Dangerous Ground 3: Blood Heat (11 page)

“Taylor? Can you hear me? Are you okay? Can you hear me?”

Will"s head appeared in the opening above.

“Brandt!”

“Jesus
Christ
. You scared the shit out of me, MacAllister.”

You and me both
. But Taylor refrained from saying it. Will sounded about as rattled as Taylor"d ever heard him.

“You can move? Are you injured?”

Taylor slowly picked himself up. “I"m okay.”

“Are you sure?”

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Josh Lanyon

“Uh, I think so.” He moved into the shaft of sunlight, brushing the grit and pine needles from his clothes and hands. “Yeah, I"m fine.”

“Do you see a way to climb up?”

Taylor looked around. He was forced to reluctantly admit, “No.”

Will swore.

“Tell me about it. Why does this stuff always happen to me?” He thought of all the movies he"d seen where caves were filled with snakes or skeletons or bears.

Occasionally treasure, true, but usually snakes, skeletons, and bears. With
his
luck?

At the very least, giant spiders.

It occurred to Taylor that Will had been silent for a couple of minutes. He looked up. Will was still there, looking down at him. Taylor began to see Will"s predicament.

“See, if you"d gone for help when I asked…”

“Not funny,” Will said tersely.

“All right, all right.” He felt around in his pockets. He was going to have bruises all over his body from falling on the junk he carried. He pulled out his pencil flashlight and shone it slowly around the walls of his prison. Rock…earth…jutting roots…a darker shadow…

He went to examine it.

“What are you doing?” Will called.

“Hang on.”

That darker shadow turned out to be a slit in the wall. Taylor shone his light into it. He could feel cool air pushing against his skin.

He moved back into the ring of light. Was it fading? He couldn"t tell.

“There"s some kind of an opening in the wall. Maybe a tunnel.”

Will was shaking his head. “No. Not a good idea.”

“Really? What"s your plan?”

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Silence. Poor Will. Taylor sympathized. Will didn"t like not being in control, and this situation was definitely out of control.

“Listen. Try and find the girl. I"ll see if I can find another way out of here.”

“You listen. Some of these New Mexico caves are huge. Miles long. You can"t tell how big yours might be from the chamber you"re standing in. And there isn"t going to be any light. You won"t be able to see a foot in front of you.”

“I"ll be able to see exactly a foot in front of me.” Taylor held up his pencil flashlight.

“Seriously?”

“We don"t have a lot of time here, Brandt. Our friends in the hearse could be closing in on Hedwig right now. You need to go.”

“Do you have a way to mark your trail?”

Taylor held on to his patience with an effort. “I could take a leaf from Riley"s book, but no. Short answer? No.”

Will raked a nervous hand through his hair. “I don"t like this.”

“I"m not loving it either. Would you just go hurry up and find Hedwig? She"s probably giving birth under a tree right now.”

Will swore. “All right. But…watch yourself. Don"t do anything I wouldn"t do.”

“You mean besides falling into an underground cave?”

“Besides that.” Will stood up. “I"ll be back.” He disappeared from the opening.

“So you keep telling me,” Taylor muttered.

* * *

Maybe the tunnel led to the center of the earth. Maybe it was the pathway to hell. Either way, it was pitch-dark and narrow—and perhaps he was even working against an upward incline. It was hard to tell in the disorienting dark. So narrow in a couple of spots that Taylor had to fight with himself to keep going. He had never 82

Josh Lanyon

been claustrophobic before, but the fear of getting trapped in this hole in the ground kept skyrocketing his pulse and turning his legs to jelly.

As lean and wiry as Taylor was, he had to wriggle through a couple of very tight places, and he wasn"t sure he could wriggle back. It was only the knowledge that Will needed him—and the belief that the cool wafts of fresh air he felt on his perspiring face meant there was an opening somewhere close by—that kept him moving.

He was surprised to find he was about as scared as he"d ever been. He was not going to like being in tight, enclosed spaces after this; that was for sure.

The flashlight beam fluttered against the slick darkness like a white moth, and a couple of times—to his frank horror—it faded out.

If the light went entirely, he wasn"t sure he wouldn"t break. Better not to think about it. Better to just keep moving, keep pushing and wriggling—forget about the fact that he probably couldn"t get back if his life depended on it, that he might die, wedged here beneath this fucking mountain.

There was more air against his face. He could feel…a breeze. And perhaps the pitchy blackness was fading a little?

Yes. There was light ahead. Light spilling through a jagged lightning-shaped opening.

He sped up, stumbling toward it, almost dizzy with relief.

Fresh air. Daylight. Freedom. He was embarrassingly close to hyperventilating his abject gratitude. Thank God there was no one to witness—and he sure as hell was never going to tell Will how bad it had been. How bad he had let it become in his mind.

Taylor reached the opening. It too was narrow, but it would have had to be the size of a paper cut to prevent him from getting out. He stuck his left hand and leg through and started to wriggle.

The sound of voices stopped him.

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Male and female.

“I can"t tell if they came this way or not,” the male voice said.

Not Will.

Taylor drew hastily back. He listened.

The woman answered, but her voice was less distinct. She was farther down the hillside, already past the cave but out of his sight line.

He heard a clattering sound of falling rocks. It sounded still farther away. So where were they?

Taylor stuck his arm and leg out of the opening and began to twist. The rocks tore his shirt and scraped his skin, but that didn"t matter. It was wide enough, and he was getting through.

He wriggled some more, and then he was out. Out into the amber sunlight.

Yellow dust motes floated above the wheat-colored grass. And far down the hillside—much farther than he"d thought from the sound of their voices—were the man and woman from the black sedan.

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Chapter Nine

He almost stepped on her.

Hedwig had taken shelter beneath the ragged boughs of a big juniper bush.

Will spotted the white of her jeans. Probably the only white patch left.

He squatted, keeping a wary eye on her hands. She was clutching a thick, short branch, and he didn"t think it was to chew on during labor. “All right. Come out of there.”

“I…can"t.”

He controlled himself, but it wasn"t easy. Every time he thought about Taylor wandering around in that underground cavern, he felt he felt the rein he was keeping on his emotions slip. “Kelila, get your ass out of there, or I"m coming in after you. Believe me; you don"t want that.”

She stared back defiantly. “The baby is coming.”

“We"ve all heard that before. Tell the baby she needs to postpone her flight.”

“He. It"s a boy.”

“I don"t care what it is.” He felt a warning prickle down his scalp, that sixth sense that had kept him alive and in one piece as a marine and later in the DSS.

Turning, Will spotted two dark-clad figures switchbacking down the golden hills behind him. From the way they seemed to study the ground, he didn"t think they"d spotted him yet.

“Company"s coming, so unless you want an audience for the delivery, you better get moving.”

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Kelila half crawled, half rolled out from under the bush. Will helped her to her knees.

“Don"t stand up. Where the hell did you think you were going?”

“Mexico.”

“On foot?”

“Plenty of people do it on foot.”

“I don"t think most of them are ready to drop a kid any second.”

“I could make it.”

He was beginning to believe she could.

He felt her stiffen as she spotted the sleek figures moving down the hill in the fading light. “You recognize them. Who are they?”

“Gretchen and Victor Hart. They work for Mikhail.”

“Let me guess. Not bill collectors?”

“No. Mikhail must have found out about the baby.”

“You mean it would be news to him?”

“I left when I realized I was pregnant. I didn"t tell Mikhail.”

Will had been helping her crawl along from bush to rock perpendicular to their pursuers, but at that he stopped. “I thought you left when you realized your life was in danger from someone highly placed in the DEA.”

Kelila nodded. “Yes. That was why I knew I had to run. I had to think of my baby at that point.”

“And who were you thinking of before then?”

She looked confused, throwing nervous glances at the figures still relentlessly combing the hillside blocking their way back to Taylor.

Will said, “You had a thing about Bashnakov from the time you were in high school. You apparently broke up his marriage—”

“He was widowed.”

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Josh Lanyon

“But then before you ever know you"re pregnant, you start working for the DEA as an informant. Why?”

“
Why
? Because I learned my husband—my wonderful, charming, handsome husband—was a murderer and a drug dealer.” Will must have looked as baffled as he felt. She spat out, “That"s
not
okay!”

“I know it"s not okay. Are you saying you went voluntarily to the DEA?”

“Yes.” She met his eyes unswervingly. Not that that meant much. Will had met plenty of bald-faced liars in his time.

“You volunteered to act as an informant for the DEA?”

“Yes.”

“And what"s the name of the highly placed DEA official you believe set you up?”

“Deputy Administrator Ted Bell.”

If it wasn"t the truth, it was a damn good facsimile. Even Will had heard the rumors about DA Ted Bell.

She said, suddenly alarmed, “Where"s your—Where"s Agent MacAllister?”

“He"s waiting for us. I hope.” Will scanned the hills. The Harts had reached the flatland now. If they could circumnavigate them, if Will could get Kelila up the hill without being seen…

That still left the problem of Taylor.

One thing at a time. Getting up that hill unseen. That was the first thing.

And it was liable to be the last thing. They"d be sitting ducks all the way up that hillside.

He glanced at Kelila"s drawn face. If ever a girl was game, it was this one.

* * *

87

mostly on hands and knees, panting hard. The bare stretches with only the gold-tipped grass swaying in the breeze for cover seemed miles long.

It was inevitable that they would be spotted. Will knew it, was prepared for it, but the first blast sent his heart into overdrive. Kelila let out a shriek and scuttled away.

“Get down!” Will yelled.

She was a slow-moving target, awkward as an anteater, but for some reason neither Gretchen nor Victor took the shot. In fact, all their firepower seemed to be trained on Will. Bullets chewed up the earth around him, took bites out of the sparse vegetation, nibbled at the rocks and sent them flying.

Will flattened himself to the warm soil, locked both hands around his SIG, and laid down a steady return barrage. It was only a matter of time before one of them nailed him, but he would give Kelila every possible second. He was aware of her making her spiderlike way up the slope to the left of him. Panic in slow motion.

Will changed clips.

Sorry, Taylor. Sorry, sweetheart
. If it was going to end like this, Will was actually glad Taylor was safely trapped belowground, no chance of him doing anything stupid and suicidal until the danger was past.

His finger tightened on the trigger, squeezing—he was down to his last rounds.

Like a thunderclap from overhead came the loud
bang
of a .357 SIG.

Will"s heart jerked with each bullet crack.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

That rapid, even staccato was as familiar, as welcome as the voice of a lover calling down the mountainside.

It was his ticket home. He turned, relying on Taylor to cover his retreat, and sprang up the hill in a couple of bounds, catching Kelila a few yards ahead and half dragging her along with him.

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Josh Lanyon

They reached the top. Taylor was lying in the deep grass, looking remarkably unruffled. He had that tight-jawed, implacable expression Will recognized from other tight corners, and though his eyes flicked briefly over Will, making sure he was still whole, his attention was focused on the two he had pinned down below.

“Can she make it to the car?” he asked.

“She"ll make it.”

“I"ll cover you.”

“Don"t be too long about it.”

“I"m right behind you.”

By now Kelila had reached the end of her strength, and all the panic and adrenaline in the world couldn"t drive her any faster. Will put an arm around her waist and towed her along over uneven ground. A few yards from the SUV, he picked her up and carried her, his back muscles screaming protest.

Reaching the SUV at last, he tumbled her into the rear seat. Hair spilled over her face, she sprawled on the pseudoleather, gasping out little moans and convulsively rubbing her belly.