Trinity: Military War Dog (55 page)

“It would mean something to me, too. That’s why I asked.” She shoved the black hair away from her face. “I don’t need romance, Heath.”

“Maybe.” He couldn’t believe she was dead serious. “But it’s kind of nice. Know what I’m saying?” Taking things slow. Not rushing.

“I just need to know if you’re feeling the same thing I am.”

Now his brain felt like it was attached to the bungee cord on the ledge she’d just jumped from. His head hurt—and it wasn’t the TBI. “How did we just go from death to talk of romance?”

“If I’m going to die—”

“Stop!” He cupped the back of her neck with both hands. “Darci. Slow down.” He tugged her in closer, determined she believe him. “Nobody’s going to die. I’m going down this hole—doing it for you, remember?”

“You’re right.” Shoulders sagging, Darci shrunk back. “I don’t know what I’m thinking. I’m just … tired.” She lowered her head. “Sorry. I …” Her gaze darted over his face, mouth open about to say something, then she pulled herself inward, crashing down as she pressed her lips into a thin line. “Never mind.”

“Hey,” he whispered, still holding her neck. “What’s going on inside that pretty head?”

Looking up, out from under her eyebrows, she considered him.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ve never been this scared.” A weak smile quivered on her lips as she worried the cuff of her jacket. “Not like this.”

Heath nudged her up so he could look into her brown eyes. “Maybe it’s because this time you have something to risk.”

“Yeah?” Her voice went crazy-soft. “What?”

“Staying alive to make good on that request for a kiss.” Heath angled around, bracing himself on the edge before she could see how much that line just embarrassed him. Why did she have to go and get all mushy on him as he was lowering himself into oblivion? It was good incentive, true, but it also made jelly of his iron stomach that someone like her was scared.

Shoulder light fracturing the black void, Heath eased himself down, toes braced against the wall in front. With one hand threading the line, he glanced down. Nothing but pitch black.

Why had he watched all those horror movies? Too many images flashed into his mind, holding him in a vise grip of hypervigilance.

“See anything?”

Her voice already sounded miles away. Heath glanced up at the top. How had he descended that far? “How much line do I have left?”

“Plenty.”

Right. Heath considered the depth below … waaaay below. He plucked the SureFire from his shoulder and aimed it down. The light danced along a slick wall where snow melted and trickled down.

His beam reflected off something.

Heath angled it again, this time over his shoulder as he strained to see what was down. Unable to see anything, he adjusted his balance so he could turn.

“Why aren’t you moving?”

“Thought I saw something.”

“No sightseeing.”

Heath smirked as he lifted his arm and pointed the beam straight down.

His toe slid free.

His body swung to the right.

He slammed into the wall, his head thudding hard. He flung out a hand to stop the move—in that instant he realized his mistake. “No!”

The
clank-clanky-clatter
of his SureFire tumbling to the bottom—if there was one—reverberated through his mind.

Heath pounded an arm against the wall.

“What’s wrong?”

He watched the beam twirling, tumbling—

Splat!

Darkness gulped the beam in a wolfish devour.

“You gotta be kidding me.” Heath wanted to punch something. Kick the wall. But he had to keep it together.
Stay upright, calm … for Darci
. For her to get frantic, want to cut to the chase when she was all avoidance and distance at the base—panic had its talons dug deep into her courage. And too much distance already separated them.

“Heath.” Her voice strained. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Everything.” He cursed himself for being so careless. He was so far out of his element, off his game. When Darci was depending on him.

And I’m dangling in a shaft with no light
.

His studies for chaplaincy rained down verses, one after another, about Jesus being the Light of the World. A staunch reminder that Heath wasn’t a shining example of trusting God.

He peered up, no longer able to see Darci’s hope and expectation gouged into her face. No longer able to see where he’d come from. And below … unable to see where he was going.

Just like my life
.

He knew God had a twisted sense of humor, and though he didn’t find it funny, the poignancy struck center mass. Hand fisted on the cord below, Heath glanced up and down again. Should he keep going? Or return? The slight tremor in his arms warned him of his weakness.

In more ways than one.

He knew, in his own strength, he could go back up. Get to the top. Be with Darci. But that would get them nowhere. But going down, exploring the unknown … hadn’t he done the same thing with his life? Familiar with combat and military life, he’d pushed and pushed till he got what he wanted.

And how’s that working for you?

Okay, God, enough with the stark parallels
. Despite his playful thought, he was wide open to whatever God was doing here. He could sense the life-altering shift. He just wasn’t sure how it was connected to this shaft.

Going down was a matter of faith. Exploring the unknown, being vulnerable, was putting action behind his faith.
Faith without works is dead …

Okay. That was beyond stark.

Heath released the belay and lowered himself more.

“Heath?”

Was this stupid? Going farther down, risking getting stuck or never reaching bottom? He continued down.

“Heath?”

Water gurgled below, drawing his gaze downward. A strange glow swirled …

The SureFire!

On the surface. About ten feet below.

Heath let out the tension and glided down … down … to the end of the rope.

Still hadn’t hit bottom.

“Heath!”

Her frantic call jerked him out of his focus. “Sorry.” If he let go and dropped, he could go straight into the freezing water. With the rabid temperatures, he’d have fifteen minutes—max—before his body temperatures dropped to critical.

So did he feel the way out was there, with the icy water and certainty of death?

“Hang on.” His voice bounced off the walls and thudded against his mind.

He stared down at the beam. He couldn’t be more than six or seven feet from the bottom. He’d jumped from greater heights in training. The fear that had him clinging to the rope was the question of the water. It’d swallowed the flashlight. Then spit it back up. Deep enough to go down, but not enough for it to vanish.

Noise filtered through his senses. Heath looked left. What was that? To the right? Crazy. There wasn’t anything here to make noise.

Again, he felt his toe slipping against the wall and reached out.

Hollow and distant the noise actually sounded closer.

How was that possible?

Thwat
. The soft sound registered like a sonic boom. He jerked up, barely able to see the multistrand rope fraying. A strand snapped free.

Playtime over
. He had to get down. Now.

Heath quickly lowered himself. The cord snapped taut.
Ploink!
Another snapped.

Do or die, he had to take this literal leap of faith. Heath released himself from the harness. Dropped. Straight down.

            Forty-One              

H
eeeeaathh!”

Gravity yanked hard.

Straight down. Though it happened in seconds, the fall felt like an eternity.

Icy water clapped its painful talons on his ankles. Calves. Knees. Thighs. Waist.
God, help me!

He hit bottom of the well. Jarring pain darted up his legs as he impacted. Threw him backward. His head banged against the cave wall. “Augh!” He jerked forward and steadied himself, frigid water cocooning his body.

Seconds. He had just a few minutes to get out of this water before hypothermia set in. But how did you get out of a well that’s little more than shoulder-wide with no way out?

The hollow noise he’d heard earlier reverberated again through the water.
Trinity?
No. Now he was imagining things. He shook his head and looked up to where he knew Darci sat. “I’m at the bottom. Chest high in water.”

“That’s …” her voice faded. Quiet. Still. “Not good.”

“Ya think?” Heath plucked his SureFire from the water and scanned the walls. The beam stroked the climbing rope … too far up to reach.

“What’re you going to do?”

Again, the hollow sound—so much like a bark. He had to be going crazy. Hypothermic symptoms included unclear thinking. But he hadn’t been submerged long enough for that … right?

“Uh …”

Water stirred to his right. What on earth would be swimming in ice-cold water?

“What’s wrong?”

“I think …” He kept his legs and upper body as still as he could, swiveling a bit to look around him.

Darkness rippled through the water.

“Something’s in the wa—”

A dark shape stirred a heavy wake.

Augh!

Heath plunged his hand into the water, aiming for his holstered weapon.

Erupting water splashed his face.

He flinched away, but in the seconds where his heart rate hit catastrophic, his mind latched on to the attacker. Who wasn’t an attacker. “Trinity!”

Her bark roared through the shaft.

Heath pulled her into his arms. She lathered him with drool, icy water, and elation. His heart chugged as he laughed and hugged her tight. Laughed again. “How did you find me, girl?”

She barked.

“Your dog? How did your dog get in there?” Darci asked, her questions filled with a nervous laugh.

“There must be a hole or something.” Heath beamed the light, his body trembling from the cold. “Hang on.” Man, to find out where she’d come from, he’d have to submerge—all the way!
Better to lose a few digits than a whole life, I guess
.

He stuffed the SureFire back in place and lowered himself below the surface, ignoring the stinging water. He angled in the direction Trinity had come and sure enough—a hole!