Page 44 of Vow of Vengeance
"We don't know what's in there." I remind her. "You stay behind me."
"But Marissa-"
"She could be in there." I confirm. It's actually what I'm worried about. You don't plaster over a place where you're keeping a captive. But youwouldplaster over the place where you keep bodies. And if there is, in fact, a body down there, I don't want her to have to witness that. "But so could any number of things. This is the deal, Ren. You stay behind me, or I'll handcuff you to the goddamn supply rack... and I didn't bring the keys."
She blinks at me as a mixture of betrayal and outrage plays out on her delicate face. "You brought the fucking handcuffs?"
"I never know when I'm going to need them with you." I tell her honestly.
I'm tempted to make good use of them now, just to show her that I'm not bluffing, but Khan is standing behind us awkwardly, being completely fucking useless.
"Fine." She huffs. "Go."
I roll my eyes at her irritation, not the least bit bothered by her intensity as I find the latch to pop the door open. Soren is right on my ass when I do, trying to crane her neck to peer into the darkness before me.
I step into the space cautiously and slide my phone from my pocket to pull up the flashlight app. When I do, it illuminates the small space.
There's nothing but walls on every side, and the room is barely big enough for the both of us to fit side-by-side because of fucking course she doesn't listen to me and stay at my back. I grit my teeth, resolving to punish her for that later, and spin around, letting the light glance off of the plain brick from what I assume is the exterior wall.
"There's nothing." Khan says, sounding disappointed, as if our anticlimactic find is an inconvenience to him.
"You don't drywall over a room for nothing." I shake my head, running my hand over the brick, looking for anything that might serve as a handle or latch.
"The floor!" Soren gasps, swinging her own flashlight down to shine over our shoes. When I move my feet back to look for anything there, Soren shoves me. "Out!"
I don't budge, staying rooted to the spot as she tries to strong arm me out of the closet.
"Declan!" She groans. "We're standing on a door. I'm sure of it."
"Are you sure of it?" I ask, still refusing to give her an inch as she puts all her strength into trying to shove me out of her way.Despite the way she hefted that sledgehammer, her strength seems to be missing now.
"Declan!" She growls, making me chuckle. "Fucking move!"
"Move,what?" I prompt her, watching the confusion turn slowly to irritation when she realizes what I'm asking for. "Basic manners go a long way, little bird. You want me to move, you can either make me or you can ask nicely."
"Are you serious?" She snaps. "Now is not the time for your games."
"I didn't say anything about games. But if you want to play seven minutes in heaven, we can send Khan on his way..."
I don't know why I'm riling her up. Maybe because I know that her irritation is blunting her panic, maybe because I get off on how easy it is to get a reaction out of her, even now when she's surrendered to me so wholly.
"Declan," she says softly. "Please move."
I do, wrapping an arm around her waist and hefting her against me so that she yelps in surprise when I move her out of the closet with me.
Our flashlight beams against the floor betray no sign of anything other than a wooden subfloor, like someone forgot to install the same linoleum they used out in the back room. But Soren falls to her knees and feels around on the ground until she makes a sound of victory.
A moment later, there's a heavy sound as a door falls open on its hinges, collapsing down into a dark space. When I shine my flashlight on it, I see the narrow stone steps that descend into darkness. She glances at me with anI told you sosmirk and then steps forward, prepared to go down there.
"Behind me, or you go to the car and wait. Khan will keep you company, I'm sure."
A single look at his face assures me he'd be happy to get the hell out of there. Something tells me he won't be following us into the darkness.
Soren clenches her jaw but steps aside, gesturing dramatically for me to precede her.
"I'll keep a look out up here." Khan says as I angle the flashlight down, trying to see where each step starts and ends. They're spaced a little too far apart to be normal, and as I make my way down them, it's clear the reason why.
The narrow corridor is unfinished, the rock on either side of me crudely carved away rather than smoothed out. This clearly isn't a finished basement. It feels more like a storm cellar.
