphone with you. The darker rooms at least need mics.”

Dank. That was what the damn place smelled like.

Death and dank. I scanned my eyes along the walls, taking in the water stains they had hastily painted over in that fucking place.

The ceiling sagged in a couple of areas, and it made me want to get on the roof to figure out what in the fuck was going on with it.

I resisted the urge to slip outside while everyone was mucking shit up inside.

“Stay quiet.”

“Keep your steps light.”

“Hey, Brutus.”

I turned at the sound of my president’s voice. “Yeah, Cap?”

He tossed me a camera and a microphone. “Let me know where you set them up. Ranger will come around and hook them up.”

I nodded as I slid the small little contraptions into my pants pocket.

They felt like little dice I tried not to crush against the outside of my thigh.

I saw Doc slip down a hallway with a look of determination on his face.

That was never good. I looked around and saw the rest of the crew was busy, so I slipped silently down the hallway into the darkness that Doc took up.

I followed his slow footsteps, wondering what was on his mind.

He’d been distracted these last few days.

Hell, they’d all been distracted.

Fucking women.

Not that the women weren’t lovely. Though, Anna could kick fucking rocks with that pickle shit. I saw her eating pickled onions the other day.

The girl probably blew up bathrooms wherever she went.

“Oh God,” Doc muttered as I watched his arm fly up to his face from the darkness of the hallway. He reached for a doorknob. “Please be wrong. Please be wrong. Please be wrong. Please be wrong.”

Doc was never wrong, though.

And it didn’t take a genius to figure out what the fuck was behind that door when he cracked it.

The stench alone could’ve downed an elephant.

“Gooddamn it, Brutus!”

My head pivoted quickly the instant I heard my president calling for me. But before I could even call out, Doc heaved.

I’d never heard Doc make a sound like that before.

A fly slipped through the crack of the door he reached for and opened, and I jammed my hand into the pocket of my pants. Whatever the fuck was in that room, we needed eyes on it.

“Ghooooooost!” Doc exclaimed over the arm that covered his face. “Ranger! I need a fucking camera over here! The best you’ve fucking got!”

I ignored my captain calling for me and stepped up to Doc’s side. “Here.”

He jumped before whipping around to face me. “What?”

I furrowed my brow.

I’d never seen Doc jumpy like that.

I pulled my hand out of my pocket and unfurled it, showcasing the little camera and microphone. “Here.”

Doc’s eyes darted to my face before he sighed and took them. “Thanks. Any idea how to hook them up.”

“Brutus, goddamn it, where the fuck are you!?” Cap exclaimed as he marched toward us.

I turned toward the sound and watched him round the corner.

“Boss,” I said with a nod of my head. I thumbed over my shoulder. “Doc found a space for that camera I got handed. Still looking for a mic perch, though.”

Cap’s eyes darted to Doc behind me. “You good?”

I peered over my shoulder and saw Doc a little paler than normal. I lowered my voice. “You need anything?”

His gaze flickered to me before he shook his head. He looked back at Cap. “We’re good here. If you need Brutus.”

Doc shooed his hand away before I watched him lean against the door he just opened. A quick flick of my gaze showed me one of the dead women whose stench crept through the door. I heard Cap start down the hallway, grumbling to himself about the smell. But when he got to where we were, he froze.

He stared.

For a long time, actually.

“Doc,” Cap said.

“Yeah?” Doc asked.

Cap patted his back. “Brutus, stay with Doc and help him with that camera, then come find me. Ranger needs your help placing a mic.”

I nodded as I handed him the microphone in my hand. “You find a place for that one then, so I don’t forget about it.”

Cap nodded and took the small device from my palm. “Done. Come find me when you have that camera mounted. Ranger’s testing everything before we head out.”

“How long ‘til we head out?” Doc asked as he stepped over the first body that blocked the door.

“No more than twenty. I’ll give shout-out countdowns, provided the space is still cleared by then,” Cap said.

I just tapped my ear and gave him a thumbs up to let him know that I had heard him.

Ever smelled a dead body? Yeah, it wasn’t a smell anyone ever got used to.

I saw a lot of carnage during my days as a senior pilot in the Air Force.

I know, I know. Doesn’t sound like a job that’s full of carnage, but you’d be surprised what you see from the sky when you’re dropping bombs and bullets alike.

The stench of death wasn’t something that was easily wiped from olfactory memories.

“Good God,” Doc muttered as he looked around. “There has to be at least ten of them.”

I refused to count the bodies.

I stopped counting the dead a long time ago.

I pointed to a darkened perch in the corner. “There.”

“What?” Doc asked.

I pointed to the corner. “We should put the camera there. Won’t catch the light, even with the door open.”

Doc looked back at the door before he reached for it. He pulled it open a bit more before the door got snagged in one of the women’s hair.

Doc froze.

“Here, I got it,” I muttered.

I walked over the bodies and bent down, unraveling the knotted blonde hair from the corner of the door. But when I stood, I found Doc staring at the knotted chunk of blonde hair that wasn’t attached to any sort of head.

“Hey,” I said.

He drew in a quick breath and his eyes snapped to me. “What?”

I knew what he was thinking. “It’s not Liz.”

He nodded and cleared his throat. “Right, right.”

One by one, I watched all of my brothers—well, most of them, anyway—fall in love with the women that were cordoned with us because of this shitstorm swirling all around us.

Seeing Doc trip up over himself was something else, though.

He was always put together. Always had an answer.

Always had a different way of looking at things.

And, most importantly, he always had a smile for someone.

I always admired him for that, though I’d never tell his ass that in a million fucking years.

There were no smiles to go around, though.

Not with death surrounding us.

“You need help?” I asked as I watched him make a break for that dark corner.

“You’re right about the light,” is all he said as I watched him study the corner.

I waited around for a few moments until I knew he’d be able to mount the camera himself. And then, I slipped silently out the door. I could only take the smell of death for so long before it threatened to turn my stomach inside out.

I wish I brought some of that mint shit Doc used sometimes.

Right under the fucking nose.

“Fifteen minutes!” Cap barked out. “And no turning on any lights! Use your damn flashlights! We don’t know what’s being tracked!”

I made my way further down the hallway, grabbing doorknobs and jiggling them to see if I could open them. Most of the doors opened just fine, but there wasn’t much in them. My hand slid to the flashlight on my belt and I pulled it out, clicking it on so that I could sweep them across the rooms.

There was a lot of blood on the walls of these rooms.

I clenched my jaw as I continued exploring.

I kept one ear to the ground, in case the assholes that ran this place decided to head back earlier than we figured they would.

But the motorcycles that King’s crew were on should keep them entertained, at least until we could vacate the fucking place.

With every window I came across, I clicked off my flashlight and peered outside.

I looked for any signs of movement. Any signs of shadows.

Any signs pointing to the fact that the assholes we lured out had come back.

Until I came across something weird as hell.

“What the fuck?” I asked.

I clicked on my flashlight and shined it onto the floor.

I noticed scuff marks on the carpet. I furrowed my brow as I bent down and ran my fingers through it.

Nope, not ash. And it wasn’t dirt that came up easily.

Some of the dirt was sharp, like particle board.

Okay, maybe not sharp, but it definitely wasn’t dirt.

It almost reminded me of those cheap-ass doors and how they shed unless they were on a smooth, solid floor.

But when I looked around, all I saw were a couple of the hallways’ doors that opened onto the inside of the respective room.

And there certainly wasn’t a door in front of me swinging open.

The hallway was a dead fucking end.

“Huh,” I muttered as I stood to my feet.

One of my knees creaked as the other popped.

“Getting old,” I muttered to myself as I swept the flashlight around.

But then, I heard it.

At least, I thought I heard it.

A gasp.

I froze. And when I didn’t hear anything, I closed my eyes.

Surely, my brain wasn’t conjuring shit up like that.

I placed my arm over my mouth to breathe in something that wasn’t the air in this fucking house.

Had the fumes of the dead gone to my head?

The only sound I heard for the longest time was the raging beat of my own heart in my ears.

I closed my eyes to give myself a moment to focus better.

But when I didn’t hear anything else, I turned and headed back down the hallway.

Until I heard another noise.

A noise so unmistakable that it made me whirl around in my fucking spot.

A whimper.

I heard a fucking whimper.

“I hear you,” I said as I clicked on the flashlight. “Who’s there?”