Listen.
And hear a faint sound above.
Not a footstep. More like a scrape, weight shifting.
Someone inside the house is trying to keep their presence a secret.
I move.
Slowly at first, gun up, body close to the wall. The wound in my side gives one hot warning as I angle around the first corner. I let the pain pass through and keep going.
The basement is not the fight.
The fight is upstairs.
But the breach may be down here, too, and if anyone finds the safe room before I neutralize enough of the threat, the people inside become trapped prey.
I make for the utility panel first.
If they killed the backup, they either found the exterior generator feed or the internal switch. The cameras blacked out all at once, which means they likely cut main and backup at the control junction. That requires knowledge of the house.
I take the service stairs up instead of the main basement stairwell. It empties near the pantry, close to the kitchen hall, which is narrow. Bad if someone waits at the top. Better if I need to come up behind the movement near the dining room.
At the top, I pause.
The house feels so different from just a little while ago.
No dinner sounds. No staff movement. No low music from the speakers that Caterina had been playing earlier. Only a distant muffled pop from outside, suppressed gunfire maybe, then another.
My people are still fighting.
Good. Alive then.
Most of them, hopefully.
I ease the door at the top of the service stairs open and look through the gap.
One staff member is on the floor near the pantry.
Female. Caterina’s staff. Not one of mine.
I pause long enough to see her chest moving. Alive.
I step out, clear left, clear right, then move to her quickly. Her eyes are open, wide with terror. A strip of tape covers her mouth. Her wrists are bound.
Not dead. So, they are not killing everyone.
They’re being selective.
I cut her hands free with the blade from my pocket and pull the tape away carefully enough not to tear skin.
She tries to speak.
I put one finger to my lips.
Her whole body shakes.
“Basement storage,” I whisper. “Hide. Do not go near the far door. Do not make any sound.”
