Page 62 of Borden 3

I suppressed a laugh as I came upon the same set of steps to the basement we used to creep down on late nights over the weekend. There was no trash on the steps here, and even more surprising was the door was made of steel and not rotted through wood. I tried the knob, but it didn’t turn, and I felt my shoulders drop in disappointment.

“What were you expecting?” Hector asked from behind me. “That it would be exactly like you remembered? Times change, Emma.”

“Not people,” I argued. “People stay the same.”

“Do they?”

I looked back to glimpse at his face. He had his brows up, waiting for my response before adding, “Because as far as I know, Hawke changed, Borden changed, even you changed judging by the fact you used to hang around alleyways in the dark.”

I pointedly said, “Some people stay the same.”

“How can you tell?”

“Because you just can.”

Hector just stared at me, all humour absent now. “What are we doing here, Em?”

The rain came down harder, trailing lines down his face. I considered telling him the honest truth. About what we did here. What went on beyond this door. What I saw the last time I was in there.

Instead, I walked up the steps. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Emma?”

“I might cut the day short, and when I get home, you can take the day off, tosher boy.”

Hector trailed behind me, his hand capturing my arm. I stopped to look up at him. “Emma, whatever you’re going through, you can tell me. I’ve seen shit, too.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I simply said.

I saw the fight leave his eyes as he stiffened a nod and let me go.

I had just made it out of the alleyway when I heard the large bang of a door slam shut. It came from the entrance of the building, which was a surprise. I thought the place was abandoned. It was a plain red-bricked building, and it looked like it needed a massive facelift. There were no cars parked around. No hint of a presence.

“What is this place?” I wondered aloud as Hector stopped beside me. He followed my gaze to the black entrance door.

“Let’s find out,” he said, climbing up the steps.

My eyes widened. “Hector, it might be full of squatters.”

“You think Warlord territory hasn’t seen a squatter or ten?” He looked at me as he grabbed at the door and swung it open. “And relax, would you? You’re in the presence of greatness.”

He waited for me to smile, but I just rolled my eyes instead. He chuckled under his breath as he stepped in. “You coming?”

Without waiting for a response, he let the door go and I rushed to it, grabbing it before it closed.

The corridor was dark as we entered. I glanced behind me as the door shut, the glass blacked out. No light came in, and we were shrouded in darkness now. A bad feeling came over me.

It’s just the darkness, I reminded myself. Not a big deal. I was with Hector, anyway.

I grabbed my phone and turned on the flashlight mode. The corridor was empty. The place was clean, too. There was no garbage or peculiar smells of decay. Nothing to signal the place was dilapidated. I flashed the light down the hall, but it was just darkness that lay in front of us.

Darkness and…wet footprints.

“You’re armed, right?” I whispered.

Hector lifted his shirt, showing me the gun in his waistband. “Maybe not enough.”

“I got a knife, too.”

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