Page 120 of Bratva Knight

“Oh. Well, that’s good then,” he chuckled. “Okay, you’re all set. You know the way. See you in a little bit.”

“Yep.”

Daniella took point through the entrance and into the dark, gloomy halls ahead. There was next to no natural light, so the only illumination along the path were the torches and sconces on the walls.

Daniella knew exactly where she was going, zero hesitation in her steps as she led the way through the endless corridors and all the twists and turns. I felt like I was walking through old, ancient catacombs. A labyrinth of stone walls, concrete floors and arched tunnels filled with a dangerous, ominous air. At each archway stood two guards, armed with machine guns. Professionals. It was clear in the way they stood and in that laser-type focus on their eyes. They were Talon’s A-team. His best to protect the merchandise.

I trailed behind Daniella as slowly as I could without arousing suspicion. The longer I had to study the layout of this place, the more chance I gave my family of being able to rescue Father.

A left, two rights, another left, across a small bridge, one more right. The wheels of the cart squealed as we moved, a truly unpleasant sound that grated on my nerves. Daniella made small talk that I barely listened to, telling me about her life, her mother, her cat. I replied with the proper responses, acting interested in what she had to say, but I was quickly losing my patience.

So when Daniella finally stopped in front of this huge, imposing metal door, I breathed a silent sigh of relief. She looked up at the camera, held her badge up and gave a little wave. There was a loudclunk,a groan and then the door opened, another one of the A-team soldiers stepping out.

Shit. If we couldn’t go any further and they just took the cart to the prisoners themselves, this had all been a huge fucking waste of time.

“Daniella. Managed to finally wrangle in some help this time, hey?” he joked, scanning her badge. She seemed quite friendly with all of the guards, like they all knew each other well.

“Hi, Patrick. Yeah, this is Damien.”

“Hello,” I greeted, offering my badge for him to scan. He barely paid me any notice. His attention was entirely on Daniella. Someone had a crush.

“I guess it’s good he’s here. I won’t be able to help you this time. I know how much you hate going into that room. And you know I don’t mind doing it for you, but I have to report to the security tower for an emergency meeting.”

“Oh.” She wrung her hands together in front of her. “Th-that’s okay. I understand. Thank you.”

Patrick stepped back and opened the door wider to allow us to walk through. Any hope of breaking my father out of here plummeted in an instant. The walls on both sides of the room were lined with computer screens, each one displaying different camera angles of the prisoners, locked in their cells. Sitting in front of them were more A-Team guards, watching the monitors and cataloguing everything that was going on. Two, four, six, eight, ten…there were twelve of them, and all they were doing was watching the prisoners. These guys weren’t fucking around. There was no laughter, no joking around. It was just complete concentration. Complete focus.

There was a small, clear path that ran right down the centre of the room towards an elevator at the back. Patrick led us down and I wheeled the cart, keeping my gaze forward. Even though I was dying to get a look at their systems, I knew it would be far too suspicious.

Patrick placed his thumb on an imprint scanner on the wall and the elevatordinged, the doors opening. “One of the guards down there will let you back up. Sorry again that I can’t help you this time, Daniella.” He placed his hand between the doors to keep them from shutting as we loaded the cart into the elevator.

I might as well have been invisible to the man, considering how much attention he was paying me. Not that I was complaining about it.

“It’s okay! Don’t worry about it!”

“I’ll be here tomorrow morning, though, to help you with breakfast. Remember, it’s been pushed up an hour to accommodate the time of the fight.”

“I remember,” she smiled. “Thanks, Patrick. See you tomorrow.”

“See you.” Patrick stayed exactly where he was, his eyes plastered to Daniella right up until the moment the doors shut.

“You know he likes you,” I said as the elevator descended. There was only one button inside to press, which meant it only went to one place.

“What?!” Her face turned bright red. “No, he doesn’t. He’s just being friendly, that’s all.”

“Trust me, Daniella. The man likes you. You should ask him out.” Did I sound sincere enough? Fuck, I hoped so. I didn’t give a shit about any of it, but I couldn’t show that. I had to show interest, like Icared. Ugh, revolting.

I needed Daniella distracted, preoccupied. Not paying attention to me and thinking about something else. Patrick provided that perfect distraction.

“Really?” Her voice pitched higher with excitement. “You really think he likes me?”

“It’s obvious.” The doors opened and we wheeled the cart out. Two more A-Team soldiers stood right at the elevator. They nodded in greeting but made no move to do anything else. Another huge, metal door was at the other end of the room, being guarded by another two of them.

Jesus, Talon really spared no fucking expense. Any type of infiltration of this place would be next to impossible.

When we neared the door, one of the soldiers placed his finger on the scanner and then pushed it open when it unlocked. Daniella took the lead again, walking down the circular ramp.

I swear to God, if there was another set of guards and another locked door, I was going to lose it. Three was e-fucking-nough.

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