59. Kane
Chapter 59
Kane
The world was filled with madness. Everywhere I looked, there were fires, explosions, gunshots. Hope had gone from a sophisticated city to crumbling chaos in a matter of hours.
Power still flickered through the lights illuminating the ruined streets. Jerek had failed, and I was sure the blondes would not escape tonight. All we had planned for had come crashing down. I had to trust that Jerek was taking care of himself and Ryan. The most important thing now was that I find Ash. If only I could find her, we could regroup and make a new plan later. She was all that mattered as I worked my way through the streets, heading for the café where she had last been. Then, if she wasn’t there, the bunker. I held my pistols in my palms with my hood covering my head as I moved .
Masked men cried out and looted a store as I rushed by. Who were they? They weren’t our men. I hurried onward, when a sound caught my attention in one of the buildings. Yelling and loud pounding, like someone was trapped.
I snuck inside and found destruction everywhere—cases of trinkets strewn over the floor and bullet holes in the walls. What had happened here? I tiptoed forward to where the sound came from, and my breath lodged in my throat when I saw the face of the body lying lifeless on the ground. Caleb.
My knees hit the ground next to him, and I shook him and checked for a pulse to no avail. He had a gunshot wound to the chest that was so fresh that blood still dripped from it. All I felt from him was a dark void of nothing. I closed his eyes and said a silent goodbye, ready to mark another star on my chest.
The noise came again from the back, and I crept forward. Someone was locked inside the back room, a chair blocking their escape. The door thudded like the person behind it was repeatedly ramming into it. Right after a hit, I kicked the chair to the side and swung the door open, aiming my weapon at the person inside. Sam stared back at me, a look of relief covering his face.
“Kane.”
Sam’s forehead seeped with blood from a gash across his temple.
“What happened? Where’s Ash?” I asked frantically.
“He took her, knocked me out and locked me in here.”
“Who, Sam?” I had no time to mince words. I needed the information, and I needed it right now.
“My father. I think they were headed back to the estate. The Dark Rise, it’s them. They are responsible for all of this.” He gestured around us as we rushed out the door. “My intel…it was bad. I’m sorry, Kane. Caleb,” he choked out. Sam’s never-wavering demeanor had been cracked wide open.
“Stop. It’s not your fault,” I said through ragged breaths as we sprinted toward the estate. “I think there was something else at play tonight that we didn’t know about. If it’s the Dark Rise that took her, why’d they take her back to the estate?”
Sam slid his hand over his face as we moved. “I don’t know.”
“You’re sure that’s where they were going?”
“Yes. I heard my father say it before they knocked me out.”
We fought our way through a handful of masked men before we reached the gates, where the guards let us through without question. We rushed into the unguarded shooting range, and I used my key to let us in to get as many weapons as possible, before we took off once more in search of Ash.
“Where would they take her?” I questioned frantically.
“The cells under the mansion? It’s the only holding place on the estate. If they wanted to bar her in, that’s our best bet.”
The cells that were adjacent to the arena where Ash had been held before. Sam was right. If they wanted to hold her, that’s where they would go… But did they want to hold her or did they want her dead? Panic took hold of my heart, and it raced wildly. I made the decision to go to the cells. If I was wrong, then it could mean Ash’s death.
We stormed into the medical building that was half burnt to the ground.
“What happened here?” Sam asked.
“I don’t know.” I pulled open the door to the tunnels, and we rushed down the stairs to the damp space below. We took the twists and turns, working in unison to clear the tunnels of soldiers before we moved. When we approached the place where the cells were located, I heard someone yelling. No…not just anyone yelling. It was Jerek.
We put our backs to either side of the door and peered in to see Jerek, locked behind bars and looking worse for wear, guarded by six soldiers. His clothes were ripped in some places, and he had bruises covering his face. Blood covered his knuckles as he ran his hands through his hair, looking as desperate as I felt.
All it took was a nod between Sam and me, and we crashed through the door, firing shots with brutal efficiency. We both knew this was not the time to fail. The guards dropped where they stood before they even knew what had happened.
“It’s good to see your faces,” Jerek said. “Now get me the hell out of here. Barrett’s got Ryan.” His eyes were wide with fear.
Sam pulled the keys from one of the dead guards’ pockets and unlocked Jerek’s cell.
“What happened?” I asked as I shoved weapons into Jerek’s hands.
We raced out the door and back down the tunnel where we’d come from.
“Short story. Barrett took Ryan before I had the chance to blow the substation. She was more important; I won’t apologize for that.” I got it; I would have done the same. “Barrett and those six bozos got the better of me and dragged me down here.”
“Where was he taking her?”
“Back to the mansion. He said the King wanted her there.”
We burst back out of the medical door, me and my two brothers. Not by blood, but that had never mattered to me. That’s when we heard the scream from the far side of the estate.