Page 66 of The Devil's Conflict

“I’ve talked to the other team,” Cryos says, but there is a grimness to his tone. “Seems they went to the decoy house and they set off triggers that sent it up in flames. They all got out, but Sting got burned. Whip got burned and hit hard on the ground that he might have busted a rib. They’re making their way back now to see Medic.”

“Fuck,” Stone hisses. He hands me the phone. “I’ll talk to Dad.” Then he’s gone, pulling himself up out of the hole as well.

“And our men?” I ask Cryos.

“Shadow and Hulk got them out. But at the same time, the place went up in flames, so they had to get out of there before the cops showed up, and there were definitely sirens coming. I don’t think whoever set up realized just how much attention that was going to cause. They’re going to have cops and the fire department all over the place. So if there was any hidden stash in there, it’s going to be found.”

“And if it isn’t, they’ll move it from the actual storage spot as quickly as they can,” I agree. “And that means they might be heading this way. We need to get into that tunnel fast.”

“Need me to run any comms?”

“Didn’t bring mine with me,” I tell him. “Didn’t figure it would be this involved. But be on standby just in case we need a quick exit.”

“On it. Be careful.” Then he’s gone.

King drops down, Bullet right behind him. “Stone is going to keep guard upstairs,” King explains. “Dad’s going with you because he’ll know if anything was Bull’s design or whatever, and I’ll be here to help you or Stone if needed.”

I nod. I’m not keen on Bullet being with me, more because I work better alone in this kind of situation, but telling my President won’t go over well. So instead, I move back to one of the crates, pull out one of the larger guns, and the corresponding ammunition, and get ready. “I’m moving fast,” I warn Bullet.

Bullet gives me a hard glare as he grabs a gun for himself and also gets the ammunition ready to go. “Don’t worry about me keeping up,” he grunts. “Just make sure neither of us have to deal with pissed off women because we get shot.”

I nod. I look at King. “Something goes wrong, don’t come in guns blazing. Call for back-up and if we call for you, come in slowly and be ready.” He nods, face tight and determined.

Bullet and I stand to the left of the door as I click the button.

It opens with the smallest of clicks, that I never would have heard if I wasn’t listening so closely. The door itself is as large as the wall, and I push it open, pressing back tight to the wall as we wait. There is no explosion or any other sound. I carefully move forward, pointing the flashlight down to check and make sure there are no trip wires. Seeing none, I reach down on the floor, find a larger rock, and toss it through the door.

I hear it hit the floor, but there is no other sound. No one moves, and I hold my breath as we wait. Finally, when nothing else happens, I nod at Bullet and we make our way in. I move fast, gun up and ready, flashlight above it as I continuously move and sweep my eyes over the tunnel. It’s dark, and nothing to guide anyone like reflective tape. The ground is hard and concrete, but I feel a draft as I move forward, meaning that there is a definite end to this.

We go for a good three to four minutes before I see the dim glow of light start to come into view. I slow down, holding up my hand for Bullet to stop. He does, but I can feel the tension coming off him in waves. I carefully inch forward, my flashlight still sweeping along the floor in case an additional trip wire or trap is at this end. Nothing stands out, so I wave Bullet forward as we reach the door with light seeping through underneath the bottom of the door. I find the doorknob, and twist it open, before we both step out of the exit of the tunnel.

“Jesus Christ,” Bullet mutters to himself, cursing as we both stop and stare.

I have the same feeling as well as anger and horror. We stare at the cabin in front of us, realizing just what we’re looking at. The cabin is hidden in the thick trees, and you wouldn’t know it was there from above, and when I look around, I realize that nothing is cleared but a tiny little trail. It’s not overly big, but the door faces the exit I’m standing just outside of. And when I look up, I realize that they’ve built this tunnel into a large, natural hillside and they’ve camouflaged the outside of the door so that you’d never know it was there looking at it.

The worst part?

I look at a marker that marks the end of our land. The one the cabin borders on. How the fuck did we not know it was here?

“Call Stone and King to get them out here,” Bullet orders me, as he steps forward. “We’re searching this place.”

“They might have it rigged,” I warn him, even as I pull out my phone.

Bullet shakes his head. “They won’t want to risk blowing up whatever they’re hiding in here. But I’m not wasting time and once we figure out what this place is being used for, we’re going to be the ones burning it to the ground.” I nod, understanding.

Once Stone and King make their way through the tunnel, they curse when they realize where we’re standing. “That slimymotherfucker,” King hisses. “This reeks of Dagger giving a huge fuck you to us. He made it so if the cops ever found this place, we’d be fucked.” Stone’s face is hard as he takes it in, not saying a word.

“We’re checking it out,” Bullet tells them, walking up the steps. I glance at Stone and King briefly before I climb after him. Bullet steps aside to allow me to enter first. I kick down the door, gun up and ready just in case. The inside of the cabin is silent, and nothing happens as I make my way inside. I sweep it, and I realize that the cabin is small, much like the other one, but it’s also full of crates, boxes, and a wall covered in maps.

“Clear,” I say after I check the bathroom and pantry. There seems to be no other hidden spaces, but I wouldn’t put it past Dagger or Dmitri to put something in that Vlad is now using. We’ll sus it out.

Bullet, King, and Stone make their way inside and we look at everything that is scattered around. “All of this right in our own fucking backyard,” Stone mutters furiously. “If I didn’t want Vlad dead before now, I fucking do now.”

“Search the place and see what else you can find,” Bullet orders as he starts grabbing boxes and opening them, dumping everything onto the ground.

Over the next hour, we go through everything, and with every box and crate, the pile in the middle of the room gets bigger and bigger. When we finally finish, I’m estimating we’re looking at millions of dollars in merchandise. “This can’t be all of it,” King muses, staring at it and then the rest of the room. “We need to get to work on finding the rest.”

I’m in perfect agreement. We work a bit more, pulling the walls, and ripping up the floor, until we finally stumble onto a hidden door in the pantry. I make quick work of opening the door and climb down the dark steps. And just like upstairs, it’s full of more crates and boxes full of drugs, but in the back corneris bags of cash. The room is almost stacked to the roof, with only a small path to be able to reach each section of the room.

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