Page 32 of Trapped

Chapter Seven

“Don’t move,” a low voice ordered.

Sophia went stock-still. She knew that the man holding her was Phil Martin. And she knew that he was doing his job—as he saw it.

“What the hell are you up to?” he asked, his voice so low she wouldn’t have heard him unless he’d been speaking directly into her ear.

“Cash’s out there.”

“And so are a lot of other guys.”

She turned toward him. “How do you know?”

“Because I was looking at the seismic indicator. It’s very sensitive. And it told me there are eight people about to enter the room on the other side of that door.

She felt her whole body go cold. She ached to open the door and prove Phil wrong. But she knew that was a dumb move. He was the expert at covert operations, and she was the rank amateur. So, she followed him back the way they’d come.

When she reached their staging area, she looked down at the GPS she’d brought and saw that Cash was now on the stairs, on his way back to the living area of the bunker.

“They came and got him,” Phil said. His voice hard.

“They could hurt him.”

“They won’t. Not unless they already got what they wanted from him.”

It was all she could do to keep from bashing her fists into something. “But we don’t know what they’ve gotten! Why did they come after him just now?”

“Let’s be optimistic. Probably they didn’t want him messing around down there.”

She nodded. That made sense. There was electrical and mechanical equipment on this floor that was dangerous. But she had to ask, “What are we going to do?”

“I’ll make a decision and let you know.”

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Four men walked in front of Cash and four in back. Quite a large group to retrieve one lone guy. When the door to the storeroom had opened, he’d been prepared to fight whoever came through the door. But not eight armed guys.

His insides clenched. He’d heard a scream. He wanted to help Sophia, but there was no chance of that now.

The guy in charge of the “rescue squad” said he could get hurt down in the service area of the bunker. Yeah, sure. Hurt by them. So, he’d gone along quietly. He half expected them to take him back to Doctor Montgomery for an evaluation of his mental state, but they brought him to the mess hall, where lunch was being served.

So why had they come charging after him? Were they afraid that he could somehow escape? Or just that he could hide from them? And why did they think he’d do that? Because he was crazy or because he’d come to his senses?

The speculation brought him back to Sophia. Had he been unconsciously looking for her? And how close had he gotten? She’d sneaked into the bunker somehow. It made sense that she’d come through a back exit, not the front door, wherever that was. So why had she screamed? Or had she? Had he made that up?

He got a lot of curious—and resentful looks when he entered the mess hall. It was obvious these guys considered him a badass. Had he really put all of their lives in danger? That would certainly generate resentment.

He grabbed a tray, then a plate and helped himself from the buffet on the steam table. He wasn’t hungry, but he took chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, and salad, added a glass of milk, and carried them to a table against the wall.

This time, nobody came over to be friendly. Well, what did he expect? He’d just caused them a lot of trouble.

As he took a bite of chicken, he thought again about what was supposed to be going on here. First eggs and now chicken. In the middle of a bird flu epidemic?

Surely this poultry hadn’t come from the countryside. And this didn’t taste like canned chicken. So, was there a henhouse somewhere down in the bunker?

He ate a little bit, then set his tray in the clean-up area and walked down the hall, wondering if he could get back downstairs. But this time, he was thinking more clearly and looked for security cameras. He found them immediately.

He wanted to slap his forehead. That was how they’d known where he was when he’d gone exploring. Which also told him that someone was actively monitoring the security system, so if he strayed from his routine, they’d be right there. Head down so nobody could see his tense expression, he went into a room that served as a recreation area. Some guys were watching an action adventure movie on DVD. Ignoring them, he went to the shelf filled with paperback novels and looked through the collection. All the books looked well-used. He took a mystery and an adventure novel, which he brought back to his room.

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