Buried

by Ellison Cooper

Max was already sliding down the ladder, Kona wrapped around his shoulders.

  “Can Kona scent in there?” Sayer called to him.

  He shook his head. “Too enclosed. Scent will be everywhere.”

  “Okay, you save Sam, I’m going after Kyle!” Sayer shouted, running toward the dark tunnel at full speed.

  THE PIT

  Hannah stared at Max across the pit, remote in her hands like a bomb about to go off.

  “Please, do something!”

  Max glanced over at Piper. “You okay?”

  Piper nodded. “Get the girl.”

  Max let his training take over—calm breath, assess the situation, take action.

  He took one long, deep breath and sprinted to the machine holding Sam.

  Assess the situation.

  Only three and a half minutes left.

  He tried to understand the gears, the mess of twisted wire, the pistons. The series of straps firmly secured across the small girl’s body with slim padlocks. The metal arm poised off to the side. The four-inch blade at the end of the arm, short and slender, well chosen for its horrifying job.

  Hannah stepped next to him, her breath ragged.

  Kona stood at attention to his side, ready for a command.

  Take action.

  “Okay,” Max said, “I’m going to get Sam out of here the old-fashioned way.”

  Hannah nodded, eyes darting with pure panic.

  Max put a firm hand on Hannah’s shoulder. “Hey. We’ll figure this out.”

  Her eyes flitted over to his and she nodded vaguely.

  He turned his attention back to the machine.

  The wires were enclosed in thick tubing. He tried to pull them from the side, but they were secure.

  Next idea.

  He ran his hands along the leather straps. If he could just get them off.

  Max worked his fingers beneath a strap and pulled. It held firm.

  The jostling seemed to rouse Sam, and the girl looked up at him with glassy eyes. “Mommy?” she asked.

  “No, sweetheart,” Max said, while probing and pulling at the contraption. “My name is Max and I’m going to get you out of here.”

  “Hey, Mommy’s here,” Hannah said. “I’m right here.”

  Sam nodded and tears leaked from her eyes, but she didn’t make a sound.

  Her silence drove a dagger through Max’s heart.

  Two and a half minutes left.

  While Hannah continued whispering comforting words to Sam, she worked her fingers bloody pulling on the straps, but to no avail.

  Max got more aggressive, bracing his leg against the side of the machine to get better leverage. He tried bending the arm holding the blade. Nothing. Move on to the next option.

  He circled around back and found an electronics box. Maybe if he pulled out the wiring or a computer chip?

  He tried to pry open the thick black box, but it was solid metal.

  Maybe he could shoot it? No, the metal would just deflect the bullet somewhere.

  Less than two minutes.

  He kicked at the box at an angle, desperate to remove the cover. Max felt a bone in his foot snap but tried again, crying out with the effort.

  That wasn’t working. Next option.

  He crouched down. If he could topple the whole machine? No. Too dangerous for Sam.

  Max felt his own panic rising and took another deep breath. Ignoring his heart pounding in his ears, he let his mind free-associate. All he had to do was keep the blade from her neck. Maybe he could get the blade out?

  He tore off his shirt and wrapped his hand, then grasped the blade. He felt the sharp edges slicing into his palm, but the blade held firm.

  Thirty seconds.

  Something solid to put between her neck and the blade?

  Max desperately turned and looked. A large rock? A piece of flat metal? Anything he could use to stop the blade.

  There was nothing.

  “Sam!” Hannah screamed.

  Ten seconds.

  With a shout of fury, Max attacked the machine, wrenching at the metal arm holding the blade. He torqued his muscles until he felt them practically tear from the bone.

  Kona barked ferociously in support.

  Hannah howled, tearing her hands as she flailed at the straps holding her daughter. She propped herself against the machine, pulling up on the arm to stop the blade.

  Nothing.

  Five … four … three …

  “Jesus Mother Mary.” Max instinctively crossed himself, knowing what he was going to have to do.

  … two … one …

  With no other option, he thrust his arm between Sam and the blade.

  The blade released.

  It slammed into his bicep.

  A savage cry escaped his lips as his arm exploded with pain.

  Hannah began screaming at the blood sluicing to the floor. “Sam! Sam!” She frantically wiped away at the girl’s neck, trying to see how far the blade was penetrating.

  Unable to focus because of the pain, Max slid his other hand along his arm. He pressed his fingers next to Sam’s neck. Her skin was barely broken by the tip of the blade protruding from the back of his bicep. He let his hand roam to the entry wound. He thought the knife had not sliced an artery, but he couldn’t quite tell.

  His vision began to tilt slightly.

  “Sam’ll be okay. Could you use my belt to tourniquet my arm at the shoulder, please?” he managed to say before he lost consciousness completely.

  THE MINE TUNNELS

  The roar of the river became deafening as Sayer entered the dark tunnel. She realized that a torrent of water was flowing along the entire tunnel floor, turning the tunnel into a watercourse.

  The underground river must have jumped its banks and was beginning to flood the mine. No way Kyle could use the river as an escape route.

  The uneven floor angled sharply down and Sayer took a few steps into the water. Though shallow, the current was swift and threatened to pull her feet out from beneath her.

  She shone her flashlight down the long rocky shaft. A faded orange sign read WARNING: MINE! OPEN SHAFTS. DEAD END. DO NOT ENTER!

  Rotting mine tracks lined the ground. In the distance, the tunnel branched in five directions.

  Determined to catch Kyle, she strode into the powerful rush of water. She hurried forward, bracing her feet against the tracks to keep her balance. At the five-way junction, she searched for any sign of him. Water flooded all five branches. She turned off her light but saw no telltale glow from any of the tunnels.

  When she turned her light back on, she noticed a faint streak of mud about elbow height along the far right tunnel.

  She swiped the mud. It felt fresh.

  Breath shallow with the hunt, Sayer hurried to the right.

  The tunnel narrowed into a chute barely wide enough for her to move through without brushing against the uneven walls. The torrent of floodwater intensified in the narrow space. Sayer hunched over her gun and flashlight to prevent herself from smacking her head against the low ceiling. She pushed onward for almost a minute and then stopped, clicking off her light again.

  Up ahead she could just make out the faint glow of another light.

  Kyle.

  With renewed determination, she sloshed forward through the knee-deep water, but then paused.

  If she were Kyle, what would she do?

  If there truly was no exit down here, she would try to lure a pursuer in the wrong direction.

  Sayer froze. The mud streak, the light up ahead. It was too easy.

  She listened in the inky darkness. Between the rushing water and her own heart pounding in her ears, it was too loud. Kyle could walk right next to her and she would never hear him coming.

  She stood perfectly still for a long moment, increasingly certain that Kyle wasn’t up ahead. But then where was he?

  He would circle back to the only exit. Which meant he would be heading back to the pit.

  Light still off, sh
e turned to creep back up the tunnel toward the main branch. After bumping her head a few times, she holstered her gun so she could use that hand to feel her way forward.

  The back of her neck prickled as she imagined Kyle sneaking up behind her. She strained to hear anything above the rushing water, which was now thigh deep.

  The water was rising.

  In the perfect dark, a beam momentarily glowed back toward the junction.

  She was right! He must have lured her down this branch, then circled back around in a connecting tunnel. Was he circling around to catch her off guard, or was he planning to run back toward the pit?

  Either way, she had to stop him.

  In the black void, she fumbled along the uneven tunnel floor, the flow of water threatening her balance, flashlight off but still gripped in her slick hand. She wanted to turn on the light just to get her bearings, but she couldn’t risk letting Kyle know where she was.

  A shiver shook her body and she realized that her teeth were chattering, the cold and wet wrapping her in a deadly embrace.

  Unable to tell if her eyes were open or closed, she felt a shift in the air. She must have emerged from the narrow branch tunnel.

  Now where was Kyle?

  A light clicked on.

  Sayer gasped at the appearance of Kyle not ten feet away.

  His wide eyes suggested that he was just as surprised to encounter Sayer.

  He clicked off the light.

  In the sudden dark, Sayer turned to face the afterimage of Kyle that still burned in her eyes.

  She heard him rushing toward her and she tried to shuffle sideways, moving from the spot he expected her to be. The water slowed her down and Kyle slammed into her shoulder, spinning her around. Her old gunshot wound exploded with agony.

  Sayer crashed into the wall. She clicked on her flashlight just as Kyle made another diving attack.

  He connected with her chest and they both toppled.

  Sayer’s head went underwater. The flashlight slipped from her hand, its beam careening wildly as it washed down the tunnel.

  Sayer scrambled along the gravelly floor, but the current caught her body.

  Dazed, she wrapped a hand around Kyle’s shirt as the rushing water pulled her deeper into the mine.

  She dragged him with her and they tumbled together, caught in the rolling crash of water.

  Unable to keep hold of him, Sayer lost her grip. His body hit something and he screamed in pain.

  Churning water replaced air and Sayer wondered if they were both going to drown. She fought to stand up, but she couldn’t keep her head above the current.

  Then the tunnel widened, dumping them both into a long chamber.

  Sayer managed to stand in the waist-deep water that swirled around her. Her flashlight had gotten caught somewhere below the surface and was casting an eerie mud-brown glow.

  The water funneled toward the back of the chamber, where it disappeared straight down in a churning torrent.

  A mine shaft.

  Kyle’s face broke the surface, eyes rolling with panic, mouth gasping like a dying fish, and then went back under. She could see him struggling against the current pulling him toward the shaft.

  He washed past a large rock and managed to wrap his arm over the muddy surface. With a moan of agony, he partially pulled himself against the rock.

  Sayer pulled out her gun. It had been more than five minutes. Max would have already saved Sam. Kyle’s code didn’t matter anymore.

  Fury pulsed in her chest as she pictured Jillian and Grace Watts. What that woman had done for her child. She pictured Hannah stumbling into the ranger station, wild with fear for her daughter. And now Sam strapped in that machine. If Sayer shot Kyle, he would just wash away and never hurt anyone ever again.

  He slowly looked up at her, a well of darkness in his eyes.

  At the sight of her gun, he smiled.

  “Do I get to see the monster beneath your mask, Sayer?” His manic eyes flashed with pleasure. “You look just like Mama right now. That look on her face in the moment she slit their throats. The primal beast buried deep inside, free for just a moment. Can’t you feel how much you want to kill me?”

  Sayer stared at him, her gun hand trembling. Because he was right, she did want to kill Kyle. But his smile sent a chill shuddering through her body.

  She paused for a very long moment before lowering her gun. “There is no mask, Kyle.”

  He growled. “Lies to the end. Why is it so hard to admit that you want to watch me die?”

  Sayer holstered her gun and waded toward him. “You’re right, part of me wants to shoot you, but I don’t actually want to watch you die. What I really want is to watch you rot in jail for the rest of your life.”

  Kyle snorted with disgust.

  As she reached out to grab him, he let out a sharp grunt, thrusting his hand toward her.

  She felt his fingers scrambling against her waist for her gun. Instinct took over. She slammed her elbow down onto his wrist and heard a sharp snap.

  Kyle recoiled, losing his grip on the rock.

  Sayer flung out her hand to catch him, but the current sucked him under.

  She swung her arms in wide arcs underwater but found nothing to grab hold of.

  Kyle resurfaced just above the burbling mine shaft. As he reached the sucking vortex, he let out a wild howl. For a moment, he flailed against the current, before disappearing into the churning water.

  Shaking, Sayer stared down at her empty hands.

  UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA

  Sayer stood in the doorway watching Hannah and Sam Valdez sleeping together in the hospital bed, arms wrapped around each other. Vesper slept curled at their feet. Zoe Valdez stood watch over them, eyes riveted on her family like she had never seen anything so beautiful in her life.

  Tiptoeing backward, Sayer slid the door shut. She retreated to the hall, taking a brief moment to appreciate the fact that her clothes were completely dry for the first time in four days.

  Tino sat just outside, nose in a book.

  “Vesper okay in there?” He closed the book and stood.

  “Yeah, he’s asleep already. Thanks for bringing him down. Hannah really wanted to see him again. I think he makes her feel safe.”

  “Of course.” Tino rubbed his bristly mustache. “I’ve actually been meaning to talk to you about Vesper.… You know how I’ve been looking for something meaningful to do with my days?”

  “I do.…”

  “After all this”—he gestured at the hospital atmosphere around him—“I’ve been thinking about signing Vesper up for therapy-dog classes. With my own psychology training from the Army, I would already qualify as a victim advocate. I think this is what Vesper and I should be doing. Helping victims of violent crime.” He looked at Sayer, warm brown eyes glowing. “What do you think?”

  “Tino, I think that’s an amazing idea.”

  He rested his hand on his slightly round belly. “Good. As Vesper’s coparent I figured I should check with you first. I’ll let Vesper stay for a few hours, then I’ll gather him and head home. See you for dinner?”

  Adi and Nana were waiting for her at home with papers to start the adoption process. Once the papers were signed, they were planning a massive celebration meal. Sayer was looking very forward to having a beer or three.

  “Of course. See you soon.” She gave Tino a quick hug.

  With that cheerful thought, she navigated up to the room where Max sat in bed, his arm and shoulder swathed in white bandages. Only out of surgery a few hours ago, he already looked bright-eyed and rosy-cheeked.

  Sayer held up the box of breakfast tacos that Tino had brought from the city.

  “Yay, the goods have finally arrived!” Max cheered.

  The massive black dog curled across his lap looked up protectively. Kona eyed Sayer. Her tail thumped once in greeting, and then she immediately fell back to sleep.

  Ezra sat in his wheelchair by Max’s bed. “Yay,
tacos!” He rolled over to intercept Sayer.

  She swooped past him. “These are Max’s—he can share them or not.”

  Dana scooted her chair closer to the bed. “Of course he’ll share them … with the people who all have guns.…”

  Sayer placed the box on Max’s lap and sat on the edge of the bed next to Kona.

  Max exaggeratedly rubbed his chin with the hand of his good arm. “Hmm, let me think.… I suppose I could—”

  They all grabbed for the tacos before he finished the sentence.

  Ezra groaned as he chewed. “Holy crap, these are good.”

  “So,” Sayer said with her mouth full, “what’s the latest?” She pointed to Max’s arm.

  He grimaced. “Mostly muscle damage. They’re optimistic it will heal cleanly, but we’ll have to wait and see how functional everything is.”

  “Fortunately for you, you’ve got two experts here who can tell you all about being on medical leave.” Dana pointed at Sayer and Ezra.

  “How’s Piper doing?” Max asked.

  “She’s doing great. Sounds like Kyle tasered her right after my party. Poor thing was tied up in Kyle’s trunk for hours. But she wouldn’t even let the doctors keep her for observation. She’s already back out in the park helping process the pit.”

  Max smiled. “She does love that park. Any sign of Kyle?”

  Sayer nodded, mouth full. After swallowing she said, “The divers already found Kyle’s body trapped at the end of one of the tunnels.”

  Max grunted a sound of approval and they all sat quietly contemplating Kyle’s demise.

  “Oh, hey, Alice Beaumont’s doctor, or Cricket Nelson’s doctor … whatever you want to call her … says she’s going to recover fully,” Sayer said gently.

  Max let out a long breath of relief. “I think she’s Alice Beaumont now.”

  “I think so too,” Dana agreed. “Oh, I just heard this morning that the lab used the photos you found of those hikers to positively identify all six skeletons. Sounds like they each were hiking the trail solo and just disappeared. At least now we got their families some closure.” She looked thoughtful. “So, two children raised by a serial killer. One went on to become a forensic psychologist studying psychopaths, and the other went on to become a killer in his own right.”