He saw only rocks. The heavy walls of the caves.
Nothing to guide him.
Nothing to help him.
Deeper they went. Another chamber opened up, heavier with stalactites, bigger.
“I call this place the ballroom.” Jason pointed inside, to the right. “It looks like they’re dancing.”
Sure enough, the rocks were twisted, seeming to form the outlines of two figures, wrapped tightly together.
A trick cavers used. Naming chambers, describing the shapes they saw so they could remember where they were.
“From the ballroom, you head back out, cross the stream, and go straight down the corridor.” Jason was staring at Cadence. What else was new? “Remember that.”
“We’ve got it,” Kyle flatly assured him.
They went about ten more feet.
The path split. Two dark tunnels.
Which way to go?
“This will take you to a few more chambers,” Jason said, pointing to the right. “It’s easier to navigate.”
“The left,” Kyle said.
Jason frowned. “Why? It’s gonna be harder.”
“If he’s hiding Lily here, he wouldn’t put her in a spot that was easy to find.” No, the killer would go deeper into the caves. He’d take the path others wouldn’t.
Jason nodded. “I haven’t ever been far in there. We need to be careful because there was a cave-in when the geologists were up here.” But he was turning. Going into the tunnel on the left.
Kyle’s light swept into the interior. He saw the heavy veil of rocks, where it looked like part of the ceiling and wall had fallen in.
Gingerly, the group made their way past the rocks.
“If our guy brought Lily in here…hell, I don’t see how he could,” Marsh muttered. “It’s hard enough for us to maneuver, without having to worry about pulling in a body, too.” It was cooler inside the caves than it had been outside, the stifling heat gone, and there was a heavy stillness.
As quiet as a tomb.
Two more paths cut away from the tunnel.
“Statue of Liberty,” Cadence murmured.
Frowning, Kyle followed her gaze. His light connected with hers and shone on the rocky image. One that sure enough looked like Lady Liberty holding up a torch.
“Right or left at the statue?” Jason wanted to know.
Kyle wanted to split up. Wanted Jason to head left while he and Cadence went to the right. They could cover more ground, faster, that way.
“What’s that?” Cadence asked. She went to the right.
Where more rocks had fallen.
The cave-in had reached this area, too.
His headlamp lit the scene as Cadence crouched down. She was reaching toward a stone that had been bleached white.
That’s not a stone.
“Is that what I think it is?” Jason asked as he pressed close.
Kyle’s breath sawed from his lungs. What Cadence was near looked like a human femur.
Bile rose in his throat.
He’d known Cadence was looking for a dump site, but to find the remains—“It’s not her,” broke from him, a hard growl of denial. Not Maria. Not Maria. The mantra repeated in his head.
“Are there more?” Jason demanded in the same instant as he headed toward Cadence.
Carefully, Cadence pushed aside the rock. “Yes.” Soft. Sad.
Kyle advanced. Saw that—fuck—there were more. Old, tattered clothing covered the bones. “Is there a necklace?” His voice rasped out the question. Maria always wore her necklace…her half-moon…
“I can’t tell,” Cadence said softly, sadly. “There are too many rocks.”
That’s not my sister. He didn’t want it to be Maria. Beautiful Maria, reduced to this. No.
“Call it in,” Cadence ordered Jason.
He scrambled for his radio. Tried to make contact. When it didn’t work, he yanked out his phone. “There’s no signal here!”
No, Kyle hadn’t really expected there would be. They’d traveled down as they headed deeper and deeper into the caverns.
Cadence was still crouched on the ground, studying those bones.
Kyle’s muscles had locked down. Could that be his sister? Christ. Don’t be Maria. Don’t be.
It looked like the remains were covered by a dress. A woman. A woman who’d been hidden down in this giant tomb. If it hadn’t been for the cave-in, would she still be hidden?
Jason bent down next to Cadence. Kyle frowned at him. The guy needed to get out of there and get some backup for them.
“There’s something on her,” Cadence whispered as she bent forward.
Her. Kyle’s breath was cold in his lungs
“A wire?” Jason said, voice rising. “It is! Looks like it’s pinning her down.” He reached for the wire.
The fool reached for it.
“No!” Cadence and Kyle shouted at the same time.
But it was too late. Jason had pulled on the wire. He glanced up, eyes wide at their shouts, as the detonation began.
A trap.
Jason had taken the bait.
Kyle grabbed for Cadence, locking his arms around her and yanking her back even as Jason lurched forward, surging desperately for escape. Jason shoved against Cadence and Kyle, knocking them to the ground as he ran.
Then an explosion blasted through the chamber, an explosion that had the ceiling collapsing and the walls falling in on them.
Kyle held Cadence as close as he could.
As the rocks hit him.
CHAPTER FIVE
Darkness. A perfect black that made Cadence wonder if she was dreaming. Or dead.
Then the pain came, and she knew she was still alive.
“Kyle?” She whispered his name, afraid that if she spoke too loudly, she might start another cave-in.
Something heavy was on top of her, heavy and warm. Not rocks.
“I’m here.”
He was on top of her.
His body curled over hers, shielding her.
She felt the rustle of his breath on her cheek, but she couldn’t see him. The darkness was too perfect and complete.
“Are you okay?” she asked softly. Cadence could still hear the faint tumble of rocks.
“Yeah. You?”
Her back ached. The back of her head throbbed, and she could feel the wetness of blood on her legs, but… “Yes, I’m fine.” Nothing she couldn’t handle.
“There are rocks on me,” he told her, keeping his voice low. “Give me a minute and let me see what I can do.”
Then he was pushing up, moving away from her in the darkness, and she heard the clatter of stones as they fell off his body.
Her heart was drumming too fast in her chest. The air was thick with dust, and when she inhaled, the air seemed strangely stale.
Cadence fumbled, trying to find her headlamp, but it was gone.
Lost in the rubble?
“Don’t move,” Kyle told her. “I’ll find a light.”
That had to mean his headlamp was gone, too. Every caver knew…always carry three lights. It was the rule for facing the darkness. They’d all come in with three lights each. But those backup lights were in their bags.
Bags she hoped hadn’t been buried.
At least the sound of falling rocks had stopped.
“Jason?” she called quietly.
There was no answer.
He could be unconscious. He could have been separated from them by the cave-in.
Or he could be dead.
“I got my pack,” Kyle said. Then in the next instant, a glow of white light spilled from his flashlight. He swung the light around, and it hit her.
“Fuck, you’re bleeding.”
She scrambled to sit up.
His fingers reached out and brushed against her temple. She winced. Yes, that was where the throbbing was the worst. She grabbed his hand, stopping him. “Don’t, I’m okay.”
“No, baby, we’re far from okay.”
He’d just called
her baby. Since when?
The light swung away from her. Made a slow circle around the space.
The corridor they’d entered was covered with rocks. Big, thick chunks went from the ground up.
They were sealed inside.
“Jason isn’t here,” Kyle said.
No, he wasn’t. It didn’t mean he’d survived the cave-in. He’d been running toward the exit, desperate to get out. Had that been his mistake? Had he been crushed beneath those rocks?
“The SOB rigged the place. When anyone touched the bones—” Kyle said.
“The cavern would close,” Cadence finished. An explosion. One perfectly placed to seal prey inside.
Fumbling, Cadence pulled out her phone. Jason hadn’t gotten a signal down there, but maybe she would.
No. It figured their bad luck would hold.
Fighting to keep her voice calm, she asked him, “Do you have a signal on your phone?”
Silence. Hell. She knew the answer.
Her fingers slid across the surface of her phone. Light flashed. “At least my flashlight app works.” But then she turned the light off almost immediately. They’d need to conserve the light until they were rescued.
They would be rescued.
“Someone will come looking for us,” she said, keeping her eyes on Kyle and his light. He was just a few feet away now, slowly going around the length of their prison. The light swept up high, then down low. She knew he was looking for any other way out of this place.
I hope you find it.
“When we don’t check in,” Cadence continued, “Anniston will send out a team to find us.”
The team would have to dig through the rubble to get to them. How long would it take?
More rocks tumbled down, and Cadence scrambled toward Kyle.
He grabbed her, pulling her close. “It’s not stable enough in here.”
She choked on the rising dust.
“The ceiling and the walls are gonna keep falling on us.”
They were falling, rolling down, and she and Kyle had to jump back.
“There’s a hole over here,” he told her, shining his light down and to the left.
The chamber seemed to be shaking. So much for a moment of safety.
“I don’t see it,” she whispered. Her hands had a death grip on his arm. We’re being buried alive.
That was what was happening to them. The rocks and dirt just kept coming.
She could barely breathe.
“There.” His light hit the narrow opening. A hole. Yes, it’s just a hole. Small and dark, and it was on the opposite side, away from the tunnel they’d used before.
They dodged rocks, rushing to the narrow opening. Cadence held out her hand, and felt the faintest stir of air from that darkness. A way out. Maybe.
She stared at the hole, measuring it.
For her, it could be a way out.
But what about Kyle?
“Your shoulders are too wide,” she whispered as her heart seemed to freeze in her chest.
“I can make it.” His voice was grim. “Just go through first.”
The shaking in the chamber was worse. There was a terrible, echoing groan from up above them.
“Go, now!” Kyle barked.
Not without him. “I’m not going to leave you to die!” If he didn’t get out of the chamber, he’d be crushed.
“I’m not dying,” he promised. “Neither are you.”
Then he grabbed her and shoved her through the hole.
She shot straight through, sliding fast, tumbling to the hard ground on the other side. Cadence jumped right back to her feet. The glow of the flashlight was shining. Kyle was coming. He was—
“I’m too big.”
The bastard had known that all along. A sob choked in her throat.
“The rocks are coming too fast.” He groaned, and she knew he’d been hit. “That chamber might not be stable either. Go.”
“Not without you.” She hurried back to the hole. “Dammit, come on!”
“Get out. Bring back help!”
She wasn’t going into the darkness without him. She pressed her hands to the rocks near the hole and found that some were loose. If she shoved hard enough, the hole might open more.
Or it just might send all of the rocks tumbling down, completely sealing Kyle inside the other chamber.
Burying him.
“Come in backward,” she ordered him.
“What?”
“Put your legs through first.” His shoulders were the widest part of his body. “Put them through, and come in as far as you can.” I’ll pull you through the rest of the way.
“Cadence…”
“Do it! Dammit, just do it!”
He tossed his flashlight to her. Then he was pushing his legs through. Sliding through, inch by inch. It was tight, so very tight, near his hips, but he slid through, bringing more of his body into the space with her. More, more…
His shoulders were wedged in the opening.
It sounded like hell was falling in the other chamber.
She licked her lips and spoke quickly. “On three, I’m going to pull you. When I do, you shove back as hard as you can with me. Got it?” She was very much afraid the opening would fall when those loose rocks gave way. They would only have an instant of time to make this work.
“Got you, baby.”
She could barely hear him over the rumble in the outer room.
She prayed he could hear her as she said, “One. Two. Three!”
Cadence grabbed him and yanked back with every bit of strength she had as the caves shuddered all around them.
“They’re looking for you, Lily.”
She was shaking.
No, the bed was shaking.
Everything was shaking. The world had started to shake for her a few moments ago, but then the trembles had stopped.
They’d started again now, terrifying her. What’s happening?
“You shouldn’t have made that call when your car stopped. Curtis wasn’t going to help you, anyway. He was too far gone.”
The blindfold was still on her. No gag.
“Because of that call, they found out too much. They’re too close now.”
If someone was close, then she should scream.
But he told me what happens to girls who scream.
She kept her lips pressed tightly closed.
“I was there to help you, Lily. I was all you needed that night.”
He was touching her, lightly rubbing his fingers over her cheek, and she tried so hard not to flinch.
But she couldn’t help it.
He laughed.
“We should’ve had time to play.” He pressed a kiss to her lips.
She choked back bile.
“We would’ve had so much fun.” His fingers were over her breasts. Lightly stroking. “I would have made you enjoy yourself.”
Then his fingers were gone, and the knife was back at her throat. “They aren’t going to find you.”
Carrie…
“You aren’t going to make a sound, do you understand? You’re going to stay in here, you won’t speak. You won’t move.” He shoved the gag back in her mouth. “Just in case.”
The gag was wet. It tasted funny. Like it had been soaked in something.
Her head began to ache.
“Lie still like a good girl, and it will be over soon.” Another kiss, this one to her temple.
Then he took off her blindfold.
Light spilled on her. She squinted against the light. It was so bright.
The light came from on top of his head. A light like hikers wore when they were in the woods. It was so bright, making her eyes hurt. She squinted, trying to see his face, but all she could see was that bright light in the darkness. It had been dark for so long. She needed that light.
“When I leave, I’ll take the light.”
Her heartbeat seemed to be slowing down. No, don’t take the light.
“You’ll stay in
the dark. It will be all you have.”
It had already been all she knew. For so many hours. Days?
“You don’t make a sound, Lily. Remember that. You know what will happen if you scream.”
She knew.
“I’ll know if you scream, and I’ll make you hurt, Lily. I’ll make it hurt so much when I was going to let you have an easy end. Just the darkness.”
I won’t scream.
“Be good for me, Lily.”
The knife was gone. The light slowly backed away from her. He backed away.
Then the light was gone.
Her heartbeat, slower now, was the only sound she heard.
He’d gotten out of there. Sonofabitch, he’d gotten out.
Kyle jumped to his feet. Grabbed Cadence, and held her as tightly as he could.
He crushed her body against his. That had been a damn near thing. The hole had closed, showered by rocks, the instant his head slipped free. He was covered with cuts and scratches and bruises, but he didn’t care.
“Kyle, I—”
He kissed her. He’d wanted to kiss her from the first moment he saw her, and with death hanging so close, inches away, he wasn’t going to let this moment pass.
His tongue thrust into her mouth. She gasped in surprise, and he took the sweet breath away from her. She’d stiffened in his arms.
No, Cadence. No. Want me, need me, as much as I do you.
Her hands locked around his shoulders. Her nails bit into his skin.
She kissed him back with a wild desperation of desire and passion that matched his.
He’d thought about this first kiss a lot. Considered being suave, charming, starting gently as he learned her mouth.
There was no room for gentleness. Only desperation. They were surrounded by the dark, cut off from the outside world. She was all he knew.
All he wanted.
His kiss became even harder. His hold tightened on her. Her hold on him was just as tight and hard. Her kiss was as wild and frantic as his own. Danger had been too close. Now passion and a need denied too long—both raged out of control.
If this was the way he died, then it would be one hell of a fine way to go.
He never would have thought their first time would be in a cave.
First time, last time.
No. Not the last time. Not for her. He tasted her, savored her, then slowly lifted his head. Her taste was so good that even in hell, it was paradise. “When we get out of here, you’re mine.”