by Lori Wilde
“I need to be alone.”
“It’s about Dade, isn’t it?”
Natalie nodded mutely. If she said anything, she’d burst into tears.
Junie Mae pulled up into the cavern parking lot. “When do you want me to come back and get you?”
“I’ve got my cell phone. I’ll call Zoey to come get me when I’m ready.”
“You sure? We could go back to my place and get drunk on margaritas.”
“I’d be poor company.”
“Sweetie, I’m so sorry things didn’t work out between you and Dade.” Junie Mae squeezed her arm.
“Thanks.” Natalie hopped out of the car quick before she broke down. She waved as Junie Mae pulled out of the parking lot.
She trudged to the front gate and unlocked it and then clicked the lock closed again behind her. She didn’t want anyone else coming in. She needed solitude. Hopefully, Zoey hadn’t had copies of the key made and distributed among her friends.
The caverns were eerie in their silence. She’d been visiting this place since before she could walk, and it still moved her every time she entered nature’s cathedral. The wall sconces stayed on all the time, so she wasn’t in the dark. She inhaled the musty air, and with a heavy heart, limped down the path toward the Cupid Cave.
She imagined her great-grandmother Millie walking this same path, in similar despair. History. Tradition. Her blood ran thick with it.
The Cupid formation looked as ancient as Roman ruins. The sight of the stalagmite never failed to move her. Pretty damn majestic. It was easy to understand the town’s fascination with the thing. In the hushed quiet, it felt like hallowed ground.
Natalie knelt at the stalagmites, closed her eyes, and clasped her hands. “Dear Cupid, please, please let him come back to me.”
She knelt there waiting, but the despair did not lift. She did not feel comforted.
Slowly, she opened one eye, and stared at Cupid. “Work with me here. I’ve been answering letters on your behalf for ten years, the least you could do was give me some kind a sign.”
A drop of water dripped on her from a stalactite.
“That’s it? That’s all I get?”
Another plop of water hit her square on her upturned forehead.
“Message received loud and clear. I get it. You’re trying to tell me I’m all wet. Thanks for nothing.” She dragged herself to her feet, sighed, and turned to leave.
And that’s when she saw something she’d never before seen in the cul-de-sac cave—an open passageway leading deeper into the caverns.
Pain.
So much friggin’ pain.
Dade lay in the darkness engulfed in pain.
His shoulder felt like a giant had taken him by the arm and pulled it from his socket the way little boys dismantled grasshopper appendages. He kept drifting in and out of consciousness. Was he dreaming? If he was dreaming, he’d better wake the hell up.
Nausea roiled in his stomach. Hard, sharp objects poked into his back. Fear and worry and hopelessness closed around him.
He heard tapping again. Red. His buddy was tapping.
Days had gone by. He didn’t know how many. He’d lost all track of time. He knew Red was nearby, but he had no idea how close. Dade had talked to Red, but his buddy was too weak to do more than utter an occasional soft whisper that he could barely understand.
Since his fall into the pit Dade had slowly pieced together over time that Red had grown suspicious about the number of kids coming into Chantilly’s who appeared to be underage, and yet they all had what appeared to be valid driver’s licenses. Red’s suspicions had also been aroused by the number of illegal immigrants who came to the back porch at the bar looking for Lars or Gizmo.
Early one Sunday morning when he was out for a walk, he’d seen Lars and Gizmo opening the padlock and slipping into the caverns on a day they were closed. He had wondered about it, but it hadn’t really seemed suspicious until June 19, the night he’d gone to Marfa.
Stan had told him he’d heard from a friend of his in law enforcement that there was an investigation into drivers’ licenses and ID forgeries in southwest Texas. Red didn’t have anything concrete to take to the authorities other than his Navy SEAL sixth sense, so he’d decided to follow Lars and Gizmo and see if he could find out what they were up to.
That’s when he’d found their secret room inside the Cupid Cave. They’d caught him, but he’d managed to get off the “Tanked” Mayday text to Dade before escaping deeper into the cave.
He’d only had the light of his cell phone to guide him, but it hadn’t been enough to keep him from plunging off the ledge. He’d lost his phone in the fall and Dade had been his only hope of rescue. Lars and Gizmo had left him for dead. He’d survived this long only because the SEALs had taught him to always be prepared and he always carried a package of peanuts and beef jerky in his pocket. He’d rationed out the food, nibbling a bit every day until it was gone, and he drank the moisture that dripped down the cave wall.
Now, Dade was in the exact same predicament.
Odd how irony was usually not the least bit funny.
“Hey, now we can die together.” Red had given a raspy cough when he finally concluded the story that had taken days to tell, before lapsing into a silence so long that Dade got scared. Red had been down here for two weeks with a broken leg. He had to be close to death. Only his stubbornness and strength of will had kept him alive this long.
Dade had tried to drag himself from the pit, but with a dislocated shoulder and no flashlight, his attempts had been quickly defeated. He’d been lying here trying to formulate some kind of plan, but his brain wasn’t cooperating. He hadn’t had anything to eat since his last meal with Natalie in her bed, although he’d taken Red’s cue and drank the water tracking down the cave walls. His reasoning was fuzzy and he kept dozing off, and then through the mist of shifting consciousness, he thought he heard something.
Footsteps.
Was he hallucinating?
Grunting against the pain in his shoulder, he forced himself to sit up. Was Lars or Gizmo coming back to finish them off? Once the blinding pain eased off a bit, he concentrated on listening.
Yes, footsteps.
“Red,” he whispered. “You hear that?”
Red tapped weakly.
“Christ, it’s got to be Bakke or the punk kid. Who else could it be?” Dade asked.
The footsteps grew louder.
All his muscles tensed. The person—it sounded like one set of footsteps—was moving in a slow, halting gait, clearly having trouble navigating the narrow rock ledge.
Several long moments passed.
Dade’s pulse slammed through his head. They were sitting ducks. God, he hated this. He gritted his teeth. Had Bakke come to shoot them? Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. Put them out of their misery.
Except that he would never see Natalie again. His gut wrenched. He’d had three days to adjust to that reality, and yet, he had not. The thought of never touching her again ripped him apart.
There was a thin play of light on the cave wall above the pit where he and Red were lying.
Desperately, he felt around for a weapon, a rock, anything to throw at whichever captor was about to appear, and the hand of his good arm closed over a baseball-sized stone. C’mon you son of a bitch, I’m not going down without a fight. He had to get back to Natalie or die trying.
The flashlight beam bobbled directly above their heads. As the footsteps grew closer, they became more defined, and Dade identified a slight dragging sound.
He knew that gait! It was very dear to him.
Then a beloved face appeared in the darkness.
It wasn’t Bakke or Gizmo on the narrow ledge above them, but Natalie!
A few feet ahead of her, the ledge path that she’d been following dropped off into darkness.
Natalie paused, confused. After seeing the opening in the Cupid cave, she’d found the lever mechanism inset into the cave wall and camouflaged as a rock formation.<
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The second she saw it, Natalie knew this had to be the mythical secret room the old-timers whispered about, the place where bootleggers had stored illegal bottles of alcohol during Prohibition. She’d never really believed in that rumor, but she was proven wrong.
She’d followed the narrow passage, and several feet inside found an empty room. There was a second door on the opposite side of the room. What she couldn’t figure out was how the passageway had gotten opened in the first place. Had the lever mechanism somehow just sprung open on its own?
“Hello?” she’d called out into the darkness.
There had been no answer.
Hitching her tote bag up on her shoulder, she’d opened the second door.
It led deeper into the cavern. Excitement had raced through her. This looked like the place where Mingus Dill supposedly holed up from the posse. The lure of Cupid’s history drew her deeper inside.
She tugged her flashlight from her tote, happy to have something to think about besides her ruined love affair with Dade. The path was littered with rocks and pebbles. There was no upkeep back here. No caretakers to clear the way. This was raw, original, unsullied by visitors. It was an adventure.
The temperature inside was much cooler than in the main cavern. She shivered and wished for a sweater. Go back. You’re not prepared for spelunking.
She didn’t know what compelled her to keep moving forward, but she did. Traveling at least a quarter of a mile, maybe farther. Maybe having been with Dade had made her unafraid to take chances. Nothing could hurt as much as his abandonment, right? It’s great news that you’re ready to grab life by the throat and all that, but there’s daring and then there’s stupid. Turn back.
But still, she kept going until she came to the end of the line where the rocky ledge played out. Game over. Head back.
She turned.
“Natalie!”
The sound of Dade’s voice rushed over her like a soothing balm on a hot sunburn, and it stopped her in her tracks. Had she really heard him call to her or was it her imagination?
“Dade?”
“Down here, Natalie. Be careful. That ledge is precarious.”
Tentatively, she shone the light over the edge of the ledge. Fourteen feet below her lay a body. She gasped, focused the light beam on the still form.
It was Red. He was motionless on his back with his eyes closed, and from this distance, she couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not. His face was deadly pale and his right leg was at an odd angle. Clearly broken. Her own right leg twinged in empathy and her chest tightened.
“Dade? Where are you?”
“To your left.”
She shone the light to the left and found him about six feet from Red’s still form. He was propped up against the cave wall, surrounded by massive stalagmites. It was a miracle he hadn’t been impaled in his fall from the ledge, because obviously that was what had happened. He’d fallen off the ledge while searching for Red. His face was etched with pain.
Her heart leaped into her throat. He hadn’t run out on her! But he was in deep trouble. “What’s happened?”
“Dislocated shoulder. I’ll live.” He quirked a wry grin. “Now that you’re here.”
“I’m going to toss my tote bag down to you. It’s got water in it and two PowerBars.”
“Thanks,” he said gratefully, his voice raw and raspy.
She pitched the tote down, aiming to get as close to him as possible. It landed at his feet. He had to lean for it and he cried out in pain.
Natalie slapped a palm over her mouth. His pain was a knife to her gut.
He grimaced, but managed to snag the tote bag. He had to lean back against the wall and rest for a minute.
It was so hard having to stand here and watch him suffer, to be unable to go to him. Her arms ached to hold him.
“How did you find us?” he asked.
“There was an opening in the cave wall. I followed the passageway and it led me here, but I had no idea you were down here. I was just exploring.”
“The secret door was left open? Did you find the room?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see the fake IDs?”
“What? No. The room was completely empty.”
“They’ve cleared out their equipment.”
“What equipment?”
“Is it the Fourth of July?”
“Yes.”
“The cavern is closed on holidays. How did you get in?”
“I’m a Greenwood direct descendent. The cave is on family land. I have a key.”
“Do you keep your key where Lars could have access to it and make copies of it for himself?”
“Yes,” she admitted. “I keep it in the front desk and sometimes Lars watches the desk for me, but I don’t understand what you’re getting at.”
“They must have been waiting for the holiday so that they could move their operation without interruption.”
“I’m confused. Who are you talking about?”
Dade told her a story then that she could scarcely believe about Lars and Gizmo and high-quality identification forgery. Was it true? Or was his thinking skewered from being in a cave for three days with a dislocated shoulder?
“Are you sure?” She nibbled her bottom lip. “Lars and Gizmo involved in counterfeiting?”
“Lars pulled a gun on me and Gizmo Tasered me and they did that to Red.” Dade motioned in the direction where his buddy lay.
Natalie put a hand to her forehead. “I can’t wrap my mind around this.”
“How is Red?” he asked.
She shone her light in Red’s direction again. He still hadn’t moved. “He looks bad. I’m going for help.”
“Be very careful, Natalie. I’m not kidding when I say Bakke and Gizmo are armed and dangerous.”
Moving as fast as she dared, Natalie went back the way she’d come.
It seemed as if she’d been walking for days. Natalie’s leg hurt up into her hip from maneuvering the rough terrain. She was cold and damp and her head ached. Every step was torture as her mind kept stirring up terrible possibilities for what lay both ahead and behind her.
Natalie gritted her teeth. Keep moving. It was the only option. She had to get help. And what would happen if she got back to the room and found Lars or Gizmo waiting with a gun?
But there’s no way they could know she was in the caverns. Junie Mae had brought her here, so she’d left no vehicle in the parking lot to give her away, and her neighbor was the only one who knew she was at the caverns. Still, even if they didn’t have a gun on them and they caught her coming out of the cave, they would know something was up.
Don’t let them catch you coming out of the cave.
She had tried to call Calvin on her cell phone and tell him what was going down, but she couldn’t get any reception this deep inside the cave.
How far had she walked? Shouldn’t she be getting close now?
She stopped a moment to rest, leaned her back against the wall, and ran a hand down her leg. The flashlight battery was growing dim so she switched it off and tucked it into her pocket. It was so dark without the flashlight beam to guide her. So very dark and lonely.
To comfort herself, she thought of Dade. He had not run out on her after they’d made love. She couldn’t wait for him to hold her in his arms again. Get a move on. The sooner you get out of here, the sooner that will happen.
She pushed off from the wall, debating whether to walk in the darkness for a while and save the flashlight battery or turn it on again, when she heard muted voices.
Her heart somersaulted into her throat. She recognized the voices as belonging Lars and Gizmo. They were close. She must be near the second door of the secret room.
Panic spread through her, wildfire quick. What to do? Go back and wait for them to leave?
The stupid, trusting part of her balked. Even though Dade had told her what Lars and Gizmo were involved in, she found it difficult to accept. These two men had lived in her
home. How could they want to harm her? Maybe she could reason with them.
Don’t be naive, Natalie. For godsakes, listen to Dade. He knows what he’s talking about.
Pulse racing, she turned to go back the way she came, but she couldn’t move quickly in the dark and she was too afraid to turn the flashlight back on in case they saw the beam.
They were arguing now, their voices angry, but the cave warped the sound and she couldn’t make out what they were saying. She kept moving away from them, trying to be as quiet as possible.
She heard a clanging sound and more arguing. Her fist knotted around the flashlight and she forced herself not to turn it back on. Her breath slipped shallowly over her lips. There was a strange scent in the air. Stranger than the normal musty cave smell. Her nostrils twitched.
Lars and Gizmo were making more noises, banging things around. What were they doing?
Then all at once there was complete quiet.
She stopped walking. Held her breath. Strained to hear something. Nothing.
But instead of putting her at ease, their sudden silence bothered her even more than the noise had.
One minute passed. Nothing. Then two minutes. Three.
The hairs on the back of her neck lifted and the most ominous feeling passed through her.
And then came the explosion.
Chapter 21
Love can bridge any gulf.
—MILLIE GREENWOOD
The blast shook the cave. The force knocked Dade from his sitting position against the wall. Rubble rained around him and dirt filled his mouth.
In utter shock, he let out a terse curse as his mind scrambled to deduce what had happened. Whatever explosive had caused the detonation had to be something fairly small or it would have brought the whole cave down. From the sound of it, maybe a quarter of a stick of dynamite or even just a blasting cap. Just enough of a blast to seal off the back caves behind the secret room, but not enough to destroy the entire caverns.
It hit him then, exactly what was going on. That son of a bitch Bakke had set off a detonation to cause a cave-in, entombing inside the two people who could send him to prison on forgery or counterfeiting charges. Two loners without family who would never really be missed.