When the Shadows Fall by Elise Noble
CHAPTER 36 - SKY
OUR PRISON WAS more of a room than a closet, but nonetheless, we were stuck in there. I’d tripped up the step as they dragged me inside, and my knee ached like fuck. I let the pain spur me on.
Pool noodles, lane markers, deflated beach balls, wetsuits, a baseball glove, an old set of scuba apparatus… Nearly all water-related. If I had to guess, I’d say the room was a storage area for the swimming pool, which meant we were around four hundred yards north of the main building. Even if a miracle happened and Team Blackwood did show up, hunting for me would be like looking for hay in a needle stack. Almost impossible and with a high likelihood of blood being shed. Why couldn’t we have been near the sports field? A hockey stick might actually have come in useful.
“Sky, what’s happening?” Asher asked.
I threw a paddleboard aside and hit pay dirt. Another door! But where did it go? I tested it with my shoulder. Solid.
“Come over here and help me.”
“What the fuck is going on?”
“We need to break down this door.”
“Why?”
“Because your uncle is a criminal, and he’s going to kill me and possibly you as well if we don’t get out of here.”
“You’re gonna have to explain that statement.”
“He was waving a gun at me. How much more of an explanation do you need?”
“He probably thought we were burglars. And you attacked him first.”
“Okay, fine. That room we were in? I’d say it housed a good proportion of all the famous paintings that have gone missing over the past, oh, four or five decades.”
“And you know this how?”
“Because…” I took a deep breath. “Because I was sent here to search for them.”
I kept my eyes on the door. Not because I thought it might suddenly open, although that would have been nice, but because I couldn’t bring myself to face Asher.
“You… I… So, what are you? An undercover cop?”
“A private investigator.”
“You’re a… How old are you?”
“Eighteen. This is my first job, and aren’t I doing great at it?”
“Hell.” I knew if I turned around, I’d find Asher’s hand scrubbing at his hair, but my feet stayed where they were. “You lied to me.”
“I didn’t tell you the whole truth.”
“Bullshit. You lied. Your parents—are they even your parents?”
“No.”
“I can’t believe this. I told you secrets I’ve never told anyone.”
“I did the same.”
“Did you? Really? Or was it just an act?”
“No! It wasn’t like that. Everything that I said happened to me, it happened. I grew up on the fucking streets, Asher. My real dad beat me. Is that what you want to hear? Does that make you feel better?”
“Better? Better? The only thing that would make me feel better right now is flying back to San Diego and never seeing you or this place again.”
“Then could you please help me with this door?”
“Fine.” He muttered curses under his breath, but he did at least line up next to me. “Fine. On three.”
“One… Two… Three.”
Ow, fuck, that hurt. Pain radiated through my shoulder, and the door didn’t budge an inch. Asher gave it a kick for good measure, then hopped a bit.
“It’s solid,” he groaned.
“Yeah, I’d noticed.”
“Do we try again?”
“And break the other shoulder too? Sure, why not?”
Bloody hell. This time, the pain was hotter. More intense. That sturdy old piece of oak was probably laughing at us. There was no give whatsoever in the wood, and not a millimetre of light showed around the edge. I guessed at a bolt top and bottom, the same as the door to the cavern. I’d heard them shoot home when the men locked us inside.
“We’re not trying a third time,” I said.
“Gotta agree with that.” A pause. “You really think there’re stolen paintings in all of those boxes?”
“Yup.”
“Why? Why would Saul take them?”
“It’s a long, long story, but there are various reasons. At first, it was retribution for crimes committed during the Holocaust. Then simply for the money. And lately, he’s been using them to buy favours.”
Asher sat down on a plastic container and covered his face with his hands. “I fell for all this bullshit. Yours and theirs. How do I even know who’s telling the truth now?”
I crouched in front of him. “I’ve got no reason to lie anymore.”
“And it’s not just me you lied to. What about Vanessa? She thinks you’re her friend.”
“Uh, she knows why I’m here. And she is my friend.”
“She knows?”
“She helped me to put some of the clues together.”
“So it’s just me who’s the schmuck?”
“How could I have told you? What would you have said? Even after Saul pointed a gun in my face, you still thought it might have been a mistake.”
Silence.
I reached out and took Asher’s hand, and my heart stuttered when he flinched.
“Whatever else happens here, everything between us was real. You have to understand that. I really fucking like you, Asher Martinez.”
Hammering on the door made us both jump, and somebody yelled instructions. Saul? The waiter?
“Stay back, both of you. We’re armed.”
We stood as the bolts thunked back, and the door slowly swung towards us. The waiter. He was turning out to be a real pain in the ass.
“You, come with us.”
He motioned with the gun in his hand, and I took a step forward.
“Not you. Him.”
Asher didn’t move. “I’m not leaving without her.”
“Get out this door, or I’ll shoot her right now.”
“Just go,” I whispered. “I’ll be okay.”
Although I had no freaking clue how. This was possibly the worst situation I’d ever been in.
“But—”
“Go!”
As soon as the door closed behind them, I ran forward and pressed my ear to the wood. Where were they taking him? Which direction?
“Take him to Saul,” the waiter said. “He wants a word.”
“And her?” somebody asked.
“Saul wants to keep the bitch as leverage for now, and he’ll most likely have questions for her.”
“So we’ll dispose of her later? Because we’ll have to prepare for that.”
“Then prepare,” the waiter snapped. “I need some fucking Tylenol.”