Page 310 of The Black Trilogy

“Yup.”

No way, surely? But yes, the pressure had got to them and they stupidly left through the same door, walking right into Carmen’s sights. She waited for the last man to get outside before letting loose.

One sharp crack followed another, then a third and a fourth, before a muttered expletive came over the radio.

“How many did you get?”

“Three. The others ran around the east side.”

“Now they’re going north,” Jed said. “Heading towards Alex and Jack.”

That left two of them against eight of us. I liked those odds. So much so that I decided to delegate their capture.

“Okay, you guys take the final two. I’m going to the guardhouse with Nick. How’s it looking?”

“Fire’s out, but no signs of life.”

Shoot. “Carmen, we’re coming out your way.”

Nick was right behind me, one hand on his gun and the other on the small of my back. That light touch told me he didn’t think this was going to end well either. So much death, and for what? Drugs? The ongoing vendetta of a man who hid in the shadows?

Well, I had news. I lived in freaking darkness now, and I was coming for him.

CHAPTER 5

NICK AND I went out the side door and ran to the tree line, careful to avoid stepping in the mess left by Carmen. She’d gone for the men’s torsos, and the custom loads from her favourite Accuracy International sniper rifle had punched through flesh and bone, leaving my terrace looking like a scene from the zombie apocalypse.

That gore would be a nightmare to scrub off the flagstones.

Sticking to the shadows, Nick and I made our way down the driveway. My adrenaline spiked as I thought of what we might find, and cold dread spread through my veins despite my earlier exertions.

Up ahead, the guardhouse was still smoking. Dark, acrid plumes rose into the darkness, and as we got closer, I smelled the unmistakable stench of burning flesh and had a sudden flashback to Black in the taxi. I stopped and heaved, and it was only sheer willpower that stopped me from losing my dinner into the bushes. And that made me even angrier with myself. I’d seen enough horrors that I should have been well past the point of wanting to throw up.

Puking was for amateurs.

Circling the guardhouse, guns drawn, the only sound we heard was a faint hissing as the sprinklers in what was left of the ceiling did their job, the automatic shut off long since destroyed. I swept a torch around the inside. A mess of twisted metal gleamed back at me, tangled amongst broken furniture and sparking electronics. Streams of sooty water trickled along the floor and down the steps, the River Styx reduced to miniature.

In Roman mythology, the Styx separated us from the underworld. Rather than pay Charon, the ferryman, to carry me across, I stepped into the waters of hate, allowing them to seep through my heels and into my soul.

If it was my last act on this earth, Blanco would pay for what he’d done tonight.

I radioed Mack. “Can you release the lock on the bunker from there? The entire control panel’s gone.”

The bunker could also be opened from inside, but I had no idea whether anyone had made it to safety, and if they had, whether they’d be in a fit state to work the catch. But the lock was electronic, on its own protected circuit, so hopefully Mack could help.

“I should be able to. Hang on.” Half a minute passed. “It says it’s unlocked.”

“Great. Can you shut off the electrics down here completely now? There’s water everywhere and some of the panels are throwing off sparks.”

“Two seconds... Done.”

“Want me to go first?” Nick asked from over my left shoulder.

I turned and gave him a look. “I do my own dirty work, Nick. When have I ever asked anyone else to go first? I’m still perfectly capable.”

He backed away, hands in the air in apology. “Sorry, Ems, I didn’t mean it like that. I just thought... Never mind...”

His words trailed off as I stepped gingerly over the threshold, tiptoeing through the debris. The guardhouse had been the old gatekeeper’s lodge, a two-bedroom cottage belonging to the derelict mansion that once occupied my house’s footprint. I’d gutted it, combining the lounge and one of the bedrooms into the main office, with a picture window and door facing onto the driveway. At the back, I’d left the tiny kitchen, bathroom, and second bedroom so the guards had somewhere comfortable to use on their breaks.

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