Grave Peril

by Mary Alford

  Remaining positive was a hard thing to do under their circumstances. If they found a way out, trying to navigate their way through the wilderness surrounding the mine could prove its own challenge, not to mention the unpredictable weather. It was just the two of them with limited resources and no one looking for them. They were in big trouble.

  * * *

  With every breath they took sucking up what precious little air remained in the mine, Gavin’s faith was faltering, but he wasn’t about to give in to the doubts. He had to keep fighting.

  Being with Jamie again made him realize that he’d never stopped caring for her. The argument she’d made concerning the people trying to buy the mine being connected to his father’s death made sense, but why hadn’t any of this come out before now if it were true? Still, whatever the truth proved to be, whether his father’s murder was at the hands of Noah or someone else, together they’d figure it out, then maybe they could finally break the shackles of the past.

  Yet as hard as he tried, he couldn’t understand how the heroin and the sheriff’s department might be connected to the big business trying to buy his family’s mine. Without more to go on, it was useless to speculate. Survival was the only thing that mattered now, and he needed something to take his mind off their impossible situation. He found himself wondering about Jamie’s life back in Louisville.

  She had grown into a strong woman in spite of what she’d had to overcome. She’d weathered the storms thrown at her, and she was still standing.

  “Tell me about your life now. Are you happy?” he asked, because he wanted her to be.

  She didn’t look at him. He sensed it wasn’t a subject she liked to talk about. Especially with him.

  “I suppose. As happy as anyone can be with the past we have. I love my job. Helping others who are wrongfully accused get their freedom back feels like I’m helping my dad a little.” She shrugged.

  He stopped and reached for her hand. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

  She turned to face him, swallowing hard. She looked into his eyes and his heart broke. The pain he saw there assured him how difficult her father’s conviction and death had been for her to deal with. He should have been there for her.

  Gavin drew her close, wishing for a second chance with her. Their eyes held and he brushed a strand of hair from her face. Even covered in dust, her hair powdered white, she was beautiful, and her beauty stirred him inside.

  “Regardless of what happened between my father and yours, you needed me and I let you down.” He tipped her chin. Saw tears in her eyes. Hated himself for his part in her pain. He leaned close. Her eyes closed, and his lips claimed hers. The tiniest of sobs escaped before she kissed him back with all the pent-up emotions from their past. The danger they faced, the death that was closing in all around them, just faded away. It was the two of them again and it felt like she belonged in his arms.

  Jamie pushed free suddenly, and he let her go. She turned away. The past and its heartache was still standing between them. Would it always be?

  More than anything, Gavin wished he could believe what she said about Noah’s innocence. Yet the conviction wouldn’t let him.

  “We should keep going. There has to be another way out. We just have to find it.”

  Gavin let the past go and glanced around, spotting something he hadn’t seen before. A small light off to the right. As much as he wanted to believe it was a way out, he knew it wasn’t. It would still be dark out. Still, it was something they needed to investigate.

  “Look over there.” He pointed to the light. “What is that?”

  He and Jamie went closer. “It’s a door.” He tried to open it. “It’s not budging.” Their gazes locked.

  “Uncle Paxton,” Jamie said. “He must be in there.”

  “Can you hand me your shotgun?” he asked, and she gave it to him. He slammed the butt of the weapon hard against the door. It took several tries before it flew open and they faced a room filled with light.

  “Let’s go see what’s inside,” he told her and went through the door first. What he saw was shocking. There were several file cabinets set up, much like those in the trailer.

  He went over to the first one and pulled out a file, letting out a low whistle at what he saw there. “Paxton clearly hasn’t been mining for a while, but he has been gathering massive amounts of evidence.” Jamie looked over his shoulder. “There are dozens of files with surveillance photos in here. Look at this one.” He pointed to it.

  It was at an abandoned building she didn’t recognize. It had been taken at night and was grainy, but she spotted Dan Miller and one of the other deputies talking to a well-dressed man.

  “Who do you think that is?” she asked.

  “I have no idea. What’s he up to with these guys?” Gavin pulled out another file, and what he saw inside was alarming. “We’ve got a bigger problem than we thought. Look at this.” He showed her some notes written by Paxton. “Jamie, I recognize this name, Jacob Ericson. He’s the head of the Southern Mafia.”

  She stared up at him as if trying to comprehend the significance. “Why would the Southern Mafia be involved in this unless...it’s their drugs. The deputies are moving their drugs for them.”

  Gavin had come to the same conclusion. “That’d be my guess, too. Looks like the Southern Mafia has bought out the local law enforcement.”

  He dug another file out. “Paxton sure did his homework. He has a picture of our mystery man with Ericson. I wonder what he has to do with the Southern Mafia.”

  Jamie grabbed a separate file and scanned it. “I don’t know. What do you know about the Southern Mafia?”

  While he and his team had been working a weapons smuggling case recently, the FBI had shared some intel with them. The Sothern Mafia was one of the biggest drug organization in the South.

  He told her what he’d learned. “They have a stronghold in just about every Southern state, and Ericson rules the entire operation with an iron fist. You don’t screw over this guy and live.”

  Gavin recalled something he’d heard recently about an attempt on Ericson’s life that had almost worked. He told her about it. “Ericson was almost killed in a bombing. Someone rigged his car to explode when he opened the door.”

  His gaze locked with hers. “Just like the explosives used on your house. If you ask me, someone is trying to take over Jacob Ericson’s empire, and they don’t care who they kill in the process. My guess is, it’s the man in the photo.”

  Gavin could almost read Jamie’s thoughts, yet in his mind, all the information they’d uncovered so far made him even more justified in believing that what they were dealing with now had nothing to do with Charles’s death.

  TWELVE

  “You think our mystery man is trying to take over control of the Southern Mafia?” Jamie asked in disbelief.

  “That would be my guess.”

  Jamie pulled out another file marked Mines Purchased Recently. “Oh, no. Here’s a list of all the mines that have been bought over the past few years.” She recognized Paxton’s handwriting next to each entry.

  “Look at this.” She pointed to the letter written next to each of them. “What do you think he means by I?”

  Gavin stared at it for a second. “Inactive. I’m guessing these inactive mines are no longer being dug for coal. I can understand why they’d want to buy up the inactive mines. If it’s private property, no one should come snooping around asking questions, but why would they want to buy the Darlan Mountain Mine? It’s still semi-active. What are these guys up to?”

  Jamie looked at him without answers. “Whatever it is, we have to stop them.”

  “The question is how? And how did our mystery guy, or the Southern Mafia, get the deputies and maybe even the sheriff to work for them? Are they all corrupt?”

  In Jamie’s mind, it certainly appeared so. “Mayb
e they’re helping this guy move the drugs from mine to mine.” It made sense in a way. Who better to move heroin than the people who were supposed to be keeping the county safe?

  Yet none of the evidence Paxton had gathered cleared Noah’s name. If she and Gavin died down here, they might never know.

  With each breath, Jamie could feel their oxygen supply evaporating. “Gavin, we’re running out of air,” she said in alarm.

  Desperate, he looked around for some way out, but the room appeared to be carved into the mountain.

  He tried his cell phone. “Still nothing,” he said without hope.

  Whoever was behind this was willing to go to deadly extremes to keep his past deeds buried forever.

  “Let’s go back out to the passage and see where it takes us,” Jamie said. She was trying to put on a brave front, but in truth, she was scared to death of dying in the mine.

  Gavin squeezed her hand, and they left the storage room and continued down the narrow shaft.

  “How do you think Paxton managed to build these tunnels by himself?” she asked, because she had to think of something to take her mind off their critical situation.

  Gavin looked around. “It must have taken him years.”

  “If Paxton did all this, then he had to have created another way out,” she said.

  He looked down at her and smiled. “It makes sense to me.”

  She could see exhaustion in his eyes. His injury was slowing him down, making it hard to put one foot in front of the other.

  “How are you holding up?” she asked. She was worried about him. His expression drawn.

  “I’m okay,” he managed, but she didn’t believe him. He couldn’t go on much longer.

  They’d walked about a quarter of a mile farther when Jamie noticed something unusual about the stone wall to her right. The coloring didn’t match the rest of the wall. She knocked on it. It sounded hollow.

  Gavin halted next to her. “What is it?”

  “I think this is another fake wall.”

  Gavin tapped the wall. “You’re right. It’s not made of rock at all. It feels thin, like sheetrock.”

  “Can we break through it?”

  “I’m pretty sure.” He smashed the butt of his weapon against the wall. Chunks of sheetrock splintered from the site. Jamie took the shotgun and did the same. As they worked, more and more pieces fell free until there was a gaping hole in it. Nothing but darkness appeared before them.

  Jamie continued to chip away at the hole until it was big enough to climb through.

  “Let me go first,” Gavin insisted. She wasn’t surprised by his concern. He was always good at looking out for her.

  “Be careful. We don’t know what’s on the other side.” He looked deep in her eyes. There was so much more that she wanted to say, but now was not the time.

  Gavin stepped through the hole and flashed the light around. “Oh, no...” But he didn’t finish. Something crashed to the ground, and then the room grew dark once more.

  “Gavin!” she screamed and didn’t hesitate before scrambling through the hole to help him. She couldn’t let anything happen to Gavin. “Gavin, are you okay?” Jamie had barely cleared the entrance when she slammed into Gavin. He’d stopped inches from the opening.

  “What is it?” She had just gotten the words out when she realized why he’d stopped so suddenly. The sound of a shotgun being racked sent fear through her. They’d come this far only to die here in this dark hole without any answers.

  “Don’t hurt her,” she heard Gavin say. “She’s not part of this.”

  Nothing but silence followed. Jamie’s hands shook. The pitch dark was broken by a light so piercing that it was blinding. Her nerves frayed.

  Jamie tried a last-ditch effort to save their lives. “Please, we’re trying to find my uncle. He mines this place and he’s missing. We’re trying to help him because we think he may be hurt.”

  The light in her eyes moved, and she could see again. She prayed this man wasn’t connected to the deputies.

  “Jamie? Is that you?” Jamie barely recognized her uncle’s voice. He sounded so weak.

  “Paxton!” The light dropped to the ground near the man. She realized it was the type of flashlight that miners used to mount to their safety helmets. Paxton had taken his off.

  Jamie hurried to her uncle’s side. Laying the shotgun down, she couldn’t believe he was right there with them. It was then that she noticed the pain marring his kindly face.

  “You’re hurt,” she exclaimed when she saw the way his right leg was stretched out in front of him. “You’ve been shot.”

  He collapsed onto the ground, perspiration beading his forehead. “Yes, but I’ll be okay. I’m not letting a couple of thugs take me down.”

  “I can’t believe it.” Jamie pulled him close again. He was alive. Thanks be to God, her uncle was still alive.

  * * *

  Gavin dropped down next to Jamie. “Have you been down here all along?” he asked the man in amazement.

  Paxton managed a tiny nod.

  Gavin took Paxton’s light and shone it on the man’s injured leg. It looked as if it hadn’t been attended to at all. “What happened to you?”

  “That deputy shot me in the leg!” Paxton exclaimed and then leaned back and closed his eyes. The very act of speaking took its toll.

  Jamie shot Gavin a look. “When was this? Was it Dan Miller who shot you?”

  Paxton shook his head. “No, one of the other deputies, but I think he was acting on Miller’s orders. It happened the day I called you.” Paxton peered up at her. “I went up to the house. I knew it was too soon for you to be there, but I wanted to make sure I was there when you arrived.”

  Jamie clasped his hand tight, thankful that her uncle was still alive.

  “Do you know the deputy’s name?” Gavin asked.

  Paxton shook his head. “No, he’s new to the area, but he’s definitely one of Miller’s goons. He demanded I leave with him, and when I tried to get away, he shot me! Then he started to drag me outside, but someone showed up at the back door and he went outside to investigate. I booked it. I managed to make it to where I’d parked the ATV in the woods some distance from the house. I never would have made it out of there on my own steam.”

  That explained the engine noise Gavin had heard in the woods behind Jamie’s house before he ran into the man who’d attacked him.

  Gavin remembered the ransacked house and trailer. Had they been looking for the drugs or something more? Perhaps the evidence?

  “I was afraid he’d catch up with me before I got here, so I didn’t take a direct route. When I was a little ways from here, I hid the ATV and came the rest of the way in on foot. I didn’t think I’d make it.” He stopped for a breath. “It took me forever to get here. When I did, I found my office torn apart. I figured they’d searched the mine by then and moved on. Miller’s goons didn’t know about the new additions I’d made.” He stared at Jamie. “How did you find me?”

  Gavin could see that Jamie was struggling with how to tell her uncle about Terry. He touched her arm. “Let me.” She slowly nodded, and Gavin turned to Paxton. “There’s something we need to tell you that’s going to be difficult to hear. Terry’s dead, Paxton. I’m guessing he was the one who showed up at your house. Miller’s men probably killed him.”

  Paxton’s mouth fell open in shock. Words wouldn’t come for the longest time. “If I’d stuck around, I could have helped him,” he finally managed.

  “No. If you’d stayed, you’d be dead, as well,” Gavin was quick to assure him. “Terry was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “Poor Terry.” Paxton wept with grief. “He was only trying to help me. He’s been helping me all along.”

  Jamie gathered her uncle close until he was able to talk again.

  “We s
aw the heroin. How did it get here?” she asked.

  Paxton appeared shell-shocked. It was a little bit before he could answer. “I saw where the deputies were storing it, and Terry and I took it one night. We knew we had to find a way to stop them. They just kept bringing the stuff into the county. It was killing our community and our kids. Their future. I couldn’t let that happen any longer.”

  “How did you get all the evidence you gathered?” Gavin wanted to know.

  Paxton shook his head. “I started working on that a few years ago. I figured if I stuck with it, I’d find out who was behind the drugs with Terry’s help. I had no idea exactly what was going on here until recently.” Paxton put his head in his hands. “Oh, Terry. I can’t believe he’s gone. I did this to him.”

  Jamie touched his shoulder. “This isn’t your fault, Uncle Paxton. They’re the ones who killed Terry. Not you.”

  “This is all because of that guy I saw them with. I found out the former sheriff and most of the deputies are dirty, and I think it’s because of that guy.”

  From everything Gavin knew about the Southern Mafia, they were good at making witnesses disappear. How had Paxton managed to gather so much evidence without anyone realizing he was on to them until now?

  “How did you make the connection? These guys are good at covering their crimes.”

  “It took some doing, but I followed the deputies and got a picture of them with that one guy. The only problem is, I have no idea who he is.”

  Gavin had been hoping Paxton would have a clue who the man was. He was positive he’d never seen him associated with any of the Southern Mafia captains. “Did you find any evidence connecting all of this to my father’s murder?” he asked hopefully.

  Gavin could tell from the way Paxton didn’t make eye contact that he hadn’t. It was gut-wrenching. Part of him wanted to believe in Noah’s innocence.

  “Not yet, but I overheard Miller talking to one of his goons the day before they showed up at my place. I’d followed him because I knew he was up to no good. Miller was furious about the missing drugs and mentioned that he’d have to take care of me the way they had the last person to stand in their way. That’s when I knew they had something to do with Charles’s death, so I called Jamie. There’s a connection between what happened to Charles and the drugs and I believe it has everything to do with the man I can’t identify in the photo. He’s responsible somehow.”