Chapter 34 Winona Bishop #3
“You need to take it easy,” Braxton lowers his voice. “It wasn’t a bee sting. Someone shot you with a tranquilizer arrow. It’s sedative, and what they gave you can cause hallucinations and vertigo. We’ve come across it before.”
“Did you see who shot me?”
They nod.
“One of the men who took Reeve,” Braxton forces out. “I followed them with my drone when I saw them approaching. Reeve gave me a signal not to intervene. One took him to the prison, and the other went toward the tower.”
The light blinks, and we snap our heads up in unison. I turn my head to the closed window, darkness encircles the tower, and a hiss grabs my attention.
Mona crawls inside a terrarium behind Mitch.
“She has a tracker,” Braxton explains. “I took her after you left.”
“Were you watching us with your drone?” I raise my brow at him, tilting my head to the side.
“Busted,” Mitch singsongs with a sly smile.
“I swear I didn’t.” Braxton is quick to eliminate my suspicion, but that’s the last thing on my mind right now.
“How long have I been out?” I ask.
“A few hours.”
“We need to go. If one of the men who took him is out there waiting for me, it’s not over. They want to kill or use me no matter what.”
Winona, we have to get you back home,“ Braxton says as he moves closer, looking down at me with pleading eyes. “He did all of this to protect you.”
“I know.” I smile softly, trying to stand up again without falling. “It’s time for me to protect him.”
Braxton’s eyes flick to the laptop screen as it beeps. “The first rescue squad just flew away with the bear. It took them a while to sedate him. Our rescue has just landed on the airfield.”
“It’s your choice,” Mitch says, looking at me. “Make a choice that you can live with.”
Every choice we make has consequences.
Reeve said it countless times.
“I’m going to the prison with or without you. Reeve is not collateral damage. I won’t abandon him to save myself when he needs me the most. He did all of this for me. I have to do this for him. He deserves it.”
“Getting into this prison is suicide,” Mitch clarifies, warning flashes in his pale blue eyes as he steps toward me.
“Then I’m suicidal.” I shrug.
“Me too,” Braxton says, placing his laptop in his backpack.
“Reeve means everything to me. I’m not leaving this forest without him.” I look up at Mitch. His tall, lean frame towers over me. His eyes soften as a grin slowly splits his lips apart.
“You don’t need to convince me. I would do anything for him.”
I mirror his smile. A wave of emotion catches in my throat, and I turn to Braxton just before the tears reach my eyes.
“There has been a reception all along?” I ask.
“A good hacker never reveals his secrets?” his face scrunches up, and his mouth twitches to the side.
A smirk curves my mouth. “Nice try.”
“You really gave it your best,” Mitch chuckles endearingly.
“I sent messages to Reeve with the drone while we stayed in a bunker near the airfield. Last night, we detected suspicious activity on the other side of the forest, so we came here to warn you and offer help, but Reeve told us to stay hidden in your tower before you left this morning.”
“By the way, we didn’t introduce ourselves—”
“I already know you’re Mitch. He said your name at the party.” I point at Braxton, who breaks into a smile.
“Ah, you sold me out, fucker,” he mutters, pressing his hand to his chest.
Reeve was right.
I do like them already.
“We can’t waste more time.” I’m ready to dash downstairs to the basement to grab weapons and ammo, but I stop midway when Braxton’s voice trails behind me.
“I deactivated the bombs for now.”
“Don’t worry, we’ve got the nerd with us.” Mitch offers me a gentle look full of hope and encouragement. “Let’s rescue our princess.”
I nod and rush downstairs.
I’ll be damned if I let them hurt my husband without a fight. This is where it ends. No one hurts what is mine. Not a damn soul. Reeve deserves better than to be sacrificed.
I shove a magazine into my gun and point it at the exit as I hear footsteps down the stairs.
Mitch shows up at the entrance. “Don’t shoot. I come in peace.”
“Come in then.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Are you confident you can do this?” he hesitantly questions. “We can wait until you feel better.”
“And let them hurt him? Absolutely not.” I’m sure my glance comes off murderous because he immediately averts his gaze to the wall.
“Forget I said anything,” he grabs a rifle from the wall, “once we enter the prison. We become part of the game.”
“I memorized the layout inside from Grandma’s blueprints. The only problem is the hundreds of doors inside.”
“They’re tricky,” Mitch adds.
“It’s like an escape room without the mystery, but with more violence.”
“The mystery is how the hell you get out of there.”
“We’ll figure it out once Reeve is okay.”
We both fall silent and keep organizing our weapons. Mitch tells me he’s from New York, and Braxton is from Chicago. They’re both thirty-one and have worked for my grandma for six years as part of the rescue squad.
They bonded over the last four years and stayed glued to each other even when Reeve had to recover after Third Eye beat him.
It still makes my heart ache for not being there for him, but I’m grateful he had them to watch over him.
I rush upstairs, change into my tactical uniform, put on a vest, and run downstairs to clip the radio to my belt.
Braxton takes the second radio.
“If you let anything happen to Reeve, I will rip your hearts out and sacrifice you.” I declare, stopping them both in their tracks.
They lock eyes and exchange a knowing glance.
Mitch raises his hands in the air. “Shoot me with a tranquilizer arrow.”
“I like that idea,” Braxton winks at us.
“See. Is it so hard for you to say something romantic like that?” Mitch starts his nonsense again, and Braxton storms outside, huffing. “He’s so moody all the time.”
“But he likes you, I can tell,” I say, making sure Reeve’s knife is in my pocket.
“Right…?” A candid smile crosses his face.
“Can Braxton handle a gun?” I know he’s the one who stays in the van, according to Reeve’s stories.
Mitch lifts his shoulder and shrugs. “I taught him on the way over. He’s a smart cookie. He’ll figure it out.”
“Are you joking?” I arch my brows.
“I am,” he nods with a wicked smirk. “He is well-trained. My man can handle himself.”
“So now he’s your man?”
“Yeah. He just doesn’t know it yet.”
I laugh at his logic. “Let’s go.”
“Shit,” Braxton comes rushing back inside, slamming the door behind him. “That fucker just shot my drone.”
Of course he did.
“I have an idea,” I say, motioning for them to follow me into the basement.
I do my fridge trick, and we step into the tunnel passage. Mitch grins, cutting a quick glance at Braxton, whose features soften when their eyes meet. Braxton lights the way, using the flashlight on his phone. We hurry to the end and climb up the rusty grab handles.
I yank the handle of the bulkhead door and push it open.
We climb out one by one. I look around and immediately recognize the thick tree trunks a few feet ahead. That’s where they took him.
“Follow me,” Braxton urges, running past us deeper into the dark forest. We follow behind him, passing countless ghostly-looking trees, and he stops when he sees a canopy of trees lined up perfectly beside a tree with yellow leaves.
His eyes narrow.
He crouches to clear a pile of dry leaves from the ground, revealing another secret door like the one we came from.
Mitch offers a hand, and they open it together, letting me go in first.
I carefully step down the ladder into a green, neon-lit room. The walls have a metallic glow. A sign on the wall to my right asks: Are you ready to play? It’s easy to enter but hard to come out. Put your life on the line, and you’ll find out.
Finally.
“Let the games begin,” Mitch says playfully with an amused little smirk, and Braxton sighs as he moves past us.
“Hold that thought,” he says, and Mitch and I snap our heads to the left, where Braxton points. “The games have four colors. Green means you have to become a team player and play with a group of people.” He reads the sign on the wall. “Move to the next gate to find the rest.”
We exchange glances, feeling the tension rise as we approach the gate.
“Just before we walk in, please remember that these people are filled with unleashed rage and psychotic tendencies.”
Braxton and I turn around to give Mitch a look while Mona hisses around Braxton’s neck.
“Okay, Mona, you don’t need to give me attitude.”
This massive underground prison is completely isolated. Security gates block everyone from moving freely through the prison, and on top of that, there are games.
“There are four gates that lead us into The Hall. The Hall is a large corridor that connects to every part of this prison. Some prisoners might be trapped behind certain doors, so pay attention. Weapon rooms are supposed to be in every section, behind each gate.” I fill them in.
“The only way they can be opened is with a key card.”
Braxton pulls out two key cards from his pocket. “Take one.” He hands it to me, and I shove it into my thigh bag. “One more thing.” He shows me the earpiece in the palm of his hand. “You might hear Reeve with this. I gave him a microphone. If he activates it, you’ll hear him.”
I nod as I insert it into my ear.
“The first four gates only open from the outside, so once we go in, we can’t go back,” I say, inching forward.
“Sounds like fun.” Mitch aims his HK UMP 45 at the door. “Come to daddy.”
I reach for the gun in my holster and crack my neck until a muscle pops.
I’m coming for you.