32. April 16, 2023
Demon
His back hurt from being crouched behind the crates for so long, but he pushed it down into the far corners of his brain. There was no time to deal with that while Cherry was heaven knew where with who knew what happening to her.
Partially to distract himself, he checked his gun for what felt like the hundredth time, sliding the magazine in and out.
Putting it back into the holster at his back, he checked his surroundings in the warehouse.
His eyes kept drifting to the hallway tunnel on the opposite side of the warehouse, wide enough to get a golf cart or forklift through, but more often, he saw pedestrian traffic enter and exit.
Where did it go? Another warehouse? To another facility on the plantation, or even an extended walkway to another part of the plantation?
Both would be convenient for delivering supplies, as well as protection in hurricane conditions.
The only other entrance besides the elevator appeared to be the wide tunnel that inclined to the surface and allowed for the traffic of larger trucks.
A semi could probably even get in if it were careful enough.
Good information to know in case they needed to get out quickly, as the elevator was too easy to stop and ambush when trying to exit it.
Ducking his head, he checked his underarm holster on his left side of his body.
Checking his second gun, he reholstered it.
Then he checked his knives—belt buckle, right hip, thigh, boot.
Another attachment to his belt held a garotte he could quickly unleash.
His pockets held an assortment of things he’d discovered he often needed.
Zip ties. Army-style pocketknife. A pen, used more often to do an emergency tracheotomy than to write with.
Superglue to temporarily seal small wounds.
Climbing gloves. An airplane-size bottle of whiskey for sterilizing wounds.
Quikclot, gauze, and tape for bullet wounds.
Extra bullets because… well, bad guys. He couldn’t even count all the things he had stashed on his person.
Once he’d inventoried everything, he started again, promising himself it would be the last time.
A voice broke into his “final” check. “Dude, you need help. That’s the fourteenth time you’ve checked your kit.”
Steel.
“Where the feck are you? And if you’ve been able to count how many times I’ve checked, why the hell didn’t you say you were here sooner?
Feckin’ wasting time.” He knew his frustration wasn’t helpful.
Knew he was angry at the wrong person. But it was either voice his frustration this way or start randomly killing people. That wouldn’t help Cherry either.
“Look up.”
Demon tilted his head back. Steel was crouched on an I-beam directly above him, plainly sitting there, but no one had seen him.
Steel saluted him from his perch. “People look forward, back, left, and right. Sometimes they look down, but people rarely look up.”
“You better hope these feckers are as dumb as you think they are.” He looked back to the walkway across the way. “How the hell did you get up there?”
“Air shaft. Pays to be small.”
“You and Gem would be deadly together.”
“That is correct.”
“Where’s TB?” he asked, unable to keep the tension out of his voice as he began his ritual check again.
“Almost to you. Dude… you check the first aid kits less than you’re checking your personal kit. Relax.”
A hand dropped onto his shoulder, and he whirled around, knife drawn and against TB’s neck. “Shite!” He expelled the air in his lungs. “Don’t scare me like that!”
“Then pay attention, leprechaun, because I wasn’t exactly quiet.
You were being crept up on by one of their workers.
You’re lucky he didn’t warn anyone he saw you.
I had to remove him from this plane of existence, or everyone would know we were here.
Threw him in one of the coffins, but not sure how long before he’s discovered. ”
Demon looked up at Steel, his expression pissed off. “You could have said something, arsehole. You had to have seen him.”
“I did. We had time. I didn’t want to take out the worker until I had to, then I saw TB was taking care of it.”
Demon sheathed his knife. “What’s the plan? We do have a plan, don’t we?”
“Midas said he had a location but that it didn’t make sense, so he was digging more before he led us in blind,” Steel replied.
It was two minutes later when Midas came on the line. “Okay, ladies and jellyspoons, I’ve got a location on our girl, but you’re not going to believe this.”
An odd, repeated bell tone began to ring throughout the warehouse. “What the hell is that?” TB asked.
“Look,” Steel whispered.
Peering around the stack of crates they were hidden behind, Demon and TB watched as the men currently in the warehouse immediately stopped whatever they were doing and headed toward the mystery hallway.
Forklifts were abandoned in the middle of the floor.
Boxes were set down wherever the workers had been standing rather than walked the short distance to where they could easily be put away before leaving.
While the men chatted with one another as they left, they moved quickly and with purpose.
When all the men were gone, the room remained silent and empty for several minutes.
Then, the elevator opened, and a group of women exited, their arms full of assorted items. He couldn’t pinpoint why specifically, but there was something odd about the manner they carried the objects.
As if they didn’t want to hold them close, maybe?
They held their arms out directly in front of them, the items balanced on their upturned forearms. In addition, their measured steps were in sync with one another, and their heads were straight ahead as they headed directly for the walkway.
“Okay, that was weird, and we’ve seen some weird shit,” TB commented.
“Let me guess,” Midas interjected. “Bunch of young women in white togas carrying things? Saw them coming from the hospital floor of the research building. Pretty sure they’re headed the same place you will be.
The original schematics I was able to pull up for this facility don’t show the hallway D described.
However, there are security cameras in the hallway as far as one mile down.
Unfortunately, all I can see from those cameras is the actual doors they’re pointed at, and none of them are labeled with what those doors go to, just numbers.
So I had Nova run some projections as to where that hallway might lead.
The last door is exactly one mile away. Guess what else is exactly one mile in that direction from your current location? ”
“I don’t know, Midas,” TB snarked, “a villains-R-us stop and shop? What the fuck?”
“Wow. Someone needs to get laid. Directly one mile down that hallway and up about one hundred feet is a mausoleum. But here’s the kicker. I sent a drone in, and the thing has no doors or windows on the outside. It’s solid stone, yet Cherry’s tracker puts her in the farthest third of the structure.”
“Midas,” Demon interrupted, “if that’s true, then there must be a way up inside from underneath. Find it!”
“Who tangled your stethoscope, Doc? Sheesh. I’m working on it.”
“There’s no way all those workers fit in that tiny space,” TB told him. “You have no idea where the other doors go, Midas?”
“I’ve got Nova working on some projections, but since all I can see is the door itself and not what side of the hallway it’s on, or if it’s off a hallway or anything like that, all I can do is guess.
I’m thinking that they’re exits to various locations in the courtyard—the nearest barn, the shipping area, stuff like that.
Makes sense. If one building has subfloors, others might too. Especially the newer ones.”
“I don’t give a feck where the other doors go. I just want the door that gets me to Cherry,” Demon growled.
“And we’ll get that,” TB assured him. “We need to know where the other doors go though. Never box yourself into only one entrance/exit route. You know that, so keep cool. Can’t help her if you pop a blood vessel.”
“Relax, D, Nova’s working on it,” Midas assured him.
“Don’t tell me to relax. Can’t wait until it’s your fecking turn to lose your shite.”
“So you admit you’re losing your shit? Mark the time, gentlemen. We’ll settle up that bet later.”
It was some time before Nova’s voice came over the line. “Door seven, the final door, is closest to the mausoleum. However, you are too far below ground for a single flight of stairs.”
Steel looked at the ceiling. “We’re at least four floors beneath ground level.”
“If the stairs switch back, the distance could work,” TB replied.
Nodding, Steel said, “Like a fire escape.”
“Nova, scan for metal under the mausoleum,” Midas ordered.
Only a few seconds passed before the AI replied, “There is enough metal to possibly form an encased stairway within the rock strata.”
“Bingo. Behind door number seven, gentlemen, is where your prize awaits.”
Demon started to stand from his crouch, but TB pulled him back. “Wait.”
“What the feck?”
“Just wait. We need more information. We can’t go in there blind. That’s not good for us, and it definitely isn’t good for Cherry.”
He chafed at TB’s words and actions, but he knew the man was right. If he wanted his woman back in one piece, he needed to get his head on straight.
Another twenty minutes later, down the hallway and into the warehouse came Zion, Calvin Deschamps, Felix Giudici, and, behind them a few feet, Andres.
Demon noticed that the young man was watching those in front of him intently.
They all got in the elevator and went upstairs.
What the hell were they doing coming from a hallway they just sent everyone into?
“Now where are they going?” Steel asked, a frown on his face.