the whole house then.”
And what a joy that was going to be. The damned house must have been fifteen thousand square feet at a minimum. Searching it was going to take forever. Maybe it would be boring enough that I’d be able to hear my subconscious eventually. Or maybe Konstantin’s trap would be in the first room we checked.
Anderson reached out and took my left hand. I wasn’t expecting it, and I was jumpy enough that I tried to snatch my hand away. Anderson kept a firm hold, but disappeared from my view. I could still feel him there, still feel the pressure of his fingers against mine, but though I was looking straight at him, all I saw was the wall behind him.
“Be ready to shoot at a moment’s notice,” his disembodied voice said. “And try not to shoot me, even though you can’t see me.”
“I’ll do my best.”
There was a noise behind me. I jumped and gasped, whirling in that direction before logic caught up with me and informed me it was just the heater switching on. Luckily, I resisted the urge to pull the trigger.
Anderson made a sound that could have been a snort of disdain or a muffled laugh. Without being able to see his face, I couldn’t tell. My hand was sweating in his. I did one more quick scan of the entryway, and that was when I noticed Anderson wasn’t completely invisible, as I’d thought. I could sort of see him as a vague shadow, a deep black against the predawn darkness, but only out of my peripheral vision. If I looked straight at him, it was as if he wasn’t there.
“I’ll go first around every corner,” Anderson told me, giving my hand a little tug and leading me through a laundry room that was to the right of the entry.
That sounded almost like the beginnings of a plan. Emphasis on almost. Being mostly invisible, Anderson wasn’t likely to get shot or otherwise attacked when he walked into a room, so it made sense for him to go first. It would have made more sense if we’d had some idea of what we’d do if he rounded a corner and found Konstantin waiting. The way Anderson was acting, I thought it more than likely he’d dispense with any hint of caution and rush into mortal combat. The best I could do in that case was zip in after him and hope I could get a shot at Konstantin before he sprang whatever surprise he had waiting for us.
To say I wasn’t happy with our “plan” was an understatement, but I followed Anderson into the belly of the beast anyway.
The house was as huge as I’d expected, and I couldn’t help wondering what a single guy needed with all that. My dearly departed condo had been a little over two thousand square feet, and I’d thought that was more than enough. The floors, when they weren’t covered with Persian rugs, were all marble or hardwood, and my rubber-soled boots made squeaking noises when I walked no matter how carefully I stepped. Anderson and I both ended up taking off our shoes and leaving them in the hallway for the sake of stealth. I left my parka as well.
There was a faint musty smell in the air, and even in the darkness, I could see that some of the furniture was collecting dust. The aura of genteel neglect made me feel like I was picking my way through a haunted house. The unsettling half glimpses I kept getting of Anderson out of the corner of my eye weren’t helping any, nor was the feeling of his invisible hand on me. It wasn’t just my hand that was sweaty anymore. The heat was turned on too high for my tastes, but it was the nerves that were making me perspire. Whatever was about to happen, I wished it would just happen already.
A thorough search of the first floor failed to reveal Konstantin. I couldn’t decide if I was relieved or disappointed. Anderson tugged me toward the staircase leading up to the second floor. I was still taut as a guitar string about to break, but as soon as I’d walked up those first few steps, I felt a strange reluctance to go any farther. Maybe it was just because it was so dark at the head of the stairs that I couldn’t see where we were going.
No . . .
“Wait,” I whispered, giving Anderson’s hand a little