“That’s got nothing to do with it, asshole.” Bree flips him the bird. “Knight is a decent guy.”
“I don’t think we can make assumptions,” Chad says. “Unless we know for sure he is definitely on our side, we can’t involve him.”
“I think Knight is legit,” Jase says. “But Chad is right. It’s too risky.”
“So, we’re going in there alone? With no backup and no one who will know if we all get slaughtered today?”
“The only one getting slaughtered is Rhett fucking Carter,” Ares snarls, gripping the rifle slung over one shoulder. “And that’s a fucking promise.”
* * *
“Theo has eyes on us,” Bree whispers an hour later as we are entering the tunnel from the woods. The only plan we could come up with was for Theo Westbrook to tap into our cells so he can listen and watch what is going down. “He’s recording from now,” she adds. Theo is back in Rhode Island with Lo and the other guys, so he’s not close enough to help in person. I hated involving him, but we need someone to know where we are and what’s going down in case we don’t make it out of here alive.
Rhett Carter must be stopped.
The fate of the entire world depends on it.
I spoke briefly to Lo and the guys, filling them in as much as I could with the short amount of time we had, and Theo readily agreed to help.
We don’t speak as we enter the tunnel, closing the door behind us. Frigid air wraps around us as we run, and I’m glad I wore pants and a long-sleeved top underneath the Kevlar vest my three guys insisted I wear. My pants are held up by Lo’s belt with the dagger, and I have a knife strapped to one thigh, a gun in my hand, and a backup tucked into the waistband of my pants. The others are similarly attired, and Victor has a few smoke grenades.
Jase slows down when we reach the door that is the entry point to the crypt. My heart is pounding in my chest as he opens it gradually, peeking out for evidence of any welcoming party. He gives us a thumbs-up, and we emerge into the empty hallway. Adrenaline courses through my veins as I run alongside Chad. Jase is up front with Baz and Victor, just behind the four Stewart guards, Bree is directly in front of me, and Ares takes up the rear.
We slow down at every corner, so the others can check the way ahead is clear, before picking up our pace and moving forward. We are on high alert, carefully scanning our surroundings as we run. We make it to the stairs with no issue. The tricky part is directly ahead.
In order to get to the main ceremonial room, we have to go up these stairs, then cross the upper-level space to reach the other set of stairs that lead to that side of the basement area of the crypt. We expect to encounter opposition in the main room and possibly along the second stairs.
Dealing with them without making noise and alerting Carter to our presence will be challenging.
Victor goes up the stairs first, followed by the guards, and we trail them in single file because the steps are steep and narrow and not easy to navigate. This building has been around for centuries, and though it has been well maintained by The Luminaries, it shows.
Ares’s breathing is heavy at my back as we ascend the stairs. My heart is in my throat the closer we get to the top. Victor stops around the last bend, lifting a finger to his lips to urge us to be extra quiet. He listens for a few minutes before gesturing for us to put our gas masks on. Everyone obliges, and I wipe my sweaty palms down the front of my pants while I try to calm my racing heart.
Behind me, Ares squeezes my waist, and Chad reaches back to briefly hook his pinkie in mine.
It’s now or never.
What we do from this point on will determine our fates and those of the world.
I silently offer up a prayer to my dad, asking him to look over us if he’s there and watching.
The quiet hum of conversation tickles my eardrums as Victor unpins a smoke grenade and throws it around the bend. Startled shouts ring out as we charge up the stairs, heading straight into the smoke. It’s hard to see how many guards are here, but we split up and move into action. Victor instructed us only to use our hand weapons with the silencers so we don’t alert the others of our arrival.
I swing my leg around, sideswiping the guy who appears in front of me. He goes down hard, his gun dropping from his hand. I kick it aside and lean over him, pressing my gun to his head and pulling the trigger. We discussed this on the way here too. Baz and Jase argued for direct kills instead of using tranquilizer darts to put these guys to sleep. Leaving them alive, even sleeping, is too risky, they said.
All around me, the unmistakable sounds of fighting and shooting ring out. I don’t know how far the noise will travel, but it’s possible it has carried to the ceremonial chamber below and we’ve lost the element of surprise. The guards are firing wildly in the smoke, at a disadvantage as they sway and cough and struggle to maintain their balance.
I take out another couple more, and then the smoke finally clears, leaving us standing amid a bunch of dead bodies. We take off our masks, doing a quick check to ensure everyone is okay.
Loud clapping rings out in the eerie space the same time the clicking of multiple weapons does. A gun presses into the back of my head as men surround us from behind. The vein in my neck pulses as blood rushes to my head, and acid churns in my gut.
Vincent Fox emerges from the stairs we just ascended, wearing a wide grin as his smug applause taunts us. “You all made this far too easy. So predictable.” He shakes his head as he walks toward Victor, aiming a rifle at his head. “You should be ashamed of yourself, big brother, and you have no one to blame for your demise but yourself.”
Guess Carter was aware of the tunnels after all.
We have walked straight into a trap, and all hope seems lost.
ChapterFifty-Two
