After instructing the staff to move everyone from the damaged lower rooms to new ones and give the guests something to eat, she hurried to the lounge to inform everyone what was going on.Erin and Dev were both there taking care of the guests with the rest of the staff, serving coffee and tea and whatever snacks they’d managed to find in the kitchens.
“Any word on what’s happening?”Dev asked her quietly over in the corner of the room a minute later.
“Not yet, but I’m going to get a status update now.If I find out anything, I’ll let you guys know.”
“All right.”
Exhaustion pulled at her, the pain in her side making her even more edgy as she exited the main building and headed for the adjoining one to the west.The Feds had set up a command post of sorts in the grill restaurant.
She spotted Maya standing next to one of them, deep in conversation.Her friend’s gaze cut to her as Candace approached.
“Is there a status update?”Candace asked without preamble.
The stocky, middle-aged FBI agent beside Maya shook his head.“Not yet.”
She didn’t believe him, and glanced at Maya for verification.Maya shook her head and Candace tamped down her impatience.“Are they at the bunker yet?”
“Yes,” Maya answered.“But that’s all I know.”
Great.Expelling a deep breath, Candace raked a hand through her hair.“How long until we can expect an update?”she asked the man.
“I’ll let you know as soon as I can.”
“You look ready to drop,” Maya said, catching her right hand and towing her toward an empty table.“Sit.I’ll get you something to drink.”
She sat, glowering.“I don’t want anything to drink.I want a damn status update.”At least tell me they’re still okay.
“Yeah, you and me both,chica.”Maya shot the male agent a dark look, hands on her trim hips.“Unfortunately, we’re shit out of luck on that front for the time being.”
Pulling the steel doorshut behind him, Eric loaded a fresh magazine into his rifle and paused at the entrance of his safe room.His hands were steady, his heart rate only slightly elevated as he waited in the darkness, not even a hint of ambient light filtering through his NVGs.
They were here, although he didn’t know how many.He’d known they were here even before they’d hit the entrance door with explosives and tossed in the stun grenade.
His perimeter alarm had alerted him of their arrival minutes beforehand, allowing him plenty of time to set the last of his surprises and retreat here.If the men coming after him were highly trained and experienced, then the booby traps wouldn’t stop them.
But they would buy Eric time.
Lyle had never reported back after the attack, so Eric had to assume he’d been captured or killed.He was on his own now, but maybe it was better this way.
His turf.His terms.
His way.
They could try to take him alive but he’d kill as many of them as he could first.And he wasn’t afraid to die.
They wouldn’t kill him though.That would only make him a martyr to his followers, fueling the momentum of the movement he’d begun.Keeping him in prison was equally dangerous, because he could recruit from within the prison system and his followers would continue to operate without him.His men were loyal to him, and to their cause.
No matter what happened tonight, he won.
A loud boom rent the air, shaking the tunnel so much that the walls and floor trembled around him.
He smiled in the darkness.His first diversion.
Surprise, assholes.
And there were more where that came from.They thought they had him trapped down here, but they were wrong.If he played this right, soon they’d be the ones trapped, while he escaped right out from underneath them.
He flexed his fingers around his weapon, ready for the coming showdown.“Now come and get me.”
