“The power is turned off. What good is it going to do?”
“Just do it.” Lucas said annoyed.
It was just as well. Lucas was a brainiac and would go into a long drawn out explanation that would loose him in two seconds.
He plugged the usb into the drive. “Now what?”
“Go check out the upstairs. I’ve got this.” Drew could hear the clicking of the keyboard through the phone. Lucas obviously was doing something.
Back in the main room Drew looked at the stairs warily. He hoped it held his weight to make it all the way up. What he needed answers from was up there.
Clicking on his flashlight he picked his way carefully up to the second floor. The groans of the wood under him didn’t sound good but he pressed on. It grew pronouncedly worse the further up he went, but it was too late to turn back now.
Finally he made it to the second floor. More light filtered here because of the windows being blown out and some of the walls crumbling. He better make this trip fast before the whole second floor decided to come down on him.
There was a long corridor and several doors along the way before it looked like it dead ended. The doors were gone so he could easily see in. Judging by debris they looked like private gambling rooms. Card tables were knocked over, a few cards survived the fire to give evidence.
Each room had its only small bar. That probably only helped fuel the fire in this area. Luxury had not been spared for the second floor. The paint was peeled off, but in several spots he could see crown molding. The floor was marble. He could see why now it was reserved for the rich.
Drew continued on then the world sink from under him. One second he was walking on the floor and the next his left foot went through it. His fingers clutched for purchase for anything so he didn’t go completely through the floor. The fall would surely kill him.
Luckily, the floor only gave where his foot had been. Hot piercing pain tore through his leg as wood and cracked marble scraped open his calf to his knee.
Putting all of his weight on his right leg he pulled himself up and retracted his foot carefully, hissing in pain as splinters gorged through his open wounds.
A few minutes of wiggling he finally freed his foot. He stumbled back against the wall and took a minutes to quell his racing heart. That had been a close one. Too close.
He took a cautious look over the hole to see straight down into the club. Yep, that would have killed him for sure. Not that he was any stranger to brushing with death on a regular basis.
A normal, saner person would have just cut their losses and went back downstairs and left, but he wasn’t going to leave here empty handed.
Drew gingerly tested putting weight on his leg. It hurt but it was manageable. The pant leg was torn up and blood was already seeping through his jeans. He would have explaining that to the guard.
Steeling his spine, Drew hobbled on. He had a first aid kit in his car he’d wrap up his leg with later. He didn’t plan on spending much more time in here anyway.
Drew reached the end of the corridor. There was a shorter hallway to the left that opened up into what looked like another dance club. A few of the mirrors still stood on the walls behind stage areas. Nothing of interest to be found that way.
He went right down another corridor. There weren’t as many doors this way. The worst of the damage was back here, signaling it had started back here. This was where he really needed to watch his step.
Drew kept to the side of the walls as he picked his way along. The second door on the right side appeared to have the most damage. The walls had practically melted. It was hard to distinguish what was originally in this room.
It didn’t look like any of the others. There was no sign of a card table or a bar. If he had to guess it looked like a storage room. One with bars over the windows. That was odd. He hadn’t noticed that in any of the other rooms.
There was nothing to suggest a drug connection to this place. He wouldn’t put it above the owner to be involved in money laundering or even smuggling. But nothing to suggest drugs.
Shouldn’t this man have secrets rooms or something? Everything seemed on the up and up.
Moving on he noticed the hallway branched off again. This was a much larger second floor than he first thought. It felt like it went on forever. He didn’t have much longer to investigate before the guard came looking for him. He’d only have time to finish this hallway before he had to leave.
He made it the end of the hall to find a small room. The room itself had been preserved remarkably well. The brick structure probably helped.
It was no bigger than his walk in closet with a chair facing another mirror. One he could see straight through.
Drew had to squint to see through it. Ash and char covered most of the mirror. He could just make out a small open area. Other mirrors surrounded the small area.
Flashing his light around he could make out four other windows all looking into the same area. That’s when it clicked.
This wasn’t a drug deal spot.
