Chapter 4: The Descent
Tank didn't hesitate. He left Silas unconscious on the floor and sprinted toward the basement door. He kicked it open, descending the stairs two at a time. The air in the basement was thick, smelling of damp concrete and metallic tang.
He found her.
Elena was tied to a chair in the center of the room. She was bruised, her clothes tattered, but her eyes—those amber eyes—snapped open as he entered. She looked at him, disbelief and joy warring on her face.
"Tank?" she whispered, her voice weak. "How?"
"Mia," he said, working the knots of her restraints with shaking hands. "She found me."
"She’s alive? She made it?" Elena sobbed, collapsing into his arms.
"She’s safe. She’s with the club."
He gathered her up, intending to carry her out, but then he saw it. A device strapped to the support beam behind the chair. A timer, counting down.
00:45.
"Silas," Tank cursed.
"Tank, go!" Elena pleaded. "You can't get it off. It's wired to the trigger."
"I'm not leaving you."
"The girl," Elena said, grabbing his face with both hands. "She needs her father. If you die here, she’s an orphan. You get out of here, and you live for her."
Tank looked at her. He saw the woman he loved, the mother of his child, the woman who had sacrificed everything to keep Mia safe. He couldn't lose her again.
He didn't listen. He tore the device from the beam, the wires sparking. He saw the red line—the primary. He didn't know explosives, but he knew mechanics. He knew how things were wired. He took his knife, the same one he’d been using in the parking lot, and jammed it into the circuitry, prying the panel open.
00:15.
"Tank!"
"Close your eyes," he commanded.
He looked at the wires. Red, blue, yellow. He remembered the teddy bear. The yellow dress. He cut the yellow wire.
May you like
The hum of the device ceased.
The silence that followed was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. Tank slumped against the concrete wall, pulling Elena into him, and for the first time in seven years, he let his tears fall.
