In Too Deep (28 page)

Audra had trouble doing anything but clinging to Ethan for what seemed like far too long. Finally her tears subsided. “We've got to get back,” she said.

Ethan turned, caught her hand, and took two steps toward the ledge just as the sharp crack of a gun being cocked sounded in the cavern. He pulled Audra to the floor as the gun roared. Bullets ricocheted around them. Ethan covered Audra with his body and whispered, “Shh . . . he's firing blind.”

The gunfire went on and on. From this angle, Ethan could tell that Mitch had somehow climbed out of the pit. The bullets shattered rocks, which pelted Ethan's back, but none of the bullets came close, at least not that he could tell. Ethan heard the click of a trigger on an empty gun.

“I'm going to get you, woman!” Mitch shouted. “No one attacks me and lives.”

Ethan judged where Mitch stood and launched himself in that direction. He landed hard on Mitch and brought him to the cavern floor. He heard the gun clatter across rock.

In utter darkness, Ethan grappled with a madman, crazy with rage. Mitch slammed a fist into Ethan's shoulder. The blow was so hard it would have knocked Ethan cold if it had landed on his chin. Ethan swung a fist and Mitch grunted. They rolled on the ground. Ethan could feel the pit only inches away.

Mitch knocked Ethan sideways. Ethan clung to whatever he could grab, dragging Mitch down, slugging at him, taking blows. Hanging on to keep the man away from Audra.

Mitch's hands found Ethan's neck and began to squeeze the life out of him. Ethan pounded blow after blow to Mitch's face, but nothing broke that crushing hold. Ethan grabbed Mitch's arms, desperate to take the pressure off his neck.

Then a sickening thud sounded. Mitch arched upward, releasing Ethan's throat. Another thud sent Mitch tumbling sideways.

When no renewed attack came, Ethan fumbled in his pocket for his tin of matches. He was desperate to see what had happened.

“Are you all right, Ethan?” Audra was there, on her knees, running her hands up his arm, finding him by touch. “Ethan, speak to me. Ethan!”

“Yes . . .” His throat nearly failed him, so Ethan coughed and tried again. “I'm okay. Audra, you . . . you saved me.”

With a sudden laugh she did a fair job of launching herself into his arms. “I did, didn't I?” She laughed and he hugged her tight.

A groan from right near them had Ethan setting his dangerous little wife aside to again get his matches. He struck one just as Mitch reared up from the floor. The light stopped him, but then he looked around and dove for his gun, which lay on the edge of the pit. As Mitch bent down for the gun, Audra, sitting on the floor beside Ethan, spun and kicked out, landing a solid foot on Mitch's backside. He went tumbling through the broken-off floor. Roaring as he fell, he clawed at the gun and took it over the edge with him. Ethan heard Mitch land, along with the metallic clatter of the gun.

“I'll get you!”

The revolver clicked on an empty chamber. Ethan heard the crack of the revolver being opened and pictured Mitch's loaded gun belt. Grove had one, too. He heard the slide of a bullet being loaded. They had only seconds before he reloaded his gun and began firing.

Ethan jumped to his feet, grabbed Audra, and together they moved up the slope leading to Rafe's valley. He was amazed at how unafraid he was of the dark tunnel.

They heard another shout from Mitch and the sound of him falling again. His luck at climbing out in the dark so swiftly the first time hadn't held the second.

Mitch was still roaring from the depths.

Ethan tightened his hand on Audra's. “I figured something out here today, Audie, honey.”

“Stop calling me that awful name.” She didn't sound that upset. “What did you figure out?”

“I've spent years being afraid of things that only lived in my imagination. I'd turned a bunch of dark tunnels into something evil, like the tunnel was alive and intended to harm me. Facing down bad men in this tunnel helped me to realize I've wasted a lot of time worrying over something that doesn't exist when there are plenty of real things to worry over.”

“And you think that's a good thing?” She sounded doubtful.

“Don't know if it's good. I only know it's true. And I'm not so scared of this stupid cavern anymore.”

Ethan paused, and in the darkness he listened to Mitch shouting out threats. “Do you think he'll be able to find his way out of there?”

Audra was silent as they listened to the ugliness. It seemed to still be from the depths, as if Mitch couldn't find his way out of the pit a second time. “I wouldn't underestimate the man.”

“I hate the idea of leaving anyone in here. It was my own personal nightmare for too much of my life.”

The gunfire started again. Six shots.

“They have a lot of bullets between them,” Audra said. “I'm not going back for him.”

“Let's leave him to calm down for a few hours,” Ethan said.

They would come up in Rafe's valley. Grab horses there and ride for the cabin. They'd make sure Seth and the girls were all right, then with some backup he'd come back for Mitch and Grove.

Plenty of backup.

Again Mitch's gun clicked on an empty chamber. Ethan caught Audra close and held her. “We'll wait until he starts shooting again. We don't want him to get his bearings at all. I'm hoping in the dark he won't know what direction to take.”

Guilt gnawed at Ethan to abandon these men. He knew how the place could drive a man mad.

Mitch began spewing such profane evil it hardened Ethan's heart. As Mitch's voice rose and bounced off the wall, Ethan decided they could move again, but quietly. They'd gone about twenty paces when the gun began firing, with Mitch working his way through his ammunition supply. If he knew Grove was down there, Mitch could empty his belt of bullets, too.

Ethan and Audra traveled at a near run until even the sound of gunfire faded away—or maybe stopped. Ethan wasn't sure. They hurried up a steep tunnel, still in the pitch-dark but with only one possible direction to go. There were smaller tunnels off this main one, the place Maggie had nearly fallen. The side tunnel where Seth had come out. But Ethan couldn't stumble into such small places by accident. He hoped.

They ran into a stone wall. It then occurred to Ethan that he still had matches and could have lit them once they were out of Mitch's sight. But now there was no need. He'd been in this part of the tunnel. It led straight out to Rafe's caldera. It didn't have branches off it to get a man lost. Or holes in the floor to let a man fall to his death.

“I know where we are.” Ethan pulled Audra to the right, and within a few steps they saw a dim glow that grew and grew. They rounded a curve and saw a circle of sunshine. Ethan emerged into the light and turned to Audra to make sure she was unhurt.

“I can't believe you outsmarted them, Audra.” He grabbed her around the waist and hugged until her toes left the ground.

“And you got there in time to save me from Mitch.” Her arms went around his neck so tightly that Ethan probably should've been afraid of being strangled again. But he couldn't work up one speck of fear.

She laughed, her face buried against his neck. “We've got to go,” she said. As Audra pulled back from him, her smile faded. “You're bleeding.” Her face turned into a scowl. “I'm going with you when you go back in there. And I'm going to teach those men a lesson they'll—”

Ethan kissed his bloodthirsty little wife. “I'd forgotten I even got a conk on the head until now. I'm fine. The blood will wash off. Now let's go—we need to get back to Seth and the girls.”

They ran for the horses.

As they rode hard toward Audra's cabin, she explained just what the men had done, and Ethan told her about Seth's broken leg.

“We've got to get to that tunnel opening and get the ladder pulled up before Mitch and Grove get out,” Ethan said. “They probably don't know there's another way out. But maybe they're turned around in the dark enough they can't find anything.”

Audra nodded. “Mitch had matches. I threw the torch he was carrying. But he could find it, or light his way with the matches until he finds another one.”

They urged the horses faster.

Soon they rode up to the cabin, and Ethan heard Lily crying to beat all.

Audra jumped off her horse. Ethan caught its reins and said, “I'll corral the horses, then go draw up that ladder and come back to help you. We'll need to bind up Seth's leg and get him home somehow.”

“Rafe and Julia were going to meet us where the trail split toward Rawhide. If we don't show up, they'll come to meet us.”

Ethan glanced at the sky. “That's right. It's well past noon. They'll've had time to search in town and be headed home. They could come riding up here any minute, unless something delayed them.”

Audra rushed for the house as Ethan made short work of crossing the gorge and getting the ladder up and out of reach. He saw no footprints that indicated the men had beaten him to the ladder.

Now they were trapped.

In the dark.

Would they go mad? Maybe. That place had done so much damage to the Kincaid boys, though back then they were more children than men. Two tough brutish outlaws might stay calm. Find a torch. Remember their way. And if not, maybe they could handle the dark.

Whatever happened, they wouldn't be coming out this way.

Ethan rushed back to the cabin and found Audra shut in the back bedroom.

“She's feeding Lily.” Seth looked up from where he sat on the floor. Very still, with Maggie straddling his leg.

Ethan flinched when Maggie twisted around to grin up at her uncle. “Let me get her.”

“It's not so bad. She's not bouncing on the broken leg.” Seth leaned down so Maggie had to look at him. “Hey, look who's here.”

He lifted her and turned her to face Ethan. Maggie squealed and her little legs churned in midair as if she were running to him.

“I think she likes you, Eth.” Seth set her down, and Maggie toddled to Ethan so fast that she fell over. Ethan snagged her before she hit the floor. He hoisted her and she gabbled at him.

Ethan was pretty sure she called him
Papa
. He rested her on one hip. “How's the leg?”

“Broken for sure. But I'm getting by.” Seth sounded pretty good, but his face had a grayish tinge that told the truth about how much pain he was in.

“Audra.” Ethan raised his voice a bit, yet he didn't have to yell; the walls were thin.

“What, Ethan?”

“I'm taking Maggie with me to find a couple of boards or something to use to splint Seth's leg. We're not going to get any more treasure hunting done for now.”

“Did you get the ladder pulled up? Are you sure those awful men didn't get there first and climb out?”

“I've left them down there for a fact, honey. They could get out into Rafe's valley if they figure out how to find that exit. But even if they do get out, we'll know who to be watching for now. We'll get them.”

Ethan started to leave when he noticed a pile of something that looked like trash or maybe a rat's nest behind the small pile of kindling by the unlit fireplace.

With a frown he went and shoved the logs aside, wishing he'd find treasure. Instead he found . . . “Audra, why do you have cigars?”

Audra laughed. “They aren't mine. Wendell was a cigar smoker. You must've found the last of his cigar stash. After he died, I started throwing them on the fire. They burn pretty well, though they stink.”

Ethan looked at the cigars, mostly crushed and dried out. He extended the pile of rubbish toward Seth. “Want a cigar, little brother?”

Seth grimaced. “Of all the crazy stuff I've done, I've never picked up the habit of tobacco. I don't think I'll be starting on a cigar as ugly as those.”

Audra came out of the bedroom with Lily against her shoulder, gently patting the little one's back.

Ethan recapped the adventure with Audra while he bound up Seth's leg.

“How'd you like being down in that cavern again, Eth?” Seth asked as he went about ripping up his shirt to help tie the splint in place.

“I managed.” Ethan really thought about it for the first time. Up until now he'd just gone forward, doing what he had to do. “God's strength is made perfect in weakness.” He turned to Audra and smiled.

She smiled back.

“Well, that sounds good.” Seth worked on his shirt without even looking up. “You oughta be about perfect then.”

Ethan would have slugged him if Seth didn't have a broken leg.

“What happened down there went about as perfectly as we dared hope, didn't it?” he asked Audra.

“Me getting the best of those two men. You coming for me right when I needed you most.”

“After you'd done everything yourself is more like it.”