Chapter 32: Chapter 32

Sam's POV

"Stop here," I tell Lily. She pulls the car to a stop and cuts the lights, leaning back in her seat. "You're far enough away from the base that you shouldn't be noticed. They tend not to send scouts out this far. So, stay here and stay quiet and if at any point I tell you to get the hell out of here you do it."

"How far is the base from here?" Lily questions.

"Not too far but I still have to hike a pretty good distance," I gesture out the window to the trees. "It's late and likely most of the base is asleep other than the people on guard duty. I should be in and out without a problem." I push open the door and step out into the cool night air.

I turn back to Lily. "If you're spotted and in trouble, don't wait for me. Get out. I'll be able to find my own way back."

Lily shakes her head. "Ev would kill me if I did that." She flashes me a sly grin. "And besides, if I'm spotted, anyone who comes up against me will be in more trouble than I will."

I shake my head. "Be careful," I say.

Lily frowns. "I think I should be the one telling you that."

"There's more danger to you sitting out here than me walking in there."

Lily frowns again, deep in thought. "I beg to differ." She starts to root through the bag she brought with her. "Here." She hands me the small black earpiece. She taps her own ear. "This way I can tell how much trouble you get into, and whether or not it can be solved by me alone or if I'm going to have to call in the cavalry."

I take the earpiece from her. "What frequency are these on?"

She shrugs and digs back into the bag, pulling out a tablet. "I'll pull it up. Why?"

I tap my hearing aids. "I can't wear the earpiece."

She scowls and curses. "I forgot about that." She pauses. "Ev made mention to you using earpieces before though."

"I can't use the earpiece, but I had one specially built into the hearing aids. I just need to know what frequency the earpieces are set to."

Lily nods and then passes me the tablet. "Ok. Here," She says. I adjust my hearing aids.

"Testing one, two, three, twenty-seven-"

"I can hear you, Lily," I interrupt. "Even without the earpieces, I can still hear you."

She grins. "Just checking."

I shake my head and start off into the forest. The only light comes from the moon and it's not enough to get through the trees. It doesn't matter though, I have the path memorized and I make it to the base in no time.

A gun is pressed into my back. "Move, and I'll shoot you," A voice growls. One of the guards.

I turn around anyway lightening quick and twist the gun from his grasp. I toss it to the floor away from him and me.

"Want to repeat that?" I question, my voice a deadly calm. My face I know, probably looks just as deadly.

"Sor-r-ry S-s-sir," The guard stutters. "I didn't know it was you."

"It happens again and you're going to be the one with the bullet in your head," I growl, keeping my face deadly and blank. I almost lose focus when I hear Lily's cackling in my ears.

I push past the guard, punch in the code on the keypad, and enter the base.

"Oh man," Lily says. "You've got to tell me, how close was he to shitting his pants?"

My lips twitch but I'm able to keep from smiling while I walk through the halls of the base, heading towards the room I use to occupy. "Lily, do you want to try and focus? You're making it very difficult for me to keep a straight face," I whisper.

"So, you do have a sense of humor. Who knew."

I pass by some more guards patrolling the hallways and they do nothing more than walk past me, avoiding eye contact and looking down at the floor when I pass. I made myself quite the reputation here.

I make it to my room without any further incidents and shut the door behind me. I move quickly to the desk up against the wall. I pull out the stacks of papers and other assorted junk you'd find in a desk drawer and set it all on the cot I had been using for a bed. I then reach back into the drawer and pull up the false bottom I had installed.

"Shit," I curse, running my hands through my hair.

"That's not a good sign," Lily says. "Talk to me."

"It's gone. It's not here."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," I tell her as I start sorting through the junk from the drawer. "It was in the drawer. I put in a false bottom so it wouldn't be found."

"Is there any chance Garrett knew about it?" She asks.

"Hard to tell what Garrett knows about," I reply as I start to shove everything back into the drawer.

"But he trusts you, right? He has no reason to suspect you?"

"Right," I tell her as I slam the drawer shut. "Unless he found the dagger. Then he has every reason not to trust me."

"Quite right."

I freeze and slowly turn around to face Garrett. He stands in the now open doorway, twirling the gold dagger around in his hands. Two guards stand behind him in the hallway.

"You know," He starts conversationally. "My original thought had been that you were trying to double cross me." He smiles in a dark way. "But after walking in on you seemingly talking to yourself, well, my thoughts on the matter have changed."

"Get out of there Sam!" Lily shouts.

Garrett takes a step towards me and I tense. He continues to twirl the dagger around in his hands. "I always wondered what this one did." He looks down at the dagger. "Thirteen was never kind enough to share all the details of the daggers with me." He looks back up to me. "Should we test this one out?" He takes another step forward.

"Earth to Sam! Get the hell away from the psychotic nutjob! Fulfill your death wish some other time!"

Garrett eyes me carefully, expecting me to make some move against him and he's anticipating it. He wants me to try and get away, otherwise, this game is no fun for him. It's too easy.

"SAM!" Lily screams and I wince. Garrett charges.

I swear and jump out of the way a second before he brings the dagger down right where I was. He swings out again and I'm not fast enough to dodge. The dagger cuts a line across my chest, not deep enough to do any real damage.

I bring my arm up and block another swing from the dagger, but it cuts into my arm. I ignore the pain and kick out, catching Garrett in the side. He swears and comes at me again and I dodge.

He brings his arm down again and this time I catch his hand and twist the dagger viciously from his grasp. I bring my knee up into his stomach and when he doubles over I kick his legs out from under him.

The two guards rush in and charge me, but they're not nearly as good as Garrett and within seconds they're on the floor with Garrett and I'm running from the room and down the hall, the dagger in my hand.

"Lily get out of here," I tell her.

"No way," She says and I can practically hear her stubbornness. "They don't know I'm here. I'm waiting for you."

"They may not know for sure but Garrett would have guessed," I whisper as I duck into one of the other rooms, waiting for a group of guards to run past. "He knows that earpieces only work up to a certain distance."

"Unless someone starts shooting at me, I'm staying," She declares.

"Fine," I tell her as I move out of the room and continue quickly down the hall, keeping alert for more guards. "But the second they start shooting at you, you get the hell out of here."

"How about five seconds after they start shooting."

"Why?"

"Because I have to have some time to shoot back." Her tone of voice suggests my question was the stupidest one ever asked.

I roll my eyes even though she can't see me and duck down another hallway, trying to avoid all the guards and make it to an exit as quickly as possible. My steps falter as I listen to Lily for a second.

"Are you humming?"

"I'm bored and humming also helps to keep me from freaking out since at any given moment I could be listening to you die." She says the last part so soft for a second, I think I misheard her.

I shake my head as I run down another hallway. "Fine," I say. "But why are you humming 'Another One Bites the Dust'?"

"It's the first thing that came to mind."

"Thanks," I mutter dryly.

I make it to the exit and throw it open, running through the trees as bullets begin to sound off behind me. The guards who were patrolling outside no doubt.

Bullets splinter the trees around me and spray up the dirt behind me. I keep running, not slowing down in the slightest. More bullets sound off but these are off to my left. I turn to look and I see Lily ducked behind a tree with an assault rifle in her hands, shooting back at the guards chasing me. Once I make it even with her, she starts to run back with me.

"I told you to stay in the car," I hiss.

"Those were not your exact words."

"Close enough!"

"You can yell at me all you want later. Just know that I'll yell back, and Ev will be on my side," Lily says.

Pain erupts in my leg and the next thing I know I'm falling. Lily swears and runs back over to me, shooting as she does. I look down at the two bullet holes in my leg.

"Can you run?" She asks, standing over me and still shooting.

I look back at the guards getting closer. "Not fast enough," I tell her. "Here." I hold out the dagger to her. She stops shooting long enough to take it. "Now get out of here."

She looks down at me and hesitates. "Now!" I shout. "Garrett doesn't need to get that dagger. You know that." She still doesn't move. "Lily go!" I growl out. Finally, she nods and turns and begins running.

She doesn't make it very far. Garrett's suddenly blocking her path. She starts to bring the rifle up but he twists it out of her hands and tosses it away. She goes to stab the dagger into his neck but he catches her wrist in his hand.

"Nice to see you again, Flower," He says sharply. He tightens his grip on her wrist and twists. She lets out a sharp cry as I hear something in her wrist crack. The dagger slips from her hands.

She brings her leg back to kick him but he's faster. He dodges and twists her arm behind her back, pulling her back up against him. Her arm is twisted painfully behind her back, and his other hand goes into her hair, pulling her head back. She struggles to get free.

I feel several sets of hands pulling me up to my knees, pain shooting through my leg as I'm held in place and restrained.

"Let her go," I growl out.

Garrett shoots me a triumphant look. "I think not. After all, me and her have so much catching up to do."

"Yeah," Lily says. "Let's start by reliving all those times I knocked you on your ass." She gasps as he yanks her head back further by her hair.

"I have some much better ideas of what we should relive," He says sharply. His eyes dart over to me. "And maybe I'll let him watch."

I glare at him and struggle to free myself. "If you touch her I'll-"

"You'll what?" Garrett asks mockingly. "You can't do anything."

"I'll gut you like a fish," Lily growls. "Or blow you to kingdom come. I'll let you take your pick."

Garrett looks thoughtfully at her. "I have a better idea." His gaze shoots to me. "But it's all up to Sam. I'm very angry with him. So what's it going to be Sammy? Am I going to be taking my anger out on you, or her?"

"Me," I reply without hesitation. "Leave her out of this."

"I don't think I'm going to leave her entirely out of it." He gazes at me, his expression deadly. "I think she'll enjoy watching while I break every bone in your body."