Chapter 25 Cord
DAMN ASHER. I tossed and turned all day instead of sleeping, all because he had to bring up that shit about our first time. I know that’s exactly why he did it, the manipulative bastard. Try as I might, I couldn’t get the image of him sucking my cock in that cell out of my head.
Even a long cold shower doesn’t do anything to snap me out of it. Why do I let him do this to me? You’d think I’d learn by now.
I show up at Dante’s warehouse ready to bite somebody’s head off, though I guess it’s the right frame of mind for what we’re planning tonight. Gio is huddled up with Zeke and Joshua by the weapons locker. I glance through the window of the empty office as I make my way to them.
“Where’s Dante?” I ask Gio. “I figured he’d be chomping at the bit to get a crack at this asshole.”
“He had to take care of something at one of the clubs. There’s more than just this going on.”
True, but this is pretty important. Didn’t he just say last night this was priority number one? Gio could’ve handled the club.
Unless there’s something he’s not saying. I know I should mind my own business, but I’m a nosy fucker. So sue me.
“Is this something you couldn’t handle?”
He puts down the crossbow he’s playing with and glares at me. “If you must know, three guys came into one of our dens last night and shot up the place in, and I’m quoting here, ‘the name of the Python.’”
Interesting. “How many dead?”
“Six donors. Five more in the hospital. Dante’s running damage control with the police.”
So the Python is making his move. I wonder if Elaine caught any chatter about this. She hasn’t reached out to me, but she might’ve gotten busy. Who knows what kind of fuckery Asher has her up to for him.
“Any activity around the warehouse we’re watching?”
“Just some guy who left this afternoon,” Zeke offers. “We had two men out on the street who followed him, but he just went to a bar. Been there ever since.”
“What’s the name of the bar?” I ask. I don’t know why, just something niggling at me.
“O’Hara’s. You know it?”
I nod. “I used to hang out there.” Like last week. I’d like to get a look at this guy, but I doubt Gio would let me run off on a scouting mission right now. Especially since they’re starting to load the vans to head out.
Once again I’m paired with Zeke, along with four other men who climb in the back. Unlike last night, this is a full-on assault, with six vans full of men and weapons. Dante arrives as we’re getting ready to leave, and he and his guards take Uno in his Escalade to bring up the rear.
“You ready for this?” Zeke asks as he maneuvers us through traffic to get to the target. We’re taking point on this, so the other vehicles are following behind.
I finger the knife in my pocket and give him a grim smile. “Yeah. Let’s fuck these shitheads up.”
We park a block behind the building so we can approach from its blind side. Gio had sent two guys ahead to disable the cameras and security feeds, and one of them, Russell, calls out the go signal to us a few minutes after we arrive.
“I made a ten minute loop to get you inside,” he says. “The door lock is disabled.”
“Okay, people, let’s do this,” Zeke says. “Everyone remember your positions.”
We slip around the corner of the building and make our way to the side door. As promised, it opens with just a turn of the knob.
It’s almost completely dark inside, the only light coming from the reflection of a streetlight shining through a dirty window high on the back wall. Luckily vamps can see well enough in low light.
Zeke indicates for us to fan out and I follow him around the west side perimeter of the room. We find a line of cages along the wall, with dirty blankets on the floor and the leftover remnants of meals scattered around, but no occupants.
We head toward the back, where we encounter a stack of crates. I recall the one we saw delivered last night and pry a loose board off the top of the first one, hoping to find some evidence of what they’re doing here.
Empty.
The next three are just the same.
“What the fuck?” Zeke mutters.
“Empty cages, empty crates. If there was someone here, I’m guessing they’re long gone by now.”
“How? We only saw the one guy leave.”
Two of the other men join us, reporting the same thing. No sign of life anywhere.
“What’s going on in there?” Dante calls over the comms.
Zeke glances at me before reporting. “There’s no one here.”
“What do you mean, there’s no one there?”
“There’s signs they were here, but they’re gone now.”
The side door opens and Dante storms in with his guards, followed by Gio and Joshua. We meet them at the front of the space.
“How is that possible?” Dante demands. “We’ve been watching this place all day.”
“Unless they had another way out,” I reply.
“Everyone get in here now,” Dante growls over the comms. When all the men are inside, Dante starts barking out orders. “I want this place searched top to bottom to find out how they got out of here. There has to be another exit.”
“There are tunnels in this area,” Joshua offers.
“Then find the entrance,” Dante snaps. “I don’t care if you have to tear the walls out. I want this fucker found.”
We spend the next hour going over every square inch of the warehouse. Dante and Gio head back to their own warehouse, leaving the rest of us on this search and destroy mission.
Zeke and I, along with two of the guys who rode in our van, are in what looks like the office in a corner of the space. We’ve moved all the furniture out and are pulling paneling off the walls and testing the floor for trapdoors when we hear shouting coming from the back of the warehouse.
“We got something!”
We follow the voices to an area where several large metal shelving units line the walls. The units have been toppled over and an axe taken to the wall behind them. And there, clear as day, is a door.
“How the fuck did they get through that and lock it up from this side?” Zeke asks.
“The guy who left,” I reply. It makes sense now. One guy stays behind to cover their escape. I’m even more curious to go to the bar to find out who this guy is. Maybe if our men had stopped him, we might have caught them before they got away. Doesn’t matter now.
Zeke kicks at the door. “Fuck. Okay, someone get over here and bust this lock.”
One of the guys with an axe makes short work of the lock, smashing the threshold and opening the door to reveal a dark shaft with a narrow staircase leading down.
Zeke orders two men to stay back and watch the warehouse, then heads down the stairs, the flashlight he’s carrying barely cutting through the darkness. He moves it around him then looks up and gives me a thumbs up.
I follow him down into what looks like a narrow tunnel. It’s barely wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side, and the height of the ceiling means most of us will have to hunch over to travel it.
We wait while all the men descend the stairs. “Stay alert, everyone,” Zeke orders when we’re all assembled. “We don’t know what we’ll find in here.”
We follow single-file. No one speaks and we try to keep our footsteps as light as possible, but the faintest sound seems to echo in the tunnel. Maybe that’s because the walls are carved stone. It smells damp and musty but surprisingly doesn’t reek from vermin or trash, so that’s a plus.
After about fifty feet, the floor begins to slope downward, causing the headroom to open up. I’m guessing we’re under the buildings across the street now. We come to an intersection, probably leading back to one of the other buildings, but that way is blocked off.
Zeke glances back at me and motions to keep going. I relay that back to the man behind me with hand signals.
We’ve walked for about twenty minutes when we hear noises ahead. Zeke stops and motions for everyone to remain quiet. I listen and can start to make out individual voices, but they’re muffled, as though coming through a wall or a door.
“What do you think?” I whisper to Zeke.
“Let’s try to get closer. But quietly.”
We all move as one, walking on the balls of our feet as we edge toward the voices.
Zeke keeps the flashlight pointed at the floor so as not to give away our position.
We come to another intersection, and this time both lanes are blocked with heavy metal doors.
The voices are louder here, but it’s hard to tell which door they’re coming from.
Zeke presses his ear against the one on the right while I do the same on the left. After a few seconds I can hear the voices clearly on the other side. I glance over at him and point to the door. He joins me, his mouth close when he whispers, “How do we get that door open without getting attacked?”
I look around. Half the men are armed with crossbows while the rest are carrying blades of various kinds, but I’m looking for the guy with the axe.
There’s no subtle way of doing this. An axe won’t cut through the metal.
There’s also a metal handle but no obvious lock we can pick.
It’s probably secured with a bolt from the other side.
Even if we manage to get it open, we’ll make so much noise we’ll lose the element of surprise.
They’re going to know we’re coming and will be waiting for us, and that means casualties. Dante doesn’t want casualties.
“I wish we knew where this was, topside,” I murmur. “It would be easier to come in that way.”
Zeke looks around and motions to Russell. When he comes forward, Zeke asks him, “Is there a way you can get our physical location?”
“I don’t have anything on me, since normal GPS is blocked down here, but I have an INS system back in the van that would do the trick.”
“Really?” I ask, curiosity getting the better of me. “Why would you have something like that?”
He grins. “In this city? You never know when you’re going to be stuck underground.”
“Okay, let’s all head back to the warehouse,” Zeke says, “then you can get this INS device and I’ll send a couple of men down here with you to get the location.”
Russell nods. “That’ll work.”
We all turn around and go back the way we came, moving quicker now that we know there are no surprises waiting for us.
Once we’re in the warehouse, Russell ducks out to the van to retrieve his tech toy while Zeke calls Dante to explain what we’re doing.
He orders everyone back to his warehouse with the exception of Russell and the men going down the tunnel.
“That was good thinking, coming up with the idea for the physical location,” Zeke says to me as he starts the van and heads out.
“I just couldn’t see us getting through that door without losing men,” I reply.
“No. Let’s hope we get them this time.”
I nod, contemplating that scenario in silence throughout the ride back.
This will probably entail another stakeout.
Another wasted night sitting in the van.
I should’ve fed before we left earlier. Maybe Dante will give us some time so I can hit a den or a bar.
And speaking of bars, I wonder if our mysterious escapee is still at O’Hara’s.
I could maybe kill two birds at once by swinging by there.
First order of business though is to find out if Elaine has come up with any new information. I dread it because that means calling Asher. I glance at my phone–it’s nearly 9:00 pm–so he should be home from the office. I don’t know if that’s good or bad.
I punch in his number and wait for him to answer. He does so on the second ring.
“Cord?”
“Yeah. Hey listen, I haven’t heard anything so I was wondering if Elaine came up with any new intel.”
He’s quiet for a minute. “No. As of an hour ago, she was still combing the Reddit trying to decipher their code. Why, what’s happening?”
I tell him about the warehouse and the tunnel and trying to get the location of their new site.
“So what are you doing right now?”
“Just sitting around waiting.”
“Have you fed?”
I bite down a retort; I don’t want to argue with him right now. “No. I was just thinking about doing that.”
“Fine. I was about to call Lupercalia. Why don’t you come over and I’ll have them send up two donors.”
I want to say no since I know how any visit to Asher’s apartment will end up, but since the thought of bagged blood or finding something in the wild turns my stomach, I find myself agreeing.
“Great. I’ll see you when you get here.”
Fuck. He did it again.
I go find Dante and tell him I’m going out to feed.
“Good,” he says. “I’m glad to see you’re taking care of yourself.”
Yeah, if he only knew.