Page 122 of Stay Scared

Ash takes a second too long to answer. “Nobody is supposed to be anywhere.”

We reach a maintenance door with peeling black paint, but the handle won’t budge.

I pull the founder key from beneath my shirt.

Ash steps beside me. “Lower lock. Counterclockwise.”

“I remember.”

“The hinges are opposite the last door.”

I run my fingers along the frame. “Which means I push inward first.”

I insert the key, press, and turn until the mechanism releases.

Ash reaches toward the handle.

I keep my hand on it. “I open it.”

The glowing mask turns toward me.

His fingers stop several inches from mine.

Then he steps back.

I pull the door open.

A narrow passage waits beyond, reinforced with old timber. Maintenance ropes run along both walls.

One is intact. The other has been cut, its severed end lying several feet inside.

Cade crouches. “Fresh cut.”

Owen comes close enough that his shoulder nearly touches Cade’s. “Clean blade edge. Recent.”

“He knows this route,” Cade says.

“He knows the property,” I say. “That doesn’t mean we hand him the choice he expects.”

Ash looks at me through the pale lines. “Your call. Do we continue?”

“We continue.”

I switch one hand to the fixed maintenance rope while keeping our portable line looped through the other.

Cade feeds the coil behind him. Owen stays near his shoulder. Ash remains at the rear.

The passage climbs.

Halfway up, the fixed rope changes beneath my hand. A cluster of raised knots appears where the old plan shows no junction.

“Everybody stop moving.”

The portable rope pulls tight behind me as all three men halt.

I run my hand along the wall until my fingers find a vertical seam. “There’s a panel here.”

Ash moves closer. “There should be no access panel here.”