Heartbreaker

by Karen Robards

  “Yahweh said that?” Jess asked carefully. Glancing from Louis to Jess, Lynn felt a stirring of fear. Jess believed him. Lynn could tell.

  “I must find some way to reach the Lamb, to tell him what Yahweh has revealed to me.”

  “What time is it?” Lynn asked, as realization started to hit.

  Louis glanced at the watch on his wrist. “I have two forty-seven.”

  If Louis was telling the truth and horrific bombs really were dispersed about the country and scheduled to go off on Monday, June 23, at nine A.M., they were running low on time. This was Sunday, June 22. They had just a little more than eighteen hours until half the country was blown into the stratosphere, and the other half was afflicted with a plague of deadly toxins.

  Eighteen hours until the population of the United States was all but wiped off the map.

  And the Red Hordes descended.

  The thought was so ridiculous that Lynn had trouble taking it seriously.

  Until she looked at Louis’s face. And Jess’s. They were taking it seriously. Both of them.

  If Jess believed Louis there was a very strong possibility that Louis was telling the truth.

  Unbelievable as it seemed, a fanatical religious cult might really have come up with the means to end the world.

  At least, the world as they knew it.

  I have to get to Rory! It was Lynn’s first panicked thought as the terrible implications sank in.

  But how? She and Jess were trapped—trapped in a flooded, abandoned mine with this apocalyptic knowledge that no other sane person shared—and they couldn’t do a thing to alert anyone, much less the authorities, to the dreadful danger.

  They were as helpless as bees in a jar.

  In eighteen hours she and Jess were going to die. Rory was going to die. Her mother was going to die, and Jess’s daughters, and all the girls on the camping trip. Owen would die. Pat Greer would die. Her house would become so much cosmic dust. Chicago would become so much cosmic dust. Half the freaking United States would become so much cosmic dust.

  And Lynn couldn’t think of any way to stop it from happening.

  Except prayer. She tried that, feverishly.

  “Where is the Lamb now?” Jess asked Louis. Focusing on him to quell her rising panic, Lynn was impressed with his calm. He was grim but in control. There was not a trace of panic about the man.

  “At the compound. Near Castle Rock, South Dakota, in the headquarters we built in the geographical center of the country. The Lamb chose the location for just that reason. The True Disciples should be gathering there with him to await the end.”

  “Very loyal of them.” Jess’s voice was dry. Lynn marveled at his coolness. She didn’t feel cool. She felt sick. And very, very scared.

  “They want to sit with the Lamb at Yahweh’s right hand. They will go to Yahweh with joy, singing hymns of praise. But the time is not right. Yahweh does not want us yet. He told me so, and I must tell the Lamb. But how?” Louis glanced around fretfully. He looked as convinced of their captivity as Lynn was.

  “Good question.” Jess turned to Lynn. Over Jess’s shoulder, Lynn kept a careful watch on Louis. Who knew what the lunatic might try? The whole cockeyed story might be nothing more than a trick to get them off guard.

  Lynn wished she could make herself believe that. But instead of attacking Jess as soon as his back was turned, Louis’s eyes closed once more, and he folded his hands as though he were praying.

  How could a man capable of helping to kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people pray?

  “Lynn, listen.”

  Jess’s murmur focused Lynn’s attention on him. Well, most of it. Out of the corner of her eye she still kept tabs on Louis. She trusted him about as much as she would have a coiled rattlesnake.

  “If Louis is telling the truth—and I have a real bad feeling that says he might be—we can’t just wait here and let it happen. We’ve got to try to stop it.”

  “I agree.” Lynn was all for stopping mass murder whenever possible. Especially when she, Jess, and her daughter were slated to be three of the victims. But the scope of the undertaking required to even begin to halt this was mind-boggling. “Unfortunately, I think we have a little problem: Until the water goes down we’re trapped in here.”

  “I’m going to try to swim out. See how the water ends about eight feet below us? I’m betting that it’s at that same level everywhere in the mine. If I can find the passage we came in through, I should be able to swim along it until I reach the surface of the water, then walk on out.”

  Lynn considered that for a moment. “What if the passage is blocked?”

  She remembered the barrage of falling rock when the ceiling and floor had collapsed. The passage could have collapsed, too, in the violent shaking that followed. In fact, it probably had.

  “Then I swim back, and we think of something else. Like trying to widen this tunnel behind us.”

  “It’s solid rock,” Lynn objected. It would take a jackhammer at the very least to widen that passage.

  “That’s why I want to try to swim out first.”

  “It’s dangerous.” Lynn glanced down at the shiny black lake below them, realizing as she did so just how true her words were. The man-carved walls rising on all sides to the cavern roof were smooth, slippery with moisture, and vertical. Once he was off the ledge it would be nearly impossible for Jess to get back up. Neither she nor Louis, or even the two of them together, would have the strength to pull him up or to anchor any kind of lifeline while Jess climbed it. Besides, with his injury she doubted that Jess could climb anything. Certainly he would not be able to scale the sheer rock wall the way he had the face of the cliff.

  Once he was in the water the die would be cast. There could be no turning back. He either made it out or drowned.

  She pointed this out.

  “Lynn, sweetheart, there’s no choice. I can’t just sit here twiddling my thumbs while Reverend Bob does his best to blast us and the whole country with us to kingdom come.”

  Sweetheart. Jess used the endearment as if it were the most natural thing in the world for him to call her. If any other man had said it Lynn would have taken offense.” But coming from Jess—Lynn was surprised by how very much she liked having him call her that.

  She wanted to be his sweetheart.

  Meeting his gaze, Lynn felt a warm glow of pure happiness start in the center of her chest and spread tingling along her nerve endings. It was then that the realization hit: If he was life candy, then she was going to want some every day.

  The future suddenly teemed with wonderful, exciting possibilities to be explored.

  All because, she thought misty-eyed, she had found Jess.

  Just in time to be blown into sub-atomic particles with him in the next day’s nuclear holocaust.

  “No way,” Lynn said aloud.

  “What?” Jess frowned at her apropos-of-nothing vehemence.

  “We’ve got to get out of here,” she said with determination, glancing at the surface of the water below. Maybe they could swim out. Before—once the bad guys were dead—they had no immediate incentive to try to escape. In fact, she had secretly welcomed the time alone with Jess.

  But now all that she held dear was on the line. And life was suddenly too precious to lose.

  “We?” He looked at her with lifted brows.

  “You don’t think you’re leaving me behind, do you? If you’re swimming out I’m swimming out.”

  “It’s dangerous,” he objected, just as she had.

  “I’m going,” Lynn said, her gaze meeting his. For a moment they measured strength of wills.

  Then Jess shook his head.

  “You did say you could swim, right?” It was capitulation, and they both knew it.

  “Just get in the water, Romeo. I’ll be right behind you.”

  “Romeo, huh?” Jess grinned, leaned over, and kissed her, hard and quick. Lynn’s toes curled at the contact. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”


  “Take it any way you like. But get in the water.”

  Jess glanced at Louis, his face hardening. “Okay, let’s go.”

  “Me?” Louis looked over the side and shuddered. “I can’t get back in that water. I can’t!”

  “I thought you wanted to carry a message to the Lamb.” On his knees, Jess moved inexorably toward Louis.

  “There must be some other way—” Louis’s objection ended in a shriek as Jess shoved him off the ledge. Arms flailing, he hit with a loud splash. Jess glanced at Lynn.

  “Saves arguing,” he said with a lopsided grin.

  “We could have just left him here.”

  “We may need him. He may know something we need to know. And I don’t want to leave you alone on the ledge with him.” Sinking back on his haunches, he glanced down at the floundering Louis and then focused a suddenly serious look on Lynn. “That water’s cold. And the passage may be blocked. The smart thing for you to do would be to wait here and see if I make it through. If I do, I’ll come back for you.”

  Lynn shook her head. “I’d go out of my mind worrying, wondering if you got through or if you got trapped under there and drowned. If you didn’t come back within a reasonable time, I’d end up coming after you anyway. Besides, think how much time we’d waste if you made it and then had to come back for me. Time is kind of a consideration here, remember?”

  Jess’s lips tightened. He looked at her with a frown. “I think you ought to stay here.”

  “Haven’t we already had this argument?”

  “Lynn, listen. I—”

  Before he could finish his objection she doused the Bic and tucked it deep inside her bra for safekeeping. Holding her nose, she swung her legs over the side and pushed off.

  “Lynn!” Jess’s voice echoed in her ears as she fell feetfirst into the water.

  It was like plunging into an ice-water-filled sensory-deprivation chamber. The intense cold was shocking. The blackness was impenetrable. Lynn could neither see nor hear nor breathe. It was so dark that for a moment she could not be certain which way was up. Feet kicking, arms beating the water, she fought for the surface.

  She came up, gasping. Never in her life had she felt water so cold. Hypothermia suddenly went from being an abstract concept to a real possibility.

  At least, she thought with black humor, if the passage was blocked they would die fast.

  Just another of the thousand and one ways she had found to possibly meet her Maker on this happy camping trip!

  Was she having fun yet? Lynn gave a mental snort at the question. Next time around—if there ever was a next time—she was opting for that cruise.

  “Lynn, swim away from the side. I’m coming in,” Jess called. Lynn obeyed, wondering without much real concern if Louis would follow suit. Splashing sounds told her that he had. A much louder splash announced when Jess hit the water.

  She waited, treading water, feeling like a cork bobbing on the surface of a dark, deep, arctic sea. Her movements were rendered clumsy by the cold and the weight of her soaked clothes. Shedding them was an option, she knew—it would certainly make swimming easier—but when and if they ever reached daylight again, she would be down to her underwear.

  Saving the world in a Wonderbra and matching panties was not an option she cared to consider.

  less surfaced with a splutter and called to her.

  “Okay,” he said when she reached him, touching him to signify her presence. “We’re going to swim over to the far wall. Stay close.”

  It was hard in the pitch darkness to determine where the far wall was, but since Jess had just come off the ledge they turned their backs on that and swam. When Lynn’s fingers brushed solid rock she stopped swimming, treading water instead. Jess floated beside her.

  “Louis?” Jess called.

  “I’m here,” Louis answered in a thin voice. He sounded as if he was just a little farther along the wall. “You shouldn’t have pushed me in. Yahweh would have provided a way.”

  “This is the way, so shut up and stay put until I tell you otherwise,” Jess said to him. Then he spoke in a much gentler tone to Lynn. “I want you to hold on to one end of this”—he pushed something that felt like icy wet string into her hand—“while I hold the other end, so I don’t get disoriented in the dark and lose track of where the surface is. I’ll swim down, find the entrance to the passage, and come back to get you.”

  “Where did you get the string?” Lynn asked, mystified. All they had were the clothes on their backs, and not many of them. She had seen no string anywhere.

  “It’s the gauze you wrapped around my shoulder,” he answered. “You must have used a good fifteen feet of it. Hang on to your end.”

  Before she could say anything more, he plunged underwater and was gone. Lynn stared into the darkness, treading water, clutching her end of the gauze for all she was worth.

  Not too far away she could hear Louis breathing, but she spared him scarcely a thought.

  Her whole being was focused on Jess. Please God, she prayed, please help him. Help us all.

  Though her hands, like the rest of her body, had grown numb with cold, she could feel Jess at the other end of the line through the tension on the string. If anything went wrong she would know it.

  The gauze went slack. Before she could panic Jess popped up beside her, drawing in air with a loud gasp.

  “Are you all right?” Lynn reached out, encountered a bare shoulder, and moved closer until she could feel the movements of his feet and hands with hers. Treading water, she faced him, careful to keep close enough to the wall so that she occasionally brushed against it. Without the wall, and Jess, she feared she might grow disoriented enough to panic, lose her bearings—and drown.

  “Fine,” he said. “One good thing about the water being so icy, it works to numb the pain. When I move my arm I can’t feel a thing.”

  “Great,” Lynn said.

  “It is under the circumstances.”

  “Did you find the entrance?” Just having him so near made her feel warmer, Lynn discovered, though the effect had to be purely psychological as he had no body heat to share.

  “Yeah. You ready?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m going to need both arms free, so I’m going to tie the gauze to one of the belt loops on my jeans. Then I’m going to tie it to you. That way we won’t lose each other in the dark.”

  “Okay.”

  Lynn got the sense that he disappeared beneath the surface, and she guessed he was suiting action to words. She felt a tug at her waist and realized that he was tying the gauze around one of her belt loops too.

  “There.”

  He surfaced beside her again and must have shaken his wet head like a soggy dog, because she felt a sudden barrage of droplets. Her arm brushed his as their limbs moved back and forth through the water. It was reassuring to know he was so near.

  The utter blackness combined with the icy-cold water lapping around her shoulders was starting to unnerve her. It was like being in a cold, wet grave.

  “Louis, get over here.”

  Splashing sounds and then breathing close at hand announced that Louis had complied with Jess’s order.

  “You hang on to the end of this piece of gauze. That’ll keep you with us. Drop it, and you’re on your own. Hear?”

  “We’re going to drown,” Louis moaned.

  “You will for sure if you don’t hang on to that gauze,” Jess told him. “We’re going to have to swim through the passage single file. I go first. Lynn, you’re behind me. Louis, you bring up the rear. And Louis”—Jess’s voice hardened—“if you screw us up, or cause any problem at all, I’ll drown you myself. And that’s a promise.”

  Lynn was still absorbing that when she felt Jess’s mouth against her cheek and turned her head to find it. He kissed her, quick and hard. His lips were as wet and as cold as a corpse’s. But the inside of his mouth was warm.

  “See you on the other side,” he whispered in her
ear. Then, louder, “Ready?”

  “Ready,” Lynn answered.

  “Ready, Louis?” Once again his tone was very different.

  “I think attempting to swim out of here is a mistake. We should focus our efforts on regaining the safety of that shelf while we still have the strength to try. I’m already growing weak, and—”

  “You’re welcome to stay behind and try to get back up on the ledge if you want.” Jess sounded as if he shrugged. “You’re not gonna make it, but there’s nothing stopping you from giving it your best shot. We’re outta here.”

  “If we wait, and pray, Yahweh will provide a better way. He has already made it clear that He does not wish me to drown. Doing this is not His will.”

  “Yeah, well, if it makes you feel better just look at it this way: God—or in this case Yahweh—helps those who help themselves,” Jess said. “As my grandmother used to say.”

  “Even the devil can quote scripture,” Louis replied bitterly.

  “Truer words were never spoken,” Jess answered. “Lynn, when I say three we go. Got it?”

  “Got it,” Lynn said.

  “You coming, Louis?”

  “You must join me in asking Yahweh—”

  “I wouldn’t ask your Yahweh the way to the mall. One … two … three!”

  A splash and a tug at her waist told Lynn that Jess was gone. Taking a deep, lung-filling gulp of air, Lynn sent her own prayer winging skyward and went under too, swimming down into the icy dark water, one hand on the gauze that linked her to Jess.

  35

  ELIJAH WAS CRYING AGAIN. Walking along the gravel road that was really not much more than two parallel trails, Theresa tried soothing him by putting her little finger in his mouth so he could suck. He latched on greedily but spit her pinky out almost at once and resumed wailing. She had used that trick too many times in the last few days for him to be fooled by it for long.

  His screaming grated on her nerves. Theresa’s fists clenched then relaxed as she looked down at the golden-haired baby in the makeshift sling. His noise would give them away to anyone within earshot, she knew, but there was nothing she could do about it. Even to save herself, she would not offer him harm again. He was her one precious link with everything and everyone she loved.