Green.
Click.
The door opened when his paw pushed the lever, but as escape beckoned, he paused. Eyed the cells behind him. They needed to escape, too.
I’m not a hero.
But he strove to be one.
Stefan dragged the body to the doorway with his teeth, wedging the door open. Then he grabbed the card and went after the cells. The key worked on the first five cells before it began flashing red.
No more opening doors. The first five cell inhabitants fled, but Stefan eyed the people left behind, looking for one in particular.
The alarm ceased screaming, and that annoying voice from before returned. “Stefan. You know it’s useless. You can’t escape. Return to your cell and you won’t be severely punished.”
“Rawr.” He wasn’t about to become a prisoner by choice. He trotted down the hall, eyeing the people within. Some looked human; some were not. Some were a mixture. All of them stared back at him.
Hopeful.
They shouldn’t be. He’d failed.
“There’s nowhere to go. I’ve deactivated the keycard. You might have gotten one door open, but the rest are locked down. You’re trapped.”
Then why was Mr. X yapping and sounding too calm?
The lights in the place glitched.
Interesting. Especially since the invisible voice forgot to turn off his microphone. “What do you mean we’re not in control of the system anymore?”
Click. The sounds of many locks disengaging at once had him freezing in the hall, mostly because, at the far end, his little brother emerged with shell-shocked eyes and no clothes, but intact if one ignored the collar.
“Stefan? Is that you?”
Stefan understood him and even better had no urge to eat him, or anyone else spilling into the hall.
The lights flickered.
The elevator at the far end opened, and guards spilled out, spreading across in a row, armed with guns, giving them the advantage.
Until the lights went out.
21
Too late. Too late.
The words repeated themselves over and over in Nimway’s head as the flight took its interminable time traversing the country. They didn’t have the money or connections to manage a private jet to get them there fast, which meant going the traditional way, with a security check—"Are you carrying any weapons, ma’am?” Nimway lied with ease because they’d never guess how deadly she was. Especially with fear honing her focus.
They managed to scam only four seats on the first flight out. Gwayne remained behind to coordinate the pack’s possible evacuation. Their future depended on what she found.
Raymond chose to come with her, as did Stefan’s brother Dominick and the sister with the interesting hair, Maeve.
The remaining Hubbards readied to leave their family home. Mrs. Hubbard maintained a stiff upper lip while packing her minivan with an efficiency that a drill sergeant would envy. But they would only move across town for the moment, into a rental Nanette had found online. Hiding in plain sight. It might just work.
Everyone had a plan but Nimway. Currently, the rescue operation consisted of finding the place. Then… she had no idea. The odds of confronting an enemy in its stronghold weren’t very good, and her brother had called her out on it.
“You are walking into a trap,” Gwayne said bluntly.
“Have a little respect for my skills, would you? I don’t plan to saunter nonchalantly into enemy territory.”
Her brother huffed. “I need you here, protecting the pack.”
“I am protecting them.” Because if the kidnappers knew about them, then no one was safe. What if they never got a chance to find out about them? What if everyone could be safe?
“I can’t believe you’d risk your life for a man you just met.”
Her shoulders rolled. “I know it’s crazy, but it feels as if I’ve known him forever.”
“Oh.” Of all people, he’d know what she meant. Gwayne, too, had experienced it once upon a time.
“I have to do this.”
“Come back to me, little sister.” His tone tried for gruff and managed to border on the edge of broken.
She had every intention of surviving and bringing Stefan and his brother home. She just had no idea how. All they had was a circle on a map. A sizeable area that showed no damned roads. So weird and difficult to plan for.
If they wandered around too much, they’d be prematurely noticed. Their best bet was going in quiet, stealthy like. Infiltrate and extract the boys then exit just as quietly.
At least, that was the loose plan. They’d yet to hammer out the fine details, like where did Dominick plan to find this rifle he thought he’d be using? The airline wouldn’t let him check one as luggage.
At least Raymond proved useful, getting feeds from satellites not accessible to the public. He’d managed to pull up actual footage of the area in question, and by zooming it down, they could see the thin thread of road that didn’t appear on any map and was hidden quite a bit by trees. They even got a partial glimpse of a building that didn’t exist in any registry.
When they landed, their rental awaited, a Ford Explorer with buttons. Dominick kept pressing them. Raymond would rebuke and tell him to keep them optimized and push it back.
Maeve shook her head and muttered, “At least Daeve and me grew out of that.” Daeve being the brother in the military.
“How far from the airport are those coordinates?” Nimway asked.
“Two hours.” That they beat by thirty minutes going a little faster than was safe.
Cell service had been restored, and Nimway spent that time remotely dealing with panicked pack members, of which there weren’t many. Most had known with the way social media and cameras exploded in use and popularity that it was only a matter of time before their happy neighborhood broke up. They were ready to move if needed.
Please let her not be too late.
It was Dominick who noticed it first. “Smoke in the sky.” Especially significant given they neared their destination.
The road, which was more of a private drive, had nowhere to hide. But it was also too far to walk in with big open spots. They chose to be bold and kept driving right in. They soon saw the cause of the smoke.
“It looks like there’s a building on fire.” A low observation by Nimway.
Hard to be sure what it used to look like. As they neared, they saw people emerging from the smoke, stumbling and coughing, some heading for cars. A few supported each other; others emerged naked or wearing fluttering white gowns and collars. Those people ran away from the parking lot to the wilderness beyond. The most graceful escape being that of the antelope.
Nimway blinked. “Was that…”
“Yup.” Dominick’s one-syllable confirmation.
“I think we found the place,” was Maeve’s observation.
But where were Stefan and the boy?
“Pull over. I need to get out.” Nimway tugged at the door, but it remained locked.
“We should find a more discreet spot. The cops and fire trucks are probably on their way.”
“Don’t count on it,” Raymond muttered. “This place isn’t on any of their radars.”
The first of the escaping cars whipped past. Smart given the fire wouldn’t remain contained in the building.