by Lori Wilde
Natalie!
Dear God, where was Natalie?
His blood ran cold. Where was she? Had she interrupted Bakke’s explosion? Had he killed her too? Maybe she’d gotten out. He clung to the hope. Prayed she’d gotten out alive before Bakke and Gizmo had come back to cause the cave-in.
“What the fuck was that?” Red croaked.
“Bakke,” Dade said. “He’s making sure we don’t get out.”
Fresh worries washed over him. What if Natalie had been hurt by the blast? If she was still in the cave at the time of the explosion, she would be much closer to the source of the blast than he and Red were. She might even be dead.
Dade clamped his teeth together. No. He refused to think like that. He had to get out of here. Had to go after her. He tried to stand but the pain in his shoulder knocked him to his knees. Waves of nausea washed over him. Dade whistled in air through convulsing lungs.
He tried to stand again.
An aftershock ran through the cave. More rubble fell. Something hit him on the head, and that was the last thing Dade knew.
Consciousness returned to Natalie in degrees.
First, it felt as if she were swimming up from a dark pool, air-hungry and desperate. Hours later, her eyes popped open and she stared into total darkness.
“Dade,” she whispered, and fell into the fog again.
Finally, the incessant ringing in her ears roused her enough to sit up and rest her spinning head in her hands.
An explosion. There’d been an explosion. Had Lars and Gizmo set it off?
Impossible.
This had to be some kind of horrible dream.
Natalie groaned. No dream. The dirt in her mouth and nose certified it.
With shaky hands she groped around for the flashlight and flicked on the thin, fading beam of light and saw to her horror that her escape route was completely blocked by boulders humped up like camel backs.
There was no way out. Absolutely none.
As she studied the massive pile of rocks going all the way to the ceiling of the cave, that last gasp of light winked out, plunging her into inky blackness.
She shook the flashlight. Heard the battery rattle. Clicked the switch off and on. Nothing.
This was it. They were all done for. She and Dade and Red. Bested by a senior citizen and a computer geek. It was all over. They would never get out of here.
She wondered how long it would take to die of starvation and dehydration. Apparently, Red had somehow managed to stay alive for two weeks, but he was an ex–Navy SEAL. He had survival skills. He could last longer than most people. If she was lucky, it would take her less time to die.
Lovely thought.
Way out. She needed a way out.
Options. What were her options? She could go back to where Red and Dade were.
In the dark? Risk falling to her death?
Either way, she was dead. What did the method matter? Or she could sit here and wait for rescue. Someone would have surely heard the explosion. People would be here soon. Emergency workers. Volunteers. The smart thing to do was stay put.
But what if help didn’t arrive immediately? People were out at the lake, celebrating the Fourth, shooting off fireworks. If it was indeed still the Fourth. She had no idea how much time had passed.
Junie Mae knew she was here. Someone would come looking. The whole town of Cupid would come looking. That’s what her community did. Rally about one another. She held on to that knowledge. They would be rescued.
But in time to save Red’s life? The man was hanging on by a strand as thin as a spider’s silk. He might already be dead.
Natalie brought her knees to her chest and rested her head on her knees. The muscles in her right leg jumped and twitched involuntarily.
Rest.
She needed to rest. Regroup. Think this through.
She wished she had a bottle of water. Wished she had a PowerBar. While she was wishing, why not wish for a T-bone steak and an appletini? Why not wish for her pillow-top mattress and goose-down pillow?
None of those things was going to come true so she might as well wish for the stars. Why not wish that Dade would tell her that he loved her? Why not wish that he wasn’t terrified of loving her the way she loved him? Why not wish for an elaborate wedding held in the botanical gardens beside the Cupid statue? Why not wish for three children, all of whom had Dade’s dark good looks? Why not wish for the world?
Pity isn’t going to solve your problem.
Right. Suck it up.
Except when she tried to stand, her leg was so exhausted she could barely lever herself up. She’d pushed herself to her limits. Like it or not, she was going to have to rest.
Sometime later, Natalie awakened again.
The tiny stream of light drilling down though the top of the cave shone a small spotlight on her lap.
Joyously, she turned her face upward. There was a way out!
Except the cave ceiling was a good fifteen feet above her. Cool air blew against her face. Her throat was parched, her leg numb from being curled up underneath her. Getting to the ceiling meant scaling fifteen feet of unstable boulders.
With a bum leg.
With a deep-seated fear of heights.
Suddenly, her salvation seemed like utter damnation. It might as well be Everest. Dread lodged in her throat. She had no alternative. She had to face her greatest fear. She had to climb that mountain.
“Sir Edmund Hillary,” she muttered. “Here I come.”
Natalie stumbled to her feet, shaking her numb leg to get the pins and needles out. Slowly it came to life, tingling painfully. She tried to put her weight on the leg, but her knee gave way and she fell forward.
She thrust out her hands to catch herself, her palms ramming into sharp rock points. Ow, ow.
Her left palm was bleeding, lacerated. Not seriously, but painful, messy. Resolutely, she wiped her palm against the side of her jeans and glanced up at the pile of rocks again.
C’mon. You can do this. You dragged yourself down a mountain with a broken leg at nine years old, how hard can it be to drag yourself up one?
Hard as hell.
Her leg was finally coming around. She tested it again and it held her weight. Just think, in a few minutes you could be out of here and going for help. Keep your eye on the prize.
Dust motes danced in the pencil-thin light shining down on her. It had to be late morning. She had only a few hours before the sun moved down the horizon and she lost the light.
Get moving.
She obeyed, going along to the far side of the boulder pile that seemed to offer the easiest path up. Carefully, she positioned her feet, hiked her right leg up, and dragged it over a bottom boulder. The stretch was almost more than she could handle, and when she pushed off with her left foot, she sent herself falling over the boulder. She lay there a moment, stunned at how difficult that had been, and it was only the first step.
Keep going.
She pulled herself up, found a handhold in the rock above, and took another step.
The stones were slick and smooth. It would be so easy to lose her balance.
She cast a terrified glance down. It was only a foot but it felt like a mile. She gritted her teeth. Don’t look down. She took another step and another. By the time she was halfway up the pile, her arms were trembling so bad that she had to stop and catch her breath.
Don’t look down, don’t look down, don’t look down.
She looked down.
Big mistake.
The floor of the cave yawned below her, big and dark and deadly.
A crushing sensation pressed in on her chest, squashed her lungs. She curled her fingers around the rock she clutched, frozen by fear. She hung there for the longest time, stymied by fear. She could not move forward, could not slide back. She was stuck.
A metaphor for her life. She smiled. What a stupid time to get amused by her predicament. But it was true. Her fear had kept her stuck. She had been too afraid to dare
to dream. She’d taken the safe path. Done what was expected. She’d been admired for it, lauded for it, but deep down, she’d been disappointed in herself.
Now was the time to get over that fear. It was here. It was real. Move forward. Prove you’re not stuck. Prove you can take charge of your life. Face your fears. You are in control of your destiny, Natalie. Nothing can hold you back.
Emboldened by that pep talk, she tightened her jaw, let go of the rock with one hand, and reached higher. Taking the risk. Taking the gamble.
What if you get to the top and you can’t dig your way out of the cave? What then?
She cringed. She couldn’t think about that now. It was all she could do to scale this damn pile of rocks.
The thin beam of sunlight was waning. She had to hurry.
C’mon, c’mon. You can do this. For Red. For Dade. For yourself.
One hand followed the other. She pulled up her right leg. The damn thing had held her back so many times. Her wound was at the root of her fear. She refused to let it pull her down.
With a heavy grunt, she moved her leg to the next boulder.
The rock pile wavered.
Natalie gasped, paused.
Please don’t fall.
The rock stabilized.
She tried again, skimming quickly over one unstable rock to the next one. She was higher now than she’d ever been since the accident, a good ten feet off the ground. Halfway. She was halfway to the light.
Keep moving.
Her arms were trembling. Her leg was heavy. Her stomach was queasy, but her resolve was strong. Dade. She was doing this for Dade. He was counting on her and she would not let him down.
Dizziness gripped her. If she fell now, she’d be dead.
You won’t fall. You can’t fall. You are strong. You will make it.
Another step and then another. Her fingers clawed at the rocks. She broke nail after nail, didn’t care. All that mattered was getting to the top before the light vanished.
An hour passed.
Two.
Her toil continued. Slowly, methodically. Every time a fresh fear surfaced, she’d tamp it down by remembering Dade’s face. He needed her. Red needed her. She had to do this.
On and on she climbed.
When pebbles skittered beneath her feet and dropped to the ground, she would stop, wipe the sweat from her brow, and keep going. She felt like an ant pushing a rubber tree plant. She had high hopes. Rescue.
Finally, the impossible happened, and she reached the pinnacle.
She paused to haul in hungry gasps of air. She rested her head on the top rock. Pressed her lips to it. Success. After all she’d been through. She’d faced her greatest fear and won.
But the victory was short-lived.
Now came the hard part. Balancing on the top boulder, which was about the size of a hassock, while investigating the crack in the ceiling.
She inhaled sharply, glanced down.
Blackness lay below. The rocks were nothing but dark humps in the shadows. Cold, hard stone awaited her if she fell.
Turning her face toward the diminishing light, she reached out a hand, touched the cave ceiling, and rejoiced. It wasn’t stone but earth as she hoped. The outside world was only a few inches of dirt away.
She poked at the ceiling with a finger. Dirt shifted in on her, filled her mouth. She spat, winced. Ugh. Dug in with all five fingers of her right hand while her left hand held steady to the last boulder, her feet positioned in a wide stance.
Her fingers widened the hole, and hope soared.
Greedily, she grabbed for another handful, digging the dirt, dropping it to the floor, hearing it spatter. There was grass now. Handfuls of it. Faster and faster, she snatched handfuls of earth and dried grass. More dirt fell in her face, burned her eyes. She spat again, swiped at her face, closed her eyes, and kept digging.
She went back for another handful, her fist broke through, and she felt warm air and sun on her fingers. Blinking, she opened her eyes. She’d made a hole the size of a saucer. She arched her back, reaching for another handful of dirt to widen the opening.
Big mistake.
Her right leg slipped from its toehold and she hung suspended. Her left arm and left leg clinging to the rock, her right arm and right leg swinging in mid-air.
She threw down the dirt, scrambled to find something to grab on to with her right arm, found a spot.
Gravity tugged at her.
She wobbled. Her blood stampeded through her veins, pounded in her ears.
No! She would not lose this battle. She would not fall!
She wobbled, hanging twenty feet above the cave floor. Inches from freedom.
Can’t fall. Won’t fall.
She hung, swung, unable to move. Her limbs were exhausted. She was tapped out. This was how it was going to end. The story of Natalie McCleary over in a mere twenty-nine years.
Turn out the lights, the party’s over.
And then she heard a voice, far away, but familiar.
“Natalie!”
“Mommy?” she mumbled. “Mommy, is that you?”
“Natalie!”
The voice was coming closer. Was she already gone and hearing dead relatives? Her arms trembled, defeated. This was it. She could just let go and fall into the arms of her mother. Let go and be free.
“Natalie!”
She cocked her head. The voice was almost upon her now, but even though it was familiar, it was not her mother. She was not dead.
It was Zoey!
“Here!” she cried out. “I’m down here.”
Relief gave her the strength to hold on, to pull herself up and over that top boulder. She lay there gasping, thanking God, and trying to wrap her mind around the idea that she’d been saved.
Chapter 22
Love at first sight is a rare gift indeed.
—MILLIE GREENWOOD
In the emergency room at Cupid General, Natalie refused treatment. There was nothing wrong with her beyond a few scrapes and bruises. She wanted the staff to give all their attention to Dade and Red. She sat with her family and friends packing the waiting room.
Red had been taken into surgery to repair his broken leg and they’d sedated Dade in order to put his dislocated shoulder back into its socket. It had been out of the joint for so long that the muscles had started to stiffen.
Calvin came in while they were waiting, holding his patrol hat in his hands. “They caught Lars and Gizmo trying to cross the border into Mexico at Presidio. Texas Rangers are bringing them back here to face charges.”
“Did they admit what they’d done?”
“We caught them with hundreds of fake IDs on them, so they couldn’t deny it. They even told us the reason they waited until the Fourth of July to cause the cave-in. They didn’t want to hurt any innocent bystanders so they picked a day the caverns would be closed. Plus with the fireworks from the Fourth of July, people wouldn’t notice the explosion. That, and they needed time to get their hands on the dynamite.”
“But they were okay with leaving Red and Dade in the cave to suffer in the meantime?” Natalie shuddered.
“Just for the record, Lars feels really bad that you were in the cave when they imploded it. They’d just meant to seal in Red and Dade. Since you hadn’t left a vehicle in the parking lot of the caverns because Junie Mae gave you a ride, they had no idea that you’d gone inside.”
“Would it have stopped Lars if he had known?”
Calvin shrugged. “Maybe. He did say he was happy that you were alive.”
“So he was brave enough to kill Red and Dade, but not ruthless enough to kill me?” Natalie snorted. “Why? Because I’m the helpless crippled girl?”
“There’s nothing helpless about you, cuz.” Calvin crossed the room to rest a hand on Natalie’s shoulders. “How are you holding up?”
“I’m hanging in there.”
“Thanks to you and Red and Dade, we’ve busted the biggest counterfeit ID operation in southwest Texas.�
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“How badly were the caverns damaged?”
“Miraculously, the Cupid stalagmite is intact, although there’s some argument that Cupid’s arrow slipped a bit in the blast.”
Natalie breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank heavens for that.”
“But the bootleg room is history.”
Natalie stabbed her fingers through her hair. “There is one thing that’s been bothering me.”
“What’s that?”
“How did Lars even know the secret room was there? I mean we’re Greenwoods and we didn’t know about it.”
“Apparently Jasper Grass told him.”
“How did Jasper know about the room?”
“Jasper’s great-granddaddy was the biggest bootlegger west of the Pecos and he passed that little tidbit of information on to his kinfolk. A family secret.”
“Was Jasper involved in the counterfeiting?”
“No. We checked him out. He’s clean.”
“That’s good.”
“I do have some bad news for Dade. I was thinking maybe you could break it to him for me.”
Natalie’s stomach clenched. “What’s that?”
“Lars and Gizmo admitted that they put his Harley in the secret room just before they blew it up. It’s gone.”
“Oh no. He is going to be heartbroken. He loves that motorcycle.”
A nurse popped her head into the waiting room. “Natalie, you can go in to see Dade now. He’s a little dopey, but asking to see you.”
Natalie hopped up and followed the nurse.
“He’s in behind there.” She pointed to one of the curtained areas.
Natalie pushed back the curtain to find Dade resting on a gurney and covered by a green sheet. He had an IV in his arm.
“Hi.” He gave her a drunken little smile.
“Hey, big guy.” She walked over to the bed.
“You did it. You got us rescued.”
“But you saved Red. If you hadn’t been so suspicious of Lars, he and Gizmo would have gotten away with it and Red would be dead.”
“How is Red?”
“In surgery. He’s malnourished and dehydrated and he’s got a long road to recovery, but the doctors say he’s going to make it.”
“That’s good.” His words slurred a bit.