Chapter 35 #2
“What the fuck?” Jasper growls, eyes blazing. “Who disclosed this location?”
“Nobody on our end. We didn’t even know this warehouse existed until we got on the plane today, remember?”
I can see Jasper’s temper stirring like a hurricane about to make landfall.
He grabs the tablet and slides it into a black bag, then spins toward a cabinet, scanning his thumb.
A second later, he starts shoving items into the bag.
Comms, guns, credit sticks. When he passes the desk, he pops the data stick out of the base of the holoscreen, then shoves the holo onto the floor.
It crashes near my feet, the greenish glow crackling before fading into nothing.
“They’re in my sights now,” Orin reports. “Ev’s right.”
“Abort,” Gray tells the snipers. “Get in the truck and head for Bramble.”
“What about you?” demands Evlynne.
“We’ll be right behind you.”
“No, you’re with me,” Jasper commands. “We’ve got contingency plans for this. Let’s go.”
He’s gone before we can respond. After a beat, Gray nods and we tear after him, racing down the rows of contraband toward another unmarked door. Jasper pushes it open, and we burst into a dank, narrow alleyway.
“Ev, you out?” Gray asks.
“En route to Bramble.”
“We’re with Reed. We’ll check in when we get somewhere safe.”
I hear it now—the distant roar of engines. I raise my rifle, while Xavier snaps up his handgun. We move in sync, scanning the shadows for signs of danger.
“This way,” Jasper says, looking over his shoulder.
We round the side of the warehouse toward a small lot in the back, where we find a heavily armored black van. Jasper taps the device in his hand and the van’s side door slides open. Beside it is a motorcycle, which Shamus and his big bushy beard waste no time climbing on.
Jasper addresses his man. “Wait until they’re inside to light it up.” At us, he barks, “Get in the van.”
We don’t hesitate. Xavier and I dive into the back. Gray hops into the passenger side. As Jasper gets behind the wheel, he suddenly narrows his eyes on Xavier.
“Get rid of the tracker,” he tells Gray.
“It’s an encrypted signal—”
“Get rid of it,” Jasper repeats, his tone inviting no argument. “Can’t risk it where we’re going.”
Although he doesn’t look happy about it, Gray twists in his seat and presses the pad of his finger against Xavier’s wrist. The black band releases with a snap, and Xavier groans with relief as he flexes his wrist and forearm.
“Toss it to Shamus,” Jasper says, hitting a button to lower the window. “Along with all your tech. He’ll destroy it.”
Once Jasper is satisfied that we can’t be traced, the engine rumbles to life, and the van lurches forward.
A second later, we’re racing down the alleyway at breakneck speed.
Tires screeching, the scent of burning rubber filling my nostrils.
The vehicle lifts up on two of its wheels as Jasper cuts a tight turn toward a narrow industrial road, and either I’m imagining it or we’re heading back the way we came.
“Isn’t that where the convoy will be?” I demand.
Jasper offers a glib response. “We might cross paths.”
We might cross paths? How is he so calm about that? We tear down the road and turn another corner—just in time to see the headlights of the convoy coming from the left.
“Hold on,” Jasper says. He looks like he’s enjoying himself.
There aren’t any seats in the back. All I can do is grip the side wall and a piece of metal as the van careens to the left, directly into the path of the convoy.
If we weren’t being so obvious in our escape, they might have let us drive past them without notice.
And for a moment, I think we’ve actually done it.
Until I see one of the trucks suddenly cut away, making a tight turn.
The next thing I know, they’re on our tail.
Jasper twists around to grin at us, flashing a set of perfect white teeth. “All right. Now really hold on.”
He takes a wild turn that sends our rear tires into a fishtail, then slams on the accelerator and the van shoots forward like a bullet from a gun, throwing me across the back directly into Xavier’s lap. He catches me before I slam into the doors, holding me in place.
“You okay?”
“Keen,” I huff.
“Told you to hold on,” Jasper says, cackling to himself.
The scent of rubber continues to burn my nose as we skid again and fly into another alley. Jasper’s laughter has a maniacal edge to it.
“Stop taking turns like that, you godfucking psycho,” Gray growls at him.
“Why should I? This is fun.”
I hear more tires screech, not ours. It’s the Command truck in pursuit of us. I peer past Gray’s shoulders toward the windshield, my heart stopping when I notice a narrow gap in the distance between two factories. I don’t think it’s meant for vehicles, but Jasper is driving directly toward it.
“We won’t fit,” Gray warns.
“We’ll fit.”
I brace myself against the back of Jasper’s seat. Xavier does the same. We both anticipate smashing into that wall, or—if we do manage to make it through the gap—getting stuck in there like lambs for the slaughter.
Jasper hits the gas harder. The tires slide for a moment against the asphalt, but we stay on course. In the mirror I see the headlights of the Command truck, and suddenly the loud report of gunfire rises over my thundering heartbeat. They’re shooting at us with heavy-duty artillery.
“Down,” Jasper orders.
Xavier and I flatten ourselves onto the floor of the van.
“Not going to make it through that,” Gray is shouting.
“Would you stop being such a pussy?” Jasper says, hooting happily as he drives directly through the gap.
I hold my breath waiting for the crunch. The jolt, the explosion as our gas tank is ignited. But all that happens is an earsplitting shriek of metal against both sides of the van as it scrapes down the alleyway. We actually made it through.
An explosion booms in the night.
“Shamus detonated the warehouse,” Jasper says, nodding in approval. “Command must have just breached it.”
“What about the truck behind us?” I ask.
“They’re going to reroute, try to catch us somewhere else. It’ll be too late, though,” he says, and we speed away into the dark night.
We’ve been driving for nearly thirty minutes before Jasper abruptly veers off the paved road in Ward E and onto a narrow dirt path leading into the woods.
Almost immediately, the moon disappears.
With our headlights off, that moon was guiding our path.
Now it’s pitch black, and I’m reminded of flying with Gray in that black void and landing with a prayer.
The trees are so thick that it feels like the forest is closing in around us.
The only light comes from the glow of the dashboard, the only sounds the hum of the engine and the ground crunching beneath our tires.
“Where are we going?” I ask Jasper.
His gaze remains on the windshield. He’s not scanning the landscape, trying to figure out where he is, which tells me he’s made this drive many times before.
“Somewhere safe,” is his response. “Don’t worry, they’re expecting us.”
That raises my hackles. Who’s they and how are they expecting us?
He drives deeper into the wilderness. Like me, Xavier squints out the window trying to make out anything in the darkness. All I can see are silhouettes of trees stretching endlessly into the night.
Gray turns from the passenger seat. “Are you okay?”
He’s looking at me, but Xavier responds before I can. “I am, thanks for asking.”
A flash of light suddenly illuminates the car. Jasper flicked the headlights on. At first, I still see nothing but trees and shadows, but then the pale beams catch a shape, and I suck in a breath.
A massive rock formation looms up ahead, what appears to be a wall of stone directly in the middle of the forest.
Once again, I glimpse only a slight gap. And once again, Jasper doesn’t hesitate before driving straight toward it.
I brace myself, genuinely afraid we’re about to crash into a small mountain, but then the opening widens, and I realize we’re driving into a hidden tunnel.
“Fucking hell. Is this Kitty’s camp?” Gray asks.
Jasper doesn’t answer.
I peer out the window. “Who’s Kitty?”
“She leads one of the Faithful camps,” Gray says. “We heard murmurings about a tunnel system that takes you to it, but this is the first I’ve ever seen it.”
The headlights catch on the wall, which appears to be a combination of stone and rusted metal.
This tunnel must’ve been sitting here for a long time.
I don’t know what the original purpose of the infrastructure was, but it’s clearly being used for something entirely different now.
And it’s long; we drive for several minutes before reaching the end.
Finally, we emerge into more darkness and more trees. I glimpse the outlines of thick trunks and long, twisted branches.
The van comes to a stop. Jasper cuts the engine and flings the door open. “Let’s go.”
I expect my boots to collide with earth and overgrowth, but it’s gravel. Matching Jasper’s brisk pace, we follow him down another path. We turn a corner past another small rock formation, and my eyes widen in shock.
Up ahead, hidden beneath the canopy of trees, is what appears to be an entire community.
At the end of the path stands a sprawling log cabin, its windows glowing from the soft lights inside and a thin puff of steam rising from a brick chimney.
Beyond the main cabin are other smaller ones scattered among the trees.
Most are made of wood or stone, with small porches lit by weak lantern light.
In the distance, I hear voices, laughter…
music. Somebody is playing music nearby.
I squint in that direction and catch glimpses of firelight.
When I inhale, the smell of smoke and pine fills my nostrils.
“What is this?” Xavier says, sounding as shocked as I feel. “None of our intel ever revealed a permanent settlement this close to the city. In the lawless lands, maybe, but not in the wards. What the hell is this place?”
Jasper grins at us. “Welcome to the Hollow.”