16. I knew you'd be the one to come looking

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

Sam's POV

I stared up at the warehouse-like building in front of me as I sat in the driver's seat of my car. I looked down at my phone for what must have been the tenth time, trying to confirm that this was the building I'd tracked Hayden's phone to.

Also, I was trying to convince myself he'd come walking out at any second, asking me what the hell I was going here.

He didn't, just as I knew deep down he wouldn't, and I been sitting there for damn near twenty minutes.

Something was very wrong. I knew that. There was no other way around it. I hadn't told Everly because I didn't want her to worry about me when she needed to be focusing on the missing agents.

But something was very wrong.

I finally shoved open the car door and stepped out, grabbing my jacket off the seat next to me and pulling it on. I then picked up the gun resting on the seat and shoved it into my waistband, pulling the jacket over it. I also had a few knives hidden on me already, but those weren't my weapons of choice.

I slipped my phone into my pocket and pulled the flashlight from the glove box and held that in my hand. It was just before midnight and the streets were nearly as black as the night sky, with the exception of a few streetlights.

I hadn't seen any security measures outside of the building when I'd driven by a couple of times. Hadn't seen any sign of anyone actually being in there and from the outside, the building didn't look like much.

Graffiti decorated the outside. Broken windows with wooden beams nailed across. The roof had a huge hole in it, as did several of the walls.

The only reason I was even considering checking out the building, besides the fact that I had seen buildings like this a hundred times over hiding something else, was because of the door. The door did not belong.

Instead of being broken and barely hanging on as the rest of the building was, the door appeared to be brand new, and solid metal.

I soon realized that it wasn't locked, however, as I turned the handle and shoved it open.

The door was heavy, but it gave way as I pushed it open. The inside of the building was dark, with only minimal light shining in from a couple of streetlights outside.

I turned on the flashlight in my hands and shone it around the building, revealing one giant empty room. Well, not completely empty. There were a couple of tables, some chairs, and a few other things lying around. Mostly trash.

I shined the flashlight around as I walked, keeping on alert for anything that looked out of the ordinary, but I was coming up empty. There were a few sheets of paper on the floor, but they were all blank. What stood out to me though, was that they were all clean. This building was filthy inside and out but the papers were all clean. They wouldn't have been if they'd been sitting in this building for a long time.

Someone was here. That much was clear, unfortunately, it appeared they'd moved on before I could get here.

The one thing I didn't see, however, was Hayden's phone. I had tracked it here and even as I had sat outside the building, it had still said it was here.

I pulled my own phone from my pocket and pulled up the tracking once more. It still said that the phone was in the building. Where in the building, I couldn't completely tell and I wasn't about to search through all the piles of trash aimlessly. I just hoped Hayden had left his phone on.

I punched in Hayden's number as I had never saved it and listened, waiting to see if I could hear it.

I'd never saved Hayden's number for a number of reasons, the most important one being, I didn't want anyone to be able to identify anyone through my phone if I lost it or it was stolen. I didn't even have Everly's number saved, only memorized.

I stood there waiting for the phone to ring. Waiting to hear whatever ringtone Hayden had set, but nothing came.

I shook my head. "It was a long shot," I muttered as I looked around the room. I guess I'd just have to start sifting through everything. I began walking toward one corner of the building, only to stop in my tracks.

For a split second, I had thought I'd heard a phone. I took a couple of steps back but didn't hear anything. I looked down at the phone in my hands and redialed Hayden's number.

There it was. The faintest sound of a phone ringing.

I whirled around, trying to figure out where it was coming from. As I took another step forward, I realized I couldn't hear the ringing anymore. I took a step back again to where I could hear the ringing, and then another step back, listening as it faded out completely once more.

I shined the light down at my feet as I took a step forward and could hear the ringing once more. As the light of the flashlight danced across the floor, I could see a small crack in the concrete beneath my feet.

As I knelt on the floor and shined the light through the crack, I noticed that it continued on. The light didn't just hit a wall or an object, it continued on into the darkness. There was another room down there.

I pushed back to my feet and shone the flashlight around, looking for some way to get down to that room but there was nothing I could see. There were no stairs, no ladder, no door leading to that room. I was like it didn't exist. Or someone wanted to make it seem like it didn't exist.

There was an access grate hidden under a pile of old tarps and debris. It took me a while to find it, but when I finally did, I lifted it up and stepped down the stairs into the darkness.

I kept my flashlight up with one hand so that I could see, and pulled my gun, holding it in the other at the ready. I wasn't sure what I would find.

Once I made it to the bottom of the stairs, I noticed another large metal door, this time with a keypad next to it. Except, the door was already slightly ajar.

My grip on my gun tightened slightly and I moved forward, using my shoulder to shove open the door the rest of the way. I had my gun up as I entered the room, the flashlight shining in front of me to light the way.

It didn't matter though because there was no one there. I lowered the gun to my side, but still kept it in my hand as I walked forward to the table set up in the middle of the room. After shining my flashlight around a couple of times, I could confirm that that was the only piece of furniture in the entire room.

I walked up to the table, and there, sitting on the edge of it, was a phone. I set down my gun and picked up the phone, turning it over in my hands before turning it on. I didn't know the password, but I didn't need the password to see the missed call notification on the lock screen from an unknown number. That unknown number being mine.

I set the phone back down on the table and picked my gun up once more. "Hayden?" I called out into the darkness.

There was no response. I knew there wouldn't be.

There were a few papers and blueprints spread across the table, but none of them made any sense to me. I thumbed through the pages, scanning each one. There were models and designs drawn out, formulas written down, and a whole lot of other stuff I didn't understand.

As I shined the flashlight across the table and then around the rest of the room, I noticed something else.

I walked over to the wall on the far side of the room, keeping my light on that the whole way over. There were pictures, words, documents, and so much more taped and pinned up all over the wall.

Hayden's picture was one of them. Underneath his picture, the world Soldier had been written. Next to his picture, was a picture of me, with the word Moth underneath it and as I shined my flashlight further down, there was Everly's picture, with Daggers under it.

My blood ran cold as I stared at the pictures, at the codenames listed underneath them. No one was supposed to know those codenames except for us. As I continued to shine my light over the files and pictures all pinned up on the walls, there was a blank sheet of paper with the word Triple under it, but no picture. Whoever had done this, didn't know who Triple was. There was that relief, at least.

Of course, Hayden's picture was still different than everyone else's. His had a big red x across it. The word eliminated written in the corner.

I backed away from the wall, my heart starting to speed up in my chest. A voice in my head was screaming at me to get out.

I wish I'd had the chance to listen, but as I turned around something slammed into the side of my head, and I went down.

I groaned and reached for my head, only to realize that the hearing aid in my right ear was completely smashed. My gun and flashlight had dropped from my hands, and I reached out wildly for the gun.

A hand took hold of my wrist and twisted it back, so I swung my leg out and knocked theirs out from under them.

It was hard to see anything, now that my flashlight had been discarded, but I could see the brief outline of what I assumed was another person.

Of course, I didn't like what I saw. Because even in the dark, I could make out the outline of the black helmet worn by the mercenaries.

If I had to take a guess, I would venture to say that the helmet had some sort of night vision goggles installed in it, because even though it was dark and I could barely see, they seemed to be seeing a lot better than I was.

I threw a punch and they dodged it with ease, but when they threw a punch, I could barely see to get out of the way, and still managed to get clipped.

I knew from experience a gun would do little good against these guys, and knives were pretty much useless as well due to their body armor. I had beat a couple of these guys before, but one of those times we'd been on a more level playing field. Though I suppose there was no harm in trying to level the playing field this time as well.

I couldn't do anything about the armor the person was wearing, but I could try and get rid of the helmet. No helmet, no night vision. Which meant then I'd actually stand a chance.

However, as I was fighting, I was painfully aware that they weren't using weapons. They could have shot and killed me a long time ago, but they hadn't. Which meant they wanted me alive, and I wasn't too keen on sticking around to find out why.

I barely managed to dodge another of the mercenary's punches, except this time I reached out blindly, attempting to grab hold of their arm. Evidently, I succeeded when my hand closed firmly around their arm.

I pulled them forward until I was able to wrap my arm around their neck, and then I threw us both forward into the wall. The helmet hit the wall with a loud crash, but the helmet didn't give way. Not that I expected it to. I knew it would take much more than just slamming it into the wall once to damage it.

So, I pulled back at did it again all the while the mercenary pulled at my arm, trying to get me to release them. When the helmet still didn't give way, I did it a third time. This time, I heard it crack.

It was a struggle to keep my grip but I managed to hold on until there was a sharp pain in my arm causing me to let go. A booted foot was kicked into my chest and I fell back. I reached up to my upper arm, only to find a knife embedded in it.

Apparently, I'd pissed this guy off.

My eyes were adjusting to the dark, as they had been this whole time I'd been fighting, and it was easier to see him now. He, however, appeared to have some trouble seeing me,

I guess I had managed to knock out the night vision.

I pulled the knife from my arm with a hiss of pain and pushed to my feet, holding the knife at the ready.

He charged me, sending us both falling to the floor. I kept my grip on the knife, refusing to let it go even as he threw punch after punch my way. I took each one as I felt for the crack in his helmet. As soon as I found it, I plunged the knife through.

He let out a startled shout before going limp on top of me.

I let out a relieved sigh before shoving him off of me and pushing myself into a sitting position. I pressed my fingers gently against the wound in my arm, hissing in pain as I did so.

I'd get someone to stitch it up for me. Not Lily. I'd learned my lesson when it came to letting her stitch me up. Never again. Even Devin was a better alternative.

I reached up and touched at the hearing aid on my right and made a face. There was no way that was fixable. I let out a sigh and shook my head. I'd have to get it replaced. I took what was left of it out of my ear and shoved it in my pocket.

"Great," I muttered, I looked back up at the wall beside me even though I couldn't see it. I didn't need to see it though. I had seen it and there was no way I was going to get it out of my head.

The mercenaries knew. I didn't how but they knew. Someone had to have told them. Someone had to have seen something.

I had to tell Everly. There was no way around that. I couldn't keep this to myself even if she was busy with another assignment. This was something she needed to know because we needed to know what the hell to do about it.

I would also need to find a way to get a hold of Triple, but he'd been busy lately and unable to talk.

Just as I began to push myself up to my feet, lights came on.

They were bright, blinding, and completely caught me off guard. It took a second for my eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness, but when they did I turned to look to the doorway, to see five people standing in front of it.

Four of those people were mercenaries. One was not. And that one was all too familiar.

She looked out of place standing with the mercenaries. Her hair, which had been black the last time I'd seen her was blonde now, her eyes the same shade of hazel as her sister's. There was a scar on her face, from a mission she'd helped with two years ago. She stood with her arms crossed over her chest, staring down at me.

"Impressive," She said as she looked at the dead mercenary at my side.

"Lydia?" I questioned as I stared at Everly's older sister.

She tilted her head as she looked down at me and a chilling smile spread across her face. "I knew you'd be the one to come looking," She said. She turned and looked over her shoulder at the mercenaries behind her. "Take him."

Vote

Comment

Enjoy!

And Thanks for Reading!

Possibly another update later today. If not, for sure there will be one tomorrow

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net