Operation: Midnight Guardian

by Linda Castillo

  “You’re breathing hard.”

  Ignoring her, Cutter continued walking.

  Evidently, Mattie Logan wasn’t the kind of woman to be ignored. Jogging to keep up with his long stride, she came up beside him and looked closely at him. “Cutter, you’re sweating.”

  “Yeah, well, that happens when I walk ten damn miles.”

  “It’s cold. You shouldn’t be sweating like that.” When he didn’t answer, she bit her lip. “How bad is that bullet wound?”

  The graze in his arm where the bullet had nicked him hadn’t even crossed his mind. He was too busy thinking about the walls closing in. The lack of oxygen. The ceiling coming down to crush them both….

  “I’m fine, damn it.”

  “Cutter, you’re shaking. You can barely hold the flare.”

  For the first time he noticed just how badly he was shaking. If he didn’t get a handle on the fear slithering through him, he was going to collapse into a heap on the floor like some kind of a blathering idiot.

  “Let me—” She wrapped her hand around his arm as she reached for the flair. “Oh my God. You’re soaking wet and trembling.”

  “I’m fine,” he snapped. “Get away.”

  “Let me help you.”

  He shook off her hand. “I don’t need your damn help.”

  “Look, I know you don’t trust me. Frankly, I’d rather go it alone, too. We don’t exactly have the same goal here. But for your information I’m not cold-blooded enough to leave you alone when you’re obviously injured.”

  “I’m not injured.”

  “You look like you’re ready to pass out.”

  At that moment Cutter figured he’d rather do just that than lose it in front of a prisoner. Unfortunately, succumbing to unconsciousness wasn’t an option if he wanted to get through this. He was going to have to tough it out and hope the panic attack abated.

  But the walls and ceiling continued to close in. He could feel the crushing pressure of a thousand tons of rock. The sensation of being trapped. Cold darkness descending. No oxygen to breathe.

  Bending at the hip, Cutter put his hands on his knees and gulped air. He knew better than to turn his back on a prisoner, but he was in no condition to stop her if she decided to do something stupid…like run.

  He could hear his breaths echoing off the rock walls. He was breathing too fast. Too shallowly. Still, he couldn’t seem to get enough into his lungs.

  “Cutter…”

  He started when she touched him. He knew that was the one thing he should not allow. But at that moment the small human contact, the warmth of her hand against his shoulder, was incredibly reassuring.

  Closing his eyes tightly, he clung to that tiny connection. After a few minutes the fear loosened its death grip. The walls and ceiling of the cave stopped closing in. His breathing returned to normal. The sweat cooled on his skin. All the while he was keenly aware of the warmth of her hand against his shoulder.

  “Better.” He straightened and turned to look at her. In the dim light of the flare he saw wide blue eyes and porcelain skin. Her hand fell away from his arm, and he was suddenly keenly aware of the absence of her touch. Against his will, his eyes went to her mouth, her full, pink mouth, and suddenly he remembered the kiss they’d shared. He acknowledged the fact that he wanted to do it again.

  “I’m glad you’re all right,” she said. “For a second I thought you were going to pass out.”

  “I’m fine,” he growled.

  Two feet separated them. She was at least a foot shorter, and he had to look down to maintain eye contact. He could see the swell of her breasts. The fragile slant of her throat. In the dim light her skin looked almost translucent. The lemon and rosemary scent of her hair titillated his senses. He knew better than to want when it came to this woman, but he did. He wanted like he hadn’t wanted for a long time.

  The flare chose that moment to burn out, plunging them into darkness. Cutter tossed the spent stick to the ground, not sure if he was relieved the strange moment had passed or disappointed because they were going to have to travel the rest of the way in total darkness.

  “Do you have another flare?” she asked.

  “Nope.”

  “How are we going to find the other opening without light?”

  Cutter struck a match. Relief flicked through him when the flame danced. “We follow the air.”

  “There’s a breeze?”

  “Faint, but definitely there.” He could feel her gaze on him, but he didn’t look at her. The situation demanded he either tie her belt to his or take her hand so they didn’t get separated. Considering the way he was reacting to her, he didn’t want to touch her. But since he was fresh out of rope he was going to have to take her hand. “Let’s go.”

  He reached down to take her hand. She tried to tug away, but he tightened his grip. “We don’t want to get separated,” he explained.

  “Oh.” She stopped trying to pull away.

  Refusing to acknowledge just how good her hand felt in his, Cutter extinguished the match and they ventured deeper into the cave.

  Chapter Five

  Mattie had never been afraid of the dark. Even as a child, she’d never needed a night-light or the door to her room left ajar. But the utter darkness of the cave was something she had never encountered.

  She didn’t know how long they walked. It seemed like hours, but the darkness had a way of skewing one’s sense of time and place. If not for the warmth of Cutter’s hand, she wasn’t sure she would have been able to go on.

  “Stop.” His voice broke through the utter silence like a shout.

  “What is it?” She squinted, but saw nothing.

  A match flared. Relief went through her at the sight of the tiny light. Then she noticed that the flame was flickering wildly.

  “We’re close to the opening,” Cutter said.

  “I don’t see any light ahead.”

  “The opening may be hidden. In fact, we may have to dig our way out of here.”

  “I hate to tell you this, but I left my shovel in my other purse.”

  He scowled. “Ha, ha.”

  “So how do we find the opening?”

  “Follow the breeze.”

  The match burned out. He immediately lit another. “I’m going to let go of your hand. I want you to stay put.”

  Mattie nodded, but already it seemed her hand had grown cold without his. She stood there as he moved along the far side of the cave. He held the match with one hand, ran his other along the stone wall.

  The match burned down, once again plunging them into darkness. This time, he didn’t light another. Several minutes passed. Mattie could hear him moving around. She took comfort in that, but the dark and cold were beginning to get to her. She thought she heard the squeak of some type of animal. She detected a faint but foul odor and began to imagine the skeletons of long-dead explorers who’d been unable to find their way out, their bodies eaten by carnivorous rats….

  A hand on her shoulder made her jump. She spun, reached out, found her hand on a hard-as- rock bicep. “Don’t sneak up on me like that,” she said.

  “I found the opening.”

  She wanted to get out of the smelly, dark and damp cave and into the daylight. “Thank God. Let’s get out of here.”

  “There’s only one small problem,” Cutter said.

  “Believe me, there’s no problem big enough to keep me from leaving this godforsaken cave.”

  “I want you to stay calm,” he said.

  Mattie got a prickly sensation on the back of her neck. “I’ll be a lot calmer if you’d tell me why you’re telling me to be calm.”

  Yellow light flared when Cutter struck a match. His eyes were already on hers. She gazed back at him, wondering why he was wasting time, not to mention matches. Then movement on the ceiling snagged her attention. At first she thought the soil and rock were somehow shifting. Then she realized what she was looking at were thousands of tiny bodies squeezed together to form a s
ingle, undulating layer.

  Bats.

  “Oh my God.”

  “Don’t make a sound,” Cutter said.

  The logical part of her brain knew bats were harmless for the most part. But their small rodent bodies gave her the creeps nonetheless. “Please tell me they’re not blocking our exit.”

  “We’re going to have to walk beneath them.”

  Mattie closed her eyes tightly, her imagination conjuring images of sharp bat teeth sinking to skin in search of blood. “Are they vampire bats?”

  “They eat insects. And they’re hibernating. We should try not to disturb them.”

  “Cutter, I think that’s one thing you’re not going to have to worry about.”

  Amusement glinted in his eyes before the match went out. “I want you to stay with me.”

  She started when he took her hand. “How far is the opening?”

  “Twenty feet. We go past the bats. Then we climb.” He squeezed her hand. “Let’s go.”

  The ammonia smell of guano filled her nostrils as they neared the bats. Mattie could hear the intermittent squeaks of the animals. The swish of tiny wings. The occasional spatter of droppings hitting the cave floor. Gooseflesh rose all over her body as they sidled past.

  Then she felt a gust of cold, fresh air on her face. Ahead she caught a glimpse of daylight. Relief rippled through her. She let go of Cutter’s hand and quickened her step. The cave narrowed, but she didn’t care. All she cared about was getting out of there.

  “Nice and slow,” Cutter said.

  But Mattie was already on her hands and knees, crawling toward the light. Sharp rocks cut uncomfortably into her knees, but she barely felt the pain. “I’m almost there,” she said, excitedly.

  “I’m right behind you.”

  She was so relieved to be out of the cave, she barely noticed when her hands plunged into snow or when cold wind slapped her face. Then the bitter cold began to permeate her clothing as she got to her feet, shivering, blinking at the bright white light.

  Cutter scrambled to his feet beside her. “Out of the frying pan and into the fire,” he muttered.

  The lightly falling snow had burgeoned into a blizzard.

  “WHAT DO WE DO NOW?”

  The same question reverberated in Cutter’s head as he assessed the conditions. Wind-driven snow slashed down from a white-on-white sky. Visibility was less than twenty feet. The wind had picked up markedly and blew with the wicked howl of a gale.

  Under different circumstances the answer would have been clear. Stay in the cave until conditions improved. But with The Jaguar and his men in hot pursuit—possibly even inside the cave and tracking them at this very moment—Cutter knew they had no choice but to risk traveling in the storm. What it boiled down to, he realized, was how he preferred to die. Of hypothermia? Or at the hands of a man whose penchant for cruelty Cutter had already experienced once.

  “We keep moving,” Cutter said.

  She blinked rapidly as snow swirled around her face. “How do you propose we do that when we can’t see? When we have no earthly idea where we are?”

  “I’ve got a compass.”

  “A compass? It’s going to take a hell of a lot more than a compass to get us through this storm.”

  He jammed a thumb in the direction of the cave. “Or maybe you want to hang out in the cave a little while longer.”

  “Look, I’m no fan of vampires, but—”

  “I’m not talking about the damn bats. I’m talking about The Jaguar and his men.”

  She looked uneasily toward the black hole from which they’d just emerged. “You think they followed us?”

  “I think it’s an assumption we have to make if we want to stay alive.”

  “If they followed us into that bat-infested cave, who’s to say they won’t follow us into the blizzard?”

  “Knowing The Jaguar, he will.” Cutter looked around. “We’ll just have to make it a little more difficult for them.”

  He’d been saving the two concussion grenades in his belt for emergencies. This wasn’t exactly an emergency, but if he could keep The Jaguar’s men from following them, the small explosives would be well worth using. Tugging one of the tiny canisters from his belt, he walked over to the cave opening and looked into the darkness.

  Mattie came up beside him. “What are you doing?”

  “Buying us some time.” He lifted the canister, set the timer, and began to silently count. One one thousand. Two one thousand. “See that copse of trees?” he asked, motioning toward a protected area high on the other side of the small gorge where they were standing.

  She squinted. “Barely.”

  “You have fifteen seconds to get there. Start running. I’m right behind you.”

  She shot him a startled look he might have enjoyed had the circumstances not been so dire. “Why fifteen seconds?”

  Aiming carefully, he tossed the grenade onto a ledge directly above them that was piled high with snow. “Because there’s going to be an avalanche.”

  The explosion shook the earth. Cutter prayed his calculations were correct. If they weren’t, he and Mattie would be buried alive by a thousand tons of churning, crushing snow.

  He held on to her hand with a death grip as he dashed toward the stand of aspen trees. The ground beneath his feet trembled. He sensed the awesome power of the avalanche. Felt the spray of snow on his face.

  But he didn’t risk looking back. One wrong move could mean a fall. A fall at this point would mean certain death, and he had absolutely no intention of dying.

  As suddenly as the explosion began, it eerily stopped. Cutter and Mattie reached the trees and higher ground. Cutter swung around. The avalanche and snowstorm had combined forces and turned the mountain into a surreal scene that was white on white on white. It was one of the most stunning sights he’d ever seen in his life.

  “I can’t believe you did that.”

  Grinning, he looked at Mattie. Her eyes were on his, midnight blue against milky skin. “Mother Nature put on a hell of a show, didn’t she?”

  “She’s not too careful with her audience.” But her gaze was fixed on the powder snow swirling down like a white tornado.

  Cutter released her hand and stepped back. “That ought to hold them for a while.”

  “Now we can freeze to death in peace.”

  He frowned at her. Snow sparkled in her hair and on her skin. Her cheeks blushed with cold. Damn, he really wished she didn’t look so good. If he wasn’t careful, she was going to get to him on a level he didn’t want to acknowledge.

  “We need to keep moving.” Pulling the compass from his pocket, he motioned toward the faint trail.

  “Where are we going?”

  “To see if we can find one of those cabins I was telling you about.”

  “The ones you were hoping are still standing?”

  “Those are the ones.”

  “How far?”

  “A couple of miles at most.”

  She gave him a sharp look. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re not wearing coats.”

  But Cutter had noticed. He hadn’t missed the fact that she was shivering. That her teeth were beginning to chatter. With nothing more than their street clothes to keep them warm, he knew it wouldn’t be long before hypothermia set in.

  Because she wasn’t moving fast enough, he took her arm and pulled her into a brisk walk. He was starting to get cold, as well. His hands and feet were cold. To make matters worse, the throbbing of his ribs had returned with a vengeance.

  Mattie had fallen silent. Cutter figured that was just as well. He didn’t want to talk to her. He didn’t have the answers she wanted to hear. Finding a cabin in these conditions was going to take nothing short of a miracle. He figured they had a couple of hours before serious hypothermia set in and their bodies began shutting down.

  Once that happened, their fate would be sealed.

  Chapter Six

  Mattie didn’t know how she kept going. The cold wa
s zapping not only her physical strength but her will to continue. It took every bit of her concentration just to put one foot in front of the other. She was beyond cold. Beyond exhaustion. Her hands were numb. Her feet felt like solid ice and ached every time they touched the ground. The urge to collapse and simply give up was strong. But Mattie had never been a quitter.

  Ahead Cutter trudged through deep snow. He was like a machine set on autopilot, moving forward at a steady rate. She didn’t know how he did it. She was growing more exhausted with each step. Her arms were sluggish. Her legs felt weighted down. Even though she was moving, sleepiness tugged at her. In her peripheral vision the trees and snow blurred into a solid gray mass.

  They’d just reached the valley floor when she fell. One moment she was slogging along, thinking about a hot shower and a warm bed, the next she was lying facedown on the ground. The snow was cold against her face but at least she could rest now. She curled more deeply into the snow and closed her eyes….

  “Mattie, come on. Get up.”

  The voice came to her as if from a great distance. She knew it was Cutter. She knew he wanted her to get up. Didn’t he understand that she needed to rest? She hadn’t the strength to argue with him. She just wanted him to leave her alone.

  The next thing she knew he’d hauled her to her feet. “Get up,” he growled. “I’m not going to let you do this.”

  “Tired,” she muttered, surprised when she slurred the word.

  “I know you’re tired. So am I. But we can’t stop now.”

  “Gotta rest,” she murmured. “Just…a little while.”

  The gentle slap of his palm against her cheek roused her. Mattie glared at him, a sharp retort on her tongue. But for the life of her she couldn’t manage the words. All she wanted to do was sleep….

  “You’re going into hypothermia,” he said. “Damn it, you’ve got to keep moving.”

  Mattie tried to take a step forward, just to appease him, but one knee buckled and she went down. Her hands were covered in snow. Oddly, they were no longer cold. The knees of her slacks were wet against her skin. But the snow looked so inviting. “Leave me ’lone.”