Under Suspicion

by Sommer Smith

  “Let’s get you out of here.”

  A sudden stunning blow caught Micah at the base of his skull before he could take a step. He crumpled, almost falling on top of Keilani. He managed to twist and land on his side instead.

  “I guess I should have just put a bullet in you both when I had the chance. Now look what you’ve done.” Blood ran down both sides of Dalton’s face. The victorious ring was still present in his voice as he gestured to the tide coming in. The Sig and Dalton’s vicious knife were lost somewhere in the incoming waves.

  “I guess I’ll just have to leave you to the tide. Good thing I was prepared for this. Oh, who am I kidding? I was hoping for this.” He grabbed Keilani around the throat and turned her to face Micah, who was still reeling from the debilitating blow. The pressure he was putting on her throat was turning her face red, and Micah had no doubt the man could easily kill her.

  He stood slowly and put his hands in the air. He was at a disadvantage again—the worst kind, really, since the two men had been trained in exactly the same manner. There wouldn’t be a single trick Micah knew that Dalton hadn’t been taught, as well. And there was no doubt in either of their minds who was the strongest of the two. The only advantage Micah had over him was intelligence. The ability to think on his feet would have to save them.

  Keilani whimpered and Micah could see the hope fading from her eyes. He knew what she had to be thinking. When will this be over? Will I have to die before it ends? He wanted desperately to end it for her. It was like this guy had the multiple lives of a feline. He wouldn’t stay down, no matter what.

  “Okay, Kent, get over there against the wall of the cave. Right there by the hooks. Make one wrong move and I’ll snap her neck. The tide is coming in, and we both know how fast this cave floods. Once I have you both secured, I’ll leave you to drown in misery together. You should have just enough time to confess your undying love before you go under for good.”

  The biting sarcasm in his voice left little doubt as to his feelings on the matter. He shoved Keilani up against the wall beside Micah and tied them together, separately, and then to a metal hook that had been drilled into the solid rock wall of the cave.

  “You see, Kent. In training they made it easy for us to get out, although if I remember correctly, you had more trouble than most. You always were our weakest link. But this time I’m going to make it impossible for you to escape.” His deep laugh resounded throughout the cave, like the ominous sound effects in a horror movie.

  Micah shook off the disparaging remarks. He wasn’t the same guy he’d been way back then. But let Dalton believe it. Maybe it would make him careless enough to give them a means of escape. It stung for Keilani to hear of his failures, but he had worse problems at the moment.

  He wanted to reassure Keilani somehow, but he didn’t want to give Dalton any advantages. He did his best to silently communicate with her through his eyes. They would be okay. He would find a way to get them out of this.

  Micah had to admit it was looking bleak, though. The tide was already beginning to seep into the cave, the ominous sounds of dribbling water echoing through the dank cavern. Dalton stood back and swiped his hands together like he was dusting them off, looking entirely too pleased with himself.

  “Let’s see you get out of that. I don’t think you’ll have time. And if you do, you’ll have to choose to let her die to come after me, or stay here and die trying to free her before it’s too late. I’m pretty sure I know what you’ll do.”

  “You can kill us, but we aren’t the only ones who know. You won’t be safe for long.” Keilani was beginning to babble nervously. Micah shook his head at her. It wouldn’t do any good. She was just bluffing, anyway, since she didn’t even realize he had asked Jesse to send Xavier a message.

  “You may not be the only ones who know, but I’ll be long gone before the rest of them figure out what happened.” He smirked. “I’ve got a nice little island set up waiting for me where I can retire from all this.”

  The water was beginning to flow into the cave a little higher with every pulsing wave. Micah was already trying to figure out what might work to get them free. He could work the zip ties off if they were only around his wrist, but the way Dalton had entangled Micah’s and Keilani’s zip ties together, he’d have to talk her through it. To do that, he needed Dalton to leave. He seemed in no hurry, however, as he watched the froth of water roll into the cave.

  “You know, I was actually a little frightened the day we had to do this training exercise. I used to suffer from a bit of claustrophobia. Ever have that problem?” Taggert leaned in toward Keilani, watching her closely. Had he been spying on them when she had told Micah about her fear?

  He was enjoying her panic. It made Micah even more furious. But he was proud of her, when she merely lifted her chin and stared at him, denying him the pleasure of seeing her fear.

  It must have annoyed Dalton when she didn’t give him the desired response. He frowned. “Whatever. Have fun with this little puzzle. I’m out.”

  A sigh of relief escaped Micah when he disappeared from the low-ceilinged cave. “Finally. We have to work together and work fast.”

  Keilani squeaked out a reply. “Just tell me what to do.”

  Micah began to explain his plan as he worked at their wrists, instructing her carefully on how to turn her hands and what to do.

  “Move your right wrist as close as you can get it to mine but still off the wall. You’ll have to keep your left wrist close but out of the way. Twist them clockwise.” He kept talking to her until she cried out in surprise.

  “It hurts. I don’t know if I can. He has them so tight.” Her chest was heaving, though he was sure it was from the adrenaline more than anything. The water was above their ankles and rising very quickly.

  “You can do this, Keilani. I know it’s going to hurt, but if you can stand it for a little bit, it will be worth it when we are free.” Micah spoke gently. “If you can hold it until I can work my wrists free, I will find a way to get yours off. But we have to get one of us free first.”

  Micah could feel the tension coming from Keilani as she held her hands where he asked her to. He knew she was struggling. He hated knowing this was hurting her, but there was no other way.

  He was beginning to feel the zip ties slide up his hands, so he kept working diligently, but a sudden rush of water crashed into the cave, throwing off his balance. He lost all progress. Biting back a sigh of frustration, he began again. The water was almost past his knees now and he knew it would start weighing them down and messing with their balance more the higher it got. This would only grow more difficult if he didn’t hurry.

  “Please, Micah. Can we try something else?” Keilani’s voice was full of anguish. He could just imagine how much the biting of the zip ties was hurting.

  “Can you think of anything else to try?” He let her relax her hands for a moment, since he was going to have to start again anyway.

  “Maybe I can slip my hands out instead? You could tell me how to do it. I can try again if you’ll explain how to do it correctly.”

  “We can try. But I have to warn you, it’s pretty painful no matter how you do it and your hands and wrists won’t be the same for a while. The best option would be to break them.” He didn’t want to discourage her, but it was difficult for some of the strongest men he knew to break industrial zip ties like these, and he had no idea if someone as dainty as Keilani could manage it.

  “Tell me what to do.” She sounded determined, her courage renewed at the relief from the earlier pain.

  “First you have to put pressure on the zip ties. They will stretch eventually if you put pressure on them for long enough. Then, if there is any way you can get them tighter, do it. Keep doing that as many times as you can and it will weaken the plastic.”

  “Tighter? That makes no sense.” Keilani sounded confused.

&n
bsp; “Actually, it does. It makes the locking mechanism on the zip ties easier to break,” Micah explained. “And I think breaking them might be our only option.”

  “I can’t possibly break these. I’m not as strong as you.” Keilani let up on the pressure.

  “You don’t have to be strong. It just takes a lot of force. The trick is finding a way to apply force in the situation we are in.” Since their hands were tied together and to the wall, they couldn’t use momentum against their bodies to break them. He would have to come up with another way.

  “Are you sure?” He could tell she was getting nervous about the rapidly rising water.

  “Yes. We might be able to work together and use our shared bodyweight to break them. If we can get the timing down, maybe we can both get free at once.” He twisted as far as he could to examine the exact workings of their adversary’s attempts to keep them captive. He knew there was a flaw in his plan somewhere.

  Calming Keilani was going to become a necessity, however, if the water kept rising. She was breathing at a rapid pace, her shallow breaths indicating she needed reassurance. “Do you think the water will fill up the cave completely?”

  Was now the best time to tell her it would? That was probably something that should wait. But how could he answer honestly? “If we work quickly we should be gone long before it becomes a concern.”

  Avoidance. He would explain later. For now they had to get out of here.

  She began to pull at the zip ties again. “How much stretching do you think it will take to break these?”

  “I have an idea.” Micah had noticed as she pulled at the zip ties that the bolt in the rock wall had wobbled a tiny bit, indicating it wasn’t in the rock as securely as it had once been. “I think we might be able to pull away from the wall. Then it will be easier to get out of the zip ties.”

  He explained to her what he was seeing, a single ring bolted into the rock that had another zip tie fastening it to the ones on their wrists. If it was loose, or stripped out, as he suspected, they could probably use their combined weight to generate enough force to pull it from the rock. Since Dalton hadn’t secured their feet, it should be easy enough to use their legs as leverage if they could maneuver into a good position to do so.

  “So we just want to push on the wall until the bolt gives way?” Keilani looked unconvinced.

  “It may not give right away, but with continued effort, I think we might be able to dislodge it. But we have to hurry.”

  She eyed the swirling water once more, rising almost to her waist, and nodded. “Let’s give it a try.”

  He let her get one foot in position before twisting awkwardly into a leveraged spot of his own. “On the count of three, give it all you’ve got.”

  He counted down and they both tugged for all they were worth. The loop gave a little, but didn’t fall free of the wall. “Again on three.”

  The same results occurred the next four tries. He could sense Keilani was getting frustrated and wanted to give up. He suspected the bolt was at least halfway out of the wall now, though, and wasn’t quitting that easily.

  “Can you try just a few more times?”

  She winced, but gave a succinct nod. “Yes. Say when.”

  They tried two more times with little result. “This isn’t working.” Keilani looked near to tears. Her eyes focused on the water creeping higher up her body with every breath she took.

  “Just stay with me. We are getting there. Just another try or two and if it doesn’t come loose, we’ll try something else.” Micah spoke low and calm, close to her ear. Should he be taking this time to confess his feelings? Would this be the last of their moments spent together?

  No, he wouldn’t waste time and energy thinking like that. He gave her a reassuring nod and counted down again. She let out a scream of frustration when they got the same result. Maybe he could motivate her a little. It wasn’t ideal, but he really needed her to keep trying.

  “Keilani, look at me for a second.”

  She did as he asked, and when her beautiful dark eyes intersected with his, he almost couldn’t get the words out. “I love you. I know I have told you I never wanted to marry, but you’ve changed things for me. You’ve changed everything. We have to get out of this mess so we can spend the rest of our lives together.”

  To his surprise, she grew angry. “That’s a dirty trick to play, Micah Kent. You know I have feelings for you, and you want to go and use them against me in a situation like this? I’m doing my best. You don’t have to lie to me to get us free.”

  He gaped at her for a moment. “What? I’m not lying to you. I wanted to tell you as soon as we got free, but I couldn’t wait any longer.”

  “Are—are you sure? Why?” Tears welled in her eyes.

  “Yeah, I’m sure. There’s nothing I want more in my life than you. I’ll give up being a SEAL if that’s what it takes. My life would be empty without you in it.” He looked into her eyes, willing her to see the sincerity there.

  “But what about the dolphins?” She gasped. Was she only just remembering they hadn’t been able to rescue them yet? Maybe that would motivate her.

  “If we don’t get out of here, there won’t be any concern there. But there will always be someone willing to take good care of them.” Micah was shaking his head.

  “You’d give up the dolphins for me?” She looked shell-shocked.

  “Absolutely.” He didn’t even flinch.

  She gave him a huge grin. “It’s a good thing I’d never ask you to, then.”

  He leaned close, kissing her very gently. “On the count of three?”

  With her renewed energy, their efforts doubled. This time the bolt wrenched free and Micah had to duck to keep from being smacked in the face with it. Keilani cheered in response.

  “Okay, now all we need to do is break these ties and we are out of here.” Micah looked around at the water pulling at them. It was up to his abdomen and seemed to be rising more quickly with every second.

  He explained to Keilani what to do. He wanted her to break her ties first so that he wouldn’t hurt her wrists breaking the zip ties from his own. He would never forgive himself if he broke her wrist or something.

  “You’re going to have to pull your knee above the water to use as leverage against the zip ties. You’ll bring our hands down hard against your leg just above your knee and pull out at the same time. Hopefully, they will snap.” Micah gestured the best he could with their hands bound together.

  “Okay. Ready?” Keilani looked at him and then back at their hands when he nodded.

  She raised her knee as high as she could while lifting her hands. He could feel her shaking now. He tried to silently will some calm into her. This had to work.

  She brought their hands down with a sharp cry, but the ties didn’t break. Micah’s chest constricted. What if this didn’t work with their hands tied together?

  He pushed the doubts aside. “Try again. You can do this.”

  Strain was evident on her face. The water was rising so rapidly that she could barely get her knee high enough above it now. When she brought her hands down this time, though, a snap issued from the ties and she was free. His ties instantly released from hers as well, and he wasted no time breaking them from his wrists.

  “Let’s get out of here.” He pointed to the rapidly closing mouth of the cave and they both began swimming. There was now only about a foot and a half of daylight above the water at the low opening and it was still a few yards away. The cave was low and long and their captor had been sure to put them as far from the entrance as possible. The current rushing into the crevices made it even more difficult to swim in the small space. Keeping her just in front of him, Micah encouraged Keilani the whole way out.

  “The opening is closing fast. You’ll likely have to swim below the surface to get under. Wait until you get close, though, so
you don’t miss the mouth.” Micah had to raise his voice to be heard over the echoing water noise in the cave.

  Keilani gave him a look that conveyed her terror, but she kept moving. This was going to be close.

  FIFTEEN

  Keilani couldn’t breathe, but it was mostly because she was terrified. All the years of being locked up in small spaces as punishment had come back to haunt her with a fury. When the zip ties hadn’t broken the first time, sheer panic had threatened to overwhelm her. If not for Micah’s patient instructions, she might have just given up and waited to drown. Somehow, his faith in her inspired her to keep trying.

  The water was high, pushing and pulling at her like an adversary, trying to keep her a captive to the suffocating cave. It smelled of briny water, musty rocks and fish, and she could taste the salt as it splashed her in the face here and there. It was cold, but not numbing, just enough to make her shiver in the dank, pressing water. It would have been so easy to give in to her terror and just curl into a ball to let the water overtake her.

  But Micah had said he loved her. That alone was enough reason to keep fighting. Squeezing her eyes closed for a moment, she tried to picture what life might be like with him. She would never ask him to give up being a SEAL, as he had suggested. Could they work together with the dolphins long-term? Her position was supposed to be temporary. There was no way she could stay on as a consultant for the navy forever. Would she be able to find another job near the naval base? She might not be able to work with marine mammals, but surely she could find a veterinary position of some sort. And wouldn’t having Micah’s arms to come home to be worth it?

  She thought of his kiss and how tender and magical it had been, and it gave her new strength. She would fight to her last breath for that feeling alone. She could overcome this crippling fear if it meant forever with Micah.

  The opening of the cave was close now and discouraging in its smallness. The idea of passing through it seemed even more threatening now that she was close. The reflection of the close roof mocked her as she prepared to swim through, as if it warned her that she couldn’t do it. Could she make it to the other side before the panic overtook her? What if she lost it and sucked in a mouthful of water? She would surely drown.