“We ready?” Smyth pushed. “Hayden ain’t gonna last forever.”
Alicia glanced over. “Is that a cannibal joke, dude? ’Cause it’s not funny.”
Smyth hissed at her, the annoyance rising red in his face. Without further comment he climbed out over the mountain and waited until Kinimaka and Dahl worked together to strap Brynn to his sturdy back. This way, making two trips each, the soldiers planned to get everyone down to the roof relatively quickly. Smyth set off and then Drake climbed over, followed by Dahl.
Anica and Curtis climbed on. Alicia took Desiree, and then the whole group were either rappelling down the mountain or huddled on the bleak roof of the house, totally exposed to the elements. Smyth moved over to an air vent, unscrewed the fastenings and took a look inside. Drake crawled over, the group now operating only by the light of the moon. Silver turned his face stark and serious as he addressed the soldier.
“We good?”
“Yeah, but it’s tight.”
Drake leaned inside. “Looks doable.”
“I didn’t mean for me.”
Smyth climbed inside, feet first and started to let himself down slowly, tethered by another rope. The group followed slowly, taking their time. Drake found himself surrounded by a darkness blacker than pitch black, but praised the fact that they were finally out of the wind and the cold. Now, he started to drip with sweat.
“Bollocks. Can’t bloody win.”
They inched down through the ventilation duct, which to Drake’s burgeoning and ghastly imagination had been built essentially to remove fumes generated inside the kitchen. The interesting realization that the cannibals’ lifestyle choices provided their enemies a way into their castle did not improve his horrifying theory.
The shaft was made of mildly flexible steel and ran smoothly save for the joints. The team continued down until Smyth passed a quiet “stop” command up the line. Drake found himself swinging, heels brushing Dahl’s skull and being scraped on his own by Mai’s toe. The Japanese woman’s angry whisper echoed along the shaft.
“Alicia, if you don’t stop tapping that tune out on my head I will tattoo it on your forehead.”
“I’m good. I’m finished now. Never heard a drum solo sound so hollow.”
Smyth took his time bending almost double to investigate the access cover below. “Crap,” he said. “Should have guessed, of course. The screws are on the other side.”
Fifteen faces stared down at him, all grimacing guiltily.
“Can it be dragged up into the shaft?” Dahl asked. “I mean are the flanges on the outside or the inside?”
“Inside.”
“Then tie your end of the rope around it and we’ll pull.”
Two sweaty minutes later, they had yanked and twisted and buckled the vent cover until it pulled free of its moorings. Smyth used it as the new floor and quickly leapt out of the shaft, followed by Dahl and then Drake. They came once more to level ground — a narrow corridor, barely lit and cold, unfurnished. He waited patiently for the rest of the group to arrive as Smyth and Dahl proceeded carefully toward both ends. Dahl soon returned.
“Nothing,” he said. “Dead end.”
Smyth used the comms. “Walk this way.”
The door he found possessed a viewing pane, through which Drake saw a much wider, plusher corridor running away toward a distant set of double doors. The area was deserted. They pushed through quietly and carefully, aware that silent alarms might be set on the access doors but seeing none. Moving as swiftly as possible they made the far set of doors — a plush, oak-paneled, self-important affair with golden pull handles.
Smyth tested one. It moved easily. Checking weapons and positions, and guarding the rear with Yorgi, Curtis and Desiree, they breached the door hard, spreading out as they entered the room. Drake saw instantly that it was an office and empty.
“Quick check,” he said. “See if there’s anything that can help us.”
Smyth and Kinimaka moved over to the desk, the latter switching on a desktop PC. Alicia headed for the picture window and the view across the dark mountains.
“Big knob’s office,” she said. “Probably this Dantanion.”
Mano used a flash drive to copy data from the computer. Smyth rifled the drawers. Mai shifted paper and pens, trays and bowls around on the polished surface of the table. She beckoned Drake over, pointed into a white porcelain bowl.
Drake wondered at her secrecy, then saw what was in the bowl. Gorge filled his throat as he saw three full-length fingers, complete with blue-painted nails, cooked to a brownish shade and nibbled around the edges.
The things you see, you can never unsee, he thought. A basic fact around the protective net parents threw over their children. He closed his eyes and turned away.
“Let’s finish these bastards off once and for all.”
It took five more minutes to walk the corridor, descend a staircase and then traverse another hallway. By now they were hearing a great, swelling roar, a gathering of people in one cavernous space. The closer they came the noisier it got. Smyth stopped when he reached the end of a hallway and peered out over the railing.
“How’s it look?” Kinimaka’s voice came over the comms. It was easier and safer than crowding forward.
“Massive set of doors leading into a huge room. Probably hundreds of folks. No obvious guards. Can only see floor and legs. A few heads. Looks like they’re all partying down there.”
“Move out,” Kinimaka said with haste and venom.
“Wait.” Brynn must have been listening through Yorgi’s earpiece and now spoke up. “How do we know who is prisoner and who is true enemy?”
“Same way we always figure it out,” Alicia replied. “If it attacks you, fuck it up. Now let’s gatecrash this mother.”
CHAPTER FORTY
Dantanion’s scream: “Kill the newcomers! Kill them all!” ripped the air to shreds. Hayden saw the man see the SPEAR team almost instantaneously; saw the recognition and the incredibly swift intellect assess the situation; saw the certainty that this was about to become the bloodiest of all fights to the death.
She was part of a group lining up to leave the hall, the effects of the drug already wearing off. When Smyth stepped through the door she saw him and ran the possibilities, but not as fast as Dantanion, it seemed. Within seconds though, a plan came to her. A plan centered around the survival of the innocents, because there was no way her saviors could know all the bad from the good.
“Stick with me.” She grabbed Fay’s hand and beckoned to the others. “Now!”
They ran; most complaining that their fingers were really starting to hurt. Hayden ignored the gunfire and pushed bodies aside, rushing at her friends. Already they were fanning out, taking aim and waiting for the attack. Hayden ran in first, dragging Fay along.
“Three with me!” she cried. “We have to secure the caves and protect some of these kids.”
Kinimaka, Smyth and Yorgi peeled away, joining her group. Running away from the hall was easy; it was the team she worried about and what she now saw were quite a few of the villagers. She struggled with elation and fear, trying to maintain focus. Kinimaka handed her, her comms back, and she smiled, relieved to see the concern on all their faces, but especially his.
“I’m fine,” she said over the comms. “Just a scratch.”
“So long as you didn’t give ’em a helping hand,” Alicia quipped darkly, “or end up in hot water.”
“Good to hear they weren’t nasty bastards then,” Kenzie said surprisingly, then added, “Did they butter you up instead?”
Hayden grunted angrily. “Stay alert, fools. There’s a hundred sets of teeth in there with your fucking names on ’em. Chew on that.”