Devastate (Havoc Series Stand Alone Book 5) (16 page)

              Suddenly one of the exit only doors swings open and an arm flies out grabbing him by the back of the shirt. Raising our weapons to fire, we struggle to know which body to shoot at, as their fists and arms fly, blocks and counters in a scuffle that ends with knives placed against each other's throat.

              The Director's face starts to soften when he realizes who it is. Holding his hands up in surrender, he motions for us to get out of the main hall and into the typically exit only stairwell.

              Shutting the door silently as I can I question, “With the systems down there are more ways to move throughout this building than ever before, aren't there?”

              He nods and shakes his head. “It's like a fun house nightmare in here. Every door is as much an entrance as it is an exit. It's the only thing keeping me alive at this point.”

              My eyes give him a once over noticing the gunshot wound in his leg. His body looks slightly beat up, but other than the one hit, he looks alright. “How long have you been hit?”

              Without so much as looking at the wound he shrugs. “I don't know. Feels like I've been stuck in here for days.”

              Grim insists, “Let's get you towards The Doc's office--”

              “No,” he refuses. “He's expecting that. I tried that direction and he had a minion rotating that floor.”

              “Well now you're not on your own,” Grim reminds him. “We need to get that cleaned.”

              “No Jacket. That's an order.”

              “No,” Grim argues. “It's not your call right now Director.” When his eyes widen he says, “Team leader of this mission. You do as I say and right now we need that wound cleaned and a safe place to gather more information. Now let's move.” When Shepard doesn't argue, Grim turns his attention to Glove. “I need you quiet. Can you handle that?”

              With a shit eating grin he nods putting his gun away. “My pleasure.”

              “Why won't anyone talk to me?” Tyger gripes over the intercom. “Why is it so hard for you to just accept defeat?” Moving quietly down a couple floors down with my arm wrapped around The Director to help his speed, we leak right onto the level of the infirmary. The minion has moved just a foot away from where we entered.

              Quicker than he has time to react, Glove is behind him, hand over his mouth, neck snapping like a rag doll. Quietly he lowers the body to the ground in case there are others lurking, strips him of the weapon he can see, and holds it out for use. The four of us successfully make it to the medical area where we find The Doc dead on the floor.

              Tempted to move him, Grim commands, “Secure Shepard. Glove secure the door.”

              I nod and help The Director onto to the bed.

              “Doesn't anyone wanna play with me?” The sadistic chuckle is followed by full out laughter then a very sharp loud distinct screaming. “How about now?”

              “Jazz!” I shout.

              “That's what he wants!” Grim growls in a sharp whisper. “He wants to lure you out.”

              She screams again over the intercom clearly in agonizing pain. Clutching the edge of the bed tightly I shut my eyes, the sound echoing through me again and again. I have to get to her. I have to get to her now. I have to--

              “Lordy,” Grim's voice breaks through the building rage. My eyes drag up to his. “We'll get her. My word.” After I nod he points. “Fix Shepard. More hands on deck the better.”

              “He's using the intercom. So he has to be in your office or Merlin's right?” Glove moves towards us as I start disinfecting The Director's gunshot wound.

              “No,” Shepard sighs. “The dick hacked into the system and rewired it to an earpiece he's walking around with. He can literally be anywhere. And is everywhere.”

              Grim folds his arms across his chest. “The rest of the building?”

              “Took 'em out.” Shepard growls through the pain. “While you three were away, I'd taken my own minor trip on a tip JZ gave me. In our absence...Rome fell. Every member of his team. Every member of security. The two other teams that work out of this office as well.”

              “Merlin?” Grim questions while I wrap the wound.

              “Unknown. If he did take him out, I haven't come across his body yet. Regardless, Merlin had emergency protocols all his own he set off before he died or disappeared.”

              “It's why that dick stick mumbling can't see us,” Glove declares.

              When Shepard nods, I ask, “What was the tip Jazz gave you?”

              “To make a personal visit to Tyger's adopted parents.”

              “Asshole's adopted?” Glove grunts. “Gives foster kids a bad name.”

              “He was adopted. Nothing about his adoption seemed suspicious. Nothing on paper. Nothing digitally. It looked as clean as could be, but JZ compared some bonus info from when his father was younger she didn't buy. Vacations to places that shouldn't raise flags but raised hers. She insisted I look again.”

              “And?” Grim growls.

              “She was right. Their stories had holes that were familiar. Their home had clues they were hiding more than they let on. So I kept digging after I left and it turns out Tyger's adoption wasn't random. He was a child The Face purchased and placed into adoption by a 'perfect all American' family. Raised and bred to be a sleeper agent for him. Raised to protect The Face from the inside.”

              “How the hell do you miss that?” Glove shouts.

              “Bury anything deep enough,” I mumble knowing how it feels.

              “Where is The Face now?” Grim questions.

              “Here.” Shepard replies.

              Quickly I ask, “What do you mean here?”

              “I mean here. My office.” Shepard sighs. “Destroying files. Learning others.”

              “That seems out of character,” I comment.

              “Does it?” Grim shakes his head. “Who does The Face trust with his money? Second in command. Who do you think he would trust with that level of information that we have? Who else besides himself could he trust to destroy it without using it as leverage?”

              “Paranoid bastard,” Glove mumbles.

              “Yeah. But it puts him here and we can take him down too.” Grim declares. “Bullet to the skull.”

              “He's not coming out of that office,” Shepard denies. “Not without believing it's time to go or us having something he wants more than those files.”

              Slowly I smirk. “I've got an idea for that....” Grim tilts his head at me in question. “Trust me.”

              “Uh...guys,” Glove interrupts. “Is it just me or did he stop talking?”

              The silence on the intercom is like the murder music in a horror movie. Frightening. Quickly Grim declares, “Let’s move. Weapons room needs to be our next stop.”

              “It's locked,” Shepard grunts, standing to his feet slightly better. “Part of protocol. Don't want the enemy to access those kinds of weapons. This place would've been locked had the Doc been alive long enough to hit the emergency switch.”

              “So you're telling me what we have on us, is what we've got?” Grim tries not to sound defeated.

              “Basically, yeah. Another reason to keep moving.” Shepard insists.

              “We need to draw them to us.” I speak up. “The training center. We need them in the training center.”

              “That's a lot of territory to cover,” Grim denies. “Too much. Too many angles and chances.”

              “Not if we all take a space.” I argue. “One of us covering the front, one of us covering the back corner, one of us covering up top and one of us for bait.”

              Gritting his teeth he lets out a deep breath. “And you're bait.”

              “His biggest ax to grind is with Jazz. And I'm her favorite play thing.”

              “That sounds dirty,” Glove's attempt at humor is actually welcomed at this moment. Something about offering myself as target practice for a raging psychopath makes the desire for anything to lighten the situation necessary.

              “Even if we can draw them to us there.
How
do we do that?” Grim questions.

              Shepard looks around the medical suite and nods to himself. “I can think of a couple ways.”

              An excited chuckle leaves Glove. “You're gonna blow shit up aren't you?”

              With a wink for an answer Shepard starts to grab supplies as there's a loud pushing against the door. Suddenly all weapons are drawn and pointed for action at the door. Grim cautiously slides the chair out of the way for easier access for the attacker. The door creaks open and a frightened face we're all relived to see appears.

              “Merlin,” Shepard sighs relieved.

              Yanking him inside, Grim exhales deeply too. “You're alive.”

              Clearly terrified he nods. “Yeah.”

              “How'd you make it down here kid?” Glove interrogates.

              “I'm good at hiding, remember?” the reference to his preference to hide under his office table gets a smile from all of us.

              “Well done with setting protocols in place,” Shepard compliments.

              “Can you lift 'em?” Grim ponders.

              “Not from anywhere but my cave and that's not a choice because Tyger planted traps all around it.” He explains weakly. “Eats all my snacks. Ruins my office. I really hate him Director.”

              Shepard smirks. “You ain't the only one.”

              “Glove, give him the weapon you grabbed,” Grim instructs. Merlin's jaw drops, clearly prepared to fight the idea. “I know. It's hard. It's not what you're used to and I promise to be the one to train you on how to handle one when this is over, but for now, these are the basics.” Demonstrating with his own weapon he shows him how load it and prepare for firing. “Hold it steady. Aim. Pull with one intention. To kill. Do not shoot unless you have to. Got it?”

              Merlin sheepishly nods and I plop a hand on his shoulder. “We're gonna try to make it so you don't have to use that thing, alright?”

              He nods again and Shepard speaks to him. “I've got a job for you...”

With a plan in motion, we move through the building quietly taking out the few rogue members of Tyger's crew until we're in place in the training center. On a deep breath I stand in the middle of the center.

              A couple explosions occur in the distance and I know Merlin is on the move. Almost instantly Tyger's voice appears on the intercom. “You're seriously that fucking stupid?” He laughs. “I'm not deaf.”

              “You are fucking dumb,” I yell loudly assuming he's closer than he wants us to think.

              “Funny coming from a moron who couldn't figure out he was the milk man's baby all on his own.” The insult grinds me to wanna pump one in his skull even more.

              Centering myself, I stick to the plan. Ears alert for the sound of his steps. Heavy footed with too many pauses between steps. “At least my parents stuck around in life. Didn't sell me to some bastard to be his new fuck toy.”

              A shot zooms past my shoulder into a pillar behind me. His obnoxious footsteps have a familiar pattern attached to them bringing comfort to me as I look up to see Tyger's face peaking around the corner of the doorway.

              “Too close to the truth?” I mock needing to draw him out further. Needing him to show me that the love of my life is still alive. I know those are her footsteps. They just aren't enough.

              “You don't know anything about me,” Tyger growls back.

              “You'd be surprised at how loose Jazz is with those files,” I lie.

              Suddenly she screeches in pain as he drags her into sight. “You hear that? Can't even keep his mouth shut. I would've been better to you on and off the field...” Tyger insists before licking the side of her tear stained cheeks. On instinct I move to go after her, which is when he puts the gun to her brain. “Too close to the truth?”

              On a deep breath, I shrug. “I think it's funny you're too much of a chicken shit to come at me without a gun.” The taunt causes him to push them closer to the edge making sure not to keep still like he would need to be for Grim to get a shot without hitting my girl in his position in the lighting. “Attacked Grim on his first day. Attacked Glove when he wasn't looking, but me...me you have to hold a gun to? Pathetic. Amusing though. It means I'm the one you fear the most.”

              “I don't fucking fear you,” he yells down to me. “I'm just not fucking stupid enough to think you'd come in here alone. You're country bumpkin slow, but you're not that fucking slow.”

              “Not nearly as slow as you're thinkin'.” I keep him talking, moving around to adjust into the ideal position. “I've got one secret. One card. One little fact that you and The Face both never want exposed.”