Chapter 8 - Teeth and Claws
The prison looked like a medieval fortress,
updated with steel and glass.
It sat on a jagged cliff,
overlooking the churning black sea.
I drove Vane’s car up to the gate.
The guard checked the ID and looked at Vane’s terrified face.
“Warden?
Is everything alright?”
“Open the gate,”
Vane croaked,
my gun pressed into his ribs from the passenger seat.
The gate hissed open.
We drove into the courtyard.
I parked in the warden’s reserved spot.
“Phantom,
stay,”
I whispered.
The dog was hidden in the back under a tarp.
I knew he would wait until I gave the signal.
I led Vane toward the main entrance.
The guards saluted,
oblivious to the drama unfolding.
We went through three sets of biometric doors.
Vane’s thumbprint and retina scan opened them all.
We reached the elevator to Level 4.
“This is as far as I go,”
Vane said.
“The guards down there are Council regulars.
They don't report to me.”
“Then you’re my shield,”
I said.
The elevator descended into the earth.
The air grew colder,
and the lights turned a clinical blue.
When the doors opened,
four men in heavy armor were waiting.
“Warden?
Who is this?”
I didn't wait for an answer.
I fired through my pocket,
the silenced rounds catching the first two in the head.
The other two scrambled for their weapons,
but I was already out of the elevator.
I took one down with a shoulder charge,
plunging my knife into his neck.
The last one managed to fire a shot,
grazing my arm,
before I snapped his windpipe.
I turned to Vane.
“The cell.”
He pointed to a door at the end of the hall.
It was reinforced steel,
with a single small window.
I ran to it and looked inside.
A woman was sitting on a bench.
She was thin,
her hair matted,
but her eyes were unmistakable.
“Mara,”
I whispered.
She looked up,
disbelief washing over her face.
“Holden?”
“I’m here,”
I said.
“I found her,
Mara.
Elara is safe.”
She burst into tears,
clutching the bars of the window.
“Open it!”
I yelled at Vane.
He fumbled with the keypad.
The door clicked open.
Mara stumbled out,
and I caught her in my arms.
She felt like she was made of straw.
“We have to go,”
she gasped.
“The alarm…
they know.”
As if on cue,
a siren began to wail.
The lights turned red.
“The guards are coming!”
Vane screamed.
I looked at the end of the hall.
A dozen men were pouring out of the stairwell.
“Get behind me,”
I told Mara.
I pulled my radio.
“Phantom!
NOW!”
From above,
I heard the sound of glass shattering.
The dog had jumped through the lobby window.
A few seconds later,
the elevator began to move.
The doors opened,
and the black beast exploded into the hallway.
He didn't wait for a command.
He saw the men in armor as the enemy.
He saw them as the ones who had hurt his mistress.
Phantom was a whirlwind of violence.
He tore through the line of guards,
ignoring the bullets that grazed his hide.
He was a force of nature.
I joined the fray,
my shotgun barking as I cleared a path for Mara.
We moved toward the elevator.
Vane tried to run the other way,
but a stray bullet caught him in the back.
He fell,
forgotten in the chaos.
We reached the elevator and jammed the button.
Phantom leapt in just as the doors closed.
He was covered in blood,
panting heavily.
Mara knelt beside him,
her hands shaking.
“Phantom,”
she whispered.
The dog let out a soft whine and licked her face.
The bond was still there.
The beast and the beauty,
reunited in the dark.
“We’re not out yet,”
I said,
checking my ammo.
“The courtyard will be crawling with them.”
“I can help,”
Mara said,
standing up.
She looked at the fallen guard’s pistol.
“They taught me how to shoot.
They wanted me to be their assassin.”
I handed her the gun.
“Then let’s show them what a Cross can do.”
The elevator hit the ground floor.
The doors opened to a wall of fire.
May you like
But we didn't flinch.
We were the fire.
