Pietr watched me, cooling as my logic—and my unspoken suggestion to observe our surroundings careful y—sank in.
“So, are we ready for testing?” The shorter man didn’t look at the Rusakovas but kept his eyes on me.
I wondered if he remembered my Maglite-wielding capabilities. Nodding, I smiled at him, my voice steady as I said, “Yes, that’s what we agreed to.”
“Lead on,” Max commanded. “Let’s get scraped and leaked.”
The agents headed down the hal way, looking over their shoulders frequently to make sure we were coming. I noticed the tal one’s arm was in a heavy cast. He wouldn’t be so fast to level a gun against me again. The Rusakovas healed swiftly, but the same couldn’t be said for those of us who were simply human. Wanda and Kent fel in behind us, bolting the door before dogging us from one smal room to the other.
We quickly came to an area where a staircase had been added. The tal er of the two men opened the door that led under the stair and stuck out an encouraging hand, signaling us to head inside.
Max grabbed Alexi, scooting him in front. “You first, brother,” he said, the bitterness clear in his voice.
Alexi grimaced, but started down a dimly lit set of stairs as the Rusakovas’ point man, head moving quickly from side to side, eyes alert. Catherine snugged up behind him, one hand gripping the banister tightly, the other reassuringly on Alexi’s shoulder. Max fol owed her, sandwiching me between Pietr and himself.
I counted steps. The stairs went deeper than I expected and I turned, looking past Pietr and up to Wanda. “I didn’t know there were any places like this in Junction.”
“At one time, this was one of the most northern stops along the Underground Railroad,” Wanda mentioned, the research librarian in her showing through. I liked her better as a librarian than a gun-toting CIA agent. But then, I didn’t like her much as a librarian, either.
“Before the staircase, there was a simple trapdoor leading into a smal pit that the previous owners had wal ed with random boards and stones. Not much comfort to be had if you were an escaped slave on the run.”
“There’s never much comfort if you’re trying to escape an unjust government,” Alexi said. Loudly.
I swore I heard Wanda grind her teeth from nearly ten steps above.
Between us Pietr stayed stiff and aloof. I doubted he had any interest in the building’s past. He only wanted to know how it connected to his present and his mother’s future.
I noticed no cobwebs in the basement, no mold or speckling of mildew. The musty smel I expected was nonexistent. Instead, the smel matched my memory of the garden in springtime. The scent of damp and freshly turned dirt.
I reached my left hand out, noticing how the texture of the wal changed. Cement, fresh and pale, ran smoothly where my hand traced along the stairway. Thirteen steps. Fourteen. Fifteen …
Pietr said, “You haven’t been here very long.” His statement thinly veiled his surprise.
I didn’t need to see Kent’s grin of satisfaction to hear it in his words. “Pietr, you turned seventeen, what
—a little over a month ago?”
“Considering you have our house bugged and our phones tapped,” Alexi said, pausing to turn and face the rest of us from the front of the line, “I’m sure you know our birthdays, Officer Kent.”
Cat’s hand tightened on his shoulder.
“Perhaps rather than suggest the government raise taxes next term, the CIA could make ends meet by becoming administrative assistants to the occupants of the houses they bug. Since you know everyone’s business, you can at least make sure none of us criminal types miss a meeting.”
Alexi may have lost the title of alpha in the Rusakova household, but to me it sounded like he’d just pissed on Kent’s shoes.
“No one accused any of you of being criminal,” Wanda spat.
“Then release our mother,” Catherine said so casual y there could be no doubt of threat.
Fol owing the verbal ping-pong match, I stood between them on step seventeen, my back to the cool wal .
The smile faded from Kent’s voice when he next spoke. He motioned us forward. Eighteen, nineteen …
“We started construction almost a month ago. We move very fast when there’s a reason.” He paused.
“The entire basement was expanded.…”
As if on cue, we came up short at the bottom of the stairs. Twenty. I glanced down the final stairs, concluding my count. Twenty-four. The men leading us stood by a door. This at least seemed more impressive. Larger than normal and of heavy steel construction the door was a pale gray, contrasting with the faintly warm color of the cement. It reminded me of doors I’d seen on cold storage rooms at a butcher facility we toured in elementary school. I trembled at the comparison.
A smal number pad was integrated into a spot just above the door’s hefty-looking handle. The shorter of our two escorts tapped out a rapid succession of numbers; the number pad blinked green twice, and the door opened with only a hint of sound.
Now that was impressive.
We’d come to a tunnel of sorts. Again cement lined the wal s, smooth and angular, and I imagined they paid a pretty penny to hire a construction crew and mason to quickly set up shop. Maybe that was where tax dol ars went.
Fluorescent lights coated us in an unhealthy-looking glare as we walked along the lengthy underground hal . Certainly a suitable location for fluorescents, the hel spawn of lighting.
We came to another large door. “Okay,” I said, “I know we’re no longer under the house we entered.
We’ve crossed beneath the backyard. On the other side of this door we should be under the Grabbit Mart.”
“Absolutely correct,” our shorter escort agreed.
“We nearly had to quit construction when the locals put up a fuss about the way we were tearing up the old Grabbit Mart parking lot and gas tanks.” He chuckled. “We said due to newer OSHA and EPA old Grabbit Mart parking lot and gas tanks.” He chuckled. “We said due to newer OSHA and EPA regulations the old tanks couldn’t stay. And unfortunately, the old Grabbit Mart had an extensive, and leaky, system of pipes running beneath it. The whole neighborhood could go up in a puff.”
“Or so you said,” Alexi surmised.
“It calmed them down,” his partner agreed. “As you can see,” he said, opening the next door, “everyone has profited by our progress.” The area widened into numerous office spaces, and beyond that an additional set of heavy doors lined another wal .