Chapter 37 Countdown
Countdown
“We need to hurry,” Levi said, glancing at his phone. “If we’re going to find the archive mentioned in those documents, it has to be now.”
They’d reconvened at base camp, comparing notes and planning their next move.
Jasper set up an impressive command center—laptops displaying thermal imaging of the building’s layout, audio equipment recording ambient sounds, even a crude motion detection system cobbled together from webcams placed at key intersections.
“So let me get this straight,” Elliot said, leaning against a table with arms crossed.
“We’re looking for a secret archive that may contain information about how to access a hidden laboratory beneath the building, which requires three biological samples from a long-dead doctor.
” He shook his head. “This sounds insane.”
“Welcome to paranormal investigation,” Jasper replied with a lazy grin. “First time?”
“I’ve been on seventeen investigations,” Elliot snapped. “None of them involved biological security systems or hidden laboratories.”
“Then maybe you weren’t looking hard enough,” Asher suggested, his voice pleasant but with an undercurrent that made Levi tense. Ever since Elliot suggested pairing with Levi, Asher watched him with the calculating patience of a predator selecting its moment to strike.
“The cipher we found mentioned three guardians,” Levi interjected, steering them back on track.
“Blood, voice, and tissue. And according to the documents, each one requires a specific access protocol.” He spread the papers they collected across the central table.
“We need to locate all three if we want to access the lower level.”
“Why do we even want to?” Tyler asked. “Sounds like the kind of place you’d find in a horror movie right before everyone dies.”
Levi exchanged a glance with Asher. “Because whatever’s down there is the heart of this place,” he said. “If we want real evidence of what happened here, that’s where we’ll find it.”
“And we’re going to split up again?” Maddie asked, fidgeting with her camera strap. “Because I’m not sure that’s the best idea anymore. Zoe already wandered off to the East Wing to do EVPs alone, and I don’t think it was the right move.”
“No,” Levi decided. “We stay together this time. The building’s... unstable at night.” It wasn’t a lie, just not the whole truth. “We’ll look for the archive first, then make a plan for the Specimen Storage room.”
“Where is this archive supposed to be?” Owen asked, adjusting his glasses.
Levi consulted Faine’s journal again. “There are references to a ‘Central Documentation Repository’ behind the administrative offices.” He traced a path on the building’s floor plan. “Third floor, west wing.”
“That entire section was closed for renovations when the sanitarium was still operational,” Owen noted. “It’s not on the public maps.”
“How do you know that?” Levi asked.
Owen shrugged. “I research my locations thoroughly.”
“Let’s gear up,” he said. “Flashlights, cameras, radios. Jasper, can you monitor from here?”
“Roger that, Captain.” Jasper mock-saluted. “I’ve got eyes on most of the building now. If anything weird happens—weirder than usual—I’ll radio.”
“You sure you’ll be okay alone?” Maddie asked.
Jasper patted the baseball bat propped against his chair. “I’ve got Louisville here to keep me company. Plus, someone’s gotta man the command center when Zoe gets back from her sol adventure communing with the spirits. I’ll be fine.”
Levi wasn’t so sure, but they couldn’t afford to leave anyone else behind. They needed numbers for what was coming.
“Stay alert,” he told Jasper. “And if anything feels wrong, anything at all—”
“Bail immediately, I know.” Jasper waved him off. “This isn’t my first ghost hunt, dude.”
But it might be your last.
The West Wing corridor stretched before them like a throat—narrow, dark, and seeming to swallow light rather than reflect it.
Their flashlight beams cut weakly through the gloom, illuminating peeling wallpaper and water-stained ceiling tiles.
The air smelled of mildew and something chemical that caught in the back of his throat.
They moved slowly, testing each step on the creaking floorboards. Levi led the way, with Asher close behind him—close enough that Levi felt fingers brush against his lower back every so often, a possessive reminder of Asher’s presence.
“There should be offices through here,” Owen said, pointing to a set of double doors ahead.
The doors were locked, but not for long. Asher produced his lock picks again, working with quiet efficiency that drew a raised eyebrow from Elliot.
“Handy skill for a sound technician,” he commented dryly.
“You’d be surprised what you pick up in this line of work,” Asher replied without looking up. The lock clicked open under his fingers. “After you,” he said, gesturing Levi through with a slight smile.
The administrative offices were a series of interconnected rooms, each with a heavy wooden desk and filing cabinets lined against the walls. Dust covered every surface, undisturbed for decades. Their footprints marked their passage like a trail of breadcrumbs behind them.
“There should be a door,” Levi said, consulting Faine’s journal. “Something labeled ‘Records’ or ‘Archives.’”
They spread out, searching the offices methodically. Levi found himself in what appeared to be the head administrator’s office—a larger space with a mahogany desk and bookshelves lining one wall. Asher followed him in, closing the door partway behind them.
“The others are distracted,” he said softly, moving closer. “We have a moment.”
Levi tensed. “A moment for what?”
Asher’s fingers traced up his arm, leaving goosebumps in their wake. “I’ve been very patient,” he said softly. “Watching Elliot stare at you.”
“Asher, this isn’t the time—”
“It’s never the time.” Asher’s palm settled on the nape of Levi’s neck. “But you still owe me those three minutes.”
The touch sent a shiver down Levi’s spine and settled in his groin. He should pull away and focus on the mission. He should remember exactly what Asher was and what he had done. Instead, he found himself leaning into the contact.
“Thirty seconds,” Levi countered, voice embarrassingly breathless. “That’s all you get. We’re in the middle of—”
Asher’s mouth caught his, swallowing the rest of the sentence.
Levi’s hands came up to push him away, but ended up curled in the fabric of Asher’s shirt instead. The feel of solid muscle beneath his palms was grounding, a fixed point in the nightmare they inhabited. His lips parted without conscious decision, allowing Asher’s tongue to slip past.
“Twenty-nine,” Asher murmured against his mouth. “Twenty-eight.”
He was counting down the seconds, Levi realized with a jolt of surprise.
“Twenty-seven,” Asher continued, his hand sliding up to cup Levi’s jaw. “Twenty-six.”
The deliberate count was somehow more intimate than the kiss itself—an acknowledgment of boundaries, however temporary. Levi found himself responding with increased urgency, something about the artificial time constraint making each second more precious.
“Fifteen,” Asher whispered, his other hand settling on Levi’s hip. “Fourteen.”
Levi’s back hit the edge of the desk, and Asher pressed closer, the heat of his body a stark contrast to the cool air of the abandoned office.
For these few seconds, Levi let himself forget everything—the danger, the deaths, the manipulations.
He let himself be simply a body responding to another body, seeking comfort in the dark.
“Five,” Asher’s voice had roughened. “Four.”
His teeth caught Levi’s lower lip, tugging gently before releasing it.
“Three. Two. One.”
True to his word, Asher pulled back precisely at zero, though his hands lingered a moment longer. His eyes were dark, pupils dilated, as he studied Levi’s face with hungry attention.
“You’re learning to enjoy me,” he observed, voice low. “That’s progress.”
The comment shattered the momentary spell. This wasn’t mutual attraction; it was conditioning. Training. Asher was teaching Levi’s body to associate him with pleasure rather than pain.
And it was working.
“We should get back to the others,” Levi said, straightening his shirt with fingers that weren’t quite steady.
Asher stepped back, allowing him space, but his expression remained satisfied. “Of course,” he agreed smoothly. “But we’ll continue this... discussion... later.”
Before Levi could respond, a shout from the next room broke the tension.
“Guys! I found something!”
They hurried out to find Maddie kneeling by a bookshelf, her fingers pressed against its edge. “There’s airflow coming from behind this,” she explained, looking up at them. “And look—the dust pattern is different here. Like it’s been moved recently.”
Levi crouched beside her, feeling the faint current of cooler air against his fingertips. “It’s a hidden door,” he confirmed. “Nice catch.”
Maddie beamed at the praise, and Levi felt a twinge of guilt. In another circumstance, in another life, they might have been real friends.
“How do we open it?” Tyler asked, examining the bookshelf.
“Classic mechanism would be a specific book that triggers the latch,” Owen suggested. “Or a sequence of books.”
“Or we could just push really hard,” Elliot said, positioning his shoulder against the shelf. “On three. One, two—”
“Wait,” Levi interrupted, noticing a small triangular symbol etched into the baseboard beside the shelf. The same symbol they saw in the courtyard. “Look at this.”
He traced the symbol with his fingertip, feeling a slight depression in the center. Pressing it did nothing, but when he rotated it clockwise, a soft click emanated from within the wall.
The bookshelf swung inward, revealing a dark passage beyond.
They shone their flashlights into the revealed passage—a narrow corridor that stretched into darkness, its walls lined with what appeared to be filing cabinets.
“The archive,” Asher murmured.