Live Free or Die Complete Series Boxed Set: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series Hayley Lawson (ebook reader play store .TXT) 📖

Terrier winked at her. “Totally worth it. I won’t be long, make sure you lock the door behind me.” He left the children’s classroom and went to the kitchen to get food.

When he returned he knocked on the door, and Natalie opened it instantly. “Kari and Samantha are gone,” she said in a panic. “I was in the bathroom for a minute and they got out. I don’t know how! I locked the door!”

Terrier handed the food to Natalie. “Stay in here. I’ll find them. Keep the door locked.”

Natalie nodded, and Terrier took off to search for the missing children.

He found Mama Lou and Peter in the center of the level. “Mama Lou, Peter—” He stopped to catch his breath, unable to get the words out in his panic. “Kari and Samantha are missing.”

“What?” Mama Lou marched over to him quickly. “Keep your voice down. We don’t need these men knowing that there are little girls on their own.”

Terrier paled. Mama Lou was right.

Peter glanced around to see if any of the men had heard. “Come on, we need to check the tunnels.”

They searched the tunnels. Terrier checked the one Samantha had hidden in last time. He’d hoped she’d learned not to go into the tunnels by herself again.

She wasn’t there.

The girls weren’t anywhere. The three of them gathered in the center of Level Six.

Terrier paced, too panicked to stand still. “Where did they go?”

“Let’s check the tunnels again. I’ll get the women to help as well. They’ll be here hiding somewhere,” Mama Lou said.

A thought struck Terrier. “Kari was hungry. She could have gone to the kitchen.”

“I’ll go check the kitchen now,” Peter offered.

“Yes, good idea.” Mama Lou headed off to the women’s quarters, and Peter ran toward the kitchen.

Terrier was torn for a moment. Kari had been hungry, but Samantha had just wanted out of the bunker. She had already found her way out of the children’s room once, and it was lucky for her that Terrier had been the one to find her.

Where would Samantha go?

Terrier closed his eyes and let his head drop backward. He opened his eyes and let out a long sigh. Where was Ryder? He was tired of living in a place where not even an innocent child was safe.

Just then he caught a glimpse of pale-pink through the glass ceiling. Samantha was on Level Five? How had she gotten there? The doors were locked, or so Terrier thought.

Terrier didn’t waste time running after Peter or Mama Lou to tell them where Samantha was. He went to check the door—which was open. They’d tried in vain earlier to open the door. How could a little girl like Samantha open it?

Terrier didn’t have a clue. He’d have to ask Samantha once he rescued her. The door to Level Five was also unlocked. Terrier gagged when he entered the level. The air tasted coppery, overlaid with the thick stench of rotting meat.

He saw a few dazed men wandering around the main area of Level Five, but he couldn’t see Samantha anywhere. A few men were leaning over someone on the floor. Terrier’s panic ratcheted, tightening his chest. He rushed over to the group, breathing again when he saw that the person on the floor was Justin, not Samantha as he’d feared.

Doc leaned over Justin. Doc was a dot of a man who had become the Doc after years of sewing himself up after fights. Now he looked like a patchwork quilt. The bunker was hard on men who were the size of children.

“What happened?” Terrier asked, peering over Doc’s shoulder.

“A man took a bite out of Justin’,” Doc told him matter-of-factly.

Doc lifted the bloodstained sheet away from Justin’s neck. There was a low murmur from the surrounding men when they saw the ragged tear in the flesh here Justin’s neck and shoulder joined.

“Is it bad, Doc?” asked Justin.

“Well, you’re still alive, so I don’t think he ripped through any major arteries,” Doc informed him. He opened his bag of medical tools, rummaged around for a second and then threaded the needle he’d pulled out.

Terrier grimaced. “Who did this?”

“Someone in the bathroom. Shane killed him,” Doc told him.

Terrier was surprised. This looked more like Shane’s handiwork than anyone else’s. His eyes followed the trail of bloody footprints leading to the bathroom, then went back to Doc, who had taken a bottle from his bag.

“Drink this.” Doc poured neat liquor into Justin’s mouth. It was so strong the man nearly gagged. “This is going to hurt. Bite down on this.” Doc pushed a rag into Justin’s mouth. The rag did little to muffle Justin’s screams when Doc poured the liquor into the wound and began to “stitch him up.

Terrier felt bad for Justin, but he needed to find Samantha and get her off Level Five before something like this happened to her.

Chapter Thirteen

They crested a hill, and a house came into view on top of the next rise. Leandro turned to Ryder as if to say his conversation with his dad was over and she was welcome to join them. She did, along with Carter and Clint.

Ryder looked at the stone building with white smoke coming from its chimney. “Is that Koda’s house?” she asked.

Carter’s stomach let out a mournful rumble. “I hope he’s cooking something. I’m starving.”

“Me too. All this walking has made me hungry.” Ryder grinned. “Does he have honey as well?”

“I’m not sure. Koda follows the Native American ways like his ancestors. His people can trace their history back almost fifteen thousand years.”

Ryder let out a low whistle. “That’s…wow.”

Massimo patted her arm gently. “I know. Let’s go see if Koda is feeling hospitable. I could do with a little bite myself.” Ryder raised her eyebrow at Massimo, and Massimo grinned. “I didn’t mean bite. You knew what I meant.”

The group headed to the porch and Leandro knocked on the door. They waited for a few moments, and then Koda opened the door. He was a tall Native American man, with