The two minutes was up by the time he made it back to the kitchen and the locked door that led into their headquarters. Tess had been right when when she'd spoken of the hidden passageway inside the casket warehouse. There was also a passageway from the kitchen inside the carriage house to the underground bunker that housed the kind of equipment and resources that would blow most people's minds.
He typed in the code and pressed his index finger to the fingerprint scanner, and he heard the quiet snick of the lock open. He turned the handle, walked down the darkened stairwell to the next locked door, and typed in a different code. When the door opened, his options were to go left or right. The left would take him to the secret escape tunnel that had become his personal hell every morning. The right took him to another locked door, embossed with a gold trident in the center.
A cool blast of air hit him as he entered the inner sanctum of Gravediggers HQ. There was no one in sight. Considering the night they'd had, it was more than likely the others were catching a couple of hours of sleep.
He left the control room and headed toward the isolation rooms. It was necessary for new Gravediggers to be contained until their bodies had completely detoxed from the serum and any ill effects it might have. Once they passed the psychological and medical evaluation, they could be briefed and slowly implemented onto the team.
He stared at Levi Wolffe through the window in the isolation room. Levi never looked up. He sat on the edge of the bed, his head resting on his hands. Deacon knew he had a hell of a headache, along with a powerful thirst. Dying wasn't easy.
As if he'd heard the thought, Levi lifted his head and stared at him out of cold, black eyes. Deacon was familiar with the look of a man who could and had killed. They'd been monitoring him from the surveillance system inside the house, and when the stages of paralysis looked like they were starting to pass, they'd gone in to retrieve him, he and Axel supporting the other man between them as they guided him to the isolation room. It was easier to move a man the size of Levi if he was able to stand on his own two feet and help a little.
Levi was just over six feet, and his Israeli heritage was strong-his skin swarthy and his dark hair cut close to the scalp. He had several days' worth of beard on his face that he'd get the opportunity to shave off once they let him have a shower and knew he wouldn't try to slice his own wrists with the blade. He still wore the flight suit he'd been buried in, and there were two empty bottles of water at his feet.
Deacon went to the mini fridge outside the room and grabbed a couple more bottles, and then he unlocked the storage cabinet bolted to the wall and took out a painkiller that would take care of the sledgehammers in Levi's head. Once he had the supplies, he punched in the code on the keypad and let himself into the lion's den.
"I know you're thirsty," Deacon said, coming boldly into the room.
He didn't fear for his life; he'd never feared another man. They were both trained to fight-trained to kill-and there could be no fear when you always expected each fight might be your last. He also knew Axel was watching on the camera feed.
"And you'll probably want this," he said, holding out his hand with the small white pill. "I imagine your head is about ready to explode at this point. It's always bad right after you come back."
Levi just stared at him, but he eventually took the water and gulped it down. He didn't touch the pill.
"It's a standard prescription painkiller," Deacon said. "Nothing more. But I don't blame you for not trusting it. None of the others did either, and I was so fucked up coming out of the ground I don't think they even offered one to me. I'll leave it on the nightstand in case you change your mind. The headache usually lasts six to eight hours without the drugs."
The isolation rooms weren't prison, but they were built with the idea in mind that whoever was occupying the room might not care about his personal safety. They were kind of like hotel rooms, only there was a lock on the outside of the door instead of inside. There was a queen-size bed, a small table and two chairs, and a toilet. There was no shower or kitchenette. The isolation room across the hall was equipped with more amenities, and once Levi passed all the evaluations he'd be moved over there.
Deacon grabbed one of the straight-backed wooden chairs and straddled it so he faced Levi.
"She didn't explain what would happen to you, did she?" Deacon asked.
Levi continued his silence, but Deacon wasn't deterred. He'd done this with each of his brothers. They were all different, but in many ways they were all the same.