The Belial Library (The Belial Series) (36 page)

With a shaking hand, the man pointed to a gray cabinet on the wall across the room. 

Jake flung the man to the ground and sprinted for the box.  “Yoni!”

Yoni came at a run.  “What’s happened?”

The box was locked.  Jake ripped off the door.  “Laney. She’s found Henry.”

Yoni grinned.   “Great.”

“And she’s going to rescue him.”

“Shit.”

Jordan jogged up to them, overhearing their exchange.  “Damn it.  She’s going to get herself killed.”

Jake grabbed the keys for the chopper, handily labeled, and gave Jordan a baleful look.  “Well, she's not alone.  Apparently your sister’s helping her.”

Jordan paled and grabbed the keys from Jake’s hand.  “I’m a better pilot.”

Laney sprinted down the path, Jen behind her.  The keypad next to the door ahead of them glowed red.  Then with a beep, it switched to green.  Laney grinned. 
Danny strikes again.

She grabbed onto the handle and glanced at Jen. 

Jen nodded, her Beretta clasped in front of her.  They’d agreed that the weapons were a last resort.  They needed to get in quietly if they were going to free Henry. 

Laney pulled open the door.  Jen went in first.  The hallway was lit, but there was no sign of life. 

From the schematic Danny had pulled up, Henry should be to the left and one flight down.  Taking the lead, Laney ran towards the end of the hall. 

A door to her right opened as she reached it.  A guard stepped through, shock on his face as he saw them.  He started to pull his gun. 

Laney elbowed him in the face, kneed him in the groin.  She spun him around, wrapping one arm around his chin, placing the other in the opposite direction around his head.  With a quick movement, she yanked.  He slipped to the floor, his neck broken.

“You good?”  Jen asked from behind her.

Laney nodded, although the ease with which she’d just ended the man’s life left her a little stunned.  “Let’s go.”

Pulling open the door, she stepped into the kitchen, Jen right behind her.  “Oh, crap.”

It was dinnertime.  Five guards rose from the table as they caught sight of them.             

Laney dove to the right and Jen dove to the left.  Two guards started shooting at them while the other three sprinted across the room.

Laney returned fire, hitting one of the guards in the leg. Unfortunately, his hand seemed to be fine and he kept returning fire.  She saw another guard speaking into his radio. 
So much for surprise
.

A blur of motion caught her attention.  Jen was now behind the guards.  She took out the two shooters.  The third guard paused, hearing the gunfire behind him. 

Laney aimed and took out the remaining three.  Keeping her gun extended in front of her, she approached the guards, kicking their weapons out of reach. 

Jen joined her.  “Not bad, for cheerleaders.”

“Hell, that was pretty good for commandos. But one of them warned the others. We need to move faster.”

Jen nodded with a grin.  “Faster I can do.”

Laney gestured at the door across the room.  “Let’s move.” 

They ran for the door.  With a quick glance at Jen, Laney pulled it open to reveal the stairs to the basement.  She started to head down when Jen grabbed her.  “I’ll go first.”

Laney nodded and tried not to look astonished as Jen all but disappeared as she sprinted down the stairs.  Laney whirled around as the door to the kitchen flung open.  Guards poured into the room. 

Throwing herself through the doorway, she yanked the door closed behind her.  She reached up and turned the lock, knowing it wouldn't hold them back for long. 

Laney slipped down the stairs, catching herself on the banister as bullets blasted through the door behind her.  She leaped down the last few steps.

Jen sprinted back down the hall to her.  “What happened?”

“Reinforcements.”

“Henry’s down the hall to the right.  There are two guards outside his door.”

“What about Hugo?”

“Haven’t seen him.”

Ejecting the spent magazine, Laney inserted a fresh one. “Let’s go.”

They ran down the hall.  Laney peered around the corner.  “I’ll go low and take the one on the right.  You go high and take the one on the left.  Count of three?”

Jen nodded. 

Laney spoke quietly.  “One, two, three.”

She stepped around the corner, dropping to her knee.   She pulled the trigger three times, all three shots hitting the guard in the chest.  Jen’s shots were just as accurate, although one went through the side of the guard's head.

Yells and the sound of pounding feet sounded behind them.

“They’re through the door,” Laney yelled as she sprinted down the hall towards Henry’s door.

She skidded to a halt.  The smell of burnt flesh permeated the air.  The metal contraption Henry was attached to was a giant burner. No wonder Henry hadn’t been able to escape.  He was being perpetually burned. 

He was strapped to the burner, his shirt gone.  Old cuts and lashes crisscrossed his chest.  His head hung down, and he didn’t move as they rushed in the doorway.

Laney’s breath caught.  
Don’t be dead
.  She ran across the room and pulled the plug.  The contraption still emitted heat. 
God damn them
. 

Grabbing a stool, she dragged it over in front of Henry, and climbed up on it. “Henry!  Henry!”  She slapped his face. 

His eyelids opened drowsily. 

“Stay with me, Henry.” 

She reached for the shackles holding his hands in place.  They were metal.  She looked around.  There was nothing to open them with.  And he didn’t look like he had the strength to break them.  “Damn it.  Hold on, Henry.”

She ran back to the doorway. 

Jen was sending off round after round at the approaching guards.  She reloaded. 

Laney dropped next to her, aiming down the hall.  “Jen, see if you can free Henry.  I’ll hold these guys off.”

Without a word, Jen sprinted back across the room. 

A guard poked his head out from down the hall.  Laney let off a shot.  He ducked back before she could get him.  Then a guard came flying around the corner, zigging and zagging across the hall.

“Silly boy,” Laney whispered.  “Zig,” she said as he sprinted to the right. He changed direction.  “And then zag.”  She let loose a barrage of shots, raking him from head to foot.  He collapsed in a heap. 

Behind her, she heard a shot and then the clank of metal.  Laney didn’t turn to look.  The rest of the guards had decided to try the same kamikaze run. 

Laney set off round after round.  Ejecting the spent magazine, she slammed a new one in place.  She didn’t think, just reacted.  A few seconds later, the remaining guards lay in heaps across the hallway. 

Leaning back against the wall, she breathed deep.  She was getting better at this, and she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad one. 

A grunt sounded behind her.  Jen was helping Henry down. 

Laney ran to help. 

Throwing an arm around Henry’s waist, she pulled his arm around her shoulder, staggering under his weight.  “Henry?  You with us?”

He gave a little groan.  “Yeah.  I’m here.”

They led him over to a chair and tried to gently lower him into it.  He grimaced as his back touched the back of the chair.

"Sorry," Laney said, pulling him forward.  A scuffle of a shoe drew her attention back to the doorway.

"I got it." Jen strode across the room.

Laney held onto Henry, not sure if he could sit up on his own.  He was hunched over, so Laney had a view of the burns on his back.  She stared in disbelief as they began to knit together in front of her. "Henry?  How are you feeling?"

He leaned up, the light coming back into his eyes.  "Better."

She nodded.  "Good.  Can you stand?  Because I think we need to get moving."

"Yeah."  He pushed off the chair, a little unsteady. 

Laney helped him, but already she could see he was stronger.  If they had a little more time, he'd probably be fully healed.  But the room they were in was sandwiched in between two staircases.   They needed to find a better spot to hole up or escape.  Here, they were sitting ducks.

Laney crossed the room with Henry, trying not to wince at the sight of the bruises and cuts that marred his chest.  But they already looked better than when she'd seen them through Danny's monitor.  Speaking of which . . . 

She looked around the room and spied the camera up to their right.  She looked at it and gave a thumbs-up.  "He's good, Danny."

Henry grabbed onto her shoulder.  "Danny? Danny's here?"

"He's only controlling the cameras.  He's not in the building."

Some of the fear dropped from Henry's face.  "Thank God.  I thought you meant he was nearby."

"’Course not," she lied, not able to meet his eyes.  Now wasn’t the time for full disclosure. 

She dropped next to Jen.  "Thoughts?"

Jen took a shot at someone out in the hall.  "They all seem to be coming in from the left. So I think we should go right."

Laney snorted.  "Excellent plan, as usual.  Let's do that.  Can you hold them off while I help Henry to the end of the hall?"

Jen’s gaze lingered for a moment on Henry and his injuries.  Laney saw the questions in that gaze, but also something else she didn't have time to think about right now.  Jen’s eyes returned to Laney.  "Count of three?"

Laney nodded.  She turned to hand Henry a weapon and stopped. He wouldn't be able to use any of them.  His fingers were too large.  "Sorry.  I don't have a weapon for you.  They're too small."

He grimaced.  "Story of my life."

"Okay, you two.  Time to go," Jen said.

Laney flattened herself next to the door, Henry beside her. 

Jen counted down.  At three, Laney burst from the doorway, her Beretta extended in front of her.  She heard Henry behind her.  A bullet whizzed past her shoulder and she heard the retort of Jen's weapon as she responded.  She rounded the corner, followed by Henry.

The stairs were in front of them with a door at the top.  And right now, it was quiet. 

"Clear!" Laney yelled, aiming back down the hall to clear the way for Jen.  A blur of motion, a whip of air, and Jen was beside her.

Laney grinned.  "I think you're getting faster."

"How long?" Jake demanded as they sped through the air in the borrowed EC-135. 

The interior of the chopper was a mixture of handcrafted leather seats, plenty of storage space, and significant legroom.  Designed by Eurocopter and Hermès, the helicopter was the ultimate in luxury, designed for the wealthiest of buyers.  The four men in it right now, though, couldn't care less about the luxurious surrounding as they sped towards Red Canyon. 

Mike glanced over from his position as pilot.  Back at the warehouse, the twins had had a short argument over who was the better pilot.  Mike won. 

"Another few minutes."  Mike gestured with his chin.  "After that ridge, we should be able to see the house."

The sleek helicopter glided through the air.   Jake had ordered half of his team to secure the warehouse and the other half to head for the house in the canyon.  But there'd been only one helicopter.  And it only seated four.  It would take the rest of the team at least twenty minutes or so to reach the canyon.

Damn it, Laney
.  He’d told her to stay at the hotel.  But did she listen?  Of course not.  Why would she do anything that didn't involve her placing herself in mortal danger?

"What's happening on site?" he barked at Yoni, who was sitting in the back with Jordan.  Danny had patched through a link so they now had eyes inside the compound.  Whatever Danny was watching, they could watch, too.

"They just got to Henry.  And not too soon.  Hugo was one his way to him.  Another couple of minutes . . ." Yoni's voice dropped off.

Jake gave a curt nod.  Okay.  Maybe the two of them going in hadn't been such a bad idea.  But his chest constricted at the thought of Laney being near Hugo again.

Yoni continued.  "But they seem to be trapped in the basement.  And there are more reinforcements coming down towards them.  We should probably hurry."

Jake gripped the side of his chair, urging the bird to go faster.   "What about Danny?  Is he still safe?"

Yoni relayed the question into his phone.  A few seconds later, he looked up.  "Yup.  Still in the same crevice.  Laney made him promise to stay there or she would break his computer."

A small smile crept onto Jake's face.  Well, at least she did that right.

"Oh," Yoni said.

Jake looked over his shoulder.  "'Oh'?  What does 'Oh' mean?"

"Um, well, it seems that Laney and Jen wanted to make sure that Danny could protect himself in their absence."