Wrong Place (The Wrong Series)

by Grace, Mitchel

  What Zane said sounded reasonable to both Nathan and Sam, so they agreed.

  “All right. I need to go tell Dan what’s up, if he’s through watching his cartoons,” Zane said as he was starting to walk away.

  “What?” Sam asked.

  “Oh, nothing.”

  Zane went back to his room and informed Dan of their plan.

  “I think we should leave soon so maybe we can all have a last meal before the mission. Then we need to get going to the facility,” Zane said.

  The two of them went back to Nathan and Sam’s room and picked them up. Then, the four of them were off. One final meal, Zane thought to himself as they drove away.

  Chapter 26

  At a small diner, everyone gathered for a last meal before the operation was carried out. Everyone seemed to be nervous, and someone needed to say something to ease the tension. They needed to talk about anything but the operation they were about to carry out. Zane thought of one subject that was different and that he had really been wanting to know about.

  “So you seemed to dodge my question about the car earlier,” Zane said to Sam in a puzzled tone.

  “What are you guys going to eat?” Sam asked while looking down at the table.

  “Sam?”

  “Just tell him,” Nathan said.

  “Well you see, Nathan wanted to stay at this cheap hotel in Birmingham, so it was all his fault!” Sam quickly said.

  “Way to throw me under the bus there, Sam,” Nathan said.

  “Wait, what happened to the car?” Zane asked.

  Sam only looked away.

  “It was stolen when we were in Birmingham . . . and apparently it was all my fault,” Nathan said.

  “You lost my car? And only one day after you received it,” Zane said in surprise.

  Sam looked very ashamed and uncomfortable. After a long silence, Zane finally spoke.

  “Oh well, it was just a car. I’ll just make them get me a new one. After all this running around, I kind of figure that they owe me at least that.”

  “Thank you for understanding. I mean, Nathan appreciates it,” Sam said and then laughed.

  “What are we going to do after this op is over?” Dan asked.

  “I have no idea,” Zane said plainly.

  “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m going to find out what Lee did with that flash drive and see what’s on it,” Nathan said.

  “I agree, and with everything that we’ve been through, there better be some serious stuff on that thing,” Sam said.

  “I just hope that Jason and Lee were smart enough to store the device somewhere and not bring it with them when they tried to rescue everyone,” Zane said.

  “I’m sure that they were. The thing I worry about more is what the people at that facility might be doing to them to get the location of the flash drive,” Sam said.

  “I don’t even like to think about that,” Nathan said while noticeably shuddering.

  The group continued to make idle chatter throughout the meal, and then they made their way to their destination.

  A block away from the facility, they saw four large trucks that were undoubtedly filled with soldiers. The group stopped beside the front truck, and Zane got out of the car.

  “I take it that you’re Zane?” a man said as he stepped out from inside the truck.

  Zane then filled him in on the layout of the facility and told him about their plan to first infiltrate the facility and hijack the security monitor room.

  “It sounds risky, but it would certainly give us a tactical advantage to know that they were blind when we attacked,” the man said.

  “All right. My friend and I will get to it then. These two are going to need some body armor and weapons,” Zane said while motioning toward Nathan and Sam.

  “We have them covered.”

  “Great! Are you ready?’ Zane asked while turning toward Dan.

  “I am.”

  The two of them started making their way on foot to the facility. Once they arrived at their destination, Zane and Dan walked up to the front door. It, as expected, was locked. Zane scanned the area and toward the back of the building, he saw a lone man standing.

  “Hey, can I ask you for a favor?” Zane asked as he walked towards the man.

  “What is it?” the man asked.

  “I seem to have forgotten my key. Can you help me out?”

  “I haven’t seen you two around here before,” the man said in a suspicious tone.

  “We’re sort of new here, and honestly, I wouldn’t normally be asking for a favor from someone so early, but I don’t want to have to deal with the boss. You know how it is.”

  “Uh huh,” the man said while still looking suspicious but unlocking the door anyway.

  “Thank you very much,” Zane said.

  Zane and Dan entered the facility.

  The man had initially been extremely suspicious of them and was planning to report them to security, but when he got closer to the two men, he noticed how old Zane was. The old man in front of him had forgotten his keys, and although he probably shouldn’t have helped him out, he felt a bit bad for the old guy. He concluded that if he were still doing these types of things at that man’s age, then he might need a little help every so often, too. He underestimated Zane and unlocked the door. He never once thought that the old man in front of him could be an intruder.

  “That was close. What made you think it was a good idea to just come out and ask to be let in?” Dan asked.

  “What was the worst that could have happened? I mean, if he had arrested us, a rescue party would have been here in about ten minutes anyway,” Zane said.

  “I guess you’re right.”

  The two of them walked over to the elevator. Once they were inside, Zane pulled a set of small screwdrivers from his pocket and began taking the elevator panel off the wall. After a few minutes and a small amount of frustration Zane exclaimed, “Going down!”

  “Are you ready?” Dan asked.

  “Always,” Zane responded confidently.

  As the elevator doors opened, the two men casually stepped onto the crowded floor and made their way to their right while scanning the room for the security room.

  We can’t walk around here looking lost forever, Dan thought while worrying about how much they must stand out in this place. All of a sudden, much to Dan’s surprise, Zane had engaged someone.

  “Excuse me, can you tell me where the monitor room is?”

  The man he stopped only sighed and pointed in the direction of the security room.

  “Cutting it close, aren’t you?” Dan asked.

  “No worries. You would be surprised what you can get people to tell you just by casually asking them.”

  They both walked to the security room that was only a few yards away from their current position. Once they were inside, Zane and Dan noticed that there were only three people in the room. Two of them were on the left side of the square room, while the other one was on the right side. This will be simple enough, Zane thought to himself.

  “Can I help you two?” one of the men asked as he turned in his chair to face Zane and Dan.

  Zane quickly shut the door to the room and pulled the pistol from his pocket and fired two shots into the heads of the two men on the left side of the room, while Dan did the same to the man on the right side of the room.

  “Thank God for silencers. So what do we do now?” Dan asked.

  “I say we just hang out and wait for help to come before we make a move.”

  “Here’s to hoping they get here soon,” Dan said.

  * * * * *

  A block away from the facility, Nathan and Sam were waiting to be given the okay to move. Nathan was fidgeting with his newly acquired body armor.

  “Do they just not want you to be able to move at all in this armor?” Nathan asked.

  “You’ll be thankful for it after the first time it stops a bullet,” Sam said.

  “There’s no guarantee that
a bullet will ever hit me, though. Right?” Nathan asked nervously.

  Sam looked at Nathan with a little doubt in her eyes. He had only shot a gun once in his life and now here he was holding an assault rifle and fidgeting with his body armor. I just hope he doesn’t shoot himself, Sam thought.

  “No, I’m sure that you’ll be fine,” Sam said in a voice that sounded sincere even though she had her doubts.

  Nathan was noticeably nervous. His hands were shaking, and he seemed to be staring off into nothingness. Sam was a little put off by the fact that she had so much more courage than he did, but then she thought back to the first time she held an assault rifle. She was only twelve years old, and the thought of even firing the weapon was frightening enough to her. She could only imagine what it would have been like if someone was going to be shooting back at her. She walked up to Nathan and put her arm around him.

  “You’re going to be fine.”

  “Is it that obvious that I’m worried?”

  “Just a little bit.”

  “So I’m just wondering, but what makes you say that I’ll be fine?”

  “Because I know this is all new to you and right now you’re naturally nervous and maybe even a little bit scared, but when push comes to shove, you always come through,” Sam said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Back in Memphis you came up with an excellent plan despite having no prior experience in such a situation, and then in Atlanta you saved me when you had never even fired a gun before. You may be nervous, but when it comes time to perform, you’ll be great. You always are.”

  All of the nervousness and doubt faded from Nathan’s face.

  “You’re right. I am pretty great!” Nathan said in a joking tone.

  “Oh, don’t get too cocky now. I have seen you succeed, but I’ve also seen you hopping around in your underwear while fleeing a scene, too,” Sam said while laughing.

  “You just had to remind me of that, huh?”

  “It’s time to move everyone,” a voice then called out.

  Nathan and Sam, along with their newly found team, made their way to the facility and to the front door. One of the men there put a small explosive device on the front door and then stepped away quickly.

  “Everybody get back!” he said. At that moment a boom could be heard, and the door blew open. Behind the building, the man who had previously helped Zane and Dan looked on and slowly began to make his way away from the facility. He was loyal, but he wasn’t stupid, and given the fact that he was the only person outside at this moment, he wasn’t about to go picking a fight right now. Inside, they were trying to decide the order of who was going to go down first.

  “Okay, who is going down first,” the leader of the group asked.

  Many hands went up. Nathan simply stepped inside and Sam followed him.

  “Wow, you really didn’t hesitate at all,” Sam said in surprise.

  “Hey, we agreed that we weren’t going to hang back, and besides, the first people in the elevator get to be at the back of it. We’re the last to be shot,” Nathan said while smiling.

  “Oh, so courage had nothing to do with it?”

  Soon the elevator filled up, and they were going down.

  “Thank God for Zane or we would have never even been able to get past this elevator,” a soldier said as they were descending.

  As the elevator stopped and everyone waited for the doors to open, you could feel the tension in the air. Nathan was nervous, but in this moment, he noticed that even all the battle hardened people around him had a worried expression on their faces. This calm before the storm was something that no soldier ever got used to. The doors opened, and the soldiers at the front of the elevator opened fire on the men and women on the other side of the doors as everyone poured out of the elevator. They had truly taken the facility by complete surprise. Nathan and Sam ran straight for the prison area, cutting people down as they went. As they ran into the prison area, the two guards who they had previously encountered in their own escape turned to see them. Sam and Nathan raised their guns and pointed them at the two men.

  “Drop your weapons!” Sam said.

  The two men thought for a second about raising their own guns and trying to fight off these intruders, but ultimately, they decided against that course of action. It was the smart choice because Nathan and Sam were completely decked out in bulletproof armor. How would these two unarmored men ever stand a chance in such a circumstance? They dropped their weapons.

  “Now, get on the ground,” Sam commanded.

  Sam walked up behind the first guard and hit him in the back of his head with the butt of her gun, effectively knocking him unconscious. Nathan then did the same thing, but once again, he failed to knock the man unconscious.

  “Oh God, not again!” the man yelled while fearing the beating that would almost certainly follow.

  “Sam, can I get a little help, please,” Nathan said.

  “Sure,” she said as she planted the butt of her gun firmly into the back of the man’s head.

  “You really do need to show me how to knock people unconscious before I give some poor guy brain damage.”

  Sam reached down and felt in the man’s pocket. Please have some keys, she thought.

  “Bingo!” Sam said as she pulled the keys from the man’s pocket.

  “All right, let’s get everyone out of here,” Nathan said.

  * * * * *

  Back on the main part of the basement floor, Zane and Dan had joined the fight. They both had to take cover and be extra careful due to the fact that they had no body armor. The fight was fairly even. Jeffery’s men far outnumbered Zane and his crew, but due to their bulletproof armor, the fight had been put on a level playing field. Zane fired, picking off two men that were approaching their team from behind.

  “What are we supposed to do? We’re far outnumbered,” Dan said.

  Zane looked around, and on the far side of the room, he spotted a door leading to another area. There are four areas: a main floor, a jail, a security room, and that must be a private area for rooms and whoever runs this place, Zane thought to himself.

  “Come with me. We’re about to turn the tide,” Zane said.

  The two of them slowly made their way to the large doors in the distance, and once they were there, all of Zane’s suspicions were confirmed. This was a bunk area.

  “What are we doing here?” Dan asked.

  “If we find the biggest room, we’ll probably find the person who runs this place. Then maybe we can force the people here to lay down their arms.”

  “It sounds like a long shot. I’m sure that whoever runs this place has a ton of people guarding the area that he’s in.”

  “Do you have any better ideas?’ Zane asked.

  “I guess not. Let’s go.”

  The two made their way through the rooms, while checking every individual room to find that it was empty. Upon rounding a corner, they saw two men standing guard in front of a room. The men almost immediately noticed them. Zane and Dan quickly raised their guns. The four men fired their weapons almost at the same time. The two guards fell to the ground dead.

  “Well, those guys were poor aims, huh,” Dan said in a delighted voice before turning to see Zane.

  “Zane, are you okay?”

  Zane had been hit.

  “It’s just a flesh wound. I’ve had much worse,” Zane said while trying to appear tough.

  He had been hit in the shoulder. Nothing vital was hit, but that still didn’t stop the wound from bleeding, and it still didn’t stop the throb coming from Zane’s shoulder. Zane took his shirt off.

  “Well, can you wrap it for me?” Zane asked Dan while motioned to his bloody shoulder.

  “Yeah,” Dan simply said while taking the shirt from Zane and wrapping it around the wound to form the best makeshift tourniquet he possible could.

  “Maybe you should just stay here,” Dan said.

  “No, let’s go finish this,” Zane said wh
ile turning to face the door.

  Zane turned and kicked the door, effectively sending it flying open. There sat the master of this particular facility. Jeffery turned to face his intruders. Zane and Dan walked straight toward him and collected him.

  “Who are you people?” Jeffery asked.

  “We’re your worst nightmare,” Zane simply responded as they drug him from the room.

  * * * * *

  Back in the prison area, Nathan and Sam had freed everyone except for Lee. There was only one door left at the end of the ominous hallway, and they all feared the shape that Lee would be in inside his cell. Sam opened the door, and what they saw shocked everyone. Lee hung there against the back wall. He had been beaten almost beyond recognition.

  “Thank God you’re here,” Lee said in a hoarse voice.

  Nathan grabbed the keys from Sam and rushed to his friend. Once he found the correct key, he let Lee down from the chains that held him.

  “I am so sorry,” Michael said while stepping forward.

  “You should be. If we would have held our ground back there, none of this would have ever happened,” Lee said.

  “Held our ground?” Nathan asked.

  Michael then explained to Nathan and Sam what had actually occurred prior to their escape. Lee was extremely surprised to hear how Michael had unlocked Nathan and Sam’s cell.

  “You saved us. Thank you,” Sam said.

  “I didn’t do anything. You two were the ones who came back for us. I knew we were outnumbered, Lee, and I’m so sorry that you had to suffer, but I’m glad you were able to hold out until help could arrive.”

  Lee was still mad, but he understood why Michael had done what he did. He even thought it was a bit clever.

  “It’s okay, but next time how about you take the torture chamber, and I take the comfy jail cell,” Lee said.

  “It’s a deal.”

  “I’m sorry to interrupt, but don’t we need to get out of here?” Jess asked.

  “She’s right. We need to go now,” Trish said.

  “I don’t know. Maybe we should wait for everything going on out there to die down before we move,” Jason said nervously.

  “Thank you for coming for me, by the way. I never expected to have such an awesome handler,” Sam said.