While Charlie worked inside the warehouse, Angel cleared the outside perimeter of guards, secured the unconscious men with zip-ties, and, being careful not to make any sounds, climbed the steel stairs up to the brown entry door on the north side of the warehouse. When he reached the door, he tested the handle. Unlocked.
He checked his tranquilizer gun and let out a frustrated sigh. He had lied to her about having enough darts to handle the situation; he had just one magazine of six left. He should have had enough ammo, but his first magazine jammed, forcing him to scramble and fix the mechanism before loading the second mag. Unfortunately, the jam meant he might have to rely on his pistol—his last resort.
Pushing the door open, he stepped in quickly, moved aside, and dropped down to one knee. It was quiet. He noticed a light at the far end of the warehouse where the offices and storage rooms stood.
Surveying the area, he spotted several places suitable for cover. Picking one halfway between the door and the manager's offices, he moved toward it. From there, he could see the open door and the sentries moving inside. They looked tense and alert, probably trying to reach the missing sentries that Charlie had taken out.
Movement in the shadows to the right of the room caught his attention. Adjusting his night vision goggles, he observed Charlie creep to the side window. Satisfied she was in position, he prepared to create a distraction, but she moved again, this time toward the entryway.
Charlie! What the hell are you doing?
Still shaken from seeing the poor girl's dead body, Charlie stopped outside the storage room where the sentries had gathered. She peeked through the window and saw six sentries and three large cages, each holding some of the girls.
A wave of relief washed over her. At least they look okay.
She listened as the sentries tried to radio their fallen comrades. The tension in the room was escalating quickly.
One of the men clicked his radio off and swore, "Shit! I can't reach Skeet, Parker, or the others."
Another sentry, larger and scarred—clearly the commander—growled, "Something's wrong," he said, grabbing a ring of keys and tossing it to one of the men near the cage. "Get the girls ready to move now!"
"Right away, Slater!"
"I need to gather the files from the other room. I'll meet you at the dock!" Slater disappeared into a second room in the office, shutting the door behind him.
Charlie assessed the room, comparing the door's location to the sentries' positions. If she got all of them out of the room, she'd only have one left to face.
She was going to piss Angel off big time. He wanted her to chase them his way so he could knock them out. She no longer wanted to scare them.
She wanted to hurt them.
Taking a breath to calm herself, she recognized that going in half-cocked could endanger the girls. As she plucked the rubber stoppers from the last four darts and moved toward the entrance, an idea formed. So far, her tactics had relied on fear, using her demon powers to frighten her victims. Why not use her womanly charms instead?
Reverting to human form, she moved into the room's archway, leaning against the door frame.
Adopting a sultry voice, she smiled at them. "Hey, boys."
The five men turned as one and raised their guns at her. Confusion, suspicion, and desire crossed their faces all at once.
Internally, she rolled her eyes, wondering: How do men do that? Swaying her hips, she stepped back from the door. "I don't suppose any of you could help a lady out? I'm lost."
"Who the fuck are you?" one sentry snapped, aiming his gun at her and waving two sentries forward to surround her, leaving two in the office.
Shit! She had hoped that all of them would follow her out of the office and away from the girls, but she'd work with what she had.
She stepped backward slowly, turning from the entrance toward the shadows to the left of the door. The men followed, and she led three of them out of the line of sight of the room.
She licked her lips, smiling at the three men. "Lil ole me?" she teased. "Why, I'm just a lost little demon hungry for some big, handsome men."
The three looked at each other. One laughed. "Lost little demon? What the fuck does that mean?"
She gave them one more smile, then faded back into the shadows, their dark shrouds swallowing her into their welcoming embrace. Her eyes bled crimson, glowing brightly as her body vanished from sight, and she growled deeply, "It means your lives are about to end, assholes."
What the men saw—the young woman's eyes changing and her body vanishing—elicited the reaction she'd expected. They yelled in unison and fired into the darkness.
As she went dark, Charlie launched into the rafters. Perched on a metal beam, she gripped three darts in her left fist. Lips curling above her fangs, her leg muscles tensed like a lioness ready to pounce. The men formed a defensive triangle, their backs to one another.
Just like in that one movie with the alien hunter. She smirked. Gotcha!
Stepping off the beam, she dropped silently into the small space between them and plunged a dart into each of their necks. Two fell fast, but the third was bulkier, and the serum didn't work quickly enough. Dazed, reacting to the pinch in his neck, the larger guard turned, his finger still on the trigger. Bullets sprayed into the shadows, but Charlie had already sidestepped him. Not wanting to waste her final dart, she clenched her fist and threw her hardest punch, clipping the man's jaw with a bone-cracking sound, and he collapsed like a sack of potatoes on top of one of the other men.
Despite her anger, she quickly checked to see if the man was still alive, having never punched anyone like that before. Sighing in relief when he moaned at her touch, she extracted the darts and dropped them into her bag. She then cloaked herself, ready to strike again.
The entire sequence lasted thirty seconds.
The gunfire had drawn the other two out of the office, but by the time they got a bearing on where the action had taken place, they saw only their comrades lying on the floor. They looked at each other, perplexed.
Before they could react, Charlie exploded in front of them in full black demon form. Driven by her growing rage, she unleashed the loudest, cruelest, most demonic scream she could. Then, she quickly crouched, ready to launch out of harm's way in case they drew their weapons on her.
But all the two men did was shriek, drop their guns, and rush toward the exit.
She blinked, then grinned. They were running right to where she knew Angel would be waiting.
Inside the office, the girls huddled together as Slater exited the back office, a briefcase in his hands. He stopped short, seeing the room empty.
Glaring at the girls, he barked out, "What the fuck happened here?"
But the girls just cowered in the corners.
Cursing, Slater grabbed his radio and clicked it. "Report. Anyone. Report!"
Static rippled through the speaker, and he let out another curse. Switching frequencies, he called their boss.
"Samedi? Are you there?"
Nothing. Either Samedi had been taken out, or he'd abandoned them. With what little he understood of the Vodou priest, the latter was far, far more likely.
Pissed, Slater shoved his radio on his belt, then fished a spare key out of his pocket. With yet another curse, he moved to unlock the cages, realizing he and his men were on their own.
Angel observed Charlie leading the men out, disappearing, and then launching a drop-down maneuver. It was reminiscent of a scene in one of his favorite action films, and he had to admit, it was a clever ploy.
While he felt angry at her for taking matters into her own claws, he acknowledged that her move eliminated half the men without jeopardizing his position and removed the need for his gun. A small but significant relief. However, he also realized that she was adapting at an increasingly rapid pace with her skills and planning. She still took unnecessary risks and deviated from plans, which made him uncomfortable. If they were going to succeed, he would need to have a serious discussion with her about following orders.
He then saw the two others come out to investigate. When she burst into sight and scared the men half to death, they took off toward him.
His shoulders tensed as they approached. Targeting each one, he squeezed the trigger and easily dropped them on the spot.
Five down, two to go. He was well aware he had only one dart left. Clicking the button on his radio, he called her with a clipped tone. "Charlie, what the hell was that about?"
"I'll explain later," she replied in a tense and short voice. "I managed to take out all but one. He's in the office gathering the kids, but I can't take him out without exposing myself to them!"
"Copy! I'm on my way…" A frightening thought jabbed at him. "Wait? Did you say one, Charlie? One in the room?"
"Yeah, just the big guy. Why?"
He cursed. "Shit! We're missing one!"
The sound of a gun cocking and a muzzle pressed firmly against his back filled in the missing equation.
"Don't move, asshole," a deep voice ordered.
"Angel?" Her worried voice carried over the earpiece.
"I'm fine," he lied, whispering quickly. "Do whatever you need to, but save the girls!"
He sent the order out just before the earpiece was ripped from his head. He tensed as the man behind him seized his dart gun and hurled it forcefully away, landing with a smack on the concrete somewhere out of sight.
"Who the fuck are you?" The sentry barked at him. "And who are you talking to?"
He didn't answer as his mind raced to sort through his options. And Charlie? He just hoped she would listen to him this time. Saving the girls was far more urgent, and he could handle himself. He felt the muzzle press harder into his back as the sentry radioed the last man in the room.
Clicking his radio, the man contacted Slater in the office. "I caught an intruder! I got him secured. But he may have a partner!"
"No shit, Giles! I'm alone in here!" Slater's voice came back, sounding furious. "Find out who's with him, then tie up the loose ends! I gotta get these kids to the docks!"
"Will do!" Giles answered and closed the connection. Jamming the tip of his gun into Angel's neck, he growled, "How many are with you?"
In the seconds the two sentries spoke, Angel concluded his options had run out. Stalling, he opted to tell the truth, knowing it was the most outrageous answer the man would expect. "One, and she's more than enough."
"She?" The sentry scoffed. "You brought a girl as your fucking backup?"
Taking a deep breath, he was about to reveal that his backup was anything but a girl when a new voice spoke up from behind both of them.
"Yeah, a girl that's got a gun pointed at your thick skull."
A smile flickered across his lips as he recognized Amanda's firm, commanding voice from the doorway. While he didn't believe in luck, per se, he was glad of her perfect timing and that Giles would think she was the one he was talking about.
As he felt the muzzle ease off the back of his head, he sprang into action. Spinning quickly, he raised his forearm and deflected the gun just as Giles fired, sending bullets smacking into the ceiling. He delivered a punch that shoved Giles back four steps and followed with a quick roundhouse kick that knocked the semi-automatic out of the larger man's hands. He then threw another punch, but Giles blocked it.
Amanda moved quickly in and aimed her gun at Giles, barking out, "Get your hands up, now!"
Ignoring her, Giles swung and clipped Angel's jaw, forcing him to backpedal.
Most of the time, he preferred to trank his targets, zip-tie them, and leave them for the authorities. But at this moment, he needed to blow off some steam. Plus, he had to distract Amanda from noticing Charlie. Rubbing the spot that stung, he glared at Giles. "Amanda, let me have this one."
"Angel! Stefon and the task force are on their way; we only have minutes left," she warned.
He grinned at Giles. "I won't need more than two minutes."
She stepped back, lowered her gun slightly, and sighed dramatically. "Finish this in one."
In a mocking voice, Giles taunted, "Come on, let's see what you've got!"
He fired back with one of his own. "Bring it, bitch!"