Chapter Thirty-One

Laura heard the alarms go off just as Myers and Deshawn neared an exit. Both their eyes went wide. Deshawn ran his badge frantically against the door. Little red lights flickered, then nothing. Again. Nothing.

“Lock down. We’re not going anywhere.” Deshawn stepped back and ran a hand over his head. “Protocol states that if an intruder, such as Black, gets in, no one in and no one out. Kill anyone caught with Black but bring her back alive.”

Myers raised an eyebrow. “You’re saying they planned for this?”

“Every day, it seems. The few people I talked to said they knew Laura would be back, and it became part of the training exercises.”

Laura shook her head. “We didn’t come here. They brought us here.” This all didn’t make sense. Or did it. Did Harding know she’d escape? He had to have. No one would know more than him. But what was his plan? “We need to hide. Suggestions?”

Deshawn didn’t answer, just began walking back down the hall. They followed him to a grate, where he motioned for them to follow him in. Myers was the last one in and closed them up. They crawled down a shaft to an opening. Deshawn pushed a lever and the floor of the shaft opened revealing a ladder down a long tube. He smiled and jumped in. Laura once again prayed this wasn’t some elaborate trap. But what choice did they have? She swung her leg over the side and lowered herself down. Myers followed right behind her.

The tube ended outside a hatch door. Deshawn pushed down on the wheel. It wouldn’t budge. He glanced at Myers. Myers nodded and together the two of them got the rusted metal wheel to open. They stepped inside what looked like an old bomb shelter decorated in the 1970s. It housed an old-style TV, a couch, and a record player. The walls were made out of brown paneling, and the floor was covered in an awful rust shag carpet. At the end of the bunker were shelves packed with food and water.

“What is this place?” Laura picked up a yellow wrapped can marked “Soda” in black letters. All the cans were matching with different titles.

“I’m not sure, but I made out with a hot high-ranking agent down here once.” Deshawn winked at Myers knowingly.

Myers laughed.

“And you didn’t think to ask her what this was?”

Myers and Deshawn exchanged glances and chuckled.

“Men and their hormones. Whatever.” Laura paced in the small area. “What I’m worried about is if they will think to look for us here?”

Myers stepped over to the wall and played with the controls. “No way.”

“What?” Laura came up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Do you know what this is?”

“Enlighten me.”

He spun around to face her, only inches away. Their eyes locked and Laura swallowed. “What is it?” her voice cracked a bit.

“It’s a safe room,” Myers said.

“And that’s good because…?”

A big grin encompassed his face. “Because it means I can change the code, and we can stay here for quite some time.” He punched a few keys and several monitors lowered from the ceiling. Cameras caught all areas of the compound, including outside their door.

“This is amazing!” Excited, Laura kissed Myers hard on the cheek.

His smile faded, serious, but not mad. He stared at her a moment, looking like he might say something, but instead, walked past her. “I’m going to see if there is a bathroom behind those cases.” He walked around them and disappeared.

Deshawn walked to Laura’s side. “Can I ask you something without getting punched?”

Laura laughed. “Yeah, why would I punch you?”

“I see the way you look at him.”

“Who?”

Deshawn nodded to the where Myers had gone.

“Myers? Don’t be ridiculous.”

Deshawn peered over at the cases. “Yeah, well, you can deny it, but I see what I see. I thought you and Bryce were married. I mean, I know you’ve been locked up together and all, but…”

Laura’s joy sunk into her chest. The mention of Bryce’s name stung. “Bryce is dead.” Those words dropped heavy in the room. Shock was evident on Deshawn’s face. It quickly turned to sadness. He bent down to the ground, hovering on his haunches. “How?”

Emotion grasped Laura’s throat as she tried to respond. “Helena murdered him.”

“Man! That’s… I can’t even… There are no words.” Deshawn closed his eyes and exhaled through his nose. “I wondered what happened when I saw her. She didn’t say hi and was saying things about being loyal to S.I.U. I thought she was tripping, like they had her on something.” Deshawn stood and put out his arms for a hug. “I’m so sorry, Laura. We all loved that guy.”

Laura hugged him and nodded. “Thank you.”

The sound of running water sounded in the other room.

“I hope they can’t hear that,” Laura said in some hopes of changing the subject.

“I don’t think so. It’s pretty solid steel in here.” Deshawn slapped the wall. “My guess it was built to withstand blowing this place up.”

That sounded like Harding. Get all the agents rushing around, and he hides in here while they are annihilated. Laura walked to the shelf and grabbed a yellow can marked “water” and popped it open. The water was sweet and cool. It didn’t take but a minute to down the entire thing.

Myers walked back in, drying his head, wearing an olive drab T-shirt and black shorts.

“So, you found a shower.” Laura grinned.

Myers shot a towel at her thigh.

It snapped but didn’t hurt. “Hmm, you’ll pay for that.”

“Just go shower. You stink.”

Laura narrowed her eyes, playfully. “Fine. Only because you’re right.” She ducked around the corner. A small stand-up shower only big enough for one thin body stood on the left, only inches away from a super short toilet. It reminded her of the toilets in elementary school. There was no sink. So, all the water must come from the shower. She flipped on the handle and water poured down. It was lukewarm. After a minute, it seemed it would not get any warmer, so she underdressed and stepped inside.

The water streamed down her body, stinging against the open scratches and sores. But it soothed her. She closed her eyes and breathed in. Symbolically, it was like washing away all the bad from the past few days. They needed their strength if they were to fight their way out. Right now, they would be taken—most likely killed. For some reason, Laura was supposed to live. And that was before Harding knew of her pregnancy. So, that wasn’t enough. Myers and Deshawn could not die; that was not an option. She would not lose another friend in this fight.

She glanced down at her naked abdomen. It had started to swell. Lately, she had felt twinges in her stomach, like bubbles. Through all the trauma of the last month, she hoped the baby was okay. It appeared he or she still grew.

She shut off the water and stepped out. A towel lay on the toilet seat, along with some clothes. Funny, she didn’t remember that there before. Myers must have put it there. She smiled as she pulled on the olive drab T-shirt and gray sweat pants. Luckily, they had a string, as they were a bit big. She probably looked like a girl playing dress up in her father’s clothes. She started to walk around the corner, when she overheard her name.

“So, you and Laura, huh?” Deshawn asked.

“No, man, it isn’t like that.”

“Yeah, right. You just keep telling yourself that. I see the way you two look at each other.”

Myers sighed. “I can’t hurt her, man. She means too much for me to make that mistake.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, her heart belongs to Bryce. I could never replace that. I wouldn’t want to try.”

Deshawn chuckled. “Man, you have it bad.”

“Did you just hear what I said?”

“Oh, I hear you. But body language says way more. I get it. You don’t want to move in on Bryce’s wife, but he’s gone. You’ve lost someone, and she’s lost someone. It’s really okay. No one in this family would fault either of you for liking each other.” The sound of a slap happened, likely on Myer’s back. “Follow your heart. You two are going to need each other, especially with that kid on the way.”

Laura closed her eyes. What did she think? In a way, she felt numb. Her stomach twisted and turned. Could she be falling for Myers? It was true; they had been through a lot together. It was possible that was all this was—a bond formed due to vile conditions. Of course, they would always love each other. But could they love each other. She didn’t know. Nor did she want to figure that out just now. Laura took a deep breath, stepped back a few steps, and started forward with hard steps that would be heard. “That shower was amazing.”

Myers peered at her over the top of a couch pillow and grinned. “I can’t smell you from here, so I would say it did its job. Nice clothes by the way.”

“Thanks.” She punched him in the arm and dropped next to him. “So, what now?”