Terror Mansion (Decorah Security Series, Book #12): A Paranormal Romantic Suspense Novella by REBECCA YORK Page B

pushed farther back. Wrapping her in a tight embrace with one arm, he kept the other hand against the wall. When his fingers hit against a projection sticking out, he grabbed it. As the water subsided, a panel swung outward, and suddenly he was staring into another narrow tunnel. Was it part of the torture chamber? Or was it an access door Treeman had put here because he knew this would be the end of the line for anyone who had taken this route through the fun house?
    Making a split second decision, Wyatt darted back the way he’d come, closing the access door as he lay still in the eddying water.
    “Don’t move,” he whispered to Kate.
    She lay on her side, one fist under her cheek to keep her nose above the water. When Wyatt heard footsteps, he did the same, lying with his breath shallow and his eyes slitted. He was thinking that if Treeman was coming in here, he would have turned off the automatic firing system. At least Wyatt prayed that was true.
    A pair of legs clad in gray slacks stepped into the watery passageway.
    Wyatt waited—waited—his heart thudding as he strove for the right moment.
    Treeman approached, coming to a stop close to Wyatt, a pistol in his hand.
    Wyatt whipped out a foot, catching the killer in the legs.
    Treeman screamed. He must have had his finger inside the trigger guard of the weapon, because he fired off several shots while he wavered on his feet in the slippery corridor.
    As the man went down, Kate sprang up, landing on his back and pummeling him as she pushed him into the water. Between them, they wrestled him onto his stomach.
    Wyatt shoved the killer’s face below the surface, holding his head while Kate straddled his body, clamping his arms at his sides with her knees. When he thrashed, she rose up, then came down hard, knocking the wind out of him.
    He tried to roll to his side, but between the two of them, they kept him pinned in his own watery trap. The struggle seemed to last for an eternity, but finally the man who had tried to kill them went still. Kate breathed out a sigh of relief, but Wyatt warned her,
    “He could be playing possum. Stay where you are.”
    Just then a crashing noise made his heart leap into his throat. Was the fun house serving up one last threat? He tensed, ready for trouble. Instead, a familiar voice rang out,
    “Wyatt? Kate? Are you there?”
    He recognized Ben Walker and knew that someone at Decorah had deciphered the notes he’d left in the workshop.
    “Yes.”
    “Are you okay?”
    “Basically. But I don’t know how to tell you where we are—except somewhere in this damn maze.”
    “Where’s Treeman?”
    “Here. He figured we were dead. Or he was going to finish us off. We turned the tables on him.”
    “Keep talking. I’ll find you.”
    “Watch out. Don’t go into the fun house tunnels. They’re full of traps that could kill you.”
    “I’m in what looks like an access corridor.”
    “Stay in it,” Wyatt said.
    Long moments passed. Cautiously Wyatt let go of Treeman, ready to grab him again if he came back from the dead like a monster in a horror movie, but the killer stayed where he was—unmoving.
    A flashlight beam cut through the darkness of the tunnel to his left.
    “We’re about twenty feet further on,” Wyatt called out. “Through the access door.”
    He scooted toward the light. Kate followed, and they pushed into the second tunnel.
    The beam played over them.
    “You look like drowned otters. Are you okay?” Ben asked.
    “Yes.”
    “Wyatt’s cut,” Kate corrected.
    “It’s not bad. Kate, this is Ben Walker, one of the other Decorah agents. Ben, this is Kate Kingston.”
    They both murmured a greeting.
    “I guess you read my notes?” Wyatt said.
    “Teddy duplicated your name-reversal research. I would have gotten here faster if you’d told him what you found out about Treeman’s location.”
    “I was planning to. The bastard gassed us in Kate’s workshop before I could send a message.” Wyatt pushed