Page 74 of Unplanned Target

He nods and falls into step behind me. Together, we quickly cut across the rocky lot, weapons drawn and ready.

I chose this particular door because I’m pretty confident there’s no camera trained on the spot. That probably means it’s not going to be easy to get into—if it was, they’d have eyes on it—but if no one’s watching, that buys us time to do what we need to do.

Butch puts his back to the building, keeping his eyes on the area around us as I go to work figuring out how to get in. As I expected, it doesn’t have an accessible lock on it. It doesn’t have hardware of any sort. It looks like somebody simply slapped a hunk of metal in place and welded it on.

“I’ve gotta break some welds.” Digging out my mini grinder, I take a deep breath and say a prayer. This isn’t a quiet process, and I have a limited amount of power. I have to be quick and I have to be accurate.

Otherwise we might not get in and everyone might come out.

As fast as I can, I run the edge of the grinder across the haphazardly beaded welds holding the metal in place. Sparks fly out, and the sharp sound of metal against metal cuts through the air.

“How’s it looking up there, Maddox?” Butch asks.

“Nothing so far. I can hear a little of what you’re doing, but if I didn’t know what was happening, I might not pay attention.” Maddox’s assurance has me breathing a little easier.

Not much, but a little.

After what feels like forever, the metal finally hits the dirt, and I’m on my feet, pulling open the solid steel panel. Sunlight pours into the darkened room on the other side, and I brace, not knowing what’s waiting for me.

As luck would have it, the room is stacked with piles of random shit, but there’s not a single person in sight. I identify the best path forward and step in. Butch mirrors my foot placement as we work our way deeper into the building.

Reaching the door at the opposite side of the room, I pause, listening for any noise coming from the other side. When there is none, I carefully turn the knob and ease it open. A smell unlike anything I’ve ever inhaled hits me like a wall, making me want to step back. It’s body odor and excrement and vomit all rolled into one. The slightly warm air inside the boarded-up building makes it even worse, baking the scent into every air particle.

“We’re in and moving forward.” I keep my voice low as I inform Maddox of our progress.

And we are making progress. The hallway we’re in now has the feel of emptiness everyone on my team can identify, so I’m comfortable moving a little faster. A lot can happen in a short period of time, and I don’t know why they brought that woman in here. I have a few guesses, and none of them are good. The sooner we get her, the better off she’ll be.

When I reach the end of the hall, I stop, pressing back against the corner as voices reach me.

“You should have seen her face. Dumb bitch didn’t even know it was coming.” The first of two men loitering in the hall speaks. “You think Eugene will let me have a go at her first?”

“You know he fucking won’t,” The other guy whines. “That old prick gets off on stuffing his wrinkly ass dick in them first.” He scoffs. “And that’s not really fair since we’re the ones who do all the work.”

“Maybe what he don’t know won’t hurt him.” The first man’s words drip with insinuation. “I won’t tell if you won’t tell.”

It’s time to put a stop to this.

I step out, raising my weapon. “I’ll tell.”

The two silenced shots I fire hit each man right between the eyes in quick succession, dropping them to the filthy floor before they even know what happened.

Butch steps out behind me. “You made that too easy on them.”

“I know, but I couldn’t fucking listen to that anymore.” I quickly move to where they are, checking each one for weapons and finding none. “I’m going to guess that woman’s close. They probably didn’t want to be far from her with the plans they had.”

There’s a soft scuffing sound coming from down the hall. I meet Butch’s eyes, tipping my head that direction before silently stepping over the dead bodies as I prepare to create more.

But when I reach the corner, I see a familiar face.

Luca’s eyes widen as they bounce from me to Butch. “What the fuck are you two doing here?”

“Initially, trying to save your ass. But now we’re trying to find the woman they just brought in.” Movement at his back has me leaning to peer around him. “Are you fucking serious right now?”

Raven lifts her middle finger my direction, the sharp point of her red fingernail aimed at the ceiling.

“Trust me, leaving her on her own is a terrible fucking idea.” Luca jerks his chin in the direction of the hall branching off where we stand now. “This way.”

I fall behind Raven, deciding it’s best if she’s between two of us in case shit starts to go down.