In Too Deep

by Mary Connealy

  “I heard them. I know where they’re going.”

  “Where?”

  “They went into the cavern.”

  Ethan staggered back and almost fell. Hitting the cabin wall was the only thing that held him up. “No.”

  Seth’s eyes said it all. He knew exactly how Ethan felt.

  A black hole yawned at Ethan’s feet. Worse than feeling it, Ethan knew he had to jump into it. He had to go after Audra. He had to go down into that cavern.

  He forced the words past his lips. “Did they go across the creek into that entrance?”

  “Yes. I heard Audra begging for your life, Eth. I’d just about dragged myself up that ledge. If I’d’ve been faster, I might have been able to get my gun into action.”

  “You did fine, Seth. You found me and got me untied so I can go.” Ethan’s head throbbed with equal parts fear and pain. He stood straight, squared his shoulders. He did it all for show, to behave as a man ought to. But he hated that cavern. He felt as if he were walking straight for his own death, Audra’s too.

  “I’ll use the torches down there. I’ve got matches.” Ethan had one clearheaded moment to look again at Seth. Lines cut deeply into his face from the pain. “How long was I out?”

  “They haven’t been gone long. I crawled here as fast as I could.”

  “I should help you.”

  “Go. I’m inside. I’ll keep the girls safe. They may not be happy, but they won’t be left alone.”

  “The girls.” Ethan had forgotten his daughters. He had to pull himself together and start thinking. “They’re sleeping.”

  “I know.”

  Ethan jerked on his pistol and quickly checked the load. He reached in his pocket and produced a small tin of matches. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  “I’ll say a prayer for you, Eth.”

  That was the sanest thing his little brother had ever said. “I’d appreciate it.”

  He turned and ran out of the cabin. He was across the creek in minutes and saw the ladder hanging over the edge of the cavern entrance. Ethan dropped to his knees by the opening and looked down, listened for any sound.

  Nothing.

  He turned and forced himself down the ladder. Ethan felt the blackness press on him as if he were in the belly of a beast. Each step down the ladder was a horror.

  When he reached the ledge it was there, just as he remembered. He only had to think of Audra to control the fear, or at least endure sliding down the throat of Satan, and being swallowed up by hell.

  Chapter

  22

  “Turn here,” Audra said.

  Mitch, in the lead, looked back at Audra, who was pointing for him to go down the tunnel on the right.

  Mitch was ahead of her, Grove behind. Both carried a torch, which they’d found at the bottom of the ladder they’d climbed down. Mitch kept his lifted above his head; the tunnel was high enough to allow it. If she’d had any hope of slipping away in the dark, those hopes were dashed by the torches. She had to douse them somehow.

  She was sure this tunnel led to the place Seth had fallen so many years ago. If she hadn’t been sure, based on the directions she’d been given, she would still know by Julia’s charcoal arrows and the dramatic X above the arrow. A warning of danger.

  They were black lines on dark gray stone in dim light. She didn’t think her captors had noticed them. But so what if they did? Someone had marked the walls? Audra would simply claim Wendell had done it, and she knew that it marked their way.

  She kept up a good pace, which kept Mitch moving in front of her. All she could think was that she needed to get them as far from Ethan as she could. She hoped her assured step led these men to believe she was going in a direction she’d learned well, aiming straight for the treasure.

  Planning each step, she wondered where that hole was ahead and what it would take to best two ruthless men. Fear shook her hard, but she fought against it. She kept going. And she braced herself to do what she could, knowing she was upheld by God’s righteous right hand.

  The image of Audra in the hands of his two hired men, maybe suffering a terrible fate, kept Ethan moving. He found a torch on the wall, then hesitated before he struck the match to light it. There had always been torches down here closer to the entrance. They could have been taken out years ago for all he knew, but if the two men with Audra had light, then they’d be easy to find.

  God, give me the strength to face my fear of this dark place.

  With the lit torch in hand, he went on. He knew this section of the cavern well. Despite never coming back, it had haunted his dreams for years.

  He walked straight for the tunnel he and his brothers had always taken. He walked as quietly as possible, listening for any sound.

  He reached the opening that led to the pit Seth had fallen into, and paused. Audra knew little about this cavern. The men who had her most likely knew less than she did. They’d talked about this place, though, with Audra listening in. They’d talked more about this tunnel than any other. If she was pretending to lead them somewhere, she’d go this way. Sick about returning to where his brother had almost died, Ethan turned and started forward. Each step was harder to take. He felt the darkness thicken until it was a solid wall that his meager torch couldn’t penetrate.

  Trying to listen for Audra ahead, instead he heard a child screaming, the ground cracking, the fire roaring like a beast.

  Hanging by his belt for long soul-shredding seconds. He forced himself to take a step and he stopped, terrified the ground would break off, become a mouth full of jagged teeth, biting at him, devouring his whole family, devouring his soul.

  Numb with the effort to go on, he dropped his torch just as he’d dropped the lantern.

  Flames shot up like a lake of fire that burned but never consumed.

  Seth, on fire. The screams.

  The slam to the back of his head.

  Ethan had to not care. He had to find a way to shut off the fear.

  The only way that worked was to not feel anything too deeply. Not care. Not love. But he couldn’t separate himself from his heart. Not with Audra. Terror had him in its jaws and seemed to be shaking him to death, like a cat shook a rat. The fear drove him to his knees.

  Ethan couldn’t move. He knelt there, too much of a coward to throw off the fear and save his wife, the woman he loved. He reached out for God, for miraculous strength, but he only heard the echo of his own fears and the laughter of Satan. His head lowered to the cavern floor as if evil were a hand pressing him down.

  The cavern was too strong.

  No.

  Ethan knew the truth. He was too weak.

  The cavern had won.

  Audra saw another heavily drawn X on the tunnel wall. A warning.

  She moved closer to Mitch and felt Grove close the space behind her. She pictured what she’d do. She needed darkness and speed. The torch would be her first goal. Strength sufficient to the task. She asked for it, begged for it, and prepared to fight as if God himself were fighting through her.

  She was watching the tunnel floor intently and saw what she knew had to be that hole. It was only a darker shadow in a tunnel filled with shadows. Only knowing it was there warned her. She launched herself at Mitch, slammed him forward, clawed at the torch, and jerked it from his hand. Mitch screamed as he fell. Audra whirled and hit Grove in the face with the fire. He staggered back, shouted furiously while raising his gun.

  She brought the torch down hard on his gun hand with a loud scream. He dropped the weapon and clawed at his face, his hair on fire.

  She stomped on his torch when it hit the ground, to extinguish it.

  “You can’t get away from me!” Grove’s rage was murderous. Audra took one second to jam the torch she held into the tunnel wall, and as Grove slapped out the flames on his own body, all light was gone. Then, again aware of what she’d been told about this place, she rushed to the left side of the tunnel and ran out on the ledge Julia and Rafe had told her was ther
e. Running in the pitch-dark.

  A gun roared behind her, but with no light, Grove couldn’t aim. She moved more carefully, quietly, to give him nothing to aim at. The bullet whizzed past her in the dark. It caromed off the tunnel wall with a high whine. Praying with every step, Audra knew Grove could get a lucky shot. She kept on moving until she thought she was past the gaping hole in the collapsed floor and then stopped. Now silence was the weapon she’d use. She crouched down and felt along the floor to be sure she was past the pit and on solid ground. Now to go forward, find the entrance into Rafe’s valley, and run for home. It was a long way, but she was healthy and strong, with God on her side. She could do it.

  “I’ll find you, woman!” Grove roared. “You’re not going to get away from me.”

  Then she heard footsteps coming fast.

  The scream brought Ethan to his feet. He was running before he made a conscious thought to do it. He’d left his torch behind without realizing it. Even after he thought of it, he still didn’t hesitate. Where he’d had nothing but the blackest of terrors before, now it was as if God had wiped it all away. He remembered his mother saying, “God’s strength is made perfect in weakness.”

  That had never made sense before. But right now, God certainly had His chance for perfection in Ethan Kincaid. His mind cleared further and he realized exactly where he was. He had relived this awful place so many times that even in the pitch-dark, he knew how far he had to run to reach that hole. And the scream was such a powerful reminder of Seth that he knew the noise was coming from that exact place.

  As he neared it he moved all the way to the left, remembering what Rafe and Seth had talked about, how there was a way across. He found it. The darkness wasn’t even touching him now. As he crossed he heard running steps ahead of him and then an awful, ugly grunt, followed by a scream.

  For one heartbreaking moment he thought he was too late. Then he heard screaming. A man screaming, only a few feet ahead. Screaming and falling.

  There was a dull thud from about twenty feet below. The scream cut off and there was only silence. Ethan hurried forward.

  “And don’t you ever touch me again!” Audra’s voice echoed in the darkness.

  “Audra, honey, it’s me! Ethan.” He decided he’d better warn her if she was busy shoving men into the hole.

  “Ethan? Ethan, you’re all right! You came.”

  Ethan stepped across the slender ledge. “Seth said there were two men. Where’s the other one?” He still couldn’t see her, but she was talking and he followed her voice.

  “There were two. Both of them fell.”

  “Two men? You won a fight against two men?”

  “Of course. I had to save you and my children. Did you say Seth talked to you? They said they’d killed him.”

  “He found me and untied me. But we’ve got to get back. He has a broken leg. I left him with the girls, and he can keep them safe, but he’s in a lot of pain. He needs help.” Finally, Ethan found her, reaching, going by feel, following her voice in the echoing tunnel.

  “I’m so glad you’re both all right,” she said.

  Ethan pulled her into his arms. The most courageous woman he’d ever known. “You’re not hurt, either? You were able to throw two men into that hole in the ground? What a woman!”

  “Well, they hurt you and th-that made me really, really mad.” Then she threw her arms around his neck and broke down in tears.

  Chapter

  23

  Audra had trouble doing anything but clinging to Ethan for what seemed like far too long. Finally her tears subsided. “We’ve got to get back,” she said.

  Ethan turned, caught her hand, and took two steps toward the ledge just as the sharp crack of a gun being cocked sounded in the cavern. He pulled Audra to the floor as the gun roared. Bullets ricocheted around them. Ethan covered Audra with his body and whispered, “Shh . . . he’s firing blind.”

  The gunfire went on and on. From this angle, Ethan could tell that Mitch had somehow climbed out of the pit. The bullets shattered rocks, which pelted Ethan’s back, but none of the bullets came close, at least not that he could tell. Ethan heard the click of a trigger on an empty gun.

  “I’m going to get you, woman!” Mitch shouted. “No one attacks me and lives.”

  Ethan judged where Mitch stood and launched himself in that direction. He landed hard on Mitch and brought him to the cavern floor. He heard the gun clatter across rock.

  In utter darkness, Ethan grappled with a madman, crazy with rage. Mitch slammed a fist into Ethan’s shoulder. The blow was so hard it would have knocked Ethan cold if it had landed on his chin. Ethan swung a fist and Mitch grunted. They rolled on the ground. Ethan could feel the pit only inches away.

  Mitch knocked Ethan sideways. Ethan clung to whatever he could grab, dragging Mitch down, slugging at him, taking blows. Hanging on to keep the man away from Audra.

  Mitch’s hands found Ethan’s neck and began to squeeze the life out of him. Ethan pounded blow after blow to Mitch’s face, but nothing broke that crushing hold. Ethan grabbed Mitch’s arms, desperate to take the pressure off his neck.

  Then a sickening thud sounded. Mitch arched upward, releasing Ethan’s throat. Another thud sent Mitch tumbling sideways.

  When no renewed attack came, Ethan fumbled in his pocket for his tin of matches. He was desperate to see what had happened.

  “Are you all right, Ethan?” Audra was there, on her knees, running her hands up his arm, finding him by touch. “Ethan, speak to me. Ethan!”

  “Yes . . .” His throat nearly failed him, so Ethan coughed and tried again. “I’m okay. Audra, you . . . you saved me.”

  With a sudden laugh she did a fair job of launching herself into his arms. “I did, didn’t I?” She laughed and he hugged her tight.

  A groan from right near them had Ethan setting his dangerous little wife aside to again get his matches. He struck one just as Mitch reared up from the floor. The light stopped him, but then he looked around and dove for his gun, which lay on the edge of the pit. As Mitch bent down for the gun, Audra, sitting on the floor beside Ethan, spun and kicked out, landing a solid foot on Mitch’s backside. He went tumbling through the broken-off floor. Roaring as he fell, he clawed at the gun and took it over the edge with him. Ethan heard Mitch land, along with the metallic clatter of the gun.

  “I’ll get you!”

  The revolver clicked on an empty chamber. Ethan heard the crack of the revolver being opened and pictured Mitch’s loaded gun belt. Grove had one, too. He heard the slide of a bullet being loaded. They had only seconds before he reloaded his gun and began firing.

  Ethan jumped to his feet, grabbed Audra, and together they moved up the slope leading to Rafe’s valley. He was amazed at how unafraid he was of the dark tunnel.

  They heard another shout from Mitch and the sound of him falling again. His luck at climbing out in the dark so swiftly the first time hadn’t held the second.

  Mitch was still roaring from the depths.

  Ethan tightened his hand on Audra’s. “I figured something out here today, Audie, honey.”

  “Stop calling me that awful name.” She didn’t sound that upset. “What did you figure out?”

  “I’ve spent years being afraid of things that only lived in my imagination. I’d turned a bunch of dark tunnels into something evil, like the tunnel was alive and intended to harm me. Facing down bad men in this tunnel helped me to realize I’ve wasted a lot of time worrying over something that doesn’t exist when there are plenty of real things to worry over.”

  “And you think that’s a good thing?” She sounded doubtful.

  “Don’t know if it’s good. I only know it’s true. And I’m not so scared of this stupid cavern anymore.”

  Ethan paused, and in the darkness he listened to Mitch shouting out threats. “Do you think he’ll be able to find his way out of there?”

  Audra was silent as they listened to the ugliness. It seemed to still be from the depths,
as if Mitch couldn’t find his way out of the pit a second time. “I wouldn’t underestimate the man.”

  “I hate the idea of leaving anyone in here. It was my own personal nightmare for too much of my life.”

  The gunfire started again. Six shots.

  “They have a lot of bullets between them,” Audra said. “I’m not going back for him.”

  “Let’s leave him to calm down for a few hours,” Ethan said.

  They would come up in Rafe’s valley. Grab horses there and ride for the cabin. They’d make sure Seth and the girls were all right, then with some backup he’d come back for Mitch and Grove.

  Plenty of backup.

  Again Mitch’s gun clicked on an empty chamber. Ethan caught Audra close and held her. “We’ll wait until he starts shooting again. We don’t want him to get his bearings at all. I’m hoping in the dark he won’t know what direction to take.”

  Guilt gnawed at Ethan to abandon these men. He knew how the place could drive a man mad.

  Mitch began spewing such profane evil it hardened Ethan’s heart. As Mitch’s voice rose and bounced off the wall, Ethan decided they could move again, but quietly. They’d gone about twenty paces when the gun began firing, with Mitch working his way through his ammunition supply. If he knew Grove was down there, Mitch could empty his belt of bullets, too.

  Ethan and Audra traveled at a near run until even the sound of gunfire faded away—or maybe stopped. Ethan wasn’t sure. They hurried up a steep tunnel, still in the pitch-dark but with only one possible direction to go. There were smaller tunnels off this main one, the place Maggie had nearly fallen. The side tunnel where Seth had come out. But Ethan couldn’t stumble into such small places by accident. He hoped.

  They ran into a stone wall. It then occurred to Ethan that he still had matches and could have lit them once they were out of Mitch’s sight. But now there was no need. He’d been in this part of the tunnel. It led straight out to Rafe’s caldera. It didn’t have branches off it to get a man lost. Or holes in the floor to let a man fall to his death.