Page 198 of Mine Again
“I also let a rumor spread that the last owner crossed the wrong people and was found floating in the harbor. People here avoid that kind of history.”
Her brow furrows. “So it won’t collapse on us? This is a safe place to stay?”
“It is.” I set the bag down and glance at her. “Shatterproof glass on the windows, steel-cored doors, a crawl space under the kitchen that leads to a neighbor’s courtyard, a retractable ladder off the upstairs balcony, and a false wall in the garden that opens to a tunnel under the street.”
Her lips twitch but she doesn’t smile.
“That’s dark.”
“It’s safe,” I correct.
She still looks doubtful, but after a beat she steps in behind me. I take her hand, and she instinctively shifts closer, her fingers curling around mine, squeezing a little too tight.
I switch on a flashlight, dimming the beam just enough for us to see. Isa turns her head slowly, eyes moving over the space, shoulders tight with trepidation. I guide her toward the staircase at the back of the hall, the air cooler inside with a faint smell of plaster.
Halfway there, I ease her in front of me, keeping my hand at the small of her back for reassurance as she starts up the creaking stairs. She takes each step with care, testing the wood like she expects it to give way.
At the top, she pauses before a door with blistered paint and a warped frame. Isa tries the handle. It doesn’t budge.
She sets her shoulder against it and pushes harder. Nothing.
“I think it’s stuck,” she says, glancing over her shoulder.
“To most people.” I grin.
I run my hand along the wall beside the frame until I find a shallow groove and a recessed panel the size of a matchbox. When I press it, one of three hidden bolts slides free with a muffled thunk. Two more turns of concealed catches and the last lock clicks open.
Isa huffs out a breath, somewhere between impressed and anxious.
“Very James Bond.”
I give her a wink. “Bond wishes he had my skills… and my girl.”
Her answering smile hits me square in the chest. I want to see it on her every single day for the rest of my life. And to do that, I can’t end up behind bars.
Time to beat Hale at his own game.
Chapter Seventy-Four
Luca
The door swings inward on a whisper of hinges.
Moonlight from a full sky spills through a narrow window at the far end, silvering the edges of the room. I flick a hidden switch, bringing up a low amber glow, dim enough not to show from outside but bright enough to see where we’re going.
The air is stale, so I cross to the balcony door and ease it open. A rock wall looms a few feet away, too steep for anybody to climb without gear. Any neighbors would be out front, but every house in this area is deserted.
Isa closes the door behind her with deliberate movements, bolts sliding back into place with a solid thud.
“If we need to get out, there’s a panel in the wall, same as on the other side. You just have to push in the release pins.”
I show her exactly where to press. She nods, her gaze sweeping the space.
A narrow strip of kitchen runs along one wall with a single rust-stained sink. The bathroom is smaller still, nothing more than a toilet and a cracked mirror. In the far corner, a bed sits under a stiff tarpaulin, its edges weighted with dust. Beside it, a crooked table leanstoward a single chair.
Isa sinks into it while I pull the tarp from the bed. Dust streams curl upward in the moonlight.
“We’re here. Now what?” she asks. The pale light catches in her hair, making her look even prettier.
