Page 53 of The Fortunate Ones
“Entering the bottom floor now.”
“About halfway through,” Skye added.
I carefully opened the door, but no one was there waiting for me. Not that I could see anyway because it was pitch fucking black. Damn. I pulled out my flashlight so I didn’t eat it.
Peering down the narrow, very European staircase, I didn’t see anything but cobwebs. I climbed down.
At first, there was only more darkness. I scanned the light through the room. It looked like a storage area of some sort. There was dust-covered furniture that was popular in the eighties. Shelves lined the wall that were mostly empty, save an occasional box or unlabeled can. It was giving abandoned bunker.
Walking through, I noticed a light flickering around the corner. The downstairs level was huge—it seemed to span the entire house. But that flickering light was the only sign it hadn’t been completely abandoned.
“This is some horror-movie shit,” I muttered under my breath, but it was loud enough for the comms to pick up. Luca’s husky laugh came through, reminding me he was here, even if he was still in America.
I took a few silent steps in the direction of the flickering light, keeping my flashlight steady and fighting the instinct to flash it wildly throughout the space.Stay calm and focused but be alert to your surroundings.It was the best way to stay alive in these situations.
There was nothing but that freaky ass light. No other sounds, not even the normal creaking that was common in old houses. Nothing but deadly quiet. If it wasn’t for the guys in my ear, it would be unnerving.
“I’m at the bedroom,” Skye whispered. “Someone’s in there.”
A door opened and then . . . “Fuck me. Mav, I need help up here.”
“Coming! Belding?”
“No. Give me a second to clear the room.” More noises indicated Skye searching the space. “No Belding, but fucking hell, Mav. Oh shit, they’re still alive.”
My heart dropped. What the fuck had he found? Or whom? I could only imagine.
“Brooks, clear the basement and then get upstairs. Skye’s got captives . . . and it’s not good.” Luca sounded hollow as he issued orders, the first ones he had given since this had started.
I swallowed, my stomach doing backflips.
“Y-yeah, okay. Yes, sir. Give me a second.”
I was quick but thorough, confirming I was alone. Confident no one was lurking in the shadows, I pulled my mask up on top of my head so I could see better. At this point, we didn’t need them anymore anyway. I took a breath and finished clearing all the nooks and crannies. There were too many blind spots in this place. I found a couple of cages, but they were empty. Theycould’ve been heavy-duty dog cages, but I seriously doubted it. There was nothing else. Some storage containers we’d have to go through, but it could wait. I had all kinds of horror movie shit going through my head when I made it to the area where the light was flashing, but it was nothing but a bad bulb. Eww, so freaking creepy for no reason.
“All clear,” I told everyone. “I’m coming up now.”
I had been tuning Maverick and Skye out, focused on not missing anything, but I started to listen in, more to know what I was walking into than anything. Still, I stayed on alert. We hadn’t found Tanner, and while it was possible our intel was wrong and he’d left before we’d gotten here, it didn’t feel right. He was here. I just didn’t know where.
I was nearly back to the stairs when I saw it out of the corner of my eye: a glint of metal reflecting from the beam of my flashlight. It could’ve been anything, but as I turned my head to examine it, the glint moved. It was mostly reflex that had me ducking out of the way just in time as a metal fucking bat came swinging toward my head.
It missed me by centimeters, but my attacker didn’t give me a second to gain my composure as he came barreling at me, bat high above his head. He swung it down with a grunt.
It missed my head, thank fuck, but slammed into my shoulder.
“Oww, motherfucker.” I was seeing stars and a little slow. The fucker took advantage of it and got another hit in on the same fucking arm. My bone cracked.
I dropped the flashlight, vaguely aware of it rolling away, illuminating the wall in front of me. My attacker came after me, panting heavily. I could see now it was Tanner Belding.
He swung again, but this one was much slower, easier to avoid. My shoulder hurt like a motherfucker, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to move my arm as well as I should. I quicklyswitched my knife to my other hand, happy that Skye had taught me how to be ambidextrous with my weapons.
It was time to get on the offensive.
“Easy, Tanner, you’re going to hurt yourself.”
I wondered why he had a bat and not a gun or any other weapon. He certainly had the resources to get one. Yet here he was, wildly swinging at me, his beady eyes glazed over. Was he on drugs? I remembered he had drugged the girl he’d been holding captive at the gala last year, but I didn’t think he had an issue himself.
He swung at me again, but this time he stumbled, nearly falling on his face. It was my opportunity. I charged at him, using the momentum from being off-balance to take him to the floor. Of course as he went, he flailed, losing the bat and elbowing me in the fucking eye. That one wasn’t intentional, but the next one was, before I finally managed to wrangle control of the situation.
