Wrong Place (The Wrong Series)

by Grace, Mitchel

  “No problem, but I actually think I only made things worse.”

  “Nonsense, you brought Zane and Dan to us. That was the best thing you could have done,” Nathan said.

  “True, but next time don’t be so reckless by endangering yourself,” Sam said.

  Jason nodded. Sam then walked over to the door to see Zane out on the main floor taking control of the situation.

  Zane had dragged Jeffery to the main floor and was giving orders to him.

  “Tell your men to drop their guns,” Zane commanded.

  “Drop your weapons. This conflict is over,” Jeffery announced loudly and authoritatively.

  The sound of gunfire subsided, and although the men were hesitant to lay down their arms, they obeyed their commander, if nothing else, out of fear that he would be murdered right there in front of them.

  “Now, all of you secure the enemy weapons, and then escort the prisoners to the trucks,” Zane said to his own soldiers.

  It was over. They had actually taken the facility. Dan could hardly believe it. Zane felt lightheaded and began to lose his balance. Dan grabbed him and took his place behind Jeffery as Zane sat down on the floor. He had lost a lot of blood, and the makeshift tourniquet hadn’t really done much of anything for his injury. As Zane looked up, he saw Sam walking toward him.

  “You’re hurt!” Sam said in a worried and also surprised voice.

  “I’m fine. Don’t worry,” Zane said.

  “You need to get to a hospital,” Sam said while helping him to his feet.

  Behind her, Nathan and Michael were helping Lee to the elevator. As Sam escorted her friend to the elevator and out of this place, she felt a bit of pride in the job that she and everyone around her had done. She looked at her newfound friends, her comrades, and Nathan and felt a sense of gratefulness swell up inside of her. It was a feeling that she had not been used to at all. For the first time in her life, she felt not only fortunate to know the people around her, but also that she was home with these people. As they ascended to the ground floor and exited the elevator, red and blue lights could be seen from outside of the facility.

  “Hey, we need an ambulance. We have two that are hurt,” Jess called to the police and emergency workers ahead of them.

  As Nathan and Michael handed Lee off to the emergency workers, Lee whispered something into his ear.

  “You guys should go with them to the hospital. Sam and I have some unfinished business to attend to. We’ll be there shortly,” Nathan said while facing Michael, Jess, Trish, and Jason.

  They looked at him with questionable glances but complied. Two of them got into the ambulance with Lee, while the other two rode with Zane.

  “So we have unfinished business, huh?” Sam said.

  “Lee just gave me the location of the flash drive. It’s in Orlando, and I believe a road trip is in order. Don’t you?” Nathan asked.

  Chapter 27

  Nathan and Sam pulled up to the hotel that Lee and Jason had previously stayed at.

  “So how are we going to get in the room? We don’t even have a key,” Nathan said.

  “It’ll be simple,” Sam said.

  She led Nathan to the front desk.

  “Excuse me, but we were mugged, and the thieves took everything. They even took our room key. Could we get a replacement key?” Sam asked sounding upset.

  “Sure, I’ll just need some identification,” the lady behind the counter said.

  “They truly took everything from us. My license was in my wallet,” Nathan said.

  “Okay. Well, can you at least tell me your name so I can identify you by that much?” the woman asked.

  Nathan was a bit nervous now. Who had checked in? Was it Jason or Lee? Nathan honestly didn’t know.

  “I’m Jason,” Nathan finally said.

  “Jason who?” the woman asked impatiently.

  “Ellis,” Sam answered.

  “Okay, here’s your room key. You two should really report this incident to the police,” the woman said.

  “We will,” Sam said.

  “Well, that was close,” Nathan said as they exited the building.

  Sam only laughed.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “It’s just that you can run through a building with bullets flying through the air and adjust seamlessly, but one front desk worker asks you a question and you nearly freeze up,” Sam said while still chuckling.

  As they arrived at the door and went inside, a sense of excitement grew in both of them. They made their way quickly to the safe and opened it. There was the now unlocked flash drive that they had been protecting all of this time, and the allure of knowing what was on it was killing both of them.

  “I don’t suppose we could take a look, could we?” Sam asked while glancing over at Lee’s laptop that had been left on the hotel bed.

  “I won’t tell if you won’t,” Nathan said.

  “No, we can’t. We’ll look at it with them back in Tampa.”

  Nathan looked like he hated the words that had just left her mouth, and the truth was that they left quite the bad taste in her own mouth, but she knew that the others deserved to know what they had gone through all of this for at the same time as they did.

  “Well, let’s get going. I want to know what’s on this thing as soon as possible,” Nathan said anxiously.

  They walked back out to the car with the flash drive and laptop and started their drive back to Tampa.

  * * * * *

  Back at the hospital, Zane had just had his shoulder tended to when Dan arrived. Zane had been told to stay in bed, but unfortunately for his nurse, Zane was very stubborn. Zane and Dan went straight to Lee’s room to check on him and see how everyone else was doing after the ordeal.

  “How is he?” Zane whispered to Trish as he entered the room.

  “It’s not good. He had several broken ribs and has a slight case of pneumonia. Apparently, they water boarded the poor guy and then turned the temperature down to freezing that night.”

  Just then the nurse entered the room.

  “I’m sorry, but this many people can’t be in here. I’m going to have to ask all of you but two people to wait in the waiting room,” she said.

  “You guys go take a break in the waiting room. Dan and I will watch over this guy,” Zane said.

  Michael nodded, and all of them walked out of the door.

  “Mr. Green, you’re not supposed to be out of your bed,” the nurse said in an irritated tone.

  Zane shot her a look that clearly said, “Just you try to move me.” The woman simply rolled her eyes and walked out of the room.

  “So we made a pretty big mess back there. What’s the official story going to be to the public?” Dan asked.

  “The truth, I hope,” Zane answered.

  “Well, either way, I’m just glad that we’re all okay. I thought I was going to lose you for a minute back there.”

  “Nope, it looks like I’m going to sail on for a little longer,” Zane said happily.

  The four friends sat in the waiting room.

  “I’m going to go down to the cafeteria. Does anyone want me to get them anything?” Jason asked.

  “Something to drink would be nice,” Trish said.

  “Something to drink, I’ve got it,” Jason said as he left.

  In the corner, Michael and Jess sat. Michael gently grabbed her hand.

  “What are you doing?” Jess asked.

  “Oh, come on. You know I’ve always been crazy about you, and I know that in the past, I’ve had my fair share of problems, but I finally think I’m over all that. I think I can finally make you happy. I can be there for you like you’ve always been there for me. Please, just let me,” Michael said.

  Jess closed her hand and embraced Michael’s. What do you know? She isn’t as picky as I thought she was, Trish thought. All of them made small talk throughout the early morning, and for once, things seemed normal.

  * * * * *

  Nathan
and Sam finally arrived back in Tampa and drove to the hospital. Upon finding out where Zane and Lee were, they made their way up toward the rooms. Just when they were passing by the waiting room, an eager Michael stopped them.

  “Nathan, where did you two go?” Michael asked.

  Sam held up the flash drive to answer his question.

  “How are Zane and Lee?” Nathan asked.

  Michael then recapped how Zane had recovered almost instantly and how Lee was in bad shape.

  “I hate to hear that about Lee,” Nathan said sadly.

  “I know that he’s sick and in bad shape, but I think he would want to see what was on that flash drive as soon as possible,” Jess said while anxiously looking at the device.

  Nathan didn’t know about going and waking up a man who had just been through such an ordeal and now apparently had pneumonia, but then again, he did know that Lee would actually want to see what was on it right then, with all of the trouble that it had caused him and all of the time that he had spent working on it.

  “Okay, let’s go,” Nathan said.

  “But he isn’t supposed to have more than two people in there at a time. How are we supposed to get past the nurse?” Jess asked.

  “I welcome her to try to stop us,” Trish said in a confident and slightly threatening tone.

  The group walked into the room. As they were about to enter the room, they heard the voice of the nurse.

  “You aren’t supposed to . . . ” she said before Trish answered.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

  Nathan gently woke Lee up.

  “We got the device,” Nathan said excitedly.

  “Well, what are you waiting for?” Lee asked.

  Sam opened the laptop and inserted the flash drive. As it loaded, everyone gathered around Lee’s bed. Sam clicked on the first file, and what they saw next took the breath from everyone. A haunting silence enveloped the room.

  “Oh my God! That’s happening today!” Nathan said as his face turned pale.

  Epilogue

  “Is everything all set?” a figure in a dark tunnel asked another man.

  “Everything’s going as planned,” the other man responded.

  “I almost hate to be a part of something like this,” the first man said.

  “Hey, you know the deal. We get the job done, and we don’t ask questions. You’re guilty conscience will subside as soon as we’re both rolling in more cash than you can imagine. Trust me. Mr. Boyd doesn’t disappoint people.”

  “I know, but I just feel bad for these poor bastards. After today, western civilization will never be the same again.”