Stolen Innocents (The Shadow Series Book 2)

by Kline, Addison

  ***

  DiNolfo had her gun out and aimed at Angie’s head, but she was unable to determine which silhouette belonged to her. The pair was engaged in a violent dance that lingered close to the edge. One would not come out of this fight alive.

  “Get out of my way!” Angie screamed with bared teeth as she tried to claw her way past Tommy.

  “Not a chance. You’re not hurting anyone else!” said Tommy as he slammed Angie hard against the wall of the tunnel.

  “You were supposed to be the fall guy!”

  “I’m nobody’s fall guy! This ends tonight!”

  “You’re damn right!” barked Angie as she took a hunting knife out of her back pocket and jammed it into Tommy’s stomach and twisted vengefully. Tommy wretched with pain as he fell to the ground. Angie spat in Tommy’s face and ran fast as a fox into the heart of the mine. Finally, DiNolfo had her shot and she took it, but missed. Angie wasn’t going anywhere, though. Cole snuck up behind Angie and lifted his gun aiming at Angie’s head just ten feet behind her. DiNolfo saw that someone else was aiming towards the tunnel with a gun in their hand. Cole took an aggressive stance as he pointed his gun at the person who had caused so much heartache and bloodshed.

  He pulled back on the trigger gently, as a bullet flew through the thick, dusty air of the mine. It cut through the dark like a knife through butter and slipped through Angie’s skin, cracking through her skull, until finally it found a warm home in her delusional and disturbed brain. Cole Piedmonte delivered a swift death sentence with just a small twitch of his finger. DiNolfo watched as Angie’s eyes went dead. The ethereal pools of blue were stained black as the life escaped from her eyes. Her chest still rose and fell, though. As Angie O’Mara’s battered body fell to the ground, Jenna approached her and put another bullet in her chest for good measure.

  “Game over,” spat Cole as a cold glare emitted from his eyes.

  Jenna stared at her boyfriend’s son with a surprised expression and deep-seated respect.

  “I didn’t think you had it in ya, kid…” said DiNolfo in shock.

  Cole responded firmly, “No one messes with my family.”

  Despite the tension that still rampaged through the mine, Jenna and Bridgette couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Cole would not feel any semblance of relief until Tristan was out of the mine shaft. The murderer was dead. Now, they had the seemingly impossible task of getting everyone out of the mine safely, including two officers who were trapped under hundreds of pounds of rubble and a young man with a knife wound to the stomach. DiNolfo tore off her shirt and handed it to Bridgette to help control Tommy’s bleeding. She was glad that she remembered to wear a tank top under her uniform shirt.

  “C’mon… Liam and Adam are in trouble…” urged Bridgette as Jenna ran down the tunnel towards the wreck. Bridgette helped Tommy walk to where everyone else was, holding a firm compress over his wound.

  ***

  Frank barreled to the bottom of the mine with the rope in one hand and his chainsaw in the other. He landed in the dirt with a loud thud as he ran to the spot where Cole was standing. He was trying to pry open the hatch to the mine shaft, but he wasn’t having any luck.

  “Watch out kid…” yelled Frank as he revved the chainsaw to life.

  Cole jumped back as Frank pushed the blade of the chainsaw into the wood frame of the hatch.

  Frank shouted into the shaft below, “Tristan! Look out!”

  As the final piece of wood was splintered, the heavy metal door of the mine shaft fell to the floor of the chamber below with a loud bang.

  “Tristan!” Frank and Cole yelled in unison.

  Tristan coughed at the dust that had billowed in the chamber.

  “I’m here!”

  “Are you okay?” Frank asked loudly.

  “In theory!”

  “What?”

  “She killed everyone down here! Get me out!”

  Frank took another length of rope off his shoulder and tossed it down to Tristan. He passed the end of the rope to Cole, and he wrapped it around his hands. Frank grabbed hold of the rope and began to hoist Tristan out of the chamber. As her feet left the ground, the black raven flew out the mine shaft to freedom. After several moments of struggle, Tristan was lifted to the ground. As her feet reached the ground of the main level of the mine, tears flooded from her eyes. She tackled Cole and Frank, holding onto their necks tightly. She honestly didn’t think that she would come out of the chamber alive.

  “Oh, thank God,” said Cole as he buried his face into her hair. The scent of vanilla and jasmine wafted from her hair and skin. The warmth of her embrace felt like home to him. Even down in the murky darkness of the mine, Tristan was his anchor. She squeezed him tightly as her fear left her body within his hold. The moment was sweet but fleeting, because Tristan soon remembered that the rest of their family was in trouble.

  “We have to get to Adam and Liam.”

  ***

  Jack ran to the source of the noise with Cole, Frank and Tristan on his heels. “Jack!” Cole yelled with worry in his voice as he chased after Jack in the dark. Cole couldn’t see him, but he could certainly hear him.

  “Hurry up, I need you!” Jack yelled.

  Cole’s pace quickened at the sound of Jack’s voice. Tristan ran to the wreck where Jack’s demolished SUV was engulfed in flames. Smoke polluted the air and escaped up the passage where the Bone Tree used to stand. The flames were contained; for now.

  Jack, Joe and Cole struggled to move the heavy rock from the entrance to the tunnel in a desperate attempt to rescue Adam and Liam.

  “Careful! One wrong move and this whole this is caving in on us!” warned Cole.

  Joe, Jack and Cole rolled a large piece of rock out of the way as a threatening sound emerged from the rubble. Rocks began to shift precariously towards them. From inside the rubble, the sound of Adam’s voice startled Tristan.

  “Hurry up! We’re going to be crushed!” yelled Adam.

  Dust and debris were beginning to fall into the police cruiser, choking Adam and Liam. The glass wouldn’t hold much longer.

  “Move!” Tristan yelled at her father as the rocks began to roll towards them.

  Tristan climbed the mountain of rubble, careful not to disturb the unsettled rock below. If she wasn’t cautious, the mine could quickly collapse on all of them. Tristan brushed some of the looser rocks to the ground from the rubble. She kept going, removing as much small rock and dirt as she could in a careful, but quick manner. She could not disturb the settlement of the larger rocks until she determined which ones would cause the least damage. It was a puzzle waiting to be solved – With dire consequences if the wrong piece was selected.

  “Uncle Frank. Help Dad, Cole and Joe move this rock,” said Tristan as she pointed to a large piece of concrete that stood in their way. “Be very careful and move quickly.”

  Jenna and Bridgette had just arrived back at the wreck with Tommy.

  Jack looked at Tommy with wide eyes.

  “Tommy!”

  “She stabbed me,” Tommy said weakly with little color left in his face.

  “Is there anything we can do to help?” Jack said to Bridgette.

  “Just hold tight. I’m keeping the bleeding under control.”

  Cole’s hands were beginning to bleed from handling the large rocks, but with Frank’s help, the large rock was much easier to move. Cole wiped his hands on his shorts before anyone could notice. Much to Tristan’s relief, only a small bit of rubble fell from the pile. She continued removing small pieces of rock, dirt and debris from the wreck. She could move much quicker now that much of the larger, more perilous obstacles were out of her way. Finally, she saw it. The bright headlights of her brothers’ police cruiser shining out of the tunnel. There was still a lot of rock to move, but they were making headway.

  “We’re coming for you guys! Just a little longer!” yelled Tristan.

  “Hang in there! We’re all trying to get you out!” Jack sa
id.

  Liam yelled from the passenger seat in an exhausted voice, “Please tell me someone has Angie in handcuffs.”

  Jenna laughed loudly, “O’Mara is taken care of.”

  Liam breathed a sigh of relief.

  “What happened?” Adam demanded to know.

  “Cole shot her in the head, and a shot to the heart courtesy of yours truly,” said Jenna.

  “Cole!” choked Adam in amusement. “You serious?!”

  “Oh, thank God. It’s over,” said Liam with a sigh of relief.

  “Not quite, bud. We still have to get you guys out of there,” said Tristan

  “Are you guys hanging in there okay?” yelled DiNolfo, trying to keep the worry out of her voice.

  “Liam needs to get to the hospital.”

  “I’m fine! Just get us out of here in one piece.”

  “Alright, hang in there, guys…”

  “Hey DiNolfo…” Adam called.

  “Yeah?”

  “Did she confess to Tiffany’s murder?”

  DiNolfo looked to Tristan, who had heard her relentless monologue.

  “She confessed to every single one of the murders. And I found the site of the murders.”

  Adam breathed a sigh of relief as his brother Liam smiled despite his pain.

  “We’ll discuss it all in detail when this is over.”

  “Uh, DiNolfo…” said Liam.

  “Yes?”

  “After this case is wrapped up….”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m going to need a vacation and a raise!”

  “How does a promotion and two weeks off sound?”

  “A promotion?” asked Adam.

  “Yeah. I have no Deputies. If you want the position, it’s yours. You did a hell of a job on this case.”

  “Let’s get out of here first,” said Adam as he casted his brother a worried glance.

  “You got it Deputy Morrow,” DiNolfo joked, trying to lighten the air. There was still a very real threat, but they would be able to more easily tackle the task at hand with a lighter heart.

  Jack leaned in to Jenna and whispered to her, “Isn’t there a test involved in that?”

  Jenna nodded in denial.

  “Nobody wants the job. I have a police force of seventeen and they are the only two I would trust in that position. They are the exact opposite of Amos and Earl. It’s what this town needs.”

  Jack couldn’t agree more.

  ***

  Shane steered his father’s pick-up truck nervously down Mountain Road until they were outside of the Elkhart Police Station. Blake ran into the police station and spewed out everything he knew to the officer that was sitting at the front desk. Before Blake had even exited the building police cruiser E3 was barreling down Mountain Road, towards the entrance of the mines. Sirens filled the warm night air as all available officers were dispatched to the mines to help.

  ***

  Tristan climbed on the hood of the police car as she continued moving rock and debris. Cole and Frank were directly behind her moving larger pieces of rock. Bridgette was on the ground next to Natalie assessing her wounds, which weren’t nearly as bad as her own. She determined that Natalie had some rope burns around her neck and wrists, a bruise on her head, and a nasty scrape on her leg, but as far as severity went, Bridgette, Tommy and Liam certainly took the cake.

  “Sit down, Bridgette!” yelled Jack. “You’ve been shot. You need to sit down and take it easy.”

  Bridgette grumbled, contemplating whether she should take her own bullet out, so that people would stop telling her to sit down. She wasn’t thinking clearly as she pulled up her shirt sleeve.

  “Jenna! Stop her!” yelled Jack as he gawked at his sister with wide eyes.

  “What the hell are you doing?!” asked Jenna as she pulled Bridgette’s hand from her sleeve.

  “I’m a nurse. I know what I’m doing!” Bridgette insisted as the last of the color faded from her face.

  Suddenly, the sounds of approaching sirens filled the mine.

  “That sounds like an ambulance!” Joe exclaimed with hope in his voice.

  “Sergeant DiNolfo?!” yelled a voice from the surface.

  “Down here!”

  “Are there any injured down there?!”

  “Yes. We have a rope. They can be pulled up. There is no other way in!”

  “Bring them to the access point and we’ll get them out!”

  “Bridgette, Tommy and Natalie, let’s go!”

  “I can help!” insisted Bridgette.

  “You already have. You’ve done so much. Now we need you to get that shoulder looked at.”

  “I’m fine!”

  “Bridgette!” Frank yelled from the rubble. “Go with the paramedics!”

  “Let’s go…” Jack said, as he ushered his strong willed sister to the heart of the mine where the paramedics were waiting for her. Tommy was the first to be lifted out of the mine on a stretcher. He was promptly loaded in the back of the ambulance and was en-route to Grier Mountain Medical Center. Natalie followed behind without a single complaint. She wanted nothing more than to put this experience behind her. As Bridgette was being pulled up to the surface, she glanced back at the body that lay on the ground. A small sparrow was pecking at Angie’s skin.

  ***

  “1…2…3…!” said Cole, Jack, Joe and Frank in unison as they began to move a particularly large rock. Dust began to billow, and Tristan’s eyes went wide.

  “Stop!” Tristan screamed as she saw a large slab of cement start to shift loose. “Get out of the way!”

  The slab of cement was sliding from the top of the wreck and was heading right for the spot where Jack and Cole stood. Tristan knocked them out of the way as they watched the slab crash into the black van. The sheer weight of the concrete cut right through the van’s bumper, and knocked it clear off.

  “You need to be very careful!” yelled Tristan as she climbed back up to the top of the wreckage.

  She continued moving smaller rocks and dirt with her bare hands until finally, she saw something that looked familiar. Under the thin layer of dirt, the cracked windshield and the smaller fragments of rock, Liam’s exhausted face peered out in shock.

  ***

  “They’re in there?!” said Officer Rutledge as he looked at the crippled mine in shock.

  “That’s what the kid said!” replied Officer Cruz.

  “The whole entrance has collapsed! We aren’t getting in there…”

  “There has to be another way.”

  “What about…” began Officer Cruz, but he was interrupted by an earth shattering sound.

  It sounded as if the mountain was collapsing through the very earth it stood upon.

  “C’mon! Hurry! I know another way!” shouted Rutledge as he ran back to squad car E3.

  ***

  Cole and Tristan stood on the hood of the car now, removing as much debris as humanly possible. They were so close to freeing Adam and Liam. They couldn’t stop now. There were still rocks on both sides of the car, so Adam couldn’t open his door, but now, thanks to Tristan and Cole, he could push through the windshield.

  “Watch out!” Adam yelled as he prepared to kick the windshield out.

  “Liam! Cover your face!”

  Adam’s size thirteen boot kicked through the windshield, shattering the glass into tiny shards. Cole shielded Tristan from the shower of glass that poured down over them. Adam cleared the window frame of any sharp edges. Liam didn’t have the strength to get out himself, so Adam was going to have to lift him. He didn’t want him to suffer any further injuries. Liam was in bad enough shape as it was.

  “Dad, we’ve got them!”

  Jack ran from the opposite side of the fiery wreck with a worried but relieved look on his face. He took one look at Liam and he just about lost all his resolve. Liam was paper white and had lost a lot of blood. Adam’s police shirt was soaked with his brother’s blood and Liam was too weak to move himself.

&
nbsp; “Frank!” Jack called, not realizing that Frank was already by his side.

  “I am going to help lift him,” explained Adam, “I need you two to pull him out.”

  Jack stood on the hood of the car ready to pull his son out by his good arm, but before he could Frank was leaning his large frame into the car, grabbing Liam around the waist.