Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 129980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Maestro measured out the steps while Preacher dragged Bobby out of sight and retrieved Maestro’s knife. Maestro placed his hand on the ornate wooden panel, feeling the instant connection. The lock was inches from his palm. He had Azelie’s fingerprints on his fingers using silicone, and he mimicked the way she palmed the tiny chip. His hand was much larger than hers. It took a moment to get the chip centered before he placed his fingers carefully on the pad woven into the wood. In all the years they had run missions and encountered heavy security, he’d never seen such a clever device.
“Keys, I’m in,” he announced. “Building’s as secure as it’s going to be.”
“Right behind you,” Keys assured him. He entered quickly, saluted Preacher, who had pulled on the silicone mask of Bobby’s face and a ball cap and sank into the chair Bobby had vacated. He was their first line of defense so no one could come up behind Maestro and Keys as they descended into the lower floors.
Maestro waited for Keys, allowing him to go first. The stairway was narrow, lit only by LED lights. Before stepping onto each stair, Keys patiently crouched low and ran his palms just above the next stair down. Both were aware of time passing, but they didn’t attempt to hurry the process. They knew how many stairs they had to descend to reach the floor where the offices and potential prison for the women were. Knowing there were bombs in the floor, both realized bombs could be placed beneath the stairs as well. It was entirely possible Billows activated the bombs when he wasn’t there, but if he knew Azelie was coming, he’d have made certain there was no chance of them going off.
“Player said he’ll have a main switch in the office he uses,” Key said. “And he’ll most likely always carry a manual switch on his person. When he’s taken, we’ll have to strip him to ensure he can’t blow us all up.”
Maestro wasn’t worried about Billows’ chances of killing them, not when Savage and Destroyer would be there to take care of the interrogation. No matter what self-preservation instincts Billows had, the two men were guaranteed to get around them. They’d been trained in every aspect of interrogation from the time they were young boys. Both had exceeded the expectations of every instructor.
Keys found four bombs beneath the floorboards in the maze of seemingly dead-end hallways, but none of the four were live. They’d simply been placed there.
“While you find an entrance to the other rooms, I’ll check Billows’ office for a switch for the bombs and also to see if he has the same kind of chip to unlock the door in the wall.”
That was the one thing Maestro was most worried about. If Billows had rested on his laurels and programmed the lock to be the same as the one for the door leading down to the underground floor, it was possible Azelie had access to every lock without realizing it. Billows had her so intimidated she hadn’t tried to explore the environment. That was smart on her part. Billows had been lulled into a false sense of security by Azelie’s compliance.
Maestro followed the same path Azelie had taken when she had tried to locate the woman screaming. She’d told him how the hallways narrowed and would dead-end straight into a wall. The floor was dimly lit with LED lights along the ceiling in places, but they hung down in a rope, causing shadows to move ominously. It was disorienting and gave off the illusion that the walls crept in, closing in on him as his hand whispered along the wood. It would be a terrifying experience for a young woman alone.
Torpedo Ink had a member, Player, who was a master of illusion. He could create entrances and exits or throw up false walls they could hide behind. The toll was tremendous on him for using that talent, but he’d developed it into a real weapon that had saved their lives on many occasions. Maestro wasn’t thrown by illusions. He was good at telling the difference between reality and tricks.
The swaying ropes of light had been set up deliberately to give the illusion of the walls closing in on anyone walking around. It was a good trick and required a professional to manage it. Billows most likely had done it knowing Azelie worked in an office below the clubs. He didn’t want her exploring. The illusion hadn’t stopped Azelie when she believed another woman was hurt and needed help. Billows didn’t know Azelie nearly as well as he thought he did.
The wood panel whispered to him as he made his way steadily toward the wall solidly in front of him. He felt Azelie’s presence, although the incident had taken place months earlier. Her fear and determination were impressed into the grains in the wood. That made Maestro love her all the more. She’d been unwavering in her resolve to find the unknown woman even though she was terrified. Azelie was courageous, even if a little foolhardy.