Good Intentions - Adrian Hell #6 (Adrian Hell Series) (27 page)

As I take the second left, we come to a dead end. There are two doors on the left—one of which has a plaque on it saying SUPPLIES. Must be where Lily dropped in. Opposite that is a fire exit, which is closed and looks alarmed. I can see the shadow of a guy standing outside it through the frosted glass.

I stop and turn. Lily and Kaitlyn move next to me. I aim my gun at the corner. “What’s the move, Lily?”

She lets out a short sigh, which I think is frustration. “We need to get outside. I can take the guy out who’s standing there, but I don’t know who else is nearby. Also, we’re on the opposite side of the building to the front entrance, and more importantly, to the parking lot. There’s no quick way out of here.”

I stare at the corridor, focusing all my strength on keeping my arm raised. I wait a few moments, to see if anyone appears.

…

…

…

…

Nothing.

Could be a good sign.

Probably isn’t, but I feel optimism is the way forward right now.

I turn my head slightly. “I’ll cover you. Do what you gotta do.”

Behind me, Lily says, “Kaitlyn, stay low against the wall. Get your gun ready. Watch Adrian’s back, shoot anything you see that isn’t him. Just point and squeeze like we talked about, okay? I’ll call out when it’s clear.”

I take slow, deep breaths, concentrating on keeping my aim steady. I hear Lily kick the door open… The guy outside grunts… Then shouts out in pain… It’s cut short… I hear the thud of a body hitting the ground outside.

“We’re clear,” announces Lily.

I walk backward until I’m level with the fire exit. Kaitlyn’s already moved outside. Still no sign of anyone following us. My guess is they re-grouped out front.

I force myself to lower my gun and step through the fire exit. The heat is intense, and a faint wave of nausea hits me. I stand still for a moment while it passes…

I hate this.

I stride over the dead guy. I can tell he’s dead, because his eyes are open and blank, looking up at me. From the position of his head, I’m guessing Lily snapped his neck.

Nice.

There’s a small grassy area ahead of us with trees planted sporadically around the perimeter. A high wall surrounds the miniature garden ahead of us and to the right, with benches positioned in front of them. The graveled courtyard stretches left around the corner.

Lily takes point, with Kaitlyn close behind. I’m bringing up the rear, moving backward as fast as I dare, aiming at the fire exit. I round the corner and turn, quickly catching them up. It’s a wide passage that seems to lead around the back of the facility. There’s a set of double doors about halfway along on the left.

Lily’s pressed against the wall at the end, peering around the corner. Kaitlyn’s next to her, holding her gun awkwardly and staring ahead with a ‘
what the fuck am I doing here?
’ look on her face.

I smile to myself. I know that feeling.

I rest against the wall next to her and catch my breath. “What are we looking at, Lily?”

“It’s a parking lot, maybe half full. It runs all the way around the side and links up to the front, which is the good news.”

“I’m assuming there’s bad news, too?”

“Yeah… I can see eight men at the far side. They’re spread out, but in an obvious formation. There’s a chance they won’t see us back here, but there’s no way past them.”

“Shit. Okay, let me take a look.”

We swap positions and I peer carefully around the corner.

She’s right—the formation is spaced, but tight. There’s no way we can get past them unseen. I can’t make out facial features from this distance, but I can tell by how they’re all standing that Pierce isn’t among them.

As of right now, we’re against the clock. Realistically, I have to assume it’s only a matter of time before someone decides enough is enough and the button’s pushed to remove both mine and Lily’s heads. There are only two people I know of who can do that, so the safest option is to kill them both. Unfortunately, one of them, as best as I can tell, pretty much runs The Order, and is surrounded at all times by a sizeable security detail. The other is somewhere on the other side of this parking lot, also surrounded by a sizeable security detail.

Shit.

I turn back to Lily. “What do you know about The Order’s network?”

She frowns. “How do you mean?”

“Well, when Pierce was feeding me his bullshit, he said you’d hacked into their network and hijacked the signal from the tracking devices, giving you visibility of everyone’s location. I assumed, because I wasn’t dead, that viewing the tracking signal wasn’t the same thing as having control over the detonator. That might still be the case, I don’t know, but is anything like that remotely possible?”

She thinks for a moment, and then shrugs. “It’s possible, I guess. But I wouldn’t know how to do it.”

“Do you know anyone in The Order who could? Who you trust enough to ask?”

She shakes her head. “No. You?”

I return the gesture. “Nope. Only person I know could do that shit, I’m not allowed to contact.”

“Your GlobaTech friend?”

I nod.

“Listen, Adrian. Whatever happens from this point on, you have to accept that you’re done with The Order. If reaching out to him is our only way out of this, maybe you should consider it?”

I think about it for a moment, but quickly dismiss it. “No. He believes I’m dead. Regardless of what Horizon told me I can and can’t do, I can’t just announce to him out of the blue that I’m alive and immediately ask him to risk his life for me. We need another way.”

Kaitlyn stands up straight and steps away from the wall. She turns to face us both. “I… I might know someone…”

Lily and I exchange a glance, both equally surprised. I look at Kaitlyn. Her face is contorted with the familiar struggle of an internal debate. I’m guessing she’s trying to decide if she wants to involve whoever it is in this mess. Can’t say I blame her, and under any other circumstances, I would try to talk her out of it.

I move toward her. “Who is it?”

She stares at the ground for a moment, fidgeting with the gun in her hand. “It’s… my neighbor. He’s a sweet kid, nineteen. It’s just him and his mom. He’s studying a Masters of Science at Zayed University in… I.T. and Cyber Security, I think it is. He’s off-the-scale intelligent. If you want a computer system hacking, I bet he’ll be able to do it.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Kaitlyn, this is brilliant. Do you have a good relationship with them? Can we approach them with this?”

“More importantly, do you trust him?” adds Lily.

She looks flustered. “I… Yes, I think so. We can trust him, I mean. I speak with both Yaz and his mother when I see them. I think he might have a small crush on me, actually…”

Lily giggles. “That’s perfect. Just show a little of what God gave you, and he’ll do anything!”

Kaitlyn goes bright red and looks away.

I roll my eyes and look back around the corner. The men are still fanned out across the parking lot. I glance around the area directly across from me. There aren’t many cars nearby, but one does catch my eye. It’s a white Range Rover Sport. A big, sturdy 4×4 with a grill on the front and large rims on the tires.

We might be able to get to it unseen…

I look back at Lily. “I’ve got an idea.”

“Oh, no…”

I smile. “You’re gonna love it.” I look at them both in turn. “You see that Range Rover behind me? We’re going to steal it and plough straight through Pierce’s team. Lily, you can drive. I’ll shoot whoever I can. Kaitlyn, I want you lay flat on the back seat, out of sight. It’s a strong vehicle, and I’m hoping the surprise means we won’t take too much fire on the way out.”

The women exchange a look, and then Lily stares at me. “Adrian, that’s fucking stupid.”

I nod. “Correct.”

“I mean, the chances of that working and us getting out of here are… next to nothing.”

“I agree.”

“And yet you’re still standing by your plan?”

I shrug. “Unless you can think of a better one…”

Kaitlyn clears her throat. “Ah… I know I’m not, like… y’know… one of
you
or anything, but would it not make sense to cause a distraction first? Get them looking somewhere else, and then hit them with the Range Rover from behind.”

I look at Lily and smile. That’s a good idea, and I concede I didn’t think about that. I was too focused on what’s right in front of me.

I wink at Kaitlyn. “You sure you’re not secretly an assassin?”

She smiles awkwardly.

Lily moves back along the wall, toward the fire exit. I look over at her. “Hey, where are you going?”

She glances back and shrugs. “To cause a distraction. Kaitlyn will be fine driving… you shoot whoever you can… I’ll meet you out front.”

“Lily, that’s… You talk about
my
plans being stupid! Pierce and God knows how many more men are still in there.”

“I’ll be fine, just make sure you’re waiting for me out front.”

“Okay, well at least take this.” I throw her my remaining spare mag.

She catches it and nods. “Thanks.”

Before I can say anything else, she disappears around the corner, heading back inside the hospital.

Shit.

I tuck my gun behind me and move next to Kaitlyn. I grab her arm in my left hand and turn to her. I take a deep breath. She does the same, knowing that the time for action has come. I look into her eyes and see her searching for every ounce of courage she can find, steeling herself for what lies ahead. She’s about to walk into a life or death situation and charge headfirst toward the threat. That’s never an easy thing to do, but I imagine that up until yesterday it had never even crossed her mind that she would be here.

And she wouldn’t be, if it wasn’t for me.

I’m a real piece of shit sometimes, aren’t I?

I’m like a cancer to the people around me, bringing danger and death to their doorsteps.

Well, I promise you this—when all this is over, I’m going to remove myself from the rest of the world. I’m going to find a quiet little corner where no one knows me and stay there, so I never endanger anyone again.

But first…

“Are you ready?”

She nods. “I think so.”

I smile, trying to reassure her. “You’re gonna be fine. I’ve got your back, okay? Don’t worry. This is what I do.”

We stand, poised just out of sight behind the corner. After a moment, I can feel her staring at me. “Adrian, what are we waiting for?”

I hold up my right arm and listen...

…

…

…

I hear a small explosion somewhere behind us, followed by muted bursts of gunfire.

I turn to her. “That! Come on!”

We run toward the Range Rover. I quickly try the door, but it’s locked. I take Kaitlyn’s gun from her, hold it by the barrel, and smash the butt into the bottom corner of the driver’s window. I quickly hand it back, yank the door open, and lean in and down to hotwire the car and disable the alarm before it goes off.

It’s… ah… It’s not that easy… with… one… hand…

And…

The engine splutters and surges into life.

Got it!

I stand up and take her gun from her one more time. “Get in!”

I aim at the far end of the parking lot as I move around the hood of the Range Rover. The team of men is disappearing toward the main entrance, which is good, but we need to be quick, otherwise Lily will be overwhelmed.

I jump into the passenger seat. “Go! Go!”

Kaitlyn hammers the gas, the tires screech, and we speed forward. There are two stragglers, who both stop and turn to look at us, moving to raise their rifles.

“Kaitlyn, don’t stop!”

She locks her arms and grips the wheel until her knuckles turn white. She grimaces and half looks away as she lets out a scream, venting against every natural instinct she has to hit the brakes. “Oh my God!”

The men don’t get a shot off. She bulldozes straight through the pair of them. One was sucked beneath the vehicle, and we bounced over his body. The other ricocheted off the hood and disappeared out of sight to the left.

She slams on the brake and makes a hard left, sliding out of the parking lot to the ambulance approach at the front. The six other men from the team are hustling inside, but the back three guys stop and turn to face us.

“Stop here!”

We come to an abrupt halt. I throw the door open, put one foot down on the ground, rest my left arm in the angle between the chassis and the open door, and empty the full mag of Kaitlyn’s gun into the three guys. I see numerous small splashes of blood from the impact of each bullet finding its mark.

I quickly look inside the car. “You okay?”

She doesn’t reply, but nods hurriedly. Her lips are pursed together, and I think she’s fighting against the onset of shock and tears.

“You’ve done good. Just wait here a sec. I’m gonna go—”

“Let’s go! Let’s go!”

I turn and see Lily running toward us, firing blindly behind her.

I lean back and open the rear door, jump back inside, and slam mine shut. I look at the main entrance as she reaches the car, seeing at least ten more men filing through, shooting from the hip, desperate to hit her.

Shots pepper the hood, though none of them are accurate enough to hit anything important.

“Kaitlyn, go!”

Lily closes her door, lying flat on the back seat as Kaitlyn shifts the car into reverse, flooring the gas pedal, and kicking up smoke as we speed out onto the main road. She slams it in gear, makes a U-turn as fast as she dares, and we speed away. The hospital quickly fading away in the rearview.

I shift in my seat and look behind me. “Are you okay? What happened?”

Lily’s laughing to herself, gasping for breath. “That… was… fun!”

I raise an eyebrow. She looks at me and smiles. “Sorry. I headed for the supplies closet and found lots of cleaning products. I made a small explosive cocktail and threw it down the corridor past your room. It got their attention. I took a few of them out and muscled my way through in the confusion.” She lifts her head slightly and turns to Kaitlyn. “Nice driving, sister!”

Kaitlyn doesn’t respond.