34. April 16, 2023
Demon
After pulling the camera back to their side of the door, Steel readied the flash-bang; they opened the door, and he threw it at the same time.
The noise it made when it went off was deafening due to the stone walls, and the quirky portion of Demon’s brain made a note to test everyone’s hearing when they got back home.
As the smoke spewed from TB’s modified device, the three teammates rushed the room.
Steel took care of Matthew’s partner, TB took care of Matthew, and Demon went in after Cherry.
His heart nearly erupted from his chest when he ducked into the room through the smoke that was rolling into the antechamber.
A woman was lying in the far corner, her dress stained a rusty color.
Six other women were standing in a semicircle around a sunken space in the floor.
After surveying the room quickly, he leaped down to Cherry’s supine form, skipping the stairs altogether, and gathered the redhead lying on the stone table .
When he threw her arms around his neck and pulled her to him, he heard a soft moan and a sigh that sounded like his name, right before her mouth latched onto his neck with a soft swipe of her tongue.
He groaned. “Body shots later, fireball. Hang on tight.”
He lifted her off the table, then dashed up the steps with her.
At one point, he had to turn sideways with her to clear the arch without banging her legs on the walls, then jumped in order to clear Matthew’s falling body as TB finally put him down for good.
Steel was already at the doorway, making sure no one was coming up the stairs so they could make a clean exit.
As Demon arrived at the floor entry, Midas gave them a warning. “The goon squad is at the door. Andres has entered the code incorrectly twice. You have maybe ten seconds before they’re in.”
“ Mierda! We won’t make it.” Steel turned and looked at them. “Back into the antechamber. Quick!”
The men rushed back inside the second room to take cover.
Once there, Demon ducked to the right inside the archway, plastering himself as best as he could to the wall behind the raised stone lip of the doorway.
TB and Steel grabbed the bodies of the two guards and dragged them into the antechamber, dumping them in the corner where the dead girl lay.
In an effort to try and protect the drugged girls, the two men herded them down behind the altar and tried to push them into crouched positions as low as they could go.
“You’ve got eight men coming your way. Giudici is leading the way, followed by Deschamps, Zion, Andres, Howard, and three men I don’t know, who are bringing up the rear. I don’t see any weapons on them.”
Agonizing seconds passed. Demon felt a twitch in his arms, but it wasn’t his muscles weakening from holding Cherry; it was the woman herself, seeming to struggle out of whatever haze of drugs she’d been given.
The timing was shite. She whimpered in pain, then started to retch. “Feck! Cherry’s sick. ”
Steel dashed to the opposite side of the archway, flattening himself against the wall similar to Demon’s position.
Because Demon was holding her in a bridal carry, and she was unconscious, she began to choke on her own vomit.
“Sorry, a chuisle . This is gonna hurt.” In as fluid a motion as he could, he dropped her legs, then turned her over the arm he’d let go of her with.
With his other arm no longer needed to support her, he reached forward to her mouth, pried it open, and stuck two fingers as far down her throat as possible, trying to clear the fluid.
Now the rest of her stomach contents could exit without going down her windpipe, and she could punch him for the bruised esophagus later.
As soon as she was done vomiting, she hung limp over his arm, still not aware enough to move on her own.
He gently propped her up in a seated position off to the side, then resumed his position by the door.
As Giudici passed through the door, Demon felt himself trying to press into the wall itself.
They needed the entire group to be past them before they moved.
Of course, the odds were shite and didn’t work in their favor. By the time Howard hit the doorway, everyone knew something was wrong. If the women crouched and whimpering on the floor weren’t a clue, the dead bodies in the corner certainly were.
TB threw another of his flash-bangs toward the door, and as soon as it went off, he rose, both guns drawn and shooting. He connected with Giudici’s shoulder, sending the man spinning off to the side.
Howard, being a military man, immediately saw the benefit of retreat and backed through the doorway, pushing those who were behind him into the main room.
Zion managed to draw his own weapon and get off several shots before backing out of the room using Andres as a shield, and he fled down the stairs. The three unknown men followed.
Steel had Deschamps in a choke hold and squeezed until the man was unconscious, put him down on the floor, and took off after Zion and the others, jumping down half the first flight of stairs to try and catch up.
He managed to hit the last man in the line as he attempted to clear the doorway, shooting him in the back, then had to jump over him at the bottom of the steps.
After making sure that Cherry had remained untouched in the fray, Demon ran over to Giudici to check his wound.
As much as he wanted to murder the man himself, they needed him alive if at all possible.
He hauled the man to his feet, the coward groaning and calling out about his pain.
“Shut up, you bastard. It’s just a flesh wound, which is less than you deserve. ”
“Midas, we’re going to need some help here!” TB informed him. “We are boxed in. Three of us. Four dead bodies. Seven drugged women, if you count Cherry, and two hostages—Giudici and Deschamps.”
“I love a challenge,” Midas replied. “Okay. Nobody panic, but I’m sealing you in. Nova, reroute power to the computer panels for door seven to my control only.”
“Completed, Midas,” the AI confirmed.
“All right, you guys need to sit tight. The cavalry is on its way. I’m putting a drone up in the area to pull surveillance, and we’ll have you out of there as soon as we can. What kind of injuries do you have?”
Demon rattled off the situation. “Four DOA. One of the girls we saw, Matthew, and two adult males. The other six females appear to be conscious and unharmed but under the influence of some sort of hallucinogen. Cherry is unconscious. Vomiting. Also drugged, likely a hallucinogen. One male, unconscious but otherwise unharmed. One male, shoulder flesh wound.” The next comment he issued directly to the wounded man.
“Alive, unfortunately.” He shoved the man into the wall.
Looking at Steel, he told him, “Pressure on it and bind it.” Then he turned and went back to Cherry.
As he did a quick visual check of her for any injuries he might have missed, he called over his shoulder to TB.
“Make sure none of the girls are hit or have any injuries. If you see any bruising, open sores, signs of malnutrition, or anything that looks like physical harm, document it. We need a photo of each woman, a fingerprint scan, and two pieces of hair with shaft and follicle for identification and toxicology purposes. Same for the victims.”
TB and Steel went about assessing injuries, taking photos, scanning fingerprints, and collecting hair samples.
For the most part, now that the effects of the flash-bang had dissipated, the girls were calmer.
Depending on how long they’d been continuously drugged and with what, they would probably start coming out of the hallucinations and be frightened, but at least they were safe.
As Cherry’s eyelids began to flutter open, he gave a long, loud exhale.
Thank god she was waking up. The longer she stayed unconscious, the more he worried.
Vomiting whatever they’d given her was both good and bad.
It got it out of her system, but if it were an allergic reaction, it would be concerning since they were locked down for a while.
“Hey there, fireball,” he whispered. “Can you open your eyes for me, a chuisle ?”
Slowly, her eyes opened to half-mast. “Mmm, my ocean sex god. I smelled you, and I thought it was a dream.”
Grinning, he grabbed her wrist to take her pulse. “Nope. No ocean, just me.”
Her other hand reached up to cup the side of his face. “You always smell like sun and sand and sea. It’s how I always knew you were around before I saw you.”
“Well, that’s not good. Can’t sneak up on my enemies if they can smell me coming. Pulse is a little thready yet. How’s your head?”
He watched her frown and roll her head from side to side against the wall. “Everything’s really loud. Someone needs to tell those drummers to take it down a notch.”
“I’ll let them know.” She was still feeling the effects of the drug. “How did they drug you? Needle? Drink? Food? Do you know?”
She swallowed. “Drink. Why does my throat hurt?”
“You vomited not too long ago and started choking. I had to stick my fingers down your throat to get you to finish expelling it. You’ll probably hurt for a little bit.
I’d give you water, but we’re stuck here right now without any.
I don’t want to give you anything they brought in here.
” He rustled through his pockets and found a piece of wrapped candy he kept for this sort of situation.
He unwrapped it and held it up to her mouth.
“Open.” He popped it in between her lips.
“Hopefully that helps. Try not to chew it or swallow it whole, okay?”
“Butterscotch. Eww,” she complained, wrinkling her nose. “Better than vomit flavor though.”
He chuckled. “I bet.”
“I didn’t throw up on you, did I?”
“Eh.” He shrugged. “My shoes will survive. I’d be more worried about the video Steel took for the group chat.”
“Liar,” she said with a weak smile. Her eyes closed, her head lolling to the side. “So tired,” she mumbled.
He smoothed her hair back from her forehead. “Rest, a chuisle . It’s better you sleep through whatever this is. We’re stuck here for a while until Midas figures out how to spring us out of this tomb, anyway.”
“Thank you for coming for me.”
He could barely understand her, but he figured it out. “Always, fireball. I’ll always come for you.”
While he’d been checking in every thirty minutes, it was just over five hours later when Midas came back online with news. “Okay, get ready, boys and girls. I need you all to be gathered as far south as you can. Medusa is coming in hot with some fireworks on the north side. ETA seven minutes.”
There was a groan from across the room. “While I’ll be glad to get out of this stone abomination, I really hate being in any vehicle that woman is flying or driving,” TB complained .
“I don’t have any airsick bags on me, so D will have to stick his fingers down your throat if you start puking,” Steel ribbed him.
“Hardy-har-har. You don’t like flying with her either.”
“Yeah. But I don’t get airsick when I do.”
“Hey, dumbasses, don’t let Cherry hear you saying that,” Demon whisper-yelled.
“It’s okay for you to tease her, but not us?” TB groused.
“Yeah. I’m the one she threw up on.”
While TB started moving the girls into the southern corner of the building, Steel came over and crouched down at Demon’s side. “How’s she doing?”
“Okay. No more vomiting, but she’s feverish, and I don’t like her pulse rate. She’s in and out, but sleep is probably better for her right now anyway. Without knowing what they gave her, it’s difficult to say if how she’s reacting is normal detox or not.”
“Hallucinogen?”
“Yeah. She’s been saying some pretty bizarre things in her sleep. Given what’s painted on the walls, I can only imagine what she’s seeing.”
“She’s strong. She’ll be okay.” Steel turned his cold gaze on Demon, and he just barely managed to hold his stare. “You got your head straight and shit sorted?”
“Yeah,” he admitted.
“Good. You take care of our girl, and I’ll go get the douchebags.”
By the time Demon had relocated Cherry with everyone else in the south corner and taken cover as best they could, Medusa was on the line.
“Dropping the payload on my mark, two flight attendants will be available to assist you in entering the aircraft. Three… two… one… mark.”
Moments later, a crash shook the building, dust rolling in once again from the main room. The sounds of helicopter blades and machine gun fire filtered through the building. As soon as the shaking stopped, TB and Steel grabbed a prisoner apiece, then hustled the girls out into the main area.
Gilgamesh and Loki stood at the rubble to help the women get on the helicopter. “Please have your boarding passes ready, and no carry-ons allowed. This flight is at maximum,” Medusa called out. “We’re about to take additional enemy fire, so we need to clear the ground in a hurry.”
Demon waited with Cherry in his arms until all of the others were aboard, then, with the help of Gilgamesh, picked his way over the rubble.
Loki and TB each took an arm to help him into the helicopter so that he didn’t have to let go of the unconscious handler, but as soon as Gilgamesh was halfway in the chopper, Medusa was off and banking steeply.
Luckily everyone was strapped in… except for Gilgamesh, who was hanging half out, yelling about spanking Medusa’s ass when they got back on the ground, but she pretended she couldn’t hear him.
Demon paid no attention to anything else around him but the woman in his arms, still out cold.