Tempest, page 32
The whites of her eyes showed, and she looked ready to hyperventilate. I lifted my hand from her mouth. “Talk.”
“You go past the elevator and turn right at the end of the hall,” she rasped. “It has double doors.”
“What kind of security is there?”
Her throat worked. “N-none. They might have left some guards with the werewolf.”
“For your sake, I hope you’re telling the truth.” I spun her and put her in a sleeper hold. When she was out, I divested her of her key fob, flashlight, and name tag, and put her in a small bathroom at the back of the locker room.
I did a quick search and found nothing to remove the shifter collars. Hopefully, we’d find something in the storage area.
Grabbing the helmet, I ran back to the holding cells. The werecougars were pacing the hallway when I let myself in.
“Took longer than I expected.” I hurried past them to the door on the other end and unlocked it. I entered the demon section and went straight to the cells holding the Vrell demons.
I freed the first one and thrusted a key fob at him. “Free everyone – except the vampires. I’m taking my friends and getting the hell out of here.”
The stunned Vrell demon took the key fob. I didn’t wait for him to speak. I turned and ran back the way I’d come, ignoring the demons staring at me from their cells. Back in the shifter section, I told the werecougars where I was going.
“You better come with me,” I said as I headed for the door. “You can’t go anywhere here without a key fob.”
They followed me out of the cells. I put on the helmet when we reached the main elevator and ran to the storage area. There was no telling when someone would discover we were missing and raise the alarm.
When I reached the double doors, I slowed and turned to Felix and Lena, who were right behind me. “There might be guards inside. I’ll go first to check.”
I unlocked the door and opened it. Seeing no one, I motioned for the cougars to follow me and quietly closed the door behind us.
The storage area looked like the interior of a small warehouse. The walls were lined with industrial shelving full of boxes and crates, and a forklift stood beside several pallets of boxes.
Voices and laughter came from my left, along with the clang of something striking metal. I followed the noise and peered around a corner at a sight that ignited my rage.
A cage sat in the middle of the floor. Inside the cage stood Ronan, snarling at two guards banging their batons against the bars. Their helmets were on the floor a few feet away, so I saw their amusement when one of the batons shocked Ronan, making him yelp.
“Stay here until I call you,” I told the cougars, and I walked around the corner. I was almost to the cage by the time the guards noticed me.
“Tracy, I thought your shift was over,” one of them said before he realized the face beneath the helmet wasn’t hers. “Hey, you’re supposed to be in –”
He didn’t get to finish that sentence. I pulled my baton and slammed it against the side of his head. His friend went for his baton, but I was on him before he could get it out of the holster.
“How do you like this?” I ground out as I used the business end of the baton to give the guard a taste of his own medicine. His clothes protected him from the full force of the shock, but it was enough to make him spasm and collapse.
I dropped the baton and ran to the cage. The door was locked, and I had to search the guards for the key. Ronan stood quietly watching me as I unlocked the door and opened it. I moved back to let him out, but as soon as he stepped out of the cage, I threw my arms around his neck and buried my face in his thick fur. He smelled like antiseptic and chemicals, but underneath was his familiar woodsy scent.
He didn’t react to my hug, and I tried not to let it bother me. For now, having him with me was enough. There were so many things I wanted to say to him, but this was not the time. We needed to find Summer and get out of this place.
I let him go and stepped back. At a sound behind me, I looked to see Felix and Lena walking toward us.
“Help me look for something to get those collars off,” I said.
We did a quick search, which turned up nothing, but I did find a wall map of the facility. This place was bigger than I’d thought. The first level was living quarters, and the second and third levels were labs and a surgical area. The bottom level housed the guard quarters, storage, mechanical rooms, and the cells. There were two whole cell areas I hadn’t seen, but we had no time to check them out.
I wanted to jump up and down when I saw the words NORTH EXIT on the top level near the stairwell. This was it, our way out. It would most likely be guarded, but we’d deal with that when we got there. One hurdle at a time.
“I need to find my friend Summer,” I told the cougars. “She’s a werewolf, and she’s been gone from her cell for two days. Do you know where they might have taken her?”
Felix stood on his hind legs and placed his paw over an area on the level above us, which said OBSERVATION.
“Is that area guarded?” I asked him, and he nodded.
I puffed out a breath. “Okay. When we get to that level, you three will stay on the stairs while I go in to look for her. First, I need to hide these guards in case someone comes in.”
I dragged the two guards out of sight behind the forklift. A thought occurred to me. I searched their pockets and found a collar transmitter, which I stomped to pieces with some satisfaction.
The guards were going to wake up with bad headaches, but they deserved much worse. If I had my way, everyone here would spend years in cells like the ones they’d kept us in.
We left the storage bay and made our way to the stairwell. Like the elevators, it required a key fob to gain access. I went first, hoping we didn’t encounter anyone on the stairs. I was confident I could take them, but I couldn’t risk a guard activating the shifters’ collars. I didn’t know if all the guards carried a universal controller for the collars or if there was a specific controller for each collar.
We reached the first landing without incident. I unlocked the door and went into what resembled a surgical wing of a hospital. On my right was a corridor with a sign above it, which read SURGERY. Ahead of me was another corridor lined with doors. The first one was a cleaning supply room, and beside it was a room for soiled equipment and materials to be cleaned and sterilized.
This level had low lighting, and it was quiet except for the hum and beep of machines and the murmur of voices. I walked down the corridor, and the voices got louder until I reached the partially open door of a staff lounge. Inside, two women in green hospital scrubs sat at a table drinking coffee, and they didn’t spare me a look as I walked by.
I slowed at a nurses’ station where a man in scrubs typed on a keyboard. He gave me a harried, inquisitive look as I approached.
“I’m checking to make sure the imps didn’t come back,” I said.
The man sneered. “You guys should have caught them by now. We’re down to one surgical room until we get the other two repaired.”
“We’re working on it.” I walked past him, and my pulse jumped at a sign marked OBSERVATION above three glass-walled rooms.
The first two were empty, but there was a shape draped with a sheet in the third one. I entered the room and walked around the machines hooked up to the person on the bed. My heart plummeted when I saw golden fur, not red.
“You’re not supposed to be in here,” barked a man from the doorway. He was the one from the nurses’ station.
I left the room. “I thought there were two werewolves here.”
“Dr. Clark had his moved to his private lab upstairs for closer observation.” The man eyed me suspiciously. “Why do you care where it is?”
“Because she is my best friend,” I wanted to say before I punched him out. I couldn’t do either, so I shrugged. “Just curious.”
I headed back to the stairs with a crushing weight on my chest. Even if I could find Summer in the maze of labs on the second level, I’d never be able to move her. There were too many people there and guards at every exit.
If it were only me, I’d attempt it, but I couldn’t risk Ronan getting caught and locked up again. We’d never get another chance like this. As much as it killed me to leave Summer behind, the best thing I could do for her was escape and get help.
Ronan, Felix, and Lena watched me quietly when I rejoined them, and I shook my head. “She’s not there. We need to leave without her.”
I continued up the stairs, and they followed. On the second-floor landing, I stopped and looked at the closed door. Summer was in there. After all these months, she was so close, and I was abandoning her.
“I’m sorry, Summer,” I whispered. “I promise I’ll come back for you.”
Felix nudged me with his nose, and I climbed the last flight. I was almost at the top when the lights started flashing red and an alarm rang out. I looked back at the others as a door opened somewhere below us and boots pounded the stairs.
It was time to run.
Chapter 21
I OPENED THE door and peeked out at a room with bare concrete walls and floor. Seeing no one, I stepped into the room and saw a door on my right. On my left was a set of huge steel doors with no handles. Next to them was a card reader.
The door on my left opened, and a guard ran out. “We need to lock down the stairs.” He skidded to a stop. His eyes widened, and he backed up, tripping over himself. I started to give chase, but Felix ran past me and pounced on him. The guard let out a strangled scream as the werecougar pinned him to the floor.
Three more guards brandishing batons spilled into the room. They advanced on us, and one of them spoke into his radio, calling for reinforcements.
I went for the one with the radio. He brought up his baton, but I knocked it out of his hand with my stolen baton. He dropped into a fighting stance, and we traded a few blows. He was better than I expected based on what I’d seen so far from the other guards, but he was slow. I sent a kick to his midsection, and he slammed into a wall. He crumpled to the floor, and I spun to take on the next one, but Ronan and Lena had already pinned them.
I knocked out the guards with my baton as shouts echoed up the stairs. I ran to the large doors and held my key fob over the reader. Nothing happened.
I tried a few more times to no avail. Come on. Freedom was on the other side of this door. There had to be a way out.
A sign near the door caught my eye. THESE DOORS ARE AUTOMATICALLY SECURED DURING A LOCKDOWN. THESE DOORS ARE AUTOMATICALLY UNLOCKED DURING A FIRE EMERGENCY.
“Great. Where’s a match when I need one?” I spun and ran to the door the guards had used, calling to the others, “Keep them out as long as you can.”
The door opened to what had to be the living quarters. A dozen or more heads poked out of open doors to see what was going on.
“Get back inside,” I ordered in my most authoritative voice. “We have a situation.”
I was surprised when they obeyed without question. I looked for a fire alarm to pull, but of course, they wouldn’t make it that easy.
I pushed open the door to a small lounge and saw sprinklers in the ceiling. I wet my hands under the faucet and hopped up on a chair to wrap my hands around the sprinkler head. And then I summoned my magic.
Most sprinkler systems worked by detecting heat or smoke. I couldn’t create smoke, so I used the water magic to heat the metal until…
Water sprayed from the sprinkler a second before the fire alarm went off. I jumped off the chair and ran back to where I’d left the others.
I’d been gone less than a minute, but it was enough time for the guards in the stairwell to reach the door. They pounded on the door and pushed at it, but they were no match for Ronan.
I reached the exit doors as they emitted a series of loud clicks and began to part. Beyond them was a concrete tunnel wide enough for a jeep or truck. I couldn’t see light at the other end, but there was something better. I smelled trees.
I ran to Ronan. “Go. I’ll hold them off until you get outside.” He didn’t budge, and I had no idea if he could even understand me. I put my hands on either side of his head. “Listen to me. They could have a controller to activate your collar. I need you to get out of their range. If you fall, I won’t leave you, and they’ll get us both.”
What I didn’t tell him was if anyone got captured, it should be me. Julian would kill him and maybe the werecougars, but I was too valuable. He needed me alive if he ever wanted to get his hands on troll bile.
The door threatened to give away under the assault, and a dozen guards could come through the other door at any second.
“Go, please,” I pleaded. “You trained me. You know I can do this.”
It felt like an eternity passed until he nodded. I braced my hands against the door, knowing I couldn’t hold it for long, and said, “Now.”
He stepped away from the door, and my arms almost buckled under the force. I gritted my teeth and held firmly as he, Felix, and Lena, ran into the tunnel. I prayed they found a way out on the other end.
“They’ll be here in two minutes,” said a man on the other side of the door.
I could take my chances with this bunch or wait and face twice as many. I jumped back from the door, and it burst open. Two guards fell through, and three more stood behind them. Surprise registered on their faces when they saw I was alone.
I could outrun them, but I couldn’t lead them to Ronan and the others until I knew they were out. Backing away, I gripped my baton as they advanced. The guards formed a loose circle around me, but none of them attacked. They were stalling until backup arrived.
Pulling off my helmet, I tossed it aside and grinned at the guard in front of me. “Let’s do this.”
I lunged forward and delivered a strike to his throat. As he staggered backward, gasping for air, I faced the others and activated my baton. The crackle of electricity filled the room.
The four guards raised their batons and charged me at once. Using my baton, I blocked their attempts to shock me and launched my own attack with a series of rapid knee strikes to groins, palm-heel strikes to noses, and elbows to throats.
The door to the living quarters opened, and four more guards spilled out. The one in the lead carried a tranquillizer gun like the one used on me in New York.
“There’s no way out of this,” he said, walking cautiously toward me.
I grabbed the closest guard and pulled him in front of me as a shield. “There’s always a way.”
Hot pain shot up my calf, and my leg muscles stiffened like I was no longer in control of them. I fell to my knees as a dizzying current of electricity swept through me. Looking down, I saw one of the fallen guards holding a baton. The others began to close in.
A savage growl echoed off the walls along with the scrape of claws on concrete. The guards spun toward the tunnel entrance, but I couldn’t make my body obey me. I didn’t need to look to know what – or who – was there.
“Shoot it,” someone shouted.
The guard with the gun swung his arm up and fired twice. His eyes bulged, and he fired two more times. Behind him, the others were scrambling unsuccessfully to unlock the door, which had closed behind them.
The shooter screamed as the massive werewolf leaped over my head. Ronan’s jaws snapped the guard’s neck, and he shook the man several times before tossing the limp body aside.
The guards at the door spun and came at Ronan with their batons. He swatted away one with his paw and pounced on another.
The third guard managed to press the baton to his side, but it only served to enrage Ronan further. He bit down on the guard’s shoulder and threw him against the wall. The guard slammed into the concrete so hard his ribs cracked.
Ronan started toward me, his eyes wild and his snout glistening with blood. He looked like a crazed beast, but I wasn’t frightened. I could never be afraid of him.
The grind of metal drew my attention to the tunnel doors. They were closing. During the fight, the fire alarm had stopped, and it must have triggered the doors to lock down again.
I tried to stand, but my legs refused to cooperate. I looked up at Ronan. “I can’t walk. You need to get out before you’re locked in here.”
Lowering his head, he snagged the shoulder of my stolen guard uniform with his teeth and lifted me to my feet. He crouched beside me and made a chuffing sound. I could almost hear his voice saying, “What are you waiting for?”
I grunted as I grabbed my leg and lifted it over his back until I straddled him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held on for dear life.
Ronan stood and ran for the opening between the two doors, which was getting smaller by the second. I squeezed my eyes shut. We weren’t going to make it.
Cold air washed over my face, and the scent of spruce and pine filled my nose. I inhaled deeply. Nothing had ever smelled so good.
I opened my eyes as Ronan slowed to a stop beside Felix and Lena. We were inside an old building missing its windows and doors. I glanced behind me at a concrete structure, which looked like the entrance to a doomsday shelter.
Ronan went to the doorway and stepped outside into what resembled an old gold mining set from a movie, complete with a boarded-up mine entrance. There were a few dilapidated buildings and a newer one with two large doors. Around us were trees and snow, and we could see a mountain in the distance.
“There.” I pointed at the building. We couldn’t stay here long, but it could have a vehicle or a map to tell us where the nearest town was.
The big door was closed, but a small door beside it was unlocked. I reached out to turn the knob, and Ronan shoved the door open.
The building turned out to be a hangar. Inside, we found a helicopter and all the tools and equipment for maintaining an aircraft. There were also two snowmobiles and an ATV, but no sign of any keys. Not that it mattered because the others couldn’t ride them in their animal form.
