Lorcan’s defenses dropped. “Yeah, it’s hurting more than it was.”
“We’ll get you checked out as soon as we get down. You might need antibiotics.”
This time Lorcan didn’t give him an argument, and it made me wonder exactly how bad he was feeling. I didn’t know what lay beyond the metal doors, but I hoped it would involve help for Lorcan.
The doors of the metal box slid open, confirming my suspicions of it being a type of elevator. A panel of buttons was on the right-hand side, and I wondered where each of the keys would take us.
Isaac stepped forward, leading the way, before glancing back over his shoulder and jerking his chin to tell me to move.
My heart pattered in my chest and my mouth ran dry at the thought of what was about to happen. It looked like we were about to be dropped straight into the bowels of the earth, though the elevator appeared high tech and well maintained, even though this was the last place I’d ever think there would be one.
Without feeling I had much choice, I took Aunt Sarah’s hand, her fingers tightening around mine, and together we stepped inside.
Chapter Thirteen
Somewhere deep below us, a mechanism began to whirr.
Isaac stepped in to join us and hit a button on the keypad. The doors slid shut, blocking my view of the surrounding forest, the old logging equipment, and, most importantly, of Lorcan, Alex, Clay, and Kingsley. My heart tightened at having to leave them behind, not liking being solely in Isaac’s presence, but I reminded myself this would only be a short time, and we’d all be reunited soon.
The elevator jolted, causing my grip on my aunt’s hand to tighten, and then we were moving down, into the bowels of the earth. Or at least that was how it felt. I glanced over at Isaac, but he stood staring straight ahead, not giving anything away, though I was sure I caught the faint hint of what appeared to be a smug smile tugging his lips. He was enjoying this—keeping me on my toes, surprising me—I could tell.
My pulse quickened in anticipation as the doors slid open to reveal a room of high tech equipment beyond. This was like the cellar at the cabin, only on overdrive. A couple of rows of computers were in the center of the room, people I didn’t know working at them. They looked up as we stepped in, and then went back to their work. More screens showing various moving images covered the walls, and among them I spotted the footage of the group remaining outside. We were obviously being watched while we’d been out there. I wondered about the locations the rest of the screens were showing—a city, a house, an ocean vista. What was important about those places that they needed to be monitored by a group of men quite literally working underground?
A tall, dark-haired man, who’d been looking up at the bank of screens as we’d entered, turned to face us. He stepped forward to greet us, a welcoming smile on his handsome face. His gaze flicked over me, but he put his hand out to Isaac first.
“Isaac, it’s been a long time.”
Isaac smiled—one of the first full and genuine smiles I’d ever seen from him—and took the offered hand. “Yeah. It feels strange to be back.”
The man was older, somewhere in his forties, I guessed. Definitely a generation above the other guys. His eyes were a deep blue, and his dark hair was flecked with white at the temples. He was dressed smart-casual, in pants and a light blue shirt. His stubble was more designer than lack of shaving, lines creased from the corners of his eyes, and there were more across his forehead. I didn’t need any more gorgeous men in my life right now, and I figured this particular one was too old for me anyway, but that didn’t stop me from admiring his qualities. Plus, Isaac clearly thought a lot of him, and Isaac was a hard man to impress.
Behind us, the elevator rose again, to bring the others down, I guessed. I tried not to think too hard about the layers of rock and earth above our heads. This place looked like it was built solidly, but it still felt unnatural being underground.
“Devlin,” Isaac continued, “this is Darcy, the girl all the excitement has been focused around.”
The man nodded slowly to me, almost a bow. “Darcy. You’re Michael Sullivan’s daughter.” It wasn’t a question. He reached out his hand to me, and I placed my fingers in his. Instead of shaking, he squeezed my hand. “We owe you an apology for failing your father. He should never have been put in the position he was in. I know it’s all too little too late, but I hope we’re going some way to trying to rectify that now.”
I wasn’t sure what to say. I didn’t think locking me up in a cellar for three days was any normal person’s way of making an apology, but these weren’t exactly normal circumstances.
“Thank you.”
He gave my hand a final squeeze. “He was a good man.”
I couldn’t stop the smile springing to my lips. For so long, I’d questioned that exact thing, and even though I’d known the truth in my heart, it didn’t stop my head turning the way everyone else said he’d betrayed our country over and over. I glanced across at Sarah to see if his kind words had affected her in the way they had me, but she still had that pinched expression, and I felt a prickle of irritation. Swallowing my emotions, I gestured to my aunt to introduce her.
“This is my dad’s sister, Sarah.”
He directed his charming smile in my aunt’s direction. “Of course.” He put out his hand to shake hers and she took it, though I sensed her reluctance. “I apologize for the interruption to both of your lives. I understand this must be difficult to get your head around.”
Sarah glanced at her surroundings. “What is all of this, anyway?”
He continued to expose her to his flawless smile, not dropping the expression for a moment. “Why don’t we show you both around?”
The elevator opened behind us, and the other four stepped out, Alex with his arm around Lorcan. Lorcan’s face was pale, and sweat had beaded across his brow, as though just taking the elevator had been a massive effort for him. I frowned at the sight, not liking seeing Lorcan going downhill, but I was glad they were all here with us now.
Alex didn’t stand on any ceremony. “I’m going to get him down to the medical bay.”
My frown deepened, and I looked to Lorcan, who only appeared embarrassed by the whole thing. “Is he okay?”
Alex’s lips pressed together in concern, his nostrils flaring. “I think it’s an infection.”
Lorcan lifted a hand and shook his head. “I’m fine.”
He didn’t look fine, and worry threaded its way through my heart.
“He just needs some meds,” Alex continued “He’ll be feeling himself again soon enough.”
“I am right here, you know,” Lorcan said, but I heard the weak amusement in his voice. Lorcan was a man of few words, but he could obviously tell when someone was caring for him.
“We were just about to give Darcy and her aunt the tour.”
Kingsley stepped in. “I can help show Darcy and Sarah around.”
“I’m here, too.” Clay lifted his hand into the air, as though he were at school.
Isaac nodded. “Okay. I’ve got some things I need to discuss with Devlin. If you could both show them around, that will give me some time. Give them a room each down on Middle 2, near to our rooms, okay?”
“Sure thing, boss.” Clay threw me a wink. “I’ll make sure Darcy has the room right beside mine.”
I narrowed my eyes at him and tried to hide my smile.
Devlin raised a hand to garner our attention. “Sorry to do this, boys, but before you go anywhere, you need to unarm yourselves.” He looked to me. “You, too, Darcy, if you’re carrying. The only weapons we have down here are the ones used during gun practice. You can have the guns back again when you leave.”
I understood what he was saying—that we weren’t allowed to take our weapons down with us into the rest of the base. I guessed it was their way of keeping people safe.
Reaching into the back of my jeans, I pulled out the handgun I’d been given. The guys around me all unarmed themselves as well, sliding the weapons ont
o the desk beside Devlin. Devlin raised a hand again, and gestured to one of the other men working here, who came forward with a large plastic box and began to pile all the guns inside.
“They’ll be safely under lock and key until you’re ready to leave again,” Devlin said.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about the guns being taken away. I had felt safer in the outside world while I’d been armed, but we weren’t going to come to any harm down here. My reason for wanting to carry had been fear, but there shouldn’t be anything or anyone to be afraid of now. The fact the guys had handed over their weapons without any protest also made me feel better.
Alex had disappeared with Lorcan back inside the elevator. Isaac was already speaking to Devlin, their voices low and heads pressed close together. I guessed this was the same person he’d been speaking to when we’d been back at the cabin.
“Come on, then,” said Sarah, stiffly. “Let’s see what else is in this place.”
We waited for the elevator to come back up then stepped inside. I glanced at the pad containing the buttons for the other floors, I assumed. Instead of only numbers, they were labeled B, M2, M1, and U.
“Bottom floor is for teaching and training,” explained Kingsley, pressing the next one down. “Middle 2 is the sleeping quarters, and the one I’m taking you to now is Middle 1, which is our living area. We’ve just left Upper.” The elevator light pinged and the doors slid open. Kingsley stepped out, continuing to talk, and we all followed him. “This is where we live. We have a TV room, a gym, a dining room and kitchen. It’s not too different to how we’d live in a regular house.”
Being deep underground seemed nothing like living in a normal house, but I didn’t want to point that out to them. “Have you spent a lot of time here, then?”
Clay chuckled beside me. “You could say that, yeah.”
He showed us from room to room, a TV room that looked more like a cinema. A large dining hall with numerous tables, a kitchen that looked like a professional kitchen you’d find in any restaurant. Even the gym looked impressive, not that I spent much time on treadmills or lifting weights. I thought Kingsley must have spent a lot of time in here in the past.
“You can help yourself to anything you want while you’re here,” Clay told us. “Treat the place like your own.”
“And how long are we going to be here?” asked Sarah.
Clay shrugged. “Dunno. Until we figure out the next move, I guess. Isaac and Devlin will come up with a plan, and I’m sure they’ll let us know when they do. Until then, we’re safe down here, so we might as well make the most of it.”
The guys took us down to the floor below, and we walked down a corridor of doors. “You can have the rooms at the end,” Kingsley said. “There are enough for one each. They’re basic but clean. When people have been here for any length of time, they make them their own, but neither of you will be here long enough for you to need to do that. We’ll get all of this sorted before then.”
He made it sound as though we were here because of a gas leak or flood, rather than someone chasing us with helicopters and guns.
Curious as to what the rooms looked like, I opened the door and stuck my head inside. The room was sparse. A bed, that wasn’t quite a double but was bigger than a single, with starched white sheets. A chest of drawers. A bedside table holding a lamp. Two other doors led off the room, and I crossed the floor to check behind them. One door led to a shallow wardrobe, and the other to a tiny bathroom containing a shower, toilet and sink. Of course, being underground, there weren’t any windows.
Aunt Sarah stood in the doorway, also curious to see what the rooms were like. Kingsley and Clay lurked behind her, peering over her head as though to garner my reaction.
“Where are your rooms?” I asked the men.
Kingsley pointed to the door directly across the hall. “I’m in that one.”
I smiled. “Right across from me.”
He nodded. “And, Sarah, you can have the one next to Darcy.”
Sarah breathed in deeply through her nose. “Right. And what am I supposed to do about my job while I’m hiding down here? I have people who are dependent on me.”
His eyes narrowed in confusion, lines appearing between his eyebrows. “I thought you cleaned for a living.”
I flinched and tried to give Kingsley a glare, but he was focused on my aunt.
“I do,” she snapped. “People rely on having clean homes and businesses, you know.”
“Sure. Sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it.”
I didn’t blame her for being mad. She worked her ass off, and to have someone make out like the job she did wasn’t important was insulting. I guessed from Kingsley’s point of view, with his degrees and qualifications, it seemed like a crappy job, but when you’ve worked hard to build up a reliable business, it didn’t matter what that business was—you still put your heart and soul into it.
“You okay?” I asked her quietly as I left the room, Kingsley and Clay walking ahead, leaving us to follow along.
“I guess I have to be.”
“Your business will hold over a couple of days. I’m sure you can make some phone calls if you need to let people know you’re away.”
She shook her head. “I don’t like this, Darcy. We’re essentially being kept prisoners down here.”
“No, we’re not. They’re protecting us.”
She tisked at me. “You can’t trust everyone you meet simply because they say what you want to hear.”
My mouth dropped. “I don’t!”
“Just be careful, Darcy. I see how those boys look at you. It makes me wonder what they want from you, and I can’t pretend I’m comfortable with all of this.”
“They take care of me, Aunt Sarah. They care about me, too, I’m sure of it. You know how it feels when you’re with someone you care about, just like I know I care about you.”
Her expression was hurt, her tone irate. “I care about you, too!”
“I know you do, Aunt Sarah,” I said, softening. I’d put her through hell, not just now, but over all the years she’d been looking after me since Dad was murdered.
She continued. “And sometimes caring about someone means making hard decisions—decisions you know the other person isn’t going to be happy about, but ones you know are right.”
I nodded eagerly, glad she was finally seeing things my way. “That’s exactly why we had to come and get you. It wouldn’t be safe any other way.”
She sighed, but nodded in agreement. I hoped this was the start of her defrosting a little. She’d always been a tough woman, but I didn’t like feeling as though there was a divide between us, especially not now.
“We’ll show you the bottom floor,” Clay called over his shoulder, “but you can’t stay for long, okay? Everyone will be busy, and they’re too easily distracted.”
What had they said was down there? Training, wasn’t it? I guessed it would be more computers ...
We caught the elevator down. The doors opened, and we stepped out into another corridor. Several doors led off the corridor, with long windows stretching between them. The glass was only partially obscured by vertical blinds, the slats half open. Clay jerked his chin at me to tell me to join him, and then he nodded toward the first window. I moved to stand at his side and peeped through the glass. An adult stood at the front of the room, going through what looked like arithmetic on a whiteboard. Sitting at desks in front of him were five boys, all around a similar age—seven or eight years old.
Clay started to walk again and gestured at me to follow him. We passed the second door and stopped to look through the window of the next room. This room contained older boys—early teens—and they stood around waist high benches containing glass beakers and Bunsen burners. Protective glasses covered the boys’ eyes while the flames from the burners danced high in red, orange, and yellow. The strangely familiar and emotive scent of methane and burning chemicals assaulted my nostrils, instantly transporting me back to my own high s
chool years.
We might be however many hundreds of feet beneath ground, but I recognized a science room when I saw it. These were classrooms.
Clay jerked his head toward the rest of the corridor. “Come on. There’s more to see.”
I smiled at his enthusiasm. It reminded me of when he’d shown me around the house, how he’d seemed to take pleasure in doing so, exposing me to new things. The memory couldn’t be untied from the way he’d kissed me at the top of the stairs either, though I highly doubted he’d do that again now, especially not with my aunt present.
We followed Clay up the corridor and came to stop on the opposite side from the other classrooms. These windows looked into a far larger space. Inside were boys I guessed to be around twelve years old. They were in a sports hall, though it was far smaller than you’d find at a regular high school. There wouldn’t be any basketball games played here. Not that they looked like they were playing that kind of sport. No, the boys, though dressed in regular shorts and t-shirts, were clearly practicing some form of martial arts. They were standing in pairs opposite each other, throwing punches, kicks, and blocking with their arms up, or ducking in defensive moves.
“We’re taught how to handle ourselves in a hand to hand combat situation, as well as everything else,” Kingsley said. “With what we do, it’s almost as important as learning mentally.”
I nodded. “Of course.”
We continued to walk, leaving the fighting boys behind.
The door directly ahead was different from the others, in that it had no glass panel, and a light beside it. Right now, the light glowed green, but I assumed it showed red on occasion.
“That’s our shooting range,” Clay said. “It’s where we learn gun safety, maintenance, and of course, how to shoot.”
I’d spent time on a gun range in my past, both as a child and after my dad had been killed. Guns would never be my most favorite of things, but they were necessary, and at least I knew how to handle one.
“We don’t need to go in there,” I said, “I know what a gun range looks like.” Besides, it seemed pointless going in there if it was unoccupied.
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