EMERY
Mori findsa vent that’s big enough for me to crawl through on the western wall.
Thanks to the detailed blueprints Mikah had access to, we were able to locate every duct that may be useful in case of an emergency like this. Of the three, this one is actually large enough for me to fit into.
I grit my teeth as I shimmy through the tight ducting. My breaths get tight and the air grows heavy as if each inhale might be my last.I’m claustrophobic?I find the thought amusing. I push through the vent without entertaining the panic that tries to rise inside me.
When my boots hit the ground on the other side I remain still for a handful of seconds, listening to where the guards are. It’s completely quiet with the exception of what sounds like a metal door banging on another floor. Everyone must be much farther into the building where I know Mikah, Kayden, and Erik are.
My eyes pass over the rusty walls. This building is older,weathered down by the extreme heat and wind. Brown and red clumps coat many of the doors and handles, down to the browned screws. Aged windowpanes have spiderweb cracks throughout them, reinforced with prisonlike bars on the exterior.
I take a slow breath, tasting the iron and dust that’s heavy in the air before getting on my feet and moving for the back door. A thick latch covers the top portion of the steeled-frame door.God, what the fuck is on this flash drive?I use the butt of my MK-17 to flip the latch since I’m too short to reach it.
It clicks, and the door creaks open.
Mori slips inside and nods at me. He doesn’t waste a second as he leads us down the corridors with ease. I sort of know where we are, but it’s insane that he has a mental image of the map inside his head and knows exactly where each room and every stairwell are. I probably should’ve paid more attention in his strategy briefings instead of thinking of better ways to get the attention of the guards.
He lifts his hand to the side of his head in a fist before we turn a corner, signaling for me to freeze. Mori unsheathes his knife and uses the reflection on the shiny side to see if the hall is clear. Even though his blade is already stained red, we can still see two guards moving at the end of the hall.
Gunshots roll through the building, erupting from downstairs.
Mori flashes me a look before we face the guards. “Be careful.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Yoube careful.”
A smug smile beneath his mask flashes at me before he snaps his head up and chucks his knife at the fluorescent lights in the hallway intersection above us. The glass shatters and we’re thrust into shadows. Only small wall lights are lit around the door to the stairwell and one farther down by the way we came.
The two men shift, and the sound of them readjusting their weapons alludes that they’re approaching.
I shift on my feet so I’ll have a better vantage point when theyturn the corner. My foot bumps into the built-in storage shelf we were using to take cover from behind, and a soft breeze whispers over my ankle.
My attention quickly diverts to it.A room?I shove the bottom portion of the bookshelf as quietly as I can, finding a square entrance big enough for the both of us to fit through.
“Hey!”I whisper shout.
Mori glances back at me for a split second, I’m not even sure if he saw the hole I was already halfway inside, but he backs up and follows me into the room feetfirst. Then he carefully closes the secret door.
I take the room in. It’s completely dark and all the furniture is covered with white, or used to be white, covers. There’s a door on the adjacent wall leading into what I can only figure is another room. A small chandelier sits in the center of the ceiling, the brushed brass still glinting even under the granules.
The terrifying thought that there’s no way out of here flickers through me before I notice another small hole directly across from the one we entered through.This room definitely wasn’t on the blueprint.
“Get going,” Mori orders, nodding toward the opposite end of the room.
“We don’t know where that goes,” I argue.
He makes a low grunt, his impatience permeating the air. “We didn’t know where this one went either, but it didn’t stop you.”
He has a point.
I stand slowly and walk as quietly as I can across the floor, Mori is right behind me, not making a sound. I’ll never get used to his silence. His ability to not exist.
The draft seeps through this break in the wall more than the other one. Which means the area must be significantly bigger on the other side.
I peek my head through and find a tapestry clinging to my helmet.A cover for the hole.Who did this? Was this building raided prior to this organization settling here? A shudder rolls down my back and I have to take a deep breath. The scent of vintage furniture and musk stirs familiarity within me. I glance behind me and study the room once more.Have I been here before?
Mori lifts a brow at me. I turn back to face the hole, refocusing.Come on, I don’t have time to dally.
Slowly, I pull back the tapestry and search the space.
