by Cindy Brown
I soon realized that Toby might have been faster than me, but not by much. At this donkey’s pace, Frank would be a goner before we reached him. We’d have to take a shortcut.
I pulled Toby’s reins, steering him off the road and toward the stand of trees that marked the creek. He balked. “C’mon, Toby, I know you can make it down this hill.” He reluctantly went forward, picking his way down the rocky slope toward the woods. The dark, dark, incredibly dark woods. No moon tonight, and the trees that promised life and water in the daytime now looked like something out of Grimm’s fairytales. Something that would swallow you whole and never give up the body.
“Stop it,” I told myself out loud. “This is not a fairytale, these are just woods, and you have technology.” I whipped out my cell phone. I’d never downloaded a flashlight app, so I found the brightest photo I had, one of Matt and Cody at Encanto Park. It lightened my screen enough to help a little. We were just at the edge of the riparian area when I realized I was almost out of battery. At the mouth of the really really dark woods. “We can do this, Toby,” I said and turned off my phone.
Chapter 64
“Aaah!” I’d forgotten about the night snakes, or whatever they were. They rustled in the grass around us, jostling the grass near the ground, then shaking the tips in a weird low-high pattern, as if they were jumping. Wait, jumping snakes?
“Come on, Toby.” I didn’t want to kick him, so I pressed my feet against him again, hoping he’d recognize that as a “get going” signal. He didn’t.
I gave him a little kick. “Toby!” The snakes around us rustled and hopped, but Toby just plodded along. “I should have picked a horse,” I said out loud, and Toby picked up the pace. “Yeah, a horse would go so much faster.” He trotted a little faster. Looked like a little healthy competition worked with donkeys too.
But we weren’t fast enough. “Ivy!” said a German-sounding voice behind us. “Stop!” We didn’t stop. “Don’t be so pig-headed,” Chance panted as he ran after us. His American accent was gone. “You must stop.”
No way I was going to stop, but he would catch up with us soon enough. What could I do? We were almost out of the tall grass. The creek gurgled nearby and I could just pick out the outline of the old snag against the near-black sky. Ah.
I nosed Toby towards the water. “Let’s see, you killed one man.”
“Accidentally!”
“And then your girlfriend died.” We were close to the creek now.
“I did not do it.”
“And you want me to stop all by myself in a dark deserted place.” Toby and I splashed across the creek, Chance right behind us. We were almost in place.
“What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.”
“Nice try.”
“You must…I…I cannot find the words. Just stop.”
I pulled on Toby’s reins and we stopped, just to make sure Chance was in the right spot. I could barely make him out in the inky darkness, but I was pretty sure we had hit our mark.
“Thank you,” Chance said. “Now…Hey! What in the hell?” He flailed his arms around.
“It’s quicksand,” I said.
“Quicksand? In Arizona?”
“I know, weird, right? Not sure how deep it is, but I wouldn’t struggle if I were you. Now, Toby and I are off.”
I nudged Toby and he began trotting at a decent pace.
“Wait!” cried Chance. “Stop! You can’t leave me here.”
“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” Ha.
My noble steed and I hurried through the woods and climbed the hill out of the riparian area. In a few minutes we were on the desert road that led to the mine. Toby must have recognized where we were, and good thing too, because the desert was black. Not just dark, black. The sky was filled with flickering stars, but their light didn’t reach the desert floor.
Ahead of us, the darkness gathered itself into something deeper than black: the mine. Its mouth was blacker yet. A piece dislodged itself and flew toward us. Shakespeare’s words leapt to mind:
“Ere the bat hath flown,
His cloistered flight, ere to black Hecate’s summons
The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums
Hath wrung night’s yawning peal, there shall be done
A deed of dreadful note.”
“Just bats,” I said to Toby, though Macbeth’s warning rang in my head. “Harmless bats. Aaaah!” I ducked as dozens of them whooshed out of the darkness and over our heads.
“Ivy?” Frank’s voice came from the yaw of the mine. “Help me. Please. He hurt me.”
I nudged Toby, but he wouldn’t budge. No amount of kicking, wheedling, or telling him he was better than a horse worked. Finally, I dismounted. Now what? I had to get Frank out of the mine, but I might need to protect him from bad guys too. I could take my rifle, but it seemed like a bad idea to discharge a gun inside a mine. No. I’d have to go in unarmed and hope that Frank was alone, or maybe had a big rock. I slung my rifle across Toby’s saddle and crept toward the mine.
“Ivy!” a different voice shouted from far behind me. Josh’s. He must have noticed Toby missing.
“Ivy,” pleaded Frank’s voice, a hollow echo from within the mountain. “Don’t trust him. Hurry.”
I stepped inside the mine. Wow, and I thought it was dark outside. I literally couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. I reached out and felt a stone wall, cool under my fingertips. I slid my cellphone out of my pocket. Really wished I’d taken the time to download that flashlight app. I turned it on and pulled up the photo of Matt and Cody. It was one of my favorite photos. Matt had that smile I loved, the one where his eyes got all scrunchy and…
Really, Ivy? You’re going to think about that now? I shook my head and held out my phone. The photo’s blue-sky background wasn’t bright enough to let me see more than four feet. I could walk the four feet in the dark, turn it on, and repeat. Maybe my battery would last until Frank and I were out of here.
“Ivy.” Frank’s voice sounded weaker. “Where are you?”
“I’m coming,” I yelled, clicking off the phone.
The blackness was absolute. My chest contracted. It was hard to breathe: As the darkness pressed in on me, so did the weight of all the dirt and stone above me, the mass of earth that could crush and bury me so I’d never be found.
I shook my head again, trying to shake off my growing fear. I had never been claustrophobic before. Then again, I had never been in a pitch-black abandoned mine before. Huh. My internal dialogue echoed in my head as I inched forward. Fear. Abandoned. Abandonment…
I had it. I knew why I was sabotaging my relationship with Matt. Too bad my revelation came when I was trying to rescue someone from a scary dark mine in the middle of nowhere.
“Hurry. Please hurry.” Frank’s voice cracked.
“On my way!” I hurried. For three steps. Then I stopped. Had I gone four feet? I reached for my phone. Footsteps crunched behind me. “Ivy?” said Josh.
“Run!” yelled Frank.
I did, stumbling into the darkness, trying to get my phone on for some light. After only a few feet, I ran smack into a wall in front of me. “Ow!”
“Turn right,” said Frank. “The tunnel’s to the right.”
“No! Stop!” Josh’s footsteps were close. “Stop!” A burst of noise from behind me. Josh must have stepped up his game. I did too, stretching one arm in front of me so I wouldn’t hit another wall, and trying to turn on my phone with my other hand. Yes! The blue screen glowed.
Strong arms grabbed me from behind. My phone flew out of my hands and the light went out. I waited for it to crash against the mine’s stone floor, so I could find it by sound. Nothing.
“Don’t move,” said Josh. “Not a muscle.”
I didn’t, afraid he might have a knife or gun. Then I heard my ph
one smash again a rock. A rock far, far, below me.
“That shaft is almost a thousand feet deep,” Josh said. “And it’s right in front of you. We’re going to back up now.”
“Frank?” I yelled into the darkness. “Where are you?” No reply. Omigod, did he pass out?
“We’re backing up. Now.” Josh’s arms pulled me backward, my feet scrabbling to keep up.
“But Frank—”
“I don’t know what Frank’s up to, but he just tried to kill you.” Josh slowed his pace but kept his arms tight around my waist.
“No.”
“You don’t think the fall down that shaft would’ve killed you? Well, maybe the fall wouldn’t have. Being left there for a few days would’ve done the job.”
“He must have thought I had a light. I could’ve gotten around it safely if I had a light.”
“And if you’d gone much farther, you would have run into bad air. It knocks you out, then kills you. In fact, let’s get a move on. I’m not sure about the air right here either.”
“But Frank. He’s hurt.” And told me not to trust Josh. I leaned back into Josh and pretended to stumble, so I could touch his side, see if he wore his gun belt. He did.
“I don’t know what happened to Frank. But don’t you think it’s strange he tried to lure you to your death?”
“I think it’s strange that you came running after me into a dark mine in the middle of the night.” I pretended to stumble again, grabbed his gun from his holster, and threw it as far as I could into the darkness behind us.
In a flash, Josh turned to face me, grabbed me, and slung me over his shoulder like a side of beef. I kicked at him. “Stop.” Josh tightened his grip on me.
“Frank!” I yelled into the darkness. “I’ll get help. Don’t give up.”
A groan from somewhere in the darkness. “He’s still alive!” I kicked harder and landed a good one in the near vicinity of Josh’s gonads.
“Stop it now, or I’ll bang your head against this rock wall.” Josh’s voice had changed into something hard and dangerous.
I stopped kicking. We had to be almost of out of the mine, and he couldn’t carry me all the way to Gold Bug Creek. As soon as he set me down I could kick him again, make a run for it. I could make into the top of the hill where my cell was in range and…
Shit. My cell would never be in range again.
Chapter 65
The sky lightened slightly, from blackest black to black. We were out of the mine.
Josh kept walking, gripping me tightly. He didn’t have a gun anymore. He might have a knife, but I could put space between us pretty quickly. My eyes were adjusting to the darkness. Maybe I could make a break for Frank’s house, call 911, and…No. Pretty sure Frank didn’t have a landline, and he’d called me from his cell, so—
A horse whinnied and Toby brayed an answer. They sounded pretty close.
“Ivy? Are you still there?”
At the sound of Frank’s voice, Josh turned toward the mine, me still slung over his shoulder. His horse, Blackie, stood behind Toby, who looked at me with eyes that said something was wrong.
Wait.
Frank reached me at Gold Bug by phone. His cell wouldn’t have worked in the mine, wouldn’t have been in range anywhere around it, unless he was at the top of a hill. So he couldn’t have called…
“Hey there.” A scrawny figure emerged from behind a mesquite tree, brandishing a pistol. “Looks like I made it out of that mine just fine.” Josh started to turn around. “Don’t,” Frank warned. “I’d hate to shoot a man in the back, but if I had to…”
“Be pretty obvious you killed him in cold blood,” Josh said.
“Not if no one ever finds the body. Bodies, I mean. Which was the plan all along.”
“Toby,” I whispered to the donkey. He was only about fifteen feet away. “Come to Mama.”
He didn’t move.
“Too bad you’re not as dumb as you look,” said Frank.
“Are you talking to me?” I said loudly, then whispered again, “Dammit, Toby, don’t act like a horse.” The combination of the two magic words worked. Toby sidled nearer. Just ten feet away.
“Yeah, the dumb blonde act almost fooled me. But Chance told me you’d been digging around. Then I overheard you’d been in touch with a PI in Nevada, and well, I knew you’d eventually figure out that I’m behind Acme Arizona.”
“You own the mineral rights to the mine?”
“All mine.” Frank chuckled. “Get it?”
“Who are you?” Josh asked me.
“I’m a PI.”
“Not a very good one, as far as I can tell. Maybe I shouldn’t have worried about you after all.” Frank shrugged. “Too late now.”
I needed to keep him talking, buy some time. “Hey, I figured out who Chance is.”
“Who is he?” Josh asked.
“Gunther Schmidt. He’s from Munich and is scared of horses. Dammit,” I added for a certain donkey’s benefit. Toby shuffled a few steps closer.
“You may have figured that out, but you didn’t figure out he was my compadre,” Frank said.
“I don’t think blackmailing Chance makes him a compadre,” said Josh.
“Frank blackmailed Chance?” I asked. “Over what?”
“Chance’s visa is expired.”
“Actually, it’s not.” Frank sniggered. “Nathan extended it. Dumbshit cowboy never even checked; just took my word for it. When he figured out who switched his blanks for bullets, all I had to do to keep him quiet was threaten to turn him over to immigration. Also reminded him he had no proof and a pretty good motive to kill Mongo, whereas little ol’ me…”
“Chance just told me today after the gunfight,” said Josh. “Real bullets again, Frank?”
“Worked before.”
“So you killed Billie too,” I said. “Must have found one of those old drums of cyanide in the desert.” I could almost touch Toby.
“Cyanide.” Frank clucked his tongue. “That’s nasty stuff. Place should’ve been shut down after that ‘accident.’”
I was so disgusted I could taste it. “You are cold-blooded.”
“Like a snake. ’S how I survived in the desert for so long. Now this snake says it’s time to stop your yakkin’ and head toward the mine.”
Josh didn’t move.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going send you down a shaft. Just into one of the areas filled with carbon dioxide. It’s not a bad way to go, from what I hear. Just a few breaths and you’re asleep. Forever.”
“Hey, why did you say I was a bad PI?” I hoped my question would distract Frank so he wouldn’t hear me whisper into Josh’s ear: “Let me down on the count of three.”
“Because you didn’t realize that I couldn’t have called from a cellphone. Or notice the way my voice crackled when I talked.” Frank held up something in the hand that didn’t hold the gun. “Bought top-of-the-line walkie-talkies, but still sounds pretty bad to me.” He held the transceiver to his mouth and said, “Ivy? I’m hurt.” His words drifted out of the mine.
“One,” I whispered to Josh.
“And you suspected Josh.” Frank laughed. “Old trustworthy Josh, savior of mice.”
“Mice?” I said to Frank, then whispered, “Two.”
“And you made him throw away his gun. Stupid girl.”
“Three!” Josh dropped me. I rolled toward Toby, grabbed my rifle from his saddle, and stood up in one fluid move. Being a dancer paid off in the most unexpected ways. So did being an actor. Though I was literally shaking in my boots, I channeled Annie Oakley’s confidence. “I’m not stupid. I’m armed.” I pointed my rifle at Frank.
“Full of blanks.”
“No, it’s not. I changed them out in case you needed help.”
“Right.”
I
shot the rifle into the air. “Sound like a blank to you?”
“Maybe. Anyway, I ain’t scared of a little girl with a gun.”
“Who you calling a little girl?” I fired another warning shot into the air and took the time to check my stance, my grip, my everything.
“’Cause even if those are real bullets, you wouldn’t kill me. You don’t have it in you.”
“You’re right.” Breathe in. “I wouldn’t kill you.” Breathe out. “I’d just shoot the rifle out of your hands.”
“Ha ha…”
And pull.
Crack! Frank’s rifle flew out of his hands. “My thumb!” he yelled. “Damn!”
“Damn,” Josh said admiringly.
“Damn,” I said, keeping my rifle trained on Frank. “I am Annie Oakley.”
Chapter 66
“Can I use your bandanna?” Josh asked.
I took the red kerchief from around my neck and handed it to him. He expertly bandaged Frank’s thumb with my costume piece. He’d already tied up the lousy, no-good, murderous bushwhacker with a length of rope from his saddlebag.
“Got me so trussed up I’ll fall off the damn horse,” muttered Frank.
“No, you won’t,” Josh said. “’Cause you’re not riding.” He fastened the rope to his saddle. “You’re walking. Don’t worry, I made the rope long enough for you to walk behind without Blackie kicking you, but…”
As if on cue, Blackie raised his tail and dumped a load.
