Chapter 15 #2
She closed her eyes, took a breath, then heaved herself up, one hand locking around a metal cross beam, the other stretching toward Quinn. Their fingers touched, Quinn curling his in an effort to tug her closer, as a spray of gunfire ripped through the tunnel.
Quinn shouted for Brea to get down as Scout twisted, got her Sig in her hand, returning a stream of trigger pulls.
The report boomed through the cavern, shaking the walls, kicking up a vibration that shook through the metal.
The anchors groaned, more rock sloughing off beneath them, and Quinn knew, it was only a matter of seconds before the entire rig dropped to the bottom of the gorge.
One last push, and he stretched a few more inches, praying the damn belt wouldn’t slip free. “Now, baby. We’re out of time.”
Scout fired one more flurry of brass then threw herself at him, kicking the metal framing as she extended her arm, hit his wrist. Quinn locked his fingers around her, both of them swinging back into the rock just as the cable snapped, tilting the bridge on a forty-five before it let loose, cartwheeling off the side, smashing onto the jagged bottom with a massive explosion of metal and rock.
Quinn held tight, eyeing the other side as Scout found a few handholds, dragged herself up and over the lip before extending her hand and hauling Quinn up.
He crested the side, crawling across the slick stone just as Scout unleashed more gunfire, the casings sizzling as they hit the ground.
Grunts and shouts rose from the shadows, followed by a worrying silence settling over the chamber.
Their cue to move.
Scout pushed onto her knees, still scoping the other side as Quinn checked Brea, ensured she hadn’t gotten hit.
Calling Scout’s name, he surged to his feet, taking Brea with him before making a break for the next tunnel.
Scout backed up behind him, emptying what was left in her mag, then clicking in a new one, burning through half of it until they were clear.
Quinn kept moving, following those swinging lights, finally emerging into a massive, cavernous room carved from the bedrock. The air vibrated, that distant hum rising into a dull, mechanical roar.
Scout stopped, scanning the room, eyes narrowed, chest heaving. “Looks like this is some kind of control room. Diesel generators. Storage vats pumping coolant to her in-house lab. High-voltage transformer banks.”
Quinn loosened his grip on Brea, started searching for another tunnel or doorway. “Not the place we want to get caught in if people start shooting. One stray bullet could set it off.”
“More like just a spark. Smells like there might be a slow leak.” She reached into one of her pouches, grabbed a neck gaiter and slipped over Brea’s head, covering her mouth. “We need a way out.”
“Working on it…”
He jogged ahead, scouring every wall, praying he hadn’t led them into a dead end, when he spotted a heavy steel service door next to some stacked liquid nitrogen tanks, like the ones Scout had used back in the warehouse. “Over here.”
Scout helped Brea trip her way across the chamber, eyeing the thick metal. “I don’t suppose it’s open?”
He hit a button and the door hinged open, revealing a dark, narrow tunnel disappearing deeper into the complex. “I’m not sure if this is a blessing or a curse, but beggars and all.”
Scout shouldered up beside him, one arm still wrapped around Brea’s waist. “I can’t be sure, but if my internal compass is still working, I think this joins up with the east wing.”
“I’ll trust your gut any day, baby. And it beats staying here. After you?—”
A high-pitched alarm cut him off, shrieking through the room in loud, rhythmic pulses, that same crimson glow strobing from cage-mounted lights on the walls.
A heavy, grinding rumble sounded in the rock ceiling, a layer of rock dust falling from a half-covered slot above them.
Quinn reacted, shoving Scout and Brea through the door, stepping to follow when a grooved steel fire shutter dropped like a guillotine from above, slamming into the stone floor with an earth-shaking boom.
He reeled backwards, catching his balance on one of the tanks before lunging for the exit, pounding his fist against the metal panels. Scout beat the door from the other side, her frantic knocking squeezing his heart. She paused, shouting at him to get back. That she’d blow it.
Quinn pressed his palms against the steel, hoping she could hear him. “Scout. Baby, you can’t. This entire chamber’s nothing more than a pressurized manifold just waiting to blow. If you set off a spark…” He let his forehead hit the metal. “It’ll bring the entire mountain down on top of us.”
A sob, then her voice echoing through. “I’m not leaving you here.”
“I’ll find another way out, just go. Get to the rendezvous site. I’ll be right behind you.”
“Screw that.” A click, though he couldn’t tell if she’d switched mags or removed a grenade despite his warning. “I’m going to find another route. Stay there, and for god’s sake, don’t fucking die on me, Quinn.”
“No, you need to go.” He waited, got only silence in reply. “Scout! Damn it, you need to get to safety.” Another pause, another eerie silence. “Scout!”
“Sounds like she’s gone, mate.”
Quinn spun, Sig tracking the guy standing on a set of overhead catwalks. What Quinn assumed accessed the two-story generators and other components. The guy chuckled, detaching from the shadows before vaulting over the side, landing with the unnerving grace of an apex predator.
He straightened, a smug, cold smile on his face. “It’s Taylor, right? Corporal Quinton Taylor?”
Quinn kept his sight centered on the man’s head. “My friends call me Quinn. And you’re Ives Hackett. No rank, but that’s what happens when you go military adjacent.”
Hackett’s smile flourished. “Figured it wouldn’t take your lot long to identify me. Bet you got Pryce all profiled, too.”
“Brilliant. Cold. Psychotic.” He shrugged. “What can I say. I have friends with unique skills.”
“They’re impressive.” Hackett tapped a remote he had clutched in one hand. “I have to admit. I didn’t expect you to react quite so fast. I’d planned on trapping all of you in here, but life is about adapting.”
Hackett tossed the remote away, his voice still echoing in through the cavern.
“No matter. The shutter’s just delaying the inevitable.
” He paced a few steps, turned, walked back.
“You see, once I’m done carving you apart, I’ll track them down in the tunnels.
” He laughed, the maniacal sound slithering down Quinn’s spine.
“I’m going to take my time with them. I think I’ll really enjoy watching your girls bleed. ”
“What makes you think I won’t just drop you?”
Another laugh. Louder. Deeper, as if it crawled up from the depths of Hell.
“Don’t bluff. Because if you’ve really done your homework, and I’m pretty damn sure you have, you know it’ll take a kill shot to drop me.
” He gestured to Quinn’s Sig. “This close, that forty-five is likely to go clean through my skull, hit those pipes of highly pressurized, highly flammable chemicals behind me. And you know what that means…” He leaned toward Quinn, hands opening suddenly. “Boom!”
“Maybe I don’t care as long as they get out.”
“But that’s the point, mate. They won’t, because you’re right. There’s enough accelerant in here to blow out the side of the mountain. Anyone who’s not topside and already halfway down the road will die. And you don’t strike me as the kind of bloke who’d kill his teammates.”
Hackett grinned, fingers working at the belt holding his holster before allowing it to clatter onto the ground.
He swung the rifle off his back, tossed it across the room then reached for his leg, drawing a heavily serrated combat knife from a thigh sheath.
“Looks like we’re gonna have to do this old school. ”
Quinn stared at Hackett, gun still aimed at Hackett’s head, his heart rate steady, calm, before he holstered his weapon. Any fatigue vanished, replaced by lethal, white-hot rage as he removed his SAR blade and stepped forward. “Then, let’s get on with it.”