Fatal Secrets

by Allison Brennan

  The night was clear and the mine seemed to come out of nowhere as they approached from above. The towering metal roof had rusted with time, a narrow and forbidding remnant of the past. The three-quarter waning moon backlit the peaks, casting a ghostly bluish light over the land.

  Brian asked Dean over the headset, “How close do you want me to get?”

  “As close as you can,” Dean said. “The noise will alert anyone near the mine, but we don’t have a choice. It’s nearly midnight. We can’t be running through the woods in unfamiliar territory searching for the mine.”

  Sheffield said, “The road is right there. See? There’s a good-sized turnout just past the mine to the northeast.”

  Brian inspected the map and instruments. “I can do that.”

  He radioed the other pilot with the information, then said to Dean, “We can land, but there’s only room for one. The other chopper will land point-four miles west.”

  “Roger.”

  Sonia stared at the blueprints, searing them into her brain as best she could. “How do we get to that room?” she asked Sheffield.

  “There’s only one way. The old elevator shaft. It’s a manual elevator.”

  “Manual elevator.”

  “Crank, pulleys, ropes, chains. You get in and turn the crank by hand to go up and down.”

  “Ropes,” Sonia said. “They couldn’t possibly be in any condition to hold any weight.”

  “If they were worn the inspectors would have marked them with a big orange X, and I don’t see anything here.”

  Sonia swallowed heavily. The closer they got, the more nervous she became. She would not allow her claustrophobia to stop her.

  Dean looked at her. He knew. She hated that she was so obvious about it. She closed her eyes as the helicopter descended.

  It was cold up here on the mountain. They jumped out of the choppers. Brian ordered one of his team members to stand guard, leaving only seven of them to approach the mine.

  “Hooper,” Brian said, “we should wait for the rest of the team before we go in.”

  “How long?”

  “Twenty minutes.”

  Both Dean and Sonia shook their heads. “We don’t know where Marchand is,” Dean said. “Time is the one thing we don’t have.”

  Guided only by flashlights and the waning moon, they walked briskly and cautiously down the road and around to the fenced entrance to the property. The lock looked new, and Sonia wondered if it had been put in place by Marchand’s people. The whirl-whirl of the second helicopter faded into the night. Sonia tried to breathe easier, but the pounding in her chest vibrated so loudly she couldn’t hear anything but the blood rushing through her veins.

  She had to save those girls. But the mere thought of going down a manual elevator shaft to a room more than a hundred feet below the surface of the earth had her hands coated with sweat.

  Brian cut the lock off the fence and they reached the mine minutes later, staying among the trees. Dean motioned for everyone to turn off their lights and be silent.

  Sonia heard nothing but her fear.

  Dean whispered, “Okay, two of us need to stay here on lookout. Under no circumstances is anyone to go off alone. You all heard Dr. Sheffield’s instructions? You see neon orange, turn around. Cammarata, Knight, stay up top with Sheffield. The rest of you, with me.”

  “You need me down there,” Sonia said. “You don’t speak Chinese. I speak enough to at least calm them when you find them.”

  Dean shook his head. “I need you up top,” he said. “You’re the ranking agent. When the others arrive, you need to be here to give direction.”

  He was letting her save face.

  “I’ll go,” Charlie said.

  “No. I don’t trust you, Cammarata. This isn’t a game.”

  “I didn’t think it was, Hooper. I speak mandarin and some Xiang. I can work my way through some of the others. This isn’t the first time I’ve done this. But I’ll bet it’s the first time you have.”

  Sonia cringed. Why did Charlie have to be such an arrogant jerk? But he was right, he knew what he was doing; yet Dean had every reason in the book to mistrust him.

  “You follow my orders, Cammarata, or I’ll have you taken out of here on a stretcher.”

  Brian said, “Agent Lawson, you’re with me. Agent Clinch, you’re with Knight and Sheffield.”

  As they turned to leave, Sonia touched Dean’s arm. “Be careful,” she mouthed.

  He gave her a wink and a nod, then disappeared into the mine.

  * * *

  They’d parked in a clearing on the backside of the mine and Ignacio turned off the engine. They’d taken the dirt road, forced to tread slowly over rocks and potholes even in the four-wheel-drive SUV. If they hadn’t been forced into that awful cabin, they wouldn’t have had to cross the virtually inaccessible Rio Diablo land.

  Noel listened a beat, then swore. Helicopters!

  “They’re fucking early. I should have known. If they try to steal my merchandise, they’ll be sorry.”

  He checked his guns, his knife—“Where’s my knife?”

  “I don’t know, boss,” Ignacio said.

  “Right. I know.” He’d had to kill Sun Ling and forgot to pull it out of his back. He’d get it on his way out of the country. He liked that knife, it was his favorite.

  “Let’s go. If they spring the mousetrap, at least I have half their money in the bank. But I want the rest. We’re going to have to lay low for a while.” He looked around. “Where are Don and Simon? You did tell them about the change.” He reached for his gun.

  “Yes, boss. I told them. They’ll be here at midnight.”

  “It’s nearly midnight. They’d better be on time.”

  Trace Anderson drove up the mountain with lights flashing and no siren, half a dozen deputies following. He urged the driver to go as fast as possible. They slowed a fraction to round a ninety-degree turn and saw taillights in the distance. He didn’t like the look of the black truck in front of them.

  “Catch up with them,” he told the driver.

  As they approached, the truck lurched forward as the driver pushed on the gas.

  “It’s a suicide run to go up this mountain at that speed,” the deputy told Trace.

  “Just keep up as best you can without driving off the edge.”

  “O-kay.” The deputy pressed down on the accelerator again, then radioed in the license on the fleeing vehicle.

  Trace sent Sonia a text message.

  Suspicious black full-size truck plates 5EET608 refuses to pull over. In pursuit. Stand by.

  Dean shined his light around the mine. Sheffield had provided them with hardhats and lights and Dean turned his on. The others followed suit. Cammarata approached the elevator cautiously.

  “You know how to work that thing?” Dean asked.

  “Yeah, but I want to check it out. Something feels … off.”

  “What?”

  “No guards for one. You don’t leave your prized possessions in the open.”

  Lawson said, “I hardly call this the open.”

  Dean agreed, but this was still an area he wasn’t an expert in. He’d worked the field enough, but in white-collar crimes it was pretty cut-and-dried. Some resisted arrest and Dean dealt with each situation as it arose. This mine reminded him of his military tour, and that was a long time ago.

  He didn’t want to rely on Charlie Cammarata, but right now he didn’t have much choice.

  While Cammarata inspected the elevator, Dean shined his light around the entrance. There were several dark holes cut into the mountainside. One had a bright neon X painted on the side. Underneath was written: 200+ ft drop.

  The other tunnels didn’t have marks on them, but Dean wasn’t about to test them. He just wanted to go down, get the women—if they were, in fact, here—and leave. They’d stake out the place for a couple days, hoping Marchand would show up.

  “God-fucking-dammit!” Cammarata exclaimed.

  �
��What?”

  “It’s rigged.”

  “Meaning?”

  “The bastard has another way in. This is a false bottom. If we step in it and start moving, the bottom would give way and wham! We smack down a hundred feet below. The actual elevator must be down in the room.”

  “How do we get it up?”

  “Find the other way down.”

  “Sheffield didn’t say anything about another way.”

  “There’s always another way.”

  “We need to ask him.”

  “We have the blueprints. We’re wasting time!”

  “We’re being smart,” Dean said. “No rash moves. I’m not jeopardizing my team until I’m confident it’s as safe as possible.”

  Cammarata glared at him. “I’ve worked in mines before. Undercover. There’s another way down.” He held out his hand and motioned toward the blueprints that Dean had folded and put inside his flak jacket.

  If he was going to trust Cammarata about the elevator trap, then he would have to trust that he knew what he was doing in the mine. Dean handed him the blueprints.

  Cammarata spread it out between them. He put his finger on the elevator, turned the map to face the same direction they were facing, and traced a line to one of the tunnels. He looked up.

  Dean followed his gaze.

  It was the tunnel with the two-hundred-foot drop.

  “That’s a red herring,” Cammarata said.

  “You’re not going down there.”

  “Yes I am.”

  “No.”

  “It’s the only way. Look, the inspectors haven’t been out in years. These blueprints don’t have that marking. I’ll bet Christopoulis or Marchand himself painted it.”

  “No,” Dean said. “I can’t risk my men on a hunch.”

  “I’m not your man.”

  Cammarata started for the tunnel.

  Dean grabbed him and pushed him hard against the rock wall. Dirt crumbled onto their heads. “This is why you lost your job. You put people in jeopardy.”

  Cammarata attempted to punch Dean. Dean countered, grabbed his fist, and spun him around, holding his arm high behind his back in a deadlock. He growled, “Don’t try it.”

  “You’re in love with her,” Cammarata spat.

  “Don’t talk about her. Don’t even think about her.”

  “The elevator is in the room. The only way to get it up here is from the room. The crank up here is booby-trapped. Therefore, the staircase is safe. I’m willing to risk my life. I’m not asking you to risk yours. I go down, verify the women are there, and bring the elevator up, thereby disabling the trap.”

  “Why not bring the women up the staircase?” One of the SWAT guys said.

  “We may be able to, but we don’t know what condition they’re in until we get down there,” Dean said.

  Cammarata nodded. “They’ve been through hell, Hooper. Let me do this.”

  Dean let go of his arm. “I’ll go with you.”

  “It’s not necessary—”

  Dean interrupted. “The rule is, no one goes alone. Including a bastard like you.”

  Dean told the others, “Be alert.” He turned to Cammarata. “Lead the way.”

  Without hesitating, he turned and started down the marked path.

  Dean followed.

  CHAPTER

  THIRTY-THREE

  “Did you hear that?” Sonia whispered to Agent Clinch.

  It had been only ten minutes since Dean and the others had descended the mine, but each minute felt like an hour, and Sonia caught herself beginning to pace a half dozen times.

  “You mean your feet crunching the dry pine needles?”

  She froze. Listened. Nothing.

  Sheffield stood right next to her among the trees near the entrance of the mine. “What did you hear?” he whispered in her ear.

  “A car door shut.”

  “It was from the mine. The elevator.”

  Maybe, but Sonia was poised. Every hair on her skin rose, and she sensed someone else in the woods.

  “Shh.” She closed her eyes and listened.

  First, her own breathing. She internalized the sound, put it aside. Then Clinch’s slow, steady, calm breaths. Dr. Sheffield’s faster intakes, sounding a bit winded. Or scared.

  Then the far distant sound of helicopter blades slowing down.

  A hoot of an owl. An answer in return.

  The scurrying of a rodent in the leaves.

  She internalized all the sounds and focused her mind and senses on one: listening.

  “Two people are approaching from the east,” she whispered.

  Clinch put his ear to the ground. “It’s from the west. Callahan and the others.”

  She shook her head, removed her gun from its holster, and flicked off the safety. She put her fingers to her lips. “They’re coming from the east, and it’s not Callahan. Trust me.”

  Clinch was skeptical, but unholstered his gun as well.

  “Slow down, Cammarata.”

  “It’s Charlie.”

  Dean had no intention of being friends with Cammarata. They continued slowly another twenty or so feet down the mine in complete silence. The staircase had been cut out of the earth, with wood planks laid loosely, so old they cracked and splintered under their weight. As they descended, the air cooled and the hard-packed earthen walls seemed damp to the touch. The sound of distant running water echoed through the shaft, which was disconcerting considering they were at least fifty feet below the surface.

  “You’re taking care of her, right?” Cammarata asked.

  He wasn’t going to talk about Sonia with this man.

  “I was never good enough for her,” Cammarata continued.

  “Where are you going with this?”

  “Just making small talk.”

  “Bullshit.” Dean refused to be sucked into whatever game he was playing.

  “I’ve always loved her, you know.”

  Dean’s jaw clenched. “You’re treading on thin ice.”

  “I want her to be happy.” The light bobbing from atop their hard hats cast shadows all around, showing darker tunnels leading off this main staircase. They turned again, down, and one tunnel to the left was marked with an orange neon X. Inside, Dean saw a large mound of earth sealing part of the opening.

  Dean remembered a mission to rescue a trapped caravan in Kuwait. They’d occupied an abandoned bunker while fending off the enemy. When he and his unit went in, all they found were the dead.

  “Hooper?”

  “Shut up, Charlie.” He was getting on Dean’s last nerve. If he thought “I’m sorry” would fix everything, he was an idiot.

  “Tell her I was wrong.”

  “She knows that.”

  “She doesn’t know I know it.”

  “Sonia’s moved on. Leave her alone.”

  “I want her forgiveness.” Charlie’s words were barely audible.

  Dean paused in his step, wiped the sweat from his forehead.

  “She asked me to drop the charges against you. Said your word meant something. She also insisted that even though you fuck up often, your instincts are good and we needed your help. But how can you expect her to forgive what you did to her?”

  They descended ten more steps. Slowly, methodically, testing each landing.

  Dean said, “I think you’re in this because you care about the victims. I think you’ll do anything to save the helpless. Including sacrificing your partner, your friends, the people who trust you. You justify it because they’re trained, they know what to do or who to call. So you feel comfortable leaving them to fend for themselves because if they fail, it’s not your fault. Except you lied to Sonia.”

  “I never lied to her.”

  “What the fuck do you call it, Cammarata? She didn’t agree to be sold to a pervert. She didn’t agree to be on her own in that room. She thought you were there.”

  “I never told her that.”

  It was all Dean could do not to push
him down the rest of the stairs.

  “Lies by omission are still lies. She had every reason to believe you were her backup.”

  Silence.

  “I know.”

  Dean barely heard him.

  Cammarata continued. “I haven’t slept through the night since I found out Sonia nearly died.”

  “You lied to your superiors.”

  “Only after I knew she was okay.”

  “You wanted her to look like an idiot, a failure, and you to look like a hero. Screw that. You’re a prick, you’ll always be a prick. I don’t like you. I don’t want to get to know you or listen to your apologies or excuses. Sonia is who she is in spite of your influence. When this is over, never contact her again. If you do, I’ll arrest you.”

  “For what?” he chortled.

  “I’m sure you’ve committed plenty of crimes that have no statute of limitations.”

  Dean paused. Scrape. “Did you hear that?”

  “Rats?”

  “Listen.”

  Scrape, scrape.

  A female voice. Dean didn’t understand the faint plea. An overwhelming sense of relief washed over him. They’d found the girls.

  Charlie said, “It’s Chinese. Xiang. I think she said, ‘Ming is dying. Help Ming.’”

  “Let’s go.”

  Sonia saw the men emerge from the east, at first two shadows in the filtered moonlight.

  They grew distinct. One tall and dark. The other shorter, five ten, lighter hair. Pale.

  Sergio Martin. Pierre Devereaux. Noel Marchand. She wondered if any were his real name.

  She swallowed thickly, put her finger up for Sheffield and Clinch to remain quiet. She motioned for Clinch to silently alert Callahan and his team to hurry. She sank down behind a tree and watched.

  The two killers paused on the edge of the woods, the trees obscuring them. Were they listening? Watching?

  Sonia never thought she’d see her father again. She’d never wanted to. She hated everything about him, about her childhood and the lies. But he’d still raised her. She’d followed him from village to village. Why did he play the role of a missionary? Of someone who helps others? Was that all a lie, too? A front?

  A gasp caught in her throat as she realized they’d never returned to a village. Why? Because he’d committed atrocities? How many girls had he sold without her knowing?