25. Dax
DAX
Getting all the women into the open room went faster as I got into a rhythm.
There was even one who was awake, but nothing she said was helpful other than her name—Abby.
Looking over my shoulder as I walked out the door, I met Abby’s gaze, “I’ll be back with help as soon as I can.
To keep you safe, I’m going to lock you all in here just in case they come back before help comes.
You’re in charge now… look after the others, alright?
” She gave me a jerky head nod in response.
Now I’d gotten that part of this ordeal done, I moved to the locked double doors.
The plan for getting us out of this alive was to stop the bomb from going off while dealing with the Mad Dogs whenever they decided to grace me with their presence.
Jogging down the steps, I found another set of double doors I had to unlock to allow me access to the second floor.
This floor seemed to be where the common room was along with the cafeteria, smaller meeting rooms, and the medical storage I’d been told to look for.
This is where the third key came in handy.
I moved to turn on the light but the sound of bikes made me pause for a second, trying to listen to see if they were coming in this direction.
Why would I think otherwise? Of course, they were coming here.
Bane left to get them. It looked like my time was running out, but the bonus was they didn’t know I was free on the third floor.
I was going to take a page from one of my favorite Christmas movies and yippee-ki-yay this motherfucker.
If John McClane could take down a whole terrorist organization with what he could find, then I can do the same with all the goodies that they had just sitting here.
We had ARs, M&Ps, handguns, flashbangs, and one of my favorites—smoke bombs.
They really didn’t want anyone to get them alive, did they?
In a heap on the floor were my weapons and holsters which I quickly put back on while I grabbed a duffle bag I filled with all the things I thought I’d need.
Part of me wanted to set the room on fire or do something to make sure they couldn’t use this against me, but what if I needed to double back?
The smarter option was to leave it, but I locked the door so they didn’t think I’d been in here.
Jogging back to the hall, I ran to the double doors since there was a plastic plaque on the wall for emergency exits that had a map of the place.
Using a knife, I peeled it off and used it to guess the route my new biker buddies would be using to come get me.
There was access from the first floor on the left and right side of the building since it was so wide.
But the only one up to the third level and the room was the single set of double doors I’d come down through.
So it was a fifty-fifty guess to head right or left unless…
Grinning, I bolted back to the med room, locking it behind me as I climbed up the shelving into the air vent.
shoving my duffle ahead of me. The one thing I didn’t know was if Bane had a key to the second floor.
There wasn’t a walkie-talkie on my gutted friend, so there must be another way they were going to communicate.
If I could find out what that is, I might be able to hijack their connection and follow them, learn what they know.
The hardest thing about this whole thing was to keep them from going to the third floor.
Yeah, I locked the girls in, but there’s no predicting what can happen with angry bikers.
Eagle might lead a different type of MC, but MCs as a whole are full of asshole men who want power over everything and everyone, especially this one if what I’ve heard is true.
I couldn’t even let my mind wander to the fact the man I tortured said they sent people to the compound.
Till told me to trust her and her men so that’s what I was going to do, but they all better be fucking alive when I get done with this, or I might not stop at annihilating Marco.
Keeping in mind the map I looked at, I headed toward the right stairwell.
I remember in some psychology class that most people turn to the right since we’re always taught to stick to the right when driving.
Either way, it would put me where I needed to get behind them or get a feel for how many people Bane managed to bring along with him.
Trying to keep my movements as quiet as possible, I stashed my duffle near a vent that went down to the first floor.
If I had to head back this way, it would be a quick way to get things down there fast as I kept the fact this place could blow at any minute in my mind.
The sound of voices and heavy feet echoed through the vent, letting me know I was almost on top of them, and they were on the second floor.
There couldn’t be that many if they were moving so fast unless they split up, but that made no sense.
“I still can’t believe you ran and left Toad here to deal with Dax alone. My money’s on the fact that dude is definitely dead,” a man muttered.
Hmm, so his name was Toad, and Bane is an even bigger asshole for leaving him alone with me, even they knew it.
“The only reason she nicked me and managed to kill Mastiff is because he was careless. He’s been losing it ever since he went to Mexico.
I feel like The Shadow did something to him.
Mastiff has always been obsessed about Dax, but it got even worse after that, almost as if he had a screw knocked loose,” Bane retorted.
Gingerly, I lifted the slotted vent to get a better view of the group walking under me.
It seemed there were at least fifteen guys, but I’d bet my favorite knife there were more somewhere else waiting as backup.
Two guys seemed to be hanging back, reluctant to even be doing this, but Bane must be part of the leadership, and you don’t disregard an order.
Hell, he could even be the stand-in president with Mastiff dead, and I already killed their vice president at Harper’s house.
Pulling one of my handguns out, I screwed on the silencer I grabbed from the med room then…
plink, plink, plink… three down, twelve more to go.
“Fuck! She’s not on the third floor anymore, Bane!” someone yelled as the three men fell to the ground none too quietly.
I turned around and headed back to where I left the bag of goodies and decided it was time to play a game of hide and kill.
They wouldn’t head up when they knew I wasn’t trapped there, so let’s hope they would look real hard on the second floor while I took out more of them on the first floor.
Now the trick to this was getting down the air shaft when it was slick metal sides.
Do I just drop and know that I’ll come crashing out the other end or maybe use a knife to slowly walk my way down.
Either option was going to be hella noisy, and if I were going to make an entrance, then I was going to fucking make an entrance.
I pulled out two smoke bombs and put my arms through the handles of the duffle so I could clutch it to my chest. This was going to hurt like a bitch, but there wasn’t time to second-guess the choice.
Taking a deep breath, I sent a prayer to whatever might be listening and shoved off the edge, glad once again to be the tiny hellion I was. As I plummeted down the shaft way faster and farther than I planned, I burst out the other end crashing to the floor.
“Oh fuck me right up the ass with a corn cob, that hurt,” I groaned into the darkness.
It would appear I made it down to the basement and not the first floor.
Rolling, I shoved the duffle away so I could get up—slowly—checking to make sure I didn’t break my ass bone or anything.
My feet ached, and I knew that was going to hurt like a bitch later, but I’d live.
My eyes adjusted to the pitch-black darkness, and I found I was in an open space with industrial laundry machines lined up along one wall, their stark white colors making them possible to be seen.
Hobbling over to them, I figured light switches had to be close by or at least it was as good a place to start looking as any.
Why didn’t I grab a flashlight before lurking in air vents?
Next time, I wasn’t going to forget it would have helped me notice that the drop was farther than it should have been to the first floor.
Truthfully, it wasn’t a bad turn of events.
It could have been worse when you think about it.
My hands stumbled upon a panel that had multiple switches on it, and I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.
Flicking them all up, the space was flooded with light making me squint at the sudden change, adding to the pounding headache I was still dealing with.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fucking fuck,” I grumbled as I rubbed my hands over my face before trying to open my eyes again.
Sure enough, I was in the facility’s laundry room with the rolling cloth carts and everything, although the fabric was ripped and dingy looking.
Grabbing the duffle, I slung it over my shoulder, making sure it didn’t smack into my back and headed toward the doors.
Toad said the bomb setup was down here in the old boiler room.
I needed to locate where that was and see just how fucked I was if I couldn’t get the thing disabled somehow.
I was trying not to panic since this was more of a situation for Wes.
Normally, I’d call him after taking pictures and let him tell me how to get out of a fucking situation like this.
Right now, I was completely on my own unless, by some miracle, they had the phones still connected or I found a phone that wasn’t locked.
I suppose I’d need their face and fingers to unlock it. I'll have to remind myself of that.
The next area seemed to be a maintenance space full of tools and other supplies.
Did they just up and abandon this place, leaving everything behind?
Nothing in this place made sense, but I’d watched enough horror movies to not ask too many questions and just find a way to get the hell out of here.
Sitting on a counter was a flashlight, so I grabbed it but, of course, it didn’t work because it’s been sitting here for who knows how long and this was real life.
Chucking it across the room helped to take the edge off my anger…
slightly, mind you. If anything made sense in the world, it would be that the boiler room would be near the work area since it would need to be attended to, not to mention a lot of wires were running through the exposed ceiling.
Keeping an eye on the wires, I followed them to the point they all grouped together, but I was met with a locked steel door and didn’t have a window in it.
Grabbing the keys, I tried each of them, but the handle seemed to be new, making me think back on what Toad said.
Marco didn’t want them in the room messing with shit, and if they got into the space, he’d know.
Stepping back a few paces, I cocked my head to the side, taking in the situation, and one fleeting thought passed through my brain.
It was a terrible fucking idea and would one hundred percent get me killed or do something else equally as bad.
“Fuck it. I’m going to get blown up as it is, so what does it matter if it’s now or later?” I asked the empty room.
Dropping the duffle, I charged over to where an axe was leaning against the wall and grabbed the rickety wooden A-frame ladder.
Dragging the axe up with me, I tossed my leg over the top of the ladder so I was straddling it, not at all comfortable, but it gave me the best leverage.
I was still a few feet short of reaching the ceiling, but I didn’t think being closer would help the situation.
“Void is going to be so pissed at me if I blow myself up doing something this stupid.” I sighed as I hefted the axe up and swung it with all my might into one of the bundles of wire going into the boiler room.