Page 28 of Shadow of Fear
She gestured to the Senator, “He’s not fine. He lost consciousness a minute ago.”
The man advanced and Rachel saw another equally armed guard at the entrance. Gavin, however, wasn’t visible. Where was he?
The thin man kicked at the Senator who didn’t move a muscle. He kicked him again and Rachel yelled at him. “Stop it.”
“If he’s dead, he ain’t feeling it.”
“If he’s dead, so are we,” said the man at the door and he took one step inside.
That was all it took. Gavin sprang from the shadows beside the open door and took down the guard with his board. As the gun fell from his hand, a stray spray of bullets peppered through the container, pinging off the walls. Rachel hit the floor, her board beside her. She saw the thin guard drop and his weapon fall beside him. She pulled on the fore end only to find his hand on the other end of the gun. The working end.
She stared into his eyes for a split second, her hand still gripping the rifle. His smile was slow and evil then his head fell, a board attached to the back of it.
“Help me up. They’ll be out here in a minute.” The Senator let go of the board and rolled to all fours. Rachel took a breath and helped him stand then, with a last look at the still man on the floor, took up the rifle and headed out of the container.
Gavin was holding both a rifle and a pistol and she frowned. “I didn’t search him.”
He shook his head and pushed the door closed, slamming the bar down over it. “If either of them is alive, they’ll have to shoot their way out.”
He led them through the shadows to another container, close to parked vehicles. “I’ll get us a ride.”
“Not yet,” the Senator said and Rachel stared at him horrified. “You aren’t going in there. You can barely breathe, let alone move.”
“I saved your butt in there,” he shot back and she glared at him.
"Quiet," Gavin hissed before looking toward the building. "How many were in there?"
“Seriously?” Rachel said even as the Senator answered four.
“We have a chance to end this, Rachel.” Gavin looked at the building again and then back at her. “Can you do this?”
“I’m going in too,” the Senator insisted and Gavin waved him quiet. “You can’t go in there without risking more injury. Youcancover us out here. You know Pritchard will run at the first chance. He might be gone already.” Gavin looked intently at Rachel. “Can you do this?”
She nodded, securing the gun. “It’s what I trained for.”
They wentin through a side window in the old building. While the frame was painted shut from the inside, it was also rotten and Gavin quietly pulled away wood and removed the glass panels, handing them to Rachel. Once inside the bathroom, they listened at the door. Faint murmurs of voices came through, though he couldn’t hear the particulars.
Gavin inched open the door and stared out. An open storage space held a couple of rows of boxes and crates. Pallets and metal shelving lined the edges of the brick-walled building. Unlike the more modern, steel buildings, the only windows were at the top of the structure. Luckily, there were no other rooms than the bathroom and the two offices next to it. Unfortunately, that meant Gavin couldn’t see squat.
He looked back at Rachel and gave her a signal to stay put. Her eyes grew round and she gave him a look of disbelief and he narrowed his own eyes at her. He turned and pulled the door open enough to squeeze through and plaster himself against the wall. She was right behind him.
He duckwalked along the wall toward the office with the conversation and she crept behind him. Then he lost her. Where the hell had she gone, he wondered but couldn’t take a chance on turning to look.
Another couple of feet and he was at the closed door. He lifted himself just enough to peer into the room and froze.
Martin Gold sat behind a desk. But not the obsequious, smarmy Gold he was used to, the one who was always trying to find out gossip or things his boss could use, but a man who had control of things. Damn it,hewas one of the leaders.
Gavin tried to make his mind process the information, he really did. But the thought of Gold being responsible for the deaths that had occurred since this whole thing had started, the thought of Rachel being shot, almost being killed by that guard minutes ago. He wasn’t sure he could let that go.
He put his hand up to open the door when it swung open and he came face to face with Gold.
“Well, if it isn’t our local hero.” Gold said and nodded to a man at his side. The burly guy, dressed in camo for cripes sake, hauled Gavin up and took the gun. He roughly searched Gavin and secured the pistol and tossed both of the weapons on the desk. Gold, dressed in his usual sloppy suit, smiled and gestured toward the main body of the warehouse. “Out there.”
Gavin was frog-marched to the center of the floor and stood there, searching the area with all his senses. Where was Rachel?
“I suppose Payne in the ass and GI Gray are out as well?”
Gavin didn’t reply and got a fist in the face. So this was the guy who’d worked on Mitchell.