“Goddamn you!” Daniels shouted above the blasts. Looking over her shoulder, she saw he was gaining. The lantern he carried swung wildly, throwing a garish light. His revolver was in his hand.
“No!”
She turned and threw her lantern at him. It thudded to the ground to his right. Oil spilled and lit in a steady creep of fire that added a touch of hell to the chaos. Amidst the horror of the cave-in and spreading flames, he laughed. He was insane.
Faster! her mind screamed, but no matter how fast she ran, the colonel ran faster. Behind him the cave began to collapse. The next two explosions came quickly. There was a shout behind her. Looking over her shoulder she saw the colonel on his knees, rocks pounding his body.
Good.
She made it to the waterfall. After rounding the corner, she stopped by a small pile of rocks. Shoving the debris off the top, she exposed the fuse beneath. Digging in her pocket, she searched for a sulfur. For a second she hesitated. There’d be no going back after this. No gold. No future. No fresh start. The colonel came around the corner, bloody and furious. She struck the sulfur. Nothing happened.
“Where are you, you bitch?”
No more threat to Shadow.
Light. Light. The chant went through her head. The sulfur flared. Sheltering it in the cup of her hand, she touched it to the fuse.
The fuse hissed and sputtered. She wasted precious seconds to make sure it stayed lit. The colonel spotted her. No more time. Half crawling, half running, going by feel, she made it to the narrow ledge that led deeper into the cave. It was dark there, very dark. Keeping her hand against the wall, she got to her feet and ran recklessly, desperately. At this point, there was only the slightest chance she’d escape. If the fuse burned just a bit slower than it was designed, if she ran just a bit faster than she thought she could… There was a chance.
Something struck her from behind. The sulfurs went flying out of her hand as she slammed to the ground, her nose hitting a rock. Stunned, she couldn’t move.
“You goddamn bitch.” The curse roared in her ears. “That’s my gold blowing up.”
Rough hands turned her over. There was nothing neat about Daniels now. His hair was covered in dirt and sticking out in clumps. Blood ran in rivulets down his face, carving out demonic-looking paths in the dust that glowed eerily in the faint light of his discarded lantern.
“I’ll kill you.”
He was still wearing her pack on his back. There was still hope. All around them the cave shook as if caught in an earthquake. She’d placed the dynamite well. The cave-in was imminent.
“Let go of me!”
She gouged for his eyes. He knocked her hands aside. She kicked at his legs and punched at his face. He swore and grabbed her by the throat. Slapping at his face and grabbing at his hands, she tried to dislodge his grip, but it was useless. He had the strength of a demon, squeezing her throat as she choked for air. Her hand slid off his cheek and bumped against something bulky and square. The book. She might have lost the gold with which to buy Shadow’s freedom, but there was still Daniel’s book. With her right hand, she fumbled for it. With the left, she struggled to reach the pack. Daniels squeezed harder. Pain exploded in her neck, panic pounded at her mind, but in a strangely detached way, she worked apart from it, shielded from the horror by purpose. Her index finger hooked in the pocket of the pack. The small knife she used for everyday things wiggled into her reach just as the edges of her vision went black.
“No!” It was a gasp from her heart. She could not lose now. She was so close. To the opening. To her life.
Shadow. His face filled her mind’s eye. Beloved. Determined. His hand reached out and curved around her nape, his thumb caressed her cheek. So real she could feel it. Rough skin caressing her in the tenderest of touches. Beyond the foulness of the colonel’s face, Shadow’s eyes burned into hers with a message she could not read, his lips formed syllables she couldn’t hear.
“Shadow…”
Just saying his name gave her strength.
The colonel leaned in, hissing in her ear, “Fuck that Indian and fuck you!”
Live!
The order leaped into her mind as the knife popped into her hand. She flicked the sheath off with her thumb. Staring straight into the colonel’s eyes, she plunged the knife into his neck with the last of her strength. Jerking back, he grabbed at his throat. She placed her foot in the middle of his chest and pushed. He fell to the side as the ledge crumbled. His feet went over. She scrambled back. He reached out, his fingers wrapped like vises around her ankle, and then she was sliding with him toward the abyss. Digging in her feet, she fought gravity. The edge came closer, the chasm loomed, swallowing Daniels. His maniacal laugh filled the cavern as they went hurtling over the edge.
“Shadow!”
Her scream was lost as one last explosion rocked the cavern.
THEY HEARD THE EXPLOSIONS before they reached the cave.
“Shit!”
“That sounds like dynamite,” Caine said.
“You did say your new wife was handy with the stuff, didn’t you?” Tracker asked.
“Could be Tucker,” Zach offered. “The man loves to play with the stuff.”
But it wasn’t Tucker, Shadow knew. He kicked Night into a gallop, plunging down the slope toward the mouth of the cave. “It’s Fei.”
Tracker came up along one side. Zach the other. Bending down, Tracker grabbed Night’s reins and pulled him back as Caine took the lead. Protecting him, Shadow realized.
“We don’t know what we’re getting into,” Tracker snapped. “Use your head.”
Shadow didn’t care what was ahead. If Fei was blowing the cave, she was in trouble.
Shadow!
Fei’s scream was a whisper of sensation in his imagination, blending with the urgency inside.
“Breaking your neck isn’t going to help her,” Sam shouted.
“Neither is wasting time.” Slipping the knife from his boot and leaning over Night’s neck, Shadow cut Night’s reins off between Tracker’s hand and the bit. The horse stayed game, taking the descent at a gallop even with the shift of weight. Tracker lurched to the side with the release of tension. Zach held steady, his dark face splitting in a grin and touched his fingers to his hat as Tracker dropped the useless pieces of leather.
“As you wish.”
Tracker swung back into position on his right. Caine fell into position beside him, Sam covered the left, all four riding as hard and as recklessly as he was. The horses hit the plateau with a grunt and surged forward. There were no questions. No arguments.
Shadow was off the horse and running even before Night came to a stop. Caine was right behind him, followed by Tracker, Zach and Sam.
It was obvious within seconds that the opening was impassable. Slapping the boulder with the flat of his hand, Shadow cursed.
“Where the hell is Tucker?”
“In there, if Fei is,” Sam answered. Dynamite was still exploding. The colonel’s horses tied to the trees stomped their feet in agitation. Their riders wouldn’t be coming for them.
“Over there.”
Looking to where Caine pointed, Shadow spotted a plume of smoke.
“There’s another entrance!”
“Not for long, from the sound of things.”
It would be long enough. Shadow wouldn’t let it be any less. Vaulting back onto Night, he kicked him back into a gallop. The gelding gave him what he asked for, running too fast through the rocky terrain. It wasn’t fast enough. The explosions stopped. As Shadow’s feet hit the ground, the earth stopped shaking and the plume was just a slight puff. If they’d arrived a minute later, there wouldn’t have been any sign at all.
Hold on, Fei.
“Still think she’s in there?” Tracker asked.
Shadow had no doubt. “Yes.”
“We’re going to have to widen that opening. While it might be big enough for a woman, we’re never getting through,” Sam said, dismounting.
&
nbsp; Shadow grabbed the shovel tied to the back of his saddle. “Then let’s get to it.”
The others did the same.
“Must have been a hell of a fix for her to bring the whole place down around her,” Zach said.
“Could it have been a mistake?” Tracker asked.
“No.”
“Dynamite could have been unstable,” Sam observed.
Shadow remembered how Fei had stood that night with the dynamite in her hand, utterly confident as she bluffed. “It’s not a mistake.”
He started digging. The ground was hard and rocky. He didn’t do much damage on the first push. His gut went cold. Fei. He held her image in his head. Not as she might be—bloody and broken under tons of rock—but as she’d been that last night they were together. Wild and sweet and giving. His Fei.
Live!
Three other shovels hit the dirt and rock beside his. Together they chopped and dug, widening the opening.
“I sent her away to keep her from this.”
“Dying?” Tracker asked.
“Yes.”
“You thought sending her outside your protection would guarantee that?”
“Yes.”
Tracker tossed a shovelful of dirt to the side. “You are an arrogant ass.”
“Not now, Tracker,” Caine grunted.
“Where’s Zach?”
“Covering our asses, as always.”
“Quit talking and dig,” Shadow ordered.
“Just trying to distract you.”
“I don’t want to be distracted.”
“You never do,” Tracker snapped. “You just latch onto an idea and cling to it like it’s the only way, whether it is or not.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Not now, Tracker.”
“If all you’re going to do is irritate, then get the hell up on the ridge with Zach.”
“No.”
Sam grabbed a large rock and pulled it free of the hole, muscles straining with the effort. “In case you haven’t noticed, Shadow, we’re all in a mood to kick your ass.”
The rock came free. The opening was wide enough to fit through.
“You can give that a shot later.”
Caine struck a sulfur and lit a lantern. Sam handed him a rope. Shadow tied it to the lantern and lowered it down into the hole. It was only three feet deep. Rock and dirt scattered the floor. Dust still roiled. It was a very small opening.
Sam unbuckled his gun belt. “I’ll go in.”
Shadow grabbed his arm. “No. I’ll go.”
“It’s tight. I’ve got the better chance.”
“It’s unstable in there.”
“You think it’s going to be less unstable for you?”
“You don’t like caves.”
“She’s my woman.”
“That makes her important to all of us.”
He knew that. Shrugging out of his weapons, he let them drop to the ground. But he was still the one going in.
Tracker’s eyebrow went up.
“You must be in love if you’re treating your weapons like that.”
“Shut up.”
Sam put his hands on his chest, stopping him. “I said I was going.”
Caine interceded. “Let him go, Sam.”
“Why?”
“Because, if it was Bella in there, you wouldn’t let anyone take your place, either.”
Putting his hands up, Sam stepped back. “Do what you need to.”
“Thank you. I thought I would.”
“Do it without the sarcasm,” Caine advised.
Sam tossed the rope around Shadow’s waist and knotted it behind his back. “You give us three tugs on this and we’ll haul your ass out of there so fast it will make your head spin.”
“Got it.”
Tracker handed him the lantern. “Be sure you come back in one piece.”
“I will.”
“Good, because I’m going to kick it when you get out.”
“What the hell are you so pissed about?”
“You’re Hell’s Eight, Shadow,” Caine said.
He knew that. “So?”
“That means you’re family.”
“No shit.”
Tracker checked the knot before grabbing it and jerking to get his attention. “That means we get to protect you, too.”
HE WAS CRAWLING THROUGH HIS GRAVE. The thought wouldn’t leave Shadow’s mind as he inched along in a crouch in a tunnel four feet high and three feet wide, heading deeper and deeper into the cave in a slow, tedious process that involved shoving the lantern forward, crawling to it, then repeating the process. Sweat broke out over Shadow’s body. Not just because the air was stiflingly close, but because, with every foot he went in, the mountain above him seemed to weigh more. Son of a bitch, he hated tight spaces.
The tunnel seemed to groan. Pebbles sprayed over him. Dust hovered in a thick cloud. He coughed and closed his eyes, waiting for it to settle.
“Shadow, you all right down there?” Sam called.
“Yeah. Just dandy.”
“You need to come out. This whole side could collapse.”
“Not yet.”
“Look around. Does it look like she could have survived?”
It didn’t look like anything could have survived.
“I don’t know.”
“I’m pulling you out.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Reaching in his boot, Shadow pulled out his knife. Without another thought, he severed the rope. Two seconds later when Tracker realized what he’d done, the curses started. “Goddamn it, Shadow.”
He wasn’t leaving there without Fei.
Ahead, all he could see was a solid pile of rock just into the curve of the path. Damn. Biting the knife between his teeth, he crawled toward it. Fei was beyond the rock. Somewhere. He wiped the sweat from his eyes and started shifting the rock to the side. One small boulder at a time, lining the tunnel around him, trying not to make the space too impassable as he did.
“Hello?”
The greeting came to him, muffled by the rock, but recognizable.
There had never been a sweeter sound. “Fei?”
“Yes.”
Very carefully, he moved more rock, only to have the hole immediately fill with debris from above.
“Where are you?”
“I’m down here.”
“Where’s ‘down here’?”
He managed to get a small hole through.
“On the ledge.”
Shit! It was a struggle to keep his voice calm. “How far down?”
“Six feet, maybe.”
Which meant, if he got to her, he could probably reach her.
“You have to hurry. The cavern could collapse any time.”
He’d noticed. “Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m not. But this is not good.”
No, there was nothing good about being buried alive.
“I’m going to get you out.”
“No. The path is gone. It will take too long. The air isn’t good.”
Just what he needed. More bad news.
“You must save yourself.”
“Working on it.” Right after he saved her.
“Tucker said you do not like small places.”
She’d seen Tucker. “Tucker talks too much.”
Another rock moved to the side. Another two inches of space gained. It was something.
“I see the light.”
“Good.”
“What happened, Fei? I told you to stay with your family.”
“You cannot send me away and expect to control me.”
She was still on that. “You know what my life is like. I didn’t want you in that.”
“Yet, it still touched me.”
Shadow's Stand Page 26
