Page 81 of Martyr
Right now, it’s just plain dark.
The hallways twist. There are semi-private rooms and areas all over the place. Balconies with glass walls look down onto the main dance floor, the VIP sections Reese is clearing and spaces for the average client.
There are suspended platforms for dancers, too, meant to hover out in the open.
I glance up, aware that anyone could be hiding in those upper rooms and spot us. The platforms aren’t visible. Everything is… black.
Pop-pop-pop
I catch up to Jace and put my hand on his shoulder. We continue, and it isn’t until we reach one of the bars that we find our first body. My chest tightens until Jace’s light sweeps over the face.
Not Kade.
It’s not Gabriel either, but the clean bullet hole in the center of the guy’s forehead suggests it’s Kade’s kill.
Someone emerges ahead of us, and Jace registers that it’s a Cyclops before I can raise my gun. He fires twice. The man jerks as he falls, his gun going off and putting bullets into the wall to our left.
Jace moves forward and finishes the kill, and I shake off my nerves. We find more bodies along the way, then come to a fork.
“Take the right,” he says. “Shoot first, ask questions later.”
Right. Minus the whole not-shooting-one-of-us thing.
We separate, and the corridor I’m in leads back to the dance floor. I come out near the silent, barren DJ platform. There’s abangto my left, and I spin around, my red light arcing across the empty space.
Nothing.
I’m fucking jumpy. I’m not built for this.
Something hums—electricity, maybe—and then the lights overhead flicker back to life. I squint and quickly scan the area, but it’s empty.
“Hey!” someone shouts.
I whirl, just in time to catch a glimpse of Gabriel rushing at me with something over his head. He swings it, his handcuffs glinting, and nails me in the side of the head.
I see stars, then nothing at all.
34ARTEMIS
Apolloand I get five Cyclopes in the stairwell. I’m not sure if they intended on circling around to pin us in—I don’t think it ever got to that point. But eventually, we run into Kade who smirks at me and gives us a thumbs-up. He’s got a bit of blood smeared across his forehead and dusted on his Kevlar vest.
“There were no leaders,” he explains. “It was being used as a hang-out spot, but that’s it. We caught it at a good time.”
Right. We get the power back on—Kade and Gabriel were the ones who killed it in the first place—and head back toward the main level. Saint, Jace, and Reese should be around here somewhere.
“Where is Gabriel, by the way?” Apollo asks. He peers over his shoulder, then makes a face at me. “Shouldn’t he be with you?”
“Should be,” Kade grunts. “He slipped away. I assume one of the others will find him soon enough.”
Famous last words. I exchange another look with my brother.
“There you guys are,” Reese calls, coming down one of the staircases that leads to VIP. “Where’s Jace? Saint?”
“Haven’t found them yet,” Kade says.
“And Gabriel is MIA,” I add.
Reese scowls.
