They all looked up at the sound of the doors to the training centre being pushed open. Val burst through, gun raised, followed by the rest of her team. They came to a stop when they took in the scene in front of them.
“You’ve got about ten more on their way,” she said in lieu of a greeting.
“Fuck,” Michael cursed. Ten HRU wasn’t a huge number, but his people were exhausted and injured. He couldn’t leave them to face ten freshly trained and armed soldiers, no matter how much he wanted to go find Isaac.
Jacob squeezed his shoulder. “Go; take Logan and Cole with you.” He gestured to the ten human resistance fighters now all facing the doors, armed to the teeth. “We’ve got this.”
Baker struggled to his feet, waving away Michael’s assistance. “Go.”
“You sure?” He was already moving to the door at the opposite end of the room. It led to the interrogation rooms, and he would hopefully avoid any HRU coming back inside that way.
“Logan, Cole,” he shouted, waving at them to join him. “With me.”
After grabbing some clothes from the HRU supplies, Michael headed for the stairs, Cole and Logan hot on his heels.
“Do you think my parents are here?” Logan murmured as they made their way as quietly as possible down the stairs.
“I don’t know.” Michael paused, looking back at him. “As soon as we’ve taken care of Simon and Paul, we’ll search this place from top to bottom.”
“And if they’re not here?”
“We’ll find them, Logan. Whatever it takes.”
Logan nodded, and just as they started to move again, footsteps on the stairs had them freezing in place.
Michael’s heart stopped for one beat until he recognised the scents at the same time the others did. Moments later, Smith and Nick appeared around the corner on the steps above them.
“Hey.” Smith had blood smeared over the side of his face and his T-shirt was ripped in several places, but whatever injury had caused them seemed to have healed. Nick had on a pair of joggers that he definitely hadn’t been wearing earlier, telling Michael he’d shifted at some point.
“I didn’t expect to see you here,” he said, addressing Smith.
“We didn’t meet much resistance.” He shrugged. “It was all over quickly, and I thought...” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I just needed to be here.”
Michael was conscious of the fact Isaac was somewhere close to having Goddess knew what done to him, but he wasn’t the only one they needed to find. “Logan, Cole, go look for your parents. I’ll take Smith and Nick with me to find Simon.”
“You sure?” Logan asked, unable to hide his eagerness.
Michael glanced at Smith who nodded. “Yeah, go. Meet us back in the training centre’s main hall.”
They jogged back up the stairs to presumably search the floors above. There were plenty of places Simon could’ve hidden Logan’s parents.
“Come on,” Michael urged, taking the steps two at a time. “Let’s put an end to this.”
The interrogation rooms were on the second floor, but you could get to them from multiple stairwells. Michael stayed on high alert for any of the remaining HRU that might have gone around the side of the building and in through this way.
He eased open the double doors a touch, listening for sounds of movement, but nothing but silence met them. That didn’t mean Simon wasn’t down here. All the rooms were soundproofed. If the doors were closed, then it would be impossible to tell which one they were in.
At the first door, Michael took a steadying breath in and let it out slowly. “Ready?”
“Yep,” Smith answered at the same as Nick.
Michael flung the door open and raced inside.
* * *
Isaac’s jaw ached,the throbbing pain from having his fangs repeatedly pulled out spread across his whole face, causing a headache that made him squint in the harsh light of the room.
But headache or no, he couldn’t look away from the fight going on in front of him.
