Chapter 6 #2
you could have been decapitated when the elevator fell half a floor. I’m not wrong. I have a bad feeling.”
Obviously, she thought. They both had a bad feeling because they’d been abducted by the partner of a psychopathic killer and
dumped in this abandoned building likely as a ransom to free the psychopathic killer. Or as revenge for arresting him.
“You’re right,” Matt said. “We have to assume that it was sabotaged, and we take each step with caution.”
She let out her breath, squeezed his hand. “Okay. Nice and slow.”
“Ready?”
Kara nodded. Staying here wasn’t an option. No food, no water, and no one knew where they were—except the person who brought
them here.
Matt opened the door cautiously. The stairwell was dark. The green exit sign barely illuminated the landing. The staircase
appeared metal, but Kara could only see a couple steps down.
The air was musty, concrete and rust and a pervasive moldy stench. That didn’t surprise her—Florida was humid.
“Stay right behind me,” Matt said.
“You couldn’t shake me if you tried,” Kara said.
He put his hand on the railing, which wobbled. “I don’t know how secure the staircase is, but it appears to be attached to
the wall so we should be okay.”
As soon as Kara let go of the door, it slammed shut, making her jump. The faint light disappeared, throwing them into darkness
once again.
“Matt.” Kara reached out, felt his back.
“Try to prop open the door.”
She felt around but couldn’t find the handle. “We’re not getting out that way,” she said.
In some secure buildings and hotels, once you entered the stairwell, you could only exit on the ground floor. But she doubted
a warehouse would have that sort of security feature.
Someone had removed the handle.
“I feel like we’re rats in a maze and the light was our cheese.”
“Rats are usually rewarded when they find the cheese,” Matt said, trying to look on the bright side.
“Not helping,” she mumbled. “Watch your step. Literally.”
She kept her hand on the small of Matt’s back as he descended.
Matt tested each step in front of him before putting his weight on it. The stairs were metal and had some bounce, but seemed to be intact. A musty draft came up from below, which made him think that this was a tall building, at least three but likely four stories.
He counted stairs, to get a sense of the size. Ten steps and then he was on a larger platform as the staircase curved to the
right. He felt along the railing to make sure he was right; he was.
“The staircase makes a one-eighty here,” he said. “Ten more steps down.”
“What if that door doesn’t have a handle?”
“Then we go to the next floor. We’re going to get out of here.”
He tested the first step. Good. Second. Third . . . a sharp metallic crack and the stair gave way. His ankle went through,
and a sharp pain made him cry out as the metal cut into his flesh. He leaned back, knocked into Kara, and the entire staircase
seemed to sway.
“Hold on to the railing!” he shouted as the stair he had already tested started to bend.
“The whole staircase is falling apart!” Kara said.
Maybe she had been right about the sabotage, because metal like this didn’t just crack and break, unless it was really old.
“I’m going first,” Matt said, his breath ragged. “Stay here.”
“Don’t you dare die on me, Costa,” she hissed. Kara sounded scared. She rarely sounded scared, which told Matt that their
situation was dire.
Holding tight to the railing, he walked along the edge of the staircase. His ankle throbbed and he felt blood drip down into
his sneakers. But no broken bones, so he counted his blessings.
The railing was jerky, as if some of the bolts were missing, and as he stepped he could feel the metal beneath him give way
enough to know that there were other compromised stairs. He counted as he went, and when he hit the landing he breathed marginally
easier.
“I’m okay,” he called up to Kara. “Wait one sec while I feel things out.”
The floor felt solid, no weak spots. He put his hands out and touched the door. Pressed. Ran his fingers along the metal.
He found the seams, but didn’t find a handle.
He and Kara needed to decide what to do next. He called to her, “Okay, walk along the edge of the staircase and hold the railing.
It’s unsteady, but as long as you avoid the center you’ll be okay. There are seven steps after the broken one, they all sag
toward the middle.”
“I’m coming,” she said, her voice rough around the edges.
He kept his hand on the railing and felt Kara’s progress as she traversed the stairs. Then she was at his side and he wrapped
an arm around her.
“I couldn’t find a handle on the door. We should continue down.”
“We can’t see anything,” she said. “What if the stairs just end? What if they collapse from our weight? The elevator was wood
and steel, functional. The stairs are metal grates. It’s clearly abandoned.”
“There’s electricity coming from somewhere,” Matt said. “I don’t hear it in the stairwell, but upstairs there was a faint
hum. It sounded like a generator.”
“Then maybe we can find a light source. Or a window. If the place is abandoned or sealed off for some reason—”
“I think it was flooded.”
“Really? Why?”
“The moldy smell. It’s familiar. When Dante and I were kids we used to explore abandoned buildings, many of which had been
damaged in hurricanes and shut down.”
Kara laughed, and that helped because it sounded like the old Kara, the brave Kara, the Kara who could help him figure out
how to get out of this place.
“The by-the-book federal agent breaking into private property—I would never have thought.”
“We all do stupid things when we’re kids,” Matt said lightly.
“Let me try to get through this door, okay? If there had been a handle at one point, maybe we can leverage it or wedge something
in a space and open it. If we can’t open it, then we go down.”
“Alright,” he said. He guided her hand to the door seams, then let her explore.
A minute later he heard the door creak.
“I got it,” Kara said, her voice strained. “I found the holes where the handle used to be, but they’re small, only big enough
for my pinky fingers. I’m going to pull it open as far as I can. I felt it shift, so it’s not locked, but it’s heavy.”
“You pull. I’ll get my fingers in the crack and wedge it open.”
“If I slip, your fingers will be chopped off.”
“Don’t slip.”
“Matt—”
“Seriously, other option is going down the stairs, and you’re right, we can’t be certain all the steps are there.” He didn’t
tell Kara about one of the buildings he and Dante had explored. The entire staircase had just ended halfway up. They couldn’t
see it at first, and when they started up, the stairs sagged. They barely got down before the entire staircase collapsed.
He didn’t want to think about encountering a gap in the stairs while going down with zero visibility.
“Okay, okay—find the crack. When you have it, I’ll count to three then pull. But my fingers barely fit in, so I don’t know
how much traction I’ll get.”
“We’ll try.” Matt ran his fingers along the door and felt the crack. “Okay. Right here. You pull, I’ll wedge, good?”
“Sure,” she said without her usual confidence. “Okay, one . . . two . . . three.” Kara pulled and Matt pushed his fingers into the narrow space. One of his nails split, but he wasn’t going to let go. Kara grunted, and he worried that she had hurt herself.
But then his fingers went all the way in. “I got it!”
Kara stepped back a half step and Matt slowly opened the door.
The hall on the other side wasn’t as dark as the staircase. There was faint yellow light coming from around the corner, creating
a murky dark gray. But not totally dark. That was a plus.
“Ready?” Matt said.
“Let’s do it.”
They stepped into the hall. The door closed behind them, followed by a clash of metal on metal. Matt pushed on it, but it
wouldn’t budge.
“Rats in a maze,” Kara repeated.
Matt took her hand. “We’re going to get out of this,” he said. “Just be prepared for anything.”