Chapter 423 So Much Trouble

Caleb had received word from the men he had left behind to keep an eye at the site of the lab. They reported the appearance of the Spring wolves that had been sent to investigate. They stayed in the lab for two days. During that time, machinery and devices were removed, men with flamethrowers had entered the building, and explosions were heard.

Once the Spring team finally left, the men waited twenty-four hours to ensure that no one else returned before reporting to Caleb that the lab was abandoned.

The two Alphas and a small team were on their way to see if anything was left behind. Anything that might give them answers about what kinds of experiments or development were made there.

They knew it was unlikely they would find anything, but they needed to know for sure.

Caleb split the team when they arrived and met up with the two scouts. Most of them were sent with one of the scouts to find a way into the upper levels. Axel, and two others, including one of the scouts, remained with Caleb and approached the exit that led into the security office.

Inside they found the room had been stripped. There was no fire damage in the room, but the armory had been emptied, and the computers had been taken.

They pushed forward into the hallway.

Each team member had been supplied with a personal oxygen tank and mask, just in case. But as they entered the hall, there was no need for it. The burnt smell clung to the walls, but the air was not sharp or smokey.

It was likely that the team from Spring had found a way to vent the smoke to finish their cleanup.

There were a few labs on this floor. They went room to room but found nothing salvageable or operational.

Once the floor was properly cleared, they made their way to the stairwell.

The elevators were inoperable, so it was the only way down to the bottom floor and the lab where the children had been kept. Here they ran into some debris that prevented them from using the stairs to get all the way down, but they were able to set up a rope and climb down.

The door to the lab was already opened.

The scout and the other man went in first while Axel and Caleb took up the rear. As they entered the room, Axel's eyes were drawn to the right. The beds were still there, though most had some sort of fire damage.

“They didn't bother removing the evidence,” Axel sighed, thinking of all those children in this room.

“We're already at war. I doubt Spring is concerned about our opinion of their morals at this point,” Caleb replied.

Axel nodded.

He looked back around the room. Ashleigh had described a group of tables filled with running experiments and a wall of computers where Alice had accessed the security feeds and locked down the upper levels.

But all that remained of these things were charred desks and fallen debris of scattered glasses and wood. The computers were either smashed or taken. And the experiments? It looked as if most of them had exploded.

Caleb looked around and grimaced as he imagined Ashleigh and Alice here.

“I wish they would have told me,” he sighed.

“You wouldn't have let them come,” Axel chuckled.

“If I knew about the children, I would have,” Caleb replied defensively.

“Really?” Axel asked, turning to look at him with doubt.

Caleb looked away.

“I would have a sent a team at least,” he sighed.

Axel laughed.

“Alice would never have let you do it without her,” he said softly. “Which is why she reached out to Ashleigh.”

Caleb looked back at Axel, and Axel smiled.

“Ashleigh is also unwilling to let the risk outweigh the rescue.”

Caleb smiled and nodded.

“Alpha!” the scout called out. “We found something!”

Both Caleb and Axel hurried over to the other man. He pushed at a charred wall. Behind it was a heavy door.

“Panic room?” Caleb asked aloud.

“Could this be where Holden went when Ash lost sight of him?” Axel asked.

“Open it,” Caleb commanded.

“You really think he's in there?” Axel asked.

“Guess we'll find out,” Caleb replied.

As the door finally gave way, groaning as it pulled away from its seal, they were all pushed back by the putrid smell that came from the sealed room.

“What the fuck is that!” the scout cried out as he covered his nose and mouth.

Axel covered his nose, but he immediately recognized the smell from the pyres he had witnessed for Eclipsed.

He looked past the scout, who was barely holding back his puke. The room behind him was small and black. Scorched from the excessive heat of an explosion within the room itself.

But at the center of the blast, a body was sitting in a chair, charred beyond recognition.

“Our Luna may not have killed him, but it looks like he got his just desserts in the end,” the scout said as he spotted the remains.

“It does appear that way,” Caleb replied quietly, noticing a strange expression on Axel's face. “What's wrong?”

“That's way hotter than it was out here,” Axel said.

Caleb nodded.

“That was an explosion,” he said. “He's sitting at the center, probably used a lighter. The room would have had its own source of oxygen.”

Axel furrowed his brows and looked at Caleb.

“You think he did this to himself?” Axel asked.

“He had to,” Caleb replied. “No one else could have lit the spark and had the time to seal the door.”

Axel shook his head.

“Everything I know about Holden, everything that Alice has said… he would never do it, not by choice.”

“Then how do you explain it?”

“I don't know what happened, but it wasn't his decision. And while I am glad to see him gone, I can't help but wonder, who would be able to get that man to do this to himself.”

A deep sense of dread flowed between the two men, but one they didn't have a chance to explore as a message came across the radio.

An urgent message for Axel to return to the hospital.

***

He came barreling down the hall toward her room. His body slammed into the door as he struggled to turn the handle and open it. When it finally gave way, he pushed inside, looking to the bed.

“Alice!” he cried out.

Still groggy, she blinked slowly and focused her eyes on him.

“Uh oh,” she whispered weakly but still somehow playfully. “You came all the way here for lil ol' me? Am I in trouble?”

Axel let out a deep sigh and a laugh. He stepped toward her slowly, fearing it was a dream he could wake from at any moment.

Alice lifted her hand to him. He grinned and took it. Then, he leaned forward, touching his head to hers.

“So much trouble,” he whispered.