7. CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 7
Glyn’s entire body was shaking. There was no way that was a good thing. Right?
A strong hand touched his arm. “Stop.”
As forceful as Rip’s voice was – considering they had to modulate their tones in order to not be heard by their human captors – Glyn was too far gone to ‘hear’ him. Actually, he was out of his fucking mind with worry and ready to kill everyone ‘watching’ them.
That was something he hadn’t thought would ever happen. He’d been there for months, yet never once had he thought he could kill, until now. He’d seen too much. Experienced hell. Not just him, but what he’d witnessed his people had gone through. No. After all of that? He was more than willing to do whatever it took to annihilate those holding them. He just wished it was that easy.
It was a challenge, but he managed to take a deep breath and stop himself from freaking out. Mostly. Sort of. Okay, so not necessarily, but enough to not draw attention to himself. He hoped.
“Thanks,” he muttered.
“Stop worrying,” Rip said as they walked toward their ‘breakfast.’
He wasn’t entirely certain how tiny oatmeal-type bars equaled that designation but at least they provided some of the calories they desperately needed. Though it wasn’t even close for any of them to fight in order to ‘break’ out of there. Rip’s word, not his.
That Glyn was able to lift each rock he had to carry was a miracle. In what universe did Rip think he, or anyone else there, would be able to fight back?
Then again, to gain their freedom…All of them would be willing to do whatever it took.
That might not have been true before, but now?... after months of forced labor?...So ready.
He had no right to expect it, but when he’d scented his mate, Glyn had hoped he was there to save them. Then…when Rip had confirmed it, every single cell within Glyn prayed the fuck that it wasn’t true.
How was he supposed to not care whether or not his mate survived? From what Rip had indicated, his mate was the best when it came to infiltrating…well anywhere. Even fucking North Korea. That didn’t make him impervious to harm.
That said, what did it mean?
According to Rip, Cayman technically had the best intel, the most up-to-date satellites and people talking in his damn ear non-stop to guide him through the country. But none of it necessarily meant success.
“Seriously, stop worrying,” Rip muttered. “If anyone can get us out of here, it’s Cayman.”
“You said he would come for us last night.” It was why he was panicking. “What if he got caught?”
“Do you feel him?” Rip asked.
Glyn couldn’t verbally answer as three guards walked in right then. But he did dip his head slightly. That was part of the problem. He had felt Cayman nearby. He’d arrived five hours earlier but there had been no sign of him.
When the guards moved on to another room, Glyn asked, “How long is it going to take?”
Rip shrugged. “Don’t know. We were caught before we’d gotten a chance to case the place out to know just how big it is. But he’d need to be careful if he didn’t want to be caught.”
That was the exact problem. Glyn had no illusions that him being there would cause his mate to take chances he shouldn’t. He needed to find a way to help him. But how?
Brine, salt and sand suddenly hit him as Glyn and the others made their way to the pile of uranium they took to the conveyor belt. He was so surprised, he gasped loudly, causing the guards to look his way.
Shit. Not good.
Looking down, he headed straight for the rocks and lifted one, which thankfully was all it took for the guards to go back ignoring him. As he straightened under the weight of the heavy rock, he muttered softly, “He’s nearby. I can scent him.”
Still nothing happened for the next thirty minutes as they continued to work their asses off. Yet, every once in a while, he would get a whiff of his mate. Not having any clue how one infiltrates a North Korean compound, much less get those imprisoned out safely, he had to trust that Cayman knew what he was doing and come find him as soon as possible.
Glyn just wished it would happen before he worried himself into a heart attack.
Fuck him sideways.
Nothing had gone smoothly since he’d tried to open the door out of the room with the tank to find it locked. And who the fucking hell put a lock on the hallway side of the door? For several minutes, he feared the North Koreans had installed it that way because they’d expected someone to do exactly as Cayman had done to get in there.
As he’d worked to free himself by picking the lock, which thankfully he had a lot of experience doing so it hadn’t taken more than a minute, he’d been ready for guards to descend. They hadn’t, but it had altered things. He had done that sort of thing for long enough, he damn well knew if something went wrong, it tended to set the tone for the rest of the mission.
Prepared for anything, Cayman had redoubled his efforts to remain vigilant and not rush anything. Thank fuck he had because he hadn’t made it more than ten steps down the hall when he heard the unmistakable sound of boots on the cement heading his way.
Not having anywhere he could hide, he’d rushed back to the water tank room and rushed inside. Because things were getting dicey already, he had pulled out his lock pick and relocked the door in case whoever was walking toward him noticed it was unlocked.
That meant having to once more unlock it, wasting even more of his time. It also made it even more obvious things were bound to go sideways fast if he wasn’t careful. But not having schematics for the compound, he was going in blind. That made it a challenge to remain unseen.
As much as it killed him to do, he decided on quick forays out. If he found other rooms to hide in, he would use them, but until he did, Cayman would continue to return to the tank room. It would mean double or even triple how long it would take him to make a move against the guards, but he had too many moving parts he couldn’t account for.
The main one being what would he do with the guards he took out. He had to find a safe place to dump their bodies or he would be discovered after killing the first few. The water tank would probably be his best choice, but based on the distance he’d traveled through the pipe, he was on the edge of the building.
If he had to keep carrying bodies all the way through hallways, it would not only take forever, but it would increase his odds of being found. After three trips back and forth, he’d found a supply closet of sorts. Thankfully, it was larger than a simple closet, making it ideal for storing bodies. He hoped.
Three hours later, he’d found two other storage rooms that could be used, as well doing a decent job mapping out the place. He’d lost connection with Yosi and Saber the moment he’d left the water tank room. But that was fine, he had a good sense of the layout and rotation for people milling about.
But then the guards changed shifts and suddenly there were double the amount of them inside. He’d had to hunker down and wait them out. That had taken an agonizing hour.
With new people, he needed to observe their movements in case they didn’t follow the same routine of the previous shift. By the time he was ready to move, his manta ray was pushing him to grab his mate and get the hell out of there.
He’d left his scent for his mate to find, hoping he would warn Rip, Wizard, and Lael he was there. But it was when he had to watch his mate struggle carrying heavy rocks, his body appearing exhausted and ready to collapse that had him worried.
It wasn’t just his mate either. Most of the prisoners looked beat down and ready to fall over any moment. No way were they going to be any help fighting the guards. Even Rip, Wizard, and Lael were beyond tired. He could see it in the lines around their eyes and mouth. The way they were dragging to move the rocks.
The only good thing was there were three different work groups and the guards watching them didn’t seem to interact with the other groups. It would give him the opportunity to take out each set of guards without the other ones having any clue what was happening.
The problem? There were twenty guards per group. That was a lot of guards he’d have to take out without someone sending out an alarm. Second issue? His mate and Rip were in the middle of the three sets of prisoners. That meant he’d have no help from them until he completely cleared the first twenty guards.
Good thing he was damn good at his job.
Approaching the area, he kept to the shadows and slipped behind a single guard who was off to the side. There were enough piles and equipment around, he might not have to move the bodies, which would help.
Before the guy knew what was happening, Cayman struck. One hand was placed over his mouth so he couldn’t shout out at the same time he sunk his knife deep into his neck, severing his spinal column so he wouldn’t be able to fire his weapon.
The hand that had been holding the knife slid it effortlessly back in place so he could grab the man’s gun before it clattered to the floor. Then he pulled the body behind a pile of rocks. The entire thing had only taken seconds, the others not having seen a thing.
It wasn’t until he’d killed three that he was noticed. Not by the guards, but the prisoners. He placed a finger at his lips and shook his head in a warning.
The two men and one woman, just picked up their next rock. But he did notice, they did their best to shield him from the other guards each time he took another one out. Methodically, he took them down, until they were all dead.
But when the prisoners started to react, he held up a hand to stop them. He still had two more sets of guards to take out, not to mention another twenty that were guarding the stairs and entrance to the building. It would be detrimental if those outside were alerted to his presence.
He gestured for them to continue hauling rock. He hated making them do it, but it was paramount for the guards in the room next to them not realize they’d stopped working.
Several nodded, seeming to understand the plan. When they’d gotten back to work, he made his way to the next area, where his mate was. He had to hope he could stay calm when he saw him. There could be no mistakes.
He knew the moment his mate had scented him when he’d slipped into the workspace. His shoulders tensed and he inhaled sharply. Only because the guards were human had they not heard him, but the shifters in the room had.
Several eyes landed on him. If one of them let it be known he was there, they were done for. But they didn’t. The only ones that changed their patter were Rip, Wizard, and Lael as they slowly inched their way in his direction without being obvious.
He had six guards down when Rip was close enough to pass a knife too. Wizard blocked what they were doing with his body as he hefted another rock and purposely tripped. He didn’t allow himself to fall, but it did take the guards’ attention.
Three knives were quickly stowed in Rip’s waistband. He would pass one each to Wizard and Lael as they worked. Not worrying about them, Cayman continued taking out guards. It was messy work and he had blood sprayed from head to toe. But he didn’t let it alter his smooth movements.
His mate was straining with the effort not to look in his direction but it was obvious he kept shooting Cayman looks. Needing to protect him at all costs, Cayman moved swiftly before a guard noticed his mate was distracted and followed the direction of his gaze.
When the last guard went down, he pointed to Wizard and Lael and gestured for them to guard the others while indicating for Rip to follow him. He knew Rip’s ability to not be seen despite being large. Man was still light on his feet.
It would be quicker for all of them to take out the remaining guards, but four of them going in would likely be noticed. Four minutes later, they were leading the prisoners from the last space with them.
They took them to the area closest to the hallway that would lead them out of the building. As low as he could, he warned them they were a long way from out of danger. Not only did he have to take out the remaining guards inside, but the ones outside if they had any hope of being free. Even that wouldn’t guarantee they’d get to safety.
Once it was discovered they were gone, the North Koreans would be after them en masse.