Bloodstone caught her gaze. “Ahh, yes. The ruby. As you might have guessed, the whole theft was a ruse.”
“A ruse? But why?” Kate alternated her gaze between the ruby and Darkstone.
“To lure you here, of course,” Darkstone said. “When I heard of the ruby’s theft and discovered it was going to be auctioned off in Antarctica, I knew it was the perfect way to get you to come to me.”
Kate raised a brow at him while she tested the strength of the chain.
Darkstone paced around the cave as he continued. “I knew I had to be very clever if I wanted to get anywhere near you. And I also knew you would hunt the ruby down with the same overzealous tenacity you hunted me down.” He stopped in front of Kate. “So, all I had to do was to steal the ruby myself and then leave a trail of breadcrumbs for you to follow. Naturally, I had Sheldon to help me relieve Crowder of the real ruby and put the fake one in its place.”
“So Sheldon helped Summers steal the real one?” Kate felt a momentary satisfaction. She knew someone on the inside had helped Summers.
Darkstone nodded. “How very astute of you. The timing was rather risky, though. I had to make sure Summers stole it before you did. I would have been quite upset if you’d gotten to it first. That would have ruined my whole plan.”
“But why did you chase me the next day when I stole the fake?”
“We knew you would steal it. So I had a two-pronged plan. One was to get you during your escape, knock you out with tranquilizers then bring you here. Everyone would think Crowder did it and no one would think to trace it to me.”
“But that didn’t work.”
“No.” Darkstone frowned. “So we put plan B into action.”
“And you killed Summers.”
“He was expendable.”
“But how did you know I would find the video of him and Benedetti?”
“I didn’t. But I left a couple of clues to lead you to Benedetti. The video just happened to be the first one you found.”
Kate bristled. There were other clues she’d missed?
“Well, you sure seem to have gone to a lot of trouble.”
“It was all necessary. I knew if I made the chase too easy, you’d catch on. It was a lot of trouble … and expense.” Darkstone smiled at her, an evil smile that didn’t make it to his eyes. “But well worth it.”
“That seems like a heck of a lot of work when you could have just knocked me out or snuck into my house, grabbed me and brought me here.”
Darkstone’s forehead wrinkled. “Oh Kate, that sounds so barbaric. Plus if that happened, then someone would soon miss you and start a search. This way you came on your own and I have more time to watch you suffer since no one will be coming to rescue you for a while.”
Except her father, Gertie and Frankie, Kate thought. Surely, by now they would have discovered what happened at the yacht and maybe even gotten in touch with Gideon?
“Oh, I know about your father and the other old people,” Darkstone said as if he could read Kate’s mind. “But don’t count on them to help you—I have a plan to keep them at bay, and even if by some miracle they reach the top of the volcano intact, they’ll be in no condition to help you escape.”
Darkstone let out a high-pitched laugh as he stroked the crow’s feathers. Kate’s blood froze in her veins.
What was Darkstone planning to do to her father … and to her?
“I have an army of black feathered friends to help me. Don’t I?” Darkstone asked the crow on his shoulder who let out a loud screech. Darkstone lifted his arm and jerked his head toward Kate who let out a screech of her own as the crow flew at her, stabbing the tip of its beak into the top of her head before flying back to roost on Darkstone’s shoulder.
“Ouch!” Kate screwed her face up at Darkstone. “You trained the crows?”
“They seemed to take to me.” He shrugged. “I have a whole army of them waiting to stop anyone that tries to come here.”
Kate chewed her bottom lip. Darkstone was even crazier than she’d thought. And more dangerous. She had to figure out a way to get out of this.
“So you didn’t even want the ruby?” Kate asked. Her mind was clearing now and she figured keeping Darkstone talking was a good way to buy time while she worked on an escape plan.
“Not really.” Darkstone took the stone from Sheldon and held it up to the light, staring into its depths. “Oh, I guess I can always use the money, but the real reason I took it was as bait.”
“What do you plan to do to me, then?” Kate asked.
“Oh, I plan to watch you squirm in the knowledge of the horrible fate that awaits you.”
“Horrible fate?”
“Yes, didn’t your nerdy friend tell you? The volcano is about to erupt.” Darkstone backed up to the mouth of the cave, which Kate now saw was really more of a cliff. She could see a wall of stone opposite it, but the mouth of the cave itself seemed to drop off. To where she didn’t know, but judging by what Darkstone was saying, she was starting to get a pretty good idea.
“Volcano?”
“Can’t you see it? Smell it? Hear it?” Darkstone craned his neck over the edge and Kate shivered even though the temperature had grown unbearably warm inside the cave. Warm and smelly, like sulfur … or lava.
Her stomach sank like a rock when a strange rumble vibrated the floor of the cave. It was then that she realized they must be inside the mouth of the volcano—the cave a mere opening on the side of the main shaft. She was willing to bet, if she looked over the edge where Darkstone was looking right now, she’d see molten lava bubbling below. Lava that would soon come shooting up out of the shaft and flood the cave where she sat.
Darkstone turned back from the edge and pierced her with his beady eyes. “I’d love to stay and see the look on your face as the molten lava burns your flesh. Will you scream? I think so.” He laughed again—that high-pitched crazy person’s laugh. “But, as the time for your painful and untimely death draws near, I fear I must bid my final adieu … because I sure as hell don’t want to get incinerated by this thing.”
“Don’t you think you’re taking this revenge thing a little too far?” Kate asked. “I mean all I did was arrest you. It’s not like I left you to die in hot lava.”
“No one crosses Damien Darkstone and lives to tell about it!” Darkstone turned to Sheldon who had been shuffling his feet near the corner. “Is the helicopter ready?”
Sheldon’s face crumbled and he looked down at his fee. “Uhh … That’s why I came, Boss. There’s a problem you gotta see.”
“What problem?” Fury passed across Darkstone’s face, but he quickly regained control. “Never mind. I’ll see for myself.” He turned to Kate. “In the meantime, we’ll let Ms. Diamond stew. Don’t worry though, Kate. I’ll be back to say good-bye.”
“I can hardly wait!” Kate yelled after him as he and Sheldon ducked through a small opening in the rock. Kate eyed the crack—it looked to be the only way out. Well, other than going over the edge, which she assumed might be hazardous to their health.
“Mom, Sal … are you guys okay?” Worry gnawed at Kate—her mother and Sal had been unnervingly quiet during Kate’s conversation and she prayed they were okay.
“I’m fine,” Carlotta said.
“Me too,” Sal added.
“We’ve found through experience that it’s often better just to pretend you’re still out in these types of situations.” Carlotta wiggled around in her chair, testing the lock and chain that bound her there. “You can usually learn a lot that way.”
“And it gives you time to come up with a plan,” Sal added.
“So, do you have a plan?” Kate asked wondering just how many times her mother and Sal and been captured and chained up.
“Sure, we get out of these chains, then pretend like we’re still chained up.” Sal rattled the chains around his wrist. “Then, when Darkstone and that giant come back, we let them get up close to us, capture them by surprise and use them as human
shields while we make our escape, using the same opening they came in through.”
“That’s your plan?” Kate asked incredulously. “How are we going to get out of the chains? In case you haven’t noticed, they are solid steel.”
“Like this,” Sal said and then Kate heard a click and the sound of metal on metal.
“What was that?” Kate twisted her body around to see and then she remembered. Sal’s prosthetic thumb—the one Gideon had retrofitted like a Swiss army knife. “Your thumb?”
Sal chuckled. “Yep, and since we’re all pretty good lock pickers, I figure between the three of us we should be able to twist ourselves around and use my thumb to pick each one of these locks.”
“That’s brilliant!” Kate said then her heartbeat kicked into high gear as she glanced at the gap Darkstone had disappeared through. Did she hear footsteps approaching?
“We better hurry. He could come back at any minute.”
***
Kate tried to sit still in the metal chair and ignore her racing heart. Once they’d freed themselves of the chains, she’d wanted to just sneak out, but Carlotta and Sal had advised against it. According to them, it was much better to wait for Darkstone to come back and try to capture him. Once they did, they could force him to call off his minions. According to them, they’d have a higher chance of things going in their favor and, since Kate had very little experience with being chained to a chair inside a volcano, she decided to take their advice.
So, there she was. In the metal chair, the chains wrapped around as if they were secured. Waiting for Darkstone.
She tapped her finger nervously on her thigh. “What if he does—”
“Shhh,” Carlotta whispered. “I think I hear him.”
Darkstone appeared at the entrance, a smirk on his face, crow on his shoulder and the Millennia Ruby in his hand.
“Ahhh, I see you are all awake now. I hope you all weren’t too uncomfortable awaiting your fate.” He looked at them with mock sincerity, fanning himself as he looked over the edge. “I do think it’s getting hotter in here, don’t you?”
Kate’s muscles were tense, but she sat as still as she could, waiting for Sal’s signal. The plan was to rush Darkstone when he least expected it. They’d need to execute it flawlessly and had agreed on a signal that would keep them in sync as they launched into action.
But then Kate looked at Darkstone with the ruby. She didn’t like the way he was holding it over the edge. Taunting her with it.
“It looks like things are really heating up down there. I guess I’ll have to leave soon, though I did want to watch you squirm just a bit more.” He looked at the ruby in his hand. “I’ll take this with me … no sense in letting it get liquefied in the lava along with you.”
Kate felt anger bubble up inside her. She thought about all the trouble that she’d gone through to find the ruby. How she didn’t want to let Max down. And how she had to show Ace Mason and the entire FBI that she was good enough to bring the ruby back.
She had too much invested in this to let Darkstone take the ruby now.
Without another thought, Kate shrugged off the chains and launched herself from the chair toward Darkstone, relishing the look of surprise in his eyes and ignoring her mother’s panicked cries.
She felt a smug satisfaction as the force of her body smacked into Darkstone’s with a thud. She grabbed on to the ruby, closed her eyes and said a silent prayer as they both fell over the cliff into the depths of the volcano.
Chapter Twenty Six
A rush of hot air blew Kate’s hair back from her face. Her stomach swooped with weightlessness. Darkstone’s screams mingling with her own and the caw of the crow, that was flapping downward alongside Darkstone, vibrated in her ears.
She tucked the ruby under her arm like a quarterback running for the goalpost as she fell. Darkstone was falling at the same speed only a few feet away from her and Kate thought the look of incredulousness in his eyes was almost worth plunging to her fiery death.
But Kate didn’t have to plunge to a fiery death. She had one last ace in the hole that Darkstone didn’t know about. They’d taken away her wrist communicator, climbing gloves and cell phone, but left on her vest. And that vest wasn’t just any vest. As usual, Gideon had equipped it with a special gadget. Kate reached for the string at the top of the vest, said a silent prayer and tugged.
The glider wings shot out from the side of the vest slowing her freefall. She was still close enough to Darkstone to see his face fill with rage. He reached out toward her, as if she would save him. But she didn’t. Instead, she watched as he fell further away.
Kate searched the walls of the volcano shaft frantically for a cave, ledge or even a jagged piece of rock sticking out where she could land. Spotting a shallow ledge, she used the strings on the vest to guide herself over to it. She managed to land without a hitch, thankful she’d paid attention when Gideon had demonstrated how to use the vest earlier that year.
Hot, acrid air burned her lungs as she looked down into the shaft. Darkstone was just a mere speck now but she could still hear him. Then, just as he disappeared from view, the crow screeched an eerie sound that echoed off the walls and rattled her bones. Seconds later, she heard flapping and cawing from above as dozens of crows dived into the shaft, following Darkstone.
“Kate, are you okay?”
Kate looked up. Her mother was standing about twenty feet up at the mouth of the cave on the opposite side of the shaft, looking down at her.
“Fine.” Kate waved. “I just have to figure out a way to climb up.”
“If you can work your way around to this side, we’ll lower down the chains,” Sal said.
“But what if Darkstone’s henchmen come? It might be better if you guys act like you are still chained up.”
“And leave you hanging down there?” Carlotta made a face. “No way.”
Kate looked down at her feet. She still wore the rock climbing shoes Gideon had sent. They had metal picks embedded inside that jutted out of the front of the shoe by pressing a button hidden on the side. Studded cleats shot out of the bottom at the press of another button.
Looking up at the rock wall, Kate could see it was loaded with fissures and small ledges. She could fashion spikes from the carbon fiber rods in the hang glider wings on the vest and work her way up just like any other rock climbing expedition. She’d rock climbed hundreds of times. This should be a piece of cake.
“I think it will be easier for me—” Kate was cut short by a strange noise.
Thwack. Thwack. Thwack.
“Do you hear that?” she asked. She didn’t need their answer. She could tell Carlotta and Sal heard it by the way they cocked their heads toward the top of the cone.
The sound, which seemed familiar, was getting louder. It was coming from outside the cone of the volcano. Kate’s heart stalled as she recognized what it was—Darkstone’s helicopter.
Kate wasn’t sure what might happen if Darkstone’s crew found her in this position, but she was pretty sure it wouldn’t be anything good. She was too exposed and too vulnerable to any kind of attack. Sheldon was still pretty pissed off about his finger and she could picture the look of glee on his face as he shot her and sent her flailing into the abyss that she’d just dispatched Darkstone into.
She had no doubt that Sheldon would finish her off … but only if he could see her. She motioned for her mother and Sal to get back as she looked around frantically for a crevice that she could squirm into.
Spotting one on the right, she quickly maneuvered her way over. Sucking in her breath, she squeezed into the small space, praying that nothing stuck out enough for them to notice.
The helicopter sounds grew louder. Kate felt her heart thudding to the rhythm of the blades as she held her breath and waited.
“Kate! Carlie!” Though distorted by the echo in the volcano shaft, the voice had a familiar ring to it.
She took a risk, peeking out from her hiding place and looking up int
o the opening at the top of the shaft where the helicopter hovered. The side door was open and a man leaned out dangerously.
Kate’s heart surged as she looked up at the familiar form.
“Dad?”
***
Vic lowered himself on a rescue cable to collect Kate while Carlotta and Sal took the less scenic route of simply leaving through the cave exit. There was no risk of them running into any of Darkstone’s minions since, according to Vic, they had all been captured.
“But how did you know we were inside the volcano?” Kate asked as she and Vic unhooked themselves inside the helicopter.
“Once we captured Darkstone’s minions, it was pretty easy to get them to talk.”
The familiar voice came from the pilot and Kate whipped her head in that direction, her stomach doing a strange series of flip-flops when her eyes confirmed her suspicion. The pilot was Ace Mason.
“What are you doing here?” Kate’s narrow-eyed gaze ping-ponged from her father to Ace. Last she knew, the two men barely got along in the same room, never mind coordinating a rescue mission inside a helicopter.
“I figured out you’d given me the slip back at the hotel, then found out you’d come to this island. So I hired a boat and came over,” Ace said.
“He got here right about the time Gertie, Frankie, and I were forming a rescue party to get you, your mother and Sal,” Vic added.
“So you knew about Blue Crow Island?” Kate asked.
“Not exactly.” Ace grimaced. “Gideon told me.”
“Gideon told you?” The traitor.
Ace sighed. “When I realized you’d given us the slip, I panicked. I knew Darkstone was behind all this …”
“What?” Anger bubbled up in Kate’s chest.
He knew all along and didn’t tell her?
“Kate, I’m sorry I should have told you from the beginning, but that information was restricted to FBI personnel involved in the case only.” Ace glanced back at her sheepishly. “In my defense, I did try to get you to back off several times …”
Hidden Agemda (Kate Diamond Adventure) Page 15
