Under the Floorboards (and In the Walls)

The Fall of the House of Saunders-Lucy

Flo had her arm flung around my shoulder and I held her tightly around the waist. We knelt behind the boxes next to the boys. Trying to make ourselves as small as possible, our faces were inches apart. Flo looked horrible. Her face was pale behind the blood and dirt. It wouldn't have been a shock if she threw up or something. I tried to give her a reassuring smile.

I wondered briefly who it had been that we had heard scream when in the storage room. George or Flo?

There was a clatter of footsteps in the hall. I had a second to steel myself and they came rushing into the room. All six. I could smell the smoke. I assumed that if they were here then the fire was out. Shame, it was a nice one. I could see them in a crack between the crates. They all looked properly grubby, and soot stained.

And very angry about their missing captives.

"Where did they go?" One cried.

I hoped they would leave soon without checking the boxes and then hopefully we could slip out too. There was the storage room near the stair and I'm pretty sure I saw a door that could be an exit so with Lockwood guiding George and me with Flo we could...

"We're right here," a commanding voice said.

George.

He had stepped out of the protection of the stacked boxes. He would have looked more threatening if his arm was soaking through with blood and if he didn't wobble. But there was nothing weak about his face. Pure hatred.

There went my plan.

"George wait," Lockwood had stepped out as well following George.

"Are you the one who started that fire?" One man asked.

He stood somewhat apart from the others, and I took him for the leader. Or just the annoying guy that no one else wanted to stand by.

Lockwood met his eye with a smile. "Are you the one who put out my fire?"

"I'm going to gut you." He spat, pulling a long knife from under his robe. It was already stained with blood. George's blood. I trembled with anger.

Lockwood drew his rapier and leveled it at the man. "I would put that away if I were you."

The man smiled as the other five figures drew their own nasty knives.

"Where's that little scrubber girlfriend of yours?" He sneered at George. "She should see me finish my work."

And of course Flo struggled to stand and so I stood with her. Pulling my own rapier out I moved to be near Lockwood. When the fight started, we would need to coordinate.

We were all tense. Waiting for who would make the first move.

Surprisingly, that was George.

"We've got you corned," he said. "The door is to our backs. Give up and I might let you live."

I stared at George. The man laughed. "Nice bluff but I know what makes you cry."

George held out his hand triumphantly. He was holding a silver case.

"This is a source. You may be familiar with it."

The men froze, the laughter dying on their faces.

"We can all see ghosts and hear them. You can't. You're blind. You so much as blink without my permission and I will chuck this at you and turn off the lights. Now drop your weapons." His voice shook with rage. I didn't doubt him for a moment. The whole of the Saunders Agency seemed to believe him as well.

The knives hit the stone floor with a clatter.

"Get on your knees." George commanded. And they obeyed.