By Joshua Ryan
Chapter 24: Room at the Top
Each of them took an arm and moved me out of the building. At the end of the little street there was a stone wall with a barred gate, big enough for a truck. Next to it was a little barred gate, big enough for slappies on foot. They had the key to that gate, of course.
The gate led to another world. Ahead was a gracefully curving drive lined with dark old trees, and a pathway bordered by tropical flowers and bushes. Beyond, a great sweep of lawn and a cream-colored mansion spreading lazily across a hill. When I turned my head, I could barely see the wall behind me. It was almost invisible behind the lush flowering plants. “Eyes front!” I was told.
I saw wide glass doors from the house onto a terrace–but I wasn’t going toward the terrace. I was turning off onto a narrow trail that led through the bushes to a set of bare concrete steps going down to a basement. There was a blank steel door at the bottom, and my guards had a key to that too.
