I’m going to die here in some stupid motel room, after all.
The man reached into his jacket, but Selena barely noticed, darkness clawing at the edge of her vision from her lack of oxygen. Shooting her seemed pointless since he could choke her to death. Her weak scream couldn’t make it out of her throat. Something sharp pricked her neck, and the man released his grip.
Selena gasped, sucking in air and rubbing at her neck. She blinked a few times up at the smirking man standing over her. He held a syringe in his hand.
She rubbed at the side of her neck where she felt the sharp pain before. The residual ache was minor compared to the throb from his earlier choking.
“What did you give me?” She shook her head and blinked. She could breathe without trouble but was having trouble keeping her eyes open. Her heavy lids tugged down. Selena tried to stand but fell back.
“Just a little something to take the edge off.” The man scratched underneath his nose. “You’ll wake up with a nasty headache, but it’s your own fault, bitch.”
“No.” Selena rolled over her stomach and pushed herself onto her hands and knees. She had to ignore his earlier threats and scream or yell. She had to do something, anything.
There was a lot she needed to do, but it didn’t matter. Selena slumped back to the ground with a groan, her eyes closing. She couldn’t fight the overwhelming urge to sleep.
Chapter Twenty-one
The hybrids of Alpha Squad continued their quick jog down the long tunnel. Maximus had been expecting a short trip, a few hundred feet before hitting another underground facility, but their current path continued well past that. They were keeping a good, brisk pace and judging by the amount of time that had elapsed, they’d traveled miles. Quinen sure knew how to fill out his evil scientist bingo card between the repurposed underground facility and the sinister underground tunnels.
“How long are we going to keep going?” Cornelius asked.
“Until we find the end.” Maximus motioned at a steel wall. It was smooth but not all the reflective in the dim red light. “These walls look a lot newer than what we saw before. Metal, not concrete. Lot less dust. The shape of the tunnel’s different. I think our friends started out with an old facility and dug themselves a new tunnel. We have no idea how long they’ve been hiding out here. The original facility wasn’t exactly on the tourist paths. They could have had months to dig this tunnel.” He sniffed at the air. “And the scents are getting stronger the farther we go. This place stinks of trucks and people. People came here, people carrying guns, and I don’t think they were members of some random island shooting club.”
Cornelius snickered. “It’d be funny if they were.”
“A lot of things would be funnier in our lives if they didn’t involve the Corps or the Horatius Group.”
After that, the hybrids carried on in near silence, everyone’s tension increasing as they moved deeper into the tunnel. Nobody planned to come to Hawaii to hike underground for miles and miles, but that’s what they’d been doing. Turning back at that point meant spending as much time on the return trip, and that would leave them with nothing to show for their efforts and the potential escape of the last major figure who’d tormented them in the Phoenix Corps.
The eternity ended when the dim red light gave way to something that was shockingly bright in contrast. Something lay at the end of the tunnel.
“Keep your pace and keep alert,” Maximus ordered.
The bright white in the distance turned out to be the combined and normally meager lights on the edge of town. A disguised gate covered with plants stood swung open, large tire tracks running through the plants and dirt right outside the tunnel and heading straight toward a normal-looking road.
Maximus hurried out of the tunnel, keeping low and rushing toward a copse of trees lining the road. The other hybrids followed him, and they crouched while taking in their surroundings. This area looked semi-abandoned, defined by old dilapidated warehouses, some of which looked like they dated back decades, if not earlier. Some of the roads were cracked and filled with potholes, but it was hard to miss the one road in excellent condition.
It ran in front of the tunnel entrance and continued after curving toward a another sad-looking warehouse with a tall chain-link metal fence. The shine off the fence suggested it wasn’t nearly as old as the warehouse it protected. A small fleet of black vans stood parked just inside a tall gate. Light poles stood spread evenly along the fence line, their harsh yellow-white turning day into night in small circles. Men wandered the perimeter, and even with hybrid vision and the light, Alpha Squad couldn’t make out all the details, but they saw enough. Those roving patrols wore dark gray uniforms and caps, and they held rifles. They didn’t exactly look like rent-a-cops.
“Same uniforms as the guys in the forest,” growled Maximus. “Between that and the tunnel, I think it’s safe to say we found our targets. Not being subtle anymore, which means they’re getting ready to leave Hawaii. Good thing we didn’t wait around.”
Spotlights swept the area from the top of the warehouse. More men emerged from the warehouse, all armed. They hurried to reinforce the fence in different areas. Men disappeared into the deep shadows from the areas not near light poles or warehouse lights. Something floated away from the roof, several somethings, in fact. Small drones.
“Awful lot of security for an old warehouse in the middle of nowhere,” Cornelius said. “And it looks like they know we’re here.”
“They probably have eyes on the tunnel exit,” Maximus said.
