“According to this blueprint, there’s a cellar door in the basement of the club. That’s your way in. There’ll be a lot of steps or staircases, but all you have to do is take the tunnel straight to the end.”
“What’s at the end?” Niko asked with a look of concern.
“It looks like an arena. The main tunnel branches in a few places, but all those were sealed up years ago. Probably to hide what they’ve been doing down there. You’ll have two doors or gates to get through. Probably heavy and probably locked. But who knows? If there’s a fight going on down there, they might have it open for their customers. This might be the main route. Maybe the animal shelter is an emergency exit.”
“Any security cameras down there?” Blue asked.
Wyatt shook his head and spun the laptop back around to look at it again. “It’s hard to say. They don’t usually run electricity that deep since it attracts attention. If they have security cameras, then they might. A couple of you are good at picking locks, so that should get you through the doors.”
Gem finished putting her hair up in two tight buns. “Aren’t you coming along?”
“Negative. I’m going back to the auction house to hack into any security systems. Now that we know they’re not in the basement, it might be easier for me to break in. I need to access their computer files, paper files, and any security footage. And don’t try to guilt-trip me. Remember what happened during the Valencia bust?”
Claude groaned and sat back. “They incinerated all the evidence.”
“Exactly.” Wyatt continued analyzing the image while Shepherd tried to kill them with his sharp turns. “We’re not making that mistake again. If we have any runners, they’ll use the main tunnel. You guys should be able to contain them.”
“Is that the only tunnel?” Blue asked.
“There’s another circling the main room, but all of them dead-end at some point. I’ll probably die breaking into the auction house, but if I don’t, there’ll be a lot of rooms to search.”
“I’ll go with you,” Viktor said. “Brief everyone on the layout.”
Wyatt blew out a breath. Admittedly, he got a natural high whenever he cracked a code or got his hands on secret information. He’d put out a request on the black market for the complete blueprints, but who was this User 24267? Haggling for fair trade was part of the dance. Viktor even set aside money for just these occasions, but this person hadn’t asked for anything. That was a twist he didn’t see coming.
He studied the layout closely and then spun the laptop around. “Once you’re past the two doors or gates, you’ll reach a crossing at a dead end.”
Claude squinted at the screen. “Which way do we go?”
“A staircase to the right leads to an open viewing area on the second level. Going left will eventually lead to what looks like a holding room or dungeon. I wouldn’t go that way.”
“I wonder if anyone else is down there,” Shepherd said. “Do you think they’re running a fight, or is this just a tour?”
“This is no longer a sneak attack,” Wyatt said, making air quotes. “If this is more than a tour, Raven’s in the middle of it. You might as well go in assuming the worst-case scenario. The redhead will be somewhere in the crowd. I doubt she’s in the room to the left. If there’s no electricity, she won’t have a view. Go right. The upstairs area circles almost all the way around the arena, so you’ll be able to trap them. The only way out is down the stairs and through the tunnel.”
The van slowed to a stop, and Shepherd turned it off before shifting in his seat. “Suit up, everyone. I brought an extra bag of weapons. Stunners, stakes, and a few guns.”
Gem wrung her hands. “If we trap those people, they’ll have to cooperate.”
Wyatt found another network connection. “Ever tried to corner a feral cat?”
“I don’t want to hear your cat story again,” Shepherd bit out. “If there are people down there, we can’t let them know how many of us there are. Make them think we got Regulators topside.”
Blue got up and joined Niko. “Looks like we’ve got a lot of stairs, amigo. You wanna just follow my light trail? Once we’re inside, the layout is simple.”
Niko drew a black hood over his head. “Hand me three stunners and two stakes.”
Blue opened the duffel bag and began passing out weapons like candy. They were all sheathed and attached to harnesses or clips. Since Green Door was a Breed club, weapons were permissible, but everyone still did their best to conceal them beneath their cloaks. Shepherd had an arsenal inside his modified leather jacket.
Wyatt pulled up screenshots of Audrey and Pablo. Then he held up the laptop like a teacher showing his students a picture book. “Take a good look. These are your primary targets. Audrey’s a Sensor, so that shouldn’t be hard. The short guy’s a Mage. If any of you turn into ghosties, don’t youdarefollow my ass home. I don’t have time to deal with your afterlife drama.”
Shepherd opened his door. “Let’s roll.”
Everyone piled out of the van except Viktor, who hopped behind the wheel. Wyatt climbed into the passenger seat, and they sped away from the club.
He looked at the video and saw Raven standing in front of a cage. Inside, Wyatt could make out the shape of a man, but the image was grainy and dark. Inventors in the Breed world had made huge advances in technology, allowing Wyatt to get his hands on a video camera that worked virtually anywhere. Now that they had enough evidence, they could take down this organization. All Keystone had to do was capture the ringleaders and stay alive.
Wyatt closed the lid on his laptop to preserve the battery. “They’re holding people against their will. Do you realize how long I’ve been trying to crack this case? I’ve been hearing rumors about organized death matches for years, but I’ve never been able to get a scrap of evidence. This is it, Viktor. The big one.”
