Page 75 of Dangerous Silence
CHAPTER 24
Axe
On the final drive to Brackston, I kept expecting problems. Another car chasing us. An explosion. An unexplained traffic stop. But the drive was smooth. Too smooth. Even the guard station at Midnight Miles Headquarters was empty, the bar for entry permanently lifted. Though we could have gone in, we circled the neighboring streets, waiting for Derek’s confirmation. Finally, my phone buzzed.
“He’s there,” Derek said, referencing Muro’s location.
I turned the SUV back toward the building and went through the empty station, parking as far away as I could get. The rest of the group followed. Immediately, Randy went inside, setting up his explosives. The rest of us, including Zaid’s men, our men, as well as my brothers and myself, surrounded the building. If Muro left the premises, we would know.
My phone vibrated; one of my men texted:Which dorm in PGU?
I scowled, then texted quickly,North Tower Terrace.That question shouldn’t have been an option, but I would happily deal with Demi’s security as soon as this was over.Notify when you have eyes on her,I sent.
Immediately, he responded:Yes, sir.
My phone buzzed again; this time, it was Gerard.M’s home is secure,he sent. What that meant was that Margot was there, but no Muro. Once Muro was a corpse, Margot would be free, and Gerard had sworn to protect her. Me? I wouldneverchoose to protect her. But if Gerard didn’t want me to kill her, then that was his choice.
But none of that mattered right then.
The flaps of tarps covering the missing windows beat like wings in the wind. Through the gaps in the exterior, I scouted the place. The door had been replaced, but everything else was still broken. It was empty. Too empty. I expected, at minimum, a guard or two on the bottom floor. Where were they?
“He’s in there?” I said, asking for confirmation. Derek pulled out his phone and showed me the GPS tracking app, a red dot signaling Muro’s location inside of the building. I turned back to the headquarters. Randy rushed back out, coming to my side, handing me a tablet.
“Sir?” Randy said. “Should I go ahead with it?”
I stared at those top windows, the ones from Muro’s office. I had never been in there myself; those business interactions, before we declared war, were always left to my brothers. But something held me back. It was too easy. Why wasn’t Muro fighting back? We had him surrounded. He would know we were here by now.
“Wait,” I said.
“Come on,” Wil said. “Let’s kill this bastard already.”
“Give it a few minutes,” Derek said to Wil. His expression said,Trust Axe on this. I nodded my thanks to the two of them.
Still, nothing happened. I motioned to Derek.
“Call him,” I said. He dialed, and we waited, but it kept ringing. “Do we trust Margot?” I asked. “What if she placed the tracking device on someone else?”
“All we have is her word,” Derek said.
And I didn’t have time to trust her word. A gut instinct inside of me pressed forward, needing to see Muro for myself. I checked the ammunition on my guns, then stowed them in their holsters. Patted my cleaver’s sheath. Everything was in place.
“I’ll give the signal,” I said.
Once at the building, I lifted one of the tarps, stepping over the shattered remains of the windows. A flower, crumpled and decaying, lay near the wall. The elevator’s light was dim. I hit the button, but it made no movement. After searching the lobby, I found a door that led to another door and a staircase. I tried the other door’s handle, but it was locked. Then I remembered: one of my men had mentioned this; this door wasn’t on the blueprints. There was no time to deal with that now. I had to move up.
At the second floor, I went inside, pulling out office materials and filing cabinets, chairs, trash bins, anything to make going to the ground floor more difficult for Muro. Then I continued up. Six flights up, the door opened and I shot at the target. A man, dressed in white, hung over the railing, my bullet in his head. I held my breath, continuing up the stairs, checking each floor with caution. As I neared the top, another two men burst through the doors, their automatic weapons echoing in the stairway, but I nailed each of them quickly, stepping over their bodies as I made my way up.
Then it was quiet. There were no noises to fill in the blanks.
And for the first time in my life, that silence made me uneasy.
On the top floor, I opened the final door to a long lobby. I crossed the threshold slowly, my footsteps inaudible, ready to shoot. Double doors were propped open, and on the floor, there was a lifeless heap of clothes. A college sweatshirt. A splash of blue and purple hair, muddied with blood.
Demi.
I ran to her. Letting my gun fall beside me, I pulled her soft body into my arms. Her face was bloody, one of her eyes swollen shut, her arms bruised, matching the color of her hair, tattered with bloodied cuts.
How had this happened?
