Shattered World (Shattered #3)

Chapter Fifteen

T he next few weeks passed in a tireless blur. After the raid on the hotel, we were back to nightly guard shifts. Warner, Murphy, and Rainer took most of them, refusing to sleep even when exhaustion seemed to pull them under.

However, when they couldn’t stay awake any longer, the rest of us stepped in, even Matthew and a few of the other occupants taking their turns.

When we weren’t keeping guard, we were searching every nook and cranny of this hotel, looking for any information that Caroline may have left behind. We quickly learned that no one else was staying in the hotel, even though Caroline had led everyone to believe that was the case.

Hundreds of busted doors later, each room had been searched, nothing but linens and furniture inside. Murphy did his best on the computer, hacking into whatever he could, but besides several correspondences between Caroline and a man named Chandler, he found nothing.

Caroline’s office door still stood shut, none of us able to get inside. Sasha had tried to pick the lock several times, but to no avail. Every few days, I would hear the unmistakable thud of a body against the door, one of the men attempting to break it down, but it stood strong.

And now today was November seventh. One month until the meteor. We had the location of the bunker. We knew where the entrance was. And we had absolutely zero way to get inside that didn’t involve getting detained by the guards that would be outside or, worse, killed.

I stood behind Murphy as he clicked away at the computer, my chin resting on his shoulder. Rainer was at my side, scanning a few maps he had found in the drawers behind the counter, his one hand tapping against the surface of the counter, his other wrapped around my thigh.

If I had any worries about my feelings for three different men, they had faded over the past month. Our touches became easier. Our heated looks hard to hide. And although I could see the flickers of jealousy in their eyes every now and then, they never said a word.

Murphy had pulled up the emails between Caroline and Chandler once again, skimming over the lines of words. As I read the message, a sudden idea popped into my head. It was a reckless one. One that I was sure would send Rainer into a stroke. But really, what was new?

“Why don’t we message him?” I whispered to Murphy, trying to keep my voice low.

By the way fingers dipped roughly into my thigh, I knew Rainer had heard. A low growl rumbled through his chest.

“No.”

I clucked my tongue at his refusal, lifting my chin and glaring at him. “You didn’t even let me explain the idea.”

He shook his head, pulling my body closer by the grip on my thigh. “Because it’s a stupid idea. You message him and more guards will be spilling through these doors.”

The others walked into the room at that moment and I grinned widely, Rainer groaning as he pressed his head against my chest. The second they all walked in here, he knew I had won.

I could tell the rest of them were restless. We had searched the entire hotel and now there was nothing left to do, no matter how much we convinced ourselves there was. And I knew that if anyone would be on my side, urging me to follow through on this plan, it would be the man in the back, whose dark eyes heated as they trailed up my body.

Shaking off a shiver at the stare, I gestured everyone over. Sasha and Mina hopped onto the counter, Aiden leaning against the side.

“I think we should message Chandler. Ask for a meeting. Tell him we were working with Caroline.”

“You think that will actually work?” Sasha asked with disbelief, Mina nudging her to shush.

I smiled gratefully at Mina and she shot me a sly thumbs up.

“Probably not. Most likely a bunch of people will show up, we’ll shoot at them, run away and be back at square one. But what do we have to lose?”

I expected a snarky retort from Sasha, but it was Aiden who looked at me with a deadpan stare. “Our lives, Lessy. We have our lives to lose.”

I may have been too blasé about the situation, but I rolled my eyes anyway. “Newsflash, Aid, we’re going to lose our lives one way or another.”

Silence followed my words, everyone realizing the truth of the statement. It was blunt to say it. Maybe the first time any of us had truly uttered our fate out loud. But time was up. We needed to face the reality of the situation and do anything in our power to change the outcome.

“What would we even say?” Mina asked with a puzzled frown. “Hi, Caroline told us all about the bunkers. We’d like to be let in. Please and thank you.”

Sasha snorted out a laugh, mocking Mina’s use of please and thank you.

“I think that’s exactly what you say,” Warner added from the back of the group and I widened my eyes at him. “Maybe add a fuck you on the end instead, though.”

This had us all laughing, Rainer the only one to grunt in annoyance at the stupidity of the idea. Thankfully, we all ignored him.

Murphy’s fingers flew across the keyboard as he typed out a message, pressing his tongue into the side of his cheek as he thought of the right words. When he finished typing, he read the words aloud.

“Chandler, you do not know us, but we have been working closely with Caroline. After her sudden disappearance, we find ourselves containing information we think you’d like to have. I would like to request a meeting in the next several days to discuss the next steps.”

We all nodded in unison, agreeing that the words were adequate. If anything, it made it seem like we knew more than we truly did. There was nothing wrong with going into a meeting with a slight upper hand, even if it didn’t really exist.

“Send it. Fuck, just send it before I break the computer.” Rainer pouted and Murphy pressed the send button.

We all waited with bated breath, as if a response would come through at any minute. Of course, it didn’t. The man on the other end was probably extremely busy, you know, plotting how to save all his uppity friends.

“Alright, lunch break, everyone.” Murphy clapped, standing up from the desk, taking one last glance at the screen.

Our group made our way up to the top floor and I couldn’t help but asking, “Do we tell everyone else? Matthew at least?”

He may not have nearly as much information as we or Caroline did, but he had been helpful in every way he could. Even venturing into the city for food once the rations Caroline had supplied began to run out.

“No, babe, we don’t tell anyone,” Warner answered and I hated that everyone nodded in agreement.

I shouldn’t have been surprised by the unanimous agreement. This was the way of the world now. Hiding information, choosing who knew what. And I knew the only way forward was to ignore the guilt in my gut, knowing that this was the only way to save ourselves.

No one sat around after we finished lunch. Murphy had immediately run back downstairs to check for any new messages, the rest of us helping clean and chatting with the others.

I found myself sitting with Elizabeth and the twins, the three of them pulling away from us the longer we were here, now that Caroline didn’t have Elizabeth working.

I played with Stephanie and Lucas in silence for several minutes before Elizabeth spoke, her voice a low whisper.

“I can tell you lot are planning something. I shouldn’t be so surprised.” She sighed, her ankles crossing as she stared solemnly at her children.

“After Emmanuel was,” she choked out, tears in her voice. “After he left us, I didn’t have high hopes. But you’ve all kept us safe. Kept me in the loop. I appreciate that.”

“But?” I asked, standing from my spot on the floor with the twins and taking a seat next to her.

“But I cannot risk them. All of you, but you seem to especially, put your lives on the line with these plans. They seem to always work out, but I fear for the day they don’t. From here on out, I don’t want to know. Not if it puts us at risk.”

I swallowed around a denial, wanting to tell her that it would only put her more at risk. What was she going to do if she didn’t know what was happening, if she wasn’t a part of the plan? But then my mind took me back to that dingy room in the basement. The way I had been tortured solely for information. I knew then that was exactly what Elizabeth wanted to prevent. Knowledge may have been power, but it was also pain.

“I understand,” I finally told her, and she smiled softly.

Placing a soft palm against my shoulder, she nodded toward Stephanie and Lucas. “All I ask is that when the time comes, you don’t leave them behind. If you find a way out of this, you save them.”

I gave her my word that I would, knowing it was the easiest promise I would make. Leaving her to enjoy her time, ruffling the twins’ hair as I left, I couldn’t help but think about her words. She was right. We were all reckless. Throwing ourselves into danger, hoping safety was on the other side. Each and every time, we had come out the other side, mostly unscathed.

But what would happen when our luck inevitably ran out?