Page 29 of Avenger of Sins

He’d been right; there was a leak. The trap hadn’t just been for Ryan—it had been for them as well.

One of the side doors opened behind him.

TEN

Gray slamshis fists into the blast door. It refuses to yield, so he scores it with his claws, leaving only shallow gouges behind.

They are cut off from John.

“This will not work,” Night observes calmly. “You waste your strength.”

Gray snarls, not at Night, but at the layers of steel separating them from John.

“We could attack the stone wall around the door,”Caleb suggests without much hope. Such an attempt didn’t even work with the bank vault, which was much smaller, the walls merely reinforced concrete rather than a mountain of stone. Given enough time, they might be able to dig their way through, but that would be the work of months. Years.

He steps back reluctantly. “You are right,” he admits to Night. “These side doors are smaller—perhaps we can find a way through one of them.”

Night watches him expressionlessly. “Destroy this body. Perhaps I can free you from outside, rather than trapped within, as I did before.”

“No,”Caleb says.“John was right—Harlow has an informant inside SPECTR. This was a trap, set up for us. Nightmight not be able to get back in. Or they might find another way to grab her. We can’t split up.”

“No,” Gray tells Night. “There is no knowing if you could return. Or how far away the nearest suitable body might be.” This area appears empty of human settlements. Unless some foolish mortal has succumbed to the elements while hiking the forest, there seems little chance of a nearby corpse. It might take Night days to reach the compound again, if she were separated from her current body.

“As you wish,” Night replies. “We will do as you suggest.”

She strides down the vast corridor away from the sealed blast door, trying the smaller doors along the left side of the tunnel as she goes.

Gray grips the handle of the nearest door on the right and tugs on it. It has an electronic lock, and when he raps their knuckles against it, it feels and sounds like solid steel.

Caleb’s unease grows stronger.“What the hell is this place? Why do they need this level of protection? Are they expecting an invasion, or…?”

“Here,” Night says, as a door on the left swings open at her touch.

“Nope, this is wrong,”Caleb says. “These doors have electronic locks; it has to be disengaged on purpose. Another trap.”

Gray growls softly.Then we will spring it, and let the one who has set the trap know they have made a grave error.

Night steps into the corridor beyond the door, then pauses. “Demons,” she says, nostrils flared to catch the scent.

Memories rise up, these in full color. The SPECTR black ops site they were taken to for testing smelled faintly of demons as well.

“This is another goddamn Forsyth situation,”Caleb seethes.“Of course it is—look at what they were doing with John andthe other kids. Harlow is still carrying on experiments with possession. These secure doors are to keep them in if they get out of control.”

“Be careful,” Gray tells Night. “We have encountered mortals like these before. Their actions are foolish, even for their kind.”

Fluorescent light illuminates the corridor, its walls of stone. An older memory teases him, from his host who worked in such a place, extracting coal from the surrounding rock, until his lungs grew clotted with black dust.

The doors in this tunnel are less sturdy. He tries the nearest one; it is locked, but it is a simple matter to tear it free from its hinges. The small room beyond is largely bare, except for weights of various sizes. The concrete floor is heavily scarred, as if they’ve been dragged back and forth, and the stone walls bear pits where something has been flung into them. He recognizes it as a telekinetic testing room; Forsyth had asked Caleb to move such weights with his mind as part of the tests he’d performed on them.

Night opens another door with a squeal of bending metal, revealing a similar room, this one covered with scorch marks. “This is like the Center,” she observes. “There were such chambers there, though fewer in number.”

Caleb’s anger sparks along their nerves.“Nothing ever fucking changes with these people. They can’t just leave well enough alone—no, they have to go around sticking demons in people for power, or money, or ‘national security,’ or whatever excuse they can come up with. Forsyth, Harlow, Lydell, all of them are just the same. They can’t even be original about it.”

The scent of demons grows stronger as they proceed down the corridor. A whiff of smoke and rancid flesh, mingling with mange-clotted fur and slime. “There is more than one kind of demon here,” Night observes. “We will feast tonight.”

“They may yet be able to be exorcised,” Gray cautions. “Do not forget.”

“How could I? You will not let me.”

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