MAIZE

Their first order of business, according to Ryder's demands, was to return to the house—whatever remained of it that was. Maize had seen the intensity of the flames themselves for herself, and that alone was enough to assume that anything that had been left in the house had not survived. As they got closer, she had been fully prepared to walk back into the scene of a raging forest fire catching onto the surrounding trees that would act as nothing more than an endless fuel supply for the ever starving flames, but, to her shock and albeit relief, that was not what she saw.

The closer they got to the familiar clearing, she expected to catch sight of flaring orange ahead, glowing embers floating about, feel the beginning prickle of heat. Instead, all she saw was smoke, not as black as before, rising up from the area over the trees.

"The forest isn't on fire," Maize stated out loud, almost dumbfoundedly.

"As if I would be cruel enough to let that happen." Ryder scoffed and seemed almost offended by the suggestion. Then he explained. "Lighting the place up to prevent assholes getting to my things was always an emergency resort in case the place was ever at risk of being stormed. Honestly, I wish I had waited until a few of them came in before I threw the match into the lighter fluid..."

What was that about not being cruel? she wondered to herself.

"But anyway, like an sane person," Ryder continued. "I have counter measures in place to assure the fire doesn't get too out of hand that it reaches the woods. Why do you think I don't have any trees directly around my house? Or...had, anyway."

"Sane people's first instinct isn't usually to commit arson to their own home," Alec remarked—unhelpfully, might she add.

Maize watched Ryder's eye twitch with a prick of annoyance. "I don't recall asking for your opinion on the matter," he grumbled bitterly before he picked up his explanation again. "The place is enforced with deflaming particles, cemented into the walls. The fire could burn all it wanted inside, but it wouldn't spread outside of the exterior. And overtime, it died down with the measures in place. Though everything inside is most likely burnt to a crisp."

"So the fire is essentially a candle and your house acts as the container," Alec deadpanned.

Ryder rolled his eyes. "If that's what analogy helps your mind comprehend the physics then, sure..."

"It's nice to know you're always considerate to the forest," Maize said.

Ryder shot her a sharp look at her implicating tone. He didn't say anything, but as he looked away again Maize could have swore she saw him smile ever so slightly.

When they reached the front, Maize was surprised to find that the inside did not appear to still be burning. Black smoke still poured from the fallen doorway and shattered windows, but it was nothing compared to the raging flame storm it had been when she first saw it. In fact, from the looks and colour of the smoke, it seemed as though the fire had been out for a little while.

"Why are we here?" Alec stared ahead skeptically. "There's no way any of us are getting in there. If loose debris doesn't fall and kill you, the smoke inhalation will," he stated seriously.

Ryder looked as if he was on the verge of debating whether or not to turn and glare directly at the detective for his immediate dismissiveness. "Well then, good thing I don't plan to go through the front door. Whatever your concerns are, they're wasted. I'm not an idiot."

Alec scoffed sarcastically. "Ha, right. Next you're going to tell me that you've got a secret basement underground under all that rubble—" he suddenly stopped himself when he saw Ryder's blankly pointed expression, staring right at him without falter. Alec blinked once. Then the sudden realization dawned on him. "No way."

Maize raised her eyebrow in half amusement half astounding. "You actually have one?"

Ryder returned her look and smirked ever so slightly. "I actually have one," he repeated.

"You are fucking crazy..." Alec muttered with something between a scoff and an exasperated laugh.

Ryder furrowed his eyes. "I am not crazy. I just know how to prepare for the worst," he argued defensively.

Maize threw a glance at Alec. "He's paranoid," she supplied.

"Don't start, Maize," Ryder snapped at her, giving off an air of annoyance as he looked forward. "Now lets get to work on tracking down that agent of yours. The sooner you two find him again, the sooner you get out of my hair."

Ryder led them not towards the house, but around it. Maize did notice a twitching drone left in the grass with a few circular holes shot through it's damaged screen, but Ryder barely spared it a glance as he stepped over it, his rifle dangling over his back. Around the back of the house, where the deck used to be, now resided burned charred wood pieces and dusty ash. Ryder bent down and began dusting away the soot and ash, cursing as the still hot wood singed his hands and covered them in black. He shot them a look of annoyance of his shoulder.

"Care to help out at all or do you just plan on standing there watching me do all the work?"

Together, Maize and Alec shared a brief look of something like suspicion as they then set to work on helping Ryder clear the rest of the deck remains—their suspicions were expounded once the ash cleared to reveal something like a trap door underneath the rubble. So that's what he was looking for. A second later, Ryder had pried it open to reveal a dingy wood stair case leading down into the dark. Maize couldn't see anything past the first three steps.

"Still got the flashlight?" she asked Alec, who nodded and walked to her side so he could shine it down. But still they saw nothing but more steps encased by the narrow stone walls.

"Well...that isn't unnerving at all," Alec muttered caustically.

"Don't tell me you're scared." Maize flashed a challenging look at the detective.

Alec rolled his eyes in response. "Yeah, right. I'll race you down, Ember."

Before either could make a move to take the first step down, Ryder cleared his throat loudly and warranted their attention to turn back to him. "Now just hold on right there for a minute," Ryder grumbled, holding a gloved hand up in a 'pause' gesture.

"What now?" Alec questioned.

"Just shut up and listen for a damn moment," Ryder snapped at Alec's impatience, his eyes steely as he looked between the two of them. It seemed once he was satisfied they were listening, he began to speak. "Alright so here's the deal...when we get down there, you're going to see some stuff you probably weren't expecting—so I'm warning you now; keep your damn hands off. Got it?" He looked dead serious and Maize nearly rolled her eyes at his dramatics.

Whatever was down there couldn't be all that special, she thought, before she suddenly reminded herself just who she was talking about.

"Wait a minute..." Alec was frowning with a suspicious look on his face. "Isn't this that secret basement you warned everyone against venturing to because—and I quote—you didn't want us 'stupid cops' messing with whatever shit was down there?" he asked pointedly.

"Yeah, and if it were up to me that rule would still stand," Ryder responded bitterly. "But you two are in a bit of a desperate situation and, well, desperate times seem to come with unpleasantly received results for me. So what the hell." He then raised his head and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Just watch what you run into."

Not bothering to wait any longer, Alec turned and climbed straight down the steps, the walls casting shadows from his flashlight as he held it in front of his to light the path. Maize watched the dim light descend with the detective, and the before following, she turned and threw one last curious look at the lax looking canine owner.

"What is down there?" She questioned, not bothering to hide her suspicious gaze.

Ryder shrugged his shoulders with his hands still in his pockets and sighed. "You'll—"

"Holy fucking shit!" From Alec.

"—see." Ryder finished almost tiredly.

After that, Maize was quick to follow the detective—Ryder trailing with Kota leisurely behind her—as she descended to see what had made Alec shout, the surprised shock in his voice had not gone unheard. The stairs went down further than she would have thought, and it made her wonder just how freaking big Ryder's so called 'basement' actually was. The lights were already on, turned on by the detective no doubt a few seconds before he came down, and as Maize stepped into the space, she finally understood exactly why Ryder hadn't wanted anyone finding their way down here by accident.

"You have got to be kidding me," she muttered as she stared around with shock in her eyes.

She wasn't even sure if she could call this space a 'room'—not with how freakishly large it was. The ceiling was extremely high above their heads, a dark grey colour like concrete, supported by steel beams that ran along the top and connected to some vertical concrete support beams on the ground. Maize felt as though she could have fit half of Cassandra's casino in here, at least, possibly more with how tall the ceiling was. The full perimeter extended well beyond where she could see, and walls and obstructions prevented her from seeing just how far they went, but the place was immaculate—the kind of vibe one might get from an underground spy facility garage.

And stalked with an arson of things that Maize would never have even thought possible to own, including nearly every single type of land motor vehicle she could think of. And that meant every one.

"Why in the blazing blue hell do you have a tank, Riley?!" Alec's echoing voice exclaimed from somewhere off to the left, and Maize looked over to see him sitting on the hood of a large army green—tank. Ryder actually had a tank in his basement. A full on, army bred, tank. She could not believe it, and it seemed Alec was in even more shock. "You hid all this down here this entire fucking time?"

"Hey I said to keep your damn hands off!" Ryder shouted at the detective, who ignored his voice and continued to lean against the vehicle.

"Ya and look," Alec said, raising two hands in the air for show, "my hands are off."

Ryder instantly began sprouting curses at the detective as he more or less ordered Kota to shoo him away from the tank that quite honestly, Maize wasn't even sure why he had. She found herself turning round full circle just so she could take in the place. For the first time in her life, Maize felt as though if she asked for a bazooka—she could find one somewhere here.

A few moments later an engine suddenly roared to life, the sound of the motor's rumble echoing off the walls as Maize looked around for the source. Ryder, where he had previously been sorting through some things on a far away table, stopped what he was doing and turned to face the direction the sound was coming from, looking both dreadful and angry at the same time.

"What the hell—where did that bastard even find they keys?!"

Ryder then cursed, paling slightly and jumping back a sleek black Dodge Challenger came speeding down the clear way in front of them. Doing a slick one-eighty turn before the tires screeched to a stop a few meters from where Maize stood. The dark tinted window of the driver's side rolled down, showing a widely smirking Alec sitting behind the wheel.

"I'm keeping this thing."

Maize could not stop the amused look from escaping her before Ryder recovered and stormed angrily up to Alec.

"No! You may absolutely not keep it! In fact, get the hell out right now!" He demanded.

"But you have like seven more in different colours lined up behind the plane, can't I just have this one?"

Ryder suddenly began yelling out to himself, shouting about how bringing them down here was a mistake and—even louder—how he wanted Alec to jump in front of the tank so he could run him over himself.

Alec seemed to just tune him out, as did Maize as he flashed her one of his more regal grins that all but promised trouble. "As soon as we get back to New York I'm getting a car like this."

"Might want to get out," Maize said, though it was less of a suggestion and more like a warning.

"Before Riley blows a fuse?"

"Ryder. And that would be the better idea, yeah."

Alec chuckled as he stepped out of the vehicle and leaned up against the door facing her.

"Well...I guess it's safe to say we're in no danger of running out of shit," he said, but his grin had long since faded. Maize noted his eyes even as he looked away, held a far away look of weariness that regulated the elements of why they would need it had not been forgotten.

This is more of a little break from the angst—more of a soothing chapter, not really a part of the book since it kind of just buts in with some humour for no reason. Next chapter picks up I promise! Thank you for reading!