Chapter 14 Emery
EMERY
Mori finds a vent that’s big enough for me to crawl through on the western wall.
Thanks to the detailed blueprints Mikah had access to, we were able to locate every duct that may be useful in case of an emergency like this. Of the three, this one is actually large enough for me to fit into.
I grit my teeth as I shimmy through the tight ducting. My breaths get tight and the air grows heavy as if each inhale might be my last. I’m claustrophobic? I find the thought amusing. I push through the vent without entertaining the panic that tries to rise inside me.
When my boots hit the ground on the other side I remain still for a handful of seconds, listening to where the guards are.
It’s completely quiet with the exception of what sounds like a metal door banging on another floor.
Everyone must be much farther into the building where I know Mikah, Kayden, and Erik are.
My eyes pass over the rusty walls. This building is older, weathered down by the extreme heat and wind. Brown and red clumps coat many of the doors and handles, down to the browned screws. Aged windowpanes have spiderweb cracks throughout them, reinforced with prisonlike bars on the exterior.
I take a slow breath, tasting the iron and dust that’s heavy in the air before getting on my feet and moving for the back door.
A thick latch covers the top portion of the steeled-frame door.
God, what the fuck is on this flash drive?
I use the butt of my MK-17 to flip the latch since I’m too short to reach it.
It clicks, and the door creaks open.
Mori slips inside and nods at me. He doesn’t waste a second as he leads us down the corridors with ease.
I sort of know where we are, but it’s insane that he has a mental image of the map inside his head and knows exactly where each room and every stairwell are.
I probably should’ve paid more attention in his strategy briefings instead of thinking of better ways to get the attention of the guards.
He lifts his hand to the side of his head in a fist before we turn a corner, signaling for me to freeze.
Mori unsheathes his knife and uses the reflection on the shiny side to see if the hall is clear.
Even though his blade is already stained red, we can still see two guards moving at the end of the hall.
Gunshots roll through the building, erupting from downstairs.
Mori flashes me a look before we face the guards. “Be careful.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “You be careful.”
A smug smile beneath his mask flashes at me before he snaps his head up and chucks his knife at the fluorescent lights in the hallway intersection above us.
The glass shatters and we’re thrust into shadows.
Only small wall lights are lit around the door to the stairwell and one farther down by the way we came.
The two men shift, and the sound of them readjusting their weapons alludes that they’re approaching.
I shift on my feet so I’ll have a better vantage point when they turn the corner. My foot bumps into the built-in storage shelf we were using to take cover from behind, and a soft breeze whispers over my ankle.
My attention quickly diverts to it. A room? I shove the bottom portion of the bookshelf as quietly as I can, finding a square entrance big enough for the both of us to fit through.
“Hey!” I whisper shout.
Mori glances back at me for a split second, I’m not even sure if he saw the hole I was already halfway inside, but he backs up and follows me into the room feetfirst. Then he carefully closes the secret door.
I take the room in. It’s completely dark and all the furniture is covered with white, or used to be white, covers.
There’s a door on the adjacent wall leading into what I can only figure is another room.
A small chandelier sits in the center of the ceiling, the brushed brass still glinting even under the granules.
The terrifying thought that there’s no way out of here flickers through me before I notice another small hole directly across from the one we entered through. This room definitely wasn’t on the blueprint.
“Get going,” Mori orders, nodding toward the opposite end of the room.
“We don’t know where that goes,” I argue.
He makes a low grunt, his impatience permeating the air. “We didn’t know where this one went either, but it didn’t stop you.”
He has a point.
I stand slowly and walk as quietly as I can across the floor, Mori is right behind me, not making a sound. I’ll never get used to his silence. His ability to not exist.
The draft seeps through this break in the wall more than the other one. Which means the area must be significantly bigger on the other side.
I peek my head through and find a tapestry clinging to my helmet.
A cover for the hole. Who did this? Was this building raided prior to this organization settling here?
A shudder rolls down my back and I have to take a deep breath.
The scent of vintage furniture and musk stirs familiarity within me.
I glance behind me and study the room once more. Have I been here before?
Mori lifts a brow at me. I turn back to face the hole, refocusing. Come on, I don’t have time to dally.
Slowly, I pull back the tapestry and search the space.
We’re completely opened up to the stairwell. The drop down to the lower floor is at least fifteen feet. Mori’s body presses next to mine. Heat spreads across my chest and down into my stomach at his closeness. His birch scent rolls over me like smoke upon stone.
“I’ll lower you down,” he whispers.
My breath catches before I shove down the emotions that come with his nearness. “You’re not going to drop me, right?” I ask him honestly.
He’s known to kill his partners, and this looks like an easy opportunity for that.
“Of course not. Hurry up,” he says less confidently than I was hoping he would.
I take his hand and keep the other braced to the ledge to help lower myself down. The coast is clear and after he extends me down as far as he can, he lets go. It’s only about five feet, but landing on a step is harder than it sounds.
My legs buckle beneath me, but I manage to stand. I give him the okay to descend after I verify there are no guards on the lower-level stairwell.
His descent is much less graceful. He leaps from the edge toward the side, aiming for the higher staircase. I wince as he tumbles down a few steps before quickly composing himself and making his way over to me.
He walks as if he’s fine, but every few steps his leg buckles on him.
“Are you okay?” I ask, stepping in front of him so he can’t pass me.
Mori’s eyes soften for a moment. “I don’t feel pain, just like you, remember?” he says gruffly before gently putting his hand on my shoulder and moving me aside.
“I feel more pain than you could imagine,” I mutter under my breath, frustrated at his shortness. Somehow the loudness of my inner misery is more boisterous without the physical pain to dull my thoughts.
“What?” he says from the platform below.
I shake my head. “Nothing.” I quickly move down the steps to catch up with him.
I wonder if this entire building has secret passages dug throughout it.
Erik cuts in again over the headset. “Kayden is down.” His voice is raspy and only a mere whisper, meaning he’s probably hiding.
“Shit,” Mori growls, readying his rifle.
I give him a curt nod. “Let’s finish the mission.”
We slip through the door at the bottom of the stairwell. The air rolls with smoke and dust, gunpowder burns the inside of my nose. We move as a unit, stopping and going as we pass dead bodies to make sure they aren’t any of our squad mates.
A sign near the top of a door reads A304. The next room is going to be our targeted area with the flash drive.
I tap Mori’s shoulder so he knows to look at the next room.
My pulse jumps as the door to the lab is blown down and smoke bursts out. All thoughts quell in my head as I prepare to fight in close quarters.
Mori rushes in, pulling down his goggles as he pushes past the door.
I make to follow him, but pressure arises in my lower back.
I’ve been hit with something. I whirl, raising the butt of my gun against the temple of the guard behind me.
His head collides into the wall. He falls to the ground, gasping and screaming as I approach him, kicking him down so his head is on the floor.
The distinct sound of his skull caving beneath my boot draws a smile to my lips.
There’s that euphoric feeling again. The rush of adrenaline and slip of control eases in. What a dangerous feeling.
Then the pressure in my lower back returns. Fuck, did he stab me? I glide my hand down my back and stop when I come across a hilt seated just under my vest. The puncture is on the outer portion of my torso, it didn’t get more than an inch through my flesh thanks to my vest.
It’s astounding that I feel no pain, but I have no clue how long my body will continue to be responsive. I’ve already been shot in the shoulder, now this. I groan at the pressure that shifts in my back as I pull the knife out and let it clatter to the floor.
Mori needs me in there. He’s counting on me.
I lower my goggles and lift my MK-17, ready to kill everyone in that room that isn’t on my squad.
The heat signatures are everywhere, fire and smoke fill the small space rapidly. I survey the lab, which is three times larger than I thought it would be. It’s almost the size of a tennis court. Computers are knocked over and tables flipped on their sides.
Where is everyone? I throw my goggles up and wince as the smoke stings my eyes, making them blur with tears. I cough a few times and search for another doorway. A hidden door is lifted from the floor and goes another story lower.
What the fuck?