“No one has been here.” Teilo spoke softly, his voice devoid of emotion and after hearing his mate laugh, Nico hated—he hated with a passion that just the sight of the house was enough to strip the fun from his cage brother.
“We should get the stuff our mate needs and then burn this place down,” Nico said grimly, as he strode towards the three innocent looking stairs that heralded the entrance into his nightmare.
Inside, Nico barely glanced at the couch where he and Teilo had taken their first sips of water in days—the same couch Ben crouched beside, painstakingly feeding them small handfuls of meat mush when they didn’t even have the strength to shift. It wouldn’t help his mission to be mired down in memories. He was vaguely aware of Ben and his brothers, Felix complaining about the smell of mold, and Mao grunting for him to shut up. The aura of the place was setting everyone’s nerves on edge, which didn’t make Nico feel any better. Edgy people made mistakes.
“There’s an entrance to the basement in the house?” Ben had caught up, matching Nico and Teilo’s stride as they made their way down a long hallway. “I thought…”
“You weren’t looking,” Nico said, stopping in front of a hallway cupboard about halfway down the hall. “Scientists don’t like to get wet.” The cupboard looked innocent enough when the door was opened—a rack of wooden shelves a person might stack linen on, or spare towels. It only looked like it was a foot deep, but Nico knew looks were deceiving.
“Stand back.” Nico ran his hand down the side of the door frame. Teilo had already moved to the side, but Ben was crowding his shoulder. “It springs.”
“Wha…” Ben snapped his mouth shut as the whole shelving unit, including the back wall came flying forward. “Damn. I think I’m glad we didn’t find that last time.”
“Let me through. Let me through.” Kylo pushed his way forward. “I’m the only one with any law enforcement authority here. I’ll go down first.”
Recognizing a man on the edge, Nico stepped closer to Teilo, folding his arms across his chest. “Waiting a minute more would’ve gotten you further,” he said, but some people just couldn’t be told.
Kylo, faced with wooden slats, checked the floor, ceiling, and all three walls. “I don’t get it. Are you sure you got the right cupboard?” He peered down the hallway, but Nico already knew they were in the right place. “Damn it all. Fine, Mr. Nico. Please dazzle us with your brilliance.” He stepped out of the way again.
“Or we could use a hammer?” Felix peered over Ben’s shoulder, holding one up.
Sighing, Nico stepped back inside the small cupboard. He’d never actually opened the secret trapdoor before, but he’d seen it done enough times. Reaching out at shoulder height on either side of him, he felt along the slats until he found the tiny levers. “Watch your feet,” he warned as the whole floor section slid back, revealing the staircase below.
Don’t think about it,he warned his errant mind that didn’t always stay as controlled as he’d like. Nico accepted his pain every day of his captivity, but memories of Teilo being shoved headfirst down the stairs he was staring at were hard to ignore. “This place has been empty probably ten days, maybe longer before you found us.” Nico kept his tone emotion free. “There’s no one there now, but…”
Pushing past him, Teilo went down the stairs, and without thinking, Nico followed him.
~/~/~/~
Teilo
Focus on the mission.Teilo kept repeating his mantra as his boots clattered down the stairs. He remembered how he used to hate that sound, because until he’d met Ben, he’d never had a pair of boots of his own. Boots on tiles meant scientists or trainers were coming, and that always meant pain.
“The training rooms are on the left,” Teilo said, and his voice sounded harsh even to his ears. “On the right is the lab—where they used to take bloods, and conduct other tests. There are three offices down the end of the hall.” He headed there. His gut told him the answers Ben was looking for would be in those offices. But there was a coil of dread growing in his belly as he led the way.
“Scientists,” Teilo tapped on the left door, “Head Trainer,” he tapped on the right. “Operations manager.” He didn’t bother knocking on the door in the middle. He lifted his booted foot and kicked the door open, splintering the flimsy lock. “That’s a lot easier with boots on.”
Stepping inside, Teilo moved to the side, a blank wall, while Ben went for the desk, and Kylo moved to the filing cabinet.
“Look for anything related to Lazarus,” Kylo ordered, slamming the top filing cabinet drawer closed and opening the next one.
“I’ve got shit of my own I want to find,” Ben snapped back. Teilo looked across at Nico, who’d positioned himself by the door. He could sense Ben’s other brothers were going through the training and testing rooms.
For about five minutes, all that could be heard were grunts, huffs, and the occasional “fuck,” as Kylo and Ben systematically went through what looked like a mountain of papers. Kylo was a drawer slammer while Ben was quicker and quieter in his search of the vast desk.
“Damn it, the bottom one’s locked.” Ben looked at his brother. “Any chance you’ve found any keys?”
“Use your claws.” Ben was a cat, too—he should have claws.
“Teilo, mate of my heart, I’m not shifting just to smash a lock in.” Ben’s smile was tight, but Teilo appreciated his mate was attempting to be reassuring. “If I could just…”
Holding up his hand, Teilo flicked out his claws. It only took him two steps to reach the desk. He leaned over the wide expanse of the wooden top to use the tip of his claw in the lock. The drawer lock reshaped itself in accordance with Teilo’s coaxing. He quickly pulled his claw free and went over to where Nico was watching everything and everyone.
“I don’t like what’s in that drawer,” he said. “Be very careful when you go through that drawer, Ben. Very careful.”
Chapter Twenty
Ben
