by Bobby Cole
“Dixie! NO!” he screamed and then dove to shield Grayson from the blast.
Mark made a move to look toward Cooper’s scream when the dynamite landed at his feet. He couldn’t think. Everything was happening too fast. All he could do was scream, “Noooooooo!” as he spun and ran.
Mark didn’t get very far before the dynamite exploded.
CHAPTER 109
The old house and the very ground on which it stood shook and rumbled for a second time tonight, causing a collective gasp of horror. Then, for several seconds, there was not a sound. No words were spoken. A blanket of mist began falling. It was almost as if nothing had happened. The only tell was the palpable, permeating fear.
A CNN crew had slipped in and was interviewing the Montgomery DA with the old house as the backdrop when the explosion occurred. The DA wheeled around in astonishment. The camera operator, a veteran war correspondent herself, had the presence to keep rolling. She and her producer, who was watching live from inside the remote van and talking elatedly into her earpiece, knew they had just hit a highlight reel home run.
Brooke was the first to break the silence when she became hysterical and started screaming. She had to be physically restrained while paramedics from the second ambulance began searching for a stronger sedative to give her. Kelly, already restrained and sedated, was being attended to in another ambulance.
Obermeyer and his commander stood motionless and slack-jawed. After a moment and without a word, the weary detective walked out of the house into the rain and stared in his characteristic stand by mode. What the hell’s going on down there? Whatever it is, it’s not gonna end well.
When the initial shock of the explosion wore off, five minutes of pure chaos erupted in the on-duty ranks. Some kept hope alive by frantically returning to their tasks with renewed vigor. A few kept on but slowed down, with a dazed look. Some stopped altogether and just stood rooted to the spot as if afraid the ground might swallow them in the next moment. Others barked meaningless orders at everyone else.
The sheriff had been talking to Don Daniels when the explosion occurred, and he immediately raced inside the house and down to the cellar. Before Obermeyer had gone outside, through a window he saw Mr. Daniels nervously walk beyond the parked vehicles and slip into the woods, glancing back twice. In the mass confusion, no one else took note of him.
Obermeyer wiped the rain off his glasses as he thought of the effectiveness of Millie Brown’s snake trick. He was about to follow Don Daniels when Cooper’s BlackBerry vibrated the receipt of an incoming call. Without so much as a thoughtful “stand by,” he clicked the green button and said, “Hello?”
CHAPTER 110
The cavern was filled with dust, smoke, and fire. Cooper’s ears were ringing. His eyes and lungs burned. He grabbed Grayson’s shoulders, turned him to directly face him, and gave him a quick physical assessment. He didn’t appear to be injured. Without wasting any time, Cooper looked Grayson in the eye and held his right index finger to his lips, indicating that he should be quiet. Grayson’s eyes were wide and wet with tears, but he nodded his understanding.
Cooper leaned down to Grayson’s ear and whispered, “Hold on to my pant’s pocket. Okay?”
Grayson again nodded and did what he was told.
Cooper pulled out his pistol and held it at the ready as they walked slowly toward what was left of the cave entrance. Fresh dirt covered the hole completely, leaving no trace of Mark or Dixie. They must be buried.
Cooper had no desire to dig out Mark and really didn’t want to see Dixie after the trauma of a dynamite blast. He sank to his knees. Grayson did the same. That damned dog would retrieve anything, for anybody. Pausing before he stood, he realized there wouldn’t be anything left of Dixie. That last image of Dixie running for the dynamite was seared into his mind, and he knew that it would haunt him if he survived. I had to throw it; I didn’t have any choice. Wait, Dixie didn’t come in the cave with me.
“Was that your dog, Mister?” Grayson whispered.
“I thought your eyes were closed?” Cooper asked, turning to the small boy.
“I peeked.”
“Yeah… yes. Dixie. She is… I mean… it was. She was a good dog. A real good dog.” Cooper’s voice began to crack. Grayson put an arm around Cooper’s shoulder.
With squinting eyes, Grayson looked through the heavy dust and smoke and into Cooper’s heart. He said, “She musta been real smart too.” He paused a moment and then added, “I’m gonna get me a dog one day, and I’m gonna name her Dixie.”
Cooper realized that Grayson had been through an unbelievable ordeal and yet he was comforting him. What an amazing kid! Cooper then thought of his own son and gave Grayson a big hug, saying, “Every boy should have a dog like Dixie.” Cooper continued, “Come on. Let’s get outta here.” Cooper knew that they were still in a bad bind because he had no idea how to actually get out.
Both Grayson and Cooper were shivering and covered in dirt. The fires were playing out. And the thick smoke was exacerbating Cooper’s claustrophobia. He looked around, hoping to see it moving, indicating a way out.
Grayson mumbled something, causing Cooper to refocus and take a quick inventory. He still had his pistol and flashlight, and he knew how to get out of the main cavern, away from the smoke, to wait for rescuers. Shining his light around, Cooper glanced at the collapsed original tunnel he had crawled through to get into the cavern. He prayed that someone was digging toward them from the other side.
“Grayson, are you okay?” Cooper asked and watched him absently nod.
“Where’s my dad?” he asked, without much emotion.
Cooper didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t certain what the boy had seen, so he decided it best to get to safety and then let a professional explain. All that he knew was that he didn’t want Grayson melting down right now.
Cooper reached out to grab Grayson’s hand. “I don’t know. How ’bout we get outta here? Come on, big guy.”
Holding Grayson’s hand with his right and his small flashlight in his bloody left hand, he slowly started heading deeper into the cave in search of cleaner air and a safe place to await rescue. As they walked, his light reflected off a flying bat, and he immediately realized that there must be an opening to the outside. That musta been how Dixie got down here!
“Come on, Grayson,” he said, picking up the pace.
As they hurried, Cooper began to feel that he was getting weaker, and it occurred to him that it was the result of blood loss. He knew that if he was going to survive, waiting to be rescued wasn’t an option any longer.
CHAPTER 111
Mark missed the brunt of the explosion because he had managed to scramble a few feet away as the stick rolled into a crack of solid limestone, forcing the main thrust of the blast up and away from him. The explosion caused a cave-in, cutting him off from the main cavern. He was in bad shape: bruised, bloody, shot, and confused. He stood slowly. His ears were ringing; his shoulder was throbbing with each heartbeat, and pain coursed through his body with each breath. As he wiped the blood from his face on his sleeve, he noticed blood pouring from the gunshot wound.
Slowly regaining his balance and composure, Mark started for the cave exit. He felt for the remaining stick of dynamite. He still had a chance. It was simple. Climb out the tiny fracture and then blow it shut, leaving Cooper and Grayson to slowly die in the dark of starvation, assuming the whole cave didn’t collapse and crush them. He got his bearings and limped down the passage, wondering, Where in the hell did that freakin’ dog come from?
Cooper stopped to let Grayson catch his breath. The kid was exhausted and seemed asthmatic, but he refused to be carried. Cooper suspected he didn’t trust men and couldn’t blame him, given who his father was and how he had been mistreated. Based on the little Cooper knew, he wondered what all the boy had suffered at the hands of that psychopath. He thought about Ben’s innocent qualities and couldn’t comprehend someone harming a child. There’s a very special r
ing of Hell for child abusers and molesters! I hope you enjoy it, Mark!
Grayson and Cooper sat down on a rock to rest a moment. Again, Cooper looked at Grayson and held up his index finger to his mouth, signifying quiet. The only thing Cooper could hear was the ringing in his ears from the explosion. The flashlight beam was dimming, so he turned it off.
Grayson immediately cried, “No!” and began sniffling.
“It’s okay, Grayson. Don’t cry. I’m not gonna let anything happen to you,” Cooper said as he clicked it back on.
Cooper looked around, wondering where to search for the bats’ exit. His thoughts wandered to Dixie and how the hardheaded dog loved to retrieve everybody’s birds, much to his frustration. The reality that his life was in chaos was hitting him hard. He didn’t know if Kelly was safe outside with Brooke. He couldn’t understand Mark’s unbelievable anger toward him. He thought of his children, and then wondered what was going to happen to his business and to Gates. He started to worry that he would bleed to death before the rescuers arrived or before they found the way out, and then none of this would matter.
Cooper looked into Grayson’s hollow eyes filled with tears, and he knew that he was going to die making things right by that child and everyone else, including Dixie.
Cooper rose, and without saying anything so did Grayson, who reached for Cooper’s hand as they pushed deeper into the cave. Cooper was almost in a panic from the flashlight’s dimming beam and sped up. After they had traveled about two hundred yards, Cooper noticed blood in the dirt and smeared on the cave walls. He tried to determine whether this was from Mark’s earlier beaver-trap encounter or worse—if it was fresh, and Mark was somehow still alive. As Cooper pulled out his pistol, he whispered to Grayson to follow silently behind him.
Watching the cave ahead, Cooper worked the light into every crevice as his nerves began to unwind. Mark’s blood spoor was becoming steady, and he also noticed his dog’s tracks. Several times when he stopped short, Grayson bumped him, so again he put Grayson’s small hand into his back pocket, hoping that he could tell when he was stopping. The cave was getting smaller and tighter the farther they went.
Mark smiled as he made it to the cave’s opening, knowing that he would get away and that Cooper and Grayson were going to die in a few moments. Even if the cops were crawling all over the old house, Mark was safe. This unknown exit was almost half of a mile from the house, on the property’s boundary line, and huge rocks on a hillside hid it. Brush was grown up around the fracture in the rocks, which was just large enough for a man to squeeze through. A long fuse would give him time to be well on his way before permanently sealing shut his past. Though he was physically feeling worse, mentally things were getting clearer and brighter.
Cooper thought he heard something up ahead and quickly turned off the light. Grayson began to complain, but Cooper quickly shushed him. Though Cooper’s ears were ringing, and he didn’t fully trust what he heard, he listened intently. He thought he heard voices—one of which he did not want to hear.
Mark had pushed the goggles up on his forehead as he began crawling out the narrow slit. The air was heavy. Halfway out, he noticed someone’s silhouette. Fear gripped him until his eyes adjusted, and he realized that it was his crazy uncle, Jubal Daniels, sitting on a stump, rubbing the head of a wet black dog sitting next to him.
“Damn it, old man, you scared the shit out of me, and that crazy dog almost got me killed!”
The old man, wearing his distinctive trench coat and wide-brimmed black hat, which drooped from the rain, stared back.
“Give me a hand, my arm’s busted up,” Mark commanded, reaching out with his good arm. “Help me, damn it!”
The old man sat motionless less than fifteen feet away.
“Besides bein’ completely crazy, are you deaf too?” Mark said, continuing to struggle through the small gap. I’m gonna gutshoot that damned dog of yours if you don’t help me!”
Mark looked around for something to grab onto when suddenly a boot slammed down on his injured hand. The pain was so stunning he couldn’t utter a sound before momentarily blacking out. When he regained consciousness, he was looking down the barrel of a large pistol. As his glance shifted to the old man, he could sense a change in the man who Mark had abused since he was a teenager. The old man had been emotionless for as long as Mark could remember. He had silently endured beatings and emotional abuse, yet hung around like a spirit-broken dog, cowering in the presence of anyone, especially Mark.
“Look, old man. You better pull me outta here! We’re family, and you ain’t got much left,” Mark said hatefully.
“I can’t let you hurt that little boy no more,” Jubal said in a tired voice.
Mark hadn’t heard him speak in years. With clear determination and purpose, the old man thumb-cocked the revolver.
“Don’t do it, Jubal,” Don Daniels calmly commanded as he approached the scene. “That little peckerhead’s mine.”
The old man took a step back, his pistol still trained on Mark’s head.
Don Daniels took pleasure in Mark’s obvious shock at seeing him alive. “Surprised, aren’t you?” Without waiting on a reply, he continued, “Do you know what you have done? Don’t you have the ability to stick to a plan? Answer me!”
“I had to improvise!”
“Killin’ me was your idea of improvising?” Don calmly asked, watching Mark’s eyes.
Jubal looked back and forth between the men, confused.
“I… I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about,” Mark stuttered, struggling to say something.
“Mark, I’m tired of it. You have screwed everything up! Again. After all I’ve done for you and your momma. This is how you repay me?”
Cooper and Grayson slowly eased closer to the voices. Cooper could clearly hear Mark’s voice and quickly turned around to Grayson, whose eyes were wide, and said, “Don’t say a word or make a sound. Okay?”
Grayson obviously heard his father’s voice, too, but simply nodded his understanding.
Cooper couldn’t fathom how Mark was still alive. He listened intently, trying to determine what was being said and by how many. I gotta get closer.
Cooper instructed Grayson to sit quietly on a rock. He gave him the flashlight, telling him not to turn it on unless he told him it was okay. Grayson sat and pulled his knees up tight to his chest.
Cooper whispered, “Everything’s gonna be all right. I promise.” He then gave Grayson a hug before he stepped away.
The cave narrowed considerably as Cooper inched closer to the voices. His claustrophobia was in uncharted territory, but knowing that Mark was alive and still in the cave gave him something beside that panic on which to concentrate. The closer he got, the tighter he squeezed the grip of his pistol. His sweat poured.
Cooper stood hunched over, listening. Mark was close. Cooper could hear something scraping on rocks but couldn’t see his hand directly in front of his eyes, so he decided he’d light his lighter. Aiming the pistol in the direction of the voices, he flicked on the lighter, illuminating the lower half of Mark’s body sticking halfway through a small opening. That’s the way out!
Cooper quickly extinguished the lighter. The fact that Mark was unaware of Cooper’s presence gave him a moment to consider his next move. Hearing voices outside convinced him to be patient and to listen for anything that might help him understand what was happening. Cooper inched closer and decided that if Mark made even a slight move, he’d shoot him in the ass and take his chances with whoever was outside.
The closer Cooper got to Mark, the more confident he became. Watching Mark’s legs slowly move reminded him of the rattlesnake he killed. The movement wasn’t accomplishing anything, it was just nerves reacting to tension. As one of the voices outside became intense, Mark’s legs frantically tried to find purchase.
The mist turned to rain as Don and Jubal Daniels stood staring down with disgust at Mark, half of his body was out of the small hole, and he was clawing in
vain to pull himself free.
Don squatted down close to Mark’s face and said, “If you’d just stayed on script and laid low, Cooper’s land option would have expired, and I could have added that piece to all I’ve been buying up around here to sell to Toyota. You’re a stupid son of a bitch! All I needed was this last piece of the puzzle. Once that old black woman learned that Cooper wasn’t the saint she thought he was, I coulda got it for a song. The last piece woulda been in place. I already had the whole thing sold to the Japanese. I’da cleared twenty-five million! Don’t you get it?! Everybody coulda had everything they ever wanted. I’da made a fortune and walked away, never to be seen again. You coulda been president of the bank, and you coulda lured Brooke back with the Tower Agency. I’d have given it all to ya. I never wanted that ad agency anyway. But I guess it was just too damn complicated for your jealous, drug-addled mind to comprehend. Don’t you realize how much twenty-five-million dollars is and how rare of a chance this was? You’re an idiot! You’ve destroyed my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—my chance to get out. I’m so freakin’ tired of the banking business—the shitty rink-a-dink ten-grand loans to some bubba who wants to open a bait shop, givin’ mortgages to folks who can’t afford a single-wide trailer much less a quarter-of-a-million-dollar mortgage that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae force us to make, and all the bounced checks and the government auditors up my ass with a microscope! I was gonna get out! I had it all set up. Don’t you see what you’ve done?!”
“Well, uh, I… I… I was, well, it’s like this, Uncle Don, I couldn’t… I just couldn’t let anybody else have Brooke. She wanted Cooper, and it just makes me crazy to think about it!”
Lightning flashed. Don could see the fear in his nephew’s eyes. He hated Mark for who he was and what he had done.