by Elle James
Parker also sat sideways, watching the older McKinnon for any sign of trouble.
The meal progressed without incident.
When the plates were taken away empty, the guests rose and followed the waitstaff assigned to guide the guests to their next entertainment, the ballroom, where a live band was just finishing a warmup.
The shuffle from the dining room had Parker on edge. He lost sight of Mrs. M for four entire seconds. His body tightened, preparing itself to bash through the crowd to get to her before she was abducted and taken to wherever they were holding Mr. McKinnon.
“Do you see my mother?” Molly asked, her fingers digging into his arm. “I can’t see her.”
“I saw her a moment ago,” Parker said as he craned his neck to see over the throng of people crowding through the double doors of the ballroom.
A gap formed between people, big enough for Parker to catch a glimpse of Mrs. M smiling and chatting with someone inside the ballroom. She spotted him and Molly, and gave them a short, tight wave.
Parker escorted Molly into the ballroom and took her straight to her mother. As the two hugged, Parker scanned the room, making a mental note of where each of Hank’s men were positioned. They were spread evenly around the area and close to exits.
Their presence only made Parker feel marginally more secure. All it would take for chaos to reign was one tug on the fire alarm, and everyone would rush for the exits, making it impossible to sort out the McKinnons in the commotion.
The band played a combination of tunes from the 1940s, soft rock and roll and some country and western ballads.
Couples crowded the dance floor, smiling and laughing as if nothing was wrong, no one would be harmed, and the evening was nothing more than what it was advertised to be.
Parker’s lips twisted. For all he knew, the evening would end with nothing awful happening. They’d go back to the ranch, he would make love to Molly and they’d sleep soundly in each other’s arms.
Wishful thinking didn’t always come true.
Mrs. Griffith made her way around the room, smiling and thanking the guests for coming out to support the lodge. When she stopped in front of Molly and Parker, she thanked them, too. “Is there anything I can get for you?” she asked.
Molly grimaced. “Is there a ladies’ room nearby? I’m afraid I drank too much water at dinner. Which, by the way, was wonderful. Please, thank the chef for us.”
Mrs. Griffith smiled. “I will. If you want to follow me, I’ll show you to the ladies’ room.” She turned and started to walk away.
Molly touched the woman’s arm. “Oh, please, don’t let me bother you. If you could tell me which way to go, I can find it myself.”
“Nonsense,” she said with a dismissive wave. “It won’t take any time at all.” She took Molly’s hand and shot a smile at Parker. “We’ll be back shortly.”
Parker followed them all the way to the entrance of the ladies’ restroom and stopped right outside the door. He didn’t like that Molly was out of his sight, even for a minute. But what could go wrong in a ladies’ restroom?
He must have been frowning hard. A couple of women came out of the bathroom, took one look at him and hurried past.
As he was waiting, his cellphone vibrated inside his pocket. He pulled it out and recognized Swede’s number. “Bailey here.”
“Parker, I found something interesting. Can you talk?”
“Yeah,” Parker said. “Shoot.”
“I found an old drawing of the Charlotte’s Lucky Strike Mine. There are tunnels all over the inside of that mountain. But get this, the lodge was built over the main entrance.”
Parker sucked in a harsh breath. “Are you certain about that?”
“If these schematics are accurate, the mine entrance is somewhere beneath the Lucky Lady Lodge.”
“How can that be?”
“They didn’t have building codes back when they constructed that lodge. The owners of the mine thought the gold veins had played out. They sold the land to a wealthy man who built the lodge over the mine entrance. The lodge has been passed down from generation to generation since it was built.”
“So, Lewis Griffith is the latest generation to own the lodge and the mine beneath it?”
“No. Not Lewis.”
“Then who?” Parker asked, knowing the answer before Swede said it.
“Traci Griffith,” Swede said. “She’s the great, great, great granddaughter of Charlotte Pendergast, the woman who purchased the mountain and the old mine and built the lodge. Rumor had it that she supplemented the lodge’s income with gold dust from the mine.”
The more Swede talked, the tighter the knot squeezed in Parker’s gut. “I’ve got to go. Call Hank. Let him know what you learned. Traci Griffith just showed Molly into the ladies’ room. I’m going in to make sure she’s all right. Standby to locate Molly. I’m not sure, but my gut says she could be in trouble.”
Molly had entered the ladies’ room with Mrs. Griffith and had gone straight to one of the stalls. Other women were just finishing up and washing their hands with a running commentary about the dresses other women had worn to the event.
When Molly had finished and washed her hands, Mrs. Griffith appeared behind her. “I understand your mother used to work here at the lodge.”
Molly smiled. “Yes, she did, probably back before you were born.”
“Would you like to see some of the secret passages?”
“I’d love to, but I’d need to bring Parker with me. I hate to leave him standing out there alone.”
Mrs. Griffith gave her a knowing glance. “Afraid some woman will steal him away?”
“Actually, yes.” Molly laughed. “He’s so handsome. I’m not quite sure what he sees in me.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much. You’re a beautiful woman.” She raised her arm and patted Molly on the shoulder.
“Thank you,” Molly said. A sharp sting on the back of her neck made her flinch. “What the—”
“Did you just feel something sting the back of your neck?” the other woman asked, a concerned frown denting her brow.
Molly reached up to feel where her neck still hurt from the sting. “Yes. I did.”
“We have a problem with stinging bugs in the lodge. I can apply some medicine to the sting, if you’ll follow me to the medicine cabinet over here against the wall.”
“Parker…” Molly said, her tongue not really cooperating, her vision blurring as well as her thoughts. “What did you say?”
“Over here. I can give you something to make you feel better.” Mrs. Griffith took her arm and led her toward what looked like a cabinet door in the middle of the wall.
The woman opened the door, but the cabinet was empty. In fact, the floor of the cabinet was lower than the door by a couple feet.
“Do you see anything in here that will help?” Traci smiled and stood back, while tugging on Molly’s arm, edging her closer to the open cabinet.
Her head swam, and she felt like going to sleep right there…standing up…
“Go ahead, get in. I’ll show you one of the secret passages,” the lady was saying. She gave Molly a hard shove.
Molly’s hips caught the edge of the cabinet door. She doubled over, her feet coming off the ground.
Another shove from behind flipped her over the edge, and she landed in the bottom of the cabinet on her head. Her head spun so fast she couldn’t tell what was up or down. She felt the earth move, and suddenly, she was falling, falling, falling until the cabinet came to a jolting halt and the lights blinked out.
Chapter 13
Parker pushed the door to the ladies’ room, expecting it to swing open. When it didn’t, he pushed harder.
Damn. Traci must have locked it from the inside.
Parker backed to the wall outside the ladies’ room, tucked his shoulder and ran full tilt into the door. The frame splintered, but the lock held, and his shoulder throbbed. He cocked his good leg and kicked the door hard, close to th
e lock. The frame split, and the door swung inward, slamming against the wall.
Parker ran in to find an empty room. Just to make sure, he pushed the doors open to all the stalls.
No Traci Griffith. No Molly. Nobody.
“Guys,” he said into his communications device, “we have a problem.”
“What’s wrong?” Angus responded immediately.
His throat clenched, and anger, guilt and despair burned hot in his chest. “Molly’s gone.”
“What the hell happened?” Bastian demanded.
“It’s Traci Griffith. She showed Molly to the bathroom, and they both disappeared.”
“My mother always swore there were secret passageways in that lodge,” Angus said. “Did you look around?”
“I’m doing that now.” Parker walked along the walls, touching the wallpaper, looking for secret doors. He came to what appeared to be a picture frame. When he touched it, it moved. Not like a frame tilting sideways, but like a door he could open. He pulled it toward him, discovering what appeared to be a very large, deep cabinet. A cabinet that could fit a person. When he reached inside and pressed his hand to the bottom, the entire cabinet structure dipped slightly.
“I think I found how she got Molly out of the bathroom.”
“We’re on the way,” Angus said.
“Fiona, Taz and I will stay with Mom,” Duncan reported.
“Good luck holding her back,” Bastian’s voice spoke into Parker’s ear.
“Not telling her anything until we know more,” Duncan said.
“Good,” Angus said.
A moment later, Angus, Colin, Bastian and Hank burst into the ladies’ restroom and came to stand beside Parker.
“Looks like an old fashioned dumbwaiter,” Hank said. He leaned inside and pulled on something. The box shifted downward.
“I’m going in,” Parker said and started to climb into the box.
Hank gripped his arm. “That’s what they’ll expect you to do.”
“Yeah, man,” Bastian said. “You’ll be a sitting duck when the door opens on the other end.”
“Can’t have my future brother-in-law dead before he says I do,” Angus said.
Parker pulled his leg back out of the dumbwaiter. “I can’t stand here twiddling my thumbs. They have Molly.” His cellphone vibrated in his pocket.
Swede.
“They got Molly,” he said, before Swede had a chance to say anything. “You found a schematic of the mine. Is there one for the lodge? One that shows all the secret passages?”
“As a matter of fact, that was why I was calling. I found it on the dark web. It shows the secret passages inside the architectural structure of the building, but I’m not sure how easy it will be to find them. Some of them could have been walled over. Others might be behind bookcases, stairs or other pantry walls. If they took her into the mountain, the GPS tracker might suffer diminished reliability.”
“There’s a ladies’ restroom off the north end of the ballroom. Traci Griffith got Molly out through a dumbwaiter in the restroom. Where does it go, and what passages lead to and from the dumbwaiter?”
“The lower level of the lodge is where the laundry facility is.” Swede paused. “There aren’t any secret passages from that level, but there are some on the first floor.
Angus jerked a thumb toward Colin. “We’ll check out the laundry room.”
“That dumbwaiter stops on the first floor in a hallway. No hidden passages on the hallway, but there appears to be one off the library and a room labeled ‘sitting room’. These drawings might be from when they first built the lodge in the early 1900s. The rooms may have been reconfigured.”
Parker didn’t wait for all the information. “Swede, stay on the line. I’m heading to the library.”
“I’m going with you,” Hank said.
“I’ll take the sitting room.” Bastian said.
“Do you have something belonging to Molly?” Hank asked as he ran after Parker. “An item of clothing, a hairbrush? I could get Kujo to bring Six down to track. He’s trained to sniff for bombs, but he might pick up on Molly.”
“Do whatever you can,” Parker called out, racing for the staircase leading to the first level of the lodge.
He ran down the stairs as fast as he could. Hank and Bastian followed. Colin and Angus found a back staircase and continued to the basement laundry room.
When Parker reached the first floor, he said aloud, “I’m in the front entrance. Which way to the library?”
Swede answered, “Head north. It’s below the ballroom.”
Parker could hear the sound of the band playing music above. He had a horrible feeling that the lodge was the Titanic with the band playing while the ship sank. He wouldn’t let Molly sink with the ship. He hadn’t actually told her he loved her. He wanted to say those three words to her face with all the feeling he had in his heart. She was the one for him, damn it.
They’d better not hurt her.
With Swede guiding them down the wide hallway beneath the ballroom, Parker and Hank tried several doors marked “private” or “office”. They were locked. When they came to one marked “library”, they entered.
Bastian crossed the hallway to a pretty little sitting room with antique sofas and chairs.
Parker and Hank split up, each going a different direction, running their hands along the walls and shelves of books, feeling for levers, buttons or loose books.
“Looks like the passageway might be on the back wall beside a fireplace. Is there a fireplace?”
“Yes.” Parker raced for the fireplace. “Which side?”
“The left,” Swede said. “Then it travels to the right behind the fireplace and down a set of stairs. Did you find the doorway?”
Parker and Hank studied the wall.
Hank tugged on a shelf. It didn’t move or swing open.
Parker gripped a sconce on the wall and tried pulling, twisting and pushing, hoping it was a lever that would release the catch and open the door.
Nothing moved, no door opened, and they stood staring at the wall.
“There has to be a something.” Parker abandoned the sconce and felt around the bricks of the fireplace. The mortar around one seemed to have chipped away. He touched the brick, and it moved ever so slightly. Parker tried wiggling it and pulling it toward him, but it wouldn’t dislodge. Then he leaned into it, pushing hard. The brick slipped forward a few inches, and a click sounded. The bookshelf beside the fireplace shifted.
“It’s here,” Parker said. He gripped the edge of the shelf and pulled it toward him, revealing the door to the hidden passage. A staircase led downward and turned to the right past the back of the brick fireplace. Just like Swede said. “We’re in,” Parker said.
“I’m sending you a screenshot of the architectural drawings of the house and the schematics for the mining tunnels in case we lose connection. Some of those secret passages go down deep. Deeper than the basement. They probably connect to the mine at some point.”
Parker’s phone chirped with an incoming text message with the schematics attached. “Got it.” He enlarged the blueprints of the lodge and studied it for a moment.
Hank pointed at the screen. “That’s the library.” He traced the passage to a level lower than the basement to a series of other passages that crisscrossed. One led downward from the sitting room across the hallway. Another from somewhere in the kitchen.
Parker started into the opening.
“Don’t go off half-cocked. Let’s get others in place.” Hank spoke into his headset. “Bastian, did you find the passageway in the sitting room?”
“Not yet,” Bastian’s voice sounded in Parker’s ear.
“Try the bricks in the fireplace,” Hank instructed. “We’ve got ours open. Need you in yours as we go down.”
“There’s nothing in the laundry room,” Angus reported. “No sign of Molly or the Griffith woman.”
“Lewis Griffith is still in the ballroom,” Duncan said.
>
“Boomer, keep an eye on Griffith,” Hank ordered. “If he leaves the ballroom, follow him.”
“Roger,” Boomer responded.
“Kujo,” Hank called out. “We could use you and Six on the first floor.”
“On my way,” the retired dog handler said.
“Angus and Colin,” Hank said. “Join Bastian in the sitting room.”
Moments later, Bastian reported. “Found the door.”
Kujo entered the library with his German Shepherd, Six.
“Ready?” Parker asked. “I’ve got point.”
“Go,” Hank said. “Watch for booby traps and bad guys with guns.”
Parker led the way downward into the bowels of the lodge, following a narrow passage of wooden stairs that twisted and turned, leading downward. He used his cellphone flashlight to illuminate the way.
When they reached the bottom of the staircase, it opened into a small storage area with shelves against the wall. The shelves were lined with tools and helmets that could be used in mining. At the far end of the room was a heavy iron door.
Angus, Colin, and Bastian arrived a moment later and joined them at the iron door.
Each man drew a gun from beneath the jackets of their suits.
Parker held his ready as he pulled the handle of the iron door.
It creaked open, exposing a dark, long tunnel with railroad tracks leading deep into the mountain.
Parker’s breath caught and held. From what Swede had said, and what they’d seen on the schematic of the mine tunnels, there would be many paths.
“They could be anywhere in there,” Hank whispered. “Now would be the time for you to come up with something belonging to Molly.”
Parker shook his head. “I have nothing.”
Hank grinned and held up a small, hand-held tracking device. “That’s okay. We have this with a whole lot of blips on it and only one all by itself. It’s faded, but I think we can still use it to lead us where we want to go.”
“Molly,” Parker said dragging air back into his lungs, along with hope. “Let’s get going before they do something stupid to Molly or her father.”
The effects of the drug had already started wearing off by the time Traci Griffith’s minions transported her down a secret passageway to the entrance of a mining tunnel. From there, she’d been dumped into a small iron rail bucket and pushed through tunnels, going deeper and deeper into the mountain.
