Deadly Dance by Dee Davis Page A

something.”
    “Yes,” she nodded, grateful to be back on safer ground. “I think there’s a trap door. But I didn’t want to go in by myself.”
    “Smart girl,” he said, pulling his gun as he moved past her into the closet. “Where is it?”
    “In the corner,” she aimed her gun so that the light shone on the area of floor where the trap door was. “It was under a box. I saw it after I fell.”
    Harrison shot her a concerned look.
    “It was nothing. I’m fine,” she said, resisting the urge to rub her throbbing knee.
    He nodded, his attention already back on the trap door, as he traced the edges to try to find a handle or latch or something. “You need to get Avery.”
    “You can’t go down there by yourself,” she protested. “I’ll just radio him. Not much point in going dark. After my fall, if anyone’s down there, they’d have to be deaf not to have heard me.”
    “Or dead,” Harrison mumbled under his breath, and Hannah shivered.
    Pushing aside all thoughts of Sara, she adjusted her comlink. “Avery, are you there?”
    “Yeah,” came the crackling reply. “You guys in trouble?”
    “Negative,” she said. “But I’ve found a trap door. It’s in a closet in the room next to the living area. Harrison’s here and we’re going to try to open it.”
    “Copy that,” Avery answered. “We’re on our way. Be careful.”
    Silence loomed for a moment, and then with a sharp intake of breath, Harrison pulled upward, the trap door opening with a mechanical groan.
    They shined their lights on the opening, a series of steep steps leading downward. They held position for a moment, listening, but nothing moved. There was no sound at all except the slow dripping of water somewhere.
    “You ready?” Harrison whispered.
    Hannah nodded, not completely sure she meant it. If there was something down there, she had the feeling it wasn’t going to be anything good.
    Harrison moved first, shining the tac-light attached to his gun ahead of them. Moisture filled the air, the dampness cold and cloying. Shadows stretched across the floor, moving like living things in the flickering beams of their lights.
    They reached the bottom, and Harrison swept his light across the room. Dust-coated boxes were stacked in a corner, and an empty shelving unit stood against the far wall. Like the boxes, it was coated in grime, the filth making it clear that no one had touched it in decades.
    “There’s nothing here,” Hannah said, turning in a slow circle moving the beam from her tac-light across the walls and floors. “It doesn’t look like anyone’s been down here in years.”
    “Yeah, but look,” Harrison pointed down at the floor just by the stairs, “there’s no dust here. It’s been swept clean.”
    Hannah shifted, lowering her light so that she could see. “So what are we missing?”
    “I don’t know.” Harrison shook his head. “But if I had to call it, I’d say it’s under the stairs.”
    He pushed aside a stack of boxes and ducked into the space beneath the steps. “See anything?” she asked, his back blocking her view.
    “There’s a door in the back wall,” he said. “A new one. Looks the same as the one upstairs.”
    Above them they could hear footsteps on the stairs. “Avery?” Hannah whispered, clutching her gun. “That you?”
    “Roger that,” he replied. “What have you got?”
    “Harrison’s found another door.”
    “All right,” Avery said. “Hold position until we get there.”
    Harrison nodded, indicating that he’d heard Avery’s order.
    “Is it locked?” Hannah asked.
    “I don’t think so,” he said, training his light just above the knob as he moved to the side so that she could see. “There’s a deadbolt on the outside. Whatever this was used for, it was for keeping people in, not out.”
    Again Hannah shivered. Avery, Drake, and Simon hit the bottom of the stairs, the big men filling the small cellar.
    “Am I clear to go?” Harrison asked, his expression