CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Zahra
The lights above us were sensor lights; they only turned on when we were beneath them, and as we walked through the straight hallway, I created a brick wall over my mind, reminding myself why I was there. I hadn’t bargained for a full-blown quest, but I admitted we had come a long way—Ihad come a long way—and finally, I was going to do all I had set out to do from the beginning.
I could still hear the shouts, echoes, gunshots, and thuds from aboveground. It was chaos out there, and if more arms and men didn’t arrive to support the ones outside, we might as well prepare for the chaos that would be transferred here.
“I hate underground tunnels,” Dog’s voice echoed. “I’ve never been underground, but I hate it.”
“We’ve lost connection to Upper and Milk,” Devil said.
“Upper did say it might happen,” I said, looking around.
Our footsteps echoed on the metal walkway. The smell of gas, fuel, and metal filled the area, and I allowed myself the liberty of letting out a breath. The device in one of the soldier’s hands started beeping as we reached an intersection. There were two hallways—one on the left and another on the right.
“The device is picking up the location of the gold from the right,” the soldier said.
“That means the flash drives are on the left side,” I said.
Devil looked toward me with a nod. “Two soldiers will accompany you, just in case.”
“Sure. I’ll grab the drives and meet you guys back there,” I said.
“Be careful,” Dog said, and I nodded.
“You too.”
“Call for the extraction team,” Devil said to one of the soldiers as he and Dog headed down to the right, and I made my way toward the left side with two soldiers following me.
I turned another corner and didn’t have to look too far to find the black box attached to the wall, alongside an alphabetical keypad and a small screen.
I looked back at both men who escorted me. “What time is it?”
One of them dropped his brow in confusion as he checked his watch.
“Twenty-nine minutes past three.”
In about a minute, I would be certain my order had reached my people on time because I shouldn’t have spotted them in the woods earlier.
They shouldn’t be here. I fucking told Vitale to call this off.
The moment I turned back to the box, a loud explosion rocked and vibrated the walls, sending cracks along the metallic ceiling as sprinkles of sand fell from above.
Inside the building, gunshots rang so loud, echoing around the space, alongside yells from men and the thuds of bodies dropping.
I took off my comm, stared at it for a long, long minute before dropping it on the ground and crunching it with my boot. “Fuck,” I cursed under my breath as I quickly pulled out my gun, removed the safety, and turned. “I’m sorry, guys.” Their eyes widened with realization as I pulled the trigger before either of them could raise their weapons.
I shot one in the neck and the other straight to the chest, their bodies dropping as I turned to the box and typed out the password with shaking fingers—jumping slightly when another explosion rocked the building.
Footsteps rushed in my direction as I pressed enter after typing the password.
A soft clicking sounded from the box, and I rushed to pull it open.
There were six flash drive casings; only five were occupied, but the sixth was empty.
Someone’s been here before me.
I closed my eyes. “Elio,” I whispered, my stomach turning. “Goddamn it.” I snapped out of it, opening my eyes and grabbing all five casings, checking the names carved onto them. Four of those names were familiar; one wasn’t.
