Page 156 of Consume Me

“Bailey, I’m barely hanging on here. She’s been there for far too long.”

“You won’t save her if you go with guns blazing and no cover. Okay, done. Move exactly as I tell you.”

I run through the field as she instructs me, climbing a small hill. It’s fucking hard to notice anything with snow covering every inch. Taking a few steps to my right, I come face to face with the stone and see the difference in the surface. There’s a panel on the side. I can’t get in without the code.

“Fuck.”

Bailey notices the same thing. “Let me try to hack that.”

I can’t stop thinking how near I am and how fucking far at the same time. My entire body buzzes, feeling her close.

“Done,” she says and gives me the six-digit code. I type it on the panel and the stone parts.

I draw my gun, attach my silencer, and step inside. As I walk down a flight of stairs, I hear voices. Despite my height and build, I can move stealthily, blending into the shadows.

Two guards stand watch at a shiny elevator door. Without hesitation, I shoot them both. Bending over one, I pull out a key card and a walkie-talkie. I don’t know how much time I have before someone notices they haven’t checked in.

But when the doors slide open, ten guards stare back at me.

I duck behind the corner and shoot one in the leg and another in the arm. An alarm blares, fucking up my cover.

“Bailey, tell me where she is.”

“The goggles need time to map the perimeter.”

“I don’t have that. Fuck, whatever happens, just don’t let those two escape.”

“She’s at the far end of the shelter.”

Guess I am going to have to fight my way through. I’m coming, Silver. And not even hundreds of these fuckers will keep me back.

The moment another guard runs to me with his Glock pointed at my head, I shoot it from his hands. Yanking him back, I use him as a shield, even though I wear a bulletproof vest. While they try to shoot me, the guard takes all the bullets. One more guard to go, but I need to reload. It’s a race to see who does it faster. I win—he drops dead the next second.

“There are ten more scattered around and they’re all coming your way.”

Fuck.“Where is she?”

“Still there. But she’s not alone anymore.”

I focus on one thing—she’s alive. I drop to the ground, playing dead as two more approach. A quick shot, and one falls on top of me while the other lands at my feet.

Two more guards come at me, and in the commotion, I lose my comm and goggles. It doesn’t matter. She’s behind one more metallic door at the end of the hallway.

I’m coming, my love.

When the guard had his back to me, I seized the moment, forgetting my well-laid plan. I snagged his gun out of its holster and bolted. But at the end of the hallway, a metallic door stopped me.

The guard grunted as he caught up, dragging me back to my cell by my hair. My scalp still hurts from him pulling too hard. He informed Caleb, who had come to visit.

“I can’t let bad behavior go unpunished. You’re making it impossible to keep my word. My patience and goodwill have limits,” he tsked.

The good image that asshole has of himself is astounding. He was so damn eager for me to make a mistake, and I did—because rationality shuts down when your mind focuses on survival.

I don’t know how long I have been here. The moment I tried to talk to the guard, he shoved me back so hard, my bodyhit the cement ground. All I have been offered since then is a bottle of water.

At least I got something to drink, but my body yearns for something to eat. After going for too long without food, my stomach stopped rumbling, as if my body had adapted to this life-or-death situation. Fact is, I am getting weaker.

I can’t sleep on top of this lack of energy. I seem to drift into a maze of disarrayed thoughts, but I always remember why I have to stay focused. Caleb said he would wait for Blake to come before he started with my torture, but he lied.

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