Chapter 35

Chapter 35
Mike turned around and stretched his bound hand to him. "I guess we agree?"
Kyle cut off the ropes and Mike turned around, flexing and massaging his reddened hands. Blood had settled in his wrists and he moved them around to ease the soreness.
Kyle pressed a button on the wall and just like Mike had guessed the iron bars opened. It was a sophisticated system of cells that had iron bars embedded in the wall so that when you wanted the door open, the mechanics would have to release the bars and then extract them into the opposite wall.
As it opened, Mike stepped out and joined, Kyle. With a gentle welcoming pat on the shoulder, Kyle turned around and started walking away from the cell. Mike followed closely behind him, studying the architecture of the place. It was like an underground facility. Or maybe a modernized cave, he couldn't reply tell but the further they walked, the more convinced he was that Kyle was truly a psychopath.
They passed a room with weapons of all sizes arranged in it. From double-edged swords to the tiniest of knives, everything was in the room. Another room was for exercising. It had all kinds of gym equipment in it. They passed more doors with no other human insight. They got to a flight of stairs and they moved upward until they got to the first door on the next floor and Kyle stopped.
He inserted his key and unlocked the door. When they got into the room, the first thing that got Mike's attention was the large map on the wall. Kyle worked to it and stopped.
"I have narrowed down her location, to these places," he said, circling a large portion of mountainous lands with a thick red marker.
Mike got closer to the map and tried to study it. He saw the place Kyle had circled but he could comprehend. He rather traced the road and discovered it was an old map of the area. He could see the road he and Jimmy had been driving. He could see the Lonely Place Motel and everything slowly started making sense.
If he relied on his memories, before he passed out he was somewhere closer to the marked region. That meant they were closer to Laila Danvers already.
"Have you checked the area you marked?" Mike asked him.  As Mike asked the question another one came to mind but he decided to swallow it. If Kyle had already zeroed down their location, why did he need Mike's help?
"Yes, I have checked. But I couldn't find her, " Kyle responded.
"Yet, you are sure she is in there?" Mike retorted. If he had checked as he claimed and was sure he did a good job, that meant Laila Danvers wasn't there!
"Her scents stop at this point," he said pointing to the start of his circle. "And ends here, " he pointed to the outer region of the marked area. "I am certain she is in there, she is only trying to throw me off."
The talks about scents made Mike frown, while they were coming to this room, he didn't see any animal pen. There was no dog around here, so how could Kyle talk about scents without hunting dogs?
"How many dogs do you use for your search?" Mike didn't want to ask directly where the dogs were so he tried to ask a smarter question.
Kyle stared at him and released a growl. "I don't use dogs. I sniff them out myself!" Kyle snapped.
Mike took a step back unconsciously wondering why the man got worked up at the question. "I am not trying to say you are incompetent or something but dogs will sniff her out faster than just the two of us-" Mike tried to say but Kyle stopped him with a loud bang on the table.
"I don't need dogs! What I need is a human! Laila is trying to confuse me by adding so many smells around her! That's why I need a weaker creature to try and find her! No dogs!" He growled in anger.
The words he employed, echoed in Mike's mind and he was certain the man was not normal. He thought himself to be a higher being. But, Mike had learned his lesson, he would not argue with him. He would just assume, Kyle didn't do a proper search and go into the region by himself. If he didn't find her, he would just have to disappear too.
"Okay, when do we start?" Mike asked, flashing Kyle a toothy grin, anything to stay alive longer
"Right now!" Kyle growled again. Mike was beginning to see that the man also had anger issues. To beat him, he would have to be very patient.
"Come with me!" Kyle said, walking out of the room. "You have five days to make progress or die!" He warned and Mike gulped audibly. This just meant didn't have enough time anymore. He had a limited amount of time to find Laila Danvers and take her to the police or find a way to disappear from Kyle's radar.
Kyle reached for a metal door and opened it with a large key. In no time they were outside. The house where Mike had been kept was built on a mountain, hidden away by large trees. There was no way anybody could find him if Kyle decided to kill him and dump him here.
Kyle was taking long steps and Mike did the same. They walked deeper into the mountains quietly. Kyle wasn't saying anything and Mike was lost in his thought. He was looking out for two things, traces of Laila Danvers and his escape. The road seemed to be far away from them because he couldn't see any glimpse of it. As for his vehicle, he also couldn't see it, maybe Kyle had hidden it away somewhere. He would have to find that out too.
The land soon cleared out and they were in an open field. Kyle put his nose in the air and sniffed, Mike stared at him in disbelief. The man believed he could smell a person like a dog!
How was he going to ever escape him?

As Damon drove away from his pack house his heart kept beating loud as blood pumped faster to his brain. Dearkson had played a card he never for once foresaw. The man was so cunning he turned everything to his advantage. Jonathan Martin was loved by the people and no one could forgive Damon for it as long as they believed he killed him. Damon would have to prove his innocence before everyone.
Perhaps he should find Jonathan's family members. They could testify that the council was after their father. They could clear his name. He held the steering wheel and wanted to veer back into town but he stopped.
"What am I doing?" He wondered out loud. If he drove back into town and managed to find Jonathan's family, the council could harm them. They might even be following around right now, expecting him to go find them because they were indeed, his only option.
"I can't go there!" He said shaking his head.
Clarkson was very smart he would not cancel the possibility that Damon could go find Jonathan's family. Clarkson would have prepared for that. If Damon went to Jonathan's family, Dearkson would trace and kill them. He had to stay away from them for now.
He kept the wheel straight and continued driving as fast as he could away from their town. Maybe one day, when his name got cleared, he would come and look for Jonathan's family, they were probably scared out of their mind by the turn of events. Yet, no one had to live in fear of the council. Damon would have to fight them till the end, to bring peace into the city of fangs.
But he couldn't fight alone. He would need to find Laila Danvers to do that. Jonathan had told him that the prophecy said Laila was going to save them from the hands of these cruel people, known as the council and headed by the evil Lord Supremo, Dearkson.
Damon added pressure on the truck and drove as fast as he could into the roads. For him to reach Laila, It would take him at least three days of nonstop driving. To cover more ground, Damon decided to drive as fast as he could during the day and not so much at night so he could take short naps.
He was a few kilometers away when he heard a loud screeching sound from behind his truck. He glanced behind him but saw nothing. He was the only driver on the road.
What could have made that sound?
Not seeing anything behind him, he turned back to the steering and his blood ran cold at what was in front of him.