Merging Darkness

by Marissa Farrar

  Following Alex’s long, lean form, I hurried down the stairs. I held my gun at my side, my fingers tight around the grip. I didn’t know if Hollan’s men knew about this access route, but I was prepared for them anyway.

  “Where’s your aunt supposed to be hiding with the boys?” Alex called back to me, his voice low.

  “In the gun range, right at the back. That’s what we’d agreed on, anyway, but there’s no saying they’ll still be there. Hollan or his men might have found them, or they thought they were going to be found, and so they moved themselves.”

  “Well, we’ll find out soon enough.”

  We reached the bottom of the stairwell, and pushed out onto the floor where the gun range was located. It was still too quiet, and the silence unnerved me. Where was Hollan? Where were Isaac, Clay, and Lorcan? Had something happened to them? I needed to focus on my aunt and the boys, but I couldn’t stop my mind wandering.

  We pushed out of the doors, side by side, checking to make sure the corridor was empty. There was no sign of anyone. We sneaked out, both of us moving at a run now, staying on tiptoes to try to reduce the noise. My heart thrummed in my chest, filled with the terrible anticipation that all we’d find in the gun range were the bodies of my aunt and the children.

  At the end of the corridor, we reached the door for the gun range. The light wasn’t on to say it was occupied, but then I figured they wouldn’t exactly have wanted to advertise their presence. Because the gun range was soundproofed, it was impossible for us to hear if there was any movement happening inside.

  I felt physically sick as I tried the door, terrified of what I might find.

  It was locked.

  Of course it was locked. I didn’t know why I’d considered for a single minute that Sarah wouldn’t have locked the door behind her. As soon as she heard the base being attacked, she would have brought the boys down here and locked them in to keep them safe. That was the main thing to focus on. If they were inside this room, it meant they were okay.

  “Aunt Sarah?” I hissed against the door. I tried to remember if the door itself was soundproofed. I thought it might have been, but I couldn’t remember for sure.

  I didn’t want to raise my voice, knowing it might be heard by the wrong people. But, assuming she was here, she needed to know I was here and that we were going to get them out.

  “It’s me, Aunt Sarah. Are you there?” I increased my hiss to a louder call.

  “It’s soundproofed,” Alex said. “She’s not going to hear you.” He nudged me to one side. “Let’s try this instead.”

  He reached to the left of the door and hit the button that would cause a light to flash above the inside of the door, and alert whoever was inside to there being someone who needed to get in. Problem was, Sarah had no way of knowing it was us. We could just have easily have been Hollan and his men.

  I looked up to Alex, my eyes wide. “What if she won’t open the door? She has no way of knowing it’s us.”

  He stared back at me, his blue gaze meeting mine. “I’m not sure.”

  We couldn’t leave here without them. They’d need to come out at some point. But what if something terrible happened and this place came down around their heads. They’d be trapped.

  I pushed Alex’s hand out of the way and tried the buzzer myself. I willed Sarah to understand that it was us here, and not Hollan, trying to push the essence of myself out to her. I knew it was crazy, willing her to do something—it wasn’t as though we had some kind of psychic connection—but I didn’t know what else to do.

  My mind flitted through options.

  “Wait. If I press this buzzer, the light inside flashes on, right?”

  Alex nodded. “Right.”

  “So maybe we can use that to get a message to her.”

  He looked at me as though I was crazy. “What kind of message?”

  “One she knows I’d understand.”

  I took a breath, and then hit the button three times in quick succession. Then I waited and repeated the process, this time holding the button down for longer each time I pressed it. Then I paused again and hit it three times quickly.

  Alex stared at me. “Morse code. You’re doing SOS.”

  I nodded, and repeated what I’d done. I prayed this would work. Come on, Aunt Sarah. Come on. See what I’m doing here. I kept hitting the button, repeating the pattern over and over.

  To my surprise, the door buzzed open.

  I flashed Alex a smile of relief and happiness that it had worked. I moved to take a step inside, but he put out his arm to stop me. “Let me go first. We still don’t know for sure that she’s the person inside.”

  I wanted to tell him it was fine, but he was right. I couldn’t let my sudden burst of enthusiasm make me reckless.

  We stepped through the door and into the space beyond. My eyes adjusted to the dim light. Only the security lights were on around the walls. The space was divided by partitions, and right at the back were the hangings of the silhouettes of people used for targets.

  At first I couldn’t see anyone, but then the familiar shape of my aunt stepped out from behind one of the partitions. In her hands was a large gun, and it was aimed directly at us, but then she must have realized who we were as she lowered the weapon, and her shoulders visibly dropped.

  “Oh, thank God, Darcy. You’re safe.”

  I lowered my own gun and ran to my aunt. We scooped each other up in a hug.

  “I was so worried you’d all—” I couldn’t say the words. “Where are the boys?” I asked instead.

  Something moved behind the targets at the back, and, in the dim light, I spotted a number of pairs of feet. The boys started to appear from behind the target, little heads popping up like cautious rabbits from a burrow.

  I exhaled a sigh of relief. They were all here.

  I turned my attention back to my aunt. I might have found them, but we were still far from being safe. “Have you seen Hollan?”

  She shook her head. “No. We heard shooting and came straight down here, like we’d planned. We’ve been hiding here, wondering what to do. I didn’t want to bring them out, just in case ...”

  “You did the right thing. We need to get you all out of here.”

  “We can fight,” one of the older boys said.

  Alex stepped in. “We just need to get you somewhere safe. Isaac and the rest of the team are handling everything. You getting involved will only make things more complicated.”

  The boy seemed to accept what Alex had said. I figured they were all still too frightened to start arguing. They might be being trained for this kind of thing, but they were still years away from being ready. Besides, they were children, and most of them had experienced loss in their lives. Death wasn’t an abstract thing they believed would never affect them. They’d already been through enough to know it could strike at any moment, and, when it did, the effects were permanent.

  “Come on, let’s get out of here. We’ll use the stairs. It’ll be safer than using the elevators.” I hoped I was right. The elevators might be being covered by Hollan’s men, but there was no doubt that they would be infinitely faster. I wondered why we still hadn’t seen the bastard.

  Had he retreated? Had he lost too many men and decided it was time to cut his losses, or had Isaac and the others already killed him? But, if that was the truth, where was Isaac now?

  We ushered the boys toward the front of the shooting range. There were twice as many children here as there had been at the other bases, all ranging in age from about seven to twelve. Alex led the way, and I stayed next to my aunt. She looked understandably pale, the skin across her already high cheekbones taut, her mouth thin with worry. I wanted nothing more in that moment than for her to be able to go home, to continue with her life, work hard at her business, and never have to deal with any of this shit again.

  “Let’s move,” Alex hissed back at us, and he pushed the door open with his shoulder. The boys were crowded behind him, and I prayed we wouldn�
�t come face to face with anyone. If a shooting match started, someone was bound to get caught in the crossfire.

  We ushered them along the corridor, toward the door to the stairwell.

  The heavy thump-thump-thump of several feet pounding toward us made Alex lift his hand, telling us all to stop. Leaving my aunt at the back, I slipped past the boys, my gun raised, ready to start shooting. My mouth ran dry, my hands shaking, so I tightened them around my weapon. I pressed my back to the wall, my aunt and the boys behind me doing the same thing.

  Alex leaned out, ready to put a bullet in whoever was coming.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I was frozen against the wall, my heart pounding.

  “Hold your fire,” Alex called out to me. “It’s Isaac and the others.”

  I slumped with relief. “Oh, thank God.”

  We rounded the corner together, and I couldn’t help but smile as I saw Isaac, Clay and Lorcan walking toward us. They all looked to be uninjured, other than what we’d suffered in the crash. I held myself back from running up to each of them, and hugging and kissing them in turn. Instead, we exchanged smiles of relief, and I could tell simply from the looks in their eyes that they were pleased to see us, too.

  A couple of the younger boys ran up to Isaac and Clay, hugging them around their waists. The men looked to Sarah, too, nodding their welcome.

  “Thank you for keeping the boys safe,” Isaac said to my aunt.

  She gave a tight smile. “It was the least I could do.”

  I noticed they didn’t have the other two men with them. “What did you do with the hostages?”

  Clay pushed his hand through his hair. “Tied them up in the kitchen and left them there. We hadn’t seen any sign of Hollan, and they were slowing us down.”

  “And the guy with the bullet wound in his leg was bleeding out everywhere,” Lorcan said. “He was going to give us away with a trail if we weren’t careful.”

  I lifted my eyebrows at Lorcan. “You’re such a bleeding heart.”

  He shrugged. “Only for people who deserve it.”

  Considering those guys had brought down the chopper and killed Jonathan, I thought he probably had a point.

  “But you didn’t come across Hollan?”

  “Nope. And we’ve been on every level now. This was our last one. We came across more of his guys—each casing the place in pairs, but we took them down.”

  “So where the hell is he? Do you think he just left?” I hated the possibility that he may have slipped through our fingers yet again. I needed this to all come to an end.

  Isaac shook his head. “I have no idea, but we need to get everyone out of here. This place isn’t safe.”

  “We’ve left Kingsley and Devlin in the control room,” Alex said. “Devlin’s still cuffed to that chair.”

  Isaac’s lips thinned. “We’ll take the chair with us, if we have to.”

  ”Let’s stick to the stairs,” Lorcan said. “Something about this doesn’t feel right.”

  “I know what you mean.”

  We hurried to the staircase. Isaac and Alex led the way. The boys were right behind them, moving as a pack. Then it was me with my aunt, followed by Lorcan and Clay.

  “Keep going, sugar,” Clay said, glancing over his shoulder to the door we’d just entered by. He clearly thought there was a chance we might be followed. “I’ve got your back.”

  I was glad he did.

  As a now large group, we continued up the stairs, leaving one floor behind us, then the next, decreasing the distance between us and the outside world. My thighs burned with the exertion, and my breath grew tight in my lungs. I didn’t want to be down here any longer. I had a bad feeling about this place, as though our moments here were numbered.

  From somewhere in the walls came a crackling noise, and then a voice came over the intercom. “I know you can hear me.”

  I froze, my heart lurching, instantly recognizing who the voice belonged to.

  Hollan. That son of a bitch.

  Hollan’s voice continued, blaring from the walls. “If you want to see your boss alive again, and the black guy, too, I suggest you all come up to the control room right now.” There was a pause, and then he added, “And yes, Darcy, I’m talking about you, too.”

  We each exchanged a glance. Shit.

  My stomach cramped with anxiety. I’d known this was all running too smoothly. Something was bound to have gone wrong. Now Hollan was up in the control room with Devlin and Kingsley. Devlin was cuffed, and Kingsley was hurt. I didn’t know how Hollan had managed to sneak back in there. Perhaps he’d been hiding there all along, biding his time, and waiting to make his move.

  “Fuck,” Lorcan swore. “We’ve combed this place. Where the hell has he been, the coward?”

  Isaac shook his head. “He lost too many men, so he’s just been hiding while we searched this place? That’s an all-time low, even for him.”

  But hiding and taking Kingsley and Devlin hostage meant Hollan was desperate. He didn’t have any men left, and we far outnumbered him. Didn’t that mean we’d won? The boys and my aunt were hopefully going to be safe now.

  But no, he had Kingsley and Devlin, which meant he still had one over on us. I knew we shouldn’t have left them.

  “Can my aunt take the boys out of here?” I asked. “Is there an exit to the outside world if they keep going up?”

  Isaac nodded. “Yeah, the escape route. It’s a hatch, like the one where the elevator is, only without the car. It’s only accessible from the inside. You’ll need a code—four, eight, nine, nine—to get out. I guess I don’t need to ask you if you’ll remember the number?”

  Lorcan lifted a hand. “Wait, she can’t go with them. Hollan wants her there, too.”

  Isaac’s lips thinned. “The moment we see Hollan, we’ll put a hole in his head. I’m sick of the son of a bitch’s games. This ends now.”

  “But he wants Darcy there,” Lorcan insisted. “What if he kills Devlin or Kingsley the moment he doesn’t see her?”

  “Lorcan is right,” I agreed. “I’ve always felt this was personal between me and Hollan. I’ve known the man since I was a child. He killed my father. How could I not think it was personal? He obviously feels the same way.”

  Clay folded his arms across his chest, his stormy eyes darkening with anger. “So we just give him what he wants? We give him Darcy? Are you fucking kidding me right now?”

  “We’re not giving him Darcy,” Isaac said. “We’re all right there. There’s no way he can win this. It’s seven against one.”

  The angry glare of Clay’s eyes didn’t lessen. “Unless he has a whole army he’s going to bring down on our heads.”

  “We took care of the men aboveground, and the ones he brought down here.”

  “As far as we know,” I pointed out.

  “We have to go,” Isaac said. “We can’t abandon Kingsley and Devlin.”

  He was right. There was no way any of us would do that.

  “Let’s get Sarah and the boys to safety first.” I handed Sarah my gun. She must have left the one she’d had down at the gun range. “I don’t think you’re going to need it, but just in case. Run for the tree line and wait for us there, okay?”

  “Come with us, Darcy,” she pleaded.

  I shook my head. “I’m sorry, I can’t.”

  “Please.”

  “Take the boys and get out of here and hide. Can you do that?”

  Her gaze searched my face. “What if he sees us?”

  “We won’t let him see you. That’s what we’ll be doing. We’ll be dealing with him, once and for all.”

  She stared at me, and I saw the anguish in her eyes, how she wanted to grab me and drag me with her, while knowing I’d never do anything I didn’t want to. My stubbornness was even worse than hers. I guessed it ran in the family.

  I pulled her to me and gave her a squeeze. “We’ll be with you soon. Just look after the boys until then, okay? Then this will all be over.”

/>   I knew it was a big ask, but my heart was torn between making sure Kingsley was safe, and wanting my aunt to be reassured. I didn’t have feelings for Devlin, but I knew they all looked up to him, and anything that would hurt these men would hurt me, too.

  “What’s the code to release the hatch?” I asked her, wanting to make sure she knew it.

  “Four, eight, nine, nine.”

  “Right.” The numbers danced around my vision. “Now, go.”

  She gave me a final glance, and then ushered the boys up the final set of stairs. We waited until we heard a beep, and then a gust of cool, fresh air filtered down into the stairwell. I wished we’d done more for them, and I prayed they’d all be safe out there now. Maybe we could have sent a couple of the guys to help protect them, but then what if they were perfectly safe—they were the ones who had escaped, after all—and it was Kingsley and Devlin who suffered the punishment of us not all turning up, despite Hollan’s instructions?

  “Okay, let’s do this,” Isaac said.

  We went to the door Alex and I had initially come through when we’d left the control room.

  Pushing through, I took a moment to piece together what I was seeing.

  Devlin was still in the chair, and, in a second chair beside him, was Kingsley. He looked furious, his neck sinking into his bulked shoulders, reminding me of that half bull, half man creature, the Minotaur. Behind him stood Hollan, and, as I’d pretty much expected, he pressed the muzzle of a gun into the back of Kingsley’s head.

  “Don’t you dare hurt ...” I began, but then my words trailed away. Something else had caught my eye, and I realized both Kingsley and Devlin were looking that way, too. All eyes were glued on the screens which surrounded us. Automatically, I followed their gazes.

  They were no longer blank.

  I gasped and clamped my hand to my mouth.

  There, multiplied over and over on the screens, were the same live images.

  We were looking at the boys Hollan had taken. Metal circles were around their wrists, the circles attached to chains, and the chains all attached to another hoop embedded into the concrete floor. A couple of the younger boys were crying, the older ones trying to comfort them, while looking close to tears themselves.