by Cynthia Eden
“You’re lying.” Her words weren’t angry, because this woman was a victim. Cadence kept her voice calm and steady. “You remember.”
A light was up ahead. A faint, flickering light.
Her breath heaved from her lungs. “Is that him?”
“Don’t scream,” was the whisper from behind her. Shaking. “He doesn’t like it when you scream.”
I didn’t scream. Lily’s words.
Cadence swallowed and kept walking toward that light. A candle? “Do you know Maria?”
Silence.
“She was taken fifteen years ago. Blonde hair. Blue eyes. She has a brother who’s been looking for her, all that time.”
Still nothing. Just the faint scrape of the woman’s shoes on the stone floor. The press of the gun into Cadence’s back.
The light flickered again. She could see a curving entrance near the light.
“There have been others who were taken,” Cadence said, determined to keep talking. Determined to make a connection with this woman. “Did you know Bridgette, Fiona, Judith—”
A choked sob came from the woman.
You knew her.
“We found Judith’s body,” Cadence said. “I don’t want you to wind up like her. Let me help you.”
“Can’t…” The barest of whispers. “He’s here.”
She realized the scrapes she’d heard in the tunnel hadn’t come from the woman’s shoes.
They were farther back. Closing in on them.
They were coming from him.
Cadence started to turn around, but the woman shoved her in the back, sending Cadence stumbling toward the light.
The light was a candle, barely an inch high. The flame was sputtering because it was about to go out, and when it did, she’d be in the darkness again.
“Give me your hands,” the woman said.
Cadence lifted her hands. The watch was a reassuring weight. He’s coming.
Metal clicked around her wrists. Handcuffs.
“Don’t scream,” was the whisper once more.
Then the woman was backing away.
A creak of sound reached Cadence’s ears. Like a door opening. Or closing.
The flame sputtered out. Darkness.
“Hello?” Cadence called. The drumming of her heart was so loud. She lifted her hands, testing those cuffs. The woman had put them on too tightly. They bit into her wrists.
A familiar scraping sound reached her ears.
A sound that was very, very close.
He’s here.
Just as she had that thought, a bright light hit her right in the face, temporarily blinding her.
“Hello, Agent Hollow.”
She didn’t recognize his voice. It was low, rumbling. Almost mocking.
She squinted against the light. She wanted to see him, but the light was on top of his head. A headlamp. Just like the caving light she’d used before. No, not just a headlamp. She could just make out the bulk of the helmet on his head. Because of the helmet, no light actually fell on him. He was a shadow. Cadence saw the rough outline of his body, but little else.
About six foot three.
Wide shoulders.
“You know, of course, Agent Hollow, that you won’t get out of this place alive.”
His words chilled her.
“Actually, I’m planning to walk right out pretty soon,” she said.
He laughed. Her goose bumps got worse.
“It’s a maze down here,” he told her, still in the same voice. “You probably thought you were walking straight ahead, but my girl was guiding you. I trained her well. She knew just where to walk. I taught her the path. One wrong step could have led to your death. If you were to run out, you’d just get lost. You’d die in the dark.”
“Sounds like you plan for that to happen anyway.”
Keep him talking.
“Why are you so interested in the victims?”
His quiet words caught her off guard. He hadn’t moved. That bright light kept blaring on her.
“Why do you want to know what they feel—what they think—so badly?” he said.
“It’s the victims who matter.” If she ran for him, would she be able to take him out? Her body tensed as she prepared to attack. “They’re always the key.”
“You want to know so much about them.” His words were considering.
I’m here with him. Actually here with him. Kyle, hurry the hell up! She could feel the man’s evil in the room.
This place seemed to hold the taint of evil and death in the air.
“You want to know what it’s like to be the victim, and now you will.”
The light came closer.
Cadence didn’t back up. Where would she go? “Where’s Maria?” she demanded. “Where’s Bridgette? Where’s Fiona?”
“Fiona.” He drew out the name softly, with relish. “You just met her.”
The light vanished.
She blinked, seeing red spots dance in the darkness.
Hard hands grabbed her. Yanked at her. She was shoved back. Her body slammed into rocks. Her cuffed hands were yanked up. Pounded into the side of the cavern.
She heard her watch shatter at the impact.
“We lost the initial signal.”
Kyle felt his heart stop. “You’ve got three transmitters on her. Use the other two.”
Silence.
Silence wasn’t fucking good. “Dani?”
“The other two stopped sending signals about ten minutes ago. I’m sorry. They were linked to a different satellite system, and she must be in an area they can’t reach.”
The thick mud tried to suck the wheels down into its greedy grasp. He shoved down the gas pedal and the vehicle surged forward. “She hadn’t moved?” As long as she hadn’t moved after the last transmission, they’d find her.
Coming, baby. Coming…
“No. She was stationary.”
Stationary. As in not moving. But she couldn’t be dead. Not dead. Not. Dead.
“ETA?” he demanded.
“Ten minutes.”
Stay alive ten minutes, Cadence. Stay fucking alive. Just ten more minutes.
“You didn’t scream.” His breath blew against her cheek. “You know better than that, don’t you? You were the girl under the bed. The one who knew not to make a sound.”
How does he know about that? Cadence’s stomach clenched as the worst memory of her life was shoved back at her. Her chest ached, pain swelling within her as she remembered her own silence.
And her mother’s cries.
“Let’s see if you can keep quiet now. The longer you stay quiet, the longer you get to live.”
One hand held her wrists pinned. The other hand was around her throat. She thought of Valerie Tate, just tossed away at the old diner.
Valerie hadn’t stayed quiet.
His fingers squeezed lightly. That was when she realized her captor was wearing gloves. Thick, rough gloves that chafed against her skin.
“Remember, not a sound,” he whispered.
He let her go.
Cadence slowly lowered her hands.
The bastard dug into my life. He found out about my mother.
The killer had profiled her.
“Fiona!” he called softly.
There was a faint rustle from about four feet away.
The light came on again. Only this time, it fell right on Fiona. She didn’t even blink when the light hit her. Her face was blank, empty. Just like a lifeless doll.
“Fiona, you did a very good job,” he said.
She gave the faintest of nods.
“It would have been easier if she’d just gotten into your car, but having her follow you worked just as well.” A pause. “How did you get her to chase after you so quickly?”
He doesn’t know about the note.
“Fiona?” he prompted when she said nothing.
“I got her,” Fiona whispered. “I proved myself, didn’t I?”
“Oh, yes, you
got her. But you haven’t proven yourself yet. Come here, Fiona.”
She shuffled toward him, the brightness growing around her as she neared the light.
Cadence didn’t move.
“You said she’d take my place,” Fiona mumbled, rubbing her arms. “Can I go? I want to go.”
“Not yet. You have to do one more thing first.”
He’ll never let you go! Cadence wanted to scream those words, but she bit them back. She understood how to play this game.
Then she saw the knife in the light. The knife he held in his gloved hand. “First, you have to drive this into the agent’s heart.”
Fiona froze. “She can’t take my place then.”
“You’ll prove yourself to me. Prove you will always obey me. That you love me.” No emotion or accent filled those dark words.
Cadence’s body tensed as she prepared to lunge at him.
That sonofabitch. This was how he exerted his ultimate control. He turned his victims into killers.
“Take the knife,” he told Fiona. “Shove it into her heart.”
Fiona shook her head. “I can’t.” Tears clogged her voice.
He lowered the knife. His other gloved hand came up. Curled around Fiona. Brought her closer to him.
Cadence couldn’t see his hands clearly. Couldn’t see Fiona clearly as the light focused—on me.
“When you first saw me, you were thinking about charging me, Agent Hollow. Fighting me. Killing me,” he said as the light shone onto her. “Know that if I die, no one will ever find the others.”
The others—alive or dead? She didn’t let the question slip free.
The longer you stay quiet…
“I said she’d take your place.” His voice had changed, softened. He was talking to Fiona once more. “I meant that.”
“Thank you!” Hope filled Fiona’s words. A hope that was painful to hear. “I want—”
When a knife sinks into flesh, it makes a wet sound that is both unmistakable and horrifying.
Cadence heard that sound in that instant. Then she heard the gurgle. The desperate gasp that came from Fiona.
“No!” The word was ripped from Cadence.
She sprang forward, her cuffed hands up.
She caught Fiona. The woman’s body came at her, and they fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs.
Fiona was shaking so hard. Cadence tried to ease her to the side. Tried to search for a wound.
The light hit the handle of the knife. The knife embedded in Fiona’s chest.
“Now you take her place.”
His footsteps scraped away.
She understood. Too late. If they won’t kill for him, then they die for him.
Fiona’s hand locked around Cadence’s wrist. “Help.”
There wasn’t anything she could do. Not with her hands cuffed. In the darkness.
Just then, she heard a creak.
It was the sound she’d heard before, when she was first pushed toward the flickering candle.
A door. Only it wasn’t closing this time.
“I’ll be back.” His voice drifted to her.
“Home,” Fiona begged. “T-take me.”
“I will,” Cadence promised. “I will.” Without his light, she couldn’t see the wound anymore. Could only curl her fingers around the knife’s handle. If she took out the knife, she could do more damage to Fiona. The blood would pump from the woman even faster. She had to leave it in place. “Help’s coming.” Kyle would be there. “We’ll get you to a hospital. We’ll get you home!” She didn’t want the words to be a lie. You weren’t supposed to make a promise to a victim, not one you couldn’t keep. You weren’t supposed to. “We’ll get you home,” Cadence said again.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. Just live, okay? Live. Fight and stay alive, and we’ll get out of here.”
“No.” His voice drifted to her, but sounded more distorted. Because he’d shut a door and sealed them inside? “You won’t.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
He saw the abandoned car. The trunk was still up.
You put her in there, didn’t you, you bastard?
Kyle shined his flashlight on the trunk, then he searched the ground. The storm was in full force, blowing so hard that Dani staggered beside him.
“They’re in the area,” he said. The car was still there. If the guy had rushed away, he would have needed the vehicle. The question now was…
Where exactly?
His light swept the scene. Twisting pines wrapped around the woods. If Cadence had gone through those trees, maybe she’d been led toward another cabin. A place like the one they’d found in Maverick.
He ran forward, his boots sticking in the mud. The mud. His light was shining on the ground then because he’d just seen the telltale sign of tracks in the mud. Tracks that didn’t head toward the pines, but instead toward a thick patch of bushes, a patch that had to be at least five feet tall.
Some of the bushes were broken. Bent. From the storm? Or from someone passing through them?
He grabbed for them even as he heard the sound of car doors slamming behind him. Their backup.
“Here!” he yelled. His hand had just shoved through those bushes and touched nothing. Absolutely fucking nothing.
Dani helped him to yank those bushes aside. The yawning entrance of a cavern stretched before him.
Dani’s hand reached out and locked around his arm. “Our girl’s in there.”
“Get lights!” he barked to the others. “As many as you can find! And rope!” They’d have rope in the back of their police cruisers. If this tunnel snaked out like the others had, they’d need to be able to find their way back outside.
“What if he’s set this place to explode, too?” Dani asked, having to shout to be heard over the storm.
The perp probably had set his traps. But the threat of an explosion wasn’t keeping Kyle back. “Watch your step!” he yelled to the others. “Every move you make, check! Look for trip wires. Look for any sign of a trap. We know how this SOB works.”
Kyle grabbed a flashlight. Checked his weapon. Then, because he couldn’t hold back any longer, he headed into the darkness.
With every step he took, he prayed Cadence was still alive. Trading her life for his sister’s—
I won’t do it.
He wanted Maria back, but he wasn’t about to give up the woman he needed more than air.
Help’s coming. The bitch’s words replayed through his mind as he ran through the tunnel. He wanted to go back to her. Wanted to play with Agent Hollow some more.
She’d done so well at keeping quiet.
Until he’d stabbed Fiona. Then Agent Hollow had cried out.
She should be punished for that. She’d broken the rule.
He’d planned to leave her in the dark. The dark made his prey afraid. It was the silence and the darkness that broke them so quickly.
Then he’d heard…Help’s coming. That was what she’d whispered to Fiona. He realized what a fucking fool he’d been.
Cadence had been too confident. Too certain. He had to get out of there. Had to check to see where McKenzie was.
He can’t be here.
As soon as he was sure Cadence’s words were a lie, he’d be back for her.
He’d finish what he’d started.
“Are any of the others alive?” Cadence asked as she bent over Fiona. Her fingers were at the other woman’s throat. Feeling the pulse struggling to beat.
Fiona’s breath wheezed out.
“Are the others alive, Fiona?”
“Jud…”
Judith isn’t alive any longer.
“Are others in these caves? Are more girls here?”
She felt the slow shake of Fiona’s head. Her pulse was even weaker beneath Cadence’s fingertips.
I have to get her help.
Cadence surged to her feet. She walked forward, with her hands out, movingly blindly in the darkness.
Tr
apped.
The blackness was so complete. Not a hint of light.
Every ragged breath seemed magnified.
Her hands scraped against rocks. The side of the cavern. She started walking around, moving her hands up and down as she tried to find an exit. A way out.
Wood.
Her breaths were even louder now as she slapped her hands against what she prayed was a door. But there was no knob on the door. Just old, rough wood. She shoved against the door.
It didn’t budge.
Again and again she hit the door. Pounding.
Then Cadence remembered…
Thud. Thud.
The sounds that had drawn her to Lily in the dark.
Lily had been trapped. Desperate. But she’d kept hitting out, kept making the thuds that had led Cadence and Kyle to her.
Cadence hit the door again and again.
She wasn’t just imagining what it was like to be a victim anymore.
She was one.
But Kyle was coming for her. She’d guide him to her location, the same way Lily had pulled them in.
Cadence lifted her bound hands and rammed them into the door.
Again and again.
She didn’t care if the sounds alerted her captor. If he came back in, she’d attack him with everything she had. Cadence was not going to just wait in the darkness, not just sit in the silence like a good little girl while Fiona died.
She drove her hands into the door.
I didn’t scream.
Cadence did. She screamed as loudly as she could.
Kyle froze when he heard the sounds. Pounding, like a hammer. Echoing. Sound traveled so well in the cavernous darkness.
Cadence.
He lowered his light to the ground. Made sure no trip wires were in place.
Then he fucking ran toward the sound.
The others were right behind him. Dani, who never went in the field but had stayed with him for Cadence. Heather and Randall. Two more cops trailed in the rear. They knew just how close they were to their prey.
His light hit a door. Old, wooden, with heavy slats running its length. “Cadence!”
The pounding stopped.
He saw a thick, metal latch and shoved it aside. It groaned as it slid free.
Then he shoved open the door.
His light hit Cadence—and the blood covering her. She stood just a few feet from the door, frozen like a statue.