Chapter Twenty-Six
We split up once we entered Seattle.
Mina, Leon, and I veered left while Dontell and Cain continued straight.
My stomach was in knots, my fingers flexing on the steering wheel of the Fairlady. She was a sweet ride, but nothing like my car. I was anxious, shocked that I hadn’t had any flashbacks to my wreck during this drive.
Then again, I wasn’t racing into hell. I was cruising into it with my family.
There’s a difference in that.
“Clover,” Cain’s voice filled my ear. Even though everyone else could hear him, I couldn’t help but whisper his name in return.
“You sticking close to Lee, baby?” he asked, his engine humming in the background. “You’re falling behind.”
My brows pinched together. How in the hell did he know that?
He was on the other side of downtown. Before I could assess that further, Leon’s voice cut through my thoughts.
“She’s good, Cain. We’re coming up to the parking garage.”
“Right behind you, Nikki,” Mina said. I looked in the rearview mirror to see her waving her fingers at me.
I nodded to myself and focused back on Leon, who was a few hundred feet in front of me. My foot pressed hard on the gas as I closed the distance between us before we came to stop at the red light. Leaning forward, I squinted, peering up at the multi-story parking garage at the end of the block.
The entrance to Devils Den was half a mile north of the parking garage—underground. The tunnel opening was in the basement of the garage, and according to Agent Garner and Cain, anyone could walk in. Anyone—and I mean anyone—could stumble upon that tunnel and never see the light of day again.
There was definitely a correlation between Devils Den and the staggering number of missing persons cases in and around this area.
“Nikki, park on the top level. Sis, you”re on the one below that,” Leon ordered. “I’ll meet you at on the first floor.”
Knives gathered in my throat, and as we waited for the light to turn green, I blindly felt for the gun Cain had given me strapped to my pants, then for the multiple knives Mina and Dontell had given me. I was armed. I was protected. I would be okay.
I would be okay.
Cain would be okay.
Everyone would be okay.
I chanted under my breath as the three of us crawled through the intersection, switched lanes, and turned right into the parking garage. Leon peeled off to the right, and then I went left, Mina trailing me. She parked on the second to top level as instructed while I continued to the top. Once there, the rain still pelting down, I parked and pressed my finger to the earpiece. Something buzzed in my ear and I winced.
“Fuck,” I groaned, jerking my head to the side.
“Should”ve mentioned this on the plane,” Agent Garner’s voice came into my now-ringing ear, “You don’t have to touch it, just say what you want to say.”
“Can you hear everything going on around me?” I asked.
“No,” Collin’s voice sounded. “The technology was designed to pick up your voice and the voices around you. Nothing more.”
I nodded again.
I pressed my hands into my eyes as my head fell back against the seat. “Cool. Thanks,” I said. “I’m about to say some mushy shit to my man, so if everyone could just shut up for a sec, that’d be great,” I continued, my voice shaking.
“Nik,” Cain said, his voice soft.
I dropped my hands, staring out into the rain as I tried to stop my lip from trembling. “I love you,” I whispered.
“Know that, beautiful,” he murmured.
I huffed a laugh, looking down at my lap. “Say it back, you doofus.”
He chuckled. “I love you, Nik.”
“I love you, Donnie,” Mina chimed in, her voice smooth and quiet.
“Jazzy girl,” he replied.
“Look, I already called Amara earlier. Do me a favor and wrap up the mushy shit?” Leon sighed.
“Right,” I muttered before taking a deep breath. “I’m on my way.”
A few seconds later, I was out of the car, pulling my hood over my head and walking down into the garage, dropping the keys into the pocket by my calf. Mina was leaning against her car dressed in black leggings, kickass combat boots similar to mine, and an over-sized black hoodie. She was checking her gun, and when her eyes landed on me, she shoved into the holder by her hip before pulling her hoodie down over it.
Her eyes met mine. “You ready for this?”
Before we’d exited the plane, we went over the plan again. Leon would take Mina and me underground with the impression of selling us and once we were inside, we’d split up. I was prepared for everything else aside from the splitting up. I wasn’t going to pretend like I wasn’t scared shitless, not after the things I’d heard about this place.
“No, but who is ever ready to go into hell?” I asked.
She pushed off the car. “I can’t help but think about the children we might see down there, and wonder if Lee hadn’t found Cleo, if this is where she would’ve ended up.”
I came to her, grabbing her hands. “Don’t talk like that,” I ordered, my stomach souring. I shook my head. “Don’t think about the ‘what ifs’ and focus on the facts. Cleo is safe. She’s with Gwen and Dean. There isn’t a safer place for her to be right now. Those people would burn the world for her. You know that.”
She nodded, blinking away some tears before they had a chance to drop. “I know that.”
“Everything is going to be okay,” I promised, squeezing her hand.
“Where are you girls?” Lee asking, impatience evident in his voice.
“On our way,” I said, turning away from Mina. Then, side-by-side, hand-in-hand, Mina and I descended into hell.
“These two are with me,” Lee clipped, his hand clamped around my arm and his other one clamped around Mina’s as he stood behind us. Mina and I kept our heads bent as instructed, hoods on, eyes on the ground.
“Both look fresh,” a male grunted, and then a pair of dirty shoes came into my line of vision.
“They also look out of your price range,” Lee growled. “Now quit wasting my time. Wanna make a decent profit today.”
The man didn’t respond, and blood started pounding in my ears as I started mentally preparing myself for a fight. I wasn’t very good at fighting with my fists, but I was damn good with gun. I taught myself how to shoot while on the road looking for Cain years ago.
“Get on then,” the stranger grumbled, moving to the side, and then Lee guided us forward. The light from the outside world began to fade away as my nostrils were filled with the stench of death and mold. There was no other way to explain it.
We walked for what felt like hours, these tunnels reminding me of The Pit back in Detroit. It was a foolish thought, because what was at the end of these tunnels was nothing compared to what I’d found at The Pit.
“Keep your heads down,” Lee barked to us, and my stomach twisted. There were people around us. In the next second, I heard a whistle and then felt a hand on my ass.
“Like ‘em fresh,” a new male voice said. His voice sounded like he’d been smoking for thirty plus years, but that didn’t do anything to hide the evil laced within it.
“You like ‘em enough to pay?” my friend asked, yanking me away. It was dark enough for me to get away with sneaking a peak at the man who touched me. He was covered in dirt, and when he smiled, I got to see his missing teeth. I dropped my head again when Leon pulled out his gun, pressing it against the man’s forehead as he backed into the damp wall of the tunnel. “Don’t touch my fucking products.”
I looked up again in time for my eyes to collide with Leon’s cold gaze. His head was twisted back, looking over his shoulder at me.
In the faint light, I saw his jaw tick and the pain swirling in his eyes. “Better yet, fucker. Why don’t you do me a favor and spread the word?” he growled, looking back to the dirty man.
Leon pulled his trigger, causing Mina and me to jump. Mina looked at me and then to Leon.
All three of us watched at the man slid down the wall onto his ass with a bullet hole in his chest, blood oozing from the wound onto his dirty shirt. “Don’t touch my fucking products unless you got the cash I’m looking for,” Lee clipped.
The man inhaled a ragged breath, his eyes darting up to Lee.
Leon Torrance ticked his head to the side, letting go of Mina before he crouched down on his haunches in front of the man. “You’re fucking waste of breath,” he sneered, shoving the end of his gun into the man’s mouth.
Mina’s hand snatched mine, squeezing it hard as I looked up and down the tunnel. There was no one else around now, everyone having darted back into the darkness. Cain told us that most of the people you’d see lingering in the tunnels were lost to the world either from trauma, drugs, or both. They were like zombies—trapped down here because the real world would no longer accept them.
I jumped at the sound of a second gunshot, and I didn’t have to look to know that stranger’s brain was now splattered all over the wall. Lee turned back around and crowded the both of us back into a wall, his chest heaving.
“You’re about to see a side of me I never wanted either of you to see,” he hissed under his breath. I looked to Mina and then tilted my head to look at him. Leon’s face morphed with anger, pure rage swirling in his eyes.
My eyes dropped to the teardrop tattoo as I whispered, “You do what you have to do, Lee.”
He looked at me for a moment before turning to his sister. “Good?”
Mina nodded and then we were off again, his hands clamped on both of our arms.
Minutes passed and the further we got, the darker it became.
“Eyes ahead,” Lee said, his voice hard. “Keep moving.”
I didn’t see anyone around us, but I could feel eyes on me. I could feel death on me. I could smell it all around me, and I wanted to vomit. In the distance—somewhere—I heard someone whimpering in pain, followed by screams.
I heard grunts and other noises that made bile rise in my throat.
Mina let out a noise.
“Hands off,” Lee growled from behind me. I was yanked to the side, still in Lee’s grip as I heard him shift and grunt. Then, I heard a thud and a cry of pain. “Gotta fucking kick these animals to keep them off,” he muttered, righting me.
I felt a soft hand grab mine and I knew it was Mina’s. She gave me a squeeze and I returned it.
Lee muttered something under his breath, and then a light shined in front of us. I looked back to him, finding a flashlight in his hand, and I felt slightly better. That changed when I turned back around to see people. They were dirty—filthy—and malnourished. Some were chained the wall with men standing beside them hold money bags.
I gasped, the realization slamming into me.
The chained people were for sale….
Quickly, I scanned the area around us and noted that some of the “sellers” were clean and healthy looking. There were also people roaming around, or sitting, staring into darkness. There was a small pile of four or so people in the corner, sleeping on top of one another. I looked back to the person chained up closest to me. They turned around, and I realized it was female. I couldn’t tell before because she was just skin and bone. She was covered in dirt, bruises, and blood.
“Teal,” I said out loud. It was a code word given to us by James, only to be used when we saw flesh trade.
Lee put his hand on the back of my hair, forcing me to bend my neck. “Head down,” he roared, shoving us forward. He kept his hand on my head, and I felt his thumb swipe back and forth through the hood of my jacket. It was his apology.
“Keep your bitches quiet, yeah?” a voice said. It was deep and had an accent—Irish?
“Mind your own, yeah?” Lee shot back, maneuvering us forward.
“Roger that,” James’ voice said in my ear.
Relief flooded me then. They were still with us. In the back of my mind, I thought we were going to lose signal the deeper we went into this place.
We continued walking and then the tunnel curved to the left, then to the right. Leon stopped us once there was no one around, and we stared at the harsh light coming from the mouth of the tunnel about fifty feet from us. We listened. We waited.
We heard people. Talking. Shouting. Crying. Screaming. Laughing.
We head movement. We heard doors opening and shutting. We heard glass shattering. We head dogs barking. We heard so many things all at once and none of it made sense.
“Your guns loaded, girls?” Lee asking.
I looked over to Mina, holding her eyes as I whispered. “Yes.”
“Keep your hand on ‘em, stay ready. You understand?”
We both nodded.
“Let’s go.”
He didn’t grab our arms again, but he stayed behind us.
Then, we walked into the inner circle of hell.