“Maybe.” Christiaan’s voice dropped to a threatening octave. “But if I see one word about it on the Internet, I’ll push forward at twice the pace.”
The Internet. Vicky quickly brought up the browser and accessed the History file. Empty. Of course.
“No trash mag sites. No porn links.” Frustrated, she slouched back into the chair. “No cool YouTube videos.”
“Trash mags and porn sounds like Baz. YouTube? What was so interesting there?”
“Well, it was a really cool animation by the group Die Frackers Die on how injecting high-pressure fluids into the ground could contribute to earthquakes.”
“Die Frackers Die?” Christiaan commented, raising an eyebrow. “Really?”
“I know. The name sounds like they’re a little out there—”
“A little?”
She shook her head. “But the animation was incredible. It showed how if several fluid injections are accidentally placed near mapped as well as unmapped fault zones, it could cause a major problem.”
“Hmm.” Christiaan crossed his arms and frowned.
“I get it. You’re skeptical.” Wait! Maybe she could find the video herself. Vicky typed “Die Frackers Die Earthquake YouTube Video” into the browser and pressed Enter.
Unable to connect to the Internet.
Argh! So much for noticing the big old red X over the Internet connection indicator in the right-hand corner of the screen.
“Well, the point of it all had something to do with things called tectonic plates and seismic threats, i.e., earthquakes that could level entire regions. I didn’t pay as much attention as I should have. I’d planned on googling and studying it later at the office.”
“Interesting.” He simply nodded.
“I know. You don’t believe me.”
“No, it’s just that—” The sound of a door slamming shut cut him off. Too far away to be the site office one. Vicky jumped up to peek out the window. Christiaan followed right behind her.
For a second, nothing looked any different from when they’d arrived. Then, two workers came out of the storage building, the heavy door banging behind them. Wheeling a hand truck, they headed toward the pallets. There, they loaded up six bags before stopping to drink from a flask.
“What do you think they’re doing?” Vicky pressed her face against the window.
“Other than drinking on the job? I don’t know. Let’s ask.” He headed outside with her hot on his heels.
“Hey! You there!” Christiaan yelled.
Both men startled, turned to see who called, and then started running.
“Wait!” Christiaan called out. “I’d like to talk to you!”
Without a look back, the men made a beeline for the ridge.
“Potverdomme!” Christiaan stopped short next to the hand truck. “What’s wrong with them?”
“My… guess…” Vicky stopped talking long enough to catch her breath. So much for the ER doc’s suggestion to take it easy. “They think… you’re somebody… important and… you’ll either fire… them for the… alcohol or for stealing…” She nodded toward the stack of blasting caps.
“For all I know, they don’t even work for me. And considering this site is supposed to be closed, then they are stealing. Come on. Let’s see if we can get some answers.”
Christiaan broke into a sprint while Vicky struggled to keep up. Demerol and running do not mix. Reaching the edge of the tree line, he stopped to let her catch her breath.
“We lost them.” He turned a three-sixty. “Where could they have gone?”
“Any number… of places.” With one arm, Vicky made a sweeping gesture. “There are some… natural hot springs dotted… around here as well as… a few old steam caves.”
“Steam caves?”
“Groundwater heated by underground lava chambers… becomes steam. It’s the same natural process that… produces the hot springs around here. Geothermal energy. There’s a whole network of caves and tunnels throughout the property. A wide web that darts in and out of the ridge and up and down from the ground.” She stood tall and crossed her arms defensively. “You know, the whole reason you’re trying to turn this beautiful, natural place into your renewable energy extravaganza.”
“Is it safe?”
“Your plan to wreak havoc on the ecosystem and displace thousands of species? No, but I thought I already told you how I feel about that.”
“Yes.” Christiaan nodded and laughed. “You’ve made yourself quite clear on that particular subject. No, I meant the steam in the caves. Is it safe?”
“Quite safe. The steam is from groundwater, not lava. So no poisonous gases.”
A piercing squawk nearly drowned out the end of Vicky’s answer. The hawk that had plagued them both earlier circled overhead.
“Let’s find one of those caves before Mama Bird here attacks.” He extended his arm in an invitation to go ahead of him. “Point me in the right direction, guide lady.”
“I believe there’s one not too far from here.” Vicky headed out, keeping parallel to the ridgeline. Within minutes, she spotted the entrance as well as footprints indicating someone had recently been there. “This might be where your workers went.”
“Lead on.”
Entering the dark cave, Vicky reached for her backpack to grab a flashlight. Damn.
“Remember? You forgot your backpack.”
Wait! She unzipped the kangaroo pocket on her pullover, dug out two emergency glowsticks, and handed one to Christiaan. Thank God I’m not a complete idiot. Tearing open the outer wrapper, Vicky snapped then shook the stick. Christiaan mimicked her actions with his. In seconds, warm yellow light pushed at the darkness. Not luminous, but better than nothing.
Hooking the glowsticks onto their zipper pulls, they headed further into the black and steam. “Stay close.” Without thinking, she reached behind her to grab her husband’s hand. Her heart jolted the moment they touched. The instinctive response to him was so powerful her legs almost buckled. She reveled in the singular sensation of his touch.
Then he dropped her hand like a hot potato.
“Sorry.” Vicky cleared her throat, hoping he didn’t notice her emotional unbalance.
“No problem. I’ll just stay close behind you, okay?”
Ahhh… So close she could feel the heat from his body.
“Su—” She swallowed tightly. “Sure.” Focus, girl. Focus!
A significant feat considering they were now far enough into the cave that all outside light had disappeared. Ahead, a faint trail of steam indicated the source might be down a narrow passageway.
“Do you really think those guys went down this way?” he asked as they headed that direction.
Muffled voices—or something that sounded like muffled voices—echoed down the corridor.
“Obviously,” Vicky answered.
“Hello?” Christiaan called out. “Is anyone in here?”
A low rumble answered. Suddenly, the ceiling caved in.
“Come on!” Christiaan grabbed her hand and started running back towards the main entrance, rocks raining down from all sides. Dust flew everywhere, getting in their eyes, their hair, and their mouths.
A boulder rolled into their path, knocking Vicky off her feet. Christiaan stopped to pull her back up. The effort seemed hopeless as the surrounding walls appeared to be caving in on top of them. Sharp stone edges dug into her shoulders and arms as she bounced off the sides, struggling to keep up. A small rock bit into her cheek, and she licked the metallic taste of blood off her upper lip.
The closer they got to the main cave, the less dust and steam there was. As suddenly as it began, the rumbling ceased. Vicky aimed the glowstick miraculously still attached to her pullover toward the entrance.
Or what should have been the entrance.
But it was gone. Rocks jammed together like puzzle pieces now barred their escape. Christiaan pulled up short.
“Potverdomme!” he managed to grunt out before ha
ving a coughing fit.
Vicky tried lifting one of the boulders out of the way. It didn’t move.
Christiaan pushed against the rocks. “Nothing!”
“Maybe together,” Vicky said before knocking a few coughs—and tons of dust—from her lungs. On reflex, she reached for the ice axe hanging from her hip. Nothing. Damn, I forgot that, too.
They both struggled to move a rock… any rock… a few inches, but failed.
“Maybe there’s another way out.” Christiaan retreated back down the narrow passageway. Obviously not far because the light from his glowstick didn’t completely disappear.
“See anything?” she called after him.
“Lots of rocks. Lots and lots of rocks.”
“Any openings?”
“Nothing. Not even a crack.” He reappeared and sat down next to her on a boulder.
They remained quiet for a bit, each contemplating their situation.
Christiaan broke the silence first. “No one knows we’re here.”
“Not a soul.” She shook her head in the negative, then took a deep breath. “And I stupidly forgot all my gear, and you stupidly forgot your phone.”
“Thanks for stating the obvious,” he muttered. “We zijn de lul.”
“Yep,” Vicky concurred. “We’re screwed.”
Totally.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
What a difference five days makes.
Vicky wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead.
Five days ago, she’d woken up in her lodge, ready for another uneventful day.
Five days ago, she’d headed up the mountain, ready for another uneventful rescue.
She peered over at her husband, seated near her on one of the many boulders the rockslide... the seismic tremor… the… the… the whatever had knocked loose.
Five days ago, she’d so-o-o-o not been ready for all of this.
Another bead of sweat formed on her brow. At least the cold wasn’t on her growing list of worries. Heated air blowing through the cave from the geothermic wells offered them warmth as well as oxygen.
Christiaan yanked off his pullover to reveal an already-taut, drenched-in-sweat polo shirt that clung to his body like Vicky had wanted to for days. The painkillers might be screwing with her memory, but she swore he was sexier now than when they were married. And he’d been Brad Pitt/Channing Tatum/Adam Levine sexy then!
She bit her lip to stop the sexual growl forming in her throat. Tilting his head, Christiaan peered at her strangely, his piercing blue eyes boring straight into her. It unnerved her that he still had this kind of hold on her body. She shifted her seat on the rock to stop the sexual growl forming between her celibate-for-too-damn-long legs.
Argh! If I had any sense left, I’d get as far away from him as I could. Even if that meant only to the other side of the cave.
He leaned over and brushed away a sweat bead headed down her face. Inches from his, her mouth went ferociously dry as she battled the urge to lick perspiration from his upper lip. She leaned in two seconds before Christiaan rocked back and ran a hand over his face.
Obviously, sense was on vacation.
Vicky stood and hurried over to the blocked entrance a few feet away. Five days ago, she’d believed this man capable of lying, cheating, and murder. But everything she’d learned since then proved one irrefutable thing… she’d been a complete fool to believe him capable of any of that. How could she have been so wrong? How could she have overreacted so badly?
Because you were a low-self-esteem drunk willing to believe what everyone else said about you, your husband, and your marriage.
She sighed. Baz had suggested that very thing when she’d cried on his shoulder her last day in The Netherlands, before she’d headed to the airport. He’d handed her the keys to her car and told her not to worry about anything. He’d take care of everything.
Then all hell broke loose. And Brianna ceased to exist.
“So, what happened?” Christiaan’s soothing voice slid over Vicky like silk.
“I don’t know.” She ran a trembling hand through her hair. “One minute, I was a woman on a mission, and the next, I no longer existed.”
“One minute you were… what?” Christiaan’s laugh pierced her thoughts.
“What?”
“Earth to Vicky. I said, ‘What just happened?’.” He shrugged his shoulders and gestured around the cave.
“Oh… Oh!” The too-damn-close personal revelation sent her mind reeling. “You… uh… you meant the tremor.” She shoved one of the boulders at the entrance with her foot and tried to refocus her attention. Of course, it didn’t move. “I… I have no… no idea. They occur on a semi-regular basis on Shasta, just like the one that trapped my arm earlier. Last I read, California has something like thirty-seven-thousand a year. Some tremors barely register. Others cause minor rock slides. Not surprising considering three-hundred fault lines run beneath the entire state.”
Brushing aside some loose rock from the entrance, she hoped some… any… outside light might reach through. No such luck. “Caves appear and disappear all the time.” She pushed against another stone. Again, not a budge. “Guess my timing with rocks isn’t very good today.”
“First rule of crisis management… assess your situation.” Christiaan rose and began pacing. “We’re stuck in a small cave with no water, no food, and no source of communication. Two sticks of light are our only source of illumination, and no one has any idea where we are. Does that sound like a fair assessment?”
Ever the pragmatist. There’s the man I fell in love with. Vicky leaned against the blocked entrance to watch him in action. “What’s the next rule?”
“Gather all the facts. Fact one… the rocks blocking our escape are immovable.”
Vicky chimed in. “Fact two… geothermic warm air is reaching us from the tunnels so we won’t suffocate and freeze to death.”
“Hot, geothermic energy at its best.” Christiaan pulled his soaked shirt away from his chest, fanning.
Vicky stepped toward him then caught herself. A sharp intake of air followed by a long, slow groan out barely tamped down the involuntary urge to rip off that soaked shirt and cover his chest with hers. “Hot. Yes, very hot.”
As usual, he was oblivious to her physical response. “Fact three… not only does no one know where we are, but no one has any reason to come look for us.”
Somebody please find us. Her gaze trailed down the length of his long, lean body. And save me from myself.
Christiaan stopped pacing directly in front of her, his face a strange study of quiet concentration and relentless purpose mixed with intense desire. His eyes burned into hers. A ripple of excitement spread through her and settled between her legs. She moved toward him, and his ragged breath confirmed her suspicion. He wanted her just as much as she wanted him.
But he wanted Vicky. She wanted him to want Bri.
Don’t I? No. He’d never forgive Bri for what you’ve done. Bri. Is. Dead.
“Third rule?” She leaned closer.
“Develop a plan of action.” The smile in his eyes was downright sinful.
“Which, in our case, means wait.”
“With fingers crossed. But for how long?”
Long enough to make love? Vicky chuckled. Buried alive in a cave with no immediate means of escape and all she could think about was sex. Wow, Rainbow would have a field day with this.
Rainbow!
“Wait!” Vicky brushed past him to the other side of the cave. “It’s a long shot, but I usually have breakfast with the ShastaWatch crew on Thursday mornings. Rainbow will worry if I don’t show up.”
He answered with a pained grunt followed by, “Enough to look for you?”
“Yeah, she’ll show up here eventually, especially if she talks to Duff. I ran into him earlier today not too far from here. Hopefully, when she sees my truck parked by the trailer, she’ll look around, maybe find our tracks…” Vicky tilted her head and shrugged her shoulders.
>
“Definitely a long shot, but it’s all we’ve got.” Christiaan headed toward the opposite side of the cave.
“I guess it’s a good thing we ate earlier. That should hold us through the night.” All night… together. She stared at the floor, irritated at the conflicting emotions spinning within her. With all her being, she wanted to make love to her husband. But would that be fair to him? To her? To them?
“What’s this?” Christiaan’s voice saved her from the turmoil.
She looked up to see him staring at something on one of cave walls. Carved into the rock were two human figures running away from a bird toward a mountain. Christiaan pointed to the creature and laughed.
“Obviously, we’re not the first people to be tortured by a hawk.”
“Neat.” Vicky walked over, then traced the drawing with her finger. “Old Indian petroglyphs. Chief Running Bear once told me there were lots of drawings in the caves, but I’ve never seen any of them until now.”
“Chief Running Bear?”
“Yes, he’s the spiritual leader of the Shasta Indians.” She sighed. “Was the spiritual leader of the Shasta Indians. I met him when I first moved here.”
“Sounds like you really miss him.”
She nodded. “I do. He taught me all about Mother Shasta and how she and the people are interconnected.” He’d helped her let go of the past and begin anew. To say goodbye to Brianna and embrace Vicky.
She pointed to another petroglyph a few inches below. The etching showed a line of figures coming out of a mountain and walking down the side. “See, the Shasta Indians believe that they and the mountain are one in the same. That their strength comes directly from Mother Shasta.”
“You say that with such reverence. I noticed that when you were talking to the reporter at the beginning of our summit climb. The chief must have really fired you up.”
“He did.” Vicky teared up at the memory of the man who meant so much to her rebirth. “He really did.”
Christiaan followed the curve of the wall. “Wow, look at this one.” He gestured toward a drawing of a couple holding hands, standing in front of a blazing sun. He snorted. “This one reminds me of some pictures Bri and I saw on our honeymoon. Somewhere we were hiking in Sweden had a spot that supposedly used to be an ancient Norse honeymoon spot. Bri insisted we hike miles and miles up a mountain to see the spot because local folklore said newlyweds viewing the drawings there would be ensured good luck throughout their marriage.” He snorted again. “A lot of good it did us.”
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