by India Kells
Luke nodded. Whether he survived or not, he wouldn’t settle anymore. He was done working for the Vigilante and its team, and having Sloane close, as it demolished his very soul. For the time being, he’d lie, the only one he’d ever tell her.
After a long silence and a quick nod, Sloane’s silhouette blended into the dark tunnels behind him. Less than a minute later, the eight men rolled their cargo past him.
Luke waited a few extra seconds before unfolding himself from his hideout. With the small explosive pad in hand, he examined the ceiling. There wasn’t a lot of time, but for his plan to work, especially with such a small charge, he needed the weakest structural point.
Following a large crack brought him deeper into the tunnel, much further than he’d anticipated, but there was no choice, and time was running out.
Grateful for his height, Luke placed the explosive, and walked back toward the exit as much as possible before taking out his gun. Flashlight in hand, Luke aimed at the charge, steadied his hand, and breathed. Now that the possibility of him getting out alive was reduced, his mind went back to Sloane. How he wished he’d kissed her one last time. She’d said she wanted to talk, and he briefly wondered why.
His thoughts were sidetracked as he heard a low sound in the distance, transforming into the whine of concrete mixed with men’s shouts and screams. That was his cue and he fired.
The explosion wasn’t powerful, but the tunnels around him shook like a wave, his body hit with enough force for him to fall back.
Concrete fell around him like rain, and faster than he’d estimated. How deep was he? Scrambling up, he sprinted toward the manhole leading out. There was a faint light coming from above, probably a nearby streetlight. Eyes set on his goal, Luke pushed his body to the very limit, his muscles screaming from the inhuman effort.
He’d almost reached it when something heavy fell on his back, making him stumble forward. He’d just about regained his balance when something sharp hit the back of his head and he was thrown forward to the ground. One by one, his limbs became trapped, and air exploded out of his lungs as his eyes blurred. He’d failed, but knowing that Sloane was alive and safe at the other end of the tunnel brought him a sense of calmness along with sadness. He knew he’d suffered a head wound and his chances of survival were almost nil. He tried again to get out from under the oppressive load but couldn’t move. Trapped underground, about to die, Luke cursed as he felt his life slipping away.
Chapter 24
For every hardship she’d faced, Sloane always believed there’d never be anything more difficult or painful ahead than what she’d just suffered. Maybe it was wishful thinking or a remnant of childhood fairytales, but for a long time, it worked—until now.
The moment the tunnel collapsed after the explosion and she emerged into the night air, panic seized her. Lance came running with Sam by his side, both men having secured the area. It took some time, and an incredible amount of skill from Devin over the comms to locate the other end of the tunnel, but he’d managed to pinpoint the location.
Sloane didn’t wait for the guys to attempt to reach Luke on his cell phone. Devin yelled coordinates from where he’d picked up a faint ping. It could be Luke, or it might not, but until she saw him out of the tunnel and alive and well, there was no way she’d assume he was safe.
Dawn was slightly coloring the sky through the buildings as the city came alive again, which increased the danger of them being discovered. Even below ground, the explosion had alerted the neighborhood, and sirens could be heard from all directions. Time was running out for them to get away. It took more time than she’d hoped, using side streets and back alleys to get to him.
It was a thin column of smoke and dust that was the final clue leading them to the other end of the tunnel. Tucked behind a small brick building, a broken gate was a clear sign they were at the right place.
No sign of those the truck that had dropped the cargo, but the manhole cover was askew.
“Luke!” Sloane knew it wasn’t sensible to bring attention to themselves but at that point she didn’t care, and removed her mask so she could shout louder. “Luke.”
“He’d be here if he’d gotten out and he’d at least tried to contact one of us.”
Lance’s word made her shiver. “I’m going down.”
Sam pushed the cover aside and Lance helped Sloane lower herself down the shaft.
Her lungs quickly filled with dust. It was difficult to breathe, much less see through the dense cloud of particles. All around her the sound of concrete crumbling told her that the rest of the tunnel could come down soon. Lance followed and Sam looked down the hole. “I’m gonna stand by. The emergency services should locate us soon. Devin is trying to mess with their GPS but that won’t work forever.”
Sloane lit her flashlight, but it barely broke through the dense wall of dust. A quick sweep of the light showed wide cracks. “Luke!” She didn’t hear a response or the usual echo from the tunnel, and when she risked a few steps, her boot kicked rubble.
“Luke! Answer me, please!” It became impossible not to scream as she called out to him, panic overwhelming her as she couldn’t help but cry. “Luke! If you’re here, make a sound!”
Apart from a hissing sound in the distance, and the pieces of concrete and dirt that still fell, she couldn’t hear anything. Lance swung his flashlight around, shouting Luke’s name while carefully advancing, scanning the area for any possible sign of life.
Her throat raw from screaming, Sloane almost didn’t hear a soft moan coming from her left. Her body moved before she saw him. His upper body and one arm lay exposed from underneath a small mound of stones and cement pieces. Beyond that point, the tunnel had collapsed entirely.
Falling to her knees, she ditched her gloves to touch him. His face and beard were covered in dust and there were thin rivulets of blood streaking his forehead. With featherlight fingers, she skimmed his skin, searching for apparent wounds and trying to coax him back to consciousness, only partly relieved that he was still breathing, even if only faintly. “Luke, love. It’s me. Open your eyes.”
Lance cursed, putting his flashlight down to start digging Luke out. “Sam! Get your ass in here, fast!”
Sam arrived in less than a minute and Sloane ignored both men as they dug to free Luke. Her only focus was on protecting Luke as she shielded his head from the falling rock.
She’d lost track of time as they worked to free Luke from the rubble, only registering how long it had been when she heard a noise behind her. Before Sloane could react to the possible threat, Melina was beside her, checking on Luke.
“Easy, Sloane, keep his head steady while I examine him. Arno is keeping watch topside until Josh arrives with a truck.”
Sloane would have lost it right at that moment if a shiver hadn’t shaken Luke’s body and a deep groan hadn’t come out of his lips. Now openly crying, she forced herself to smile when his eyes fluttered open. “Hey! Stay still.”
Luke blinked, lost, straining to look around, until his gaze focused on her face. “Are you okay? Why are you crying? Are you hurt?”
Sloane choked between laughter and tears. “You’re the one hurt, you big dummy. Stay still. Melina is checking to make sure it’s safe to move you.”
“I’m fine.” He tried to move, but Sloane kept him down. “We need to get to safety. The explosion...”
“Please, love, let Melina finish. We can’t risk moving you and causing more damage. You’re stuck until Melina gives the all-clear.”
Luke swallowed, his eyes roaming her face. “Then leave me here and call the police. The EMTs will find me and get me out, and your identity will stay safe.”
Sloane sniffed and tried to stem the flow of tears with her sleeve. “Are you out of your mind? I’m not leaving your side, not ever, you moron! I love you.”
Luke’s face softened, but Melina intruded on the moment. “Nobody is going anywhere. Luke, answer my questions.” The doctor asked him a few questions, prod
ding and moving his limbs until she finally allowed him to sit. “I suspect a concussion from what you’re telling me. And I don’t like the look of that gash on the back of your skull.”
With her hands still touching Luke, Sloane nodded. “So we can return to base?”
“I’d rather he had a scan. I have a friend at the hospital who owes me a favor. As soon as we get out of here, I’ll call him.”
Lance and Sam followed Melina to plan how to get Luke out, leaving Sloane and Luke in a small bubble of privacy.
For the first time, Luke touched her tear-streaked face. “The tears mixing with the dust on your face have made some wild patterns. It makes you look like one of those warrior masks I saw at a museum. But they don’t have pink hair. Why the tears? I’m fine.”
In a mirror image, she cupped his bearded cheek. “I thought you were dead with the others under the rubble. I shouldn’t have listened to you and made you come with me. I can’t imagine my life without you. I love you, Luke.”
He looked sad when she said those words. “Are you sure you’re not just saying that in the heat of the moment because I nearly died?”
“No, I knew it the moment I met you, although I refused to see the truth. I felt the connection between us, I wanted it, but it meant too much at the time. The other night with you, every doubt, every fear, every weakness I have, you turned them all to dust, but I was too stubborn still. Ben dragged me out of my room and made me realize what I had, and everything became so clear, so obvious, it almost knocked me over. From our first words in that classroom, to now, I’ve been yours.” Her tears returned, but Sloane smiled through them. “I’m still crazy and broken, and a Vigilante. I don’t think I can change any of that.”
Everything steadied inside her when Luke smiled in return and leaned forward to touch his forehead with hers, his fingers caressing her cheek. “You mean the beautiful, pink-haired storm who became the most unexpected urbex partner I ever knew? I wouldn’t change you, Sloane. All I want is for you to accept me for who I am, the same way I accept you. Let me in your heart, you already have possession of mine, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
It was too much for Sloane to take and all she could do was give him the gentlest, deepest, and the most real kiss of her life.
“Enough lovey-dovey. Luke needs to go to the hospital now and as the cops will start creeping up our asses in a matter of minutes, we need to go.”
Tearing her gaze from Luke, she looked at Lance who’d probably heard every word and nodded in approval. A new chapter of her life was starting, but there was still a lot to do.
Sloane wasn’t the most patient woman, and that would never change. It was deep in her nature, so even if Melina had sworn to accompany Luke to the scan and to remain with him the entire time, it didn’t make the waiting any easier. It wasn’t the waiting per se, but the possibility that the results would come back with worse news than a simple concussion, even though Luke had been lucid and well the ride over.
Sloane picked at her pants as she sat in the waiting room. She’d changed in the truck on their way there and the gray hoodie and green sweatpants had seen better days and could fit most of the men of the group, with the apparent exception of Lance and Joshua.
Twitching in his chair, Lance put a hand on her knee. “Please, breathe. Meditate, self-combust but stop moving. You’re making me nervous. Damn, your man isn’t in there having surgery. He’s not going to die.”
His huge hand was both comforting and tenderly awkward. They’d been friends for a long time, but it had remained distant, professional. Since she’d followed him to start Carpe Noctem and become one of the vigilantes, they’d become closer, along with the rest of the team. Tight-knit, dedicated, and loyal. More than friends... they were family.
Sloane put her hand on his. “I know. I’m sorry for being a pain, Lance.”
A low hum of laughter came from his big frame as his icy blue eyes sparkled. “You’re true, you don’t play games, and you’re fearless. You may be too intense sometimes, get in peoples’ faces, but you want wrongs corrected, justice served, the innocent protected. I don’t think anybody in their right mind would choose to be the Vigilante, not even me. But here we are, weird, imperfect, broken, and I wouldn’t want anybody else by my side for this, Sloane.”
Holding hands now, they remained still, in silent support of each other, until footsteps came down the hallway toward the waiting room. The sound wasn’t like the soft footsteps of the medical staff. They were from someone wearing boots, who knew exactly where they were going. Lance straightened, and Sloane half expected one of the team to burst into the room, but an unknown individual entered instead. He took two steps into the room before it became clear he was a cop on a mission.
Tall and built, maybe not quite as big as Lance, but close enough. He had short, light-brown hair, a square-set jaw, and headed directly to them. Sloane stood, everything in her bracing for an attack. Lance must have felt the same way because he did the same, unfolding his tall frame to stand. If she hadn’t been worried about this new arrival, Sloane would’ve been impressed by how the cop didn’t blink at the threat that her boss and friend posed by her side. On the contrary, his intensity toward Lance was palpable, and he addressed him first.
“You the two that brought Lucian Radcliffe here?”
Sloane took the lead, knowing what made a cop tick. “Who are you?”
Her stern tone barely made him pause. “Lieutenant Sawyer Kelly, Chicago PD. Who are you?”
“I’m Professor Radcliffe’s girlfriend and he’s currently being examined for a potential concussion and is indisposed for questioning at the moment.”
The man may have seen her as smaller physically, but she hoped for his sake he could read between the lines. “Then maybe you two can answer a few questions for me, especially about the fact that you dug him out following an underground explosion. And more importantly, how did you arrive on the scene so quickly? Some kind of sixth sense?”
Lance shifted, and she wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t like what he was hearing or he was biding his time to take the cop down.
“Do you know anything about urban exploration, lieutenant? Professor Radcliffe is an expert, he’s studied the field for years, but he also keeps safety in mind. He told me that he may have found a potential area of exploration. I knew where he was, and he called me when the explosion happened. That’s why we reached him so quickly.”
“And speaking of urban exploration, or more accurately the tunnels, don’t you find it strange that the moment the second explosion happened, a fascinating dossier is dropped on my desk. One that lists the Phantom trafficking routes using those same tunnels? Don’t you find the growing number of coincidences interesting, because I sure do.” Lieutenant Kelly’s stern gaze turned to Lance. “And you were conveniently there to help her get her boyfriend out of the tunnel?”
Lance took a step forward, coming nose to nose with the cop. The sight both awed and frightened Sloane, almost making her gasp. The testosterone was so high in the room, if a fight broke out, it would be like separating two wild beasts. Even with the gun hidden at her back, she doubted she’d be successful at separating the two men.
“She’s my friend and we work together. We were doing exactly that when she got the call from Luke.”
“Again, how convenient, Mr. Sorenson.”
“How do you know my name?”
Sloane’s heart slammed in her chest, triggered by worry deep down.
“Lance Sorenson. Founder of Carpe Noctem Consulting. Once I got a picture of you, it was easy to find you on different databases.”
Sloane knew Lance wasn’t the type of man to be easily shaken and wasn’t surprised by his response. “I always thought the police were supposed to find the criminals, not bother innocent people at the hospital. Why do I suspect that whatever I say, you won’t believe it?”
“I prefer to check everything for myself. But the noise brought onlookers out, and
so far, from what we can gather, people saw you leave, but not enter. You’re both quite stunning. It wasn’t hard for them to describe you. It was even easier to find your identities. So forgive me if I intend to verify your account. Someone who isn’t part of the police force is investigating Phantom, causing trouble and risking the lives of the citizens in our city. I don’t know if you two are involved, but if you are, I’ll find out. I’ll come back to talk to Professor Radcliffe later. And to both of you. Mr. Sorenson. Miss Friday.” With one last salute, the lieutenant turned on his heels and walked out.
It took a few breaths for Sloane to clear her brain from the confrontation and turn to Lance. “Do we need to be worried?”
Lance rolled his shoulders, but Sloane suspected it would take a little more than that to calm him down. “I’ve heard rumors about him since he switched squads. Straight as an arrow and persistent. Don’t worry about Luke. Kelly might know our names, but he’s got nothing on us.”
“Yeah, I got that. All bark and no bite. But for how long?”
Lance shrugged. “The positive side is if the cops are using Luke’s list, it means they’ll need to find another way to distribute Phantom and Luke is safe from now on.”
With a sigh, Sloane knew that even if she could relax over Luke’s safety, they’d still have to watch their backs. As civilians, cops looking for them could be annoying, but as the Vigilante, it could turn dangerous. So far, the authorities had left the Vigilante alone, but the wind could turn quickly on that front, too.
Melina returning with a comforting smile settled the situation for the moment, but in the back of her mind, Sloane knew that reality could hit with a vengeance, so the present moment, and seeing Luke, were the most important things in her heart and the world.
Epilogue
“I swear that if what I just stepped in is a pile of shit, you’re gonna regret it, professor.” Sloane knew she sounded grumpy, but she was smiling in the darkness as she followed Luke through a tunnel.
