The Law of Motion (Law Series) (46 page)

I stressed the next part. "You will be by mine or Dario's side, no matter what. Got me?"

She started to roll her eyes but then nodded with a resolved sigh, "Yes," because she trusted us both explicitly.

Without looking away from her I continued my orders, "J, how's my path to the front door?"

"Crystal clear," the answer came back, "but I'll cover you anyway."

Dario turned toward the opening of the bomb shelter, scanning the front yard. "I say we do this in stages, kid. Aim for the water well, then the machine gun nest, clear everything, and then finally, circle back to the house."

I nodded once in agreement as we listened to Victor and Hunter’s teams struggle over the radio. He held up his hand, hissing, "Now!"

I took lead, while Dario took the back, Alyssa right behind me, putting Doc in the middle, and Ross on her tail. We moved quickly at a crouched run a few yards, kneeling behind the bricks of the water well. We did the exact same thing as we dove behind sandbags, which were piled up around a machine gun.

My eyes fell on two men that had obviously met the wrong end of Jackson's sniper, I noticed immediately they were the ones that tried to shoot my dad, and then me and Dario.

"That's too far," Dario mused, looking to me and back across the lawn. "I vote that clump of trees first," he said, pointing to a thick part of the forest that had been allowed to stay on the property, just to the right of the front porch.

"There's a heat source in those trees," Tink piped up. "If you go, I'd surround it first..."

"Thank you, Tinky," Alyssa muttered, looking up at me, her face stern.

"Surround it, it is,"  I sighed gesturing for Dario and Ross to take the right. Alyssa, Doc and I would take the left.

"Liam?" Tink called as we approached the trees with caution. "Um...I don’t see any heat sources underground. But it seems there is more than one tunnel under there."

"Shit,”  he hissed, and I could just imagine him shaking his head and pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Son, I need you..."

"We’ll hurry back, Dad," I answered in a whisper, turning as bullets zinged past us into the shrubbery.

"Down!" Alyssa grunted, taking Doc with her. We dove behind two trees, staying low to the ground. "Jackson, I've got company."

"Waiting for it..." he sang low over the radio, humming what sounded like 
Amazing Grace
. One single pop, followed by a grunt, and he said, "You're all clear. All the assholes are out of my sight."

Alyssa laughed once, rolling her eyes and it was infectious as I grinned over at her. "Just like old times, huh, Honeyface?  So much for harmless detective work.”

A twig snapped, along with a rustle of leaves, to our right, and we both stopped, slid up the trunks of our trees into a standing position, weapons at the ready. She gestured for me to take the back so that she could take the lead.

"About a yard away, Chance," Tink warned low in our ears. "Forty-five degree angle, behind what looks to be...a large pine."

My eyebrows shot up, because she had to have been looking at two screens in order to tell those kinds of details.

Alyssa just adjusted her aim to the direction she mentioned, her voice took a no nonsense tone as she yelled, the sound echoed due to the greenery surrounding us. "Come out, or I'll toss a grenade in there, sure as shit!"

We took a few more tentative steps, before a man popped up out of the bushes, his hands raised. From every angle, five guns aimed his way—three automatic rifles and two handguns—but Chance lowered her weapon instantly.

"Don't shoot!" She ordered, stepping forward. "Fuck, Kris...what the hell? You’re still
here
?!"

"Jesus Christ, you weren't kidding!" he gasped, looking around him.

"Hell, no, I wasn't kidding," She sighed, shaking her head. Dario and I shifted uneasily, but she held a hand up. "Wait.  He's not...what you think..."

"Sweetie," I warned. "He's got your gun."

"Fuck! Take it back... I didn't want it to begin with," Kris offered, pointing to his waistband with his hands still raised.

Alyssa chuckled, taking back her nine mil. She checked the chamber, the clip, and made sure the safety was on, before stowing it in the small of her back. She angled herself so that she stood between me and her captor which made me drop my gun. "I'll explain details later, but I’ll vouch for him."

That didn’t soothe me at all. “Fuck that shit.”

"Fuck, baby… Without him, I'd never have gotten the boys to you!" She urged in a whisper. "He's protected me from the get go. He protected
 
Juan
." She explained turning to Doc.

Kris was nodding fervently behind her, but stayed quiet. That was smart.

"Fine," I conceded with a sigh, only to point my gun at him one more time. "You fucking
stay
with us. Don't get twitchy, or I may just change my mind. Understood?"

Kris paled, his mouth falling open. Sweat poured down his brow as he stood there, scared to death.

"I'd answer him, kid," Dario chuckled, nudging him with the muzzle of his gun. "He's not always that...
giving
."

Ross smirked, shook her head, and rolled her eyes, but she came to stand on the other side of Kris. "Say something, dude," she snickered.

"Y-Yeah...whatever... just don't kill me!" Kris finally spat in a rush.

I sighed, but let it go for the time, we had to press on "Dario, take the back. And
you
, stay between the girls." I order making sure he got the idea.

The kid swallowed nervously and nodded.

We did what we needed to do and once the groups prattled off the ‘all clear’s we headed back to the house. We took off at a run, bolting up the front porch steps inside. Several guns rose in several different directions, but we quickly lowered them back down. Ned and Harry were standing guard on the front door.

"The house is clear, Adrian," Ned, with the thickest Southern accent I'd ever heard.

"But your pop didn't want to chance those tunnels alone," Harry finished.

"Alyssa," My dad sighed as he swung his weapon to his back and she launched herself into his arms for a second time now that everything was over and we actually had time for pleasantries. "Sweetheart, you okay?"

"Yes," she said, kissing his painted cheek. "I'm fine."

"Good," he sighed again, letting her go, but gestured to Ned and Harry. "Ned and Harry Caudwell...meet Alyssa Marshall."

"Ma'am," they both crooned, taking off their hats and bowing dramatically.

"Morons," I chuckled, shaking my head as Doc and Alyssa smiled at them.

“Who's this?" Dad demanded pointing at Kris, who had been hanging to the back of the room in silence.

"This is Kris" Alyssa stated simply.

He looked to me for a deeper explanation, and I gave him a dry direct one. “Yes, Chance has offered him...
asylum
,"

"Ah, Kris with the doughnuts...the same one?" Dad asked with a wry smile.

"He
helped
me,” She pressed, frowning at the fact that my dad’s smile did not reach his eyes, which meant she had to plead his case again. "He's...trapped in this situation, Liam."

"We'll see. For now, he's with us...but don't fuck up," Dad warned him, just like I had. He turned to me continuing with the plan, "We've got what looks to be fucking miles of tunnels down there."

"They're old mining tunnels, Liam," Tink piped up. "I just pulled the history on that mountain. Apparently, it was used to mine gold in the early eighteen hundreds. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that's how David's family got their money. It's very old money."

"Well, that would explain the dynamite," Dario mused, looking out the window.

"But not the bomb," Doc added.

Ross nodded, "Which reminds me...Mack, you okay, big guy?"

"Yup, the timer is dismantled. It's just a pile of TNT now," he stated proudly.

"Good," Dad said. "You and Jackson get your asses to the house. We're searching these tunnels."

"And Tink," Chance added. "Is there any map that you can find?"

"I'll look," she answered. "And Chance...it's nice to have you back."

She smiled, as she liked her fingers with mine. "Thanks, pixie," she muttered, looking to Dad “Liam, whenever you're ready..."

"How do you want to do this?" I asked, looking between a split in the tunnel.

Both ways were lit by dim bulbs every few yards, from what I could see. It left spaces filled with shadows. One path descended and then veered off to the left, while the other went straight into darkness. It was the fucking unknown either way.

"Liam?" Cam piped in on the radio. "If you split up, make sure that at least one person on each team has a camera on them. I want to be able to see what you're seeing."

"That's me and Mack," Dad mused, turning to me. "You take Macon, Dario, Ross, and Alyssa. I'll take Ned, Harry, and Jackson. Doc, you should tend to your wounded. Margaux, any luck on some sort of map?"

"Yes, coming through on your phones now," she stated. "Keep in mind that this is the original mining layout. I'm not sure what the current situation is."

"That's fine, Margaux," he said, pulling out his phone. We all followed suit.

"Let me see," Alyssa muttered softly, looking over my shoulder as I opened the file.

I leaned over and kissed the top of her head, because fuck...I'd missed her like crazy. Just having her by my side made me calmer, more at ease, like none of the rest of this shit mattered. She leaned into it, a ghost of a smile flickering across her features, but she said nothing as she wrapped an arm around my waist.

"It looks like there's an opening about a mile from here," she muttered, tracing a path from where we were, to what looked like Hunter's position with her finger.

"Hunt, check in," She stated over the radio.

Spike was down after being shot by a guard at the front gate. So Phil, and Jeff had joined with Hunter’s team,  once we helped them clean up the mess Hunt checked the damage and we headed here. "I've got three prisoners back at the barn, four dead," he stated, "and right now, we're tracking a trail to where they came from. I sent Phil to guard the barn, just in case."

My dad's eyebrows shot up. "Are you about a mile out from the main gate?"

"Yeah," he replied. "I got that map. I'm hoping to find the end of the mining shaft on this end... There it is," he sighed in relief. "I'd like to work our way to each other; that will reduce any risk of missing anyone."

"Fine," my dad stated with a nod. "On this map, there's no split. Tink, Is there any thermal activity?"

"Nope, nope, nope" she replied, "but don't hold me to it. It's underground, so I may not be picking up everything down there. Keep in mind that there could be interference from underground water sources, ore, and just the fact that it's too damn far under there..."

"Ten-four," he sighed, looking to me. "You take that shaft, then, son," he ordered, pointing to the left.

"Liam," Alyssa interrupted. "This is a guess, but...I think some of them may have used this tunnel for escape."

"That's my guess, too," Kris piped up from behind us all, and he flinched when we spun to look at him.

He'd been so fucking quiet that I'd forgotten all about him. He looked nervous, but there was something about the kid that seemed to scream...
harmless
. Yeah, I'd warned him, and so had my dad, but Alyssa's vouching for him, not to mention Juan's statement of how he'd treated him, kinda meant something. I was willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt.

"You don't know?" Alyssa asked.

"This is my first time here," he said softly with a shrug. "I'm telling you, Alyssa... I was only with them to make sure they stayed away from my mother, and sister. Zoe and Myles are...unstable. And for some reason, Terry allows them...leeway. I couldn't risk them going back on their word. As long as I went along, my family was safe and I could repay my debt."

There it was. I'd been wondering exactly what had kept him with such foul people, especially when he'd been kind enough to help my girl.

"Unstable? You don’t say," Alyssa muttered, rolling her eyes, and Ross chuckled.

"Kris," I barked, and he jumped, looking up at me. "You're with me. Come on." I turned to the rest of my crew. "My team....weapons out. We're going to take this nice and fucking easy...
slow.
 Dario, you've got the back. Macon, take the lead, since you're..." I waved a hand at him. "
Camera boy
..."

"Jealous?" he asked, feigning a haughty attitude, but he still pulled his weapon from his back to lock and load it.

"Get your ass in there," I growled, rolling my eyes. "Move out," I ordered, keeping Alyssa at my side and Kris in front of us.

My dad's theory was correct; the farther we went into the tunnel, the worse our radio reception was. We lost all communication once we reached a quarter mile in, and at that point, I had no idea if the camera mounted on Macon's chest was working. We took the tunnel at a slow pace, careful of niches and long spans of darkness. Our path was up and down, and it wound left and right. The walls were jagged, rough stone, with large timbers mounted in archways every few feet. They looked old, but still doing their job of holding up the mountain over our heads. However, there was the occasional side tunnel that had collapsed, like they'd tried to split off again, only for it not to hold.