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“And how many of you are there?” I asked. “At this… base camp?”

Randall rested his arm over the back of his seat and turned to look at me. “Including you?” he asked.

I nodded numbly. His ensuing smile came with a certain degree of wide-eyed excitement.

“Three.”

Eight

ANDREA

It was obvious the place had been abandoned for decades.

‘Base camp’ consisted of a a huge, square-walled, cinder-block building. It had high vaulted ceilings, stout metal doors, and a smooth wooden floor, stained with God-only-knew what.

“It’s a gym.”

Holden nodded as he led me through. “A boxing gym, yes. Or at least, that’s what it used to be.”

That part was obvious as well. In the center, somewhat toward the back wall, stood an old boxing ring. It had ropes and everything… not to mention a pair of mattresses laid across the open stretch of canvas.

“This is your base camp?” I asked incredulously. “You guys have been staying here?”

“For the better part of a week, yeah.”

“Why?”

Holden looked back at me grimly. “You know why.”

My mouth went tight. Unfortunately I did. Indigo.

Not many were willing to say the name. The organization was mostly myth, born originally as a benevolent order along the lines of the Rosicrucians or Freemasons. It had been perverted throughout the years though, enmeshing itself in the drug trade and organized crime. Pairing with the worst society had to offer, in order to maintain wealth and power.

Indigo… my father’s past employer.

“Why’s it so dark in here?”

Holden nodded to Randall, who was standing near the wall. He flipped a series of switches, and a couple of the overhead lights came on.

“Oh.”

I realized now that the few windows the building did have had been boarded up forever ago. Which was probably a good thing, considering where we were. Much of Athens was gorgeous, but this was a section of town I would never have visited on my own.

The gym was old, but charming. It still had most of its original furniture. Most of the chairs and training equipment had been shoved off to the side, but a couple of leather couches had been pushed together in the corner, around a beat up coffee table. Parts of the place were disgustingly dirty. Other parts, like the boxing ring itself, were absolutely spotless.

I squinted upward. “If this place is abandoned,” I said. “Why is the electricity still on?”

“Some company bought it recently, to turn into an MMA center,” said Holden. “They turned on the utilities, the water, etc… Right now they’re caught up in permits, waiting to renovate. It’ll be months, though.”

“And what if someone comes in here?”

“Then we’re just part of the demo crew,” he shrugged. “Marking off what stays and what goes.”

I nodded. “The perfect place to hide out, then.”

“For now, yeah.”