by Robyn DeHart
To keep herself company, she talked as she walked. Recited formulas, poems, and even bits from Jeremy’s notes. She walked down the tunnel until she came to a large boulder. There was no way to get past it, so it appeared she’d come to another impasse.
The large rock took up nearly all of the space leading through the remainder of the cavern. Upon closer inspection, Vanessa could easily see this large rock was not of the same stone as the rest of the cave. This boulder had been placed here on purpose.
Vanessa had learned long ago that no scientist achieved greatness by giving up at the first obstacle, so she would not turn back until she had exhausted all efforts to move past this rock. She knelt and dug into her bag, searching her tools for something that might assist her. But the instruments she carried were for more delicate work.
Still on her knees, she bent and felt around the base of the rock. Someone had placed the thing here; certainly that meant it could be removed. She’d read about such things in her scientific journals. Men on the hunt for antiquities often ran into clever traps and mechanisms meant to divert the average adventurer.
Her lantern didn’t afford her much visibility, but that didn’t prevent her from exploring with her hands. She moved her fingers over the walls that surrounded the boulder, searching for a lever or something that would shift the rock out of the way. Cobwebs matted to her fingers, and she ignored the urge to swiftly pull back her hand. No, she was a serious scientist, and that meant getting your hands dirty. A shiver crawled down her spine.
Momentarily she lost her balance, and her left arm reached behind her to grab onto the wall. She steadied herself just as her hand ran over something ridged and rough. It certainly didn’t feel as if it belonged in the cavern wall; perhaps this was her lever. She turned, holding the lantern closer, and saw an imprinted image of a fern. It was a perfect rendition, and her very first find.
She had gotten close to a discovery several years ago in some cliff caves near her family estate. But her mother had found out and had locked her in her room until the family had returned to London the following morning. But no one was here to stop her today.
Today she’d be a true scientist out on an actual expedition. Not merely one who theorized things and wrote articles, but a real paleontologist who had found an authentic fossil. It might simply be a fern, but it was hers.
She squatted and dug around inside her bag, searching for the appropriate tools. This set of tools was the one thing she owned that had belonged to her father, the one possession she truly treasured. She unrolled the leather pack and hand selected a small chisel and pick.
She knelt and positioned herself to carve out the fossil. But there was no way she could do it with only one hand. Odds were good she’d destroy the fossil should she attempt to remove it without adequate lighting. So she did the only thing she could think of: she put the lantern handle between her teeth and went to work.
Vanessa marked a space far enough outside of the fossil so as not to destroy her treasure. She hit the rock and the sound reverberated through the small space. She winced, drawing up her shoulders. But upon examination, she saw that she’d done as intended and started extracting the fossil. She continued striking the rock in precisely the same manner, only pausing to remove the lantern handle, swallow, and take a few deep breaths, then returning to her work. Finally the fossil broke free from its stone prison.
She held the lantern steady, then held the fossil out in front of the light. Her heart beat like thunder in her ears. It was perfect. A delicate template of a fern leaf, with every line and detail immortalized in the rock. She smoothed her thumb over the surface. Her first discovery. Accomplishment surged through her, bubbling to the surface. She smiled until her face hurt. No more was she simply a student of Paleontology. No; she was out here using actual tools and unearthing real fossils.
Vanessa took one last look at the fossil, wrapped it in a cloth, then dropped it into her bag. Perhaps there was more of interest within this stone. And she still needed to get around that boulder. If it was put here for a reason, then it would move somehow. She felt certain about that.
Her hands made quick, but thorough, work of the rest of the boulder. She had inspected almost every inch when she felt a piece of metal jutting out of the floor, lodged far beneath the great stone. She knelt and tugged on the metal, but it did not move. She tried pushing it but still gained no ground.
Trying a new angle, she turned it and the boulder creaked, then shifted. The floor beneath the boulder opened, like a trapdoor hidden beneath a rug, and the large rock disappeared into the ground. The floor did not seal back over; instead the missing stone left a sizable gap in the flooring.
Vanessa came to her feet and gauged the distance before she leapt across it. This side of the tunnel was short, and soon she found herself in a chamber shaped much like a wagon wheel, with narrow caverns leading off it in every direction.
She was quite unsure which direction she should go in first. She didn’t want to go far away, in case Graeme found a way across. If she journeyed too great a distance, she might not be able to hear his voice if he called to her.
While the boulder that had hidden this area had clearly been brought here by man, this ring of tunnels appeared to be naturally formed caves. Vanessa started down the first tunnel to her left, and it was darker and narrower than where she’d been before. The ceiling sat heavy above her, not even an inch from her head. Cobwebs lined the walls and brushed against her arms as she moved deeper into the cave.
Of course, exploring crevices and caves for fossils entailed a certain amount of nasty creatures, she reminded herself. But she loathed spiders. Still she persevered and sent a quick prayer heavenward that none of the creatures would crawl on her. Or bury themselves in her hair. A chill prickled up her spine. She wished now she’d braided her hair or worn a cap.
Her foot stumbled against something, and she stopped and lowered herself to shine the light better on the ground. She looked down into the hollow eyes of a human skull.
Graeme continued searching the area where the explosion had occurred, but he still could not find an opening to lead him to Vanessa. What the devil had Niall been doing to create such an explosion? Had he gone mad?
The chasm provided no way for him to cross here. Clearly he’d have to find another way around. Graeme coughed, trying to clear his lungs of all the dust from the explosion. Pain screamed up his arm, but he had no time to pity himself. The bleeding had stopped, for the most part, and now he only needed to concern himself with infection. However, there was nothing he could do to prevent that now, so he’d simply have to take the necessary precautions once they returned home and hope for the best.
He moved off in the direction from which they’d come. While he hadn’t been in this particular area of the caves before, he knew from previous experience that these hillsides were riddled with interlocking caverns and passageways that doubled back on themselves.
Hopefully Graeme would discover another route that circled around to where Vanessa sat trapped. He moved quickly, not wasting his time on being careful and quiet. Right now, what he needed to do was save Vanessa before she got herself killed.
She’d been his new bride for only a day, and he’d already led her into a harrowing situation. Well, he hadn’t precisely led her. He’d thought he was leaving their bed without her knowledge, but clearly he had misjudged her. That did not speak well of his abilities as a husband.
Granted he hadn’t anticipated excelling in that area. His own father had been a piss-poor husband, as had his grandfather. Neither one remained faithful, and his own father had gone so far as to bring his wife back to her home country and simply leave her here. He’d deserted her and expected her to live without one of her sons, once he’d reached a certain age.
At least his mother had fought back. She’d managed to keep Graeme’s younger brother Dougal home with her, but Lord Rothmore had not allowed his heir to leave England, except for a few weeks each summer
when he’d allowed Graeme to visit. Once his father had died, Graeme had come to Scotland far more often than he’d been permitted to as a boy.
Finally his trek brought him back to the fork where he’d hidden earlier when he’d captured Vanessa. This time, though, instead of going to his left, he went to the right. This might angle over to where she was now. He hurried through the tunnels, not minding the stones that bit into the bottom of his boots or the cobwebs that tangled in his hair. She was in danger, and he’d be damned if he’d let her get hurt. Not his wife.
Vanessa was not the sort to simply stay out of trouble. He could see that clearly enough, so he needed to remove trouble from her grasp. Now that he knew she was prone to following him, he’d be more careful about keeping an eye on her.
Graeme knew that for these reasons it would be best if he could persuade her to return to England, where she would be safe. Perhaps he wouldn’t even take her to London, but rather one of his country estates, where she would be away from danger. He wondered if there was something he could offer her, making a bargain to persuade her to leave. But even as the thought hit him, he knew it would not work. Vanessa was smart. She would not be bribed into obedience by pretty baubles.
He hadn’t wanted a wife, but that mattered not now, regardless of how much trouble she’d get into. And that inquisitive nature of hers was likely what had fueled the intense passion he discovered last night.
He kept moving and entered a spot where the tunnel narrowed. He hunkered down to fit his too-large frame in the smaller area and kept going. Pain radiated up his arm as he clutched it tightly to his body to fit through the tunnel. His light flickered, and he knew there was more air up ahead. Encouraged by the new source of airflow, he increased his pace.
“Vanessa,” he called.
There was no response. Hell. He might have gone completely in the wrong direction. But he kept going. Finally the tunnel opened up, and he found himself in the spot where Vanessa had been standing earlier—the open gorge to his left and a partially crumbled wall directly in front of him.
“Vanessa?” he called again.
Where the hell had she gone?
• • •
Vanessa stared at the skeleton at her feet, wondering what precisely had caused his or her demise. She saw no obvious sign of death, such as a sword or any such weapon protruding from the body. Had the person been shot, she wouldn’t be able to tell now, as the flesh had been eaten away. Now all that was left were bones wearing clothes that appeared too large for them, like a young girl playing in her mother’s dress—something Vanessa had never done, but both her sisters had. Perhaps this unsuspecting soul had been lost and simply lay down, gave up hope, and starved to death.
She knelt and searched around the skeleton but found nothing of interest, so she simply stepped around him and moved forward. The tunnel continued to narrow.
Her body practically hummed with excitement, though she knew fear contributed partly to that. She’d never before seen a dead body, and she couldn’t help but shiver a bit every time she envisioned its hollow eyes. She was thankful that only bones were left.
Up ahead, Vanessa could see stone formations, and she held out her candle for a better view. Rough grooves ran down the wall and floor, as if water had sliced into the rock and left scars in its wake. Stalagmites stood from the cavern floor like old men in drab robes, and stalactites hung from the ceiling in a haphazard, jagged pattern.
This certainly appeared to be an older part of the cavern. Water trickled through a small crevice at her feet, and the sound of it had a musical quality. Vanessa stepped deeper into the cavern, careful of each placement of her feet. The sharp stalactites clumped together, making some areas look nearly impossible to traverse. When coupled with some of the massive formations sculpted from the ground, the cavern became a veritable maze.
Unable to resist the temptation, she reached out and ran her fingers across one of the lumpy stalagmites to her right. It was cold and damp and quite solid, feeling almost like a roughly carved statue.
“Vanessa!”
She turned at the sound of the voice echoing far behind her.
“Vanessa!” That certainly sounded like Graeme.
Had Graeme discovered a way to save her? That was indeed good news. But what should she do about her discovery here?
“Where are you?” he asked.
“Just a moment,” she said. She eyed her surroundings once more, knowing she must return to investigate. A cavern this old promised wonderful finds. This was a prime fossil-hunting ground.
“Vanessa, now!” he bellowed.
“Graeme?” Her voice came from far off in the distance.
“Where are you?” he asked.
“Just a moment,” she said casually, as if she were doing nothing more than entertaining friends in her parlor.
Just a moment for what? Damned if her curiosity hadn’t lured her in another direction. But with the instability caused by the explosion, Graeme couldn’t allow her to simply explore these caves on her own.
“Vanessa, now!” he demanded. He stood over the partially crumbled wall, noting the tidy pile of rocks where she’d removed them to make the space large enough. She had evidently crawled over this and made her way down that tunnel. But she hadn’t removed enough rocks to make way for him to crawl through, and he didn’t dare remove any additional stones lest he permanently trap Vanessa on that side.
She came out of the tunnel with her skirt and boots damp and cobwebs hanging off her hair. Her eyes widened with exasperation.
“What is the emergency?” she asked.
Chapter Nine
Niall climbed the hill up to his home, his heart beating fast. He merely needed to bide his time and allow The Raven to sit there, trapped, for a while until he was ready to negotiate. Niall threw open his front door, then made his way to his study. It was far earlier than he would normally seek out a stiff drink, but today he needed one. He believed that he had some scotch lying around from his previous visit.
He couldn’t wait to confront the bastard. Demand to know where his family was, and then and only then would he consider releasing The Raven from his trap. The dynamite would have created a blast large enough to strand the man in a desolate part of the cave with no discernible way out. It was a perfect plan.
He poured the amber-colored liquid into a glass and brought it to his lips.
“Do you think me a fool?” The cold voice came from behind him.
Niall stopped. As if he’d downed a chilled drink, icy cold spread through his body. He set the glass down before turning to face The Raven. “Of course not.”
“If you think to outsmart me, you had best consider your family dead now.” He fell into a chair across from Niall’s desk, then propped his feet up on the mahogany furniture. “You’ll never find them, and I’ll never let them go. And if you try to kill me,” he released a low chuckle as he lit a cigar, “not only will you fail, but your family will suffer for your stupidity.”
The Raven took a slow drag, then shook his head. “I’ve killed men for lesser offenses.” He eyed Niall’s glass. “I once stabbed a man because he spilled scotch on my favorite boots. I’ve always hated the stench of scotch. Terrible stuff, don’t you agree? I much prefer brandy.”
Niall thought to argue, claim ignorance of what the man accused him of, but he knew better. This man was no fool. Defeated, Niall picked up his drink and settled in. His nerves needed steeling.
“I’d kill you right now if I hadn’t already invested so much time and energy in you. Between kidnapping your family and arranging for their care all these weeks, it simply wouldn’t be efficient to find someone else to do the job I’ve arranged for you.” The Raven lowered his cigar and leveled his soulless gaze on Niall. “But do not test me again. I have two members of your family in my care. I would hate for something unfortunate to happen to one of them. Though I suspect you would hold up your end of our arrangement to ensure the safety of only your son.”
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Niall took a step forward. “Don’t you hurt my wife.”
“Find my treasure, and I’ll disappear from your life,” The Raven said matter-of-factly. He inhaled deeply on his cigar, then released a puff of smoke.
“Please, if you would let me know they are safe.” Niall leaned forward on his desk, meeting the other man’s gaze. Cold blue eyes stared back at him. “Please.” The Raven’s stare never changed. Niall sat back in his leather chair. “I would be able to concentrate more if I knew they were safe and healthy,” he added softly.
The Raven paused as if truly considering his offer, but Niall knew it was merely a cruel illusion; this was not a man to be reasoned with. Still, he couldn’t help begging for his family’s safety. His wife and son meant everything to him. And this—this obsession for the Loch Ness treasure that used to fill his life—had become little more than a casual hobby that he tinkered with every now and again. Spending time with Penny and Jonathan had become so much more important than a frivolous treasure. But now their lives depended on the bloody gems. He ran his hand through his hair.
The Raven laughed. “I never give anything for free. You bring me what I want, and you can have your precious family back.”
“My son is just a boy.”
If it was possible, The Raven’s features hardened even more. “I have a son, too,” he said. “They’re not worth the trouble.”
Niall turned away from the man now, unable to look upon him any longer. He had no choice. He had to find that damn treasure. And quickly. The terrifying thing was, he wasn’t any closer today than he’d been three years ago.
The Raven stood from the chair. Niall heard the leather creak as his weight lifted.
“If I don’t have that stone in my hand by next week,” The Raven said, his tone steady, “I’ll kill them. And I won’t be gentle. I’ll start with your wife, take my pleasure with her, and rough her up a little, but not enough so that she isn’t alert when I kill your son. For him, I’ll start at his throat, and I’ll drag my knife all the way down to his groin, completely gutting him. I have no pity for those who fail me, nor their loved ones. Don’t forget that.” With that, he strode out of the office.