A Changed Man (Altered Book 1) (26 page)

The sun would be setting soon. Jackie, Remington and Jordan were all sitting around the dining room table finalizing their plans to break into the den and free Rick.       "It's time." Remington said standing up. "Jackie, when we leave you head into town for supplies and get back here as soon as you can. I'm not sure how long we will be but if Ricks injured I'm going to need you here.

"Okay, I will.” She said.

Jordan and Jackie also got up and the three headed for the front door. "Hold on a sec." Jackie said and jogged down the hallway to her bedroom.

"You sure you're ready for this?" Remington asked Jordan.

Jordan opened the door and stepped out onto the porch. "Yeah, I'm ready. Can't wait to get in there and see what’s really going on."

"You know you may have to do more than knock a few of those guards out." Remington said. He needed to know Jordan was ready to kill if he had to.

"I know. I'm ready." Jordan assured him.

Just then Jackie came out on to the porch to join them. "Here." She said handing Remington her grandmother’s shotgun and a box of shells.

"I can't take that, what If I can't bring it back?" He asked.

"It's okay, you need some kind of weapon." Jackie answered.

"Uh hello, we
are
the weapons." Jordan cut in.

"Yeah, well, I'd feel better if you took it." Jackie said pushing the rifle toward Remington.

"Are you sure?" He asked taking it from her.

Jackie smiled at him. "Yes, it's just a rifle. Besides, I have her house and everything else in it."

"Thank you." He said sincerely. Remington opened the box of shells and began stuffing his pockets with them. "Hey Jordan, could you excuse us for a second?"

Jordan looked back-and-forth between them "OH! Yeah, of course, I'll wait in the tree line." Remington watched as Jordan walked around behind the house.

"Listen Jack, I just want you to know…"

"No, just save it till you get back okay? Because you
are
coming back." Jackie walked up to him and put her arms around his neck pulling him to her. "I need you to tell me you’re coming back." She whispered in his ear.

Remington pushed her blonde hair over her shoulder. Leaning down, he placed a gentle kiss behind her ear. "I'm coming back." He then bent down and placed his lips on hers. He kissed her hard, like the kiss needed to last him, fuel him. When he finally broke it off and looked into her sea blue eyes he could see them turning glossy.

"I'll be back soon." He said and kissed her one more time before heading into the tree line to follow Jordan.

Remington and Jordan hiked through the darkening woods for what seemed like a couple of hours. Only stopping twice to drink from the river. "How much farther?" Remington asked.

"Not much, we'll exit the forest in another mile or so. Then it gets a bit more complicated." Jordan answered.

"Complicated?"

"Yeah. You remember the cliff you fell off of?" Jordan asked with a smile.

"How could I forget?” Remington answered remembering the fall that almost killed him.

Jordan continued. "Well, we have to go up something kind of like that; not as steep and you won't need ropes or anything like that. If we take the road that leads to the front gates they will be on us before we know it. So we have to go in a different way, we have to climb. Well you have to climb." Jordan said. "I can float."

"That really doesn't seem fair." Remington said staring him down.

"Sorry big guy; that’s the luck of the draw." He laughed.

They continued walking until there were only two ways to go, up the side of the mountain or straight down into the river. Remington had been in the river once and was in no hurry to go back.

"Okay, we're here." Jordan said. "Start climbing. I'll be in shadow form. I have a better chance of catching you incase you slip or something, but I'll be right with you."

Remington looked up, planning his climb by the hand and foot holds he could spot from the ground. "Okay, here goes nothing."

Once Remington started to climb Jordan changed into his shadow form. He drifted up to Remington staying right by his side as he made his way up the rocky terrain. Remington noticed the dark form next to him, moving when he moved. "That’s fucking creepy." He said to the dark space. He stopped and stared into the darkness and thought he could almost make out a toothy smile. "Yep, still creepy."

He continued to climb until he could see he was close to the top. He stopped. "Make sure no one is up there." He said to Jordan. He watched as the dark mist drifted up and out of sight. Within seconds it reappeared beside him. "We're good?" Remington asked. Jordan drifted up again and Remington took that as the all clear, and followed. When they reached the top Jordan turned back into his human form. They could see the giant rock formation that was the den. They were off the main road about two hundred feet hidden by the trees. It was almost completely dark now, the only light coming from the entrance they were about to invade.

"Okay." Jordan said. "We go in just over there." He pointed to large gates that blocked the road. "If we run into someone before we get inside get behind me so I can mask us both. We need to do it before you are seen, if not and they see you disappear behind me they'll know what to look for."

"Got it." Remington said.

"Okay then, I guess this is it." Jordan said. "Lets go get your friend."

                      Chapter 18

Tess had just clocked out. The place seemed almost empty now; the only guard left at the front entrance was that creep Freddy. She knew that the night crew was much smaller than the day. After the doctors had collected their samples from the prisoners, the laundry and kitchen staff was finished for the day so there wasn't much going on. When all the patients are back in their rooms and on lockdown, the number of guards that watched the corridor was cut in half during the night. Tess knew the labs and operating rooms were empty by six p.m. and that there is only one guard for every three corridors where the prisoners are housed. There was also only one guard for every entrance into the den. She needed an excuse to hang out a little longer and somehow swipe the keycard from Freddy's desk that would get her in to the lower levels. As much as she hated to lead the little troll on, she was going to have to do a little flirting to get his attention on her and away from his job.

"Well hello again beautiful." Freddy said standing up to greet her as she made her way to his desk.

Tess inwardly cringed. "Well hello to you." She said with a bright, fake smile. She made her way to his desk. "You working the night shift? I thought you were supposed to be replaced by now."

"Yeah, that asshole Dean called in sick; said he thinks he has the flu, but he seemed fine yesterday. He’s probably hung-over. Anyway, I don't have anything else to do, plus I get overtime so cha-ching!"

Tess feigned interest. Her stomach rolled as his alcohol-ridden breath filled her nostrils "Oh, well that’s too bad; you must be exhausted from working all day and now you have to stay all night too? Poor thing." She propped a hip up and sat on the edge of his desk.

Freddy's eyes went wide as he licked his lips and let a huge toothy grin spread across his face. "Maybe you could keep me company for a while." He said while reaching in to his desk drawer and grabbing a bottle of whiskey. He held it up, shaking it in front of her like he was holding a lure trying to entice the big one to bite.

"Maybe." Tess smiled and looked around the top of the desk for the keycard she knew was there. She spotted the corner of it sticking out from under a pile of paperwork. "I have to go back to my office first. I forgot some papers I need to go over at home. Go ahead and get started, I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Oh honey, I've already started." Freddy pulled another bottle from the same drawer, only this one was empty.

This may be easier than she thought. If she could get him to drink a little more she could swipe that keycard out from under his nose with no problem. She got off his desk and straightened her skirt. "Okay then; I'll be back as soon as I can." She turned and walked away knowing full well that sleaze was checking out her ass. She rocked her hips from side to side making her sway more seductive. She almost threw up in her mouth when she heard him grunt with pleasure from behind her.

Remington and Jordan were making their way toward the entrance of the den. Staying in the shadows as much as possible when they started getting closer to the cameras. Jordan stopped suddenly, Remington almost running into the back of him.

"I'm going to change again so I can block the cameras. There are quite a few of them." He said pointing them all out to Remington. "I will cover them one at a time with my form; as I cover one you cross in front of it and wait till I cover the next. We will keep doing that until we get to the front door. As I cover that one, that’s when it's your turn to take over. Remember, there will be at least one guard on the other side and if he gets a chance to get on his radio every guard in the place will come running; so let’s try to take them out quietly."

"You got it." Remington nodded.

Remington watched as Jordan faded into a dark shadow that was so black it was darker than night itself. Jordan drifted over to the first camera, still on the outside of the compound, and hovered in front of it. Remington took his cue and ran past the camera and stopped to the side of it. He watched as Jordan floated from the first to the second camera. This one was near the gate that let the employee’s drive through. Again, Remington ran past it and stopped just outside of its line of sight. Jordan floated toward Remington and when he reached him he turned back into his human form.

"That's not so bad huh?" Jordan asked.

"Yeah, for you." Remington answered bent over with his hands resting on his knees while he caught his breath. "You don't have to do all the climbing and running with a shotgun hanging off your back."

Jordan laughed, keeping his voice low. "Like I said buddy, luck of the draw."

Remington straightened up. "How many more?"

"A few." Catch your breath a minute and we'll go again."

"I'm okay; I need to get to Rick. If anything has happened to him I will rip the throat out of everyone in that place."

Jordan took a step back. "Jesus. I would think you were exaggerating, but I could totally see you doing that. Alright, let's keep moving."

Tess made it back to her office. She hoped saying she had forgotten something would give her the time she needed to let Freddy get a little more shitfaced so she could snatch that card. She sat at her desk and looked over some of her files when she came across Rick Davis's file. She opened it and saw where she had written down the results of his check-up earlier. She pulled a pencil from the cup on her desk and erased the numbers she had written down for his heart rate and blood pressure. She knew that Mr. Smith wanted him soon. Tess would do what she had to, to make Rick not seem like the perfect candidate. She replaced the numbers with much higher ones, hoping to bide Rick a little time. Maybe they wouldn’t take him in so soon if his numbers were not at optimal levels. When finished, she grabbed a few folders from her desk and slowly made her way back toward the entrance where Freddy would be waiting at his desk. As she got close enough to see him she straightened her posture and set her hips to rocking once more. Showtime.

As Tess walked up to Freddy's des,k she was surprised to see his eyes glued to the monitors and not on her. "Hey there, what’s so interesting?" She asked in her best sultry voice.

Freddy finally looked up and smiled at her. He ran his hand through his greasy hair then pointed at the monitor.   "Just a glitch I think. The monitors keep going black one by one but they come right back on." He said holding out the bottle of booze to Tess.

Tess took the bottle and faked a big swig, letting the booze that went into her mouth fall back into the bottle. She thought it served him right. Let the pig suck down her backwash. She handed the bottle back to Freddy. "Your turn."

Freddy took a big drink himself, wiping the alcohol from his half open mouth with the sleeve of his shirt and handing the bottle to Tess once again. Tess accepted it and walked around to the side of the desk where Freddy was sitting so she could see the monitors. "What was that?" She faked surprise.

"What?" Freddy looked at the screens. One of them was completely black; it lasted for less than ten seconds and cleared back up. Then another screen went dark. "Oh, that’s what I was telling ya before." He slurred. "Fucking glitch."

"Don't you think you better go check it out?" Tess asked. "I know I'd feel a lot safer if you did." She said.