“How many do you figure are in there?” Jarrod asked.
Auska shrugged. “I don’t know, I’ve never been in there before. Could be as few as three, could be as many as a dozen.”
“That’s not very promising,” Jarrod muttered.
“If I were to guess, I would say five, maybe six.”
“Guess we should go and find out,” Everett said but placed a hand on Auska’s shoulder so she would look at him. “It’s almost done. I am surprised you’ve actually kept your word on this.”
She pulled herself away from his touch. “You’re just lucky I hate them more then I hate you. But you better do right by this place when they’re gone, or I’ll be coming for you next.”
Everett nodded. “I think I will. I think I will like it here.”
Quickly they dashed across the open ground and flanked either side of the double doors. Auska checked and was surprised to find them unlocked. The sudden alarm must have caused those who left or entered to be forgetful.
Slowly she pulled the door open and slipped inside; Everett and Jarrod followed. The small mildly furnished lobby was empty of people, but the lingering smell in the still air showed that people had been there not long ago.
Likely the first-class citizens quickly returning to their roomy apartments as soon as the alarm sounded. They would be locked safely indoors, enjoying whatever luxuries were hidden behind those doors until they were given the all-clear that it was safe to come out. The thought sent a ripple of anger through her, but she pushed it aside. They were not her focus; they were merely pawns of the council. Cut the head from the snake and the body would wither.
The elevator shaft was wide open; the box within had been taken out long before she had arrived, now the cables and pull system had been modified to hoist supplies up to one of the four floors. Glancing up the shaft, she wondered if they would be able to make the climb unheard, but a flash of her last time in an elevator shaft quickly dismissed the idea.
The trio moved for the stairwell. Auska cracked the door and listened.
“What the fuck are you waiting for?” grumbled Jarrod. “Let’s get this shit done!”
Everett flashed his man a glare that shut him up quickly.
“It’s clear.” Auska moved her way up, climbing the stairs on the far side, giving her the greatest view of what was in front of and above her. Her movements were near silent as death; she could not say the same for the two bulky men following her.
“Someone’s coming!” Jarrod whispered to them and they all crouched down and listened.
It was coming from below them; someone had entered the building and they could hear the front doors being locked. Two sets of voices could be heard, chatting to each other as they made their way to the stairwell.
Before Auska or Everett could say anything, Jarrod charged down the stairs, pulling a large hunting knife as he went. He bulled through the swinging door and crashed into a well-dressed man and woman.
The woman cried out as she was thrown to the hard-tiled floor. The man crashed into a large planter, shattering the porcelain pot and destroying the poor plant within, but was just able to keep himself on his feet.
“What is the meaning of this!” he barked out, turning to see the stocky man approaching him with a knife. “Who… who are you?” He tried to back up but was met with the wall.
“Jarrod, don’t hurt them!” Everett commanded as he stepped out, Auska in tow.
“We’ve come too far and are too close, boss.” Jarred replied, flipping the knife between hands as he eyed the pathetic man. “They will ruin everything if we let them live.”
“It wouldn’t do to kill the people I am here the liberate from corruption,” Everett reminded him sternly.
“What… what are you talking about?” the woman asked as she pushed herself up onto her knees. “Who are you? What are you doing here?” She spied Auska and her face betrayed her knowledge. “Auska? What… you… you were killed…”
Auska pushed herself forward, knowing full well they knew what had happened. “Mrs. Augustine,” her eyes were cold, “the news of my death was greatly exaggerated it would seem.”
“But… but… we saw you hang…” Mr. Augustine sputtered out.
“So, who did you sacrifice to keep that secret?” Auska pressed, her body shakily with fury.
“I have no idea what you are talking about.” Mrs. Augustine replied, her eyes downcast.
“How long have you known?” Auska pressed. “How fucking long have you two known what was happening?”
“Please, we don’t know what you are talking about,” Mr. Augustine announced. “Just don’t hurt us.”
“Boss, we are wasting time,” Jarrod growled licking his lips. “Time we don’t have much of right now!”
Auska’s boot lashed out, catching the woman in the face, throwing her back to the ground as she pounced on her, the blade pressed dangerously to her throat. Her husband tried to step in to intervene, but Jarrod was there to stop him.
“I will ask you one more time, how long did you know about it?” A thin line of blood began to leak down her captive’s slender neck.
“Four years!” Mr. Augustine blurted out. “We’ve known about the deal for four years.”
“Who else knows?” Auska snarled, the blade not leaving the woman’s throat.
“Everyone within the building and all of the First Division,” he sighed in defeat. “We were all brought in on it slowly. It didn’t sit well with most of us, but what choice did we have?”
“Plenty!” Auska plunged the knife into Mrs. Augustine’s throat, twisted and stood watching the woman’s eyes as she realized death was upon her.
“NO!” Mr. Augustine made a move, but Jarrod lanced his knife up under the man’s chin into his brain.
“Care to explain how that was fucking helpful to my cause!” Everett growled.
“Anyone who knows has no right to draw breath!” Auska hissed in reply. “You want to win these people, then those involved in this will need to be put to death!”
“I was involved in this, remember.”
“I would suggest you keep that part out of your welcoming speech,” was all she said before making her way to the stairs again, a trail of blood dripping from her blade.
They reached the second floor and it took every ounce of strength for Auska not to start kicking down doors and butchering the bastards inside. There would be time for judgements later. Right now, the four council members needed to be dealt with.
Soon they were outside the stairwell door leading to the fourth floor; it was locked. Beyond this door was where all that Sanctuary should have been had been corrupted, where the sick minds of four had doomed countless lives with lies and decent, all for the sake of not losing their grip of power.
“We should grab Wren,” Everett whispered. “He can pick the lock.”
“No time.” Auska grabbed her hidden pistol and fired, blowing the lock to pieces before kicking the door in.
“What in the heavens is going on!” Mr. Greenfield gasped from behind his desk within the small lobby. His eyes widening terror as he saw Auska charge straight for him.
Auska knew this man. This was the lackey the council used for all their work; he ran errands and gave orders around Sanctuary by word of the council. “Surprised to see me, Greenfield!”
“Shit!” He fumbled with a drawer at his desk, pulled it open and raised a small revolver.
Auska was quicker and slapped the gun wide. A shot went off into the drywall as it was knocked from his hand. She pressed the gun barrel under his fat chin. “Where are they?”
“You’ll never get to them,” he whimpered, his eyes filling with tears of terror, “and I’ll not help you!”
Everett grabbed the short, fat man away from her and slammed him against the wall, putting half his body through it. “You want to live to see tomorrow? Start fucking talking.”
“You… you don’t scare me, Everett!” Mr. Greenfield blabbered ou
t. “It will be you who won’t see tomorrow!”
“Don’t be stupid, fat man.” Everett sneered. “Everything outside this floor is mine already.”
“You… you lie!”
“I could use a man like you, someone who knows what’s what,” Everett told him. “Just tell me where they are.”
Suddenly the double doors on the far side of the room burst open. Two of the First Division guards stepped out, both with rifles ready.
“Kill them!” Mr. Greenfield bellowed out as he was swung around as a human shield.
“Put the guns down, gentlemen,” Everett told them firmly, his own handgun poised at them.
“What the fuck is this about Everett?” one of the guards growled, taking in the scene before them.
Everett grinned. “Just need to have a little chat with your bosses about something quick.”
“You were paid the body count you asked for, there is nothing more that needs discussing until next year.”
“That’s not why I am here.”
“Kill them, damn it!” Greenfield cried out, warm piss soaking his leggings and filling his fine slippers.
“Only reason you’d be stupid enough to come here is to die,” the second guard snarled.
Auska rolled her eyes as she hid behind the deck; she was sure they hadn’t seen her. This conversation made her blood boil and was getting nowhere. There was no reasoning here, only death.
She sprang up and fired, her aim off in her haste. The bullet bit into the wooden door an inch from its intended target. Then bullets were flying.
Everett ducked behind his whimpering captive as two bullets punched into Greenfield’s chest. He fired two rounds as he backed up; where they landed, he didn’t know. His shield had gone limp; either he had passed out or, the more likely, he was dead. Either way, the dead weight was near impossible for him to hold with one arm. As soon as he was near, he threw himself over the wooden bench in the room and took cover.
Auska watched Everett get to cover. Each second, she had hoped a bullet would find him and at the same time knew he was still needed to finish this. Jarrod was pinned at the stairwell door; every time he tried to get his rifle round to fire, a bullet was quick to keep him in place. From here she couldn’t be sure, but it looked like he was bleeding already from a wound in his arm.
Reaching under the desk, Auska recovered Greenfield’s fallen revolver. She would need this… she tucked it away into her boot. Five bullets were left in her pistol… she had to make them count.
Springing up again, she fired. Her targets were doing their best to stay close to the door frame while still controlling the attacker’s movements. Again, she had missed.
“We need to all fire at once!” Auska called out as another bullet tore into the wooden desk. She didn’t wait for an answer. “On three! One… two… three!”
Thankfully, Everett and Jarrod both sprang up and began firing. A bullet ripped into Jarrod’s side and another into his thigh as he let out three shots of his own. A bullet hit Everett low in the shoulder but still, he fired on.
After the first seconds had passed, Auska finally sprang up and over the desk. Her first shot took one of the guards in the guts. His rifle dropped and another round was quick to find him as he stumbled into better view. Her second shot sent a spray of drywall into the face of the second guard, who was turning his aim on her. A third round took him in the knee and he pitched to the carpeted floor.
Everett wasted no time seeing the attack Auska was going for and he cleared the bench and followed, knowing one guard was down. He watched the blood spray from the second guard’s knee and fired as the man fell, taking him in the head.
Auska scrambled to get to one of the fallen rifles, but just as her fingers reached for it a fist connected with her face and she was spun around and crashed into the wall.
“Everyone go on three, eh?” Everett yelled, kicking her in the ribs and grabbing the rifle near her and kicking her handgun away. “Trying to get me killed in the process?” He levelled the gun at her. “Give me one fucking reason why I even need you anymore, you stupid bitch!”
Auska coughed and rolled onto her back and stared up at him. “If I wanted you dead, I would have killed you a hundred times over with that pistol I had hidden in my boot for the last several days. They had us pinned down. There was no way to distract them where we would have clear shots unless they had their attention elsewhere. You two were elsewhere, and it worked.” She coughed again, feeling her side and knew the cracked ribs from the Abyss were now certainly broken. “As for still needing me, if you kill me Vincent will make sure you don’t live long enough to see the sunrise.”
“You are playing a dangerous game with me, girl.” Everett snarled. “This is almost over, don’t fuck with our agreement now or you will fucking regret it.”
Auska pushed herself to her knees and slowly stood. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
“Jarrod, time to go,” Everett called, knowing more men could be coming at any moment. He could already hear movement and cries for help down beneath them and had to assume the residents were fleeing the building after hearing the gun battle.
“Boss…” Jarrod groaned, using the wall to brace himself as he stepped around the corner. “…I’m not doing so… great.” Blood seeped out from at least three bullet wounds and had stained most of his right side already.
“Fuck sakes!” Everett growled. Before he could make a move towards him, a bullet punched through Jarrod’s chest and he collapsed to the carpet.
Everett dived behind the door frame as another bullet sank into the wall behind him.
Auska flatted herself to the wall and peered down the hallway and caught sight of two figures she had only seen in the flesh a handful of times. Bruce Harlow and John Conwell.
“Leave now and all will be forgotten!” Conwell yelled down the hallway.
“Fuck you!” Auska screamed back and a bullet hit where her head had been a second before. “Kick me a rifle!” She heard a sound she had trained herself to know by heart.
Everett looked down at the second rifle beside him and then back at her. “If only I trusted you.”
“NOW!” she yelled at him, refusing to let the opportunity go.
Instinctively, he kicked the rifle across the floor, his foot betraying his brain.
Auska pushed off from the wall and dived into a roll, ignoring the torrent of agony that swept through her body from her ribs. She snatched up the rifle as another bullet sounded from somewhere. If it hit her, she didn’t feel it.
She was on her feet running down the hallway at full speed, the rifle already up and aimed. John Conwell dropped his jammed gun and fled as Bruce Harlow took aim again. But he was too slow as she pulled the trigger first.
Everything went in slow motion as the spark flared from the gun barrel. She swore she could see the bullet soar through the hallway, Harlow’s eyes widening a moment before the lead blew out the back of his head, spraying the wall with blood and brains.
Auska forced herself to slow to a stop as she reached the corner, not knowing if Conwell was hiding around it ready to attack. Everything in her wanted to just give chase and attack, but common sense prevailed this one time.
A gunshot sounded beyond the doors.
Instantly Everett was beside her; his shoulder looked bad, as blood oozed from it. “You are just full of daredevil surprise, girl.” He grinned. “A shame we got off on such a bad foot, you and me. We could do great things together.”
“Get fucked,” she muttered, turning the corner, her rifle leading the way. The last twenty feet of the hallway was empty, and there before them stood a set of polished double doors. “Let’s finish this.”
Auska kicked open the door and at the very same time threw herself against the wall as several bullets hissed by, sinking into flesh. She spun back and fired her aim true as Conwell was thrown back into the large office table. He sunk down, the handgun lost and forgotten to him as he stared down at the blood ooz
ing from the wound in his side. The body of Patricia Thornhill was a dozen feet away, blood dripping from the ceiling where she had stood before she pulled the trigger. Coward.
“He…lp… me!” Everett gasped, sinking to his knees, two bullet wounds in his chest.
Auska kicked his fallen rifle away and glared down at him. “Guess I forgot to tell you to move.” Her grinned was wicked. “Or maybe I didn’t forget.”
Blood trickled down his lips as he wobbled, fighting to stay on his knees. “We… had a… deal.”
“I know we did.” She moved close to him. “But not the deal you are thinking. Remember that first night when I told you to release me or I would kill you before this was over?” Her hand plunged forward, burying her knife into his chest. His eyes bulged. “You ignored my deal. Your mistake.” She twisted the knife and kicked him back to the floor, relishing it as his chest fell for the last time.
“I… I knew we should have… just killed you,” Conwell muttered from the floor behind her.
Turning her attention back to him, she grinned. “You should have. I, for one, will not be making that mistake with you.”
The older man chuckled coldly. “You have no idea what you are doing. You are going to ruin this place. We had a system… it worked. Kept the majority alive… you have ruined it all with your reckless sense of moral justice.”
“No old man, you ruined it when you thought you could sell me like cattle to that piece of shit.” She pointed to the slaver’s body.
“Then be done with it, Auska,” he groaned. “Kill me and have your revenge.”
Auska smiled wide. “Oh, I thought about that, but see you owe a lot more people than just me. I think my revenge will best be served watching you be torn apart by the mob… now that they know what you’ve done.”
Conwell’s eyes widened and he reached for his revolver but Auska quickly knocked it aside.
“Auska?” a familiar voice said from behind them.
“Barry, kill her!” Conwell screamed with newfound enthusiasm.
Auska straightened, keeping her weapon down as she turned to face her Division leader.
“By the gods, it is you!” Barry gasped, his gun lowering a little. “I watched you get hanged! How… how is this possible?” He looked from her to Conwell. “What is happening here?”
What Remains (Book 2): What's Left Page 22