10. Dallas
DALLAS
The earth shifted as if a monster from the depths decided to burst through at the exact moment Deac tugged on that handle.
I reached my arms out, backing up our men even as they rubbernecked and craned their bodies to watch the spectacle.
The creaking and groaning gave way to the scraping of metal on metal, and as the sand peeled back, a metallic hood popped up from the ground.
“Guess we know where the van went,” Gauge muttered at my side.
I shook my head as I studied the dark, cavernous expanse. “This is definitely not ATF-related.”
Deac clicked his tongue as he withdrew his gun off his hip. “Nope, it’s fucking not. Stay alert everyone!”
There was no point in being quiet about things any longer.
If we hadn’t introduced ourselves by rip-roaring through the desert on our bikes, then we certainly announced ourselves by prying the ground open with a motherfucking handle.
Do you know what it reminded me of? One of those cold war underground bunker things.
All metal, completely stowed underground, and only accessible through one main entrance.
It felt like I stepped into a fucking action movie or some shit.
The wind kicked up, swirling around the dust and grit that had cast itself into the air.
The darkness swallowed the insides of the cavern whole, and I quickly fell in line beside Deac as Gauge wrapped around to his men.
One by one, he placed them in their spots, making sure they knew where to look and what to look out for.
Then he trudged up behind us just as we breached the mouth of the beast.
“All right, men,” Deac said as I listened to his voice echoing in my earpiece, “if we lose contact with you guys after we go inside, stay alert and listen to your guts. But unless there’s gunfire, don’t you dare come in after us. Understood?”
“Loud and clear,” Mace said.
“Yep,” Plug said.
“But what if?—”
Deac cut off one of our newer prospects whose name I still hadn’t memorized. “No buts. You don’t make a fucking move unless there’s gunfire inside.”
And when one last round of muttered agreements filtered through our earpieces, Deac’s back straightened.
“Let’s go find Bait,” he said.
Walking our asses into that darkness was like walking into the bowels of hell.
The harsh wind immediately ceased as the steep incline walked us down into what seemed like nothingness.
The further away we got from the sunshine and desert, the more our eyes had to adjust. Squinting and blinking didn’t make the process go faster, and at one point in time, I thought we’d have to backtrack just to find a fucking flashlight.
That was until we came to a leveled off portion after walking down a steep fifteen foot drop.
“How far underground do you think we are right now?” Gauge asked.
Deac studied the outline of what looked like a door in front of us. “You guys see that?”
He raised his gun and pointed with its barrel as the outline became clearer.
The further back the sun fell, the easier it was to see in the dark.
I gazed around the black expanse, noticing how smooth the walls were.
There were no decorations or decorative outlines of any sort.
No colors trying to peek through and showcase themselves.
I walked over and touched it, feeling the cool surface juxtaposed against the harsh desert air that filtered in behind us.
What the fuck were we in?
“Do you see a van anywhere?” I asked as I slipped away from the wall.
“No,” Deac said as he moved closer to the door, “and I don’t see a way to open this door, either.”
“Let me see,” Gauge said.
Not even his lumbering footsteps created the creaks and groans that usually came with him walking around.
His boots clinked against the metal flooring as I sniffed the air, searching for any sign whatsoever regarding that fucking van.
But there wasn’t even the smell of oil. Not even a droplet of gasoline anywhere.
Were we in the right spot?
“There isn’t a knob,” Deac said as he ran his hand along the outlined metal surface.
Gauge slid his hand up and across the frame. “No keypad that I can feel either.”
I turned my gaze up to the ceiling as I squinted my eyes. “I don’t even see any cameras. How the fuck are we supposed to get it open?”
Tssssssssssssss.
I froze at the sound. All of us did, really.
That same hissing sound from earlier sounded before a resounding pop greeted us, and the door knocked against Deac’s boot.
He looked down as he scooted his toe along the other side of it, then kicked it open before a resounding bang accompanied his movements.
We all withdrew our weapons, aiming them down the impossibly dark corridor.
Frozen, as we waited for the punchline of our visit.
“Uh, Deac?” Gauge asked.
“Yep,” he said as he inched forward, “just give me a second.”
“Deac, wait,” I said quickly.
He paused and craned his eyes over his shoulder. “What?”
“We can’t just walk in there. Who the fuck knows what’s waiting for us,” I said.
“Someone could be watching, too,” Gauge said as he turned to face us. “Don’t tell me it was yet another coincidence that the door popped open just as you?—”
I nodded as I waved my hand in the air, cutting him off. “So we pretty much have confirmation that we’re being watched. What does that mean? Let’s think about this for a second.”
“I’m tired of thinking,” Deac growled.
I stepped closer to him. “And that’s why we’ve been chronically a few steps behind since everything happened. Let’s take this slowly. If Bait’s dead? Us going faster isn’t going to make him any less dead.”
Deac got into my face. “Say that again, motherfucker.”
Gauge stepped in between the two of us and held his hands out. “Now’s not the time. But he’s right, Deac. We have to keep our wits about us.”
I shoved my hand into my pocket and grabbed a random lighter. “Here, let’s try this. Move.”
With the lighter in my hand, I wrapped around Gauge and Deac to stand just in front of the thick darkness of the hallway that opened up before us.
At least I thought it was a hallway. What the hell else was behind a door nowadays, other than a room?
I jiggled the lighter in my hand before cocking my arm back.
I threw it into the darkness, hearing it whiz forward before it clattered to the ground.
Definitely a hallway.
It was confirmed by the series of automatic lights that illuminated, one by one, down the entire corridor.
“Whoa,” Gauge murmured.
“What the fuck?” Deac asked.
I quickly picked my gun up and eased through the threshold of the door. But, it was Deac who grabbed my arm and pulled me back.
“The fuck?” I asked as I shrugged out of his touch.
“Baitfish could be in any one of these rooms. See the doors?” he asked.
I looked back down the hallway and realized that all of the lights that had turned on were on either side of multiple doors that lined both sides. I bobbed my head as I counted, my eyes widening with every number that ticked up.
“Fourteen,” I said as I peeked over at Gauge. “There’s fourteen rooms.”
He nodded. “And one at the end.”
I shook my head as I holstered my weapon. “This is a trap. There’s something in here that we’re gonna trip and a bunch of assholes with uzis are gonna come up and ream us.”
Gauge chuckled. “You watch too many action movies.”
I spun around to face him. “Tell me this doesn’t look like some shit out of a movie.”
“Dallas, if assholes with uzis were gonna come out and plug us, don’t you think it would’ve happened once we triggered the lights?” Deac asked.
The silence was almost eerie. I knew it was windy outside because of the sand that kept blasting the backs of my legs every once in a while, but outside of that?
There was nothing. No noise. No howling.
No breathing, like someone was around the corner.
There was no shuffling of feet or muffled sounds.
Nothing that indicated anyone else was in this bunker except for us.
The hairs on the nape of my neck stood on end as Gauge slipped past the first set of lights.
“All right,” I said breathlessly as I held my gun out in front of me again, “let’s go find our guy.”
The silence was a comfort, though. If they were torturing Bait, we’d hear it.
I turned my attention to studying what little we had around us.
The metal walls that housed the doors and lights were scuffed and scratched.
They were old, that much was for certain.
I ran my hand along the cold surface, shivering at its icy touch.
I wondered how old this place was, or what the hell it was used for in the first place.
Maybe it was a bunker from the cold war.
You know, like a bomb shelter or some shit.
“None of these doors have knobs,” Gauge stated.
“That one does, though,” Deac said.
His statement pulled my attention away from the walls and I jogged to catch back up.
I lost myself in so many of my thoughts that I didn’t realize that my two best friends ventured further down the hallway.
I jogged to keep up, falling in line beside Deac as the two of them stared at the end of the hallway in front of us.
And right there, plain as day, was a metal door just like the ones that surrounded us.
Only this one had a knob.
“Are you sure we shouldn’t call for some of the guys?” I asked.
Deac reached his hand out for the doorknob. “Gunfire is their cue. If we open this door and find some bullshit, I want you firing down that fucking hallway to get their attention. Understood?”
I nodded as I aimed my gun behind me. “Understood.”
Gauge moved around me. “Then let me maybe not be back here.”
I chuckled. “Good call.”
Deac looked at me and I nodded my head. He looked over his shoulder at Gauge and I watched him nod, too.
“On the count of three,” he whispered.
“One,” I whispered back.
“Two,” Gauge whispered.
“Three,” Deac hissed.
He turned the knob and threw the door open, only for another set of lights to switch on. And when Bait’s face came into view, I’d never been more relieved in my entire fucking life.
“Jesus Christ,” Deac said as he holstered his weapon, “what the fuck, Bait?”
He shook his bloodied head as he tugged at the restraints around his wrists.
He had spit dripping down his neck from the gag they shoved into his mouth.
His arms and wrists were bound to a wooden chair that he ripped at with all his might.
His head, shaking side to side, as if it were the only movement he understood.
Then I saw why he was shaking his head.
“Wait,” I said as I reached out and grabbed the back of Deac’s leather jacket.
“What?” he glowered.
I nodded to the base of the chair. “Just look for a second. Really look.”
“You gotta be fucking kidding me,” Gauge said flatly.
And just as Deac laid his eyes on the wires threading in and out of the small base his chair sat on, a resounding ticking sound echoed around the room.
A black clock with red numbers illuminated itself on the upper wall behind Baitfish.
Counting down seconds as Baitfish screamed relentlessly into his gag.