Autumn went to her window. She looked out at the setting sun and wished there was something she could do besides running away. She wished she could stay here and fight, or that Cage could come with her. A knock came at her door as the bodyguards told her it was time. Five minutes barely seemed like two seconds. One of her bodyguards zipped up Autumn’s duffel bag and pulled it from her bed.
Autumn took one last look around the room as she walked to her door, scanning for anything she might have forgotten. She looked at her bodyguards. “Ok. Let's go.”
A moment later they left her room, going into the hallway. She had three bodyguards with her. One in front, one in back carrying her duffel bag, and the third next to her carrying Poppi. As they moved towards the stairwell to the roof, Autumn couldn’t help but notice how empty the hallway was. Usually there would be bodyguards every dozen or so feet patrolling, but there were none now as they swiftly walked into the main area.
For a moment Autumn saw Cage. He was with Fredric. They were walking to the elevator, five bodyguards following them. Cage didn’t see Autumn. His focus was on the elevator. She watched him scan his thumb before the doors opened.
Autumn wanted to call out to him, but she didn’t know what to say. She never knew what to say at moments like these. Everything was happening so fast. She raised her hand, reaching for him, but before she could call out his name he was out of sight, having entered the elevator. As soon as the doors closed Autumn was pulled into another hallway that led to the stairwell to the roof.
Before they went on the roof, Autumn was given a helmet to wear. Someone gave her a bulletproof vest and helped her put it on. It was heavy and awkward as Autumn moved about. She was nearly dragged up the stairs as her bodyguards moved quickly. Once they were on the roof. Autumn could see the sunset.
The tower was the highest building in the city and she could see all of the other rooftops around them. As the sun fell across them, it almost looked beautiful in this bleak situation. Even though Autumn had been up here more than a few times, the view always amazed her. Just as riding in a helicopter always did.
Before Cage, she’d never been on a helicopter. The propellers were already rotating as they approached. Air blew all around Autumn and her bodyguards. Poppi, and Autumn’s duffel bag, were put on the helicopter first. Autumn noticed that all of the bodyguards had their guns out just in case there was any trouble. Autumn couldn’t imagine that anyone was up here besides them.
Inside the helicopter there was a pilot and another bodyguard with a rather large gun. It looked like an automatic. Autumn wondered if they would need it where they were going. One of the bodyguards lifted her into the helicopter without warning and it made her jump. It took her a moment to settle herself before she found a seat.
The bodyguard that had been carrying Poppi buckled her in. Then he made sure Poppi’s crate was secure before he buckled himself in. The two other bodyguards got in and shut the helicopter door. From where Autumn was sitting, she could see out the windows. Usually Cage didn’t let her sit so close to the windows. She found it was a nice change. She was able to see everything. After the bodyguards were buckled in, the helicopter began to take off.
Slowly they rose up over the tower. Autumn gazed at the setting sun once more, taking in the orange and golden haze. She looked out at the rooftops and thought she saw two people looking at the sunset. Only, after further inspection, she realized they weren’t looking at the sunset. They were looking at the helicopter.
They were dressed all in black and had something. Autumn didn’t get a good look at it. When they were a few feet off the roof, something shot out of whatever it was. A blaze of fire and smoke burned through the air. She didn’t have time to question what it was, or even point it out to the others, as it hit them.
The helicopter rumbled and shook with impact. Alarms sounded, filling the helicopter with noises. The propellers seemed to explode, and then the helicopter burst into flames. The pilot screamed, “We’ve been hit! We’ve been hit!”
“Land! Land!”
“No, I think I'd rather CRASH!” shouted the pilot sarcastically.
The pilot attempted to regain control. It looked like they might fall over the edge of the building. Autumn's screams filled the air before she knew it. The men in the helicopter joined her as the machine crash landed on the roof. Metal screeched and sparks flew everywhere as they hit concrete and skidded across the roof.
Flames seemed to come from everywhere as Autumn screamed and screamed. She closed her eyes and held herself tightly, hanging on to whatever she could. Metal twisted, bent, and broke, as her mind raced. Her heart pounded in her chest. She thought this was it. She was dying. She was dying.
She saw her life flash before her eyes. It was so up and down, and all over the place. She saw herself growing up, the struggles that made her who she was, and meeting Curtis. His smile, the touch of his hand, their time together. Seconds in her mind as everything that had happened flashed by. Her mind flashed with the first time she saw Cage.
What he’d done to Curtis. What he’d done to her. All the moments she hated him. And then the moments she didn’t, and the way he looked at her like she was really something special. Like she was the only woman in existence. And how it frightened her. The way he could make her feel. The way he could make her feel...The things he said…Autumn cursed his name.
After everything that had happened to her, after everything he’d done to her, she couldn’t help but think of the way he made her feel. She saw herself standing in the main area, Cage about to get on the elevators. She saw herself reaching out to him, but she didn’t say anything. She didn’t say anything. Somehow she knew she might never see him again, that this might be the last time she ever spoke to him. But she hadn’t...she hadn’t told him how he made her feel. How she felt for him…how...she…
Autumn laid on her side, wondering how she could still be thinking. How she could still be consciously aware. She wasn’t sure what happened when you died. If you ended up just disappearing into the darkness forever, without a thought or care in the world. Or if there was something more. But surely she was dead. Surely she couldn’t have survived. Right?
Autumn paused for a moment as she wondered how long she’d been on her side. She remembered her life flashing before her eyes, and then being here. She wasn’t sure if any time had passed in-between. She opened her eyes, one, and then the other.
Things were blurry at first and sounds came slowly. But when she became aware, she realized she was on the roof. She could see the helicopter in a burning mess several feet from her. For a second she wondered if she’d been thrown from it. And then she saw a bloody trail from where one of her bodyguards had dragged her free.
Autumn turned to look at him. He’d collapsed only a few inches from her. His eyes were open but he wasn’t moving. Autumn was bleeding, and she was pretty sure the bone sticking out of her arm wasn’t good, but she wasn’t focused on the pain. She was disoriented, not really sure where she was. She knew she was on the roof of the tower, but was she…Her mind didn’t seem to grasp what had happened as she looked around.
The bodyguard that had saved her was dead, and the people inside the helicopter were also dead. But Autumn was alive. For several minutes Autumn just lay there bleeding before she found her way to her feet. She didn’t even look at the helicopter as she made her way to the stairwell. She attempted to open it but she couldn’t. As much as she pushed and pulled on the door, it was locked.
After a while she realized she needed a card. She staggered back to the bodyguard that had saved her life. She went through his suit, finding the card in his upper pocket. For a second Autumn froze with the card in her good hand. She stared at the bodyguard. Her mind was gone as she got up again.
She was aware, but at the same time none of this felt real. Not her. Not them. None of it. Autumn stumbled back to the door to the stairs and got the door open. When she was on the stairs she paused again. It took her a second to
realize where she was going. Autumn shook, feeling cold and lost. But when she thought of Cage, she burned. She burned with rage.
She wanted to yell at him for telling her to get on a helicopter that had crashed. Some sliver of sanity told her that he couldn’t have possibly known it would be shot down, but all her reasoning fell away. She thought of how much pain he'd caused her, of how he was always getting her in trouble. She wanted to yell at him and scream at him until she couldn’t any more.
Autumn found it hard to move. Her chest felt tight. Her helmet was no longer on her, but the bulletproof vest was. She attempted to remove it on the stairs and nearly lost her balance. She staggered down the stairs, nearly falling, struggling to remain upright. When she got down the stairs she scratched and pulled at the vest as she coughed up blood. Somehow Autumn managed to get it off, and let it drop to the floor.
She dragged herself down the hall and into the main area. Her mind was spinning. She could hear her heartbeat. She stumbled and staggered about, realizing she was the only one here. Distantly she could hear gunfire. Gunfire like popcorn in a microwave. There was a pop as it started, and then hundreds of popping sounds.
She briefly remembered something was going on and that Cage had used the elevator. She went to it expecting to see him there, but he wasn’t. She attempted to open it but, like the door to the stairs, it wouldn’t open without a card. Autumn frowned, looking around. She realized she’d dropped the card when she took off her vest. She went to look for it but the elevator doors opened.
Autumn turned ready to see Cage, but when the doors opened no one stepped out. Autumn stumbled forward and saw someone dead within the elevator. It appeared they’d been shot and had dragged themselves inside. Autumn didn’t recognize the suit he was wearing. It was different from the ones Cage and the others wore. Autumn stepped into the elevator before she pushed the button to go down to the middle of the tower.
**********
Several minutes earlier…
Cage stepped off the elevator and surveyed the foyer of his office building. The security desk had been fortified with metal sheeting. Tables had been set up and flipped on their sides to provide extra cover. The glass doors were sitting open, providing a clear view of the approach.
All around him were members of his organization, coming together now to face the greatest threat they had seen so far. The room was filled with bluster, the odor of alcohol, and the smell of stale sweat. Everyone here knew what was coming, and they were all prepared to kill or to die for the organization.
Cage’s chest swelled with pride as he looked across his people. He shared a glance with Fredric. Then, as he walked over to the security table, he loosened his sword in its scabbard. He didn’t expect to use it, of course. But it was a symbol of his reputation. And from the whispers that followed, he knew it had made the right impact.
As he glanced across the video feeds at the security desk, a voice crackled across the radio. “They’re in sight. Enemy is in sight. They’re approaching from the western walkway. Less than sixty seconds until arrival.”
Cage cleared his throat. “I’m not here to give speeches.” He drew his gun and thumbed the safety off. “I’m not here to coddle anyone, or make anyone feel better about what’s going to happen. They’re coming. They’ll be here any moment now. I’m here for the same reasons as the rest of you. I’m here to kill these sons of bitches. And I’m very, very good at what I do.”
His dead smile would have terrified those around him, had they not been on his side. As it was, he seemed to radiate a lethal chill that blanketed the room in cool determination. Loud pops disrupted the quiet evening as snipers began to take a toll on the attackers, and counter-snipers on them. Moments later, the first enemy bodies came into view through the open doorway. Cage’s gun flicked into position and fired. His first casualty fell. And the battle was on.
The sound was deafening. The roar of gunfire drowned out most other noises. Cage’s gun barked fire and death across the room. All around him his organization fought with him, guns blazing, crouched behind hastily thrown up defenses, teeth bared in defiance of death.
Fire poured in from the other direction too, a genuine hail of bullets. And despite the barricades, despite the extra protection, people died. Cage clenched his teeth and grimaced whenever he watched another member of his organization fall screaming, or silently, to the ground.
There was a loud roar, greater even than the deafening gunfire, and a cloud of smoke filled the air as part of the wall collapsed. Gunfire began blazing in through the hole, taking an immediate lethal toll on the defenders. Cage drew his second gun and began firing through the hole. From the immediate decrease in incoming fire he knew he was scoring hits, even if it was impossible to tell through the smoke.
Next to Cage, Fredric sent his own stream of fire into the hole. There was blood splashed across his shirt. Either he’d been hit, or he’d been close to someone who had. In the mad stop-frame of battle, Cage couldn’t tell which it was.
Even as Cage hurled death through the smoke-filled room, his body throbbed with life. He could feel every whisper of air across his skin, feel every tremor that crept through the ground. He grimaced as he killed, but his soul feasted on the violence and danger.
From the clouded hole, something flew through the air and into the room. Without thinking, Cage dropped one of his guns and caught it. Even as he grasped it, he realized he was holding a grenade. He smoothly spun and threw it right back out, through the hole.
There was a loud crack as the grenade exploded, and then a much louder one that shook the building as it detonated whatever other explosives the enemy had brought. Gunfire stopped pouring in through the hole entirely, and Cage returned his attention to the entryway, and to the dead and wounded in the room. At least Autumn wasn’t here to see this.
**********
Autumn nearly passed out in the elevator as she made her way down to the middle of the tower. Her mind was blank and fuzzy. She wanted to go to sleep, but every time she almost passed out she’d remember Cage. That smug bastard had to pay. She had to get her hands on him and ram her broken arm down his throat. She wanted him to know what had happened, what he’d done.
When the elevator doors opened Autumn stumbled out, expecting to see at least ten men standing around. She knew this was the halfway point to the bottom of the tower. Everyone had to pass through here if they wanted to go up or down. They double checked for weapons and all sorts of things.
Autumn remembered always having to pass through them every time she came and went, except for when she was with Cage. They never stopped Cage. Maybe if they had, maybe if someone had taken his weapons from him, he wouldn’t have caused this whole mess.
Autumn heard more gunfire in the distance and it brought her out of her thoughts. As she looked around the room she realized everyone was dead. There must have been at least a dozen men from Cage’s organization. There was also at least a dozen, maybe more, from what Autumn now assumed were the Fayngin. They were all dressed like the man in her elevator.
Autumn stepped and tripped over the bodies as she made her way over to an elevator on the other side of the room. It was the only one that was open. It seemed to be jammed. It was opening and closing on someone’s foot. When Autumn got to the elevator she held the door open with her hand and saw this man was also dead. He was one of Cage's. Autumn bent down to move him and she felt suddenly sick, vomiting up bile and blood. Her body shook and she felt cold and feverish. Her head began to spin. She almost didn’t stand back up.
Her mind was still gone, in shock. She could think of nothing else but going down to see Cage. As she pushed the elevator buttons, she hoped she’d find him and that he hadn’t gotten himself killed before she could do the job. Her rage seemed to be the only thing she had left as her body began to fail her. She felt like she was dying, but still she moved on because she had to see Cage. She had to yell at him. She had to scream at him. And, most of all, she had to tell hi
m something. Only, she couldn’t remember just what.
**********
Sean leaned forward in his chair. He ran his hand down the handle of the phone on his desk. It wouldn’t be much longer now. He’d already received word that it was going down tonight… Any moment now the phone would ring and he would join the others. He wiped his palms on his pant legs. He was nervous. Better to get it out now, rather than when he was out there. He wouldn’t want anyone else to see. After all, how could the men respect him if they saw him covered in a nervous sweat?
Sean raised a glass to his lips and drank. The ice water rushed over his lips and down his throat, cooling him somewhat. Then he rubbed the half-filled glass against his forehead, leaving beads of water behind. He pulled out a kerchief from a desk drawer and wiped his face.
There had been so much preparation work on this. So much time had been spent setting it up. Money too, loads of it. And favors. He’d personally gone through several of them just to be included tonight. He had no doubt that his skills would come in handy. Of course, simply knowing about it had been valuable enough.
He pulled open a drawer and glanced longingly down at the whiskey bottle sitting there. A drink or two would surely calm his nerves, and steady his hands. He licked his lips. But no, there’d be too much of a chance that someone would smell it on him. Even ignoring how it would look, he didn’t want to be left out tonight. Reluctantly he slid the drawer closed once again.
There was a sound outside his office. More movement than usual going on out there. He could hear the squeaks as people stood up, the uptick in ringing phones as some went unanswered. The general hush that filled the air when trained personnel tasted a change in the air.
He stared intently at his phone. His fingers clenched tightly around the armrest of his chair. His fingers turned into white and red strangers. His vision narrowed down to the tiny plastic display, waiting for it to flash with an incoming call. He about flew out of his chair when someone pounded on his door.
Kept (Bound Book 1) Page 28