“Yes.”
Dante leaned toward her. They laughed when their foreheads bumped, then he kissed her. For a moment, Dante lost himself in her touch, in the sweetness of her kiss.
He could’ve stayed like that with her forever, but he realized they had things to take care of first. Reluctantly, he untangled himself from her and pulled away.
“We need to secure this place.”
They found two other entrances into the room, one of which was partially blocked by fallen rock. Dante contemplated the other one— trying to decide whether to block it off or leave it open as an alternate escape route. A few big, loose rocks were piled beside the entrance and he decided to move some of them there, not to completely block it, but to make sure they would know it if someone was coming through.
“I’m going to move these. You stand back and shine the flashlight on them and tell me if you see anything move. I doubt we see any rattlers this far back, especially in the summertime, but you never know.”
Nadia didn’t respond. She simply shone the beam where he’d asked, and Dante knew better than to comment on the way it twitched.
Dante shoved the rock over with his boot, not wanting to expose his bare fingers. When nothing scurried, hissed, or rattled at him, he rolled it over to the entrance. Pushing over the third rock, he detected movement.
“Scorpion,” Nadia said, directing her beam at it. The wicked-looking little creature scuttled through a crack in the wall.
While Dante set a similar alarm near the opening they’d entered through, Nadia walked the perimeter of the room, kicking rocks and sometimes piling them against crevices in the wall.
“Hey!” she hissed, and he looked up. She stood near the tunnel opening, her head cocked. She motioned for him and he crossed the cave to her.
“Did you hear that?” she whispered.
Dante listened for a long moment. Finally, he said, “Hear what?”
“I thought I heard a shot … maybe somebody yelling.”
They remained silent for a few minutes, then Dante chuckled. “I think you’re imagining things.”
Nadia scowled, but didn’t comment. He clicked off his flashlight.
“What now?” she asked.
“Now we wait for the cavalry. Maybe they’ll catch up soon. Cut off your flashlight so we can conserve batteries.”
She shone her light under her face, making sure he saw her frown. “You don’t have any more with you?”
“Another set for each of us, but we shouldn’t use them right now. We may need them all.”
“You have anything to build a fire with?”
“We can’t build a fire. I don’t know what kinds of gasses could be trapped under here, and it would use too much of our oxygen.”
Dante sat on the cold rock floor and laid his revolver beside him. There was a challenge in his voice when he said, “Besides, I thought you liked it in the dark. Are you afraid, princess?”
He’s going to pay for that, Nadia decided. But maybe not right this minute.
She clicked off her flashlight and sat in his lap, grinning when she heard his sharp intake of breath.
The blackness around them was solid. Nadia literally could not see her hand in front of her face. All she could hear was the labored sound of Dante’s breathing.
Then he touched her.
His rough fingers trailed across her bare shoulders. His left hand stilled as he skimmed over the two little burn marks. Then he retraced them.
“Is that where Vandergriff got you with the stun gun?” Dante asked, his voice tight.
“Yes, how did you-”
“That’s what finally tipped me off. The smell of ozone. And the look in your eyes. You’re a rotten liar, you know.”
Nadia chuckled. “So, that was a test, with the paper and pen? I was trying so hard not to blow it. He told me he’d kill you …”
“Bastard,” Dante muttered. One big hand reached underneath her hair and started massaging the nape of her neck. “I bet you’re pretty sore.”
“Not too bad.” Nadia craned her head and pushed back her hair to give him better access to her neck. “I’m tough.”
“I know you are.
She sighed when his big, warm hands kneaded the aching muscles in her back and neck. And shivered when he brushed his lips against the burn.
“What, kiss it and make it all better?” she joked, but her mouth was dry. “Because in that case, I have a few more places you might want to check out-” She broke off, gasping when he untied the straps of her halter top and pushed it down to her waist.
Her flimsy little strapless bra followed suit.
“Your phone,” she said idiotically, reaching to pat the waistband of her jeans. “I think I lost—”
Dante cupped her breasts in his rough hands and Nadia forgot whatever she was babbling about. His arousal pressed against her blue-jeaned bottom, and she very nearly forgot her own name when he began to stroke her nipples with the pads of his thumbs. She leaned her head against his chest and groaned.
“Turn around,” he whispered.
The urgency in his voice made her face flush hot in the dark. She twisted around in his lap and he groaned at her movement. Nadia straddled him and tugged his shirt over his head, gently untangling his necklace when it caught. She brushed her breasts against his chest, and was electrified by the feel of Dante’s bare, hot skin pressed against hers.
Dante cupped her breasts in his hands and lowered his head. He raked his tongue across one taut nipple, then took it in his mouth.
The quick flicks of his tongue, at first pleasurable, became maddening as the tension built inside her. Unconsciously, Nadia rocked against him, trying to satisfy a thirst she couldn’t quench, a desire that wouldn’t be fulfilled until she had him inside of her. He pressed his face between her breasts and she stroked his head, enjoying the rasp of rough stubble against her palm.
“I wish I could see you,” he rasped. “I hate this darkness.”
But she didn’t. It was exciting, erotic, sending her other senses into overdrive. Every touch, every sound seemed amplified.
She supposed that was why she was the first one who heard the rocks move.
CHAPTER 9
Listen,” she hissed.
Dante tensed beneath her. His breath seemed to stop, and his fingers brushed hers when he fumbled for his gun.
There it was again.
A scraping sound came from the entrance they hadn’t used. Then a crash echoed when one of the rocks bounced against the shaft floor.
Even though Dante pressed his mouth against her ear, he spoke so quietly that Nadia had to strain to hear his instructions.
“Get against the wall. Take the backpack with you and stay down. Don’t move or make a sound until I tell you.”
Nadia nodded and slowly climbed off him. Clutching the backpack and her flashlight, she realized for the first time how heavy it was.
What on earth did he have in there?
She started backing up and kept backing until she felt the cool rock wall press against her skin.
A shiver of déjà vu raced through her, but she wouldn’t let that memory intrude. Things were different this time. She wasn’t alone.
Retrieving the blouse and bra that was shoved down around her waist, she was eternally grateful Dante hadn’t discarded them on the rock floor. Nadia didn’t relish the idea of being found topless by either group.
Vandergriff might not kill her right away, but her father definitely would.
She no longer heard Dante and had no sense of where he was in the darkness. It was amazing how such a big man could move so silently.
The crash of the rocks jarred the silence as whatever was on the other side of that tunnel broke through. The clattering seemed to go on forever, and Nadia was sure she heard a human moan. She saw a flash of light and caught a glimpse of a human, bloodied face when Dante clicked his flashlight on, then off again.
Was that Cahill?
Then
she heard another sound. One that made the hair on the back of her neck stand to attention.
A low, feline growl.
“Nadia.” Dante’s voice was casual, calm. “Bring your flashlight and come to me. Stay close to the walls and move slowly.”
Dropping the backpack, she moved toward him in the pitch black. Her pulse roared in her ears. The darkness was disorienting, almost suffocating. Holding out one hand, she felt for the wall.
She opened her mouth to speak to him, to attempt to pinpoint his location again when she tripped over a rock. Her feet flew out from beneath her and Nadia sprawled face first onto the dusty floor. The flashlight flew from her hand and crashed against the rock. It made an eerie, clattering sound when it rolled away.
The big cat growled again.
“Dammit!” she cried, frustrated by her clumsiness and tasting blood.
“Are you okay?”
“I dropped my flashlight.”
“It’s okay. Come toward my voice.”
In another situation, Nadia might have laughed. Dante’s voice was as calm and controlled as a TV weatherman’s. He wasn’t trying to be quiet, but he wasn’t being too loud, either.
Finally, her outstretched hands grazed his bare back. He grasped her arm and felt along it until he found her hand. He pressed his flashlight into it.
“Shine the light on me,” he commanded.
“Dante-”
“Do it.”
She shone the light on him. Dante held his arms wide at his sides and spread his legs like a man caught in the middle of a jumping jack. He slowly waved his arms. Nadia noticed the big bandage on his left shoulder, his limited range of motion. His gunshot wound.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.
“Making myself look as big as possible. The worst thing you can do with a mountain lion is make yourself look like a small target.”
Nadia had been so intent on Dante and following his instructions that she hadn’t even looked for the cat. She glanced past Dante to the opening and nearly dropped the other flashlight.
Yellow eyes glowed at her from inside the yawning black hole.
With her heart stuttering in her chest, she jerked her gaze down to the man lying on the floor. It was Cahill, or what was left of him. He still had the pencil shoved behind his ear. One blue eye stared at the ceiling and the other one-
With a cry of revulsion, Nadia took a stumbling step backward.
“Nadia! Nadia, you have to stay calm. The cat’s injured and that will make it more aggressive.”
Swallowing hard, Nadia stared at Dante’s back and tried to hold the flashlight beam steady.
Calm down, she told herself. Quit acting like a baby.
“Why don’t you shoot it?” she asked, hating the trembling she heard in her voice.
“For one thing, a bullet could ricochet in here and hit one of us. For another, we’re the intruders here. I’d say that’s a mother protecting her cubs and—shine your light on her see the blood on her shoulder? This idiot’s shot her. Doesn’t look like it’s a mortal wound, but more than enough to make her want to tear us apart.”
Dante continued waving his arms and, to Nadia’s amazement, the glowing eyes retreated back into the tunnel.
“Come on.” He turned to Nadia. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Don’t … leave me,” Cahill gasped.
Nadia nearly screamed, yanking her light back to his body. She’d thought for sure he was dead. His chest—oh, God, his chest was ripped wide open.
Dante took the flashlight from her hands and squatted beside the dying man.
“Are you Catholic?” Cahill wheezed, looking up at Dante with glassy eyes. “Last rites … I need …”
“Aw, man. I’m no priest. You know that.”
“Don’t leave me,” he pleaded again. Each breath he took made a wet, sucking sound in his chest and Nadia had to turn her face away. Even a man as cold as Cahill didn’t deserve such a death.
“Are you Catholic?” he asked again.
“No.” Dante sighed. “My grandma was, but, much to her dismay, my father married a Methodist. That’s the church I went to when I was a kid. Look, I remember a little prayer my mother taught me. Would you like to hear it?”
“Yes. Please.”
Dante cleared his throat. “Heavenly Father, I have erred and strayed from Thy ways. Instead of following You, I have followed desires of my own heart. I have left undone things which I ought to have done, and I have done things which I ought not to have done, and there is no peace within me. Spare thou them, O Father, which confess their faults. Restore thou them that are penitent. By Your grace I ask for forgiveness. Amen.”
Nadia was touched by the soft, simple prayer Dante recited for the man.
“One more … time,” Cahill said.
Dante repeated it, this time pausing between lines to allow Cahill to echo each verse. Moments later, he gave a deep, shuddering breath, and died.
Dante grimaced. He stood and retrieved his T-shirt.
“Are you okay?” Nadia grasped his hand. It was cold as ice.
“Yeah. I was thinking about my grandma. She gave me this when I joined the Marines.” He tugged the silver medal from underneath his shirt and held it up for her inspection. “St. Michael. He’s the patron saint of soldiers. I remember how she used to beg me to go to mass with her. And my ma, she still teaches Sunday school. She has four kids and as soon as any of us were old enough to balk, we quit going with her. I was wishing I’d gone more with either one of them, just so I’d have known what to say to that guy.”
“I think you did a wonderful job.” Nadia squeezed his fingers.
He pulled his hand away and slung his arm around her waist. Caressing her hip, he said, “Maybe when we get out of this, I’ll take you to the old neighborhood. Show you around New York.”
“Take me to meet the folks?” Nadia said with a smile.
“Yeah. I don’t know so much about introducing you to my little brothers, though. I’d have to beat them away from you with a baseball bat.”
“Are they as handsome as you?”
“I suppose,” he said with a chuckle. “But I got all the charm.”
“Ah, well. That’s seals it, then. I’m picky. I want the whole package.” Nadia wrapped her arm around his waist, both nervous and excited at the thought of meeting Dante’s family.
They retrieved the backpack and headed out of the shaft.
“I was hoping we’d get to stay in there for awhile, but now we’re going to have to move in the heat of day.”
“Do you have water in there?” Nadia asked, pointing at the backpack.
“Some. I hope it’s enough to do us until your father gets here. I have a water purifier, too, in case we find a water source.”
They ventured out into the sunlight and Nadia winced from both the sudden brightness and the oppressive heat. The wind blew, but it was scorching and felt more like a slap than a breeze.
When she could open her eyes, she surveyed the terrain.
Where did Dante think they were going? And on foot, no less. It all looked the same to her, an endless expanse of rocky hills and sagebrush.
“Hey, what’s that?” She pointed over Dante’s shoulder at the golden cloud in the east. It hovered a few inches above the ground and seemed to be moving toward them. Dante glanced around, his brown eyes widening.
“Get back to the shaft.”
She hesitated, watching it approach.
He grabbed her arm. “Run!”
When Vandergriff saw the small plane descending onto the airstrip, he pitched the radio receiver he held against the wall. It bounced off the dingy yellowed wall with a thwack, taking another chip out of the peeling paint.
What was Peterson doing back here, and where was Ca-hill, and why in the hell couldn’t he raise either one of them on the radio?
He ran outside to meet the plane.
Impatiently, he waited for the doors to open, then
boarded before a sheepish-looking Peterson could climb off the plane.
“What are you doing back here?” Vandergriff demanded. “You’re supposed to be circling the target area!”
Peterson wiped a hand down his face. “We’ve got a leak in the hydraulics, or the gauge is screwing up or something. I tried to radio you, but I couldn’t get through. Cahill marked the area, though. You shouldn’t have any trouble seeing it.”
“From the air,” Vandergriff snapped. “It’ll be more difficult from land. And where is Cahill? I can’t get him to answer me either.”
Peterson shook his head and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I haven’t been in contact with him at all since he jumped.”
Vandergriff fell heavily onto one of the seats. “What happened? How did this happen?” His eyes narrowed. “Why wasn’t the girl tied, anyway?”
Peterson sighed. “I let her go to the bathroom, and never bothered to retie her. She’s such a little thing … I’ll be honest, I never saw her as much of a threat. I never saw any of this coming.”
Frustration made Vandergriff’s eye twitch. He was blinking like he had Tourette’s, but he couldn’t make it stop. “Did she say anything? Anything at all?”
“She said, ‘He’s going to catch me.’ Then she jumped.”
“How did she know he was going to catch her?”
The cell phone in Vandergriff’s pocket chirped noisily and he snatched it out. “Cahill, is that you?”
“No, boss. It’s Nelan. We’ve almost reached the coordinates you mapped us, but I don’t see a plane.”
“The plane had to come back to the airstrip. You’re going to have to locate the markers and find them yourselves. Cahill is supposed to be down there too. Maybe he’ll update us soon. They couldn’t have gone far on foot. Find them.” Vandergriff gripped the phone, hatred surging through him like an electric current. “And when you do, I want you to gut that bounty hunter like a deer. Save the girl for me.”
He snapped the phone shut and turned to Peterson. “It’s okay. They’re almost there anyway.” More for himself than Peterson, he mumbled, “We can still pull this off. I have a spy in Andreakos’ camp. He says they’re tracking the girl by GPS. Do you know anything about GPS, Peterson?”
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