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Shah nodded and waved as he walked back toward the door, Donovan in tow.
Flynn waited until they were gone, and the basement had gone silent once again. Then he cocked his head and listened. No more laughter but there was a faint tinkling. What the hell could that be? He strained his ears in the silence trying to pick out what could be making the soft sound he was hearing. A sudden bark of laughter made him jump and he whirled around again. He glanced at his reflection in the old mirror. His dark hair was over the collar of his white shirt and navy blazer. His brown eyes looked black in low lighting but mostly what he noticed was how unsettled he looked.
“Shit,” he said again and then started back toward the electrical panel.
“Oh God,” a voice said.
He stopped dead. Then he cocked his head once more. Was that…yes it was the sound of someone having sex. What the actual fuck was going on? He looked up and then took a few steps backward. Above one of the exposed pipes was a vent, set high on the wall. The noise was coming from there. Somewhere in the building, a couple was actually fucking and the sound was carried through the vents.
Flynn grimaced.At least someone was having fun.He let out a long breath and went back to the electrical panel and the switch on the wall. He shined his flashlight beam over it again, but the mysterious substance was gone. He’d probably gotten it all off when he’d touched it, but he looked around nonetheless.
Finally, he decided to head back. There was nothing else he could glean at the moment. He needed to check the cameras and see who was in the vicinity when the power went out. He also needed to get a set of blueprints for the house. A better feel for the structure would be key if he was going to find the ‘ghost.’
A large flash illuminated the window high in the corner and the thunder crashed.
All the lights went out.
“Fuck,” Flynn grumbled. No one had gotten by him and he’d just left the panel so he knew the power had been knocked out by the storm this time.
He raised his phone flashlight and tried to pick his way back toward the door, but he must have gotten turned around because as he rounded a corner, he found himself in a narrow corridor, the walls lined with crates and debris. He heard some muffled sounds but he couldn’t distinguish what they were, and they were growing fainter. Since he was already there, he decided to keep following the dank hallway. Flynn pressed on, his flashlight cutting through the darkness. Suddenly, he found himself standing in a dead-end. He swung his flashlight around. It was just a small empty space. Strange.
He shrugged and turned heading back the way he’d come. He got as far as the turn where he first discovered the hallway and then everything went black.
* * *
Flynn came to in pitch blackness. Lying on his side on the cold hard floor, it took a moment for him to recall he was in the basement. His head hurt as adrenaline filled his veins. He got to his knees slowly cursing as his stomach rolled. He didn’t think he had more than a slight concussion but it was too soon to tell. The worst part was he must have dropped his cell and now there was no light.
He felt around on the floor with his hands searching for the missing phone when he heard another bark of laughter coming from the vent. Apparently, the couple had finished screwing, because now they were quite chatty. He couldn’t quite make out what the person was saying but he was sure it was a woman.
Of course, that knowledge didn’t help his current situation.
The search was pointless. He couldn’t see a damn thing and his fingers kept jabbing into boxes and bags. The phone could be right next to him, and he wouldn’t know.
“Fuck,” he swore again and sat back on his heels. Getting out of this section of the basement without a light would be damn near impossible. He’d bang into everything and no doubt hurt himself even more. He needed a game plan.
Just then he heard a small creature scurrying nearby. Fucking awesome. Rats. Just what he needed. Jesus, could this day get any worse? He took a deep breath and let it out, trying to remain calm and let go of the anger burning in his chest. Being pissed off wasn’t going to help him here. It would just cloud his thinking.
At times like this he asked himself if he should pull the rip cord. He had an escape plan for leaving the Society. Archer Gray might be all-knowing on one level, but he had no clue when it came to Flynn’s people. His Irish clan could make him disappear, he just needed to say the word. He’d been thinking more and more about it lately. He pushed out a heavy breath. As much as this sucked, today wasn’t the day to go.
He tested the lump on the left side of his head. It was growing but it didn’t appear to be bleeding. That was a plus. Flynn slowly stood. The room seemed to stay in the right place, not that he could see it but at least he didn’t feel dizzy. Another plus. Now to find his cell phone.
“Hey, Siri? Find my phone.”
“Which model?” The electronic voice cut through the darkness and started listing them. He turned his head toward where the sound was coming from and spied the illuminated display of his phone. It had fallen into the box on his right. No way in hell he’d ever have found that without light. Thank God for smartphones. He picked up his phone and used the flashlight to get back to the door. He opened it and walked out into the hallway.
Raised voices came from upstairs. Ideally, he wanted to look at the video of the hallway and see who the hell had come into the unfinished side of the basement and whacked him on the head, but since the power was still out and the generator wasn’t coming on, he had no way to do that.
He started up the stairs two at a time, each step sending a jarring shard of pain through his head. Slowing his pace, he gingerly walked the rest of the way up and turned to the right as he reached the top. The voices were coming from the room where the party had been held. He made his way in to find Shah along with Mrs. Carruthers and a woman wearing fairy wings whom he assumed was Gina. Another older woman was with them, along with a gentleman who he assumed was her husband. Someone had set hurricane lamps on a couple tables, giving a room a dim, eerie glow.
Why were these people still here? He glanced at Shah who cocked an eyebrow at him and frowned but then turned back to the couple.
“I’m telling you, when the lights went off, someone grabbed my necklace and pulled it off my neck. It hurt. I’m not imagining things and it couldn’t have just fallen off. It was pulled viciously. If there were lights, I’m sure I could show you the bruises.” The woman finished with a huff.
Obviously not the truth. Flynn bit back a sigh. If that had happened, she would’ve screamed bloody murder. She didn’t say anything until after people started to leave.
Mrs. Carruthers said, “Mrs. Addison, I can assure you—”
“You can stuff your assurances. I know what happened. Charles,” she said, “you were there, tell them.”
