Chapter 7 - The Labyrinth Beneath The Floorboards
A blinding cloud of scalding white steam blasted directly into Julian’s face.
He screamed, dropping his weapon and stumbling backward as the blistering vapor scorched his eyes and skin. His heavy tactical boot came down hard on the unreinforced dumbwaiter hatch.
The temporary nails snapped like dry twigs.
With a splintering crash, the subfloor gave way beneath him, and Julian plummeted twelve feet down through the vertical shaft, crashing heavily into the iron machinery of the basement boiler room.
"Go! Go! Go!" I shouted, grabbing Lily and Maya in each arm and pulling Caroline by the wrist.
We sprinted out of the nursery into the dark second-floor hallway. Downstairs, I could hear the shouts of Julian’s hired men clearing the dining room and kitchen.
"Upstairs! Check the second level!" a harsh voice shouted from the foyer.
"The drainage tunnel is cut off," Caroline whispered in panic. "They're already in the kitchen!"
"We don't need the stairs," I said.
I dragged them toward the master bedroom at the end of the hall. Behind the full-length mirror in our walk-in closet was the secondary maintenance access for the central heating system—a forgotten servant staircase that spiraled between the inner and outer brick walls of the southern wing, leading directly to the old exterior carriage house.
I pulled the mirror aside, unlocked the panel, and pushed Caroline inside.
"Take both girls down to the carriage house loft," I ordered. "There is an old hunting rifle in the locked gun cabinet behind the workbench. The code is 0-4-1-8—Lily’s birthday."
"Ryan, you can't go back for Sarah alone!" Caroline cried, clutching my arm. "They will kill you!"
"She's Maya’s mother," I said, looking into Caroline’s tear-streaked face. "And she was my life before the world burned down. I'm not leaving anyone behind in the dark ever again."
I turned Maya toward me for a single second. I reached into her tiny pocket, pulled out the wooden dog carving, and pressed it into Lily’s hands.
"Lily, protect this for your sister. Can you do that for Daddy?"
May you like
Lily nodded bravely, wiping her nose with her sleeve. "I promise, Daddy."
I sealed the hidden panel behind them, picked up a heavy steel crowbar from my renovation toolbag in the hallway, and turned back toward the steam-filled corridor.
