by Elle James
Striker growled low in his chest but didn’t snap at Jake.
Jake straightened, holding the sixty-pound dog against his chest. He turned and started toward RJ. “Go.”
She turned and shined the light forward, moving quickly and steadily, shining the light backward whenever an obstruction got in Jake’s way.
Not that he could see over the dog in his arms. He did the best he could, feeling his way with his good foot and stumbling when his prosthesis encountered an impediment.
Striker didn’t fight his hold, and for that, Jake was grateful.
A loud bang sounded further down the tunnel, like the report of gunfire.
Striker jerked in Jake’s arms.
“Wait,” Jake said.
“There’s only one way out,” RJ said. “The way we came in.” She pulled her gun out and held it in front of her. “We have no choice.”
“Then hold onto Striker while I go ahead.” He set the dog on the ground, holding tightly to his collar.
RJ took over control of the animal.
Jake didn’t let go of the dog until RJ had a firm grip on him.
He took the light from her and led the way.
When they arrived at the Y in the tunnel, he stopped. “Son of a bitch.”
RJ came up beside him with Striker.
The entrance to the shaft had been covered with the metal grate that had been lying on top of the wooden boards.
A heavy ore bucket stood in front of the grate, holding it in place.
A lump on the rails in front of the grate stirred and groaned. It was a man.
All Jake could see was the man’s silhouette.
“He shot me,” the man said. “That bastard shot me.” His voice was weak and accompanied by a gurgling rasp.
RJ started to go to the man.
Jake held her back. “Don’t.”
A voice shouted from outside the mine entrance, “Thanks for making this easy.”
“You bastard, you shot me,” the man on the ground said, his voice fading. “I did everything you asked me to.”
“And you tried to blackmail me,” the outside guy said.
“Mr. Orlacek?” RJ called out.
“Yeah. Like it matters that you know who’s been mucking around in your mine. In a few minutes, you’ll all be buried beneath a ton of rocks. No one will know.”
“Why, Mr. Orlacek?” RJ beseeched. “I thought you, Marty and Gunny were friends.”
“They would’ve sold out to that fancy schmancy mining company. Some rich bastard would’ve gotten all that gold that should’ve come to me from Finian’s Folly Mine. I inherited that mine. That gold belongs to me.”
“Killing Marty and Gunny wouldn’t get you that gold. Why did you try?”
“It would’ve kept Omega from coming in and setting up a huge mine. I’ve been working the Folly a little at a time. I’ve been putting back gold for a decent retirement. I just needed a little more time. Omega wouldn’t have given that to me. So, I’m shutting it down, blowing the tunnels. If I can’t have that gold, no one will have it. Not Omega, not Marty and not Gunny.”
“Mr. Orlacek, you don’t have to do this. Gunny doesn’t want that gold, and he doesn’t want to sell Lost Valley. He just wants to run his ranch and bar and be happy doing it.”
“Yeah? Well, when you inherit it from Gunny, you’ll sell it. That damned conservation district my grandfather allowed to be assigned to the land tied my hands. I can’t mine what belongs to me. And those tunnels from my mine onto your property still belong to me. I should get the gold from them. Not Omega or any other bigshot mining conglomeration. The mining stops here. It’s over.”
“Get back down the other tunnel,” Jake said. “Now.” He grabbed her arm and dragged her into the right tunnel away from the one Striker had found the explosives in. “Run,” he said. Holding onto her hand, he dragged her and Striker deeper into the mountain, praying that this tunnel led far enough away from the other that the explosion wouldn’t effect it.
They’d gone another hundred steps into the opposite tunnel when a loud boom shook the mountain.
“Get down!” Jake yelled. He threw her to the ground and covered her body with his.
Rocks broke from overhead and crashed down on him, pummeling his back with the force. Dust filled the tunnel, choking off the little bit of light his cellphone produced.
“Cover your mouth and nose,” he cried out, pulling his T-shirt up to do the same. He closed his eyes and willed the ground to quit shaking and the ceiling to hold.
When the earth stilled, Jake moved. Rocks and gravel rolled off his back. He pushed to his knees and felt for RJ beneath him. “Jules, sweetheart. Are you all right?”
For a moment, she said nothing. Then she shifted beneath him. “I’m all right,” she said and coughed. “Striker?”
The dog whined and came to stand in front of her. He licked her face and whined again.
“Good boy,” she said and laughed. “We’re alive.”
Jake pushed to a sitting position and shined the cellphone light around the tunnel.
Behind them, the tunnel had collapsed with rocks piled high, blocking their escape. In the other direction, the tunnel was relatively intact. Where it went, he didn’t have a clue.
“I figure we only have an hour or less left on the battery in my cellphone, if that much,” he said.
“We aren’t getting out that way,” RJ said, looking back. “Are we trapped?”
“I saw a copy of the map Barnes sent. These shafts have vents that lead to the surface. It was the way they kept fresh air coming in for the miners to breathe. We can wait here and hope someone finds us and digs us out without collapsing the tunnel further, or we can follow this tunnel and see if leads to one of the air vents.”
“I’m not one to sit around and wait to die. Let’s find our own way out of here.” RJ stood, brushed the dust off her and followed Jake through the tunnel.
Jake prayed it didn’t lead to a dead end. The explosion could’ve made different parts of the mine collapse. He hoped this tunnel had been spared, and that it led out of the mountain.
“Just so you know, I like you more than a lot,” Jake said as they walked along. “I have to believe that we lived through that explosion for a reason. If it’s for no other purpose than for you to take me to a Sadie Hawkins dance, I’m good with that.”
RJ laughed. “I believe we’re still alive so we can get out of here and turn Orlacek over to the authorities for the murders of Larry Sarley and Robert Henderson. And we can’t let him hurt Gunny.”
“That, too.” He reached for her hand and held it as they walked through the tunnel. “But I’m really looking forward to dancing with you again.”
“And you will. I haven’t given up hope.”
If RJ could be positive, so could Jake. He’d dig with his fingers to get them out of there. Damn it, they couldn’t die. Not now. Not when they’d just found each other.
Striker ran ahead of them.
“Think he’s found some more dynamite?” RJ asked.
“God, I hope not,” Jake said.
The farther they went, the wetter the floor of the tunnel became until they were slogging through an ankle-deep stream.
Jake’s pulse kicked up. “Do you see light ahead?” Jake fumbled with the cellphone. “I’m turning off the cellphone flashlight. Don’t worry. I can turn it back on.”
He turned off the light and held his breath while his vision adjusted.
Ahead, he could see a faint glow.
“It is a light,” RJ said, her voice excited.
Striker barked from a long way away.
Jake turned the flashlight back on. “Come on. Striker’s onto something.”
Still holding hands, they started to run, stumbled and nearly fell and then slowed to a fast walk, picking their way over the rubble beneath the surface of the stream flowing at their feet.
The tunnel made a gentle curve to the right. Ahead, the glow was a brigh
t light shining in from a small opening where the stream flowed through it.
Striker stood on a ledge near the opening, as if waiting for them.
When they approached, he jumped into the water and swam to the opening and disappeared.
“Striker!” RJ cried out.
When he didn’t return, she squeezed Jake’s hand. “If nothing else, he made it out.”
“If he can make it out, so can we. I’ll go first and check it out.”
Handing RJ the cellphone, Jake waded toward the small hole. The frigid water got deeper, until it was up to his waist. His teeth chattered, and he fought to keep from being swept through with the current. He didn’t know what was on the other side. For all he knew it could be a two-hundred-foot drop.
One step at a time, he moved forward. The gap between the water and the top of the tunnel was only a couple inches. He’d have to go under to get out. “I’ll see you on the other side,” he said and ducked beneath the surface. The current lifted him and forced him through the opening.
Chapter 15
As the man she was falling in love with disappeared beneath the water, RJ took several steps forward. “Jake!”
She waded deeper, the chill of the stream taking her breath away. “Jake!”
Her heart froze in her chest, and she couldn’t remember how to breathe. “Oh, sweet Jesus, please.”
“Jules,” Jake’s voice echoed from the other side.
RJ let go of the breath she’d been holding in a whoosh. She stumbled forward, still holding the cellphone lighting her way. Before she reached the opening to the tunnel, the current whipped her feet out from under her.
She barely had time to suck in air when she plunged beneath the surface. Moments later, she was out of the tunnel, falling a short distance to a pool of icy cold water.
She only went under for a moment when strong arms surrounded her and pulled her to the surface. The water was only four feet deep when she got her feet beneath her.
“Come on. We need to get out of this before we freeze.” Jake held her hand as they waded to the shore.
Striker stood on the bank of a stream, shaking water from his thick coat.
Once out of the water, RJ wrapped her arms around Jake’s neck. “That scared me,” she admitted.
“It was just a little swim.”
“No. It scared me that you disappeared. I didn’t know if you were alive or dead.” She hugged him again and leaned up on her toes to kiss him hard on the mouth.
He laughed and held her close. “We’re not out of the woods yet. Orlacek is still on the loose, and your father should be back at the lodge, if not on his way to find us.”
“Damn. I didn’t t-think about that. We h-have to get back to the mine entrance before Gunny does. Orlacek is bat-shit crazy and dangerous.”
“Based on the direction the tunnel led from the shaft entrance, we can follow this mountain around this side, and we should come out just below where we entered.”
Shivering, RJ started the hike around the side of the mountain, climbing over rocks and through crevices. If it was tough going for her, she could imagine how hard it was for Jake.
Still, he kept up, never complaining.
RJ saw the horses in the distance, down below the ridge. They were almost back around.
At that moment, the sound of small engines caught her attention. She glanced down the hill at three approaching four-wheelers.
“No,” she cried. “We’re not going to get there before they do.”
“We will,” Jake said. “And if we don’t, we’ll be there in time to save them. I promise.”
They ran faster, slipping on the rocks, picking themselves up and continuing forward. Every step brought them closer to helping her father, Kujo and Thorn.
Still too far away to yell over the sound of the engines, RJ watched as the ATVs shot over the top of the ridge.
Moments later, they heard the sound of gunfire.
Striker cowered low, and then shot away from them, heading up the hill.
“Striker, no!” RJ ran faster. When she reached the top of the hill, she burst out into the open, with her gun drawn, praying it would work after being submerged in the icy stream.
Gunny, Kujo and Thorn were hunkered low behind giant boulders while Michael Orlacek waved his handgun, using the ore bucket for cover. “It’s too late. No one will get that gold now. No one.”
“Mike, I don’t care about the gold. I just want my daughter,” Gunny called out.
“She’s dead. Buried in that mine shaft. You heard the explosion. She’s inside, trapped, dead, I tell you.”
“You’re wrong,” RJ called out. “You blew up the wrong tunnel.”
Orlacek turned his gun toward her.
RJ raised hers and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.
A shot was fired.
RJ looked down at her body, waiting for the bullet to hit and pain to rip through her. When it didn’t, she glanced up.
Michael Orlacek swayed, his eyes wide, his gun dangling from his fingertips. Then he crashed to the ground and lay still.
RJ turned to find Jake breathing hard, the hand holding his gun slowly lowering to his side.
“Woman,” he ground out hoarsely, “don’t ever scare me like that again.”
She ran to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Then she turned to the men coming out from behind the boulders.
“Anyone hurt?” Jake asked.
“My pride and a few scrapes and bruises,” Gunny grumbled, holding his bleeding arm. “I didn’t think we’d be shot at coming over the top of the rise. Need to check the four-wheelers. We had to ditch them in a hurry.”
“We were just about to take him out when RJ came out of nowhere. She was between us and the gunman,” Kujo said.
“That’s Mike Orlacek,” Gunny said, gazing down at the body. “That crazy son of a bitch. I should’ve known he was behind this. He tried to give me a low-ball offer for the Lost Valley Ranch a year ago. When I refused, he got all belligerent. Haven’t spoken to him since.”
“He had Larry Sarley kill Robert Henderson,” RJ said. “Then he killed Larry and buried him in the mine shaft.” She tipped her head toward the rubble that had been the entrance into the tunnel.
“He said he buried you alive in there,” Gunny closed the distance between himself and his daughter, taking her into his arms for one of those bear hugs she’d always loved. “I’m glad he didn’t succeed. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“I’m useless; I couldn’t shoot that bastard.”
“That’s why you have Jake around.” Gunny shot a glance toward Jake. “Thank you.”
Jake nodded. “I’m just glad we got here in time.”
“Guess we’ll be spending lots of time together in the future,” Gunny held out his hand, “if you still want to make Lost Valley Ranch home to the Brotherhood Protectors in Colorado.”
“I’m still in, if you daughter wants me to hang around.”
She hooked her arm through his elbow and leaned into him. “He promised to go with me to the Sadie Hawkins Dance. He might change his mind after he sees how hopeless I am dancing the two-step.”
“The hell you are.” Gunny puffed out his chest. “I taught you everything I know. It’s the reason why her mother—”
“—fell in love with you,” RJ smiled into her father’s eyes. “Nothing says love like a man who can dance, right?”
“Damn right.” Gunny grinned and shot a narrow-eyed glance at Jake. “Remember that.”
Jake gave him a serious look. “Yes, sir.”
RJ hooked her father’s arm and walked toward one of the ATVs. “Let’s get back to the lodge and get the sheriff up here.”
“This one’s got a bullet through the engine,” Kujo said from one of the ATVs. “It won’t start.”
“You got a way back?” Gunny asked.
RJ nodded. “Our horses are tied up just below the ridge.”
“Kujo, you can rid
e with me,” Gunny said.
“No,” Kujo said. “Someone should stay with the body. I can do that.”
Gunny and Thorn climbed onto the ATVs, while Jake and RJ walked back down the hill to where the horses waited.
Minutes later, they were back at the lodge.
Sheriff Barron arrived with an ambulance and a recovery team to get Orlacek down from the hills. It would take longer to get to Sarley’s body.
RJ didn’t really care if they left Orlacek for the buzzards and Sarley entombed in the mine. They’d gotten what they’d deserved.
The big question on her mind and in her heart was where did she and Jake go from here? Yeah, he owed her a date to the Sadie Hawkins dance, but what about between now and Friday? What about afterward?
She spent the afternoon cleaning the walls in the kitchen and every pot, pan, plate, glass and utensil. They’d have to work on one room at a time to get all the smoke off the walls and furniture.
The insurance company promised to send out a smoke mitigation company before the end of the week to help with the rest of the lodge and to gut the basement of the fire damage.
After a supper of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, RJ and Jake cleaned the dishes and put them away.
“I’m going for a shower and bed,” she announced to the men seated at the dining table, who’d been discussing what had happened that day. RJ was tired and strangely depressed and anxious.
Never had she been as unsettled as she was at that exact moment.
She climbed the stairs and looked back. Even Striker was content to hang out in the dining room with the guys.
Fine. She didn’t have the corner on the Jake market. He wasn’t hers to claim, and Striker had the run of the house.
She grabbed the clothes she’d run through the washer and dryer and entered the bathroom. She turned the lock, thought about it and unlocked it. If he wanted to join her in the shower…
RJ stripped, switched on the shower and stepped behind the curtain, her breath catching and holding, her hearing attuned to the sound of a door opening.
She finally had to breathe and wash her hair and body. The water got cold, forcing her to end her shower, and still, he hadn’t come to join her.