by Cerys du Lys
“Granddad will never allow it. You’d best follow the original plan and make your escape while you still can.”
“He won’t even know,” Nigel said coolly. He then nodded to one of his men, who was standing a few feet away from me. I realized that the guy was reaching for his rifle, which was leaning up against the cavern wall. He slowly moved it into firing position, bringing the barrel up in my direction.
Shit! As I fled toward the cave’s exit, trying to escape what seemed to be my doom, Nick bellowed and exploded into action.
Chapter 37
Nick
Something detonated inside me. Ellie charged toward the exit, but she could not outrun a bullet. “Down, Ellie,” I screamed, and she obeyed, flinging herself to the ground as I attacked, driven not by thought but by the reflexes I’d drilled into her.
They’d made a mistake in neglecting to bind my ankles. Moving onto the balls of my feet, I channeled my energy and leapt at the dude about to shoot my girl, knocking his weapon out of his hands and kicking it away. I kneed him in the groin, and then stepped back and kicked him in the head. He crumpled, went down hard and didn’t get up. Ellie scuttled away from the action. Since no one else was immediately threatening her, I turned on Nigel, screaming like a banshee, and bull-charged him.
I was kicking him, too, feet flying, trying to get him in the same sore spots where I had struck him the previous night, but by then his thugs had started to move. Besides Nigel, there were two of them. I had already taken out the third. Not good odds, especially with my hands bound.
Fuck it. I was going to see how many of the bastards I could take down with me. I got one more, kicking him in the balls and putting him at least temporarily out of the action. But Nigel and Sinan, his chief lieutenant, jumped me and beat me to the ground. “Hold him,” Nigel growled, and I saw the unholy light in his blue eyes as I was dragged to my knees. Sinan pulled my head back by the hair so the asshole could personally send his fist into my already-swollen jaw.
“You bastard,” Nigel muttered between a series of coarser expletives. “I can’t tell you how long I’ve waited for this day.” He hit me in the ribs and belly, and then kicked me in the side as I sagged to the rough floor of the cave. The kicks kept coming, but I kept fighting. Fuck the pain. I had to stay alive to protect Ellie. That was all I could think of as I struggled. I refused to admit that I was going to lose this fight. Not until something struck me in the head and my vision dimmed did I realize I might not get up again.
“Stop hurting him or I’ll shoot.”
It was Ellie’s voice, clear and high, speaking Turkish. It took a second for me—and everyone else—to process what must have happened. But the sound of a gun firing—it caused an echo to bounce around the walls of the cave—got their attention. The beating stopped.
I managed to prop myself up on one bruised elbow, and through blurry eyes I could see that she had grabbed the rifle dropped by the asshole who had been about to shoot her. She’d fired it once at the floor of the cave—dust was rising from the spot—and she was now pointing it in what looked like a competent grip at Nigel. She said, “What kind of a coward would kick a man when his hands are tied behind his back?”
“Are you okay, Ellie?” I gasped, trying to get my breath.
“I’m just peachy.”
“Shoot him,” I said, wishing I could do it myself. I doubted she would obey that order, though. And, unfortunately, Ellie wasn’t the only one with a gun. Nigel jerked my wretchedly weak body against his legs and put his own pistol to the side of my head.
“The question is, can your bullet hit me before I pull the trigger?”
“Fucking shoot him,” I said. If she didn’t, Nigel would kill us both anyway.
“How good a shot are you?” Nigel said, still sounding calm. He was every kind of evil bastard, but he was not a coward. “Because I can’t miss.”
Ellie kept her cool, too—so much so that I was fucking proud of her. I’d known she was kick-ass almost from the first moment we’d met, but this was above and beyond. “Just take your men and get out of here,” she said. “You go your way and we’ll go ours.”
I felt Nigel hesitate. He wanted to kill me. I think he’d probably wanted to kill me for years.
But he didn’t want to die.
“Deal,” he said. He snapped an order for his companions to leave the cavern. Muttering, the ones I hadn’t managed to take down began to do so, dragging the unconscious asshole who had aimed his rifle at her with them. The screaming-testicles dude managed to stagger out by himself, one hand between his legs. Ellie kept her sights trained on Nigel even after he lifted his weapon away from my skull. I was barely conscious, and the pain of the beating was beginning to hit as my adrenaline ebbed. Nigel must have played the odds and figured that Ellie wouldn’t shoot him now that he had agreed.
The thing was, I knew Nigel couldn’t be trusted to keep a deal. I knew it, but I felt like a ragdoll, and there was nothing I could do.
But incredibly, Nigel seemed to be leaving. Ellie kept the rifle on him and stayed far enough away from him herself that he couldn’t attack her and knock it out of her hand. I actually wondered if maybe she had fooled me...maybe she was a professional, after all?
But when Nigel and the last of his men left the cave, their flashlights vanishing down the short passage that led to the exit, Ellie’s legs collapsed. She sank to the floor of the cave.
“Ellie?” I croaked. I felt as if I’d been hit by a bus. My head was throbbing; my ribs were burning, and I hoped I wasn’t going to throw up. It was, I decided, a distinct possibility.
I began to crawl toward her. Fuck me, there was no way I could walk.
“I’m okay. It’s just reaction, or something.” She lifted her head, squinting to try to see me. The cave was much darker now that they’d gone and taken the lights. “You’re hurt, Nick, don’t try to move.” She rose and stumbled toward me, but I kept coming. I wanted to be near her. I needed to reassure myself that she was really all right.
She came to me and untied my hands. We slumped back to the cave floor together. I was still shocked, I think, both by the beating and by the ruthless way Nigel had been ready to murder us. I had no trouble understanding why he wanted me dead—he had hated me since childhood—but her? Even though I knew what he was and had been trying to months to bring him down, it still surprised me to discover he was a cold-blooded killer of innocents.
I reached for the rifle Ellie had commandeered. No one had expected it of her. Including me. “They might be back,” I said, checking the gun to see how much ammunition it had. My fucking hands were shaking. My wrists were deeply scored where the ropes had cut into them. Safe, non-harmful bondage was not something these creeps practiced.
“I didn’t know you could use firearms. That was awesome, what you did, Ellie.”
“I was imitating what I’ve seen on TV.”
“Seriously? It looked pretty damn authentic.”
“Okay, I’ve been to the firing range a couple of times,” she admitted. “In high school I dated a gun freak. But I might well have missed Nigel if I’d had to fire.”
“I doubt it. He’s a big target.”
From just outside the cave came the muffled sounds of shouted directions, muttered curses and some hammering. Ellie and I looked at each other. I lifted the rifle. Fuck. My ribs were hurting. At least one of them was probably broken, given the pain I felt while taking a deep breath.
“I’d better take it. You don’t look so good, Nick.” When I hesitated, she added, “Don’t worry. I will shoot if I have to.”
I gave her the gun. We didn’t stand much chance if they returned with a higher number of men and more weapons. Nigel had at least two more guys in his crew. They’d been occupied with carrying the loot down to his boat, but he could have called them back.
While we waited, Ellie scooped up some rocks to use as missiles. She also pulled out a rather pathetic Swiss Army knife from the pack where she had the
camera equipment they hadn’t taken with them. I wished I had the strength to hug her. She was determined to fight.
But they didn’t come back into the cave. Instead we heard the ominous grating of rock upon rock. I think I realized before she did what they were doing out there.
More pounding, shouts and creaking. Then we heard Nigel’s voice, muted, sounding farther away than it ought to sound:
“The men and I are leaving now. Not sure if you can hear me, coz. We’ve moved that boulder at the entrance into its original position, flush against the cliff wall. Now we’re sealing it up from the outside in such a manner that it cannot be opened from within.
“So, unless you’re discovered by your friends—which is unlikely, I’m afraid—you will die there. Of perfectly natural causes. No awkward bullet wounds to be explained if your bodies are ever found.”
“Fuck you,” I groaned. No bullet wounds was fine with me. I wasn’t planning to die anytime soon, and being abandoned in a fairly large cavern with plenty of air to breathe didn’t scare me.
But Ellie was different. “Oh no,” she whispered, sounding scared for the first time since this nightmare had begun. “Please no.”
Something twisted in me at the sight of her huge eyes widening in her pale, lovely face. She had been so brave. She had confronted her claustrophobia, entering the cave and taking the photographs without revealing to anybody how monumental a task this had been for her. She had faced Nigel down in a manner that I’d never expected...and beaten the asshole, too. Shit. It wasn’t fair that her hard-won courage should be snatched from her at the last moment.
Damn. I couldn’t think of any fucking way to forgive myself for bringing her into this mess. If only I’d set her free right at the start. If only I hadn’t developed a crazy yearning for her. If I could find a way to save her life, I’d gladly give up my own.
As this thought shot through my mind, I realized that the impossible had happened. I’d fallen for her. Madly, deeply, truly. How sad and ironic that I should discover this now, when it was probably too late.
Chapter 38
Ellie
I felt sick. Nick was hurt—beaten more badly than Nigel had been the previous night. As the realization set in that we were trapped here, I shrank against him, cradling his injured body, but really needing comfort myself. I could see my own tears gleaming amid the gold of his hair. Then silence gathered, pressing upon my eardrums until I wanted to scream to break its awful tyranny.
We were sealed inside the cave, and it seemed so freaking dark. It wasn’t actually dark at all, but my mind was sliding into panic mode.
The brain doesn’t always behave in the most sensible way. I’d almost been shot and Nigel had put a gun to Nick’s head, but instead of obsessing about the narrowness of our escape, I was plunged into terror about something much more amorphous. All I could focus on was that I was trapped underground with someone I cared about lying injured beside me. Not my mother, this time, but Nick. I felt dislocated, as if we were not on an island off the coast of Turkey, but lost in time and space in the narrow passageway of a small, undistinguished pyramid, where my mom and I had been stuck when I’d been a child.
Nigel’s crew had taken their flashlights with them, which made the cavern seem much darker, even though some light was entering through the fissure in the ceiling. I hated the dark. Fucking dark. I had to get out, out, out. I couldn’t stand this—it was going to break me wide open and spill my pieces everywhere.
I wrestled with my terror. It flowed over me in waves: a riptide of fear that would leave me mindless, irrational, insane. I battled it just as I’d always done, until I finally remembered that fighting just made it worse. Why did it always take so long to remember that?
I reached deep inside for something to hold on to. For courage, dignity, strength. I had those things, didn’t I? So what if I get scared sometimes? Who doesn’t?
I dropped my face against Nick’s shoulder and hugged him. Don’t fight it. I let the darkness roll over me; let the terror come.
And it did come. The fast and furious what-ifs began, as always, but this time I countered each of them with a relentless answer: What if I die of fright? Then I’ll be dead and none of this will matter. What if Nick dies? Then I’ll be alone. What if we survive, only to succumb slowly to a horrible death by thirst and hunger? What will happen, will happen. Everybody dies.
“Hang on, Ellie. Don’t be afraid. You’re not alone in the dark.”
Tears coursed down my cheeks. Nick had been severely beaten. He must be in terrible pain, yet he was thinking of me. “I’m doing fine,” I lied. “I’m okay.”
Nick shifted and groaned again. “You shouldn’t be trying to move. Rest, and save your strength.”
“There’s no need to panic. The cave is huge and fresh air comes in through the fissure in the roof. Light comes in too—it’s not that dark in here.”
“We still have the lights I was using for the photography. I don’t know how long the batteries will last for those, though. They were on all morning. They took my camera, with all the pictures.”
“My pack is over there against the wall. Can you reach it? There’s a flashlight in there and a bottle of water.”
I did, and was relieved to find both items. There were actually two liters of water in the pack they’d allowed Nick to carry on his back to the cave. But how long would that much water last? I offered Nick some. He only took a couple of sips. I took a sip myself, then recapped the plastic bottle.
“Okay then,” Nick said. “There’s no immediate danger. By tomorrow this island will be crawling with law enforcement types. They’ll get us out of here.”
I rubbed his scored wrists gently to restore the circulation. “Will they be able to find us?”
“They will,” he said in a firm voice. “Don’t forget about Metin. He knows about the cave. He’s a smart kid.”
If he’s still alive, I thought grimly. I suspected Nick was thinking the same thing. Nigel would surely have taken steps to eliminate Metin. I pictured the handsome young man with the dark, merry eyes. Please be all right, Metin. Please look for us. Please find us.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Nick reached up a finger to touch my cheek. “This must be scary for you. I’m so sorry.” His hand fell back to his side and clenched into a fist. “I should never have dragged you into this mess.”
“Ssh, Nick. Please lie down.” I shifted our positions so he could lay his poor head in my lap. I was sure it must be hurting like hell. “If you hadn’t carried me off, I wouldn’t have fallen for you. Or had so much amazing sex.”
He chuckled. “We’ll have more amazing sex, I promise you.” There was a long pause, before he added, “Fallen for me?”
I smiled. That would have been so easy for him to ignore. “Don’t pretend you didn’t know. It was sorta love at first sight, but a little delayed because of harsh treatment and spankings and ropes around my neck.”
“You were calling it Stockholm syndrome a few days ago.”
“Yeah, well that was before I knew you loved dancing and music and ancient languages and poetry. Or that you persistently put other people’s welfare before your own.”
Nick seemed stunned; he met my eyes, but couldn’t seem to get any words out. That was okay. “Close your eyes,” I ordered. “Rest a bit.”
When he was quiet, I found the flashlight and turned it on so I could estimate the extent of his injuries. His beautiful face was badly bruised. I poured a tiny amount of the water from the bottle onto a bit of cloth torn from my shirt and wiped his abrasions clean. Then I gently examined his body. The worst battering seemed to be around his face and his ribs, where the skin was already bruised. Asshole Nigel. Nick and I probably had some matching bruises now, although his injuries were much worse than mine.
Nick should be wrapped up warmly in a blanket, but we didn’t have one. He needed a doctor, or at least some decent first aid. Once again tears pricked my eyes. I remembered the way Nigel
had had the others hold Nick down so he could beat him. Hatred burned in my gut. For the first time I understood how evil Nigel actually was.
I hoped that guy named Hepburn got here before Nigel could escape. Somebody had to put the bastard down.
When I’d made Nick as comfortable as possible, I set out on a quick exploration of the cave. Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to venture through the narrow passage that led to the entrance. If there was any chance of getting out that way I wanted to know about it. But the boulder at the entrance had been firmly wedged against the inner wall.
I knew another upsurge of panic then, but this time I didn’t even try to fight it. Of course you’re terrified, I told myself. Who wouldn’t be?
Returning to the central chamber, I ran my flashlight beam over the ceiling where the fissure was. I tried to estimate its height. Fifteen feet? Twenty? If I could hoist myself up there somehow, could I squeeze through the opening and escape? I examined the opening from several angles, and then slumped with dismay. It was too narrow. And without a rope, there was no way to reach it, anyway.
Afraid to use up the batteries of the flashlight, I switched it off and sat down next to Nick to think. Was there some way of levering that boulder away from the entrance? Human strength and ingenuity had moved that stone before. We ought to be able to find a method of moving it again.
When Nick stirred again and opened his eyes, I told him the results of my explorations. “You probably know more about engineering than I do. How can we shift that rock?”
“We can’t. It’s huge. They had tools and levers. We don’t.”
“A lever is a relatively simple tool. Can’t we find something in here to use as one?”
“Sure, like a couple of sturdy hardwood two-by-fours? You’re not going to find anything like that in here.”
“Don’t be so pessimistic. There’s all kinds of junk in here. How about the crate?”
