Indi heard Hollister jump to his feet. “I’m not leaving you to save myself! I’m only concerned about the boys. We need to find a hiding space and we need to do it quickly. I’m afraid we’re running out of time.”
“We wanna fight too!” Indi heard one of the younger boys say.
“Nobody fights except for me,” Indi answered more harshly than he probably should have. “Well, me and Sky,” he added, trying to soften things up a bit. “We’ve been trained for scenarios like this.”
“But…but…you’re blind,” one of Hollister’s brothers answered.
“Shut it, Angel!” Hollister hissed.
“It’s okay,” Indi answered. And, for the first time since the accident, it was. He wasn’t helpless. Hollister was right; he was the only one trying to hold him back. “Angel hasn’t seen me in badass mode before.” Indi winked, hoping he was at least looking at somebody when he did it, “But he’s about to.”
“Hollister, can you grab me Sky’s leash, please?” How quickly Hollister moved told Indi just how terrified the younger man was. Sky’s leash was in his hand in record time. Indi snapped the leash to the collar and said, “Safety!”
Sky launched off the couch and led Indi through the house toward the door that led to the basement. “Follow me,” Indi said as he opened the door and stepped onto an elevator. “It’ll be a tight squeeze, but we’ll fit. Sky, stay.” Sky whined, not liking being left out. The elevator swiftly carried them down the one floor that led to a spotless basement that Indi used as a workout room. He took a few seconds to get his bearings together and then led them to a large shelving unit that held various weights, workout belts, and smaller things he used for his workouts. Indi grabbed the left side and it slid across the wall, revealing a huge metal wall. With nimble fingers (and lots of training that had frustrated him in the very beginning), he punched in a code and then scanned his thumb when the lock activated with the proper code. The metal door slid open.
“Holy shit!”
“Holy shit!”
“Motherfucker!”
Indi recognized Hollister with the mother fucker, so he assumed the holy shits came from the boys. Fuck, he wished he could see it. All he knew was what the installer had told him and then the guns, money, bullets, food, and countless bottles of water he’d added. Feeling their time was getting urgent, Indi quickly reprogramed the inside lock where it would open with a code and not require his thumb scan. After that, he flipped the switch that would turn on the video feed. “You all should be seeing all the rooms in the house and the outside surrounding area. Everything working?”
“Holy fuck, Indi. Who and what are you? This is movie or mafia shit. Do you work for the Doctor?”
“Hell, no. I’m one of the good guys. Now listen, the code to open the room is 3724tsrs! Do not open the door until I come back down to get you.” Indi took a deep breath. “If I don’t make it back down, stay in here until you run out of food and water. By then they should not be looking for you anymore. There’s plenty of money in there to go wherever you want and start over. If Sky makes it and I don’t, take care of her for me. Are we good with everything?”
“I’m not sending you up there alone to die, Indi!” Hollister wailed. “I’m not a coward!”
“I never called you a coward, but these boys will need you. Anyway, this is just step one. You’ll get to be the hero; I promise.” Before Hollister could argue anymore, Indi stepped out and slid the door back into position and made sure it locked. After that, the bookcase meant to hide the safe room was moved back into place. Slower, since he didn’t have Sky with him, Indi made his way back to the elevator and went back up to the main level. Sky licked his hand the second the elevator door opened.
“Come on, girl. We’ve got work to do. Visitors are coming and we need to be ready.” Well, other than turning off the security system, there really wasn’t much Indi could do to prepare for what was coming his way. Blind guys weren’t good with guns or booby traps. “We’ve got this, Sky,” he whispered. “We’re going back to old school—the way things used to be. Follow your commands.” Sky barked.
Indi sat for nearly twenty minutes. His right leg bounced uncontrollably. He had to do this. Clay’s life might depend on it…he doubted it, but it might. His foot was about to knock a hole in the floor when he finally heard the squealing of tires as a vehicle went heavy on the breaks in front of either his house or Hollister’s place. This was it. Game on.