Ryder chuckles behind me, “This is my favorite level of the office.” He whispers sardonically over my shoulder.
The stairs seem to go on forever, but I can tell when we’re getting close. The smell of formaldehyde and copper invades my senses, making my eyes water and stomach roil. A dim yellow light illuminates the last few steps. The closer we get to the bottom, the more pungent the smell becomes, and I fight to cover my nose with my shirt.
The sketchy staircase opens up to an even sketchier room. Stainless steel tables line the walls with an array of tools—surgical tools. Three large BRUTE trash cans sit side by side on the far wall, and three black rubber aprons hang above them. I try to process my surroundings, my eyes landing on a huge grated drain on the floor under the stainless steel table sitting in the center of the room. I think I might vomit. I wrap my arm around my waist, gripping my side, attempting to alleviate that intense urge to puke.
“They’re in the cells in the back.” Ryder saunters over to one of the tables with the tools, picking up a… saw? Oh God. “Jessie, you go with her, I’ll hang back here if you need me.”
Jessie led me down the short hall to the cells, which are, in fact, jail cells, except these are much less dignified. No cots or blankets, but a lone red bucket sits in the back corner. I imagine the people who are brought here don’t leave this place… Alive.
My hands are trembling, but I don’t dare showweakness. A faint grunt comes from the furthest cell, so one of them is conscious.
Jessie crouches in front of the cell, “Wake up fuckers!” She yells as she bangs on the metal bars.
I don’t know what I was expecting, but Graves and Rocky being chained to a brick wall, naked and covered in sticky dried blood, wasn’t it. It reeks of foul urine and feces, and my nose scrunches on instinct.
A sickening, bloody smile pulls at Rocky’s lips. Graves appears unresponsive. His breaths are shallow, almost unnoticeable.
“You’ve come to see me, Beautiful.” His voice is scratchy like gravel, but his words cause a flash of irritation through my blood.
“Don’t call me that,” I snarl.
His ominous laugh causes me to step closer to the bars, “Something funny?” My head cocks to the side, “I can think of something. How about how you’re chained up in there, standing in your own defecation, and I’m out here, free?” Now it’s I who laughs maliciously, but his following words have my heart racing out of my chest.
“Oh, how funny it is that you think,” He coughs, and blood trails down his chin. “You’re free. She won’t stop.” His head goes limp, dropping to his chest.
I smack the bars, making him twitch a little, “What does she want?” I ask, my voice surprisingly smooth compared to how I truly feel.
His response was one word on a shallow breath before he passed out, “You.”
20
RYDER
Icalled an emergency meeting at the office with T and Hayden to discuss Lilith. I need every possible trace of information dug up on her and her team, and I need it immediately.
“Yo, what’s up, man?” T is the first to show. He plops down in the armchair adjacent to my desk.
“We’ll wait for Hayden, then I’ll discuss the job.” I continue typing on my computer, doing my own little bit of digging on the wicked bitch of the west, but I’m not tech-savvy like Teegan.
“I’ve been wondering when you’d start this job. Gotta say, it took you longer than I expected.” He reaches down into his black backpack and pulls out a yellow folder filled with papers. “I have a feeling this will come in handy.”
He tosses the folder onto my desk, and I read the sticker at the top: Sector Seven.
“What is this?” I ask, holding up the file, shuffling through the papers.
“That’s the Elite—TheUnderworld. Lilith runs it.”
“Fuck!” The desk chair groans beneath me as I arch back, running my hands through my hair.
“Yeah, man. We’re gonna have to go about this very carefully. No rushing into this shit like you did for Kelsey.”
I shoot Teegan a glare, daring him to say more. I will never regret the decisions I made getting to Kelsey. I would do it ten times over. He holds his hands up in surrender, giving me a sideways glance.
The elevator dings, signifying Hayden’s arrival. He isn’t as talkative as T, but we also haven’t fixed this tension between us yet, either. Instead of sitting, he remains in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed.
“Alright, I called you both in here to discuss our issues with Lilith. However, it appears T has already done the digging.” I pass the folder back over to Teegan, “T, would you like to take over with the dirt you’ve dug?”
“Lilith is the leader of an operation called Sector Seven, or SS for short.” He pulls out a page from the folder with a picture on it. “This is one of many disguises she uses when in public on the prowl. I show you this one first, because it’s the most important. It seems she uses different disguises for different jobs.” He holds his hands up and shrugs, “I don’t know her reasoning behind it. She seems like an absolute Looney Tune, but this is the one she uses for hunting herprey.”
