by S. L. Eaves
“Pour water on it she says,” Sullivan laughs, “How are you not dead already?”
“I am,” I state flatly.
“Oh. Right. Well point made then,” he forces an awkward smile. I can tell he's one of those guys who laughs when he's nervous. Probably laughs at inappropriate times. Type of guy who's gotten a lot of side-eyes in his day. And I respect him more for that.
I take Arianne's hand in mine.
“Did the man put a vest like this on your mom?”
“No. He left her in the van. She was sleeping.”
So he still has her. And neither are here. I guess we've reached the next phase in our relationship; we've progressed from toying to eliminating.
“We are just waiting for our friends to arrive. There's a team of very nice helpful people coming to take this vest off you so we can get you out of here and home to your mom.”
She smiles, “A team of heroes like The Avengers?”
“Yes, exactly. Minus the colorful costumes.” I wink as footsteps approach.
“Down here,” Sullivan steps into the hall and waves.
“I'm going to step out to let our friends in, but I'll be right here.”
“Don't go,” she squeezes my hand.
The men in black tactical gear crowd the doorway.
“We need to clear the room miss.” A man places a hand on my shoulder.
“I'll be right outside. Okay? Let the heroes do their thing.”
I slip out, but remain in the doorway, never breaking eye contact with Arianne.
“Got it,” one of the men in black announces after several tension-filled minutes.
He cuts her hands and feet free, then slides the vest off her. The men place the vest in a container and disappear down the hallway.
Sullivan talks with one of the men, then joins me as I carry her out of the closet.
“All clear. They've got dogs going through the rest of the building, but we can safely assume the worst is over.”
“That's a relief. I don't know how those men do it.”
“Fortunately, in this case, it was a pretty basic bomb. The man I just spoke with said it was a simple configuration. Striden must not have the level of help he had in the past.”
“He also wasn't counting on me showing up before sunset. Didn't expect anyone to find her in time.”
“True. You think he did the same thing to her mom?”
I shake my head, “He must need her alive for whatever he’s planning.”
“Alright, well we're doing what we can to locate the white van he left in. I'll check with my team to see where we are with tracking it down.”
Sullivan starts for the stairs.
“Wait. Can you stay with the girl? Keep her safe?” I feel bad leaving her but the alternative is too dangerous.
Sullivan stops, smiles warmly at her.
“Of course. I bet you're hungry after that? You want some food?”
Arianne nods enthusiastically. “Pizza.”
“Pizza it is then.”
I hand her over to Sullivan.
“I'm going to track down your mom. In the meantime, Sullivan will take you to get some pizza. All right?”
She nods and I kiss her forehead.
“How do I stay in touch with you?” Sullivan asks as I head down the hall.
“Abrams gave me a phone. He'll know how.”
***
The sun is just setting as I return to my bike and light a cigarette. That felt good. But I won't get to enjoy it long. I take out my phone to call Crina and one ring in I realize it's unnecessary.
Turning at the sound of footsteps, I spot her as she steps into the alley.
“Hey, I—”
She promptly walks up to me and hooks me square in the jaw.
The blow knocks me back and I catch the wall for support, dropping the cigarette. Bracing myself, I wait for the next one. When it doesn't come I straighten.
“You could've pulled it a little,” I say, rubbing the left side of my face.
“You defied my orders. You work with us, you're with us; we work as a team. That's how we survive. How am I supposed to lead this clan if you're constantly going rogue and directly disobeying orders? What kind of message does that disrespect send? Regardless of how I feel about you, I won't stand for this insolence. It's not just going to get you killed, it puts us all in danger.” Spoken like someone who's had a little too long to rehearse the speech on her way here. But every word is justified.
“You're right. I'm sorry. Truly. It was messed up.”
I say it like I mean it because I do. I understand where she's coming from. But deep down I know if given the chance I'd do it all over again.
Her demeanor relaxes. “What happened in there?”
“Striden left Hailey's kid in the basement strapped to a bomb.”
“Shit. Seriously? Is the kid alright?”
“Yeah she'll be fine. Wait. How'd you find me?”
“Tracker in the suit.”
“Of course there is. So where's the cavalry?”
“In the van. We pinged Hailey's phone. If Striden still has it, we know where he is. I take it you didn't find her in there?”
“No. You're telling me you have a lead on his location?!”
She nods. “Outside L.A. They went directly to the location.”
“Great. Let's go.” I grab my bag from the dumpster. “Nice outfit by the way. Stop to rob a bank on the way here?”
“Someone stole our daylight suit,” she says sarcastically as she takes off her hoodie, along with the ski mask and goggles that'd been sticking out of her pockets and shoves them in my bag.
“When was the bomb set to go off?”
“Shortly after sunset.”
“So by now Striden knows his plan failed…or he will shortly. That's not going to bode well for Hailey. Or our element of surprise. Whatever he's planning, he's probably operating on a condensed timeline now that he knows you survived.”
I glide my bike up to where hers rests on the sidewalk.
“Can you call the others? Give them a heads up.”
She hands me a comm. “On it. And wear this at all times from now on, okay?”
Nodding as I slip it in my ear. “Understood boss.”
She rolls her eyes.
Chapter 26
“Take a left here,” Rex looks up from the screen in his hand as the van approaches a traffic light. Xan nods, turns the wheel.
“We close?” Quinn leans over their seats.
“According to this, about three miles.” Rex points ahead, “Right at the next street.”
“Good. We should find somewhere to stash the van. Approach on foot. Maybe by rooftop.”
There's a sudden thump followed by the breaking of glass as the roof of the van caves in above them. Tires squeal. Xan grips the wheel tightly as the van swerves sideways. The van is struck repeatedly as Xan wrestles with the wheel. Dade gets tossed against the back doors.
“What the hell?” Quinn draws her gun, fires into the roof.
“I got this.” Dade declares, as he scrambles to his feet, pushes on the handle and jumps out. He's immediately intercepted by two wolves.
“Wolves!” Quinn yells over her shoulder, as she arms herself with a silver blade and dives out after Dade.
The van veers to a stop when it collides with a brick wall, movement continues above them. Rex pulls glass from his forehead, blood streams down the side of his face.
“You alright?” Xan asks Rex. He nods, still stunned.
“I'm going out there. Arm yourself with something silver.” Xan kicks his door open.
Rex wipes blood from his eyes and moves to follow, but a wolf descends on the hood and pulls Rex through the shattered windshield.
They're out numbered, but benefit from experience. These wolves are untamed and reckless; clawing and biting at them with frenzied eyes.
Rex rips free and jumps on the roof to be at eye level with the wolf. The wolf lunges and Re
x loops his arm around the animal’s shoulder. The wolf rears its head and shakes violently while Rex attempts a strangle hold.
Shots ring out. The wolf cries and convulses, smacking Rex into the wall.
Another shot quiets the wolf. Xan climbs up onto the van and helps Rex to his feet.
“Did you really just try to choke a wolf with your bare hands?” Xan chides.
“Lost my weapon when it pulled me from the van. Thanks for the save.” Rex looks at the bullet wound above his right hip.
“Sorry about that, got a little trigger happy.” Xan hands him the gun. “Should be a few rounds of silver left.
They jump down from the van. The body of the one that attacked Xan lies bloody and naked by the back tire.
“Lost sight of Dade and Quinn. They had three or more wolves on them.”
Xan finds another gun in the footwell and points down the road.
“Let's go.”
Chapter 27
“Something's not right. They should've beaten us here.” Crina checks her phone. “Xan's not answering his phone or comm.”
We're standing in the hospital parking garage. There's a hum from the dim florescent lights that hang over the doorway. Other than a few ambulances parked along the far wall, the garage is quiet. No sign of Striden's windowless van. Not that I expected to find it.
“This place is pretty big, maybe they parked somewhere else. Wouldn't it have made more sense for them to park a few blocks away? Enter from roof or a less conspicuous access point?”
“Even so, Xan should be keeping me updated on their location. He hasn't checked in. Rex has a comm, too. Silence from both is a bad sign.”
“Could be the tech malfunctioned,” trying to sound optimistic as I slink along the perimeter of the garage trying to glimpse a sign of activity. Power seems to be restored in a limited capacity. There's a set of auxiliary lights illuminating the entryway with an orange hue. With no signs of cameras, I risk walking up to the entrance. The automatic doors don’t slide open when I approach.
“Did you guys have a plan?”
“Xan said the wing attached to this garage was registering power. Couldn't tell which floors. He was bringing thermal scopes to get a better idea on Striden’s location. It's a shuttered hospital, or medical campus, I believe he called it...so between Hailey's phone being here and power being on, it's safe to assume we're in the right place. Question is: Why aren't the others?”
Crina slides her rifle bag from her shoulder.
“We're basically going for element of surprise. He doesn't know we figured out his base of operations. He also, presumably, doesn't know we're all in California right now. But circumstances have changed somewhat. By now he's going to know you and the DIA are after him.”
“Which means we need to act fast.” I join her by the wall near the ambulances.
“I don't see any cameras.”
“Xan said this place has been out of commission since the nineties. They probably have a few on the premises, maybe where they kept drugs and whatnot, but I doubt Striden would bother to bring them online.”
“Well that works to our advantage.” I take out my gun and start for the doors.
“Wait. I'm not comfortable going in without knowing the whereabouts of the others.”
I stop, glancing over my shoulder, “You're not. He doesn't know you're here. You should take that sniper rifle of yours with the big silver core bullets and go somewhere with a vantage point of the building.”
“And let you go in alone? What if there's more wolves? He was working with Malik, we don't know who else.”
I hadn't really thought about that. Between not wanting people to know he's alive and the poorly constructed homemade bomb, I'd assumed he's flying solo; outside of whatever intel Malik had been feeding him, that is.
“I'm just going to scope the place out. I'll stay online and keep you posted on what I see. The others arrive you can send them in with the information so we're not all running in blind.”
She starts to protest as she thinks it over.
“You said yourself it's going to take some serious fire power to bring him down. Set yourself up with that rifle in range of the roof. He won't see you coming. Plus, you can watch for the others.”
After a moment she nods. “I'll take the rifle to the roof of the building across the street. If you encounter Striden, are you confident you can lure him up there? You're not going to do anything stupid?”
“I will get him onto the roof. Revenge is his endgame, not mine. I won't take matters into my own hands. I just want to free Hailey and whoever else he's got in here. He's your kill.”
It's what she wants to hear. She slings her bag over her shoulder and tosses me a pistol.
“Remember, just recon for now. Try not to be seen. But if you are spotted, it's loaded with silver rounds. In case he's got friends. Be on high alert.” She taps her ear. “And stay online. At all times. Hopefully we'll hear from the others soon.”
With that she disappears down the ramp at the far end of the garage.
I pry open the sliding glass doors and begin to make my way through the waiting room and down the nearest hallway, peering into the rooms as I pass. Crina said this was the only wing of the hospital with power so he has to be here somewhere, yet this place looks untouched since it shut down.
Upon confirming all the rooms are empty I turn down the connecting wing. Another long line of rooms. There's a stairwell here too. Time to check a different level.
Heading for the stairwell, I whisper into the comm, “All clear on the main level. No activity.”
As if on cue, the floor creeks behind me.
I freeze, sniffing the air. Wolves.
When I spin around I find the hall I just cleared now occupied by a wolf slinking slowly along on all fours and a young man with a gun aimed in my direction. That didn't take long.
“Correction. I've got company.”
So much for recon. Through the static of the comm I hear Crina asking me what I see.
Striden appears behind them, holding a gun to Zach's head.
He got him, too.
“It's about time you showed yourself.” I inch my way down the corridor towards them.
Striden stops when he reaches his two lackeys and laughs menacingly.
“Admittedly I was a bit disappointed by the lack of chaos in downtown Los Angeles earlier. And to see you here now...How is it I continue to under estimate you? On the plus side, we'll get to finish what we started the other night.”
“Not if you continue to hide behind your wolves and use humans as shields.”
“Him? He's no human,” Striden smirks at Zach who glares back at him.
I move closer, hand on my sidearm.
Striden presses the gun to Zach's temple.
“That's close enough. Drop your weapons. I don't have to tell you what'll happen if you don't.”
The wolf snarls, ready to attack. He's the least of my problems at the moment, but he's an effective buffer.
“No, Striden, why don't you tell me what'll happen if I don't.”
I'm quick to call his bluff. He may not be bluffing, but I can't resist the urge to push his buttons. Hopefully not at Zach's expense.
“It's a simple concept, even you should understand. Surrender and your friend here lives. Despite what you want to believe, I'm a man of my word. You want your friend here to survive this? I want you more than I need him. I'm open to a trade.”
The man to his right smiles. Sorry Zach, we both know he's not letting you walk out of here. And I won't be able to lure Striden onto the roof if I surrender now.
“Okay,” Playing along, I slowly lower my gun to the ground.
“Don't try to play like you just brought one weapon.”
Reluctantly, I slide Crina's pistol from the small of my back and place it next to my gun.
He eyes Crina's silver pistol and grins. “On your knees.”
Hands raised, I slowly drop to my knees.
“Where's Hailey? You want me to cooperate, you gotta let the humans go. Him, the girl and anyone else you're keeping in here.”
“No deal.”
Striden nods at the man to his right. He fires his gun. A dart lands in my chest. I look down at it expectantly, when nothing happens I pluck it from my suit. I recognize the electrified darts from Trion. Both Trion and DIA use the stingers to neutralize enemies; a mobile stun gun. Acute and effective. If I weren't still wearing the daylight suit, it might have immobilized me temporarily.
Striden gives an agitated grumble. “If you're going to shoot, make it count. Head or neck, anywhere not covered by protective gear.”
“Sorry, boss,” he stammers, as he raises the gun to my head.
“Just toss her the cuffs,” Striden sighs.
The man removes cuffs from his back pocket and slides them across the linoleum. I look down at the thick steel, the inside rim glows blue. They're electrified, too. Striden isn't playing around with these. I put them on, I'm seriously compromised.
“I don't have all day,” Striden barks. The wolf to my right begins to approach, saliva drips from his fangs.
Judging by the way he's acting, he doesn't know about the others. Which means the best thing I can do right now is buy time and wait for my small army of relievers to tag in. Crina has been silent on the comm, which is less than reassuring.
Crina please abandon the plan and get in here.
“Okay, okay.” I begin reaching for the cuffs.
“No, he's lying. Don't do it!” Zach protests, trying to rip his arm free from Striden. We all jump at his sudden outburst. Striden fires a warning shot at his feet.
My hand moves from the cuffs to Crina's pistol and the wolf pounces.
Zach rams his elbow into Striden's side, breaking his hold. By the time I bring the gun up, the wolf is on top of me. The first shot lands in his shoulder. Silver through the heart or head. Shoulder will hurt, but it won't help me. Wrestling with the wolf, I manage to flip him off me by applying pressure to his wounded shoulder.
You’re not the only one with claws.
He howls and I waste no time firing a second shot. This one connects with his head.
