The tunnels Caleb’s team was in were bigger than the ones in Siberia. Maybe a bit smoother, too. If it wasn’t for the fact that their driver had dropped him, Brielle, Hudson and Genevieve outside a small Harrington facility in Queens, Caleb could have easily believed he was right back in the frozen tundra of Russia.
Getting into the building and down into the subbasement, into the tunnels below, had been easy. Maybe too easy. Brielle had borrowed Hudson’s weapon-handling abilities and helped take out the two guards they’d run into. The fact that those men had barely put up a fight had Caleb more worried than ever that they were walking into a trap. It would have been nice to check in with the other teams to see what they thought. But McKay’s plan had them operating under radio silence until someone ran into trouble. The fact that the radio had been quiet so far could be taken as a good sign—or that everyone had been wiped out without having a chance to even touch their radios.
As they moved through the tunnels, Caleb tried to stay focused on what was ahead of them, knowing they could walk into an ambush at any second, but he found his mind wandering. Walking this close to Brielle, listening to her rapidly beating heart and breathing in her intoxicating honeysuckle scent, made it difficult not to think about everything that had been said back at the warehouse barely an hour ago.
Brielle had said she was willing to follow him because she thought they belonged together. He hadn’t been able to say anything—not with so many people around—but those words had meant more to him than she would probably ever know. For the first time in his life, he had someone who was there for him…really there. He only wished he’d had the chance to tell her how he felt—and about the soul-mate bond—before this insane mission.
Now he only prayed he got the chance.
“The electrical room should be around this corner,” Brielle said softly when they reached a sharp left-hand turn in the tunnel they’d been following.
“Wait here,” Caleb said, motioning for her, Craig, and Genevieve to hang back while he edged up to the corner and stood there for a second, listening for any sounds of movement. “We’re clear,” he added moments later when he figured out that the tunnel ahead was as empty as the rest of the tunnels they’d been in so far.
Caleb led the way around the corner, Brielle and the others right behind him. He immediately caught sight of what had to be the electrical room a little farther down the tunnel, directly across from a branch in the passage. As they moved closer, he realized the room resembled a closet. Hell, there was barely enough space for more than a few people to fit. Not that it mattered, because it would only take one of them to go in and set the explosive charges.
They were still a couple strides from the open door of the room when Caleb heard heavy footsteps coming their way. He only had a heartbeat to react, grabbing Brielle and dragging her into the electrical room with him just as the shooting started and alarms echoed throughout the tunnels, warning lights flashing.
“So much for the element of surprise,” he muttered, pushing Brielle as far into the little room as he could, putting himself between her and the doorway, and using his body to shield her from the half dozen or so men shooting in their direction. “If we ever had it to begin with.”
From the corner of his eye, he saw Hudson and Genevieve duck back down the tunnel they’d been in, barely making it to cover before a hail of gunfire exploded all around them. Hudson and Genevieve immediately returned fire, making the men coming their way slow down at least.
Caleb’s radio earpiece popped to life, voices stomping all over each other as everyone on the various teams attempted to provide situation reports, the words barely audible over the sound of gunfire from right outside the door as well as throughout the rest of the complex. Several teams reported that they couldn’t get near the tunnels where the nukes were supposed to be while others freaked out when they came face-to-face with Uriel and the Vandals.
“McKay’s plan obviously didn’t work,” Brielle said, wedging herself between two electrical junction boxes mounted on the back wall even as she peeked out the door at the people trying to kill them. “Harrington knew exactly when we were coming and where we’d be. One of those men out there is a supernatural like the ones we went up against in Moscow. I can’t believe Harrington left his own private security force down here in these tunnels.”
Caleb had to admit, he was kinda surprised, too. “I’m hoping that means he won’t pull the trigger on those nukes anytime soon.” He flinched a little as bullets bounced off the rough stone of the doorjamb, peppering his face with rock fragments. “He might be psycho enough to sacrifice himself for the cause, but he wouldn’t kill his own people, too, would he?”
“I’m not sure I’m willing to bet our lives on that,” Brielle said, leaning out to fire her handgun into the passageway. “We need to blow these electrical panels now and take the option out of Harrington’s hand.”
Caleb fired a few .45-caliber rounds toward the bad guys. “Um…not that I have a problem with that idea, but since we seem to be trapped in this closet right now, I’m a little worried about how we’re going to set off a dozen or so pounds of C-4 explosives in here.”
“Me, too.” Brielle reached into the cargo pockets of her tactical pants, coming out with several blocks of explosives. “We’re just going to have to come up with a way to get out of here in time.”
Peeling the sticky tape off the back of the explosives, she slapped them against the side of the nearest electrical junction box. Twenty seconds later, she had the charges set and the delay timer attached.
Caleb’s hand hovered over the red start button, his eyes locked on Brielle’s. “The moment I hit this button, we’ll have ten seconds to get clear. Not one second more.”
She nodded.
“Hudson…Genevieve…cover us,” she murmured into her radio. “We’re coming out, and we’re going to be moving fast.”
Caleb didn’t even wait for confirmation they’d heard. He simply slapped the button, watching the red number ten appear and change to nine way too fast, then he was scooping Brielle up in his arms and running as fast as his werewolf legs would carry him. He turned left, curling his arms and shoulders protectively around her as he sprinted for the corner in the tunnel that Hudson and Genevieve were using as cover even as they fired their weapons nonstop at the bad guys in the other corridor.
He didn’t have to look to know that the men who’d ambushed them were running straight at them now, weapons blazing away on full auto, trying to kill him and Brielle before they were around the corner. A few bullets clipped him—one in the shoulder, another in the right calf, and a third at his hip. He ignored the minor stabs of pain and threw himself forward toward safety.
The explosion caught him by surprise, his head telling him that there was no way ten seconds could have elapsed already. Then the blast wave was nudging him in the back, giving him a little shove. He rolled when he hit the floor, tucking Brielle into his body and protecting her from the impact as much as he could.