Put someone I trusted completely in front of my face, and my guard dropped.
I still couldn’t believe this was her. I would never have guessed she’d be a threat.
It was all so obvious now though that it was her. I just didn’t want to believe it. Another person who broke my trust. Mom, Dad, Luc, Millicent.
It was funny they all loved me and had good intentions, but it wasn’t enough.
I shook my head. It wasn’t time to think about any of that.
Focus.
Focusing was the key. It was the key to hopefully saving my friend.
“Now, Gigi. Now. Ready?”
She sucked in a sharp breath and nodded.
Okay, well, here I go. This was the epitome of all my years of being a cop.
If it was only for this one moment. To save her.
I slipped the ropes from my hands and methodically bent down to undo the ropes from my legs.
Visualization. I had it all figured out, and so far, it was working.
I grabbed the key and made my way to Gigi.
Hands first, then I undid the rope binding her feet. My hands were working like magic, undoing the knots as quickly as I could.
As Gigi stood, I moved to the lock on the door hoping like hell Millicent hadn’t screwed me over and this wasn’t some stupid game to make us think we could escape when we couldn’t.
I could have cried when the lock clicked open and the door moved out.
Oh God, we could do this.
Gigi was behind me. We walked out to the corridor. I looked in the opposite direction to where everyone else had gone. There was a path that turned.
“This way. Run as fast as you can.” I pointed down the passage, and we started running.
Jesus Christ, off in the distance, behind us, I could hear hurried footsteps.
They must have seen us on camera.
I ran for all I was worth, and thankfully, Gigi was keeping up with me.
We turned down the corridor, and it was darker. No light but ounces of daylight shone through in various cracks under the doors and around the windows we passed. This section looked old. Old and completely out of use.
We ran into a large hall that held benches and tables. A cafeteria long out of use.
This place really was a prison. I could see all the cells now, overhead and all around. So, I was going to guess that this was the only abandoned prison I knew of, and it wasn’t in Chicago. If I managed to get to a phone or find some way of contacting Luc, I’d at least be able to tell him where I was.
We turned down another corridor. This one was much darker. I took Gigi’s hand when she started to slow down. Ahead was a brighter light, so we ran toward it.
Go toward the light?
Yes, indeed.
There was a room off to the corner that you could easily miss. There. That might be a good hiding spot. Just somewhere we could come up with a plan.
The darkness gave us cover.
I was sure we could still be seen if they looked hard, but darkness made it possible for us to hide.
We went into the room and locked the door. In true old-school style, it had a bolt from the inside, and a lock.
The only light came from the window, and it was one of those windows that couldn’t be opened. It wasn’t surprising given the nature of the place we were in. And this room…
There was a metal chair that looked like something from one of the classic Frankenstein films.
It had metal manacles on the arms and a helmet-looking dome-shaped device that hovered above it.
“Amelia, I think it’s safe to say we’re at Peyton Prison.” Gigi looked nervously around the room.
Peyton Prison, yes I remembered seeing this place on TV. “Yeah, looks that way.”
“You know this was a heavily secured psychiatric unit?”
I didn’t know that part. “No, but look at the chair.”
She walked over to a cupboard and opened it. Inside were some bottles with the poison warning tags on it.
“Hydrogen peroxide,” she said and looked around some more. “Lots of it, and bleach. Amelia, I could make a potion with this.”
Oh Jesus. “Gigi, for God’s sake, this is not the time for that.” Maybe she hit her head.
She rolled her eyes at me. “I mean, I can make a bomb.”
“God, really?” A bomb could and would be very useful.
“Look around the room for stuff we can use. I need something to mix the stuff in. A bowl or something like that.”
More focusing.
I jumped into action and started looking. When I went to the cupboard by the window, I noticed for the first time how high up we were. I would say maybe the fifth floor. It had felt more like we’d been on the ground floor with the cafeteria, but again, it made sense for everything to be so high up. Plus, there was probably more than one cafeteria in this place.
The prison was massive.
I opened another cupboard and saw it was one of those pulley elevators. The kind you might put mail in from the ground floor and pull it up. I looked into the shaft, inspecting it. Looked sturdy enough. This could be our escape route. Outside, I could see the river. There had to be an exit from this side of the building.
“I found a bowl and some kerosene. That will help with the reaction.”
“Great.” I nodded and opened another closet. There were a few empty medicine bottles in there.
I grabbed those and went to the little table where she’d set everything up.
“Will this help?”
“Perfect. I’ll pour the liquid in, and we can have a couple each. All you need to do is drop it as hard as you can. When the glass smashes, it will blow up and release a gas that will sting their eyes.”
“How do you know all this?”
“Chemistry. I did advanced Chem in high school. I loved it, even though I loved art more. It felt like mixing potions to me.” She chuckled.
It was so like her to say that. My friend was a brilliant artist but also a practicing witch. I would be the first one to roll my eyes at her sayings, predictions, and ideas, but I was thanking my lucky stars now.
She mixed away from an assortment of bottles. Looked like she’d found more than what she’d mentioned before.
I held my breath, feeling the tension. It was too quiet, and I didn’t know when we’d get found.
We’d heard footsteps when we first broke out of the cell, and the guys must have known there was only one way we could have gone.
Gigi started pouring the mixture into the bottles I’d found.
She got to the sixth one when we heard voices. Then footsteps.
“Shit,” I hissed.
Gigi poured the mixture into two more bottles. Making that eight. There were two more, but we didn’t have enough mixture.
“This will have to do,” she whispered.
I nodded. “Gigi, here.” I gave her six bottles and kept two for myself as an idea formed in my head.
“No, we should get four each,” she protested.
I placed my hand over my lips and signaled for her to be quiet. There was someone walking by the door.
While she stood still, I placed the bottles in her pocket and nodded.
“Search every room,” called a voice from the other side of the door. It sounded like the biker. Ugh, I would hate for him to find us.
“I’m looking,” replied another guy. “It’s hard to see with no camera and power on this side.”
No cameras and no power. That was good. My skin tingled, and I released a slow sigh.
They walked away from the door, and I grabbed Gigi’s hands.
I practically shoved her in the elevator shaft.
“What are you doing?” Gigi hissed.
“Please remember what I said. Focus on you. When this gets to wherever it leads to, hide. Please.” I gave her a nod of conviction.
“We can escape together,” she insisted with wide, frightened eyes.
“It’s better
this way. I get to make sure you make it out this way. I can’t risk them coming in here and seeing where you went.”
“Pleas—”
“Gigi, please, we’re running out of time.”
“Okay… you better be safe, Amelia. You’re my sister. Who else will I eat a whole Bangkok street feast and burgers with?” She went to hug me, but the door handle started turning.
“Door’s locked from inside,” the guy called out.
“Shoot it down.” The biker bellowed.
I didn’t waste another minute. I closed the gate, locking Gigi in. She took hold of the rope pulley on the inside and started wheeling herself down.
As she went down, her eyes never left mine. Her tear-filled eyes never left mine.
She was my sister too. I hoped she knew how much I loved her.
Blessed be Gigi.
A gunshot sounded against the door, making me jump.
When another fired, I closed the closet, sealing off the elevator. Hopefully protecting Gigi.
This was it. I had nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.
The only weapons I had were these two little bottles of Gigi’s potion.
Focus, concentrate.
Focus.
Another shot sent the door flying open, and biker guy smiled when he saw me.
Chapter 15
Luc
I damn well hated to admit, it but if Maurice hadn’t brought Max, Sinclaire, and Cora with him to Chicago, we would have been screwed.
Screwed with no hope, screwed and running around like headless chickens, not knowing what the hell to do.
We would have been well and truly fucked and just damn players in a sick game designed by psychos.
Yesterday, I hadn’t thought I had much hope left, and hell, I still probably didn’t, but what we had now that we didn’t have yesterday was opportunity.
Opportunity and tact.
Cora had worked some damn magic and was able to give us a map to plan out everything.
The plan was to get inside the prison via the sewer that would lead straight into the building. It would take us to the back side, where there was no power. It was the side that had housed the more-acute-level prisoners.
She’d set out all the areas that had surveillance, and this way was the best. We could get inside without being seen.
We were in the sewer now and had just walked two miles in from the park.
The place was empty and as abandoned as most of everything on this side.
We weren’t far now.
That was what I kept telling myself, so I could keep my focus.
Not long now. Not far now.
And again, it was all hands on deck.
There were twenty of us, and we’d left fifty more guys who would get to the prison above ground. They were scheduled to get there just after us. The second wave of our army made up of a combo of our guys and our alliances.
We were going in guns blazing.
It made me feel uncomfortable though that Raphael was here. He shouldn’t have come.
We trekked through the passage proceeding along the length. Just behind me, I could hear Sinclaire and Max whispering, but I couldn’t’ hear what they were saying.
Couldn’t have been anything good if they were talking about me.
Raphael and Pa were at the back of the line. I’d asked Pa to keep an eye on Raphael.
The two were the weakest of our pack, so it was best for them to stay out of the way.
Claudius pushed his way up to me and nudged my shoulder.
“You cool?” He nodded to me.
“As ever.” I leaned closer, so the others couldn’t hear me. “Claudius, as soon as we see the girls, give them to Pa and Raphael and tell them to get the hell out of here.”
“Absolutely. Raphael’s struggling to keep up.”
We both glanced behind us and saw that he’d stopped and Pa was talking to him.
Fuck, if he died down here, I’d never forgive myself. I should have insisted more on him staying behind. I understood why he’d come, but damn.
“Don’t worry. We got this.” I didn’t know how Claudius could sound so positive, but I appreciated it.
“You better hope we got this,” Sinclaire cut in.
Claudius and I both looked at him.
“Or else what, cop boy?” Claudius glared.
Sinclaire narrowed his eyes and said nothing.
“That’s what I thought.” Claudius stopped walking. “Do me a favor and stop pissing me off. My brother is an angel compared to me. I won’t think twice about cutting your face off and wearing it as a hat.”
Maurice laughed, and Claudius glared at him, stopping his laugher instantly.
“Come on, guys, now’s not the time,” Max offered and gave Sinclaire a hard look.
I didn’t say anything. I just kept walking. I didn’t care about Sinclaire or whatever shit he had to say.
He could continue talking out of his ass, for all I cared. It was water on a duck’s back.
We weren’t far.
Twenty minutes later proved me right. The tunnel went on, but we were right at the spot that would lead to the ground floor toilets. Above us was a large metal drain cover with the words Peyton Prison engraved in it.
Claudius and The Four got their tools out and got to work on unscrewing the bolts that held the cover in place.
It took a little bit longer than anticipated because of the rust that had formed around the bolts, but they did it.
Next order of business was going up.
Claudius and I helped everyone get inside and left ourselves for last.
He got me in, then I pulled him inside.
Sure enough, we were indeed in the toilets. The toilets that smelled stale like old piss and mold mixed together. Although the place was dark, daylight that snuck in from the frosted glass windows showed enough. Cobwebs cascaded over the ceiling, and the floor was covered in dirt and dust.
It was so dusty that the particles wafted off the ground in clouds as we moved.
I guess as bad as the place looked and smelled, it showed one thing.
No one had been down here in a very long time.
“What now?” Max asked me.
“Amelia and Gigi are on the fifth floor. We can get to the cell she’s in from this side. The surveillance stops just beyond the corridor she’s being kept, so we have to be ready to party when we come up on camera.” At least it would be a lot of us. The strongest team.
“Okay. Let’s do this.”
We moved through the toilet and went out to the corridor which kept that dank smell about it. Dank and mold. It instantly made me feel like taking a bath.
The place reeked of uncleanliness, but more than dirt. It was the evil done by the prisoners that had been held here and died here. This place was one of the facilities that conducted the death penalty by both poison and electrocution. They did other things too, of the inhumane variety.
Lobotomies and other things I didn’t want to save in my brain.
It was typical Victor style. I was sure he’d come up with the idea to use this place. Somewhere undetected and off radar. We wouldn’t have thought to look here because it wasn’t even in Chicago. We were in Pent Water Michigan. Well outside of our realms.
Something grabbed my attention when we got to the corridor with the steps leading to the first floor.
It was a shuffling noise. Could have been a rat, but I was sure I heard a whimper.
Maurice inched over. “Boss, you hear that?”
“I heard something.” I held my hand up for everyone to stop.
Raphael looked at me. “What why are we stopping?”
“Shhh.”
I cocked my head to Maurice, signaling for him and Saul to follow.
The noise came from that cupboard by the reception area. Looked like a coat closet.
I grabbed the handle and flung the door open. Someone ran out, bolted out more like, and ran straight past me. They looked back and held u
p their hand high but froze.
I could have cried tears of joy as I looked at Gigi. She was so covered in dirt and dust I could hardly see her face, and her hair was covered too.
“Luc!” she cried and came hurtling back, throwing herself into my arms.
I hugged her hard. “Gigi, God in heaven.”
“I can’t believe you’re here.” She shook and started crying.
When she eventually pulled away, Maurice took her.
“Doll.” His voice sounded so emotional I couldn’t believe it was him.
“I thought you died.” Gigi cupped his face and pressed a kiss to his lips.
“Nah, I’m like a cat. Got at least seven more lives left in me.”
Max and Sinclaire looked on, watching her. I wondered what they must have thought. Gigi was the nicest person ever, and here she was, fraternizing with mobsters.
When she saw them, she rushed to them too. “You guys. You—” Her voice trailed off when she looked over and saw Raphael.
These past days, I’d seen many sides to this man.
This side was the father who just wanted to get his daughter back.
In his eyes, Amelia was still his child. I understood completely. Gigi walked toward him, looking him over.
“You’re Amelia’s dad,” she observed.
“I am.” Raphael could barely talk.
“Your eyes. They’re just like hers.”
He nodded. “Where is she, Gigi?”
The look of angst on Gigi’s face caught and gripped me. I moved closer to hear her.
“She’s still up there on the fifth floor. We managed to escape the cell and hide, but she’s still up there. She sent me down here in a lift shaft. She was in an old medical room. They… came in after her. I wanted to stay and fight, but she made me go.”
“Fuck,” I breathed and covered my mouth. It was typical Amelia. I would have done the same thing. Sacrifice my safety to protect my loved ones.
Gigi turned back to me. “Luc, please, you have to get to her. You have to save her. Knight of cups.” She nodded.
She’d called me that once after I’d picked up one of her tarot cards with the image of a knight carrying a cup. I wished that I could have appreciated the reference, but I couldn’t. I wasn’t that person. I wasn’t there for Amelia when she needed me. She got taken, and now we were here in this mess.
Mafia Love (The Accidental Mafia Queen Book 3) Page 13