Queen of Death

Chapter 12

Hunter

Sol is hidden in the shadows but with Tate's gift we can easily follow her through the hallways beneath the facility. I've got my favorite blade in one hand and a gun in the other, ready for any manner of combat if necessary. It sucks not being able to see Solana, especially when she's leading us through unknown enemy territory, so my faith in Tate needs to be unwavering. I need to believe that he's got eyes on her and that he's not letting her get too far ahead of us.

We take a sharp left down another corridor and come to find one of the guards lifeless on the floor. Tate grins maliciously at me and mouths 'Nightshade.' Gods she's efficient. We end up following a trail of dead guards like breadcrumbs all the way to an otherwise unmarked door.

Solana melts the bioscanner, short circuiting its defenses and enabling us to easily push the door open revealing the exact room Tate was looking to find.

A wall of monitors looms over what can only be described as a command table. Each monitor shows a different view from one of the many security cams they have scattered throughout the facility. There are a dozen computers and two desk chairs sitting back to back which are each occupied by a guard that Solana is restraining.

The door clicks closed behind me and I flip the lock before helping Solana with her task. Tate grabs an extra chair and pulls it up to the command bench, furiously typing away at something on one of the computers.

"I guess you weren't too worried about security," I say rhetorically to the guards. "You've got maps, shift schedules, security codes, all kinds of shit left out in the open."

They truly don't look worried at all, if anything they look amused.

Sol scoffs, "they may be stupid but no one is that stupid. They left them there to be found — a decoy."

It makes more sense that they were left there intentionally than the staff being careless with their things, but something still doesn't sit right with me about it all. The little hairs on my arms and the back of my neck are standing straight up, my body preparing for a danger I have yet to see. "Why would they expect them to be found? Why not just have better security?"

Solana and Tate look at first at me and then at each other, an unspoken conversation occurring between the three of us. This place has been operating for Goddess knows how long and we're expected to believe that they leave their papers out to be found everyday?

No. I don't think so. They knew someone was coming, and if that's the case then...

A sudden, ear splitting alarm begins to blare and I see a victorious grin crack like a chasm across the guard's face. "You have no idea how fucked you are," he taunts us.

Tate puts an easy bullet between his eyes and then when his head lulls lifelessly to the side he puts another bullet in the back of his colleague's head without so much as blinking. I'm obviously no stranger to violence, and I will do what is necessary to protect my pack, but Goddess does this life come disturbingly easy to Tate. He almost couldn't shoot them fast enough.

Where are you three? Are you still with Solana? Ace's voice links me through the blaring noise of the security alarm. Solana deadbolts the door and then heats the entire door up so much that the metal is glowing an orange-red color. Whoever wants to get into this room now will have to break it down or suffer her heat.

We found the control room. Tate is combing through their computers now, I respond back to Ace.

The alarm continues to scream in the hallway, the molten door doing little to attenuate the sound. Gunfire breaks out, and even though it sounds muffled and far away I still begin to feel a sense of urgency.