I sit outside of this rundown bar waiting for my informant, Chandler, to come out of the shadows and meet with me. There’s a reason that he’s my top guy, but sometimes the whole cloak and dagger routine he does makes my skin crawl. I have specific meeting places lined up for us, but he always bypasses those and gives me new locations. Places that I haven’t had the chance to sweep and make sure there aren’t any spying eyes and prying ears that could overhear our future conversation.

You never know where there could be someone, or someone’s, wandering around unannounced, and unnoticed until it’s too late. I had to come here to scout this place out before our allotted meeting time to be satisfied. There are some things in our line of work you just don’t leave to chance. I’ll take any and all precautions to make sure neither one of us are put at risk. Once I’m satisfied that all is good, I go back to my car and get inside. I’m parked off to the side to prevent us from being noticed. I sit in the shadows watching patrons enter and exit the dive. I notice Chandler sneaking up between two houses that are across the street and he stealthily makes his way over to me.

“What do you have for me?” I ask as soon as his ass hits the seat.

“Okay, he’s hiding in the underground tunnels that sit beneath the city. If you’ve never been there before you’ll never find your way in,” he informs me.

“Need you to get me inside,” I demand. “As soon as possible, preferably by tomorrow.” I don’t tell him why time is of the essence because that’s not how I do business and he’s not in the need to know.

“Fuck, Atticus, tomorrow? Give me a day or so.”

“By then, he could have slipped away, Chandler,” I admit, “this needs to happen sooner rather than later. It’s an unacceptable risk to wait, I have to get in there, the sooner the better, there’s a little girl’s life at risk.” His eyes widen at my words and he picks up his disposable phone.

“Give me a minute, let me see if my guy can make it happen.” I tap my fingers on the steering wheel while he has a conversation that I’m not party to. “He says it will cost ya for him to put his neck on the line.”

“How much?” I growl out. This is fucking bullshit, I have already paid Chandler five grand, how much more green am I going to have to supply for this operation? Silas and Jonas better be splitting the cost with me or heads are going to roll.

“Five large G’s,” he announces.

“You’re telling me I’m going to be out ten grand!” I holler, ready to beat his face to a bloody pulp.

“Sorry, man. Getting down is expensive, there’s an entrance fee. Someone is always manning the doors, but if you grease a few palms they will usually look the other way. You’ll not only be paying my guy, but the guard too.” He’s shaking, so I know he’s nervous about my decision, but I can’t help the anger that’s rolling off of me. Ten G’s, what the fuck! I pick up my phone and text Silas the new amount, when he comes back and says he’ll cover the cost, I let Chandler know who then lets his guy know. “We’re in, meet me at the corner of Wilson and Martin Drive at nine a.m.,” he says, hopping out of my car. I slam my car in gear and spin wheels out of the parking lot. I leave a trail pattern of my tires on the asphalt as I push my girl to her limits. I cuss Chandler all the way back home, grease some palms, I can smash some heads but why do my brothers and I have to be out so much dough? Maybe we should send the bill to Law, he can cover this since we’re doing it for him in the first place. Then I think of that sweet little girl who suffered at the hands of her father, and suddenly the money doesn't seem so significant any longer.

The next morning, six o’clock on the dot, my brothers and I are counting money and making sure I have my ear piece and gun hidden in the pouch we’ve had inserted inside of our boots. I may be going in blind, but I won’t be going in stupid. Without my brothers there to have my back, I need to make sure I’m as protected as I possibly can be.

“We’ll be listening here at the office, make sure you give us some verbal details of where you’re entering so that if you need an extraction we can come in after you.” I tap on the mic hidden in my glasses, and say ten-four.

“Go in the other room and let me make sure the mic is projecting correctly,” Jonas instructs me. And since he’s the technical guru I do as he asks. I walk into the gym and go into the alcove buried in the corner. It is the least likely place to pick up signal and the worst-case scenario that is unknown is better than the known.

“Testing one, testing two, testing three,” I say in my normal tone.

“Read you loud and clear, ghost man,” Jonas responds so I make my way back to them. Ghost man is my call sign when we’re undercover working certain types of jobs.

“Considering we can’t get signal on our phones over in that spot, figure it’ll be good that we could hear you since you’ll be underground,” Silas states when I walk back into the room. He’s right, sometimes these mics frequencies aren’t as great as we need them to be, but Jonas is always looking at ways to improve our gear and make it the best out there. In my opinion we have better equipment than what’s even sold on the black market or even what the government uses for covert operations.

“Here,” Jonas states, handing me the money. I take the green, then I put it in the hidden compartment of my utility belt. With my glasses in place, I pick up my keys and wallet, minus my true driver’s license. I grab the fake one out of my desk drawer that I use on operations, and walk out the door. It’s eight forty-five by the time I arrive at our agreed upon destination. I take the few minutes I have to myself and close my eyes. I have to channel the personality I’ll be showing these criminals when I join up with them shortly. I have to think and act as they do, therefore I can no longer be Atticus. I have to become Ghost man. My other personality, he’s an even harder man than I am. I let the pictures of that beaten little girl flash in my mind, it helps me channel and focus on the task at hand. I hear a knock at my window and recognize Chandler, but the other sleazy looking fucker is someone I know instantly has his hands in a bunch of illegal things. I remind myself that that’s exactly what I need and wanted to begin with. I unlock the doors and Chandler takes the front seat and the other guy takes the back.

“Atticus,” Chandler holds his hand out and I grasp it in mine and give him a firm handshake. “This is Martin, he’s my go-to guy,” he introduces us.

“Martin, appreciate the in, man,” I say, as he reaches between the front seats to also shake my hand. I reciprocate, and he sits back in his seat.

“Alright, go out ten miles on I-30. There’s a corner store called the Stop ‘n Sip. When you take the exit ramp 189, I think you should park behind there so your car isn’t noticed,” Martin instructs. “Once we get there, we’ve gotta walk about a quarter of a mile to the entrance of the underground city that houses everyone that doesn’t wanna be found.”

When no further instructions are given, I start the car and head toward what I presume will be hell-like. We’re not on the interstate long before I see signs for our exit ramp coming up. Pulling off, I find the store Martin mentioned and park behind the building. Motioning them out, I navigate between the building and the dumpster where the lights are dim. I lock my beauty up, unconcerned about anyone catching my license plates since Jonas has that covered with yet another identity. Address and all, it looks legit. He’s a motherfucking genius, that’s for sure. Give me the hand-to-hand, knock your lights out kind of shit and I’m good to go. Not Jonas, though. He thrives on digging deep through the byways and highways of the internet, and has found shit out on people that they would have sworn wasn’t possible to locate. Not all skeletons can be buried deeply into the black cyber space.

Shaking my head at my thoughts because I need to keep my head in the game, I follow Martin and Chandler as we start walking. I can tell that Martin probably doesn’t get out much because soon he’s huffing and puffing, trying to keep up. Fuck that shit, I’m not slowing down. Put the damn donuts down and do a few laps, fucker.

When I start to pass where he wants me to be, he yells, “Stop!” I turn around and look around where we are and see nothing.

“The fuck are we stopping for?” I inquire, because there’s nothing here but some overgrown bushes and out of control trees and buildings that look like they’re on the verge of being condemned. I watch as he pulls some vines to the side and am shocked to see a stone door that looks as if it belongs to the wall that is covered in greenery. When he knocks three times, waits a few then knocks four more times, I raise my eyebrows up in question.

“It’s the code,” he mumbles. Ah, okay then. I would’ve never found this or known how to get the guard’s attention on the other side. I guess this is worth the funds we’ve paid these two.

“Password,” is called out from the other side. I mean fuck, there’s a secret knock and now a fucking password? These guys are really worried about uninvited guests, which means there are some deep, dark secrets hidden behind this door.

“Shamrock,” Martin calls out. Oh fuck me, you’ve gotta be kidding me. Am I on some sort of comedy central show?

I raise my eyebrow at Chandler who shakes his head slightly while raising his shoulders. Guess this shit is new to him as well. When the door opens, I half expect to see some gargantuan behemoth waiting. Instead, the guy is maybe five feet, ten inches and a buck-fifty dripping wet. And still, there’s a look in his eyes that lets me know he’s not a fucking pansy.

“Got my money?” he asks Martin. Martin then points to me and I unbuckle my belt and unzip the hidden zipper. I pull out the money, Martin counts off three G’s and hands it to him. I guess two of that is his, the guy opens the door wider and we all head through and into the passage. There’s no lighting so it takes a minute for my eyes to adjust. “Go down this hallway here and all of the rooms are located in the west wing, do not go into the east wing.” he emphasizes, which makes me decide right here and now, that I will be visiting that side as well.

“Not a problem, man,” I lie right to his face, something I have no qualms about doing. I have no loyalties to this asshole, and well, Martin and Chandler knew what they were getting into when they agreed to take payment from me and escort me here.

“We’re going to the east wing, aren’t we?” Chandler asks as we make our way further into the tunnels.

“Sure are,” I reply.

“But that’s forbidden,” Martin nervously states.

“And?” I question him, raising my brows waiting for him to make another stupid statement.

“We can’t get caught, man. That guard knows me personally and he’ll fucking tell them where to find me and I’ll be a dead man walking,” he mutters.

“So, we won’t get caught,” I say, taking my flashlight out of my utility belt and turning it on so that I can see better. “And if we do get caught, run and go hide out somewhere they won’t look for you at.” I shrug my shoulders. Makes a fuck of an issue for me, I couldn’t care less what he does.

Decision made, I turn toward the east wing. Let’s see what these two are made of. Let’s see if they run like pussies or stand beside me and help me figure out what they’re hiding. My attitude of fake it until you make it works as no one questions who I am and what I’m doing. If I act as if I belong here, they’ll assume I do and not stop me to ask any questions. Door after door is opened, yielding rooms that look like dungeons. Shackles and manacles hang from the wall and I can tell they’re used to hold people, I’m assuming these are hostage cells. For what reason, I’ve got no clue, but that’s beside the point. The guard expressly said to stay out so there’s something down here they don’t want seen, or found, at least by me.

I hear the sounds of whimpering coming from a door further down and make my way there, acting as casually as possible, despite the blood pumping through my veins and the feeling that things are about to be as fucked-up as possible. We haven’t come across anyone as of yet, but I’m not going to let my guard down and be taken by surprise. “Going in,” I murmur, so low that I know these two numbnuts won’t hear.

“Roger that,” Jonas replies. Good, they can hear me. I made sure to verbalize directions as they were given. When we found the spot, I activated my GPS locator that’s inserted in my watch. So I know that even now, the two of them are likely nearby, just in case.

The sight that meets my eyes has me cringing and my blood boiling. And I’m a fucking badass who’s seen it all and done most of it. There is a slip of a woman chained to the wall who is covered in black and blue bruises and her body and hair is coated in blood. Hell, the only way I know it’s a female is the outfit that she’s wearing. Or, what’s left of it that is. I don’t think she realizes that we’re in there, her eyes are closed and she’s moaning in pain. “Fuck me,” I mutter.

“What?” Jonas asks. I can hear the tone of his voice has changed because neither of them are physically at my back, but right now, I gotta figure out how to get her out of here. There’s no fucking way anyone deserves the treatment she’s been given.

“Who are you?” I ask as I lean closer. She opens her eyes, which is no better than slits if I’m being honest. “Can you see me?”

“Y-yes,” she stammers out. “Who are you? Please, they’ve got Destiny!”

“Who’s Destiny and who has her?” I bark out.

“My sister. The same people who kidnapped me have her. They’re using her as leverage, so I’ll do what they want me to do,” she replies. I can hear the pain lacing her words and while a part of me feels bad for pushing her, I can’t look at that right now.

“I’ll help get you out of here, but later you’ll have to explain to me what you mean. You’ll have to tell me what they want you to do and how they’re using her as leverage. Deal?”

“Yeah, deal,” she murmurs. I can tell she wants to argue with the fact that I practically demanded she share her story, but the concern she has for her sister is overriding her anger.

“Dammit,” I mutter when I see that there are difficult locks on these chains. “We need to find a way to break her out of these, I’m going to search in the other rooms for something we can use, you two stay here and guard her. Do not let anything happen to her before I get back,” I order the two men with me.

“The only person with a key to the locks should be here any minute to bring me my daily water,” she tells me. Guess we’ll be waiting for the douche to show up, which means we need to find a place to hide so he won’t notice us once he enters the room. I look around and there are no places to hide three grown ass men.

“You two, go wait in the room next door. It’s empty so no one should be looking inside it, I’ll come and get you when I’m done taking care of the guy and have her freed,” I instruct.

They both nod their heads and sneak out the door. I stay hidden in the shadows.

“You need us to get in there?” Jonas asks through my mic.

“Not yet, but be on stand-by,” I reply, taking my place behind the door. “Did you catch the shit when we got here?” I know he probably heard the sequence of knocks and also the password that will allow them entrance.

“Yep. We’re ready to neutralize if necessary so you can get out,” Silas declares, he is in operative mode.

I’m about to say something else, when I hear heavy footsteps echoing down the hallway as they approach the door. I look at her and place my finger to my lips and see her nod slightly. Good.

“So, how’s the bitch doing today? Not looking so pretty now, are you?” the guy asks, as he makes his way into the room. He never sees me hiding behind the door therefore he never sees me coming. I hit him in such a way that he’s unconscious as I ease him to the floor. I twist his neck, until I hear an audible break with a satisfying crunch. Grabbing the keys, I quickly find the ones for the locks on her shackles. Once I have her freed, I help her get the feeling back into her arms and legs. I rub the life back into her limp and heavy limbs. She cries out as the feeling starts to come back. “Shh,” I place my finger on her lips, because I don’t want to take any chances of anyone walking down the tunnels and hearing her cries.

“Now, Jonas,” I say into the mic. Indicating that this would be a good time for him and Silas to make their move. I’ll let tweedle-dee, and tweedle-dum, take her back up, and out to my brothers, while I go search for the asshole who started all of this… Senator Sterling Brown, Jr.