CHAPTER 26 – Ink
“What do you mean, you can’t find her?’
Axel stood before me, his hand swiping the hair falling in his eyes, a movement layered with frustration.
“I mean, I’ve searched everywhere and I can’t find her. I’ve asked around and no one has seen her for hours. And you should know, Skye appears to be missing as well, and it was Douglas’ turn to be manning the emergency escape on the second level, and he’s not there, he doesn’t appear to be anywhere either.”
My skin prickled with unease. To lose one person in this maze of a building, crowded as it was, was a possibility. Two, maybe, three was unlikely. My head was throbbing again, a combination of the concussion I suffered a few days ago, and the fatigue and stress. Linking my hands behind my neck, I squeezed and let out a long breath of frustration
“Ink,” Charlie called out from over my shoulder. “Henry and a few helpers are trying to distribute dinner rations, and they’ve got a group of men and women on the second floor who are making it difficult for them.” Charlie appeared at my side, his clothes heavily creased from sleeping in them, his hair sticking up every which way. His tired eyes were narrowed, lips surrounded by a thick, dark beard, were pressed flat together with suppressed anger. His exhaustion and frustration were clearly evident. It was comforting to know I wasn’t the only one feeling this way. “Lottie and Gregory are up there, they say they want answers and they won’t let the food be passed beyond the corridor they’ve barricaded themselves in until they get them.”
Fucking answers. I didn’t have answers.
All I knew at this point was that Jebediah was outside, while we were safe inside.
We were two days into this tense standoff, and while I could appreciate the discontent, I didn’t have the time or patience for it. Right now, I had three missing people, including the only person I truly cared about.
If ever there was a rumble of restlessness within Liberty, the noise would always come from Lottie and her husband, Gregory. They were the voice of disquiet, warranted or otherwise, so it didn’t surprise me to hear their names associated with this small act of rebellion. The place was overflowing with despair. Not to mention the stench. We were without electricity and the water had been turned off. The little we had in the way of bottled water ran out this morning. My men were doing their best to catch sleet, snow, and rain in buckets and containers on the roof, but Jebediah’s men were enjoying making their task deadly with the promise of bullets each time they snuck out. The toilets had backed up, and buckets had been set up at the far end of the basement, behind a wall of boxes. They needed to be emptied every few hours, which was an arduous and filthy task.
Moral was low, I got it. Fuck! I was breathing that same rancid desperation myself. Something needed to happen, and it needed to happen soon.
“I’ll go talk to them,” Ashlynn offered as she strolled up to join my men and me.
“Thank you,” I answered gruffly.
I didn’t have a diplomatic bone in my body—that had been Viviane’s job. She was the voice of reason, filled with endless patience, and always the right words. I was hot-headed in comparison, not willing to ‘baby’ the citizens, far better suited to my role in security. Mind you, Jebediah had managed to sneak around my defenses, so perhaps I lacked in that department too.
Watching Ashlynn move away with Charlie to go and settle the disturbance on the floor above, my attention returned to Axel and the problem at hand. Douglas was young, but he was only a matter of months away from finishing his training to become a fully-fledged guard and soldier. He was tenacious and loyal, working long hours and doing as he was told without question. Disappearing from his post was out of character.
“They can’t just fucking disappear,” I snapped, a prickling sensation on my skin getting worse by the minute. My gut was telling me something was off. Energy without an outlet coursed through my veins making me feel fidgety, my muscles twitching erratically with the need to blow off some of this pent-up steam. “I’ll take the ground floor and basement, you take the second floor and have Isaac search the third. They have to be here somewhere.”
Axel was already turning on his heel as I began to snake my way through the people littering the corridors, taking the wide stairs to the basement two at a time. As my heavy feet landed on the concrete floor, a few people who had finally braved the ‘tainted’ air jumped with unease, but immediately calmed upon finding me standing there glancing around the shadowed room. It stunk, the makeshift bathroom at the furthest wall taking the slight chemical smell and drowning it with the stench of human waste.
“Gracie down here?” I asked, my voice echoing off the deep, wide space.
“Not since she left this morning,” answered Claire, a thin, middle-aged woman sitting on her home-made bed of boxes and blankets, her ten-year-old daughter curled up in her lap. They both looked tired and disheveled, but Claire still managed to gift me a soft smile. My eyes drifted to her daughter, whose face was brightened by a battery powered lamp sitting on a box. Meg looked tired, but lifted her head from her mother’s lap and gave me a beautiful smile and tentative wave.
“How are you doing, button? You need anything?”
“I’m hungry,” Meg complained.
“She’s fine, we’re just waiting for dinner rations,” Claire was quick to say.
“Henry’s making his way down now, they got held up on the second floor, but they shouldn’t be too much longer.”
This was the reason I was so pissed off at Lottie and Gregory’s standoff. Their willful blockade affected others. There were people who were starving while waiting for the food my men were trying to distribute. The muscles in my shoulders tightened and my hands curled into fists.
“If I see Grace, I’ll tell her you’re looking for her.”
With a nod of thanks, I climbed the stairs and began searching every room, closet, and corner. I’d only reached the second, heavily occupied room when Fury’s quiet yet intense presence caught my attention. He was standing in the doorway to the room I was searching, his dark eyes filled with his typical rage. There was something else though, something I didn’t normally see in his stony expression. Pity? Regret? As I approached, my stomach knotted.
“We found Douglas,” he murmured, turning to head for the stairwell that led to the second floor, and I followed, my jaw clenched shut so tightly I couldn’t speak even if I wanted to. “He’s lying at the bottom of the emergency exit from the second level, the layer of snow covering him would suggest he’s been out there a few hours, at least.”
My pulse raced, pushing the blood through my veins so quickly that black spots danced in front my vision. Shaking away the sudden flood of adrenaline, I chased Fury up the stairs, two at a time the entire way to the third floor.
“The only way that door could be accessed was from the inside. Either someone inside the barracks unlocked it and attacked Douglas, or someone from outside coaxed their way inside. My theory is the latter, and I’m pretty sure I know who it was.”
“Who?” I demanded.
“Take a look for yourself.”
We had entered a small room, the bed pushed up against the furthest wall, allowing the space around the windows to be free of furniture. Axel was peering out a curtain, his fists shaking, his face pale. The tension wafting from Isaac, Ethan and Niall was stifling as they moved aside so I could position myself to the side of one window.
Stepping cautiously toward the covered glass, I nudged the curtain back and found the bright spotlights that Jebediah used to light up his fighting arena now directed at us. That didn’t surprise me, he had them dragged into position on our first night here. What did surprise me was the large presence of militia standing around the front of the building. There had to be at least thirty, maybe closer to forty men out there, all armed and looking hostile but also confident, some of the men smiling and laughing.
My gaze caught on a small group who had pulled away and gathered closer to the building. Jebediah stood out like a ghost dressed in black, a long trench coat ending at mid-calf was pushed open, showing off those flashy guns he used, holstered to either side of his ribs. Jeze stood beside him, dressed much the same, minus the trench coat.
The movement behind the crazy two siblings caught my eye, and my breath became trapped in my throat as it squeezed shut. Shock rendered me completely speechless. Skye was being held between two men, struggling and growling like a feral animal. It was the woman several feet to her side that held my full and undivided attention though.
Gracie.
My Gracie.
She was being held in a brutal grip by Dozer, his meaty arm across her stomach and under her breasts pinning her arms in place, his other hand at her throat. She wasn’t struggling, though. Instead she was glaring with a hatred I’d never seen on her face before. I followed her line of sight and found the object of her visual daggers.
Trigger.
Motherfucking Trigger!
He was smirking at her, arms crossed over his chest looking as happy as a fucking pig in shit as he stood with Jebediah and his men. Standing with them, which meant he was standing against me. My fists curled, and my nostrils flared with a sudden, deep inhale. I wanted to kill him, with my bare fucking hands. I wanted to charge down there and annihilate them all. I wanted to shred Dozer to pieces and savor the feel of his warm blood coating my hands. What I wanted to do, and what I needed to do, were so completely at odds with each other that my hands shook with a heady mixture of fear and fury.
“My guess is Trigger knocked on the fire escape door. Douglas would have let him in without question, any of us would. He was one of ours. He found Grace and Skye and either fed them a load of bullshit, or forced them to march right outside and into the arms of our enemy.”
Was this because of the drugs?
Or something deeper and more sinister?
Was Trigger our traitor?
Questions bounced around my mind until my gaze settled once again on Gracie who flinched at the grip Dozer had on her throat. It didn’t matter why Trigger had done what he had. He’d betrayed me, betrayed Gracie and Skye, which made him my enemy. Reaching for the latch, I unlocked the window and pushed it open. Taking a deep breath, I sunk into a place which felt almost like a numb void. This was where I buried emotions and kept myself cool and calm. In this dark place, I made the hard decisions and didn’t let my feelings get in the way.
Gracie’s eyes met mine, and even from here I could see the fear hidden beneath the layers of anger. I wanted to absorb that fear, take it into my body and burn it into flames.
“Well, hello there,” came Jebediah’s jovial voice from the snow below. “I fear you may have misplaced something.” His smirk grew into a haughty grin as his hands pressed to his hips, his feet positioned wide. He was a man of confidence, knowing he had the upper hand, and fuck if that didn’t burn my pride. This crazed bastard was always one step ahead, and I was done. Beyond fucking done, he was going to die.
“Misplaced isn’t the word I would use,” I said, pushing the curtain further aside and standing directly in front of it, showing him I wasn’t scared. There was nothing to stop his militia from shooting me, but I knew they wouldn’t. Jebediah liked his games and killing me right now would end things too fast for his liking. In fact, keeping me alive was pertinent to his plan of using Gracie against me. Jebediah let out a bark of laughter, rubbing his hands together.
“Are we going to argue over words, Ink?” Jebediah arched a pale brow my way. “Words, words, words, I’ve got lots words. How about… blood?” The silence that followed whispered the promise of violence. That dreadful silence was interrupted by a scream of agony as a man stepped up to Skye and dragged the blade of a knife down her cheek. Red blossomed on her face, quickly dripping down her chin and onto her pale blue jumper.
Axel growled and turned to leave the room. Isaac, and Ethan jumping on his back to stop him and taking him to the ground where he continued snarl like an animal, thrashing about as he tried to gain his freedom. I couldn’t let him blindly run out of the building, not without a plan. Jebediah wasn’t about to release Skye or Gracie, and if Axel made it out there, it was just another person to use against me. Gracie yelled and swore at the men who held Skye, but was mostly ignored by the men who surrounded her. The sick fucker with the knife, a greasy haired, scarred up brute leaned forward and licked the tears that fell down Skye’s cheeks. She recoiled, calling him every name under the sun.
“Here’s another one,” Jebediah shouted. “Pain!”
The soldier turned to face Gracie.
“You ugly son of a bitch,” my girl growled. “Touch me and I will fuck you up.”
He just laughed. Dozer grappled with Gracie for a moment before securing her wrist in his, then forced it out in front of them. My hands rose to the sill of the open window, my fingers curling over the edge.
“Niall?”
“I’ve got a clean shot.”
He was positioned at a second window in the room, sniper rifle ready, his eye watching down the scope.
“Take it!”
Before Niall could caress the trigger of his high-powered rifle, Gracie’s gut-wrenching scream filled the night air. Blood splattered her face as the soldier who stood in front of her collapsed to the ground, the hole in his head precise. Her finger had been broken, snapped like a twig and sitting awkwardly. Her pain stole my breath.
“That’s not how we’re playing this game,” Jebediah bellowed. Addressing Dozer, the big man smiled before pulling out a handgun and resting it against Gracie’s temple.
“You try something like that again, and the little bird will be the one with splattered brains.” Jebediah signaled to another of his soldiers who stepped forward. “Now, where were we,” he continued. “Ahhh, yes… the word game. Here’s another I think you will like. Brutality.”
Skye bellowed loudly as the new soldier stepped forward and punched her in the stomach followed by a quick strike to the face which dulled her screams to despairing moans. The men surrounding me shifted with pent-up rage, while Axel was held steadily against the wall, roaring at the sound of Skye’s abuse. The abuse Jebediah was forcing us to watch was meant to break us. In my case, it did nothing of the sort. It motherfucking built me. My rage was a palpable beast I was ready to unleash.
“Games are for children, Jebediah. Grow up and tell me what the fuck you want,” I growled, my voice an animalistic snarl.
“You know what? I really like our word game.” Jebediah grinned, his eyes full of wild retribution. “This one is my personal favorite… death.”
“Boss?” Niall asked. He was still watching through his scope, our enemy’s death a simple stroke of the trigger away. But Dozer had the gun on Gracie, if Niall took another shot they might follow through on their threat to kill her, or she might be about to die anyway. Conflict twisted my guts.
The man who had punched Skye moved and my gaze flew to Gracie, watching, assessing, trying to figure out what was going to happen next. But it wasn’t Gracie I needed to be worried about, it was Skye, whose pained moans were silenced as a large, gleaming hunting knife was plunged deep into her stomach.
The room seemed to shrink.
The air sucked away.
The sound muted.
He’d killed her.
Axel was practically hyperventilating, not sure what had happened from where Ethan continued to pin him to the wall, but somehow knowing it was bad. Gracie screamed and screamed, the sound one that would stay with me until my dying day.
“I do believe I won the war of words,” Jebediah declared while stroking the collar of his trench coat. “Such a shame, all that dark flesh did tempt me.” The man sighed with disappointment as he turned his back on Skye’s unmoving form lying in the snow.
My hands shook with rage, my breaths came in short, sharp bursts and my entire world had drawn to one single spot of clarity.
Tonight, I would kill Jebediah.
It would inevitably lead to my own ruin, but it didn’t matter, as long as that crazy fuck stopped breathing air.
“And now I have a beautiful bird my men are dying to fuck, Ink. All of them…” He swept his arm around the large contingency of militia. “Can you just imagine the mangled lump of flesh she’ll be once they’ve finished with her? I’ll have her first, of course. I’m not one for sloppy seconds… or thirties.”
“I challenge you for her. I challenge them all, for her. I’ll fight for Gracie,” I said without hesitation.
Jebediah’s eyes crinkled as he grinned. “Tell you what, Ink, I’m feeling in a generous mood tonight, and I want a grand show, not a motherfucking five-minute execution where your heart’s ripped from your chest before we even get to the good stuff.” Jebediah tucked his hands behind his back, pulling the lapels of his coat wide open to give me a better view of those huge guns he had holstered. “How about three fights? And if you win, I’ll give you back your Grace.”
He pointed to one of his men. “Bricks.” A stocky man with wide shoulders and thick legs stepped forward. I had a good five inches on him, but the way he stood tall and still, his shoulders pressed back, and the familiar military fatigues told me this man was a soldier through and through. He would have discipline and skill.
“Sawyer,” Jebediah continued, pointing to another man who stepped forward. This one was lean and tall, wearing his hair in some sort of faux Mohawk, definitely not a military issued style. He still stood like a soldier though, his head held high, feet shoulder-width apart and hands behind his back.
“And for the grand finale, assuming you make it that far, Jezebeth.” Jebediah ended his speech with a sly smile.
My gaze swung to Jeze who stood a few feet behind him. She stood tall and confident, not at all surprised she was selected to fight me.
“If Bricks and Sawyer don’t kill you, Jeze has the choice to finish you or force your submission. Be warned though, Ink, submitting means you will be her bitch, indefinitely. And your bird… she will be mine.”