“Down?” Massimo repeated.
The man was right. The monitors weren’t showing anything.
“Well, that was easy.” Massimo looked at Leandro, who was standing by his side. Leandro looked up at his dad blankly and shook his head.
The advisors looked on with wonder and fear. The vampire was speaking to a wolf?
Leandro walked over to the door and nudged it, then glanced back at Massimo.
“What?” Massimo exclaimed, raising his hands. Leandro growled in frustration. He tilted his head to the door and then at the advisors.
Massimo pushed his hand through his silky hair, then did it again. He liked the way his hair now felt; so much thicker. “Do you want me to take them outside?” Massimo asked.
That was greeted with a growl.
Ryder was stood in the doorway now along with the others. “Are the cameras off?” she asked.
Massimo nodded. “Yes. Apparently, they were already off.”
“And the doors. Are they open?”
“Oh, that’s what Leandro was trying to tell me. I’m losing my marbles in my old age.” Massimo grinned, a little embarrassed. He only had two tasks, and he’d forgotten one of them. He put it down to adrenaline messing with his brain cells.
Ryder marched over to the head advisor. “Advisor Robert, why are they open?” She narrowed her eyes, wondering why Robert was here. He was always by Afana’s side. He was his right-hand slimeball. She grabbed him by the lapels of his lab coat and shook him roughly. “How come?”
“Because Afana opened them. He’s about to clear the trash out of Level Six,” he replied with a menacing grin on his face.
Ryder was confused. “Why?”
The slimeball’s smile grew. “To get to Terrier and the other traitors. Then he’s coming after you.” Advisor Robert laughed happily.
Ryder was right up in Advisor Robert’s face now. “Not if I find him first.”
Chapter Fifteen
“Well, that was easier than I thought it would be,” Ryder remarked. “Let’s get them in the lab in case there is another way for them to alert Afana that we are here.”
Massimo nodded in agreement. “Good idea.”
He pushed open the door to the lab. “Holy snot balls.” Ryder almost gagged when she spotted Knuckles strapped to a bed and a pile of what looked like Tank on the floor. His body was bloated like Afana’s, and his eyes were like Ivan’s. He appeared to be a mix of Mad and vampire, which wasn’t a good look. Knuckles didn’t look any better. He was staring into the distance rather than looking at them. It was like he hadn’t seen them.
“That’s Tank and Knuckles. Those two usually guard the bunker. Looks like Afana had other plans for them today.” Ryder turned to Advisor Robert. “Is this your handiwork?”
“It was for science,” Robert told her unrepentantly.
“You repulse me,” Ryder told him in return.
Advisor Robert clearly didn’t care what Ryder thought of him, but he would care about this. Ryder punched Robert on the jaw, sending the sack of shit to the floor. “Not so tough without Afana, are you?”
Ryder and Massimo stepped into the lab, leaving Advisor Robert on the floor hugging his jaw.
Knuckles’ neck creaked as he turned to them, his eyes were glowing red, and saliva drooling out of his mouth. He had the Madness. He growled at them and fought the restraints around his neck, wrists, and ankles.
“What have they done to him?” Ryder asked Massimo, but she didn’t need an answer. There were blood samples around the lab, and Ivan’s head was sitting in a puddle of melted ice. Afana had used Tank and Knuckles as test subjects, infecting them both with the Madness—and Knuckles, possibly, with Afana’s own blood.
Massimo made a face at the mess that used to be Tank. “Looks like they have been trying to see if Afana is immune to the Madness. And by the look of that body, he’s not.”
Massimo shook his head at the state of the lab, which repulsed him. He turned away from it and stopped an old record player, which was broken. He moved the arm off the record to see what it was. “Opera!” he grumbled under his breath. He flipped through the vinyls that were next to it. “Show me Bee Gees… Come on, Bee Gees,” he muttered as he went through them. “Dammit.”
Fluffy came up next to Massimo and shook his head.
Massimo went over to Advisor Robert, who was still on the floor. “Does Afana have any more vinyl? I’ve been looking for a Bee Gees album for years.”
“Afana likes the Bee Gees?” Robert repeated, looking like he had just eaten something bad.
“Yes, the Bee Gees—one of the greatest bands, along with ABBA and the Beatles. I could go on, but it’s really not the time. So, does he have one?” Massimo pushed.
Advisor Robert flicked his wrist at the pile of slipcovers by the record player. “That’s all he’s got.” He raised his finger and pointed to a room off the lab. “There may be some in there. That’s Afana’s living area.”
Massimo walked toward the door, but Fluffy quickly got in front of it and growled at his dad. It could be a trap or just a distraction.
Massimo dropped his shoulders, knowing that he’d have to save that for later. He hoped he’d find at least one record he’d been dying to get his hands on in Afana’s collection.
Ryder looked at the other severed heads. None of them belonged to Terrier or the women from Level Six, much to her relief.
“Is this a torture room?” Carter asked, his eyes widening as he entered the lab. The others were watching the advisors warily and keeping their weapons at the ready.
Ryder shrugged. “Something like that. I’ve checked the heads. Don’t worry, hers isn’t in here. And neither is Terrier’s, which means that he’ll be keeping Natalie and the others safe.” Ryder knew he would have gone straight to Level Six once he got into the bunker to hide himself, but more importantly to protect the women and children. That was the Terrier Ryder had known since
