“If they’ve been keeping her in the dark this whole time...”Lacy stalked forward.
I put my hand out to stop her.“Just a few more minutes,” I cajoled.
“Fine,” she said through clenched teeth.“But let’s get moving.”
Trying to explain why we needed to be methodical about this would just set her off, so I signaled Burn to go ahead.Orion leaned the door against the wall.
“Mercer, follow Burn.Orion, you’ve got topside.”He’d block any trouble that came at us from the outside.“Let us know if we have any problems.”
“You got it, Dax.”
I gave him a nod, then herded Lacy toward the stairs.Mercer stopped on every stair, sweeping the space around and below us.It felt like hours later, but was probably just a few minutes when we arrived at the basement.
The stairs spit us out into a big room, similar to the one upstairs, laid out mostly the same.
We approached slowly.As we neared, the shadows started to resolve into...“Light,” I whispered.
Behind me, Lacy flicked on her flashlight, quickly clicking it to red so it didn’t ruin our night vision.
“Is that a...a room?”Burn asked.
Lacy flicked the flashlight over that side of the basement.Each flicker revealing another flash of what I was coming to understand was a glassed-in room.
A cry of distress behind me.“Lacy, give Burn the flashlight.Burn, go check it out.”
She nodded briskly, grabbed the light, and made her way to the cell.
“Let Burn go first.Please.”
Her agitation filled the space around us.I had to ignore it in order to do my job and keep us all safe.I looked around the room and peered into every dark corner.
After spending a long minute studying the cell, Burn returned.
“Is it her?”Lacy asked anxiously.
“It’s a woman.She’s laying on the bed, looking the other way.I think she’s pretending to be asleep.”
“She’s alive?”
Burn nodded.
A weight I hadn’t realized I was carrying dropped away.Lacy’s sister or not, finding a dead woman in the cell would make this whole experience a hell of a lot worse.
“Now can we go?”Lacy grabbed my arm and tugged.I looked at Burn for her opinion.
She handed me the flashlight.“If it’s her sister, might do her good to see Lacy.”
True.
“Let’s go.”Lacy tried to race forward, but I stepped in front of her.“We do this together.”
“Fine.”Impatience and thanks warred in her voice.
Burn trailed us, while Mercer kept a lookout near the stairs.
“You ready for this?”
“Yes.”She raised her hands like she was going to shove me out of the way if I didn’t move, so I stepped to the side.
