Shadow Form by Edmund Hughes

Author:Edmund Hughes [Hughes, Edmund]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy
Published: 2018-08-12T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 23

It was a long walk to the warehouse. Jack got a sense of how much of the island he still had yet to see as he stepped onto the dirt road that cut through the forest and led to the warehouse. He opted to walk through the trees alongside it rather than out in the open, not wanting to telegraph his approach.

He reached the warehouse just as the last rays of sun were disappearing over the horizon. The building matched the one depicted in the Polaroid photo. It was nondescript, about three stories tall with dirty windows and a grey exterior. A couple of cars were parked on the grass outside, and a single guard carrying a submachine gun was on patrol around the perimeter.

Jack hid behind a bush, considering his options. The building’s front entrance was probably too obvious of an approach for him to attempt without being spotted immediately. There was another door on the second level, a fire escape, from the looks of it. Only a drop-down ladder connected it to the ground, and it was currently pulled all the way up, limiting access.

He decided that it was still probably his best bet. He waited until the guard had gone by, and then silently stepped out of his hiding spot and jogged into position. The fire escape was in the building’s shadow, which, combined with the time of day, left Jack in enough darkness to use his blood magic.

He pulled from his blood essence, conjuring up a Spectral Hand tendril. It uncurled from his palm, moving with control and intelligence, almost like a hydra’s head made of distilled smoke, and Jack wrapped it around one of the ladder’s rungs. His intention was to use the tendril to pull the ladder loose, but there seemed to be a locking mechanism that stymied his efforts.

Instead, he took the opposite approach, using it to pull himself up. It felt a little like trying to climb a rope, but that wasn’t much of a challenge at all, with his enhanced strength. Jack made it up to the fire escape with time to spare, and quietly positioned himself outside of the door.

He used a Spectral Lockpick to trigger the tumblers of the lock and then opened the door a crack, peering through into the space beyond. The interior of the warehouse was a large, dimly lit room with a concrete floor and sheet metal walls. It was broken into several different sections that were split using dividing partitions which didn’t extend all the way up to the warehouse’s high ceiling.

Jack silently closed the door behind him and dropped down into a crouch. He had a decent vantage point from the door. A set of red metal stairs led down to the floor from the raised platform he was on, but there was little of interest on it that might have attracted attention his way.

Below him, Jack could see the operations of the gang in full swing. Around a dozen men and

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.