"I understand, Adelyn, but just don't worry about it and follow me," he told her gently as he tugged on her hand and the two of them stepped carefully down the two flights.
She sighed hard when their feet hit the hard concrete floor. "I'm trusting you, Justin," she said. "Lead me to Colby."
"That's better," he smiled, but when he looked around, there wasn't a light to be found. In fact, the basement was so dark that it took them awhile to even see each other's outlines. Justin let go of Adelyn's hand and slipped it around her waist instead, drawing her near himself.
"Anyone here?" he called out, but his voice hit the stone walls in vain. "Something's not right," he concluded.
"And you're just figuring that out?" Adelyn wanted to know as she pulled away from him. "What was your first clue, genius?"
He reached for her, but she slipped away into the obscure darkness. "Come back here," he hissed as he stepped forward, reaching out his arms and feeling for Adelyn. He stopped when his hands felt the cold grain of a wooden dresser. "Adelyn," he said, putting his hands at his sides. "Adelyn, answer me!"
Silence.
Justin's heart began to beat twice as fast. If he brought her into this place and then lost her... he would never forgive himself! Quickly, he turned around and took a step forward, but his face smashed right into something hard.
"Oh, God!" he exclaimed, raising the palm of his hand to his pained nose.
"What was that?" he finally heard Adelyn's voice from the other side of the room. "Are you all right?"
Even though he couldn't see a thing, he spun around to the direction of her voice. "Why the hell didn't you answer me?!" he yelled.
"Shh!"
"Don't shush me, Adelyn. I want to know why you didn't answer me!"
"Justin, quiet! Come over here and look what I found."
Justin stepped closer and closer until he bumped into her. "When I was looking for you I kind of walked right into something," he mumbled, noticing a slight wetness on his hand, "and I think my nose is bleeding."
"Bleeding?" she said, sounding concerned. "Find something to put on it."
"I'll be okay," he promised. "Now, what did you find?"
"A weird door," she answered, grabbing his hand and putting it against the wall. He felt a rusty metal latch and the crack where the door opened. "If I were a criminal, I would hide in there." she went on. "This door could be easily overlooked in the dark... there's not even a knob."
"Are you forgetting that I am... I mean, was a criminal?" he asked, putting his arm back around her waist and making sure he didn't lose her again. "But if you would have stayed with me, like I had asked, then maybe I could have told you that I already knew where this door was and that was where we were heading in the first place."
Adelyn pressed closer to him. "Oh," she said. "Sorry."
"Yeah, sure," he replied. "Just stay right there while I get this door open. Don't move an inch this time!"
"I promise I'll stay put."
"Good."
Once the door was unlocked, Justin opened it... and almost walked right into another piece of furniture. "What the hell?" he asked, placing his palms against the wood.
"What is that?" Adelyn wanted to know.
"This isn't good," he told her. "Someone's trying to keep us out of here."
"No, really?" Adelyn hissed. "I couldn't figure that out."
Justin gave her a glare. "Move back, smart ass. I'm gonna try and tip this thing." He put his shoulder to the wood and pushed... but to no avail. He tried again, this time shoving harder into it.
Nothing.
Adelyn poked him in the back. "Let me help you. As you pointed out earlier, 'I'm so damned strong' so why don't you move over?"
Together, they pushed. For a while, the dresser scraped against the floor, making an awful sound, but then it began to tip. They both gave it their all as the dresser finally went over and fell to a floor with a crash. Justin caught Adelyn before she went along with it.
Silently, they stood there and gazed down at the long, thin hallway, faintly lit by small candles sitting on sconces that winded down as far as they could see.
"What is this place?" Adelyn said softly. "I've never seen anything like it."
Justin took her hand and helped her over the mess on the floor. "They're underground tunnels," he told her. "This is where Colby runs everything."
She looked up at him. "Justin, you need to put something on your nose. It looks awful."
He put his hand back up to his face and touched his nose, grimacing. When he looked at his hand, it was bloody. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a tissue, and then wiped away the blood.
Their eyes went to the left and they spotted an opened door while the rest were closed.
"I'm going in," Adelyn announced in a whisper as she reached down for her gun. "Wait here."
He grabbed her. "You've gotta be kidding me! You want me to wait here while you go in there? Yeah, right!"
She shot him a defiant look. "Let go of me, Justin," she whispered. "I need to check out the room before you go strutting in."
"Strutting in? Adelyn, I don't strut."
"If you don't let go of me right now, Justin, I'll be forced to report you."
"Report me!? For what?"
"For assaulting an officer! Now, let go!"
He finally released her. "I'm only looking out for you," he muttered.
"Then quit arguing with me and stay here. I'll come back out and get you in a second."
Justin watched as she turned around and slipped through the doorway. "Be careful," he whispered as the door creaked shut.
Justin leaned back against the wall and was just crossing his arms over his chest when he heard a rustling to his left. He swung his head over and stared at the doorway above the crashed dresser. Quietly, he reached for his gun and pulled it out, pointing it at the doorway.
Out of the darkness, another figure emerged... and Justin found a gun pointed at him as well.
"Freeze," the silhouette said. "Put down your weapon."
But the figure didn't get far, and Justin watched as he fell down right on top of the dresser. As the man groaned, Justin approached and took the gun from his hand, still pointing his at the man's head. "You, freeze," he demanded. "Who the hell are you?"
The man moved from behind Justin's shadow and Justin caught a glimpse of his face.
"Oh, man," he said, lowering his gun. "Aren't you supposed to be outside?"
Pertel rose up and brushed himself off. "I would appreciate it if you didn't tell Adelyn about me tripping over and falling flat on my face," he told Justin as he snatched his gun back, and then looking around them. "Where is she, anyway? Did you lose her?!"
"Calm down! I didn't lose her," Justin assured the officer as he gestured toward the other door. "She went in there to check the room out. She'll be out in a second."
"How long ago was this?"
"I don't know, a few minutes." He paused. "Why?"
"Is it a big room or something?"
Slowly, Justin shook his head. "No... it's not. Are you saying that you think she'd be out by now?"
He shrugged. "Only one way to find out."
Justin watched as Pertel moved around him and swung the door open, pointing his gun into the blackness. Justin moved closer behind him as he peered around his shoulder and struggled to make out what was in the room
"Adelyn?" he called out softly.
A bare bulb flickered on and the room illuminated. After his eyes adjusted, he looked down from the bulb and saw Colby with his arm around Adelyn... and the barrel of his gun resting on the side of her head.
Chapter 28
Paying the Consequences
Justin {Fiction}
My Fiction
I'll Never Stop {Fiction}
Email me: irishgirl982@yahoo.com