Shots rang out around her and Meredith gasped as Dice's strong hands pulled her down onto the ground. His hand clamped down on her mouth immediately before she could make a noise and he hushed her.
"Shh," he murmured, nodding at Ryker and Rio who peeled off from them.
Price and Prowler took up the rear while the werewolf twins rushed forward, eager to go and find whoever it was that was shooting at them from below in the stairwell. Dice took a firm grip on his gun again and Meredith squeezed her eyes shut for a moment as more gunfire turned the stairwell into a giant echo chamber. The sound was almost unbearable but as quickly as it had begun, it quieted once more.
"All clear," Rio yelled, a certain tone of bemusement in his voice.
"Come on," Dice said, but Meredith was already up and moving forward.
The stairs and frankly the rest of the building as well brought back horrific memories for her of the time she'd spent there. She hadn't been aware of how real it had been and how haunted she was by it until she'd stepped back inside and the emotions seemed to flood her. But she was going to be better than that.
Anything for Dean.
A moment later, she had to clap her hand over her mouth willingly and squeeze her eyes shut as they walked past the corpses of two guards, at least one of whom she recognized because of the ring he wore on his left hand. He was going to be hard to identify without his face, though.
It seemed to be a Squad Nine specialty.
Faceless men tell no tales.
"We have to keep going, it's down another three floors," Meredith said, receiving nods from the rest of the men.
Dice kept by her side, his body thrumming with electricity and energy. He looked like he was ready to tear through walls if he had to in order to keep her safe. The werelions kept their place in front and Price and Prowler remained behind them, one or both of them occasionally disappearing to check out the adjoining corridors on the levels they passed by.
The compound was sort of a maze. That was why Meredith had been so adamant about going with them, even though she knew that she was as much a liability as an asset to them. After all, she had no martial capabilities to speak of – being a scientist didn't really come with the need to really know how to handle a gun very well. But if she'd let them come here alone, there was no saying if they'd ever find Dean before it was too late.
Time was of the essence, after all. Meredith had no doubt that someone had already alerted The Arctics and reinforcements were on the way.
"The rest of the prisoners are being kept on this floor," Meredith said, motioning toward the entrance to the fourth floor. "Or at least the women I was with were."
"Check it out," Dice told Rio and Ryker, who nodded quietly and broke away from the rest of the group.
As if they were reading each other's minds, Price and Prowler split apart as well and Prowler took point to fill the hole left by the werelions and to keep Meredith safe. Despite not trusting one another very much, Meredith had to admit that the squad really worked well together. It seemed like there was a man for every job and whenever something was lagging, there was another there to pick up the slack.
"Just one more level," she whispered, wringing her wrists as they trundled down the stairs.
The entrance to the fifth underground level was already in sight in the barely lit stairwell when more gunshots were fired, one of the bullets barely missing Meredith. Dice threw her to the ground before she could even attempt to react, growling like someone had just messed with the wrong man at the wrong moment.
"Get them," he hissed, Price rushing past him.
Dice took up position as well, staying so his body covered Meredith's while he took aim. She backed away a step on her hands and feet, feeling the coolness of the concrete at her back as she stared ahead with her eyes wide. This was becoming really dangerous and frankly, the faster she could get out of there, the better.
"I can't get a shot here," Price whispered back to Dice, and he nodded grimly.
"They must know they're getting screwed out of their lives," he growled in response. "I'll go."
"No, I'll go," Prowler piped in quickly, patting Dice on the shoulder before getting up and moving forward swiftly. "You need to keep your girl safe."
The wicked grin the werewolf flashed before disappearing down the stairs was eerie in a way and Meredith had come to understand what Dice meant about not feeling entirely at ease around that guy. But as far as werewolves went, Prowler seemed to be one of the nicer ones she'd ever met.
Considering that he was apparently a raiding psychopath, that was saying something.
Gunshots sounded and Meredith winced as she heard Prowler suddenly yell out in pain. A second later, with Price already dashing forward to join his brother, the gunfire ended and Prowler stepped into the doorway, clutching his left shoulder.
"One of those motherfuckers shot me! Can you believe it!?" he growled, obviously miffed.
Meredith could feel the way Dice let out a relieved breath, obviously thankful that the werewolf had only gotten a wound instead of ending up dead. When they stepped into the hallway, the carnage was amazing. Prowler had managed to singlehandedly take out four guards and come out of it with just a shoulder wound.
It was in roughly the same spot as Dice's and Meredith had to assume that by the end of this, the whole squad was going to sport a few more holes than they necessarily wanted.
"Come on, let's go," Dice said, grabbing Prowler's gear bag and tossing it over his own shoulder to lighten the load on the man a bit.
They were all dressed in nondescript black, the only color on them being the cold gleam of metal of their guns and the flash of color when their eyes burned with rage. It was certain that no one would want to meet the men of Shifter Squad Nine in a dark alleyway.
They were halfway down the corridor when the men ground to a halt a split-second before the clamor of shots being fired sounded above them. Dice glanced upward, as if he could see through the ceiling, and his lips thinned for a moment.
"Ryker, Rio, you two fine?" he spoke into his headset.
"We'll manage," came the soft reply from one of the lions, Meredith being able to hear it because of how close she was standing to Dice.
"Move on," Dice commanded, the werewolves turning their attention to the task at hand again.
They stalked forward, walking down hallways that seemed to go on forever, with endless twists and turns. Meredith's stomach knotted inside of her and she had to put some serious effort into not simply breaking into a run. Every step forward took her closer to finding out if her baby boy was still fine.
But the squad moved slower, being on high-alert now. Everywhere around them, there were signs of an abrupt exit being conducted not too long ago. Doors were flung open and Meredith could see cells that had once housed people like her now standing completely empty, as if they'd never been used to hold captive scientists or people who The Arctics felt needed to disappear.
Gear had been removed and some areas looked positively ransacked. Though Meredith had never really gotten the grand tour of the compound, she could tell that something was wrong.
"Did they know we were coming?" she asked, puzzled, keeping her voice low.
"I don't know. I don't think so. We would have been met with more force, then," Dice murmured, his gaze tracking everything around him while Price moved in front now, Prowler staying close to Meredith and Dice.
He could still hold a gun, though he had tossed his rifle on his back now.
Meredith's heart seemed to pound in her throat when they got to the corridor that held Dean's room. When she finally saw the door to it, closed and locked unlike many of the others around it, she forgot how to breathe.
"It's that one," she whispered, pointing a shaky finger at the nondescript door. "He has to be there."
Dice's step hastened and they covered the last few feet to the door. Prowler knelt down at an intersection of two corridors, keeping guard.
"Stay here," Dice told Meredith, pointing at her to duck down with Prowler. "We'll open the door."
Reluctantly, she did as she was told. Prowler had given his security pass to Dice and on the way, they'd swiped a few others. But all the doors required some retina scanning and handprints and even if they'd cut off a hand of one of the fallen guards, it wouldn't have been enough.