A Kiss in the Dark (13 page)

“All set?” Sam asked, as she entered the living room.

Lacey nodded. “Yes, I just need to get STAR. Sam, do you think we could stop by the mine before we head out? I don’t want to leave without saying goodbye to Cole. He wouldn’t understand.”

Before Sam could respond, there was the sound of tires crunching on the gravel driveway outside. Lacey looked out the window to see Cole’s truck skid to a stop behind the taxicab. He wrenched open the door and jumped out, leaving Copper in the cab. He cast a quick glance at the taxi before he took the steps two at a time. The door burst open and he was there, filling up the space with his energy.

Lacey’s glance flew guiltily to her suitcase and presentation cases, lined up neatly by the door. She braced herself.

“Cole—” Whatever words she had been about to say died on her lips as she took in his tight expression.

“Lacey, I’ll explain on the way. Grab that thing you call STUD or STAR, or whatever it is. I think you’re finally going to get your chance to field-test it.”

“What are you talking about?”

She was forced to step back as he shouldered his way into the living room. “I put it in the back closet.” He stopped when he saw Sam standing in the middle of the room. Then he looked at her gear lined up neatly beside the door, and went completely still. When he finally turned around to face her, Lacey caught her breath at his expression.

“What’s going on?” His voice was dangerously soft.

“Cole, I want you to meet Sam Caldwell, the owner and founder of StarPoint Technologies. My boss.”

Sam extended his hand, and Cole shook it. “We talked the other day on the phone,” Sam said. “I appreciate your confiding in me about the conditions of the mine. I wouldn’t want to jeopardize her safety.”

Cole nodded, and then turned to Lacey. Seeing her expression, he gave an apologetic shrug. “I did what I thought was right. You’re strong-willed and quite frankly, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to say no to you if you insisted on going into the Black River Mines.”

“So you called my boss.”

“I did what I thought was right. You did tell me that he had the final say.” He gave Sam a resigned look. “I just didn’t think he’d come down here to bring you back.”

Sam glanced at his watch. “We should get going. If we leave now, we’ll just get to the airport in time.”

Lacey nodded, unable to believe that this was it; that she would be leaving Kentucky. There was so much she wanted to say, but not in front of Sam. Not like this, with Cole looking distracted and off balance. She recalled again how he had looked when he first came through the door, as if he was on a mission.

“What did you mean when you said I was going to get a chance to field-test STAR?” she asked. “Did something happen?”

“It doesn’t matter.” He gestured toward her bags. “You need to go if you’re going to catch your flight.”

“Just tell me what’s going on, Cole.”

He hesitated, then blew out a hard breath. “Three boys went into an abandoned mine. They triggered a cave-in and now they’re trapped.”

Lacey felt the blood drain from her face. “When did this happen? Are they alive? Can you get them out?”

Cole shook his head. “I don’t know. It happened about an hour ago and we believe they’re still alive. Look, I should get back.” He extended his hand toward Sam. “It was good to meet you.”

Without looking at Lacey, he turned and strode swiftly out the door. Lacey followed him, unable to believe he was going to just leave when there was so much they needed to say.

“Cole, wait.”

He stopped halfway down the steps and turned to face her. His expression was bleak.

“Did you know that Sam was going to come down here? Did you know I’d be leaving this morning?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t know for sure, but I had a hunch he would. I told him that I would take you to West Virginia, but he seemed uncomfortable with the idea. He cares a lot about you, Lacey.”

“And what about you? Do you care a lot about me?”

He came back up the steps and caught her face in his hands. He searched her eyes. “You know I do. That’s why I called Sam in the first place. I am curious, though. Were you going to leave without saying goodbye?”

She covered his hands with her own. “No, I was going to come by the mines to see you. I hate this, Cole. I’m not ready to leave.”

“Then don’t. Stay here.” His eyes burned into hers.

“I can’t. Not after Sam came all this way to get me.”

“He came to make sure you’re okay, and to protect his investment,” Cole said drily. “Tell him you want to take some time off. He’ll understand. Stay a little longer.”

The words hung in the air between them, and it took all of Lacey’s control not to break down and throw herself at him and tell him that of course she would stay. She stared at him, then let her gaze drift beyond him to the rolling mountains that extended for as far as the eye could see. She loved the rugged beauty of the land and the simplicity of life here. She hadn’t expected to love the area—or Cole.

She took a step back, acutely conscious of Sam watching them from inside the open door. “I can’t. Now’s not the right time. I need to go back to New England and perform the field test for STAR.”

Cole considered her for a moment, and then looked past her to Sam. He sighed deeply. “Okay. I understand. Look, I need to get back to the mines. I came here to bring you and the prototype to the rescue site. If you’re leaving, then I guess using it is out of the question. I’d better get back and help the team. They’ll need to figure out where those boys are by using more conventional methods.”

“Like what?”

Cole smiled humorlessly. “A good old-fashioned wild-assed guess.”

Lacey’s eyes widened. “Are you—?”

“Going in? You bet.”

“But you said you’d never do another mine rescue,” she protested, knowing it was hypocritical for her to care, when even now Sam waited to take her to the airport. But she couldn’t think about Cole going into the mine without her heart clenching in terror.

“I’ll be fine. You’d better get going.”

Lacey drew in a deep breath and ignored the sharp pain that caused her chest to constrict. “I’ll call you when I get to Boston. To find out how the rescue went.”

“Just tune in to your local news channel. Once you get back to Boston, that is. I’m sure every major network will be carrying the story.”

“You think it will take as long as that?” Lacey frowned.

“Rogan’s Run No. 5 mine has been abandoned for about fifty years. It’ll take most of the day just to pinpoint where the boys are and then determine the best extraction method.”

“Of course.” Lacey didn’t know what else to say. She knew what was involved in a mine rescue, and how quickly it could all go terribly wrong. There was no way she wanted to witness any of that.

“Well, I guess this is it, then,” Cole said grimly, watching her.

Lacey blinked furiously, and looked away from him. “Yes. I guess so.”

He gripped her by the upper arms. The fierceness of his gaze penetrated her, making her feel as if he could see all the way to her soul. “Take care of yourself.”

He pressed a hard kiss against her mouth. Without another word, he turned and strode to his truck. He didn’t look at her as he turned the ignition and thrust the vehicle into gear.

Lacey watched with blurred vision until his taillights disappeared down the wooded road. Then she swiped her eyes and turned determinedly away.

13

L
ACEY
SAT
IN
the back of the blue taxi and watched Black Stone Gap rush past. There was the diner where she’d broken down that first night when Cole had come to her rescue. Her hand tightened on the purse she held on her lap.

“Everything will work out,” Sam said quietly beside her. “You’ll see. Things happen for a reason.”

She nodded. “I know.”

“We’ll find another test site for STAR.”

Lacey suppressed a small laugh. She thought he’d been referring to herself and Cole. Of course he’d been talking about STAR. While Sam might genuinely care for her, his first concern was for his investment.

“You sure you don’t want to test STAR right now? The entire community is scrambling to rescue three boys who are trapped in an abandoned mine.”

Sam’s expression was grim. “I can understand why you want to bring STAR to the rescue site, but the prototype is untried. What if it fails?” He sighed deeply. “I wouldn’t want to give anyone false hope.”

Lacey stared at him. “But what if it operates exactly the way we designed it to? What if we’re able to pinpoint the boys’ location and help the rescue team? This is why we developed STAR.” She hesitated, her mind working rapidly. “You said that things happen for a reason. What if the reason we’re here is because this community needs us? What if we’re here to help with the rescue? Imagine how amazing it would be to have the owner and developer of the unit right on-site.”

Sam was quiet for several long moments. “I don’t know. Cole indicated the mines—and this one in particular—are dangerous.”

“But what if we don’t need to go into the mines?” Lacey asked in growing enthusiasm. “I’ve been thinking about this a lot, since Cole was adamant that I not go into the tunnels. We could equip one of the rescue workers with the remote camera and you and I could control the operations from aboveground. It’s what I had intended to do anyway.”

Sam looked at her. “That might work.”

Something broke free in her chest, and she impulsively hugged him. “It will work, I know it will.”

She would see Cole again. He had touched her life and her heart in ways she hadn’t thought possible. She couldn’t leave without letting him know. She leaned forward to speak to the taxi driver.

“Do you know where Rogan’s Run No. 5 is?”

“I guess I do. It’s only the entire community of Black Stone Gap that’s out there right now, trying to rescue those boys. We can be there in about twenty minutes.”

Lacey smiled. “Think you can make it in ten?”

The driver grinned. “No problem.”

* * *

T
HEY
TURNED
OFF
the main road onto what looked like a logging road. It wound steeply upward into the trees, and the land on either side was roped off with barbed wire and strung with signs that read Private. No Trespassing.

The road ended at a derelict mining facility. A gravel lot butted up against a wall of shale and rock, and punched into the center was the portal to the mine itself. It looked like a gaping black mouth. Lacey could see it had once been sealed off with timbers, which now lay in a dusty heap next to the entrance. A rusted sign with the words
Danger! Stay Out!,
hung askew from one of the discarded boards.

The taxi driver hadn’t exaggerated about the entire community being present for the rescue attempt. It seemed there were fifty or more cars and trucks in the weed-choked lot, and dozens of residents milled around outside the entrance to the mine, which had been cordoned off with yellow tape. Two police officers stood on the other side of the tape and kept people from entering the mine itself. Beyond the small crowd, Lacey counted three police cruisers, a fire truck, and two ambulances parked alongside the other cars. She strained unsuccessfully for a glimpse of Cole’s pickup truck.

At the entrance to the parking area, they were stopped by a police officer wearing a khaki-and-green uniform. He leaned down to peer in at them. He was an older man, with a seamed face and a graying mustache, but his eyes were shrewd.

“Morning, Tara,” he said to the driver, and his gaze swept past her to where Lacey leaned forward in the backseat, desperately searching the crowd for any sign of Cole. “I’m guessing you’re here to lend a hand. Right now, there’s not much you can do, but they’re organizing food and whatnot for the rescue team down at the church. I’m sure they could use an extra hand.”

“Actually, Sheriff, we’re here to assist with the rescue.” Sam leaned forward and extended his hand through the window. “I’m Sam Caldwell from StarPoint Technologies, and this is my lead engineer, Lacey Delaney.”

The sheriff turned a sharp eye on Lacey, and a slow smile transformed his grizzled features. “So you’re the gal that Carr and the boys have been telling me about.” He thrust a broad, blunt-fingered hand in through the window to Sam, and then Lacey. “I’m Cyrus Hathaway. I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you arrived, but I guess you heard about what happened to my wife.”

Lacey took his leathery hand in her own. “Yes, I did. I hope she’s doing better.”

“She’ll be home in a week or so. I hope Cole’s been taking real good care of you.”

Lacey couldn’t be certain, but she thought she detected a glimmer of amusement in his eyes. She blushed and released his hand. “Yes, sir, he has. Actually, I need to see Cole. I have a prototype GPS unit with me that I think he’ll be able to use in the rescue.”

“Oh, yes. Cole told me a little about it. Let’s see if it lives up to its potential.” He indicated a parking spot near the entrance to the mine. “Tara, drop them off over there. I’ll radio Harlan and have him come out to meet them.”

“Thank you, Sheriff Hathaway.” So it wouldn’t be Cole who met her. Lacey pushed down her disappointment. Tara pulled up near the entrance to the mine, and got out to open the trunk for her.

Sam hefted STAR out of the trunk. “Let’s hope we’re doing the right thing,” he said quietly.

“I know we are.”

“Ma’am?”

Lacey turned and saw Harlan striding toward them. He wore a hard hat, and his rawboned face was streaked with coal dust. He carried two extra hard hats and safety goggles for her and Sam.

She quickly made introductions. “Where is Cole?”

“I’ll bring you over to where the command center has been set up,” Harlan replied.

Lacey glanced quickly toward the small crowd of people who were gathered behind the tape. Some of the women were weeping, causing Lacey to wonder if they were the boys’ mothers. She had little idea what had happened beyond what Cole had told her, but fervently hoped she could help.

“Here we go,” she murmured to Sam as they followed Harlan.

“Is Cole at the command center?” she asked.

“He’s already gone in.”

“In? As in,
into the mine?
” She hurried after Harlan as he skirted the crowd of people and the rescue vehicles and strode toward a dilapidated building made of concrete and steel that was almost falling down from neglect.

“That mine is a maze of tunnels, and the kid that escaped the cave-in couldn’t remember which ones they’d explored. Cole’s the best tracker we’ve got. Besides, he has Carr and the other guys with him. They’ll track the boys to where the cave-in occurred, and then we’ll figure out how to get ’em out.”

Lacey stopped in her tracks as a wave of fear washed over her, making her dizzy. Cole was in those mines. Her imagination conjured up images of dark, twisting tunnels with unstable walls and roofs that might fall and crush him to death without warning.

Sam paused beside her, watching her through concerned eyes.

“Hey.” Harlan’s voice cut through her lurid imaginings. “Don’t you worry about Cole. He knows the dangers and he’ll be careful. C’mon.”

He thrust the steel door of the building open. Inside, at least a dozen men were closely studying a series of maps that were spread across the surface of a long table, crudely constructed out of wooden sawhorses and sheets of plywood. Cole’s dog, Copper, lay under one of the tables, but surged to his feet when he saw Lacey, his tail wagging furiously. Lacey bent to pet him, and then stood up to survey her surroundings. More maps were tacked onto the nearby wall. As they approached, Lacey could see they were topographical maps and a series of blueprints of what might have been the mines.

They looked up as she and Harlan approached. “This is Lacey Delaney and Sam Caldwell,” Harlan said in an expressionless tone. “They brought the GPS unit Cole was talking about.”

One of the men detached himself from the group and approached Lacey. She recognized him as the man who had interrupted her meeting with Buck on the day she had stolen the blueprint.

“I’m Wendall Riggs. I’m a foreman in the Black River Mines.” He gestured to the men behind him. “We all have experience with mine rescues. Cole said he thought you might be able to help us pinpoint where the boys are.”

Lacey forced herself to shift gears, to drag her thoughts away from Cole and the danger he might be in, and concentrate instead on how to help him. She indicated the case that Sam still carried. “This is STAR, our Subterranean Advanced Receiver unit. It can pick up and transmit signals through hundreds of feet of rock.”

The men continued to stare at her. Finally, one of them gave a snort of disgust. “How’s that going to help us?”

Aware of Sam watching her, Lacey grabbed the case out of his hand and hefted it up onto the table. She snapped open the locks and carefully opened the case, gratified when the men gathered for a closer look. She could almost feel their awe at the display of high-tech equipment inside.

She freed a series of metal poles from where they were secured inside the case and swiftly snapped them together until the entire unit stood about seven feet high. Then she attached a small satellite receiver dish to the top. A GPS unit, not unlike the handheld ones she had supplied to the rescue team, snapped onto the pole.

She carefully removed a small black box from where it was secured inside the case, and slipped it into what looked like a tiny harness. She flipped a switch on the back of it and gestured for Harlan to come closer.

“This is the transmitter,” she said briskly. “It has a small camera and sound recorder built into it. I can attach it to Harlan’s hard hat, or hang it around his neck, like so.”

Harlan obediently bent down so she could slip it over his head. A small red light blinked steadily above a tiny lens on the front of the unit.

“This,” she continued, indicating the metal case, “is the control center.” Built into the case was a small computer monitor and a sturdy headset. She flipped the power on, and a series of lights flashed alongside the monitor. “If I bring my receiver unit outside so that it can relay with the satellite—” Lacey indicated the pole with the satellite dish
“—the transmitter will begin sending signals, which are then displayed on the GPS unit, providing the operator with the precise location of the transmitter, including distance from the earth’s surface.”

Lacey glanced at the faces around her. They were mesmerized. “If Harlan were to wear the transmitter and go into the mines, Sam and I could sit up here and it’d be just like we were with him. By watching this monitor, and wearing these headphones, we can see and hear everything he sees and hears. Additionally, I can track his precise location on the GPS display. Once he reaches the site of the cave-in, I can tell you the precise location. Then you can make the decision about how best to reach that location to get the boys out.”

“Christ,” breathed Wendall, “it’s exactly what we need.” He turned to the other men. “Walt and Ed, take Miss Delaney and Mr. Caldwell outside and help them get the equipment set up. Harlan, can you and Poke catch up with Cole and the rest of the team?”

“Of course.” His expression didn’t change as he drew the transmitter over his head. “I think we should mount the transmitter to my hard hat, though. That way, if I need to crawl, or if I encounter pooled water, I’m less likely to damage it.”

Lacey tried to squelch the lurid images she had of Cole, trapped in a narrow tunnel as it filled with torrents of water, struggling to escape. It was just her overactive imagination, she knew, but part of her wondered if she had the strength to watch Cole on the monitor as he made his way through the mines. In the next instant, she knew she had no choice.

Outside the entrance to the mine, volunteers were setting up canopies and tables for the food and water being brought in from town. Several reporters had also arrived and were talking to the police and the bystanders about what was happening.

“We’ll set you up over here,” Harlan said, indicating a table and chair on a patch of grass away from the mine’s entrance and away from the distraction of the rescue personnel and townspeople. “I’ll have a canopy brought over so you can sit in the shade.”

“Thanks.” Lacey set up the receiver and the satellite dish, and hooked everything to the central monitor. Copper flopped down at her feet and put his head on his paws. Sam watched, but let her control the process. It took her several more minutes to key in her location, but she was rewarded when an image of herself seated at the table popped up on the monitor.

“Hey, that’s pretty neat,” Harlan enthused, bending closer. Immediately, her image filled the small screen and became distorted.

Lacey laughed in spite of herself, and glanced up at the small unit that had been fastened to his helmet, directly beside the headlamp. “I guess the transmitter is working. Here, don’t stand so close.” She waved Harlan back from where she was sitting, and the image on the monitor shifted into focus again. “Okay, let’s just run a few preliminary tests to ensure the unit is working, and then we can get started.”

Ten minutes later, when Lacey had verified the equipment was in working order, she turned to Harlan. “We’re all set. The battery in your unit is good for twenty-four hours. After that, I’ll still be able to track your location on the GPS receiver, but I won’t be able to pick up images or recordings.”

“Okay. Can I hear you if you want to talk with me?”

Lacey shook her head. “No. It was never designed to be a two-way communication system.”