Latent Danger (On the Line #2)(50)

Her hand went to her arms and Zach shone the light on the inside of her elbow to see two injection marks there. Damn what had Liz done to her?

Ronan spoke then, lifting a rope and several pulleys from where they’d been dropped near the stairs. “I suspect she did hit you with a brick.” He pointed to a large iron hook anchored in the stones above the staircase with another older looking pulley connected to it. “She probably hoisted you up the tunnel with this and hit your head on the stone steps on the way up a few times.”

Now Zach winced, but he put his arms around Shauna and helped her to her feet. “I’m going to carry you down a little more gently, I hope.” He didn’t mention the shaky stones to her.

“Ronan, can you head down and make sure they have an ambulance out there waiting for us?” Zach asked.

Ronan nodded and descended into the tunnel. Zach was relieved when Shauna didn’t fight him on the idea of carrying her out of there.

“Take my flashlight. We’re going to need it to get out of here,” he said, handing it over to her. He scooped her up and braced her as he stepped down into the narrow tunnel. From there, he fixed his back against the far wall of the tunnel, set Shauna in his lap, then proceeded to lower himself, one step at a time in a shimmying move that felt like it was bruising up his back pretty good, but would hopefully get them out in one piece.

Flashlight or no, he couldn’t see the stone steps along the side of the tunnel with Shauna in his lap. He had to feel for each step with his foot before testing it with a little of his weight, then shifting fully onto it if it held.

“Wow,” Shauna said as she looked around them. “Where are we?”

“Inside an old chimney in the center of the house. You weren’t conscious at all for the trip up, huh?” Zach asked.

She shook her head, then winced and raised a hand to her temple.

He couldn’t reach out to touch her the way he wanted to. He needed to keep their weight braced and his arms were pressed into the sides of the tunnel to do just that. “We’ll get you feeling better soon. You might need stitches in your temple.” He hoped like hell that was all she needed.

“You’re a little like a super hero,” Shauna whispered.

He grinned at her. “All yours, baby.”

“Don’t call me baby,” she said, her nose wrinkled again.

He laughed. “I’ll call you anything you want as long as you let me—”

“Stop,” she said. “You sound like you’re quoting some cheesy ass movie or a line in a song.”

Zach stilled when crumbling dust from the stones above fell over them. He covered Shauna’s head with his arms and ducked his head over her to protect them. When it passed, he looked up, while Shauna shined the light up through the tunnel.

The iron pulley system that Liz had used to drag Shauna to the top of the cavern swung in the space.

Zach swallowed a curse and moved his right foot down, looking for the next step. “What do you say we get out of here before that things pulls out of the stones and brings this whole ceiling down on us?”

“You should let me climb on my own. I’m fine now and we can move faster separately.”

Zach found the next footstone and tested its weight. “I don’t think I could change our position right now if I tried.”

They were pretty well wedged into the space, but Shauna looked up. “I’ll grab onto the stepping stones and let you get down ahead of me. It’ll work.”

Zach shook his head and held her tighter. It might be stupid and a caveman thing to do, but he couldn’t let her go. He sure as hell couldn’t let her be up there above him where she’d take most of the hits if that hook and pulley came down on them. If that thing hit her on the head, it could kill her, especially since she already might have a concussion from the ride up.

“Liz had an uncle that died three decades ago,” Shauna said as Zach worked them further down.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re way behind. Herschel Kenworth was likely your cold case killer. The killings stopped when he was checked into a mental institution where he was given a lobotomy,” he said.

“Show off.”

“Kate is okay,” Zach said. “Liz never had her. It’s a long story, but I’ll fill you in later.”

Shauna looked up.

Zach returned his focus to the steps beneath them. “Can you see anything up there?”

“No,” she said, moving her eyes to the space above them again. “It’s too far away now.”

“Means we’re getting closer to the bottom.”

“Uh huh,” she said, but she kept her eyes focused on the black hole.

“I think we’re close,” he said.

Seconds later, they heard the stones groan, almost as though crying out their concession as they gave up holding the iron in place.

Zach swore and dropped down, cradling Shauna as best he could as he landed, hearing a crack in his ankle. He shifted, shoving part of Shauna away and covering the rest of her body with his own, bracing to take the hit as the stone and iron came screaming down the tunnel in a horrifying rush of noise and debris.





Chapter Forty





Shauna’s head slammed into the floor of the basement as Zach shoved her then covered her legs with his body.