Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

MINA

The ride back was tense as fuck.

I sat in the back seat with Gianni, while Damon, as usual, drove. Reuben sat beside him, his back straight, shoulders stiff.

No one said a word. We were all thinking the same thing. How had Kurt managed to get inside, much less alive? How had he taken my sister? When? Had he…

I bit my lip. I didn't want to think about what he might have done to her.

"She'll be okay," Gianni said.

I nodded, but I wasn't so sure. Kurt was just as likely to kill her to get a reaction out of me. And kill Caleb to get a reaction out of Reuben. He'd probably be amused at provoking Carlos too.

I glanced back to the other two sedans behind us. The twins drove in front, in the other SUV, making a cavalcade of dark vehicles.

How many people did Kurt have with him?

Did we have enough? We had to. My sister's life might depend on it.

The twins slowed about half a kilometre from the house and pulled to a stop.

Damon stopped right behind them.

"What are you doing?" I insisted. "We don't have time to wait." The time it would take for us to walk, or even run, the extra kilometre could be time we needed to help Rose.

"We're not waiting," Damon said calmly. "There's more than one way into the house."

I should have anticipated that. The Brantley family wouldn't have a house here in Dusk Bay that didn't have a secret back door.

"But if Kurt knows where it is—" I started.

"He won't," Damon said. "The only ones who know about it are us and the twins. The rest of Dusk Bay is just about to find out."

Reuben let out a breath of annoyance at that, but he'd also do whatever was necessary to save my sister and get Kurt out of his house.

We all climbed out of the cars and, in quiet ranks, followed the twins onto a property beside the road. We swished through high grass to a massive water tank.

"No one ever suspects the water tank," Hunter said ominously.

I gave him a funny look, but followed him around to the rear of the tank.

It was Damon who pulled out his phone and tapped on the screen.

Without a sound, a door in the side of the tank started to rise. If I didn't see it with my own eyes, I never would have guessed it was there.

I tapped the side of the tank. "It doesn't sound hollow."

Damon smirked. "Of course not. That would be too obvious."

"The insides are lined with concrete," Reuben said. "Pipes take the water that lands on the rim of the tank down to our house. Simple but efficient."

I thought back to Clarissa and her hidden trapdoor. She'd love this, if she knew about it. Another secret door that didn't lead to Narnia.

"How many of these things do you have?" I asked. "Secret passageways and things like that."

"None we're going to discuss in front of anyone else." Damon jerked his head towards Daze, Ric and Aidan. And all the people they brought with them.

"I'll fill you in on all of them later," Gianni said. "You should know about all of them, just in case."

I nodded. We had to get through this first.

I let Gianni take my hand as we stepped through the door, into the tank.

Hunter and Parker both had the lights on their phone, showing the way.

The inside of the tank was massive, but like Damon said, lined with concrete. That made it seem a lot smaller. Small enough to make me anxious. This was exactly the kind of space that reminded me of Kurt's basement.

The same flashback that came over me while we were crouched in the bushes threatened to sneak back into my mind. Memories clawed back at me, trying to suck me back into the past.

That nightmare was my present for so long, putting it behind me was never going to be easy, but I couldn't let it get to me now. This was when I needed to be strong, for Rose's sake. And for mine.

"You've got this," Gianni said, his voice echoing. "I have to confess, this place gives me the creeps too, but we can do it. We can't let it get to us."

"I'm with Gianni," Hunter said. "This place is creepy as shit, and I know creepy as shit."

"Some people say you are as creepy as shit." Parker grinned.

"Some people can fuck off, and so can you," Hunter said to his twin. "I'm not creepy, I'm awesome."

"You pronounced 'awful' wrong," Gianni teased.

"The next time we need someone used as bait, the answer is no," Hunter said to no one in particular. "Gianni volunteers instead."

"Keep your voices down," Damon snapped.

I noticed he didn't tell us to be completely quiet. I suspected he was as creeped out by this place as the rest of us. Only Reuben looked unruffled. On the outside anyway. I doubted too many people would enjoy being in a place like this.

No one but spiders and people like Kurt, and Leon Graves.

And the cockroach that ran past my left shoe. I shuddered, but didn't flinch.

This time.

We fell into silence after that anyway. Lost in their own thoughts.

The ground dipped before the tunnel led to a set of steps. Two by two, we stepped down them, slowly and carefully.

After those, the tunnel widened, becoming slightly more comfortable before we headed up another set of stairs. If I had to guess, I'd say we must be close to the house.

It already felt like we'd been walking forever. Maybe forever and a day or two.

Enough time for a million thoughts to tumble through my mind. Chief amongst those was, how had any of this happened?

We were keeping tabs on Rose. The house should have been secure. So many questions and, like too many times before, there were no answers. Not yet.

We reached the top of the second set of stairs and stopped in a wide, rectangular room.

There, Damon gestured for us to halt.

Behind me, Aidan gestured for his players to do the same.

"Where do we go now?" I glanced around, but couldn't see a door leading out.

For half a heartbeat, I started to panic. Maybe there wasn't a way out. We might have come all this way only to end up stuck in the end of nowhere. This might have been someone's plan. To bring me here and?—

I shook my head. Those thoughts were ridiculous. There was no way in the world that would happen. No one here would have allowed it, especially me. This was nothing but the past trying to get to me again.

I told it to fuck off, into a corner of my brain for now. I'd deal with one asshole at a time.

Parker turned off the light on his phone and tapped on the screen. "We could do with better connectivity in here, but this will have to do."

Damon nodded and pulled out his own phone.

I stared at them, confused until Parker said, "Got it."

He turned the screen to me, and showed camera footage of inside the house. "Now we just need to find where they are. And how many there are."

I nodded and waved for him to get on with it. Stopping to explain might be a waste of time. Time we couldn't afford to lose a moment of.

"He's still in the living room," Damon reported. "Rose, Angie and Enzo are still alive. Caleb too."

I peered over his shoulder.

Sure enough, they were still sitting on the couch, looking as though they hadn't moved since we saw them last. Kurt was pacing back and forth, gun still in his hand. He was surrounded by several other people.

I caught a glimpse of two of them and sucked in a breath. Sweat sprag out on my palms and under my arms. "That's Jason Andrews and Wade."

"Are you sure?" Gianni asked.

The angle wasn't good, and they were half turned away, but I was certain.

"It's them," I said softly.

"Good, then we can kill three birds with one stone," Gianni said. "Four, if you count Leon.”

"There are people in the kitchen too," Parker said. "They don't seem to be anywhere else. None have shown themselves down to the basement."

"Yet," Hunter said. "I can see that place getting really full, really soon."

"Bring it on," Gianni said. "I've always wondered exactly how many people we could fit down there. Although, I was thinking about a party."

"Are you saying this isn't a party?" Daze asked. "Looks like one to me."

"It sounds like your boyfriends need to show you a good time more often," Hunter remarked.

"Don't even think about it," Ric growled. Hilton and Gunnar looked equally unimpressed.

Typically, Hunter just grinned. No one would have bought that he was interested in Daze anyway. He was just trying to lighten the mood.

That lasted approximately three or four seconds before Reuben spoke.

"Where's Terry?"

Damon glanced up from his phone and shook his head. "I can't see any sign of him."

His expression was grim. They would have gotten past Terry over his dead body.

That was exactly what we were all afraid of. I'd become fond of the gentle, silent giant, not just for his cooking. He had a way of conveying his thoughts without words. He didn't put up with any shit from anyone and I admired that about him.

He was as much a part of my family as my men or my siblings. Or Daze and her boyfriends. Or anyone currently in this secret bunker, who'd come when I called. Every single one of them had dropped whatever they were doing and raced to help us.

For that, I'd always be grateful. Assuming I lived long enough to have much in the way of gratitude.

"It looks as though we have equal numbers," Parker said. "Approximately. There's still a handful out the front, along with their cars. The majority went inside with the asshole."

Reuben nodded. "Nothing we can't handle. They know we're coming, but they don't know where we're coming from."

"Chances are, they're expecting us to pull up out the front of the house and take on the people outside," Hunter reasoned. "They'll think we're complacent, after taking care of only a handful of assholes. They'll expect us to walk in through the door so they can ambush us."

I nodded my agreement at his assessment. Based on the placement of people, that was logical. It sounded like something Kurt would do. He'd make sure he was surrounded by a lot of people who would die while he made a run for it.

Fuck that.

"Maybe some of us should turn up out the front," Aidan suggested. "We can deal with them, and provide a distraction."

"A distraction is a good idea," I agreed. I met Damon's eyes and smiled.

He offered a faint smile in return. His version of a grin. Neither of us would hear or say that word again without thinking of each other.

Reuben nodded. "Four of you go. One for each car. Let them think we're all turning up at the front. Parker."

"On it," Parker said. He frowned in concentration and tapped at his phone screen. "There. The cameras out the front of the house are on a loop. Assuming they don't realise it too soon, anyone Kurt has monitoring will just see what's out there right now."

"Good job," Reuben said. His gaze followed Aidan, Phoenix, Coast and another one of the players back down the tunnel. "We'll give them five minutes, then we go inside."

Hunter rubbed his hands together. "Time to fuck some shit up."