Living With the Dead (Otherworld 9)

"Hmm? Oh, muttering to myself. Still a bit confused. Don't worry, it's passing."

Hope checked the door, making sure it was locked, then headed for the ladder.

* * *

FINN

"Karl's in the barn," Damon called as he raced to Finn, striding through the wooded border, Rhys at his heels.

Finn was about to say, with all respect to Karl Marsten, that he didn't give a rat's ass where the man was. Then Damon caught up and continued. "He's trying to get to Bobby and Hop

e."

"Where are they?"

"Hold up a minute so I can show you. Man, you're as bad as that guy from The Fugitive. You've caught Bobby and now you're not about to let her get away, huh?"

Was there a twist of sarcasm to those words? Before Finn could comment, Damon directed his attention to a tool shed fifty feet behind the barn... and a pair of fake cops standing guard between the buildings.

"What the hell are they doing in there? Of all the hiding places - "

"It's a bomb shelter."

"What?"

"It leads to an underground shelter. Bobby and Hope were coming out when they noticed those guys making a beeline for the shed. They ducked back down. Those two took a peek inside and didn't see the hatch. But that seems to be their assigned post so they aren't budging. And Karl's getting tired of waiting."

"Guide us in."

"This way," Damon said as they slipped into the barn.

Rhys stepped in the other direction, toward the dark stalls.

"No!" Damon said. "Stop him."

"What?"

Rhys motioned that he wanted to check the rest of the barn, be sure it was clear.

"Tell him I already got it," Damon said. "He doesn't need to - "

Rhys was already disappearing into the stalls.

"Shit! Call him back, Finn."

Finn wasn't about to raise his voice. He jogged after Rhys, rounding the corner to see the other man dropping beside a woman lying in the hay. Finn picked up his pace.

It was a couple, a man beside the woman, arms around her, her face against his chest.

"The gas," Finn whispered. "It must have knocked them out."

"No." Rhys rose and extended his hand. In it lay two small vials.

Finn strode over for a closer look. There were no lights in the barn, but a sliver of sunlight through the beams illuminated the face of the young man on the floor. His features were contorted in agony. The woman's face was hidden against him, but Finn recognized her dark hair and blue dress. The girl who'd held a gun on Adele.

"Hugh and Lily," Rhys murmured, his voice thick.

Damon murmured he'd go check on the women. As Rhys took off his ball cap, Finn looked around. Deep in the shadows he could make out two more bodies. Rhys hadn't noticed them, and Finn wasn't about to point them out. Whatever Rhys's connection to this place, these people weren't anonymous victims to him.