Page 54 (1/2)

"Upstairs?" she asked

"Yes"

"No!"

"I have to"

"Adam--"

"I’ll be careful"

He disappeared, but Leslie could hear Nikki breathing at her side "We can’t just stay here," she whispered

"Do you have a better suggestion?" Nikki asked

She did Down in the basement There were tools down there Weapons hich they could fight back

"Hey!" They heard a sudden cry fro on in here?"

Brad! Leslie didn’t knohether to trust him or not Had he cut off the electricity to take them by surprise? Or was someone else in the house, too?

She didn’t know the answers to any of those questions

She dragged the table aside and ently to Nikki

"No…you go down there No one knows anything aboutGo!"

"Nikki, I can’t leave you in danger"

"I’er I’ll hide, too, but if I don’t put the rug back, it will be obvious where you are Now get down there!"

Leslie did Sheto reroped her way around the various boxes, until her fingers curled around a lantern at last Afterknife Then she hesitated, listening, trying to see the rooht of the hearth She slipped behind theainst the wall, the knife in one hand, the lantern in the other She waited And waited

There was silence Then…

Sobbing She turned, staring in the direction of the sound, but the roo She re his hands over the wall the other day In the dark, she began to do the saave Stunned, she paused for a moment Then she fuain and pushed until it gave even farther Her hand ers, trying to picture what it was Finally she pushed it, and the air itself see sound

The entire wall moved She sed, blinked, still in darkness, aware of what had happened only because a gust of stale air struck her The door, however, had h to wake the dead If there were indeed a killer in Hastings House, he had heard it, which o back upstairs

There was only one way to go

Forward

Someone was in the house Adam Harrison knew it even before he heard the voice call out from downstairs When neither Leslie nor Nikki answered that call, he decided to play it safe andthe upstairs hall as silently as possible, reached his gun quickly and started back toward the stairway Then he heard a whisper in the darkness

"Adam?"

It was Nikki

Before he had a chance to reply, there was a commotion from below He hurried down the stairs He could just ure in the entry hall, but it see with an unseen opponent

"Stop or I’ll shoot!" Adaure stumbled out of the house, Adam in pursuit "Stop, Adaone before they get here," Ada

As he tore out of the house, he realized that Nikki was right behind hi if he should have saddled himself with such a rookie

But this tiankle I stepped into some kind of rut…there’s a twisted rail here Hell!"

"I can’t walk I’et you out of here"

"No…hell, no You go on"

"You want ht My radio is shit down here, but the light is working Just send help as soon as you can" He winced "I’irl"

Joe nodded "All right I’ll get someone back to you as soon as I can"

"It’s a plan Go on"

Joe nodded and left

Leslie turned on the light; there was no reason not to She could hear footsteps overhead It could be Nikki or Adah the doorway, checking out the door as she passed It seees should have been far rustier When the hell had the door been put in?

Itthe Civil War, when the house had been part of the Underground Railroad She wasn’t in a subway tunnel This passage ht lead to an old one, but…

She shoved at the door, closing it as best she could Then she lifted her light There was only one way to go

She started walking, and then she froze