Inferno-Kat 2 (21 page)

“Took you long enough.”

Kat tossed the bag down into the vent and followed it down. Hades came right behind her, sliding the grate closed as more bullets slammed into the small rolling cabinet beside them.

They crawled through the vent as quickly as they could to catch up with Onyx and Leucothea.

They were sitting ducks in the metal tunnels. If the guards opened fire, they wouldn’t have a chance. They needed to get out and into an open area where they could blend in with the other inhabitants of the city and hide or set up a position and make a stand.

“Onyx, get us out of here,” Kat demanded.

He tapped on Leucothea’s calf as she crawled in front of him. “Go right and then left. Next grate you come to, pop it open.”

When they made the last turn in the tunnel and slowed, Kat could hear music and voices coming from beneath them. Following the directions Onyx had given her, Leucothea stopped and yanked on the grill to open it. Before she could slide down, Kat reached past Onyx and grabbed her arm.

“Let me go first.”

She scrambled back from the hole while Kat and Onyx switched positions.

Kat leaned over and looked down into the room. Tables and chairs occupied by various people lined the walls. Big mugs of beer and plates of food were scattered on the wooden surfaces. She was looking down into a tavern. Bustling and alive with people, there was no way in hell they could drop down from the ceiling without a big fuss.

She glanced back over her shoulder at Onyx and Hades. “It’s a bar. Someone will definitely notice if we drop in.”

“Is this the same place we entered the vents? The one in the bathroom?” Leucothea asked, eyes on Onyx.

He shook his head. “No, that’s Lou’s place, on the other side of the market square. This is Pell’s place.”

“How do we get down?” Kat asked him, her patience wearing thin. She imagined there were already guards rushing through the city looking for them. She was surprised they hadn’t caught up with them in the vents. Maybe they were as stupid as they looked and didn’t realize how they had escaped. Yet.

Time was a luxury they didn’t have.

“We need a distraction.” Onyx scrambled over Kat and leaned down into the hole. “I see Wally.

He’ll do something for us. I’m always crawling around in these things, popping out of nowhere.”

Leaning over more to lower his face, he whistled. “Wally! Hey, Wally! Up here!”

The man called Wally must’ve noticed Onyx because the next thing Kat knew, the dark man was tossing down a small bag of coins. “I need a favor.”

Obviously this Wally was an entrepreneur and capitalized on an opportunity when it appeared.

Kat heard some mumbled words from below, and then Onyx sat back up.

“He’s agreed to cause a distraction.”

They only waited about two minutes when they could hear a ruckus going on beneath them in the tavern below. To Kat, it sounded like Wally was having a fine time creating a distraction for them. It sounded like tables and chairs were flying, glasses being broken, and two or more men swearing at each other. Sounded like a regular night at any bar she’d been to.

Onyx peeked down into the hole. “Looks safe. Everyone’s moved to the center of the bar to watch the fight.”

“Okay, you go first.” She nodded to Onyx.

“Still don’t trust me, eh?”

“If there are guards down there, I’d sooner see you get shot than one of us.”

Shaking his head, he swung his legs over into the grate and lowered himself until he disappeared.

Kat peered down, her weapon cocked and ready in case he made a run for it without them.

He didn’t. Still standing on one of the tables, he peered up at her and grinned. “Come on down.

Coast is clear. Everyone’s watching the fight Wally’s gotten himself into. It’ll be a while before they break that one up.”

Shouldering her shotgun, Kat slid through the hole and let Onyx help her down to the table. She jumped off the table and put her hand on her gun, ready for any trouble that might arise. None did while Leucothea and Hades dropped down. The patrons were busy watching Wally punch some guy in the middle of the room.

Once they were on the ground, Kat glanced around, looking for the quickest way out. “We need to find a way up and out. We can’t take the lift. It’ll be well guarded by now.”

“There’s a ladder on the other side of the market,” Hades commented. “Thea and I came down that way. No guards.”

“Let’s move quickly but cautiously. The less attention we draw to ourselves, the better.” Kat glanced at Onyx. He was standing there nodding at her, still dressed in only his cutoff denim pants. No shirt or shoes. He stuck out like a bruise on porcelain skin. “You need a cloak.”

He glanced down at himself and then noticed a moss-green cloak draped over one of the chairs.

Picking it up, he covered himself with it, pulling up the hood. “Better?”

“It’ll do. Just keep your head down, and walk behind Hades. He’s big enough to shield you.”

Onyx glanced at Hades. “She sure is bossy.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Hades commented with a half smile.

Kat glared at him, but he just winked at her, his sexy dimple flashing at her. Instantly her resolve melted, and she returned his smile.

He put his arm around her and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Come on, babe, let’s get the fuck out of here.”

“You lead, I’ll follow.”

“Hmmm, that’s a first.” Chuckling, he pressed another quick kiss to her head and then started his way through the tavern to the exit.

T
here were no guards waiting when they stepped out of Pell’s tavern and into the marketplace, just throngs of people walking about, looking at shop carts or going someplace else.

Hades moved out into the streaming crowd and hoped that they blended in. Hunching down, he glanced over his shoulder to make sure the others were right behind him. They were, Kat taking the rear.

Just looking at her, eyes darting around, hand gripping the barrel of her shotgun, made his heart ache. She was a fighter, and he knew she’d never surrender. He hoped he could lead them out of here without her having to consider that option.

While they moved through the marketplace, Hades eyed the crowd, looking for any sign of danger. So far, nobody was paying them any mind. Cart keepers went about their business hocking their wares, and consumers bought them. They were just four anonymous inhabitants of Inferno out for a stroll.

As they edged closer to the end of the marketplace, Hades could see the ladder he and Leucothea had descended. It was thankfully unguarded. A few more yards and they’d be safely making their way up.

Shivers of dread raced down his back. Something wasn’t right. He could feel it crawling over his skin like a thousand baby spiders. Glancing up to the second level, he quickly spied the reason for his apprehension.

They’d been spotted.

Four burly guards with rifles were following them along the second level, two on each side. They were trapped. The only thing keeping them safe was the possibility that the guards might not shoot into the crowd for fear of hitting others. From what he knew of Satarah and her men, that was a huge leap of faith.

Hades slowed his pace and dropped back so he could talk to Kat. When he was in step with her, she glanced at him sideways. By the look in her eyes, he knew she suspected something was wrong.

“We have company.”

“I know.” She moved her hand down, showing him she already had one of her throwing stars gripped tightly in her fingers. “I can take one out on the right. But I don’t know what kind of advantage that’ll give us.”

“It’ll be one less gun shooting at us,” Hades joked.

Kat chuckled.

Hades nodded to the right. “I’ll take the other one out, and we’ll run left. If we stay under the shop canopies, the guards up top won’t have a clear shot.”

“I’ll take whatever advantage we can get.”

Hades shuffled forward, coming up between Leucothea and Onyx. “Keep your eyes forward, and don’t look at me. I want you two to start walking to the left. But do not get into the open. Stay grouped up with others.”

Leucothea protested. “But—”

“Just do it. There’s going to be shooting soon. Four guards are tracking us from the second level.

As soon as you hear a gunshot, run and get under the canopies of the shops, and then keep running. No matter what happens, get up top. Get out of Inferno.”

With that, Hades fell back to keep stride with Kat. He watched as Onyx took Leucothea’s hand and started veering off to the left.

He hoped they’d get free. Someone in this tale needed a “happily ever after.” Glancing at Kat, he suspected it wouldn’t be for either of them. They had both lived their lives dangerously.

Constantly on the edge of death. Together, they had managed to escape it twice.

He didn’t think they were three times charmed.

“How come it always comes down to us having to battle our way out of situations?”

She smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “Lucky, I guess.”

By god, he wanted to kiss her right there and then. It wasn’t fair that he had to march into battle without her taste on his lips.

Coming to a stop, he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to him. Her eyes widened, but she didn’t stop him from covering her mouth with his. She met his frantic passion with her own.

They gorged themselves on each other. Nipping and tugging on each other’s lips, sweeping their tongues over one another, frenzied to taste, to consume one last time.

Breaking the kiss, Hades rested his forehead on hers and sighed deeply. “I think the universe is trying to tell us something, babe. Every time we’re together, someone’s trying to rip us apart.”

“Yeah, love’s a bitch.”

“It certainly is.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “Ready?”

“Always.”

Taking a step back and whipping around, Hades raised his shotgun and fired at one of the guards watching them from the second-level. At the same time, Kat flung her metal star at the other guard.

Hades’ shot nearly ripped the knee out of the guard’s leg and peppered the other guy with buckshot. Screaming, the injured gunman went down, just as Kat’s throwing star stuck the other guard in the throat. Before either one hit the metal of the second-level walkway, Hades and Kat were sprinting left across the marketplace.

The guards above them on the opposite side opened fire into the screaming, panicking crowd.

As Hades and Kat maneuvered around people, pushing them out of the way, bullets whizzed by.

An old man took a shot in the shoulder just as Hades ducked around him. The guards didn’t seem to care who went down as they kept shooting into the frenzied throng of people.

From the right side, the downed guard waved his hand madly in the air and yelled, “Don’t hit the woman! Baruch wants her alive!”

After a couple of narrow escapes, Hades made it to the left side under the line of shop canopies.

He stopped there and waited for Kat, his heart all but frozen in his chest as he watched her struggle.

She’d fallen. A young man with a blossoming red spot on his chest was lying on top of her.

Scrambling out from under the body, Kat got up and ran. Reaching out, Hades snagged her arm and pulled her in the rest of the way. Without time to wait, he kept her hand in his and started to run along the shops protected by the overhang above.

The firing ceased as they ran. The guards were probably moving along the metal ramp trying to get in better position. Hades knew it wouldn’t be long before more guards surrounded them. The shooting definitely would have alerted others.

While his legs pumped, pain continually surged through him. Radiating from his throbbing side, it had turned into one big ball of hurt rolling all over him. It was becoming next to impossible for him to take in breath without coughing.

He couldn’t run for much longer. It was like fire inside his lungs. It wouldn’t take much more for him to burn out completely.

As they sprinted down the shop lane, Kat could hear Hades’ ragged intake of breath. She didn’t know how he was still moving. His stamina and strength astounded her to no end. He’d never give up. She loved him for that. Loved him for every step he was taking, knowing it was killing him.

The end of the marketplace was nearing quickly. If they wanted to continue, they’d have to take the stairs up to the next level. However, that would take them out into the open. Vulnerable to sniper fire. The only other option was to turn around and run the other way. Like a rat on a wheel with nowhere to go.

As they raced past the last shop, a jewelry store, Kat spied the line of guards at the end of the lane, making the decision easy. Turn around and run. But where were Leucothea and Onyx?

That answer appeared just as she and Hades came to an abrupt stop next to the jewelry maker’s cart.

Leucothea and Onyx were on their knees in front of two guards, guns pointed at the backs of their heads. Tears streamed down the Neried’s face.

Kat’s heart lurched at the sight of her.

The three other guards raised their weapons toward Kat and Hades. One of them yelled, “Stay where you are!”

As if!
Without another thought, Kat released Hades’ hand and raced toward the guards. Slipping her hands under her cloak, she pried two metal stars from her belt. She whipped them at the two men holding her friends hostage.

One struck Leucothea’s guard in the cheek. Shrieking, he dropped his gun and brought his hands up to his wounded face. The other star hit the man behind Onyx in the shoulder. It afforded the dark man the opportunity to turn, yank the weapon out of the guard’s hands, and roll away.

Hades took the man down with a gunshot to the head.

The other guards were bewildered as Kat come barreling toward them. They obviously had never encountered a woman like Kat before. Fearless and just a little insane.

Finally one regained his senses and started firing his rifle, unconcerned where he aimed.

A bullet tore through Kat’s leg, taking her down. But not before she was able to release another throwing star. It sailed through the air and embedded in the gunman’s stomach. He stumbled back and fired another shot, killing one of his own. Only one guard remained standing, and he quickly rushed to where Kat lay, pointing his gun at her head.