Bo and the Beast (Book #1) (Completed)

32. Bo Get Your Gun

She climbed the stairs to her right, making her way to the armory door. It was heavy wood and completely impenetrable. And locked, of course. She twisted her mouth and stared at the handle, which sat over the lock. This one was stranger than the others in the house. It was like a lock out of the Knight's Conquest, it was so old. She was able to peer through it to the room beyond, but could only see a few shelves with boxes on them.

She paced back and forth, rubbing her eyes with her hands and trying to think of a fast way in. It wasn't until she crouched down, and something in her pocket poked her hip, that she remembered what she'd dug up from the Beast's bedroom chest the night before. Impossible hope blossoming, Bo dug in her pocket and brought out the key on a string. It was strange and long, nothing like keys she'd seen before. It had two heavy teeth and an intricate handle that matched the design of the door handles.

It was a long shot, such a long shot, but it might work. It'd been with her radio, after all, and if the Beast had put her guns away in the armory, then why wouldn't he put the key with what was left of her belongings?

With her eyes closed, she fit the key into the lock and turned it. Every prayer she knew ran silently across her lips that this, her last hope, would not fail her.

The key turned. The door slid open.

Relief raced through Bo's veins, but she didn't have much time to do more than mutter a few thanks. She had to get moving, and she walked into the armory to inspect her improving chances.

The set up was much like the sky room, only instead of books there were weapons. Aston would have fallen down drooling over the stock the Beast had locked up. Every sort of gun imaginable, from handhelds to mounted ones that stood in pieces in the corners. Blades of the kind with electrified metal were shelved and labeled, and pulse grenades lay nestled next to each other in bins. The people who had used the mansion before the Beast had been impeccable in their organization and stockpiling of these weapons. It was almost like art to see them.

Bo stared in wonder for a moment, thinking of all the places her camp could finally go if they had such fire power to protect them. Yet, she knew that she couldn't possibly haul all the equipment with her on the trek home.

She wandered through the stacks and shelves of weapons, pawing through any piles that she thought her gear might be hidden in. Everything was mostly labelled, which helped, and she managed to find her way to the sections where the pistols and long guns were kept. It took her a few more minutes to locate her guns, but finally she saw their familiar shapes. She slung her rifle over her shoulder, and ran her hands over the handles of her pistols. She'd missed them, and the memories they carried. She smiled as she strapped them to her legs once again, glad of their weight and happy to have them back at her side.

With her objects in her possession once again, Bo had no further need for the room. She fit the key back into the lock and then started back down the stairs to the gallery below. If the Service-Matons were not in the entrance hall, she was planning on sneaking out the front door. Once outside, she could use the vegetation to hide her while she tried to figure out a plan of getting to a forcefield without being noticed.

She was crouched halfway down the grand staircase, listening for the whirring of a Service-Maton's anti-grav system, when she noticed a light coming from down the hallway in the entrance hall. Thought it was morning, some corners of the mansion were hard for sunlight to find. This meant the electric lights burned almost all day. And it also meant that the Beast was probably in his study.

She knew she should just ignore it, and make a break for the door. But she also wanted to make sure that he was where she thought he was. If she assumed he was in the study and acted in accordance, she might bump into him in the garden when she least expected it. No, she had to make sure he was in the study before she attempted her escape.