“Having second thoughts, man?” Jax asked as he hammered on the padlock that blocked our way into the crawl space. To avoid tripping the alarm, we’d chosen to break into the estate by way of the passage Jax said led to the basement.

“Third and fourths too.” I shook my head and sighed. “Let’s just do this.”

Any way we looked at it, getting those women out of there wouldn’t be easy. Breaking into the tunnel would put them at risk, since Perrone’s men outnumbered us, and calling the cops carried a whole other set of problems—mainly that we didn’t know who Perrone had in his pocket.

“How much time do we have again?” I asked, shuffling my feet. Jax wanted to find info on his sister, and I wanted him to find what he needed.

“Maybe thirty minutes.”

“That’s shit for time.”

“Tell me about it. Old man’s runs are getting shorter.” He hacked at the lock some more. “I was clocking his jogs before I busted you guys out, but getting past Cleft was a different matter.” Jax finally broke the lock and lifted the door to the crawl space. A black square of nothingness faced us. Shit, I hated the thought of squeezing through that tight space.

Jax fell to all fours and disappeared inside. I followed suit, batting away cobwebs, and tried not to let the dark get to me.

“This seemed much bigger when I was eight.” Jax slowed and aimed his flashlight above. A square hatch called from overhead, whispering for us to shove it open and escape this claustrophobic grave. “Here, shine this up there, would ya?” He handed the light to me.

I aimed the beam upward while he pushed against the hatch, his face straining.

“Shit,” he said, slumping. “I’m positive this end wasn’t locked.”

Didn’t mean Perrone hadn’t secured it since we’d escaped.

Jax tried again, and the door finally creaked. Dust rained down and covered his face. He shook his head until his shaggy hair fell into his eyes. Brushing it aside, he threw his shoulder into the hatch and lifted, and it slammed to the floor of the basement with a vibrating thud. More dirt fell on us.

Jax disappeared into the opening, then he popped his head back through. “Bring in the cans, would ya?”

“Yeah, sure.” I scooted backward through the passage and touched down on the hard earth behind the estate. We’d hauled in four cans of gasoline, and they sat untouched, lined up against the side of the mansion. I slid them forward through the space, scraping over rock and dirt.