Chapter 6 : Darkness in the Basement
*Alex*
I grabbed the hand railing on each side of me and vaulted down the stairs, pushing my feet out in front of my body. The intruder staggered to his feet, one hand gripping the rail as I careened down the hallway toward him.
I kicked out an instant before my feet made contact. The impact rattled through my leg bones and up through my spine. I fell painfully to the stairs, but my attack blasted the intruder off his feet.
I’ll never forget the look on his face as he sailed down those steps. A look of absolute disbelief that I would use such a dangerous, potentially self-harming attack. And even more incredulity that I would do something so heinous to another human being as rocket them down a flight of stairs.
In the end, though, I think my attack backfired. I put too much power into my kick, and he sailed right over the stairwell to land on the reasonably flat basement floor. He fell further than I did, but he fell on a flat surface. I fell on the damn stairs and now had bruises on my shins, elbows, and hips.
I launched myself off the steps, anyway, intending to tackle him back to the floor. I wasn’t just out to stop him or detain him. I wanted to silence him, to make sure that he couldn’t alert the girls upstairs to his presence.
The intruder half caught me, driving his shoulder into my solar plexus. The air rushed out of my lungs as I doubled over. He caught me with a couple of rabbit punches to my ribcage, making it even harder to breathe.
His position left him vulnerable, however. I snaked my right arm around his neck, effectively trapping his head behind my body. Then I grabbed my own wrist and squeezed. The idea wasn’t to cut off the intruder’s air supply. That could take minutes and gets really ugly when they know they’re about to die.
Instead, my goal was to cut off the flow of blood to his brain for a moment by applying pressure to the big arteries in his neck. If done properly, you can render someone unconscious almost instantly.
Unfortunately, this masked man knew a thing or two about martial arts, and he kept slipping through my grip just enough that the pressure remained on his jawline, not his neck.
“Give it up, I’ve got you,” I gasped as I slammed him against the stone wall of the basement.
My words fueled his comeback. The intruder cried out in a guttural, strangled scream, and drove me away from the wall. He stopped trying to free his head and grabbed me around the waist instead.
He popped his hips in the air, and suddenly my feet left the floor. I sailed helplessly through the air to crash down on the concrete floor underneath his bulk. A perfectly executed Judo throw, and I’d lost the advantage of my headlock.
I rolled up to my feet and we faced off a few feet away from each other.
“You’re good, but I’m better and we both know it. I’ll pay you a million dollars to give me the name of the man who hired you and then you can walk out the front door.”
His eyes narrowed, hatred and contempt flaring up in his gaze. The man’s leg darted out and struck something I’d missed in the near darkness of the basement-a mop bucket. I stood there stupidly while it flew into my face.
Stars exploded in my vision, whiting out the darkness of the basement. I stumbled back while my assailant broke a mop handle off at the head. He pointed the sharpened end toward me like a savage caveman. I knew then that I wasn’t getting out of that basement alive unless I put up the fight of my life.
“I’ve had the kid gloves on with you, son.” I shook my head as I shifted my stance. I shortened the distance between my legs and turned my body sideways, presenting him with a smaller target. “If you’re going to use lethal measures, then so will I.”
He snarled, jabbing the stick toward me. I grabbed it behind the splintered end, holding the weapon fast. As I predicted, he leaned backward, trying to retain the hold of his weapon.
The intruder inadvertently braced me for a solid side-crescent kick. I smacked the edge of my foot across his jaw, using his own body weight to add impetus to the strike. The intruder stumbled backward, grunting as blood trailed from his nose.
I still held the mop handle. I tossed it to the side, figuring he was done for. But to my surprise, the intruder staggered once more to his feet.
“You’re a tough son of a bitch, I’ll give you that. But I’m not going to let you hurt my daughter or anyone else,” I sneered, my breathing deep and heavy from the exertion.
His eyes went wide, and he held his hands up as he backed away from me. “Okay, okay. I give up.”
A voice distortion device made his voice impossible to recognize. Did that mean it was someone I knew underneath the mask? Or was he just being extra cautious?
“Turn around and put your hands against the wall. I’m going to search you, unmask you, and then you’re going to tell me everything—”
Blinding pain exploded in the back of my head. My vision dimmed at the edges, the blackness threatening to creep in and totally eliminate my sight. I knew that if I blacked out all the way, I would be a dead man.
I clung to the thought of what this awful man might do to my daughter, or to Chloe, or anyone else given a chance. I clung to my consciousness like a swimmer clinging to a rock in a storm-tossed sea.
I spun around and faced the second intruder, who’d struck me from behind. He was just a bit taller than the first, and I noticed his mask included goggles. Was he extra worried I would recognize him, or was this just the mask he preferred?
He wasn’t in the mood to play twenty questions. The second intruder hefted a sapper, which is a nasty bit of business. It consists of a leather sack filled with lead shot, attached to a short handle. Its entire purpose is to render someone unconscious without hurting them…too much. While it won’t generally crack a skull, overzealous application can result in brain damage.
I won’t let my security forces use sappers because of their brutality. Intruder II used one on me already and was gearing up to do so again. Not to mention that Intruder I had my exposed back and could launch an attack at any moment.
I feinted to the left, which made Intruder II take his shot. I pivoted on my leading foot while stepping forward with my trailing leg, putting my back to his front while deflecting the sapper’s energy over my head. I redirected the energy and used it to shoulder-throw Intruder II right into Intruder I.
They went down in a heap, and I’m not too proud to say I laid into them with stomps and kicks, trying to keep them from getting back up. It was two-on-one and no matter what the kung fu movies tell you that’s some bad odds.
I took every cheap shot I could. I kicked Intruder II in the kidneys and then the face when he tried to cover up his midsection. I stomped on Intruder I’s hand until it broke. I smashed Intruder II’s balls with a mule kick from behind.
Yet, despite my determination and fury to keep my family safe, those two stubborn bastards made it to their feet. I saw it in their eyes. This wasn’t just a job anymore. This was personal. They wanted to kill me, period, and then worry about what came next.
I could no longer afford to be subtle. Intruder II rushed me first, trying to tackle me. I stepped to the side and lifted my knee up into his chin. Intruder II collapsed into a heap on the floor.
Intruder I managed to get a solid right hook to my temple that had me seeing stars before I got his limbs under control. I grabbed his wrists and twisted him around into a move called a strait jacket for a reason. Basically, I strangled him with his own arms, pulling as hard as my exhausted and injured body would allow.
I tugged back hard while Intruder II rolled onto his belly, groaning. Intruder I clung to consciousness, stubborn as a mule. I kept right on pulling on his arms, though he tried to fight me.
His face turned red, then purple. As Intruder II made it to his hands and knees. The masked man pushed himself up into a tripod and then struggled to stand. I leaned all the way. Intruder I’s legs buckled, and he fell down right on top of me.
I struggled to breathe as Intruder II came in to finish me off. I managed to roll Intruder I’s limp form off me, only to take a foot to the midsection. My mouth flew open as what little air I had left rushed out of my lungs, and a zap of pain shot throughout my entire body.
I caught his ankle and stood up, forcing Intruder II to stand on one leg. He tried to wriggle free, and I threw myself into a spin, holding fast to his ankle and knee. He cried out as we both descended, putting a terrible wrench to the knee.
Intruder II and I traded a few blows while still kneeling. I hopped to my feet first and kneed him in the face for a second time.
He struggled to his feet again, still determined to kill me. But his gaze dropped to the man on the floor—Intruder I. The one I’d rendered asleep with the straight jacket hold.
No, not asleep. I followed his gaze and realized that Intruder I’s eyes stared sightlessly at the basement ceiling. They would never see anything again, ever.
“Hello? Is someone down here?”
My heart stilled in my chest at the sound of her sweet, soft voice filtering down the staircase, wrapping around me tightly. No.
No, no, no.
Fuck, this wasn’t supposed to happen. No one was supposed to know that we were down here. Especially not Chloe. Sweet, innocent Chloe.
My eyes locked with Intruder II, but before I can make a move toward him, he took off toward the sound of Chloe’s voice, rushing toward the staircase.