“Stairs, ahead and to the left,” the man answered.
Austin pulled open the door marked with a picture of stairs and entered into a stairwell that was nearly pitch black. He stuck his foot out, feeling for the first stair and began the climb.
They moved upward at a faster pace than he was comfortable with, but he let the guard lead. Soon, his bad leg especially was burning, but he could feel strain in both his legs’ muscles—he hadn’t been getting as much exercise as these guards, clearly. He wasn’t sure how high they’d gone, but despite his muscles aching, he wouldn’t let himself ask for a break.
“How much farther?” he grunted.
The man chuckled. “A couple more flights.”
Austin wasn’t sure why Zander couldn’t have met him on a lower floor. He realized that putting his home base on an upper floor added a measure of safety, but this high up seemed unnecessary. Of course, maybe it had been calculated, designed this way to slow any visitor or interloper down. He hadn’t even come face to face with his daughter’s kidnapper, and Austin was already spent, his legs on fire, and near on to gasping for breath. He wouldn’t be hard to take down in his current condition.
“Here,” the man ahead of him huffed out, clearly not unaffected by the climb up what Austin had estimated to be twenty short flights.
Austin reached for the door and pulled it open and was met with a gun aimed directly at his head. He held up his hands.
“I’m here for Zander,” he said, trying to hide just how out of breath he was.
His escort shoved him hard between the shoulder blades. “Move,” he ordered.
Austin blinked several times to adjust his eyes to the lit hallway. He could hear a humming noise, and realized it was the sound of computers and electricity in general. After living without the sound for so long, it felt foreign. He was pushed to the end of the hall and directed through a pair of wide wood double doors. And beyond the doors, there on a couch, he saw his daughter for the first time in more than a month, her eyes wide with fear.
“Savannah!”
Her face brightened and she jumped up, only to be shoved hard back onto the couch by the tall man who’d been standing next to her. Austin would have run to her himself, but his escort was still with him, holding him from behind by his upper arm. Smarter to stay here anyway, he told himself. If the man shot him, she wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire.
Still, he looked her over. She looked unharmed, but she’d lost weight and there were dark circles under her eyes. He hated that she’d suffered, and he hadn’t been there to help or take care of her.
“Dad, I was so worried!” she choked out. Austin thought she might jump up again, but she stayed still.
“Quiet, girl. Your daddy and I have business to discuss,” the man beside her snarled.
Austin tensed, but swallowed down curses and told himself to stay calm. “Zander?” he asked, staring at this man who’d dared kidnap his daughter.
“In the flesh. You’re looking hale and hearty. I guess you didn’t take a bullet after all,” he said, looking Austin up and down.
“I’m here.”
Zander smiled. “Then you give me what I want, and you get what you want.”
Austin slowly shook his head. “I somehow doubt that. Here’s the deal. You let me and my daughter walk out of here, and your precious USB doesn’t fall into the wrong hands; I’ll even destroy it if you want me to. In case something happens to me or her, however, I’ve left it in the hands of someone who has the means to look at everything on the drive.”
The look on Zander’s face showed a combination of irritation and disbelief. “Liar. You wouldn’t risk your daughter’s life.”
Austin shrugged, willing his face to remain flat. “I would be happy to work out an arrangement once we are out of here.”
In a move so fast that Austin couldn’t have anticipated it, Zander reached down and yanked Savannah from the couch by her hair. She screamed in pain, struggling to stand. Zander wrapped his arm around her neck in a terrifying chokehold before pressing the barrel of a Glock 19 against her head. Austin made an instinctive step forward, but the soldier behind him tightened his grip on his arm, yanking him a step back toward the door.
“Now, give me the USB or I will shoot her. You don’t want to play with me. I was sent to do one job, and I will complete my mission. I’m not one of those men who has a rule about shooting kids. I shoot anyone who is in my way,” Zander growled. And Austin believed him.
His heart pounding, Austin realized he should have anticipated this move. He’d already known the guy was ruthless, kidnapping a defenseless girl to get her dad’s attention. He looked back at Savannah, tears running down her face as the man held her tight. Her face was turning red as she struggled to breathe.
“Okay, okay, let her go. I’ll give you the drive,” Austin said, reaching for his front pocket.
The man who’d led him upstairs tightened his arm on his arm, but Zander nodded and Austin yanked it out of his grip, shooting him a glare before using his fingers to reach into the pocket and pull out the USB he’d stored there, still in its plastic case. He held it up, watching Zander’s eyes light up.
“I knew you’d bring it,” Zander said with a grin, not releasing Savannah.
“Let her go or I will smash this thing right here,” Austin warned him.
Zander hesitated. Austin used his finger and thumb to pop open the case, ready to follow through with his threat. Finally, Zander lowered the gun from Savannah’s head and loosened the chokehold grip he had around her neck.
Savannah took advantage of the small respite and clamped her teeth down on the flesh of his forearm. Zander shouted, and shoved Savannah hard, sending her directly into Austin’s arms as he raised the gun at father and daughter. Austin pushed her to the side as she reached him and lunged forward, more than prepared to take a bullet if it would keep her out of the line of fire.
Austin outweighed the smaller man and tackled him to the ground, the USB getting knocked out of his hands and sliding under the sofa where Savannah had been sitting. There were shouts all around them as the man who’d been guarding Austin came forward to break up the wrestling match on the floor, and other men entered behind him to help pull Austin off Zander. They were slow to appear, though, and the rage coursing through Austin gave him superhuman strength; he punched Zander hard in the face for a third time, blood spurting from his nose.
He cocked his arm back, ready to hit the man again when he was yanked backwards. Savannah screamed behind him, and Austin looked up to find two men pointing their AR-15s directly at him. Zander climbed to his feet in front of him and picked up the Glock that had fallen from his hand when Austin had tackled him. He used the back of his hand to wipe the blood from his nose, staring at the red on his hand before looking at Austin, who was on his knees in front of him.
“Stupid move,” Zander sneered, blood staining his teeth an ugly red.
“No! Don’t!” Savannah screamed.
Austin wanted to comfort her, to tell her everything would be alright, but that would have been a lie. He’d screwed up. He’d made a move, and it had been the wrong one.
“Let her go. You have me, you have the USB, so let her go,” Austin said in a quiet voice, staring into the eyes of the man who he now knew for sure would be killing him.
“You seem to think you have bargaining power. You have nothing. I’ve won,” Zander said, aiming the Glock directly at Austin’s head.
“Actually, I’ve won!” Amanda’s voice cut through the room.
Austin froze, shocked, and then he fell to the right and back when the men who’d been surrounding him turned; he lunged forward for Savannah’s legs and toppled her to the ground at the same time weapons began firing. Savannah was screaming as Austin moved his body over hers, covering her the best he could.
Then the gunfire stopped for a brief, precious second. Austin’s ears were ringing as he lifted his head to see his little brother motioning for
him to get up and out of the room. Austin sprang to his feet, pulling Savannah up with him and out of the room before racing behind Amanda as she ran for what he assumed to be the opposite stairwell from the one they’d used coming up. There were bodies scattered in the hall, their throats cut. Austin didn’t take the time to think about who had done it. His brother, Amanda, and Nash had done what was necessary to save him and his daughter, and he’d never hold the gruesome murders against them.
There was shouts behind them as they ran, and Austin glanced over his shoulder to see Ennis pause briefly to turn and open fire at the men in the black uniforms racing after them. Austin pushed Savannah in front of him, placing her between himself and Nash with Amanda leading the charge. Amanda smashed out a window at the end of the hall and practically dove through, surprising Austin. Nash and Savannah followed suit. He jumped onto the fire escape and looked back to make sure Ennis was still behind him.
His hearing was shot. All he could hear was a loud ringing sound. Seeing Ennis coming, he raced down the stairs. The fire escape was sturdy, and though the height and open air had caught his breath for a moment, navigating the iron escape downward was almost a relief since it meant they were in open air, that much closer to the ground as they made their way down one flight after another. The trip down took half as long as the climb to the top as they slipped and slid downward, preferring to fall over being shot or caught.
“Everyone okay?” Amanda asked breathlessly once they were all on the ground.
Austin looked at Savannah first, and saw no obvious signs of injury.
“All good!” Ennis shouted, clearly suffering the same temporary deafness.
“We need to go! Now!” Nash yelled, pointing behind them before lifting his gun.
Everyone moved behind Nash and Amanda while she and the kid mowed down the men in black pouring around the corner of the building like ants out of a dirt mound.
“Run!” Austin shouted, pulling his daughter behind him as they raced back towards the river. Behind him, he heard Amanda and Nash stop shooting and join his family, signaling that the soldiers must have been stopped, however temporarily.
“Not that way! The kayaks are too slow. We’ll be easy targets,” Nash called out.
Just then, an explosion rocked the ground they were standing on. Austin turned to his left and saw a building explode with another huge boom before fire filled the night sky.
“Run!” Ennis screamed.
Austin couldn’t believe what he was seeing. A rocket launcher? They were trying to kill them with a rocket launcher? He was glad someone was a really bad aim. Another loud boom rang out and the building a few feet to their right burst into flames, sending shards of glass and cement flying into the air. He automatically tried to cover his head to protect it from falling debris.
Ahead of him, Savannah was racing up the street behind Nash, terror giving her unhuman speed. Austin’s leg pinched as he chased his daughter, running faster than he’d ever run in his life. The heat coming from the fires was overwhelming, especially combined with the acrid smell of burning insulation and what he had to assume was flesh. His stomach turned as they continued to run. Every few seconds, Ennis would stop to spray a round of bullets at their pursuers.
After running until their bodies simply wouldn’t allow them to run another foot, they slowed down to a fast walk, each of them breathing hard as they sucked in smoky air.
“Dad, are you okay?” Savannah gasped.
“I’m fine, keep moving,” he ordered.
“You gave him the USB thing?” she asked.
“You did?” Amanda asked, turning to look at him with horror on her face.
Austin grinned. “I gave him a USB. Not the USB.”
Amanda smiled. “Good job. Now, can we please get out of here before this entire city goes up in flames?”
They picked up their pace after the brief reprieve, but all was quiet behind them. They hurried out of the city, heading for the mountains and what Austin hoped was a safe place to stay for the foreseeable future. He wasn’t naïve enough to believe they’d taken out the entire team of men in black, but they had done some serious damage. Zander was dead. He only wished he could have been the one to shoot him.
Once they reached the woods outside the city that would lead to Ennis’ house, Savannah stopped walking and threw her arms around Austin. “I’m so glad you’re alive,” she suddenly sobbed.
Austin hugged her back, feeling her emotions bubbling to the surface. She’d held it together this long, just as he had, but having her back in his arms meant everything. “I’m here. You’re safe. We’re going back to your uncle’s house. We’ll have plenty of time to catch up then,” he promised her. “We’re okay now. I love you, baby.”
She nodded, muttering ‘I love you, Dad’ back, and finally wiping her eyes before she released him and started moving again.
Austin walked behind the others, staring at their backs. He would be forever grateful and indebted to the people in front of him. Nash was a complete stranger, and he had put his life on the line to save Savannah. The idea of that would have been unfathomable for him just a month before. He couldn’t have been happier to face the end of the world with Nash, Amanda, Ennis, and his daughter.
36
Nash hefted the crowbar he held, confident it was what they needed to get into the door in the mine.
“Are you sure this is worth our time and energy?” Austin asked as they stood in front of the mine, one of the glowsticks they’d taken from Ennis’ stash of survival gear illuminating the area.
“I guess we’re about to find out,” Nash said with a grin. With that said, he put the crowbar into place and got to work. Soon, with him and Austin pulling, they managed to break the lock on the door and then pry it open.
“Holy—” Austin muttered, holding up the light stick and moving it around the room.
“Why? Why would this be in here?” Nash asked. He hadn’t known what to hope for or expect, but the mystery of this door had been too much to pass up. He’d maybe expected a generator, or extra gear related to the mine, or even safety equipment or stored water bottles, but this…
It was a room of about twelve by twelve, filled with electronic equipment and machinery, including several laptops, flashlights, and satellite phones. This wasn’t anything related to mining—it was storage of laptops and gear related to survival.
Recovering from their shock, Austin and Nash traded looks and then began gathering a sampling of items, placing it back outside of the door and then doing what they could to disguise the break-in. They’d carry away what they could, planning to come back again if needed.
“What do you think?” Austin asked as they emerged from the mine.
“About?”
“Who put all that in there? Doesn’t it seem like someone purposely hid that equipment in the earth to protect it from the EMP blast, like they knew it was coming?” Austin asked.
Nash looked at him. “I don’t know who, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the people who’ve taken over Denver.”
“You think they know about the house?” Austin asked.
The question had been weighing on Nash’s mind since they’d found the stash. “I don’t know, but I think we have to be prepared for anything.”
Austin stared straight ahead. “It’s off the beaten path. We’re miles away from the mine. Someone would have to go out of their way to find it.”
“I found it,” Nash reminded him, “if only by accident.”
“Yeah, I know,” Austin acknowledged. “We’ll need to set up some security. There’s enough of us at the house that we can set up watches. Four people watching, one in each direction. We’ll need to train some of those religious folks in how to use guns,” Austin said, thinking aloud.
Nash hesitated as he listened, not sure how to say what was on his mind, but he figured he may as well get it off his chest. “What do you think about Wendell?” he asked.
Austin shrugged, glanci
ng at Nash and smiling. “You don’t like him,” he stated.
Nash’s gut told him that it wasn’t a matter of liking him, but of being able to trust him for even a moment, but he couldn’t say that without more reason than a gut feeling. “I don’t know. There’s something about him that rubs me the wrong way.”
“I don’t remember him, no matter how much he tries to tell me we were buddies in high school. I don’t remember him at all. He was younger than I was, and I was more into athletics than the band,” Austin commented. “I haven’t been around him enough to get a feel for him one way or another.”
Nash nodded. Austin was an attractive, athletic guy, and wouldn’t likely have been hanging around the likes of Wendell. Nash himself was a bit of a nerd with his high IQ, but he wasn’t whiny like Wendell, and he’d always been committed enough to geology that he’d stayed in shape. That along with his natural athleticism had barely elevated him above the rest of the nerd crowd, but it had.
“I don’t think he likes me, either, so maybe it’s partly that,” Nash said, pushing a tree branch out of the way. If nobody else had the feeling he had, maybe it was mostly that, Nash told himself. It was hard to like someone who didn’t like you, right?
“Why do you say that?” Austin asked.
“He’s always staring at me when he thinks I’m not looking. Like… aw, heck, the look I see, it’s like he wants to kill me while I’m sleeping—that kind of stare.”
Austin chuckled. “I think you can handle Wendell. Don’t let him bother you. If you see him doing something shady, though, tell me. With close to twenty people living in that house, we all need to be able to trust each other.”
“How long do you think those revivalists will stick around?” Nash asked. He knew he didn’t have any more of a right to be there than they did, but the house felt crowded now.
“I don’t know. I have a feeling Tonya and Malachi Loveridge will probably stick with us for a while. She’s not doing so well. I don’t know if she’s ill or grieving, but I think it’s better if she rests and regains her strength,” Austin said quietly. “They were originally planning on dropping off Savannah and heading on to their home in Utah, but I just don’t think she’s up to it now, after losing her husband like she did.”
Survive the Chaos (Small Town EMP Book 1) Page 26