Latent Danger (On the Line #2)(49)

Zach stepped in and pushed on the wall, running his hands over it in various spots. Nothing seemed to give. He looked up and down, realizing there was no opening to the chimney. It was closed up with brick that didn’t match the fireplace and walls of the room. There was an old iron pulley hanging from the far right corner. It had a ball on the end as a grip and a long iron rod that disappeared into the old chimney.

Stepping to it, he tugged, but it didn’t give at all.

“Push it up,” said Ronan.

Zach did, and immediately felt a weighted system take over, pulling the iron rod from his hand as the brick over them began to lower toward them.

“Shit,” Ronan said as he and Zach jumped out of the fireplace.

“Holy shit.” Zach said as they looked back. One side of the brick had lowered and steps led the way up into the old chimney. The inky black air around them was haunting. There was no light coming in.

Neither said a word as they drew their weapons and flashlights, entering the dark tunnel that led up toward Shauna. They seemed to be traveling up through the center of the large house.

The stairway they started on had been made of wooden steps, but those quickly changed. Soon, they were only able to step on old stones that jutted out from the stone walls of the tunnel, but they were jutting out far enough and in a pattern that made Zach think they’d been built into the passage for the purpose of climbing them like steps. Zach checked each stone before stepping onto it. Some were loose, but seemed to hold well enough when he pulled on them.

Still, putting his weight on them was nerve wracking. He didn’t want to think about the fact his hands were busy with his weapon and flashlight. Putting his gun away would help, but he wasn’t entirely sure there wasn’t someone helping Liz. Sure, her uncle was long dead, but maybe she had a current day partner she was working with.

He paused. If there was someone with her, would she be able to stomp her feet for him when he’d asked her to? He holstered his weapon, put his flashlight between his teeth, and gripped for purchase on the stones as they climbed.

“Shauna,” he called as they went, but not too loudly. He had a feeling the sound would bounce off these walls and echo if he yelled, but he wanted to know they were still headed the right way and hadn’t passed her in some hidden tunnel off of this one. “We’re coming Shauna. Stomp your foot again for me.”

He could think of nothing more than getting to her and pulling her into his arms. He wanted to draw her against him and hold her tight. And he didn’t plan to let go anytime soon.

The sound of her foot hitting the space above them echoed.

“Got it!” He called up.

“We have to be close to the third level of the house by now,” Ronan said.

Zach grunted his agreement and continued.

Another few steps and his flashlight beam bounced off another of the iron pull bars like the one they had pulled to open the trap door at the bottom of the fireplace. “Go back a few steps, Ronan,” he said, then backtracked himself and ducked his head to the side before pushing up on the iron handle. The sound of stone against stone reached them and he looked up to see another set of wooden steps had lowered out of the blackness above them.

“Zach.” Her voice was scratchy and so damned quiet. The sheer exhaustion in Shauna’s voice when it reached him cut at his heart, but just hearing from her made him want to shout his triumph. He’d gotten to her. Now, he would get her to safety.

“We’re coming, Shaun,” he said, shortening her name like he used to back when they were together.

Together. He wanted that. With all he was, he wanted this woman. But he wanted so much more than what they’d had in the past. He wanted all of her this time. More importantly, he wanted to give all of himself to her. He wanted to let her into his whole life, to build on that life with her and for her.

They climbed the ladder and bounced their flashlights off the small space they’d entered. It was a room of sorts, but a small one. It couldn’t be more than four feet by six feet.

Zach went straight to Shauna where she sat at the base of one wall, her head laying back on the stone, but her eyes were fierce and locked on him.

“It’s Liz,” she said.

“We know. She’s in custody.” He went to her and cupped her cheek as Ronan turned on a small oil lamp in one corner of the room.

Shauna grinned. “Damn. I was hoping I wouldn’t miss that part.”

Zach let out a huff of air, half laugh, half a thank you that she hadn’t been taken from him.

“Screw it,” he said under his breath, and leaned in to kiss her, his hand grazing her cheek.

For one split second, she stiffened, then she seemed to soften beneath his touch, to melt into the kiss and he felt his heart kick into action again.

Ronan cleared his throat.

Zach pulled back. There was very little light coming from the lamp, but it was enough to see the room was furnished with a chair, table, and stacks of books. The furniture was old, almost ancient looking. The books looked like some had been here for decades and others could have been brought up in the last week. A chest sat against one wall.

Zach didn’t care about any of it. He looked at Shauna. “Where are you hurt?”

She winced, almost as though his question had reminded her of pain she’d managed to forget. “My head. I feel like she hit me with a brick more than once.” She scrunched her nose. “She drugged me with something. No, wait. Two somethings. I drank a soda and started to feel woozy like something was in it. But I also remember her injecting me with something.”