by Nancy Allan
She savored the reprieve from Eickher. With every step down the trail Eickher sunk deeper into madness. The scientist had become an evil, terrifying force. But where was he now? Had he fallen into the sea when the ledge collapsed?
“Where’s that man, Mommy?”
Amy peered out. To her horror, she saw him a few feet below her. Cold black eyes bored into her. “You’re dead, bitch.” he screamed. “You set me up for this. You’re going to pay!”
Amy jumped back, her heart pounding. The moment had come. If Eickher made it into the cave, he’d kill them. He had to be stopped. Amy looked around. No loose rocks, nothing to use as a weapon. The thought of touching him with her bare hands was deplorable. There had to be another way.
CHAPTER 60
A sinister rage burned in Eickher. He recognized it and tried to curb it. He knew from experience that when these black episodes occurred, he lost rationality and did things that subverted his best interests. He tried to calm down, but the ravaging fire that burned inside him was flaring out of control. He could barely think now. The heat was searing his brain, like it always did. He panted, spittle running from his mouth.
He would kill that bitch. And the kid. He could barely wait. He could feel her neck in his bare hands already! Yes! The excitement of the kill coursed through his veins, energizing him. His muscles pumped, his heart raced.
The wall he was climbing crumbled as he inched his way up. With a burst of energy, he scaled the rock face, his bird-like eyes on the entrance above him.
She was in there. Suddenly, she appeared above him. “You’re dead, bitch.” he screamed. “You set me up for this. You’re going to pay!”
CHAPTER 61
Amy moved Jamie deep inside the cave. “Stay right here, Jamie. Don’t move, okay?”
The boy nodded.
Amy scrambled back to the entrance. Eickher was coming for them. His madness had overtaken him. Amy knew he was going to kill both of them. There wasn’t much time. He’d reach the cave entrance any second.
She reached back into her pocket and pulled out the insulin syringe that Alesha had given her back at The Cliff House. Holding it up, she pulled back on the plunger sucking air into the syringe, the way Alesha had instructed. Air bubbles mixed with Humalog and injected directly into the carotid artery would finish him instantly. Amy prepared herself, and then peeked out of the cave to see where he was. It was a huge mistake.
He was hanging off the vertical wall right under the entrance, his head almost level with the floor. With reptilian speed, his arm slithered up. His icy hand grabbed her neck in a death grip. “Ha! I’ve got you now, Bitch. Say goodbye to your boy.” Still outside the cave, he leapt upward, yanking her down to the rocky floor of the entrance, his grip on her enabling him to scramble up a little higher. He squeezed her windpipe with his skeletal fingers.
Amy’s entire body flew into overdrive. Using her left hand, she pried at his fingers, trying to free them. They were like steel around her neck. She couldn’t breathe! Her windpipe was collapsing. Her vision grew blurry. He was clinging to her, his face contorted, ugly, his black eyes bloodshot and evil, his breath vile.
Her hand tightened on the syringe and with one last effort, she focused on his pulsing carotid artery. Do it!
CHAPTER 62
Eickher squeezed hard, her windpipe fragile in his grasp. “You whore! You’ve destroyed everything!” he screamed. “Everything! My life’s work is incomplete because of you!” He wanted her to suffer, to gasp, to beg, and to writhe in pain. He wanted her to pay for desecrating his plan, for obliterating everything he’d worked a lifetime for. He wanted to watch her grovel in agony, convulse, and then die with the knowledge that her life was ending very slowly.
Eickher felt himself slipping down the rock bluff and grabbed onto the lip at the cave entrance with his other hand. He tried to pull himself back up. His shoes kicked and scratched at the rocks, looking for a purchase, but pieces of the wall crumbled with each impact. A huge section gave way beneath him and he slid down, dragging Amy halfway out of the entrance.
Suddenly, a hypodermic needle flashed by him. He jerked backward to avoid it. At the same instant, the ledge broke away. He was falling!
“No-o-o-o-!” His scream pierced the air. Then—an abrupt silence.
CHAPTER 63
The earsplitting scream echoed through the cave, bouncing off the rock.
As if in slow motion, Eickher fell, his arms reaching for Amy, his eyes riveted on hers, his scream piercing in her eardrumss. His feet cut right through the outside of the massive whirlpool and he disappeared into the angry swirling ocean.
A moment later, he burst back up through the surface. Fighting to stay afloat, he was washed around the circumference of the giant whirlpool, his arms flailing as he fought against the deadly suction. Then, it caught him and he was sucked into the dark green vortex.
He was gone.
A moment later, as a final coup de grace, an enormous wave broke over the protective horseshoe of rocks, obliterating the whirlpool, and smashing into the rock bluff, sending spray right up into the cave.
Amy rolled back inside, her eyes squeezed shut, unaware of the tears streaming down her face. Her world went dark, her heart cried out, and her soul ached. The cave echoed only the sounds of the sea and water dripping all around her. His was the face of a madman, contorted and ugly, and it was overpowering in her mind.
“Mommy, are you asleep?”
The clear, sweet voice penetrated her pain. She was on her back at the cave entrance. Her throat and neck ached. She couldn’t swallow and it hurt to breathe. It took her a few minutes to sit upright. “Mommy’s awake,” Amy croaked.
With trepidation, she leaned over glanced out of the entrance.
Eickher was gone.
From the cave, there was no way back to the trail. The outcropping she had traversed had fallen into the sea. The wall that Eickher scaled was still crumbling. In fact, a huge section was missing beneath her, leaving a large hollow below the cave entrance. From where they were, even Dallas wouldn’t be able to help them.
The tide was rising quickly. Without the protective horseshoe of rocks, one powerful wave after another rolled in and crashed against the bluff. Soon the ocean would come roaring into the cave.
Amy turned away. Jamie was exactly where she left him. She went to him, pulling him from the recess where she had placed him, and hugged him tight. Never, had it felt so good to hold her child. That wonderful, special warmth flooded through her. She felt a kiss land on her cheek.
“Love you, Jamie. I love you so much,” she whispered hoarsely.
They huddled together for a few minutes while Amy collected herself. She had to find a way out of the cave. Jamie was shivering with cold. She opened his wet jacket and her own, and pulled him tight to her chest, warming him.
Looking around, she saw a pinnacle of light near the very back recess of the cave. Maybe there was another way out. When Jamie stopped shivering, she zipped him up, took his hand, and half crawled toward the back wall. With each step, the ceiling grew lower, forcing her down. Her pulse quickened. Sweat broke out on her forehead. Small spaces. She hated them and glanced back at the opening, trying to calm herself.
Jamie shivered next to her. His clothing was soaked. Being so little, his body heat dispersed quickly and he’d been wet too long. They had to find a way out. Amy crawled forward until her head hit something hard. She was at the end of the cave, but light was filtering from a tunnel that curved off to her right.
A tunnel? Narrow, constricted, dark—
She’d never be able to go in a tunnel.
CHAPTER 64
Dallas wrapped the rope around Alesha and tossed the end to Larson, who stood waiting on the other side of the gap. “Okay,” he instructed her, “take a run at it and head on over to Deputy Larson. He’ll catch you on the other side.”
This time Alesha made the jump with no problem. When she landed, she turned around and gave Dall
as a small proud smile. “Go now, Sheriff,” she called to him, “and thank you.”
Larson undid the line, coiled it, and tossed it back to Dallas. “How do you want to handle this, Sheriff?”
Dallas told him, “Winds down. Chopper’s on its way. SAR is on the north trail. I’m going to keep going.” Dallas looped the rope over his shoulder. “Take Alesha back.”
Alesha called back, “Please hurry, Sheriff. Amy needs you. She’s in desperate trouble.”
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The narrow tunnel was barely big enough for both of them. Amy couldn’t get enough air. They were in a dark, damp, constricted space. Her penlight battery had died long ago. Icy sweat trickled into her eyes and down her back. Her heart raced. She felt trapped. Panic descended on her. The ceiling was too low… the space too small. She wanted out so badly, it was all she could do not to slide back out of the tunnel.
“Mommy? I’m cold.”
His small shivering body snapped her away from the terror. She had to get Jamie out of there. She had to keep going. She forced herself to concentrate on the light ahead and inched along.
Then, she inhaled fresh air and wiggled forward. The tunnel grew brighter. She moved forward another foot. And another. She bumped into a wall and found herself looking straight up into a tube. The gray overcast sky was visible high above her. She squeezed upright into the pipe and wiggled to a standing position, pulling Jamie up with her. The tube, about twice her height, was sheer and damp with no handholds.
How would they ever get to the top?
CHAPTER 66
Dallas stood by the waterfall, a sense of devastation overtaking him. The trail had collapsed into the sea. Obviously, it had just happened. Had Amy and Jamie tried to make it to the cave? Had the trail fallen out from under them? Did they fall to their deaths? Or did they make it to the entrance? Where the hell were they?
“Amy! Amy, are you in the cave? Amy…” Dallas called out over and over, but no answer.
With the tide rising and the giant waves pounding against the bluff, there was no way of reaching the entrance. He examined the rocks that followed the waterfall up the bluff. If he was careful, he could climb up the side. He checked the knot at the end of the rope and adjusted the loop, and then using it like a lasso, he tossed it up high, over a boulder, but the loop slipped off. Dallas tried again. This time the rope landed behind a crack in the boulder. When Dallas pulled the rope taut, it slipped into the crack and caught. He started up.
The climb was slippery, slimy, wet, and steep. On the positive side, the rain had stopped. As he worked his way to the top, he thought about Amy. It was hard to think of anyone or anything else these days. She had captured his heart. The past few hours had been hell. He was afraid for her and Jamie’s lives. Somehow, no matter what it took, he had to find them.
When he reached the top of the waterfall, he re-coiled the rope and headed north through the woods. A while later, he found himself onto the north trail. The largest cave was ahead of him, but where was the small one? He climbed to the top of the big cave and stood, looking back toward the waterfall. From up top it was difficult to determine where one cave began and another ended.
Suddenly, a huge plume of spray blew from a nearby hole.
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The tide rose steadily. Coupled with powerful ocean surges, waves reached far beyond their high tide lines in storm season. Amy knew this. Suddenly, it happened. With a roar, the next wave surged into the cave, through the tunnel, right past them, and up the tube.
Oh no! It’s a blowhole! We’re in a blowhole. The Devil’s Pipe!
They had to get out, and fast. Amy had no idea how much higher the tide would rise. She did know that with every inch of rise, the force would increase, making it difficult to keep hold of Jamie. In the end, the extreme force would either blow them out of the pipe or kill them. Dallas, where are you? Help us. Please, please help us.
Then it came again! The roar. White water rushed toward them sending icy seawater swirling around them. It struck with tremendous force. She held Jamie with every ounce of strength she possessed, but she underestimated the sheer power of the surging ocean combined with the trapped air.
The water tore past her, nearly tearing her clothes off her body. Then the back suction pulled at her as the water receded.
Amy knew what she had to do. The only way out of the pipe is to go with the flow, she thought. We can’t stay here any longer. It had been years since Amy had been to The Devil’s Pipe, but she did recall sloping, mossy ground surrounding it.
She lifted Jamie up and explained what she was about to do. “Okay, Jamie, we’re going to use the water to get out of this pipe. I’m going to lift you up as high as I can. Are you ready?”
He nodded, “I’m ready, Mommy. But I’m so cold.”
“I know, but when we get out of here, I’ll warm you up,” she promised. She heard the roar and hoisted him high over her head. “The water’s going to lift you out of the tunnel. When you get out, find a safe place nearby, and wait for Mommy. Okay?”
“Yes…”
She never heard the rest. The roar filled the pipe and a split second later the ocean blew past her. It tore at her skin, pushed water up her nose and into her ears, mouth, and eyes. Suddenly, Jamie was ripped from her grasp. With a gigantic whoosh, he was sent skyrocketing up the pipe!
Moments later, the surge stopped, leaving Amy choking on seawater. Then came the suction. It pulled at her feet, her legs, and her body. “Jamie!” she called out, wondering if he was okay. No response. She had to go next and find him.
CHAPTER 68
Dallas stared at the geyser of water spewing from the pipe. A blowhole. The Devil’s Pipe. Seawater spewed from the hole, high into the air. When it subsided Dallas climbed toward it. There would be another plume of seawater soon, and it would continue to grow higher as the tide came in.
Suddenly, he heard a small voice cry out. A geyser of water surged from the pipe, and to his shock, a small boy flew into the air. “Jamie!” Dallas rushed to catch the child before he hit the ground. With his feet sliding out from under him on the slippery moss, he dove for the boy and landed on his good knee, the wet child dangling from his arm.
Jamie spit and coughed water, then choked, “Mommy’s down there,” and pointed to the hole.
Dallas sat Jamie on a knoll. “I’ll get Mommy,” he told the boy. “Stay right here. Understand?”
Jamie nodded and sneezed and then stuffed his little hands into his wet pockets.
CHAPTER 69
A gigantic roar and a huge torrent of water ripped through the tunnel toward Amy. The wait was terrifying. The seconds ticked by. Will it take me all the way out of the pipe? What happens if it doesn’t lift me high enough? Would I fall back down? How will I stop that from happening? She raised her arms over her head and held her breath. The roar of water was deafening. The air pressure changed. It was almost there!
It hit hard and fast. The huge geyser of saltwater and trapped air roared into the pipe. Amy was propelled upward. Her outstretched arms collided with the walls. Her cheekbone struck hard against the rock, but she continued flying toward the open vent.
Suddenly, the lift diminished, leaving her about three feet from the top. She wedged her feet and legs hard against the walls of the pipe and pushed against each side of the pipe to keep herself from sliding back down. The next surge should lift her out. She didn’t have long to wait. There was another roar of water surging toward her. The seawater and trapped air joined forces once more and she literally flew out of the pipe. Her eyes, ears, and nose were full of saltwater. She could see nothing. But suddenly, just before she hit the ground, someone grabbed her. Then she heard his voice. “It’s okay, I’ve got you!”
They slid down onto the mossy knoll and Dallas pulled her into his arms. “Are you all right, Amy? Are you hurt?”
Coughing and sneezing, she looked up at Dallas. There were huge dark shadows under her eyes and her skin had a bluish t
inge. She was soaking wet, her hand and face were badly scraped, but she had a huge smile. Dallas lifted her up and carried her over to where Jamie sat.
Amy slid her arms around Dallas’s neck and rested her head on his shoulder. Gently, he put her down beside her son. She kissed Jamie, and then reached up and put both hands on Dallas’s cheeks, her eyes steady on his. “Dallas,” she whispered, kissing him, “I’m so glad you’re here.”
He pushed a strand of wet hair from her eyes. “I was so worried,” he said. “It took a day from hell for me to figure out just how much you mean to me.”
Then, the deep thump of rotors caught his attention. The chopper. At last.
CHAPTER 70
Dallas stood on the balcony of The Cliff House, hands on his hips, deep in thought, looking at the trail below. He was steaming mad. The search team had gone back and forth along the trail and had scoured the surrounding property looking for clues to Alesha’s disappearance. No one in the house had seen her. The Marine Patrol was checking the coastline. He unclipped his radio. “Any sign of her?”
“Nothing yet, Sheriff.”
“I can’t understand how you could have let her go! Who dropped the ball? What the hell happened?”
“Larson handed her off to Matson. That’s all I know, Sheriff. We haven’t got a thing to go on.”