11. Gauge
GAUGE
It didn’t take me but a split second to realize Bait was hooked up to a fucking time bomb.
I mean, why else were there wires and a clock counting down?
I pivoted toward the hallway as Deac walked over to Bait.
Dallas walked along the edge of the room, feeling with his feet first just in case he triggered anything.
As for me, however? I turned my ass down that hallway and unloaded four rounds into the darkness.
It sent a stampede of feet cruising toward us.
“Plug!” I bellowed as the thunderous sound grew closer. “We need Plug! And quickly!”
Men piled into the bunker, filling the hallway as the harsh lights outlined their determined faces. Plug shoved his way to the front of the group, soaring past me as his eyes locked onto the scene before him. I traded places, rushing down the corridor and stopping our men in their tracks.
Something they weren’t all too happy about.
“The hell’s going on? Where’s Bait?” Mace asked.
I placed my hand on his shoulder. “We need Plug for something. He’s hooked up to some kind of bomb.”
“A what now?”
“You’re fucking joking.”
“Bait! You in there!?”
I lifted my gun above all their heads and popped off another shot just to shut them up.
“Listen up! Everyone, line the hallways. Including the steep ramp you guys just came down. I want every inch of these walls covered in your presence so that we miss nothing. Memorize everything. Take in what you can. Everything here leads us closer to whoever the fuck is doing this to us. Now go! Let’s do this! ”
As my men backtracked and did as I asked, I whipped back around to behold the scene unfolding in front of me.
Deac stood at Baitfish’s side, reassuring him that we were going nowhere.
Dallas crouched down with Plug, studying the contraption Baitfish sat on.
I mistakenly raised my stare to the clock, which had forty-five seconds on it, and counting.
“We don’t have long, you guys. Whatcha got for us, Plug?” I asked.
“Just give him a second,” Deac snarled.
I shook my head. “We’ve only got forty of those. Let’s get at it.”
“Here,” Dallas said as he reached around from behind Baitfish and pulled the gag out of his mouth, “that should be better.”
“How you feelin’?” I asked.
Baitfish drew in a deep breath before he yelled. “Everyone! Get out of here! This entire place is gonna blow!”
“Not without you,” Deac said.
“Guys! Get out while you can!”
“Will someone tell him to shut the fuck up? I can’t fucking think,” Plug said.
“Deac! Deeeeeac!” Baitfish bellowed.
Deac shot up from his crouched position. “I’ll make Dallas gag you again. Now shut up so we can get you out of here.”
I knew my role was to yank Baitfish out of that fucking chair the second I could, so I stood at the ready.
Perched beside him while Plug muttered to himself, I watched the clock plastered on the far wall of the room.
Thirty-five seconds. Thirty. We didn’t have long before whatever was counting down got set off.
“Gauge,” Bait said.
His voice was calm. Stoic. Almost accepting. And when his tone dawned on me, I looked down at him. He looked at me with more determination than I’d ever seen in his features.
“We’re going to get you out of this,” I murmured.
“How many seconds?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Just hold on.”
“Anything?” Deac asked.
Plug sighed in frustration. “This thing is just… next fucking level.”
“Can’t we just rip him out of that thing? We have to go!” Dallas said.
I kept my gaze locked with Bait’s, however. “Why can’t we just yank you up out of this chair? What aren’t you telling us?”
That’s when Bait’s stare went soft. “Is Rat okay?”
I bent down and looked him dead in his eyes. “Rat’s alive because of what you did.”
He nodded. “Get everyone out.”
“Come on, Plug!” Deac exclaimed.
The panic in Dallas’s voice was evident. “Twenty seconds. Whatever we do, we have to do it now.”
“Fall back!” I bellowed.
“No!” Deac yelled as he shot up onto his feet.
“Everyone! Fall back!” I roared.
“Shut the fuck up, Gauge! Everyone, stay put!” Deac roared.
“Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out and find that fucking bitch!” Bait exclaimed.
I reached down and ripped Plug up by his collar. Deac shoved me, but all I did was push him against the wall. I tossed Plug down the hallway as I barked my commands, listening as our crew fell back at my demand.
“No! We’re not leaving him behind!” Deac exclaimed.
“An eye for an eye, that’s what she said,” Baitfish said.
I turned toward the clock as it hit ten seconds.
“What?” Deac asked as he got into Bait’s face. “What did she say?”
Bait looked as calm as I’d ever seen him. “In the van, when the guys were beating me to high hell. She said, ‘an eye for an eye.’ Figure out why.”
“Come on!” Dallas bellowed as he continued shoving men down the hallway. “We have to get out of here! It’s gonna blow!”
I looked down at Bait. “I’m so sorry.”
He closed his eyes. “Just find her. Find her and make her pay.”
“No, Bait. Bait! Gauge! Let me go! You can’t do this! We have to get him out of here! Baaaaaaait!”
I’d never manhandled any of my men. I’d never had to, not once. And yet, as I grabbed Deac by the throat and tossed him out into the hallway, I heard the beeping.
Baitfish started yelling. “Six!”
I grabbed Deac’s leather jacket and tossed him another five feet.
“Five!”
“We can’t just leave him here!” Deac practically shrieked.
“Four!”
I shoved him down the corridor before Dallas grabbed his leather jacket from behind.
“Three!”
I walked through the door and picked Deac up, slinging him over my shoulder.
“Put me the fuck down, you motherfucking dick!” he exclaimed.
“Two!” Baitfish roared.
The explosion rocked the bunker, slinging us in all directions.
I whipped around with Deac kicking and screaming on my shoulder, beating my back like a tired fucking woman.
I saw a fireball heading straight for us as I backtracked.
Dallas ripped my arm, pulling me up the ramp as smoke quickly filled my lungs.
We raced as quickly as we could, feeling that fireball creeping closer to our heels.
We barely got back out into the desert before I hit the deck with Deac as a fireball burst over our heads, causing the desert bunker to collapse in on itself.
Taking Baitfish with it.
None of us moved. None of us spoke. The desert swallowed the last echoes of the explosion as dust and smoke rolled over us, and for a few seconds, the only sound in the world was the ringing in my ears and the sound of my own breathing.
Bait was gone. That was real. That just happened.
“Nooooooooo!” Deac roared.