Shadow's Stand (33 page)

“I don’t want to be distracted.”

“You never do,” Tracker snapped. “You just latch onto an idea and cling to it like it’s the only way, whether it is or not.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“Not now, Tracker.”

“If all you’re going to do is irritate, then get the hell up on the ridge with Zach.”

“No.”

Sam grabbed a large rock and pulled it free of the hole, muscles straining with the effort. “In case you haven’t noticed, Shadow, we’re all in a mood to kick your ass.”

The rock came free. The opening was wide enough to fit through.

“You can give that a shot later.”

Caine struck a sulfur and lit a lantern. Sam handed him a rope. Shadow tied it to the lantern and lowered it down into the hole. It was only three feet deep. Rock and dirt scattered the floor. Dust still roiled. It was a very small opening.

Sam unbuckled his gun belt. “I’ll go in.”

Shadow grabbed his arm. “No. I’ll go.”

“It’s tight. I’ve got the better chance.”

“It’s unstable in there.”

“You think it’s going to be less unstable for you?”

“You don’t like caves.”

“She’s my woman.”

“That makes her important to all of us.”

He knew that. Shrugging out of his weapons, he let them drop to the ground. But he was still the one going in.

Tracker’s eyebrow went up.

“You must be in love if you’re treating your weapons like that.”

“Shut up.”

Sam put his hands on his chest, stopping him. “I said I was going.”

Caine interceded. “Let him go, Sam.”

“Why?”

“Because, if it was Bella in there, you wouldn’t let anyone take your place, either.”

Putting his hands up, Sam stepped back. “Do what you need to.”

“Thank you. I thought I would.”

“Do it without the sarcasm,” Caine advised.

Sam tossed the rope around Shadow’s waist and knotted it behind his back. “You give us three tugs on this and we’ll haul your ass out of there so fast it will make your head spin.”

“Got it.”

Tracker handed him the lantern. “Be sure you come back in one piece.”

“I will.”

“Good, because I’m going to kick it when you get out.”

“What the hell are you so pissed about?”

“You’re Hell’s Eight, Shadow,” Caine said.

He knew that. “So?”

“That means you’re family.”

“No shit.”

Tracker checked the knot before grabbing it and jerking to get his attention. “That means we get to protect you, too.”

H
E WAS CRAWLING THROUGH HIS GRAVE.
The thought wouldn’t leave Shadow’s mind as he inched along in a crouch in a tunnel four feet high and three feet wide, heading deeper and deeper into the cave in a slow, tedious process that involved shoving the lantern forward, crawling to it, then repeating the process. Sweat broke out over Shadow’s body. Not just because the air was stiflingly close, but because, with every foot he went in, the mountain above him seemed to weigh more. Son of a bitch, he hated tight spaces.

The tunnel seemed to groan. Pebbles sprayed over him. Dust hovered in a thick cloud. He coughed and closed his eyes, waiting for it to settle.

“Shadow, you all right down there?” Sam called.

“Yeah. Just dandy.”

“You need to come out. This whole side could collapse.”

“Not yet.”

“Look around. Does it look like she could have survived?”

It didn’t look like anything could have survived.

“I don’t know.”

“I’m pulling you out.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

Reaching in his boot, Shadow pulled out his knife. Without another thought, he severed the rope. Two seconds later when Tracker realized what he’d done, the curses started. “Goddamn it, Shadow.”

He wasn’t leaving there without Fei.

Ahead, all he could see was a solid pile of rock just into the curve of the path. Damn. Biting the knife between his teeth, he crawled toward it. Fei was beyond the rock. Somewhere. He wiped the sweat from his eyes and started shifting the rock to the side. One small boulder at a time, lining the tunnel around him, trying not to make the space too impassable as he did.

“Hello?”

The greeting came to him, muffled by the rock, but recognizable.

There had never been a sweeter sound. “Fei?”

“Yes.”

Very carefully, he moved more rock, only to have the hole immediately fill with debris from above.

“Where are you?”

“I’m down here.”

“Where’s ‘down here’?”

He managed to get a small hole through.

“On the ledge.”

Shit!
It was a struggle to keep his voice calm. “How far down?”

“Six feet, maybe.”

Which meant, if he got to her, he could probably reach her.

“You have to hurry. The cavern could collapse any time.”

He’d noticed. “Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m not. But this is not good.”

No, there was nothing good about being buried alive.

“I’m going to get you out.”

“No. The path is gone. It will take too long. The air isn’t good.”

Just what he needed. More bad news.

“You must save yourself.”

“Working on it.” Right after he saved her.

“Tucker said you do not like small places.”

She’d seen Tucker. “Tucker talks too much.”

Another rock moved to the side. Another two inches of space gained. It was something.

“I see the light.”

“Good.”

“What happened, Fei? I told you to stay with your family.”

“You cannot send me away and expect to control me.”

She was still on that. “You know what my life is like. I didn’t want you in that.”

“Yet, it still touched me.”

“What the hell do you mean?”

“Your colonel found me.”

“Daniels? Son of a bitch!”

“Yes. Son of a bitch. He made me come here. He wanted the gold.”

“Why didn’t you just give it to him?”

“It is my fresh start, not his.”

“So you decided to blow it up?”

“No, this I decided when he decided to kill me. I’m glad he hasn’t succeeded.”

I do better with bluffing than killing.
He remembered when she’d told him that. “What the hell does that mean?”

“He is still trying.”

Shadow froze. “Does he have a gun on you?”

“I think he is dead.”

That explained the tightness in her voice. “Don’t think about it.”

“I cannot help it. I am sitting on him.”

Sitting on him? “How big is that ledge, Fei?”

“Not big. And getting smaller with every tremble.”

“Can you shove his body off the ledge?”

“No.”

“Can you…”

“Shadow, I can do nothing but sit here and lose my mind.”

“You’re too stubborn to lose your mind.”

“It is all I have left to lose.”

The hole was big enough to get his arm through. There was only a slight bit of level ground until he reached air. She was right—the path was gone. From what he could see, where the path should have curved around had collapsed, resulting in a straight drop-off. Twisting about, he reached down. “Can you reach my hand?”

Her fingers brushed his. He lunged forward and grabbed, holding on tightly when she almost slipped away. He closed his eyes; relief flowing through him with debilitating force at the contact. “Goddamn, Fei!”

Then her fingers slipped away. He yanked his arm clear and shouted through the hole, “Fei!”

“I am sorry. It is hard to balance on…him.”

Jesus Christ. She was trying to balance on a body on a ledge just to touch his hand? “I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t think. It’s not the time for hand-holding anyway.”

“No, that time has passed.”

“Fei…”

“You broke my heart, Shadow Ochoa.”

The catch in her voice devastated him and cracked the wall he’d erected around his emotions to protect her. The sob that followed spread that crack into a crevice. Pain seeped into his concentration, disrupting it.

“Don’t cry, honey.”

“You had no right.”

It was like a puzzle, trying to figure out what part of the slide he could move without disturbing another.

“Now is not the time.”

“There is no better time. I am very good at what I do. I blew this cave, so it would be no more. Whatever hasn’t caved in yet will shortly.”