97
Callum's POV
Three trucks were ready to roll out, two loaded with arms and the last one with the tools for opening the tunnel.
There were four men in each truck, except the last one which had just three of us.
All the guns were muffled with silencers, and then, I instructed my men not to shift for any reason. We needed to do everything possible to avoid attracting attention to us as our group wasn't much of a force.
As we drove closer to the location of the tunnel that led into the Darkmoon pack, we turned down our lights just in case some of Maxs guards were there. Luckily, there werent.
"Take your positions," I ordered the armed soldiers, tucking a pistol into the back of my trousers as I climbed down the truck.
With a group of three soldiers who grabbed the equipment we had brought to cut the tunnel open, I went to the mouth of the tunnel.
The foul stench of dead rodents hit my nose as we got to the entrance of the tunnel to inspect it. A channel that hadn't been used by our pack for almost thirty years, I never doubted it'd smell like this.
Max and his men had sealed the mouth of the tunnel with what looked like a thick metal door. But I knew something metals weren't as thick as they appeared. Luckily, we had tools that could tell the density of any metal. So, I let my soldiers get to work.
My phone vibrated in my pocket as the soldiers began to inspect the metal.
"Have you begun?" Frank's voice rang over the phone.
"We're inspecting it to know what tool to use," I said. "It won't take much of our time."
"Left for me, a simple dynamite would do the fucking job," he mumbled.
"I'm not surprised," I said, taking a deep breath. "Stay down, Frank, and let me do my job. I'll give you feedback soon."
Hanging up the phone, I returned attention to the soldiers working on the tunnel. They had begun cutting it already.
Judging from the tools they selected to cut the metal, it probably wasn't as thick as it looked, and it definitely wouldn't take them much time to get cut open.
My phone vibrated again about thirty minutes later. I knew it was Frank again. When I looked at my screen, I wasn't surprised.
"Tell me you're done, Callum," he demanded, Impatience lingering in his voice.
"We've gone a bit far now," I said.
"Shit." I heard him bang his fist on some metal object. "How much longer?!"
I rubbed my jaw. "I'd say... Uhm... Fifteen minutes. That's a safe estimate. But we're working really fast here. The metal is heavily reinforced, man. It's a miracle we've already gone this far."
"Fuck that miracle, Callum. I'm completely out of patience," he growled. "Once I call again, I'm advancing with my men, whether you're ready or not," he declared.
"Fran—"
He ended the call.
I sighed and turned back to the soldiers who were already done cutting the tunnel open before Frank called. "Get your weapons ready. We're going in."
Lying to Frank about the tunnel was my only option. Unlike him, no matter how frustrated I was, I wouldn't just do something based off an impulse. My emotions never determined my decisions.
I intended to go in first with my troop, just in case there were any traps or enemies waiting for us inside the tunnel. That way, our losses would be minimised.
Leaving just three men to guard the trucks, I went into the tunnel with my men.
Dead silence welcomed us into the tunnel as we walked in carefully. But as we advanced, I could hear crickets crying inside the walls and rats squeaking as they moved around their holes.
Stagnant puddles of water lay all over the place, droplets of water drooping from the roof of the water and causing tiny echoes in the tunnel.
We moved with low lights, but I didn't even need one. I'd never seen a place so dark for me to have a proper vision.
We got to a junction where the tunnel split into two. But right above us was an opening which would lead us to a vent in the mansion. Hopefully, it wasn't blocked.
Careful not to make a sound, we passed through the hole and went into the vent which brought us out at the laundry room.
My heart dropped an excited beat at the moment I jumped down from the vent. The feeling of being back home.
The door of the laundry room was closed, assuring us that none of the maids who flocked about there during the day was present now. It was past midnight, finding any of them there by that time was undeniably questionable.
The only problem we could possibly have was the door being locked. Yet, it wasn't much of a problem, since all we'd have to do was device a way to open it without drawing unwanted attention.
I took a step towards the door, but it suddenly flung open with a kick from the outside and all I heard was "freeze!"
Soldiers armed with riffles trooped into the room in groups of three until the last man who numbered them twenty came in.
"Drop your fucking weapons!" Yelled one who seemed to be the leader.
But my men had their guns cocked already, hungry to strike back. But it was going to be to our disadvantage since our opponents were armed with riffles while we held pistols.
"Easy there." I grinned as I slowly knelt down with my arms above my head, making sure to keep eye contact with the one standing right in front of me. "Easy boys."
We weren't matched in number, but not when I could take down five of them at least.
"Do what he says," I instructed my men.
Hands hesitant to let go, they slowly dropped their weapons and knelt down.
"Cuff them up," their leader said. Nodding his head at me. "Starting from that one."
His soldiers brought out cuffs from the hook of their trousers and gathered around my men. A smirk stretched out on my lips the moment one of them got close enough.
He brought out the metal cuffs, about to hook it unto my wrist when I caught his arm and flipped him off his feet. Before he could land on the floor, I snatched his rifle and aimed at their leader, blasting a bullet through his skull.
"Fight!" I yelled at me men and they all began to fight.
Having closed the distance between us, aim with their riffle became difficult, and so, they had to cock their pistols. But no when my men had theirs cocked already.
A fierce but unfair exchange of bullets took place and, in no time, all the enemies laid lifeless on the floor, their skulls shot open. However, an alarm had been triggered by one of them.
I brought my phone out and dialed Frank's line.
He picked up immediately and I asked if Ryder was there with him.
"Right here, boy," Ryder responded.
"Alright." I sucked in air and exhaled deeply. "I've cleared the tunnel and the vent connected to it which leads to the laundry room. But we ran into some soldiers and the alarm went off before we could take care of all of them."
"I'm sending back up," Ryder's voice rang with urgency. "Wait right there."
"Not a problem. We'll manage until you get here," I said hopefully. "Our number is still intact."
I heard the rev of car engines before the call went off suddenly. Then I tucked my phone back into my pocket and stepped over a corpse that laid right at my feet.
"Ready your weapons," I said to my men, walking out of the room. "We're holding this position until back up arrives."