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“That fits with the age of the house,” Pallas said.
“Jodi Luckhurst told us Geddings grew up in this house,” Ambrose said. “He would have known about the tunnel. I’m going to take a look. Stay here.”
He started down the steps using the light of his phone.
“Stop,” Pallas said. “Let me go first.”
Ambrose halted on the second step and looked back, frowning.
She gave him a cool smile. “Partners, remember? Geddings didn’t booby-trap the house, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t protect his secret tunnel.”
“I agree. That’s why I should go first.”
“Be reasonable, Ambrose. I’m the one who can pick up hot energy, and it’s a good bet that anyone setting up a trap would have been generating some heat. After all, it’s dangerous work.”
Ambrose exhaled.
“I know you’re not happy, but you also are not stupid,” Pallas said.
He stepped aside and let her go first. “Use the flashlight on your phone. Watch for wires or anything that might conceal a wire. The steps are concrete, so I doubt if there’s a pressure-sensitive device.”
“I’m looking for energy, not blue wires and red wires,” she said. “When I’m in my other vision I don’t need normal spectrum light.”
His jaw tightened. “Right.”
He released her hand and rested his palm on her shoulder. The warm, strong vibe steadied her.
She edged downward, moving cautiously, her other vision jacked up to the max. Tendrils of heat drifted on the steps. She ignored thefaded stuff and focused on the brighter, hotter pools that were radiant with strange colors.
A nest of scorpions seethed on the sixth step. Even though she had been prepared for a surprise she nevertheless flinched. Simultaneously Ambrose tightened his grip on her shoulder, steadying her.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yes, I think so. There’s something wrong on that step,” she said, pointing down into the darkness.
Ambrose angled the beam of the flashlight. “Got it.”
Light glinted on the nearly invisible wire stretched across the sixth step. She caught her breath. Electrified adrenaline splashed through her.
“Yes,” she said. “I see it. Now what?”
Ambrose crouched on the step beside her and studied the trip wire for a moment, using the flashlight to follow it to the wooden wall on either side of the steps.
“Looks basic,” he said. “A simple design. I’m sure it requires a man’s full weight to trigger the trap, whatever it is. Geddings would not have wanted to take the chance of a rat or some other small animal setting it off.”
“How do you know so much about booby traps?”
“I told you, I used to work for a security company. Failure Analysis has a lot of experts on staff. You hang around with them, you learn stuff.”
“What do we do now?” she asked.
“You go back to the bedroom. I step over the wire. If nothing happens you can follow me down.”
“I told you, we’re in this together.”
“Exactly,” he said. “You’ve done your part. Let me do mine. We’rehere because of me, remember? I’ve got a right to call some of the shots.”
One look at his eyes told her he wasn’t going to give on this issue.
