Page 44 of The Explorer
“Stop for a moment,” Banni said and looked over his shoulders and all around before he quickly nudged us down a staircase to a door with a cross on it. I got the feeling we were breaking rules and moving into a restricted area, which was confirmed when the door closed behind us and left us in darkness.
Flashlights from the men’s wristbands lit up a long narrow hallway that was dark at each end.
“Okay, this is fucking creepy,” I told them and reached for Aubri’s hand. “Stay close.”
Alex chuckled behind me. “Are you scared, Indy?”
“How about you come to the Northlands and I take you to some fucking abandoned place where it’s dark and no people are around? Then you tell me if that doesn’t make you alert and on guard.”
“We’re almost there,” Banni assured us and kept walking in long strides. With no fabric or soft materials in this place, the sounds of our footsteps reverberated against the walls and pipes running along the ceiling.
When we had walked seventy or eighty feet, the sound of a door opening made me turn and see flashlights where we’d entered a few minutes ago. Others were coming the same way.
“This is it,” Alex whispered, and we all stopped in front of an old rusty metal door.
Val stepped closer and gave three rapid knocks on the door.
Five long seconds passed and then the door slid open. A petite woman with a miniskirt and her nipples showing through a net shirt stood in the entrance.
It was clear that she knew Alex, who kissed her cheek. She had questions about Aubri and me. I could tell from the way she looked us up and down that we made her equally nervous and excited.
“They’re from the land of giants. They’re our guests.”
My gaze was already looking past the small woman to the people behind her. The room had a ceiling low enough for me to reach if I raised my hands up. There were no windows and blue paint was chipping from the walls.
About twenty-five to thirty men and women stood around the room talking. Some of them had drinks in their hands but I saw no bar.
“Gosh, it’s hot in here!” Aubri removed her jacket and studied the ceiling. “Is this an old survival bunker?”
“Yes. It’s one of the originals. It used to be a laboratory,” Banni explained and moved us further into the room, where narrow tables were pushed against the walls. “Are you thirsty?”
“What are we doing here? Is this some kind of illegal nightclub?” I asked. “Where’s the music?”
Alex took off his backpack and passed out the bottles of beer that he had in there. “This is an underground fight club.”
I took the beer and grinned. “Why didn’t you just say so?”
Aubri stood distracted next to me, her eyes scanning the room.
“Who’s fighting?” I asked Alex.
He had a secretive smile on his lips when he answered, “We call him the Gorilla.”
“Is he here yet?” I didn’t see anyone worthy of a nickname like that.
“No. Nor is his opponent. They’re in the back.” Alex nodded to a door in the back of the room.
More people entered and over the next twenty minutes, the room filled. The petite woman who had let us in and a man in his forties with large ears walked around taking bets.
“I’m placing my money on the Gorilla. He hasn’t lost a fight in months,” Banni said.
“Huh.” I lowered myself to the edge of the table behind me and took another sip of beer. “Now, this is my kind of night. I still don’t understand why you had to be so secretive about the whole thing. Aubri and I are used to fighting. It’s what we do for fun at home.”
The noise level in the room rose when the back door opened, and a man walked in swinging his arms back and forth.
“Is that the Gorilla?” Aubri asked with her nose wrinkled. “He doesn’t look big to me.”
Right then another man came out and some of the people whistled loudly, cheering for him.
