“Electric,” Seth notes. “Someone was hired to install these,” he says and I can already see the wheels spinning.
“Look for a paper trail when we get back,” I tell him, leading the way further into the unknown territory. “If Marcus hired someone, they may have seen him or someone who has.”
“Already noted.”
I have to stop before I get more than five feet in; there are so many rooms, so many branching paths. “It’s almost like a mine the way it’s built with a maze of halls.”
“Where do we start?” Seth asks. His expression appears overwhelmed as he moves his gaze from one hall to the next. All open doors, and all could lead to armed men or worse.
My brother comes up behind us, considering everything carefully. All the while I hear the tick of a clock in my head.
“It could take hours.” The second the words slip out of my mouth, I hear a skittering in the dirt.
A scraggly boy, thin but tall with lean muscle watches from the shadows to the left. The second I spot him, he takes off. My gun lifts first, instinctively ready, but he’s unarmed and I can hear his footsteps getting farther away.
“Left,” I yell out and chase after him. He’s the build of the kid who left the note on Carter’s windshield. “He works for Marcus.” My lungs scream as I chase after the kid, rounding a hall and barely spotting him through another. Seth’s right at my heels and the men behind him spread out, watching each door. Careful and meticulous, not reckless like the man in front has to be.
The need to find this kid, to stop him rages hard inside as I race through the underground, chasing after the sound of him running. He may know where she is. He’ll know what this place is at least.
I can hear them all behind me as Seth and I take the hall carefully, checking doors as we go.
My lungs squeeze and I struggle to breathe in the damp air as I lose the sound of him first. Then I lose sight of him with the sconces slowly flickering off and on.
It’s my worst nightmare. Trapped in a small space with everything riding on this moment and yet I have no answers and it’s all slipping away.
I don’t stop running, searching every corner with Seth and listening intently, only to run into a sign. A sign that stops both of us in our tracks. The sign the kid led us to.
Four lines are written on a board blocking the hall. The boy is nowhere to be seen although the click of a door sounds in the far-off distance.
Leave the boy.
All those who made a deal with Walsh can enter.
Everyone else leave now.
Or the girl dies.
“What happened?” Carter questions in a hushed demand as he comes up behind me. My heart’s racing, my palms are sweaty. He knew. Marcus knew and let us come.
“You have to go,” I answer him as I take in a deep inhale, feeling my pulse pump harder. I can’t lift my eyes from the sign. “Or the girl dies.”
She can’t die. Bethany needs her.
“He knew we were coming,” I speak loud enough for all of them to hear as they make their way into the space. “Get them out,” I tell Sebastian. “Get everyone out!” I have to raise my voice so Sebastian can hear.
“He wants us to know he knows and to admit it,” Seth speaks out loud, referring to the deal with Walsh.
“Admit it in front of our men,” Carter adds, looking behind him at the men lined up and ready to fight beside us. Ready to die for us.
“I couldn’t give two shits who knows.” My hiss of a mutter grabs his attention and I look him in the eyes and tell my brother, “I promised Bethany I’d bring her sister back.” The thumping in my chest rages. “Even if I have to go in alone.”
“I’m here, Jase,” Seth speaks up, reminding me I’m not alone.
Carter speaks before I can answer, “Then do it.” He doesn’t let go of me, he grips my arm and forces me to stand there a second longer. “Don’t get yourself killed.” He says it like it’s a demand, but it’s drenched with emotion.
“And to think, I was expecting you to tell me you love me,” I joke back in a deadpan voice even though dread consumes me. It’s just to ease the tension and hurt that riddle every muscle inside of me at the thought of Jenny being dead already and Marcus being one step ahead as usual. Merely toying with us.
“That too,” Carter adds.
With a farewell grip on his shoulder, I look him in the eyes and tell him, “I’ll try not to be stupid.”
“Go,” he tells me and shares a glance with Sebastian. With a nod of his head, Sebastian starts to lead the men back.