“How do you know my name?” he asked, ignoring the question.
“Because I’m better at my job than you.”
“Who are you?”
“Just answer the question, Hunter. Who do you work for?”
Realization came across Carlson’s face. He let a smile creep to the side of his mouth. “Oh, I see. You’re the one working for The Prophet, aren’t you? I’ve heard about you but they work very hard to keep your identity a secret, don’t they?”
Will raised the weapon back up to the man’s chest. “You’d better start giving me names now or so help me—“
“You’ll what?” Hunter interrupted. “You’ll shoot me? They won’t let you.” He waved his hand towards the passageway.
“Maybe I’ll kill them, too. You don’t know my orders.”
The last statement struck home with Carlson. He didn’t know what this man was supposed to do. He’d heard about him and knew that The Prophet had sent his best to oversee the operation. But that was all the information he’d obtained.
“I can make it hurt real bad, Hunter. Or it can be over quickly. Either way, you aren’t walking out of here.”
The man looked into the other room at the other three who were examining the now illuminated room. “Ok,” he said finally. “Let’s just say that you’re not the only one working for The Order.” He raised an eyebrow as he spoke.
Will looked confused for a second. “I already know about the other team. They’re right behind us. They are supposed to be working with me.”
“I’m not talking about them. And they work for The Prophet, too. I work for the others.”
Then the realization hit Will. Carlson was working for other members of the council. He’d met some of them once, primarily the two men directly beneath The Prophet. The impression he had received was of two men who could not be trusted. “Mornay and Carroll,” he said quietly, more as a statement than a question.
“You should know that I’m not the only one working for-”
A gun fired from near the long passageway. The look on Will’s face turned to a grimace and he dropped to his knees. A hole in the center of his small backpack smoked from the bullet’s entry. Will fell to his knees and Angela Weaver came into view behind him. A thin trail of smoke drifted up from the barrel of her weapon.
“Boy am I glad to see you,” Carlson said as he stood and started to move towards Angela and her men. She fired two shots into his chest, interrupting his statement and him reeling backwards. Shock washed over his face. Two red carnations started spreading from black holes on his gray t-shirt. The look in Carlson’s eyes begged to know why. “We are on the same team,” he stammered, trying to stay standing.
She lowered her weapon to her side as she spoke to him in a harsh tone. “A secret you obviously could not keep.”
He fell down to his knees and over on his side.
The first gunshot had startled Sean and the others. They looked through the portal in horror as Will collapsed to the floor, shot in the back. Then the shooter executed the man that had taken Tommy, firing two rounds into his chest. It looked like she was saying something to him, but they were too far away to hear.
Adriana and Tommy looked at Wyatt. Sean’s old reflexes kicked in. “Find cover,” he ordered.
As soon as the words left his mouth, the woman with the gun and her two men turned and started firing in their direction. Adriana deftly dove out of range and behind the wall next to the door. Tommy was somewhat less elegant as he dove, looking more like an out-of-shape baseball player diving into second base. Sean moved to the edge of the door opposite of Adriana and held his gun up at the ready.
Angela and her two men unleashed a torrent of rounds at the little group in the next room. Bullet casings dropped to the stone floor around their feet with a clinking sound. Their targets all moved to the side of the door and out of range. She and her two men did the same on their end and simultaneously reloaded a fresh magazine of rounds. They each had several to spare, a luxury she doubted her targets could afford.
Angela poked her head around the corner and saw the silhouette of a gun near the left corner. She lowered her weapon and squeezed of two shots. The bullets sparked off of the edge of the hallway, just missing.
Sean pulled his hand back just in time before two rounds ricocheted off the wall near his head. He looked quickly over at the others who’d taken up a position opposite of him, staying close to the wall.
“How many,” Adriana whispered just loud enough for him to hear.
“Three or four, I think,” he answered.
Another three shots popped from the end of the passage and panged off the corner next to Adriana, causing her and Tommy to both take another step back.
Then, the woman’s voice came from the other end of the corridor. “You might as well surrender and come out now, Mr. Wyatt. There’s no other way out of this place.”
“I don’t know,” Sean yelled back down the tunnel. “I think we might stick it out here for a while until you all get sleepy.”
Tommy smiled at the humor. Even in extremely tense situations, Sean was still a wise guy.
“I assure you that will not happen,” the voice returned. “You are outnumbered and outgunned. The only way out of this cave is back the way you came.”
Tommy’s face lit up. “Sean,” he gasped across the opening. “That’s it. Another way out.”
Sean looked confused. “What are you talking about?”
“The stone,” he pointed at the triangular pedestal. “They must have built in a backdoor to get out of this place. The stone might be our ticket out of here. Remember how the one in Georgia worked?”
Sean recalled the scenario.
“It’s worth a shot. I’ll cover you.”
Will’s back stung. He’d been shot before but this felt different. Something in his backpack must have stopped the bullet. As soon as the shot had been fired he knew what had happened. He fell over knowing his only way to get out would be to feign death. Fortunately, Weaver hadn’t finished the job with a headshot. Apparently, she felt the need to execute Carlson immediately and her attention had shifted.
He wondered what had Carlson meant when he said he wasn’t the only one working for the adepts? At the moment, Will didn’t have time to think about such things. He just had to get out of there and live to fight another day. One of the mercenaries had taken his gun leaving him unarmed. Their attention, though, was on the people in the other room. He pulled himself over to the base of the pedestal that held the golden leaves, moving slowly so as not to draw attention. The stone altar had given him an idea. One he could only hope would work. Peeking around the corner of the stone object, he saw Sean suddenly emerge at the end of the hall and start firing his gun. Will ducked down as bullets smacked around on the stone, bouncing dangerously close to where he was crouched. He thought he’d seen Tommy running behind Sean but couldn’t be sure. As soon as the barrage ceased, Weaver and her men started returning fire, adding to the acrid smoke that was already filling the room. That was his moment.
Will reached up and grabbed the leaf on the right of the pedestal and lifted it off. The familiar clicking started again and immediately, he jumped up and darted into the cave entrance just before a giant stone began to lower over the opening.
Angela stopped firing her weapon and turned to see what was happening. The entrance to the chamber was closing from above while a huge piece of stone was rising up to the ceiling right next to their position, effectively closing off the passageway into where Wyatt was holed up. She wasn’t sure what to do. The doorway they’d come through before closed quickly. Both passageways would be sealed off in moments. She looked at both of the men wondering what to do. The younger man started to climb over the rising wall but was greeted by a volley of shots from the other end of the hall, one of which struck him in the shoulder and sent him reeling back to cover. Blood trickled down his arm onto the floor as the moving wall reached its destination with a loud thud. They were trapped like rats in a box.