Invitation to a Stranger (9 page)

 

They were caught! What was going to happen when they were taken upstairs? They had actually reached the outside door, Jerain
e
's hands clutching their arms in an unbreakable grip when they sensed him stiffen. He let
go of
their arms and turned around.

“What!” he exclaimed.

The girls turned to look, but there was just the quiet empty passage winding around behind him. There was nothing to have caused his odd reaction. Suddenly, he spun around and raced back along the passage. Katie and Ronnie looked at each other and then followed. He didn't even notice them. He had reached the wall opposite the door that led to the wine cellar, touched the wall and a door swung open revealing steep steps.

Noise roared down with the open door, loud thudding music, people yelling and shouting and what sounded like
gunshots
. He went through and scrambled up the steps. Katie and Ronnie looked at the steps.

“The inside stairs to the butler's pantry,” Ronnie said.

“And Mike's diversion,” Katie said. She closed the door to the stairs. The noise cut off abruptly. “Very sound-proof. That Jerain
e
must have incredible ears to have heard the noise through the soundproofing.”

“How did you know it was Jerain
e
?” Ronnie asked.

“Brod would have let us know if he had caught us and Drake would have recogni
z
ed us. So that only left Jerain
e
who didn't know us,” Katie explained. She was still studying the edge of the door. “Now we know what we're looking for. See how the side of the door is a fraction thicker than the panelling on the wall.”

They edged back along the passage, feeling the panelling. Ronnie's fingers stopped on a slightly thicker piece of wood. She looked at Katie. Katie slid her fingers under it. A door opened, bringing with it a smell of damp earth. Katie shone the torch down the narrow dark passage.

“This must be the escape passage,” Katie whispered. “Now all we've got to find where everyone is imprisoned.”

“Must be off the wine cellar,” Ronnie whispered back.

They crept back into the big spacious room with its rows of wine racks. It was still very quiet, and Ronnie wondered what was going on upstairs. They worked a slow careful way around the walls of the room, feeling for some difference in the wall panelling. They did a complete circuit and stopped when they reached the door again. They looked at each other glumly. If there were any secret doors off the wine cellar
,
they hadn't managed to find them.

“The wine cellar doesn't reach all the way under the house so there must be a secret room somewhere,” Ronnie whispered.

“Maybe off the passage wall,” Katie said.

They had opened the door to go back into the passage when the door opposite flung open. The noise of loud music, men yelling and someone screaming was shockingly loud. Three struggling figures fell through. One was Brod or Jeraine and the other two were bearded men in leathers aiming punches at him.

Katie dragged Ronnie to stand behind the wine cellar door with her. There was a shout of triumph.

“Booze down here,” someone called.

More and more struggling figures fell down the steep steps and spread as far as the wine cellar. There was a thunderous crash as one of the racks was knocked over. This attracted more and more leather clad figures down the steep steps. No one noticed the two girls crouched against the wall.

“Come on,” Katie whispered as they edged out around the struggling figures. “We still have to find the door to where everyone is imprisoned.”

They tapped and felt their way along the passage to the door, but apart from the escape door
,
they couldn't find another
one
. The end door opened. The girls moved back
. I
t was Mike who poked his head around
it
. He looked relieved when he saw the girls.

“Find them?” he asked.

“The wine cellar doesn't extend as far as the house, so the door should be down the other end, maybe off the passage or off the wine cellar but we can't find it,” Katie admitted. “Now it's like World War Three down that end.”

“My diversion,” Mike said, looking pleased.

“I'm scared we're running out of time,” Katie said. “If the cops turn up everyone will scarper except the owners.”

“Might be further underground,” Mike said. “Do you realise that this area is practically level with the ground outside. This would have been excavated a lot further down when the house was originally built. Have you checked the floor
?
”

Checked the floor
?
The two girls looked at each other.

“Old Granny Sullivan said something about the cellar being very deep,” Ronnie remembered. “What if there is another floor under this one?”

They dropped to the nicely panelled floor, and crawled along, running their hands over the smooth dusty wood, ignoring the shouts, yells and crashing of bottles coming from the wine cellar.

“I can hear something,” Katie said, as she dropped her head flat to the floor and listened.

Ronnie put her ear to the floor where Kate was listening, and Mike dropped down as well.

“
Someone crying,” Ronnie said.

“Hard to hear over all the racket,” Mike said. “It's definitely under the floor, but how do we get there?”

How indeed!
Katie pulled a face. “The door or trapdoor must be on the floor.” She continued crawling, feeling with her hands each individual board. “Come on.”

Ronnie and Mike crawled beside her, feeling each board as they passed over them.

“Once the police get here we're going to be out of time,”
Katie
whispered.

“Do shut up and keep looking,” was
Ronnie's
only reply
.

They had crawled back as far as the cellar door. Despite the loud thud of music and the yells and screams coming from the open door to the steep steps, the wine cellar seemed more peaceful.

Men and women scrambled down the steps across the passage and into the wine cellar, and more men and women hurried back up the steps their arms loaded with bottles. All of them stepped over the three figures crawling along the floor testing floorboards, without seeming to notice them.

“The passage is a dead end after the door to the cellar,” Katie said. They sat up and stared at the darkened area. “Although,” Katie said as she stood up and felt down one of the panels on the dark wall. “This is promising.”

Her fingers caught on a slightly thicker piece of wood and tugged. The end wall of the passage pushed open, swinging from the top. Katie shone her torch down the steep steps it revealed. They had found the secret entrance to the lower basement
.

 

It was very dark. Katie shone her torch down the steps, and they headed down after her. Behind them
,
the door swung shut
and the noise faded.

“More sound proofing,” Mike said grimly.

Ronnie shivered. It was very cold. It felt as if they had walked down into a refrigerated area. They reached the foot of the steps and crowded on to the floor below them. Katie shone the torch around. It was a large shadowy area with a deeper darkness against the far walls. There was a funny smell. Like strong chemicals and badly blocked drains. Ronnie wrinkled her nose.

“
Someone
's
crying,” Katie said. “Listen.”

“Over there,” Mike said.

He took the torch off Katie and led across the spacious shadowy floor. They reached a wall. There were bunks and platforms reaching up the far wall and deeper shadows lying on them. Mike shone the torch across to where the sobbing came from, and gasped.

The torch wavered and then became firm. It was Hayley Big
ham
. She opened her eyes and sobbed even louder. Tearstains had caused her mascara to run, and her black tipped hands were clenched. There was rope around her wrists tying her to the edge of the bunk.

“Hayley?” Ronnie said suddenly realising that Hayley couldn't see who was behind the torch beam. “What are you doing down here?”

“I don't know,” Hayley sobbed. “I just woke up and realised I was tied up.”

“Hold the torch,” Mike said handing the torch to Kate as he worked on the knots.

“What about Jenny
,
Jordyn
,
and Sandy?” Ronnie asked.

“I don't remember what happened, except we came to the party and were enjoying ourselves,” Hayley sobbed. As the rope on her wrists was untied
,
her sobs cut down to sniffles and she became quiet.

“Can you walk?” Mike asked.

“Yes,” Hayley said.

“We've got to check for the others,” Ronnie said.

“We've also got to get out of this place in a hurry,” Mike reminded her. “If we get trapped down here, no one will ever know.”

“Lots of people here, but they're all asleep,” Kate said, as the torch beam wavered past all the sleeping figures. “Here's hoping that the ammonia really works.”

“
Sprinkle some on your handkerchiefs and let's try to wake everyone,” Mike ordered.

He held the torch on to the bottle of ammonia Katie was sprinkling on their handkerchiefs.

“Put some on mine,” Hayley said.

They started over by the far wall where they had discovered Hayley. Sandy, Jordyn
,
and Jenny were unconscious or asleep along the wall on the platforms. Ronnie waved the ammonia soaked hankie under Jenny's nose. She shivered as she tugged on Jenny's limp arm. Jenny was so cold, but she wasn't shivering at all. Jenny sat up. There was no recognition in her eyes.

“
Stand up,” Ronnie ordered.

Jenny stood up. The order was being repeated by Katie and Mike as they moved around the room and climbed up to the higher platforms with their soaked hankies. More and more figures were climbing down and milling around the floor.

“Here Billie, and old Rex, and Jenny's Great Dane,” Ronnie exclaimed. “And there are cats tucked up along here as well.”

“Check if the ammonia works on them,” Mike ordered.

Ronnie rubbed the ammonia soaked hankie across their muzzles. One by one
,
the animals staggered to their feet.

“Look how overweight they all are,” Ronnie whispered.

“Found Sam and Dan,” Katie called. “Except they look awful skinny.”

“
So let's try and get everyone out,” Mike said.

For a few seconds they stared in bewilderment at the dazed people and animals standing around the big dark cellar. How were they going to get them out?

“
Remember Jasmine?” Ronnie said.
“
She was very suggestible. What if the others are?”

“Good thinking,” Katie said. “Everyone hold hands,” Katie ordered.
“
Start walking.”

Everyone groped vaguely for each other's hands, and started moving.

“Lead them up to the escape door and across to the back park,” Ronnie said. “Mike and I'll keep waking the rest up.”

“You should be leading them out,” Katie argued.

“You're the one who discovered where the escape door is,” Ronnie argued. “If we do get trapped, once you're out you can tell the cops about the extra underground cellar.”

Katie tugged on Hayley's hand. “Everyone hold hands and keep walking,” she repeated.

She led them across to the other wall and climbed the steps. She pushed the door open. The sound of loud music thudding and people yelling poured down through the lifted up
panel.
Light beamed in on the vacant eyed file of people she was leading up the steps and out into the passage.

“Come on,” Mike ordered.

He and Ronnie woke more people and ordered them to hold hands to the figures still milling around the steps and kept on looking. There were adult strangers, men and women, hollow faced and gaunt, and more animals. Once the animals had been woken they climbed up the steps after the others.

Mike flashed the torch around the walls carefully. All the bunks and platforms had been emptied of people and animals. Everyone was climbing the steps and vanishing through the open door leading to the passage.

Ronnie was feeling physically sick as she kept shining the torch on all the platforms and benches. There was no sign of Jamie or Herbie.

“They're not here,” Mike said at last. “No person or animal is left here.”

“They must be here somewhere,” Ronnie said. “Maybe there's another secret room.”

“Maybe,” Mike said. “But where?” In the glow of the torch
,
he looked worried. “Listen
.”

“What to?”

“The noise has stopped.”

Mike switched off the torch. They watched as the open door leading to the passage slowly closed, blocking off light and sound.

“Maybe the cops have arrived,” Mike whispered. “Or the Dementos managed to get rid of the gate crashers. I wonder if the others got as far as the escape tunnel in time?”

“
So we're trapped!” Ronnie whispered.