Chapter 16 #2
Tallie tags along, seemingly content to watch, comment, question, and badger me. She’s clearly getting a kick out of my frustration.
Four more rooms and I come up empty-handed. Cursing, I try a fifth, and this time Tallie stays on my hip like a bored toddler.
“Can I help? I can knock on wood too. See, look. Bang bang. Amazing. Was that good?”
“Enough,” I say, rounding on her, fury boiling over. “I’m having a hard enough time right now and I don’t need you making it harder. I’m not doing this to entertain you.”
“What are you doing, exactly?”
“Searching for the secret fucking hallways!” I bark it at her, seething, and instantly feel like an asshole. “I know how that sounds, alright? But everyone I’ve ever talked to agrees, there are hidden passages in this house. If I can find them—“
Tallie puts a hand up like she’s trying to talk in class.
“I know where one is.”
That shuts me up. My heart’s racing as my anger and frustration slams into the brick wall of that one stupid sentence. “You… know… where one is?”
“Oh yeah, sure, I found one a while back when I was a kid. There used to be more but they covered over most.”
“And this one still works?”
“Last time I saw.” She holds a hand out, palm up. “How much will you pay me for it?”
“Tallie,” I say, grinding her name out like I’m throwing up stones. “Don’t play around.”
“You’re hot when you’re mad.”
“You should see me when I’m furious.”
“Can I get you there?”
“Tallie.”
“Fine. God, you’re no fun.” She spins on her heel. “Follow me, Mr. Pissy.”
I keep my mouth shut, despite wanting to snap at her. Mr. Pissy?! I’ve been knocking around in closets for twenty minutes and all along she could’ve taken me to exactly where I need to go.
But as we walk down the hall and to a different wing, I have time to collect myself.
In fairness, I never told her what I was doing.
Sure, she was being as annoying as possible, and she was probably doing it on purpose.
If I had been more forthcoming with her up front, I could’ve avoided all this nonsense.
Truth is, Tallie’s done nothing but impress me.
She’s beautiful, clever, and competent. When she decides to do something, she gets it done, damn it, no matter what, and I respect the hell out of that.
She has a wild streak hidden underneath her layers of propriety, but best of all, she moves like a thief.
“Here we go.” She takes me into a home gym with equipment that looks like it’s never used.
She heads straight for the back where there’s another door that takes us through into a locker room.
“This used to be different when I was little. We used it for a playroom. They stored a bunch of stuff back here, but I guess they changed it sometime in the last ten years?” She shrugs as she leans her shoulder into a locker and pushes it aside to reveal a small, square hatch roughly cut into the wall.
I stare, heart rate picking up. “Are you sure?”
She kneels down and gently gets her fingers around the edges.
“When I was little, I used to run around in the darkness in there. I’d come out with cobwebs in my hair.
Annie and Sam would pretend to be monsters.
Davit hated that game and he’d cry like a baby.
Gor played too, but he was older and wasn’t as into it.
” She puts the hatch aside. “Here you go.”
I get down on all fours and shove my head into the empty cavity in the wall.
“Tight fit,” I murmur, shuffling so I can get my arm in with my phone set to flashlight.
The beam scrapes across a narrow passage, big enough for an adult to move through uncomfortably.
But for kids, it must’ve seemed like a paradise. “Where’s it go?”
“All over.” Her voice is muffled on the other side of the wall. “Those passages are all connected and there are dozens. We didn’t go too far because there’s not much light.”
I start to shimmy my way through when she grabs my ankles.
“What are you doing?”
“Stopping you from being stupid.”
“I want to look around.”
“No.” She tugs me back. “We talk first.”
I grit my teeth. This is what I’ve been thinking about for months. This is my Holy Fucking Grail, the path to my freedom. I knew these stupid passages existed, and now I have a way in.
And once a thief is inside, it’s very, very hard to get him back out again.
Against my better judgement, I shuffle until I’m sitting with my back to the locker. She’s crouched a few feet away, looking at the gap in the wall thoughtfully.
“You want to know why.”
She nods and bites her middle finger. “I assume you have a plan and you’re not just suicidal.”
“I have a plan.”
“And that plan is how you’re going to buy your freedom?”
“That’s right.”
“Just tell me. It’s my future too now, isn’t it? I’ve been patient, but I’m not sitting around and waiting anymore. Tell me what you’re after.”
I think about lying. I could give her some fake version of my plan, keep her off my trail, until it’s too late to stop what’s about to happen. But she’s right, now that she’s involved this affects her future.
And I’m tired of keeping things from her. I don’t want to sneak around. The weight of Sam’s dossier is like an anchor dragging me down into the deepest parts of the ocean. I’ll drown if I can’t find a way to cut it free.
“Arsen doesn’t like to let people go.” I move to the side and start replacing the hatch as I speak. “It’s not as simple as just moving away. He wouldn’t allow that, not when he decided that I’m useful. So the only way to get my life back is to force his hand.”
“Blackmail.”
“Exactly.” I pull the locker to cover the hatch and make sure it looks like nothing’s moved. “I need a tool to hold against him. Do you remember when we first met?”
“Hard to forget. I flashed you.”
My heart stutters and I smile despite myself. “You still had a bra on.”
“That’s splitting hairs.”
“But where were we that day?”
“The party… at that house…” She squints as she remembers. “The Davises.”
“You know what they are, right?”
“Old and rich.”
“They’re arms dealers.”
She waves a hand. “They’re in defense contracting.”