Dark Echoes: (Dark Falls, CO Romantic Thriller Book 7)

by Savannah Kade

  The rougher surface of the wall did what she needed, and in no time at all she had the brace sharpened on one side to a point. Though the rest of the ankle brace dangled loose, she rubbed it again, and again, until it cracked.

  “Yes!” she exclaimed softly, and Ethan thought he might have just fallen in love with her.

  Stepping backward took her close enough to his cage that she handed him the larger piece, keeping the small shard for herself. Then Risa went to her lock and began deftly picking it.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Ethan sat huddled on top of the cage, as uncomfortable as he could possibly be. He’d wedged himself in between the rafter beams and was sitting on top of the cage. He was hunched over, making a deep breath difficult, and the position made it impossible to get to Risa if anyone came into the shed. He could only pray no one showed up.

  He was pushing at the boards, widening the gap he’d found earlier. They had no tools, other than Risa’s ankle brace, so he’d shoved it into the space, attempting to use it as a crowbar this time.

  When she’d picked the first lock, she opened her cage door with a big grin and come around to the front to start on his lock. As she finally lined up the tumblers, the click lifted some of the weight from his shoulders.

  Swinging his own door wide, Ethan breathed out the words, “I think I love you.”

  She’d stilled as he realized what he’d said, and the words had fallen like lead to the floor between them. The air went stagnant as he searched for something to say to follow that up. The problem was, he didn’t even know if that was right. Did he truly love her? Probably.

  But there was no time to debate the depth of his feelings. They wouldn’t matter—and neither would hers—if they couldn’t get out of here. Now, he was trying to open a roof with his fingertips and wondering about what he’d said.

  None of it changed the fact that they would have to work as a team if they were going to survive. These people killed kids. They wouldn’t hesitate to take him and Risa out if they felt it was self-preserving. Ethan figured they were only alive overnight because the people wanted information.

  Risa, too, had done a good job of ignoring his declaration of love, and they’d turned to deciding who should climb up on top of the cages and who should stand guard. It had been a tough call. Ethan was the better hand-to-hand fighter, but, given his upper body strength, he was also the one more likely to be able to get through the roof. However, Risa had better knowledge of roof construction.

  In the end, she stayed on the ground watching the doorway and giving him instructions on exactly which pieces to push. Where he’d seen the light, Risa had seen a gap in the construction.

  His fingers hurt. He’d already ripped three fingernails, one of them down below the quick. “Fuck,” he muttered, as he bashed another nail, the wood snapping back down on it. He’d raised it enough to see the shingles on top. Ethan was grateful it wasn’t a metal roof.

  Risa, down below, tried to be encouraging, “You’re doing good, Ethan. It’s not easy work.” She stood facing the door, arms loose at her sides, feet rolled forward, ready to take all comers with only her ankle brace shank.

  Ethan hated it. She didn’t even have shoelaces, for fuck’s sake. If someone came through that door, there was no way he was going to get down in time to help defend her. Risa would have to hold them off while he crawled through the rafters. Any well-aimed shotgun would stop him. Ethan worked faster, the pain in his hands be damned.

  Twenty minutes later, and a handful of pauses every time he made a noise, he got a hole big enough to push himself through in the roof. He’d peeled shingles with his fingertips and pushed at old plywood. The shed was damaged, and while parts of it had been well constructed, he’d gotten lucky. It bothered him though, that the roofing was so old. It meant the shed—and the cages inside—were not a new thing. He wondered if this was the cage from Nicole Salway’s memory.

  He peeled back one more shingle then held his hand down for Risa to climb up the side of the cage. When she reached the top, he slowly stuck his head out of the hole he’d made. Scoping out the area, Ethan made sure no one was watching them, ready to shoot just as they escaped.

  The night was quiet. The house in the distance was dark, and Ethan’s concern grew. He’d been upset when he first figured out the cages had been built inside the shed. It upset him more, now, knowing that the roof construction was old enough to have rotted.

  He thought of Missy and Nicole in here. As kids, it would’ve been terrifying. Anyone without something to fashion into a weapon in addition to having a combination of backgrounds as a firefighter and an FBI agent wouldn’t have gotten out of here. The girls hadn’t stood a chance. No wonder Nicole had been traumatized.

  With Risa beside him now, he pushed the thoughts away and motioned her to be quiet as he slowly pushed himself out onto the roof. It groaned beneath him, and he thought of the irony if it caved and he fell through. He didn’t want to jump off until Risa was out, but she motioned to him and whispered, “Go all the way down.”

  While he thought about all the ways he’d wanted to protect her, and all the ways he thought he should offer a hand and help her out, he realized she should probably be offering him one. As a firefighter, she’d likely already climbed on and off more roofs than he would in a lifetime. Leaning over the side, he hung off the edge for a second before dropping to the ground with a thud. He took half a step back and watched as Risa emerged far more gracefully than he had.

  She crab-walked down the slope of the roof, and unlike him, she didn’t lay on her belly and dangle her feet. She simply looked for a good landing spot and jumped.

  He cringed as she hit the bad ankle but noticed that she didn’t seem to think too much of it. If it hurt her, and it probably had, it didn’t show. But then he heard sounds from the house.

  Grabbing Risa’s hand and tugging, he hissed, “Run!”

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Risa ran with her ankle throbbing, but that was the least of her worries. She was grateful that it didn’t collapse. Hurting was fine—her head hurt, too—but, as long as everything worked, she’d be okay.

  Ethan held tightly to her hand, and when one of them stumbled, the other would yank them up and pull them along.

  They were running in entirely the wrong direction. She wondered for a moment if he knew that, although she figured their direction was the least of their concern. They were running from people with guns, one of whom had pulled the trigger on them before. These were people who killed children. If they were caught, she and Ethan would not be left with the resources to escape again. In fact, they’d likely just be killed. This was their only way out.

  Luckily, by the time the noise of their escape had woken up the home dwellers, Risa and Ethan had already managed to get to the edge of the woods. If they were lucky, they wouldn’t be found. If they were unlucky, these people would have dogs and their escape would be short-lived.

  Ethan ran in front of her, following a trail that was only passably marked. The benefit of staying on the trail was better footing, less likelihood of getting caught on something and stumbling. And wasn’t that how this whole mess started? Her breath heaved, and Risa thought briefly of Kaylee Schulte’s body. Her heart was cracking.

  But she couldn’t afford to think of anything except her own escape. The downside of staying on the trail was that they would be easy to follow, but the speed was the deciding factor. They ran until Ethan came to a dead stop and Risa blundered into the back of him, knocking him off his feet. His hands flew out wide to stop both of them from falling on their faces as he stumbled several steps forward with the force of her impact.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she muttered, deep breaths soughing in and out. “Why did you stop?”

  “Look.” He pointed forward into a clearing, and Risa knew instantly what it was and that she wasn’t supposed to see it.

  The trees towered high overhead. This site had been h
ere a long, long time. Drones and helicopters would not see it from the air.

  Fire pits marked both the north and south ends of the space. A large wooden table held court in the middle. The rough-hewn plank surface sat approximately three feet off of the ground. On each corner, bolts held chains with shackles. The table was stained, and Risa’s stomach turned. It was blood. Some of it fresh, some old. So many layers.

  The ground around the table was well-worn, as though rituals at the space were common. Spikes were stuck into the ground on the four corners, and she saw they were designed to hold large candles.

  She almost vomited. She needed no further evidence that this was where Missy Harrison was killed. She’d been brought here, laid out and murdered on that table. Missy, and probably all the rest. Jesus. So many.

  Ethan’s eyes were taking in every aspect, and she could see where he reached toward his side, the automatic gesture to pull his gun. He didn’t have it. The men behind them did.

  He wanted his gun, and Risa wanted a camera. But they had none of their usual equipment. In fact, she had only the sliver of her ankle brace. It wasn’t much, but the sharp end could do some damage to someone.

  “We have to go,” she tugged at his hand.

  “We have to figure out where this is,” he argued back, ever the agent.

  “I know, Ethan, but if we don’t get out, we don’t get back. No one is looking for us but them!” She jerked a thumb over her shoulder and tugged at him again.

  He still didn’t budge. His eyes were scanning, taking in every memory he could. Though he was in danger, he was still working for Kaylee. For Missy. For Janet and Ester and all the others…Risa’s heart broke for him.

  It didn’t really matter if he loved her, if he meant what he’d said back in the shed. She loved him.

  “That’s actually not true,” his words broke her thoughts as he finally moved, grabbing her and tugging her to get started. They passed by the horrid table, her heart stuttering at being so close.

  Her feet pounded an unsteady rhythm through the woods. She followed Ethan, only stopping after what was possibly half an hour. She had no watch, no phone, no GPS—only the moonlight to guide them. The shadows from the leaves were making it harder to see what the forest floor was like, and she worried about re-injuring her ankle. If she did, it would stop them both. Ethan would never leave her behind, not even at certain risk to himself.

  So Risa was both trying to flee and trying to be careful so she didn’t get the man she loved killed. In the distance, she heard a twig snap. She and Ethan froze, then whirled around to face the noise in case someone was closer than they thought.

  Petrified, she tried to breathe softly, but couldn’t achieve it. Risa looked to Ethan. His chest also heaved, but he looked more determined than anything. After staying quiet for a few minutes and realizing they heard no more sounds, Ethan turned to her.

  “Let’s go.”

  But he didn’t move. He just stared for a second. Then he swiftly reached for her and pressed the fastest, most wonderful kiss she’d ever had to her lips. It was over almost before it began, and she wondered if it would be the last kiss she ever had.

  He squeezed her hand, and they took off running again. It must have been another half an hour that they jogged through the woods, no longer sprinting but trying to conserve energy. The land became more open. No one lived out this way, and Risa was growing more and more concerned.

  They had to be out past the areas where the bodies had been found, at least that’s what she told herself. But she wasn’t sure the math added up. Their foot speed was nothing compared to what a car could do. So, no matter how long and how far they had run, it still probably wasn’t far enough.

  They came to the edge of farmland and found a house, but Ethan shook his head at her. “One more. We have to go one more.”

  Risa could only nod in response. She was hungry, tired, and petrified that she’d be shot at any moment. Or worse, that he would. Yet she didn’t say anything, and they pressed on. It was almost daylight before they came upon another house.

  Surely there had been others closer, but with no map, no cell signal, and no knowledge of the area, they were unable to see where the closest place was. They simply had to keep going until they stumbled upon one.

  Risa believed, given her sense of direction, that they had not gone in a full circle. Though to be fair, she couldn’t say for certain. Ethan assured her that Grace and Nate and several other officers would be looking for them by now,

  He pushed his words out between heavy, exhausted breaths. “We just have to get in touch with them.”

  Risa watched as he lifted his hand and knocked on the door. They looked terrible. They were dirty and breathing heavily, and Ethan didn’t have his badge on him. They could only pray that the heavy footsteps they heard on the other side of the door didn’t belong to someone just as willing to shoot them.

  Looking out at the land behind her, Risa saw there was nowhere left to run.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Risa sat in the emergency room bay, the gurney squeaking underneath her as she made her decision. Hopping off, she pulled the curtain back and went in search of Ethan. From what she’d been hearing, investigators had been coming in and talking to him, several going back and forth to the scene over the past few hours.

  She whispered his name, grateful when his response was fast.

  “Over here.”

  She hobbled two curtains over, her ankle far worse than she’d thought while she’d been running. The adrenaline had kept her going, but now it was a mess. The doctors had booted it again.

  She wanted to be angry about missed days at work, but she couldn’t be. She’d escaped people who were willing to kill her to cover up their secrets, and she’d not damaged her ankle beyond repair. She was starting over, but it was better than the alternative.

  Slipping through the curtain, Risa entered the enclosed space where Ethan lay on his bed.

  Though he was still in the running shorts he’d been wearing the morning before, he was now also covered in bandages. White gauze wound around his ribs and his lower leg. Several graced his upper arm. Another circled his wrist.

  “Are you going to be okay?” she asked.

  “Yeah, I’m good.”

  “Stitches?”

  “About seven in my leg. Nothing major. I’ll be fine.” His smile and the way his eyes didn’t leave hers were the only comforting part about it.

  Risa smiled and nodded. Under the gauze, she could see the purple and blue marks where he’d taken hits. He would be okay, but right now he was battered and bruised.

  So was she. She’d discovered what seemed like thousands of cuts down her sides and along the backs of her arms. She imagined they were from branches in the woods snapping at her, clawing her as she went past with no regard for anything but speed and escape.

  Ethan slung his legs over the side of the gurney and sat up. “Come here.” He whispered, patting the spot next to him.

  Risa hobbled over and hopped up, discovering it was much, much harder with the boot on. Ethan laughed a little, and on her third try he grabbed her around the hips and helped her up. “Can I ask you something?”

  She nodded, puzzled at the tone in his voice. The two of them sitting in the ER as damaged as they could be and still be walking.

  “Would it be okay if I meant what I said?”

  Risa frowned. “It’s always okay if you mean what you say.”

  “No, I mean ...” He looked away and then somehow seemed to stir up courage to look back at her. This time he was looking in her eyes. “I mean what I said when we were getting out of the cages.”

  “When you said you think you love me?” She blurted it out, not stopping to think that she should have made him say it. Risa almost laughed, as though she could brush it off to mean nothing.

  Ethan didn’t laugh. He merely nodded. “Would it be okay if I meant that?”

  Risa’s heart stopped. She took three de
ep breaths, noticing that his expression had gone still with her lack of an answer, and slowly she nodded. Then she said the words, admitting to him what she hadn’t quite yet admitted to herself. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to say no to you, Ethan Eames.”

  He grinned and leaned forward, his mouth closing over hers. And when at last they broke apart, her heart had settled firmly into the middle of her chest. She loved this man. She loved that he’d been willing to fight for her, that he’d worried and fought along beside her without shoving her to the back. And she hoped that it all showed on her face, in her touch. She didn’t quite know yet where they were going, but at least they’d figure it out together.

  “Please tell me they’re going to spring you soon,” he said. “I just got word that I can get out of here as soon as they sign the papers.”

  “Actually, I’m already signed out,” she grinned.

  “Not fair. So, let’s get out of here. We’ve got to find someone to drive us all the way back to Dark Falls.” He frowned, realizing that wasn’t a simple thing.

  “One of the PD guys is on his way to get us,” she said. She had this. Half of what she did as a firefighter was all about logistics.

  “I’m sorry you’ll be riding the desk again at work.” He was frowning at her, as though her ankle was her big concern. “I’ll bring you lunch.”

  “Won’t you be snowed under with paperwork?” she asked.

  “Oh, hell yeah. I don’t even know how to write this up. I don’t think anybody in the bureau has heard of a family killing generation after generation, looking like a serial killer. It’s pretty impressive.”

  “Pretty sick, if you ask me. The father showing the sons how to do it? That table in the woods? Do you think the kids played out there?” she asked. It had been a rather large family at the compound, and some religious belief apparently told them that they needed to keep killing to appease whatever sick god they thought protected them.