In Too Deep (27 page)

Before her feet hit solid ground, she heard a small scratch from behind her and a flare of light told her Mitch had matches with him.

“Hey, good. Torches.” A flickering light grew as Audra turned to face Mitch.

Losing these men in the dark had just become a lot more difficult.

Looking frantically around, Audra saw what had to be the cavern tunnel the Kincaids had always taken. And as she looked she saw a line drawn with charcoal. It wasn't terribly noticeable, but Julia had told her about marking her trail carefully.

“The treasure is this way.” She started forward just as Mitch found another torch, lit it, and handed it to Grove. Audra realized how completely in their power she was. Alone down here. She prayed that their quest for the money would keep them from hurting her. Until they found out there wasn't any.

Within a few seconds, Mitch caught her by the arm and said, “Don't even think of leaving us behind in here. The minute we lose you, we turn around and go right back to where we left your husband and finish what we started.”

And that destroyed her last chance. Unless maybe, just maybe, an idea came to her. She couldn't win in a battle of strength, but she could outsmart them.

She could get these two into some tight spot they couldn't get out of. And her inspiration told her exactly what that tight spot might be.

Seth struck the ledge, rolled, and slammed into a rock. His leg twisted as it caught in a crevasse. He hung by his leg for sickening seconds, then he fell again. He stopped, dazed, rolled onto his back, and almost fell off a cliff. Throwing himself back, he realized his head hung over the edge of a stone outcropping.

Ethan! He reached to pull himself up and his leg caught fire. He glanced down, expecting to see the flames.

Flames. War. Death.

Shaking his head, Seth fought off memories exploding in his head. Cannon fire. Men blown apart. Screaming men on fire.

Seth forced himself to focus on his leg. Stare at it. There was no fire.

“I'm hurt. It's broken or sprained.” Then he shut up before he could give away the fact that he was down here. Whoever hit him might stick around to make sure he was dead.

Think! C'mon.

A tiny flex of his foot shot fiery pain up all the way to his brain.

I can't use my leg. So I'll use what I have.

With gritted teeth, Seth pulled himself up to stand on his good leg. Using his hands to drag himself upright, he felt like a wolverine was gnawing its way out of his chest. He'd had cracked ribs before and he had them again, or worse. His vision blurred as he pressed against the rugged stone to keep from falling the rest of the way off the mountain. As the world went black he felt again the voices in his head. The explosions and death and fire.

Wiping his wrist across his eyes to clear them, he saw blood on his shirt sleeve and dabbed at the cut on his forehead. Forcing back the visions of war, his world stopped spinning.

Ethan needs me.

He looked up. It was probably twenty or thirty feet to the top of the cliff.

I have to help Ethan and Audra and the babies.

It was more than Seth thought he could do with his leg beating at him, his head throbbing and his chest burning.

But a man didn't grow up on the frontier without learning hard lessons. While there was breath in his lungs he'd do what needed doing. He reached up, tested his grip, and pulled his good leg up to the first toehold. Breathing hard, he smelled smoke and saw a plantation house burning. There were voices in the fire, calling to him.

He rested his forehead on the rocky cliff, and the scratch of stone drew him back from waking nightmares.

Ethan!

He had to get to Ethan. He found that the pain reminded him of what was real. He'd survived the war by living one minute at a time. Sometimes one heartbeat at a time. And he'd do it the same now.

Inch by inch, ignoring how far he had to climb, ignoring the terror that he'd find his brother dead, ignoring the pain, he clawed his way up.

At last he gained the top of the ledge.

Peeking over he saw Audra shoved along in front of two men. It was the new hired men from Ethan's ranch. They'd tried to get Audra before. This time they'd succeeded.

“Take us to the money, right now.” One of them, a skeleton of a man, had a tight grip on her arm.

Seth went for his gun and nearly fell. He had to grab the edge of the cliff with both hands. Then, before he could change his grip and try again, the men and Audra were gone behind the cabin.

Audra's sweet voice rang out. “You have no need to hurt my husband or anyone else. I'll take you to the cavern. I'll show you where Wendell hid the money, and I'll give it to you right now.”

Seth had no one to shoot at.

With his teeth gritted to keep from crying out in pain, Seth rolled onto the ground above the ledge and began to crawl. His leg made walking impossible, but it was just as well not to with his head aching and his belly threatening to cast up its last meal.

Scraping along on the ground, he finally made it into the cabin to find Ethan, unconscious.

“Ethan!” Seth crawled to Ethan's side and saw his chest rise and fall. He was alive!

“Ethan. Ethan, wake up!”

“Ethan, wake up. You've got to help Audra.”

Ethan's eyes flickered open to see Seth leaning over him, shaking his shoulders. Seth's face scraped raw. His skin as pale as milk. His mouth tight as if he was in agony.

“Audra? What? She needs help?” Ethan didn't remember anything except that he'd been walking along that ledge.

He felt the sticky warmth on his head and tried to reach to the source of the pain.

He couldn't move.

Seth was busy with his knife, and he had ropes slashed and Ethan's hands free about the same time the full force of the pain hit. He touched his face, ashamed of how his hand shook, and drew away bloody fingers.

“What happened?” He forced his mind to clear, forced himself to move past the wicked, throbbing pain in his skull.

“I saw them take her.” Seth slid an arm behind Ethan's shoulder and helped him sit up.

The world spun around, but Ethan fought off the dizziness.

“The men that attacked our ranch?”

“Yes, it's those two newest hired men. I climbed to the top of that ledge just when they were dragging her out of the cabin.”

“Let's go.” Ethan staggered as he got to his feet and headed for the door.

“Ethan!” Seth's sharp call turned Ethan back, even though everything in him was driving him forward. Seth was still sitting on the floor.

“What are you waiting for?” Then Ethan really looked at his brother. Still on the floor. His face drawn in lines of suffering.

“I can't walk, Eth. I think I've got a broken leg. Maybe some ribs, too. They hit me and I fell off the ledge by the corral.”

He remembered. Ethan had seen Seth going over.

“I . . . I have to go after Audra.” But could he leave Seth? He had to.

“I heard them. I know where they're going.”

“Where?”

“They went into the cavern.”

Ethan staggered back and almost fell. Hitting the cabin wall was the only thing that held him up. “No.”

Seth's eyes said it all. He knew exactly how Ethan felt.

A black hole yawned at Ethan's feet. Worse than feeling it, Ethan knew he had to jump into it. He had to go after Audra. He had to go down into that cavern.

He forced the words past his lips. “Did they go across the creek into that entrance?”

“Yes. I heard Audra begging for your life, Eth. I'd just about dragged myself up that ledge. If I'd've been faster, I might have been able to get my gun into action.”

“You did fine, Seth. You found me and got me untied so I can go.” Ethan's head throbbed with equal parts fear and pain. He stood straight, squared his shoulders. He did it all for show, to behave as a man ought to. But he hated that cavern. He felt as if he were walking straight for his own death, Audra's too.

“I'll use the torches down there. I've got matches.” Ethan had one clearheaded moment to look again at Seth. Lines cut deeply into his face from the pain. “How long was I out?”

“They haven't been gone long. I crawled here as fast as I could.”

“I should help you.”

“Go. I'm inside. I'll keep the girls safe. They may not be happy, but they won't be left alone.”

“The girls.” Ethan had forgotten his daughters. He had to pull himself together and start thinking. “They're sleeping.”

“I know.”

Ethan jerked on his pistol and quickly checked the load. He reached in his pocket and produced a small tin of matches. “I'll be back as soon as I can.”

“I'll say a prayer for you, Eth.”

That was the sanest thing his little brother had ever said. “I'd appreciate it.”

He turned and ran out of the cabin. He was across the creek in minutes and saw the ladder hanging over the edge of the cavern entrance. Ethan dropped to his knees by the opening and looked down, listened for any sound.

Nothing.

He turned and forced himself down the ladder. Ethan felt the blackness press on him as if he were in the belly of a beast. Each step down the ladder was a horror.

When he reached the ledge it was there, just as he remembered. He only had to think of Audra to control the fear, or at least endure sliding down the throat of Satan, and being swallowed up by hell.

“Turn here,” Audra said.

Mitch, in the lead, looked back at Audra, who was pointing for him to go down the tunnel on the right.

Mitch was ahead of her, Grove behind. Both carried a torch, which they'd found at the bottom of the ladder they'd climbed down. Mitch kept his lifted above his head; the tunnel was high enough to allow it. If she'd had any hope of slipping away in the dark, those hopes were dashed by the torches. She had to douse them somehow.

She was sure this tunnel led to the place Seth had fallen so many years ago. If she hadn't been sure, based on the directions she'd been given, she would still know by Julia's charcoal arrows and the dramatic X above the arrow. A warning of danger.

They were black lines on dark gray stone in dim light. She didn't think her captors had noticed them. But so what if they did? Someone had marked the walls? Audra would simply claim Wendell had done it, and she knew that it marked their way.

She kept up a good pace, which kept Mitch moving in front of her. All she could think was that she needed to get them as far from Ethan as she could. She hoped her assured step led these men to believe she was going in a direction she'd learned well, aiming straight for the treasure.

Planning each step, she wondered where that hole was ahead and what it would take to best two ruthless men. Fear shook her hard, but she fought against it. She kept going. And she braced herself to do what she could, knowing she was upheld by God's righteous right hand.

The image of Audra in the hands of his two hired men, maybe suffering a terrible fate, kept Ethan moving. He found a torch on the wall, then hesitated before he struck the match to light it. There had always been torches down here closer to the entrance. They could have been taken out years ago for all he knew, but if the two men with Audra had light, then they'd be easy to find.

God, give me the strength to face my fear of this dark place.

With the lit torch in hand, he went on. He knew this section of the cavern well. Despite never coming back, it had haunted his dreams for years.

He walked straight for the tunnel he and his brothers had always taken. He walked as quietly as possible, listening for any sound.

He reached the opening that led to the pit Seth had fallen into, and paused. Audra knew little about this cavern. The men who had her most likely knew less than she did. They'd talked about this place, though, with Audra listening in. They'd talked more about this tunnel than any other. If she was pretending to lead them somewhere, she'd go this way. Sick about returning to where his brother had almost died, Ethan turned and started forward. Each step was harder to take. He felt the darkness thicken until it was a solid wall that his meager torch couldn't penetrate.

Trying to listen for Audra ahead, instead he heard a child screaming, the ground cracking, the fire roaring like a beast.

Hanging by his belt for long soul-shredding seconds. He forced himself to take a step and he stopped, terrified the ground would break off, become a mouth full of jagged teeth, biting at him, devouring his whole family, devouring his soul.

Numb with the effort to go on, he dropped his torch just as he'd dropped the lantern.

Flames shot up like a lake of fire that burned but never consumed.

Seth, on fire. The screams.

The slam to the back of his head.

Ethan had to not care. He had to find a way to shut off the fear.

The only way that worked was to not feel anything too deeply. Not care. Not love. But he couldn't separate himself from his heart. Not with Audra. Terror had him in its jaws and seemed to be shaking him to death, like a cat shook a rat. The fear drove him to his knees.

Ethan couldn't move. He knelt there, too much of a coward to throw off the fear and save his wife, the woman he loved. He reached out for God, for miraculous strength, but he only heard the echo of his own fears and the laughter of Satan. His head lowered to the cavern floor as if evil were a hand pressing him down.

The cavern was too strong.

No.

Ethan knew the truth. He was too weak.

The cavern had won.

Audra saw another heavily drawn X on the tunnel wall. A warning.

She moved closer to Mitch and felt Grove close the space behind her. She pictured what she'd do. She needed darkness and speed. The torch would be her first goal. Strength sufficient to the task. She asked for it, begged for it, and prepared to fight as if God himself were fighting through her.

She was watching the tunnel floor intently and saw what she knew had to be that hole. It was only a darker shadow in a tunnel filled with shadows. Only knowing it was there warned her. She launched herself at Mitch, slammed him forward, clawed at the torch, and jerked it from his hand. Mitch screamed as he fell. Audra whirled and hit Grove in the face with the fire. He staggered back, shouted furiously while raising his gun.

She brought the torch down hard on his gun hand with a loud scream. He dropped the weapon and clawed at his face, his hair on fire.

She stomped on his torch when it hit the ground, to extinguish it.

“You can't get away from me!” Grove's rage was murderous. Audra took one second to jam the torch she held into the tunnel wall, and as Grove slapped out the flames on his own body, all light was gone. Then, again aware of what she'd been told about this place, she rushed to the left side of the tunnel and ran out on the ledge Julia and Rafe had told her was there. Running in the pitch-dark.

A gun roared behind her, but with no light, Grove couldn't aim. She moved more carefully, quietly, to give him nothing to aim at. The bullet whizzed past her in the dark. It caromed off the tunnel wall with a high whine. Praying with every step, Audra knew Grove could get a lucky shot. She kept on moving until she thought she was past the gaping hole in the collapsed floor and then stopped. Now silence was the weapon she'd use. She crouched down and felt along the floor to be sure she was past the pit and on solid ground. Now to go forward, find the entrance into Rafe's valley, and run for home. It was a long way, but she was healthy and strong, with God on her side. She could do it.

“I'll find you, woman!” Grove roared. “You're not going to get away from me.”

Then she heard footsteps coming fast.

The scream brought Ethan to his feet. He was running before he made a conscious thought to do it. He'd left his torch behind without realizing it. Even after he thought of it, he still didn't hesitate. Where he'd had nothing but the blackest of terrors before, now it was as if God had wiped it all away. He remembered his mother saying,
“God's strength is made perfect in weakness.”

That had never made sense before. But right now, God certainly had His chance for perfection in Ethan Kincaid. His mind cleared further and he realized exactly where he was. He had relived this awful place so many times that even in the pitch-dark, he knew how far he had to run to reach that hole. And the scream was such a powerful reminder of Seth that he knew the noise was coming from that exact place.

As he neared it he moved all the way to the left, remembering what Rafe and Seth had talked about, how there was a way across. He found it. The darkness wasn't even touching him now. As he crossed he heard running steps ahead of him and then an awful, ugly grunt, followed by a scream.

For one heartbreaking moment he thought he was too late. Then he heard screaming. A
man
screaming, only a few feet ahead. Screaming and falling.

There was a dull thud from about twenty feet below. The scream cut off and there was only silence. Ethan hurried forward.

“And don't you ever touch me again!” Audra's voice echoed in the darkness.

“Audra, honey, it's me! Ethan.” He decided he'd better warn her if she was busy shoving men into the hole.

“Ethan? Ethan, you're all right! You came.”

Ethan stepped across the slender ledge. “Seth said there were two men. Where's the other one?” He still couldn't see her, but she was talking and he followed her voice.

“There
were
two. Both of them fell.”

“Two men? You won a fight against two men?”

“Of course. I had to save you and my children. Did you say Seth talked to you? They said they'd killed him.”

“He found me and untied me. But we've got to get back. He has a broken leg. I left him with the girls, and he can keep them safe, but he's in a lot of pain. He needs help.” Finally, Ethan found her, reaching, going by feel, following her voice in the echoing tunnel.

“I'm so glad you're both all right,” she said.

Ethan pulled her into his arms. The most courageous woman he'd ever known. “You're not hurt, either? You were able to throw two men into that hole in the ground? What a woman!”

“Well, they hurt you and th-that made me really, really
mad
.” Then she threw her arms around his neck and broke down in tears.