by S. E. Meyer
Wesley let go of the wire, pointing. “There, grab those boxes in front of you and slide them under the wire.”
Isabelle pushed them under the wire wall and waited for George to return from placing them in the car. Red and blue flashes blanketed the warehouse walls. “We have to go, now!” Wesley yelled over the blaring sirens.
They pulled on the wire a second time as Isabelle crawled out and they ran to the car. Once inside, Wesley slammed on the gas, spitting gravel behind them as he spun in a half circle, lining them up with the gate. “Jax, did you remember to disable the auto collision avoidance system on this car?”
“Of course,” Jax replied.
“I hope it works.”
The car's headlights found the guard shack and Isabelle covered her mouth. “The gate's closed.”
“Yep,” Wesley replied.
George clenched his jaw. “And the cops are parked on the other side.”
“I'm aware,” Wesley replied, lining up the car with the middle of the gate.
“This car is full of C-4,” Isabelle added.
The car reached sixty miles an hour.
“Also aware,” Wesley replied through gritted teeth.
The car's speakers erupted with a warning.
'Erratic driving is dangerous.’
The vehicle crashed into the gate, blowing it off its hinges. Wesley veered right to avoid the cruiser parked in front of the guard shack and tore through the guard shack’s wall with the front passenger side of the car. The vehicle spun sideways and Wesley corrected as two officers fired their weapons. Bullets pierced through the quarter panel as Wesley turned the car onto the street, avoiding three more patrol cars.
“There went some paint,” George said.
An advertisement played through the car's speakers. 'Need a body shop? Get fifty dollars off your next visit to Bodyworks by saying yes, now.’
Wesley gritted his teeth. “Jax, you disabled all the auto-drive features, but never disconnected the wi-fi?”
He pushed the pedal to the floor as the red and blue lights of five police cars flashed in the rear-view mirror.
Jax shrugged. “I thought we might need the gps, traffic can get ugly.”
They passed three more police cars going in the opposite direction. The cars spun around, joining the chase.
“What are we going to do?” Isabelle asked.
Wesley continued to speed up. “We stick to the plan.”
'Traveling over the speed limit is not recommended.’
“Also aware,” Wesley replied, slapping the car's instrument panel.
The car raced through the city, weaving in and out of oncoming lanes, as the other vehicles on the street swerved to miss them, utilizing their collision avoidance systems. It jumped the curb on Fourth street, skidding through the intersection and then stopped.
The cruisers behind the car fanned out, blocking the street while five more police cars blocked the car in from the other three directions. The police car‘s drivers stepped out with guns drawn as an officer turned on a loudspeaker.
“We have you surrounded. You are under arrest. Come out with your hands where we can see them in the next ten seconds or we turn your car into a sieve.”
The car rested, idling, with no response from its occupants as an advertisement played across the vehicle’s speakers. 'Legal trouble? Call the professionals at Hardy, Wiley, Wiley and Tate for a free consultation.'
The officer held the loudspeaker to his lips. “Fire.”
A firestorm of bullets lashed against the car as the crowd of men emptied their weapons. The car's rear glass blew out as its tires deflated. It coughed to a stall while hundreds of rounds penetrated the metal body. The gunfire continued for several minutes, shattering the remaining glass and exploding the plastic marker lamps into shards.
As the officer's clips emptied, the street turned silent, a final piece of glass falling to the concrete with a lone clunk.
The officers held their positions for several more seconds while reloading. They crept towards the car with weapons aimed. An officer rounded the quarter panel and looked inside. He cocked his head while scratching his scalp. “What the hell?”
“What's going on?” a second officer asked as he approached.
“They're gone.”
“That's impossible,” the officer replied, ducking inside the vehicle and noticing a large hole in the car's floor in front of the back seat. He got down on one knee and inspected the space below the car, finding an open manhole. He stood before jogging back to the officer in charge.
“They're in the sewer.”
The officer's phone rang.
“Well? Do you have them?” Cornelius asked.
“Not yet, Sir. They got away.”
“How did you let that happen?”
“We'll go after them. They‘re in the sewers, Sir.”
“I'm sending fifty soldiers to your location.” Cornelius replied, ending the call.
Jax, Isabelle, George, and Wesley jogged along the tunnel, sloshing through angle-high water and refuse while cradling the boxes in their arms. They ran several hundred yards before Wesley stopped at an opening in the wall. He stepped through the jagged block, opening up into the subway system.
“Come on,” he urged. “We have to get these to a safe place and we have little time.”
CHAPTER VI
Anna clawed through the thick pine boughs, trudging her way uphill. Time slowed, making it feel as though she had been fighting the trees for hours. The sun had found its place to sleep for the night and darkness wrapped its arms around her struggling frame.
She accomplished the top of the hill, tripping on a branch and falling out into an opening in the forest.
Anna stood, brushing the pine needles from her hair as she stared at what was in front of her.
A concrete block wall.
Anna's jaw tensed, beads of sweat forming on her forehead and upper lip.
The wall stretched away from her in both directions in an arc. She touched the cold concrete, running her finger along the joint lines. The tooling was perfect with smooth meticulous pointing.
Anna walked the perimeter of the wall, arriving at an opening wide enough to enter. Her gaze followed the length of the inside. Someone built the wall in the shape of a large circle with only one opening on each end of the clearing. Anna turned, scanning the wall behind her. Although indifferent to walls, Anna could appreciate the time an ambitious effort such a task would consume.
A sudden thumping pounded the ground behind her and she whirled to see what made the noise. Inside the circle's center was a massive heart.
Anna wiped the sweat from her brow with a trembling hand.
She drew closer, in awe at the size of the organ. It's muscle contracted and pulsed in tandem with the pounding sound that rippled through her body.
The large red mass of tissue continued its never-ending task as Anna walked around it. She noticed someone on the opposite end of the wall, back turned to Anna and wearing an over-sized hooded sweatshirt.
The person was busy lifting blocks from a stack and placing them into the wall, then adding mortar with a trowel before placing the next block. Each movement achieved in perfect timing with the thump of the heartbeat at Anna's back. The person continued to work at closing the gaps and finishing the wall.
Anna's heart began to pound in her chest. Her pulse quickened and the pounding from the organ behind her paced the throb in her neck. Anna blinked, and the sound stopped. She spun in a circle, eyeing the wall. It was now complete.
And empty.
Anna was alone, encircled in the impenetrable barrier.
She fought for air, holding a hand to her throat as a gate appeared before her.
Anna blinked and Billy came into focus in front of her. He turned and walked towards the gate.
“No,” Anna cried out. “Come back.”
Billy continued on to the gate, disappearing through it.
He's gone.
Anna
dropped to her knees, burying her face in her hands. When she raised her head, Atticus was standing there.
“Atticus!” she called, but the man, like Billy, turned and disappeared through the gate.
Anna stood. “I can't watch this,” she said, turning around. As she placed the gate to her back Anna balled her fists, her body shaking.
A casket replaced the heart. Inside lie her mother's frame.
Anna once again dropped to her knees. “No, she whispered. I can't take it. Stop.”
She closed her eyes. “Help!” she cried.
Anna opened her eyes to find Shadow standing before her.
Help? A voice thundered through her head.
The wolf was speaking to her. Not speaking in the literal sense, but placing thoughts in her mind through telepathy.
Anna dropped her eyebrows, pursing her lips in thought as Shadow looked at her from behind kind eyes.
How can anyone help you in here with an impenetrable wall all the way around?
Anna shook her head. “How did I get in here?”
You are the only one that can answer that. This is your journey.
“But how did the wall get here?”
The person who built it worked arduously for years to fortify such a barricade.
“But who built it?”
What does your gut tell you, Anna?
“I don't know.”
That's the problem, isn't it? Your gut. Your women's intuition. That quiet little voice. It has never failed you through the years. You must always listen to your gut, Anna.
“I do.”
Do you? Like with the mushrooms?
Anna stood. “That's your fault for not letting me eat the food I found. The only thing my gut was doing was grumbling and growling.”
Shadow weaved his head back and forth. No, Anna. It was your mind and heart doing the growling. You allowed your roars of anger to drown out the quiet voice whispering inside you. The beating drums of hate, alongside the clamoring symbol of desire for revenge has consumed you, making it impossible to hear the string section of your heart or your mind's mellow pluck of the harp.
“I have every reason to be angry and hateful!” Anna roared. “Look at what Cornelius has taken from me.” She threw her hands in the air. “That man killed my mother, he stole her from me. And he took Billy too. He's stolen everyone I have ever loved.” She shook her head while wiping a tear from her cheek with her sleeve. “I'll never love again.”
'Not able to, or will not allow yourself to?’
“Not able to.”
'How can you have room in your heart for love when it is so full of hate?'
“How can I risk love when it always gets ripped away?”
Anna deflected, uncomfortable with the line of questioning. “The only thing I care about is taking down Cornelius Cromwell. I want him to die out here like everyone he's ever sent to this side.”
We are all connected Anna. Every living thing on this planet. All life is precious.
“What? That's rich coming from a wolf. You kill and take life all the time,” Anna barked.
Yes, and so have you, but do you eat what you kill? All those men you snuffed life from? How did they taste?
“Oh, so it's okay to kill as long as you eat it?” Anna shook her head.
I only take what was destined to die. The sick, the weak. To strengthen the herds of the forest and improve the colonies in the warren's is my purpose. What is yours, Anna?
“To take down Cornelius.”
Is it? What then?
“I don't know yet. I haven't thought that far ahead.”
Hmm.
Your purpose is greater than one life.
◆◆◆
David made it to the top of the stairs first and flew through the doorway. The three spread out, inspecting the kitchen and back bedrooms. “Someone's definitely been here. The cook stove is hot,” Jim called from the kitchen. David stepped across the threshold into the living room and smiled.
“There you are,” he said, looking at Anna‘s unconscious body lying on the couch.
Jim and Jane spilled out into the living room next to David.
“Is she sleeping?” Jim whispered.
“I don't know. Let's use that rope on the floor and get her tied up.”
“What are we going to do with her?” Jane asked.
David took the rope in one hand and nudged Anna's leg with the other. “Wow, she's really out. Jim, get over here and help me.” David coughed a spray of blood into his hand.
“What are we going to do with her?” Jane repeated.
The peckish feeling that gnawed in Jim's loins turned into an immediate and unstoppable need. “I'm not sure about you, but I know what I‘m doing with her.”
Jane went into a fit of jealous rage, jumping on Jim's back. “You both have me, you don't need her! Besides, the two of you can barely keep up with my needs as it is.”
David licked his lips. “Fresh meat.”
“Yes, meat,” Jane said. “We should kill her and eat her.”
“Why can't we do both?” asked Jim, wrapping the rope around Anna's legs and binding them together.
David used the other end of the rope to bind Anna's wrists and then continued to adjust her body as he wrapped the rope around Anna's torso, securing her arms to her body. “I agree with Jim on this.”
“No!” Jane yelled. She ran to the kitchen and grabbed a knife. “We eat her,” she said, still unwilling to share her men. She moved close to Anna's chest and raised the knife before bringing it down in an arc towards Anna’s heart.
David grabbed Jane's wrist, stopping the knife inches from Anna's skin.
“Oh, we’ll eat her,” David replied. “That‘s for sure. Jim, grab the hacksaw from the basement tool room. And see if you can find some twine.”
Jim disappeared through the basement stairwell, reappearing a moment later with the request. “What are you thinking David?”
David took the twine and cinched it below Anna's shoulder around her upper bicep. He pulled the string tight, cutting off the blood supply. “I'm thinking we'll start with a nice arm roast,” he said before lifting the hacksaw to Anna's upper arm.
“You're not going to kill her first?” Jane asked.
David smiled as he touched the blade to Anna's skin. “Why kill the whole cow for only a few steaks?”
CHAPTER VII
Damarion wrapped his fingers on the red oak table in the hideout's dining room. “So, everyone is here?”
Isabelle shook her head. “Everyone but Jax.”
Jax scurried into the room with a tablet under his arm, and sat down next to Wesley.
Damarion raised an eyebrow. “Any word?”
Jax shook his head. “No, nothing. Nothing from Atticus and I'm getting worried. Anna has to have made it by now.”
“We hope,” Damarion replied. “It was foolish of Atticus to have sent her out there. Now we have two of our most important team members in the wind. What was he thinking!” Damarion slapped his hand on the table.
George jumped.
“Oh, did I wake you?”
George Yawned. “It was a long night.”
“Come on, people, we have to stay focused here. Anna and Atticus are both out there somewhere and now the clock is ticking. We have to assume they will come through so we need to be ready. That means we have little time to set the explosives before they return. The timing is everything.” Damarion pressed his lips together before turning to Jax. “Where are we on the live feed hack?”
Jax scratched the back of his head. “Nearly there. I have a few more antennas to set in place but I'll be ready.”
Damarion nodded. “Good. And you've secured the charges?”
Jax nodded. “They're well hidden until we can get back and set them in place with the detonators.”
“What exactly is the plan here?” Isabelle asked.
“The plan is Atticus will send us a signal. When he does, we will take down a specifi
c fifty foot section of the north wall, all while being broadcast on every device in the city.”
“How is that going to help anything? What's the bigger picture here?”
Damarion leaned in, placing a hand on his chin.
“Atticus will bring a surprise with him. It will prove to everyone in the city there is a cure. We need to hang on long enough and hope Cornelius doesn't find us before Atticus and Anna make it back.”
◆◆◆
“Chamber, play Damarion file ninety-three.”
Cornelius yawned while tapping his foot as he watched Damarion exit his office. The scene changed, and Cornelius now stood watching as Damarion wept at Victoria‘s bedside.
“More of the same,” Cornelius grumbled. “I am losing my patience!”
The hospital room melted away as a new scene came into focus. Cornelius was now standing behind Damarion in front of a brick wall.
Damarion pulled out a plastic bag from his pocket, removing a severed thumb as Cornelius raised an eyebrow. Damarion pressed the thumb to the jamb, and the door opened.
“That's it.”
But where is it?
“Chamber, rewind two minutes.”
The scene faded to black.
“Chamber, play file.”
The scene remained dark until Cornelius found himself once again in front of the brick wall.
“Chamber, pause.”
He looked around, inspecting every detail of what he could see. Up and down the empty ally. Back to the doorway. He tried to see the adjacent building, but the picture blurred at the edges hiding any address. Cornelius huffed with a wrinkled brow, deep in thought.
He lifted his eyebrows.
“I know how I can fix this. Chamber, save image and forward to my tablet.”
Cornelius smiled.
“Chamber. Exit.”
He leaped from the bed; excitement masking his age as he scurried the steps to the ballroom.
“I have it!” he roared, snapping his tablet from his desk before jogging back into the ballroom.
“Here,” he said, handing the tablet to James.
“I want you to take that picture and run it through all camera footage throughout the city. Use all angles and every camera we have.”
