Part 17 (2/2)
”But what if Lucas isn't down there? What if Leberman just used it for access?”
Noah smiled. ”He's down there. I even stored emergency supplies there in case I had to hide out for a few days. That's where he's been all this time.”
Complete comprehension dawned on Blue. That's why the team hadn't been able to find him anywhere on the island and yet he was close enough to set the smoke bombs. He'd been right under their noses all along.
Evil is very close. The old woman's words made perfect sense now.
Noah's gaze turned serious. ”I should go alone. Wait for Logan and the others and then you can follow.”
”No way. I'm sticking to you like glue.”
Something flitted through his gaze...something knowing and secretive. ”You can try.”
He started down the winding stairs. ”Watch your step. It's dark down here and a lot of the steps are crumbling.”
And then she knew what he had planned. He was going to disappear on her. Blue hurried to catch up with him. She would not let him get far enough ahead of her to lose her.
The stairs were narrow and uneven. The walls rough with time. More than once she lost her balance and had to brace against Noah to regain it. That old familiar fear of the dark edged into her consciousness. She pushed it away, but the panic would not be denied completely. She blinked, tried to force her eyes to adjust, but it was just too dark. The smell was suffocating...the air old, tainted with the wicked deeds of pirates and smugglers. A quiver rippled through her. She'd been listening to Chester too much.
Finally they reached the bottom step. The pa.s.sage was nearly as narrow as the staircase had been. A musty odor, mingled with the scent of decayed fish and salt.w.a.ter, hung in the thick air this far down. She ignored the claustrophobic sensation that tried to take root. She would not be afraid. Noah was with her. She had her Glock. And backup was on the way.
Noah stopped. She b.u.mped into his muscular back.
A sound echoed farther down the pa.s.sage.
Moving more slowly...not making a single noise, they edged forward in unison.
The tunnel widened. Her fingers encountered dips in the walls, cave-like openings or adjoining pa.s.sages.
Another of those low groans.
Louder...closer.
Five, maybe six more yards and they were nearly on top of the sound. A dim glow emanated from one of the side pa.s.sages another six or seven yards ahead. Her heart kicked into a frantic rhythm. They moved more quickly now.
”Who's there?” a male voice asked gruffly.
Lucas.
Blue pushed past Noah, rus.h.i.+ng toward the sound of Lucas's voice. He was lying on a military-style sleeping bag. Even in the dim light he looked like death warmed over. Pale, hollow-eyed.
Lucas manacled her wrist with surprising strength when she moved to inspect his wounds. ”Where's Victoria?” he growled.
”Don't worry. She's with Logan and the others. We know the fis.h.i.+ng shack is a setup. They're on their way back here.”
His hold on Blue tightened. ”Get her off this island. Now!” He coughed hard, then groaned with the pain the spasm caused.
”Callahan, do you copy?” echoed in her earpiece. Logan.
”Copy, Logan. We've found Lucas.”
”We're back at the house. What's your twenty?”
”The door under the staircase. We're in the tunnel beneath the property. There's no sign of Leberman, but it isn't safe to bring Mrs. Colby down here.”
Gunfire erupted at the end of the tunnel. A half dozen lightning-fast flashes of light. Semi-automatic. Nine-millimeter, she estimated. A bullet whizzed past her head. Where was Noah?
Blue hunkered into a crouch, simultaneously pus.h.i.+ng Lucas farther into the niche and then s.h.i.+elding him with her own body.
Blue a.s.sumed a firing position, but couldn't locate Noah. How could she fire when he could be anywhere?
More gunshots. Revolver. The .38.
Noah.
She hissed a curse. Dammit. He was going to get himself killed.
The next succession of rapid fire was farther away...the semi-automatic again.
”Douse that light, Callahan,” Maverick's voice in her ear this time.
Railing at herself for not thinking to do that already, she leaned across Lucas and turned down the flame on the kerosene lantern until it went out. She blinked, forcing her eyes to adjust as quickly as possible. She felt more than heard the team as they moved past her position. Someone knelt beside her.
”Mr. Camp, I'm going to help Specialist Callahan get you out of here.”
Simon Ruhl's voice.
The time it took to move Lucas was considerable. He was too weak to help in any way. Though Blue was intensely relieved that they'd found Lucas and he was very much alive, she couldn't help worrying about Noah and the rest of the team out there with Leberman. She told herself repeatedly as they moved up the stairs one agonizing step at a time that the men after Leberman were highly trained and more than capable. But she kept remembering the way he'd fooled her...had fooled everyone. He was not an enemy to take lightly. He was the worst kind.
The kind you didn't see coming.
CHESTER MADE the necessary calls to have a medflight land right on the beach behind the house to take Lucas to the closest trauma center. Thank G.o.d one was available immediately. Victoria Colby, by sheer determination, was permitted to go with him. The allowance was a first in Blue's experience. But then she'd never met a woman like Victoria.
Simon and Maverick, who'd stayed with Victoria while the others went after Leberman, now waited with Blue. Unlike them, she paced the floor. None of the team members still on the hunt had communicated any information one way or the other. When a team went dark, meaning silent, then that move was respected by those waiting for word. No one dared take any risk of giving away their position.
Blue understood that rule as well as anyone, but she had a h.e.l.l of a time sticking by it as the minutes and hours dragged by.
The clock in the entry hall struck the witching hour.
”Enough, Blue,” Maverick said. ”Sit down and stop that pacing.”
The two men had taken up positions in the living room an hour or so ago, but Blue had continued to wear a path in the entry hall.
”I don't want to sit,” she argued, annoyed that he didn't understand that.
His gaze softened. ”I know what you're going through, but you've got to be reasonable. Now sit down.” He gestured to the sofa.
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