by Cherry Adair
Heart knocking, Peri realized she’d misinterpreted the reason for his departure. From there, she’d assumed he was proving himself to be just like everyone else in her life, treating her as if others were more important than herself. "I'm sorry too. I should've told you before I told them."
"No. You told them first because it was what you were there to do. I got it. I might've behaved like an ass, got distracted when I should've stayed by your side. But I get what you were doing and why. I know how hard that was for you. I failed you, and I swear, never again will I be so distracted by business that I fuck up my priorities."
The time for prevaricating had long since passed. Her throat ached as she admitted, "When you walked out, I realized even good swimmers can drown."
Finn closed his eyes briefly as if in pain. "Jesus, it kills me that I hurt you. However unintentionally. I'll make it up to you, I swear."
"You have a habit of not believing in me, Finn. That's damned hard to look past."
"I'll work on it."
Peri knew, when this was over- if this was ever over- he'd sail into the sunset as fast as his ship could go. "Great," she said with faux cheer, and the returning ache in her heart. "In the meantime, I've made a mess of things—"
He tilted her face up and stroked his mouth over hers in a sweetly poignant kiss that left her craving more. “Darling," he murmured against her damp mouth, "I fix messes. And you had bugger-all to do with whatever Núñez is up to. He's delusional. I swear, I'll make him pay heavily for what he's done to y-- Shhh."
She heard it too. Voices. Faint. Indistinct. But coming closer now.
"No way they'll find the entrance," she whispered, stiffening in his arms.
From the entrance, the brilliant white beam of a powerful flashlight sliced through the darkness to shoot a broad swath of white across the water.
Damn.
TWENTY-TWO
There's no way out," Núñez shouted, his voice echoing and re echoing against the vaulted ceiling and rock walls. More lights flashed, each staffing its own section.
"Fuck."
"Ditto. But at least now we can see what we're up against. Do not even suggest we try to fight our way through them." Eyes blazing, Peri unzipped her slicker, tossing it onto a nearby rock. Her t-shirt clung damply to her body, revealing nipples erect from the cold.
Showed just how fucking besotted with her he was, that even threatened with death, Finn still wanted her. He raised both hands. "No argument here." Of more importance to note, he saw the determined jut of her jaw, and the squaring of her slender shoulders. "The situation is dire, no doubt. But we have to keep our heads and think smart here, right?"
Appearing both calm and focused, Peri said, "Right." Quickly and efficiently she raked her fingers through the tangled skeins of her hair, braided, twisted and somehow anchored it securely at her nape without pins. "I'm not damn well going anywhere with them." She pushed up her sleeves. "And I don't want you anywhere near Theo, either. Where are the tablets? Far away, I hope?" The bright beam slowly stroked the surface of the water, missing their position by a dozen feet.
"Landed on your driveway." Finn kept an eye on the shadowy figures near the entrance. It was hard to tell in the dark, but each pass of the flashlight showed him that there was a large group of men positioned around Núñez blocking the only exit.
"Oh, my God! Finn! Why on Earth did you bring them here? You should've left them-"
"I wasn't going to fuck around if your life was on the line, Persephone. If it was you or the tablets, I chose you."
She pressed two fingers against his lips. "Aw, thanks."
At what point would Núñez decide he wasn't worth keeping alive? It would be like shooting fish in a barrel to kill him here with no retreat and no cover. And if he was dead, Núñez would get his filthy hands on Peri.
"I have two men in the chopper waiting for you, if we can get you topside again. The chopper is boobytrapped and rigged with explosives." Finn blocked her body with his in case those damned beams got any closer. "It's wired to deliver a four hundred volt charge to discourage anyone attempting to break in."
"As soon as he gets what he wants, he's going to kill you, you know that. That's unacceptable."
"No one is getting into that chopper other than you. And the cavalry will be here soon." Finn tightened his arms around her as an arc of light crawled across the craggy domed ceiling, inch by inch. Bits of mica made the dark rock look like a night sky as the light glinted off it.
She gripped the front of his shirt. "Don't you damn well dare imply that you're not going to make it, too. Whatever happens we're in this together, got it?"
He'd protect her- until he couldn't. "We'll wait Núñez out. But not right here." Hundreds of years ago, this cavern had been abraded by the tides to form a natural amphitheater. Dark water lines striated the cliff-face indicating how the water levels had dropped over the years. The last, sixty or so feet overhead.
"Can't see it from here, but there's a hole right at the very top of the ceiling," Peri said. "Probably a blowhole at some point. I always wanted to rappel down to explore. But first I have to learn to rappel." She smiled. "If we can reach it, I think we can exit that way."
Possibly. He could certainly take out a few of Núñez's men, but there were a couple dozen right behind those. The tunnels were easy for the soldiers to defend, and there'd be no getting past them. Finn's backup would have a Herculean task breaking through. It would get done, he had no doubt. But there was a good chance that a prick like Núñez would use Peri as a bargaining chip or, at the very least, a shield if they were caught.
“We are not going to die," she said firmly. "We're smart and capable with mad skills. There’s got to be something we can do to get the hell up there. Swim? Climb? Fly? Something."
Finn gauged the distance to the ceiling. He saw no hole, but he trusted she knew what was on her own property. If she claimed there was a blowhole, there was one. They were out of options.
"Right now they need you alive to give them access to the tablets," she said when he didn't immediately respond. "But if they think they won't get them no matter what, they might just kill you or worse--" Her lips tightened. "If they capture you, they'll hurt you. I'd do anything to make them stop. Theo knows that. Hell, anyone who's seen us together knows it."
"Think a little thing like the fear of dying would stop me from protecting you?”
Every year he went on an extreme climbing trip with his friends the Starks. But it wasn't a sport for everyone, and this sure as hell wasn't going to be a practice run. "Can you climb?" Finn whispered, stroking the back of his fingers across her smooth cheek because he couldn't not touch her. Her soft breasts pressed against his chest, and his heartbeat sped up to syncopate with hers.
"I can, but I haven't had much practice since I've been here." Peri took his hand and kissed his palm. "Water's our best bet."
Understandable for a water baby, but from what he saw, as the flashlight staffed the water, there was nothing on the other side of the lake but the same sheer cliffs they were faced with here. Swimming, or climbing, they'd be sitting ducks.
"We have to get to that opening up top."
"I've seen it from the outside. Great plan, except it's a million feet up!"
Six or seven stories vertical. Yeah, a million feet. But on the last pass of Núñez's flashlight, Finn saw a deep ledge about halfway up. "Use these strong, swimmer muscles to climb, love. Take the challenge. I'll give you a boost. Plenty of handholds. There's one about seven feet up. And a foothold right here. We'll sit tight, and let our army take down Núñez's army."
As much as Finn wanted to be more proactive, the only cause of action in this situation was to do whatever the hell they could do to get out of reach. He patted the rock just above her head. "Ready?" He cupped his hands for her to step up.
"No." But she placed one foot on his hands. Finn lifted her, and a second later, her weight was gone as she found a toe hold. He used both hands
to cup her butt in support. "Feel around for another, I'm right behind you, I won't let you fall."
From the entrance, the sound of voices and the squeak of a dozen rubber-soled boots on rock, echoed in the vast space, ricocheting off the hard surfaces. The flashlight beam continually strafed the water, climbing now and then up the rock face.
They climbed silently. Not nearly as quickly as Finn wanted to go, but at an impressive rate thanks to Peri’s courage, and athleticism. Her competitive nature, coupled with the very real fear of being caught, or trapped, gave her strong motivation.
A man shouted in Spanish, and suddenly they were spot-lit as they clung like lizards to the sheer face of the cliff twenty feet up.
Brilliant light suddenly illuminated the cavern. Done with puny flashlights, Núñez had brought out the big guns.
"Shit." Peri paused. "Looks like the bastard found my night diving light."
The light was so bright that, other than a few deep pockets, there were virtually no shadows. The illumination flattened the bumpy rock face making it hard to see handholds. "Keep moving." Finn wrapped his hand around hers so she could better grip a too small handhold. He was practically supporting them both on his one decent foothold.
"There is nowhere for you to go," Núñez yelled. "Come down."
"Keep going." Small pebbles rained down on his face, and Finn had to blink dust out of his eyes. "Stay focused."
As more distance was put between them and Núñez and his men, Finn relaxed into the climb. His recent summit climb of Siula Grande, had been more dangerous, and more technically challenging. But it hadn't scared the crap out of him like climbing this sheer rock face with Peri.
One slip and she'd plummet twenty feet. Yeah, there was a vast lake below, but there were also outcroppings of rocks. And hitting water from this height would be like hitting concrete. She'd die, or at the least break every bone in her body.
Since he had no rope, couldn't harness her, or put a helmet on her, Finn did his best to cage her body with his. Matching her hold for hold, he made sure he was ready . for her slightest misstep.
"Why are you right on top of me?" she groused when he guided her hand up to the next hold. "I have the hang of this. In fact I think I might even like it if I wasn't acutely aware that people are trying to kill us."
"They won’t shoot you.”
“No. But they will shoot you.”
“Focus on the climb. No matter what happens.” Every second they were exposed like this, Finn anticipated a bullet slamming into his back.
“Bring them down,” Núñez shouted to his men. Half a dozen started to climb. Some, clearly not climbers, made a hell of a racket as they slipped, fell, yelling at each other in Spanish. Every now and then a large splash indicated someone had lost their grip.
He eased to Peri's side, but kept to her slower pace. "There's a ledge about ten feet above us."
"How could you possibly know that?" she demanded, her breath ragged as she resumed finding hand- and footholds and kept ascending.
Heart in his throat, he caught her foot as it dislodged a loose rock. The fist-sized stone skipped down the cliff below them. A man shouted as he was struck, and several seconds later there was a splash. Finn placed Peri's dangling foot on a narrow jut and waited until she was steady before he said, "I see stars."
She gave a small, breathless laugh. "You always see stars."
"The ones I'm looking forward to seeing again, and soon, is that galaxy of starry freckles on your naked body." Finn grinned at her huff of laughter, then turned serious. "Just a few more feet and you can rest." He had a solid perch, and was able to free a hand.
"Here, I'll give you a boost." Placing it on her butt, he pushed her up onto the ledge.
She landed with an "Oomff!"
Leveraging himself up and over, Finn landed beside her. As his eyes adjusted to the shadows behind them, he realized the outcropping was more than a ledge. Behind the three feet that extended from the wall, there was a shallow cave carved out of the granite over millennia of water rising and falling.
He rested his palm on Peri's back, while he liberated the Glock 27 strapped to his calf.
Nine bullets. He'd make them count.
Under his hand, Peri's t-shirt was damp with sweat, her breathing erratic. Plucking long strands of hair off her sweating skin, he asked softly, "Okay?" He kept his focus over the edge, counting the shadowy figures of the men tracing the path upwards that he and Peri had just navigated. Climbing like fucking spider monkeys, Núñez's people swarmed the cliff wall. "Núñez is sending up more men."
"To do what?" She rolled over, sucking air. "Carry us down on their backs? Frankly I'm too tired to give a rat's ass." She blew out a breath. "Next time I'll insist we swim to safety."
"There won't be a next time." Getting to his feet, he extended his hand to pull her up beside him. The cave was at least twelve feet deep, and twenty-or so feet wide. It was about forty feet above the water, and the dark line of the most recent waterline was visible just below where they were standing, indicating the depth of the lake at some long ago high tide. The back of the cave was steeped in deep shadow, but the front half was washed with lights from below.
Starlight came from a jagged hole some thirty feet overhead. Dark runnels on the rocks indicated centuries of rain coming through the opening that had formed a curtained barrier between the cave and the rest of the cavern.
"People have been in here." Peri pointed up. "Look. There are paintings on the dome. Judging from the water lines on the walls, this cave was once full. They could have painted the ceiling from boats, I imagine."
"They probably used a mix of kaolin and some kind of mica to get that glittering effect." As Finn talked, he kept an eye on the progress of the climbers. Noting the closest men were thirty or more feet down, he looked up at the ceiling.
"Whoever they were, they went to a lot of trouble to replicate an accurate starry sky. . .” he trailed off, turning more fully to take in the pattern, illuminated by Núñez's lights
"Jesus. These aren't random dabs of paint. It's our fucking solar system. The hole in the center represents the sun." He pointed. "Mercury, Earth, Venus, Mars. The grouping over there is the Asteroid Belt. See that roughly triangular formation? Those are the Hilda asteroids. Those the Trojans. There; the Greeks, and that's Mars, right where it's supposed to be. The accuracy and detail is astonishing."
"I'm more interested in those real stars I see through that hole you say is the sun. But unless you have a super power and can fly, I don't see how we'd th- -
With a loud crack, a bullet ricocheted off the lip of the ledge, scattering rocks and grit in a stinging spray. As stones and rocks rumbled and bounced down the side, Peri grabbed his arm to yank him back, but Finn was quicker. Slamming his arm across her chest caused her to stagger back.
As adrenaline kicked in, his vision narrowed and his heart rate increased. Crouching, he adjusted his grip on the Glock. A volley of shots followed, this time hitting the wall behind them.
"Stay back." Hyper-focused, Finn dropped down flat, then belly-crawled to peer over the edge. Half a dozen or so men were climbing, some more proficient than others. To his left, three men lined up perfectly. He squeezed off his first shot.
The bullet drilled into the closest guy's eye and he fell back soundlessly. Whether the bullet went through and through, striking the second and third man, Finn had no idea, but he got the result he wanted. The lead guy took out the other two on his way down the sheer rock wall.
The three men twisted and turned as they tumbled down. They slammed into outcroppings, banged against the smooth sections of the cliff, and scattered rocks, stones, and clouds of dust in passing.
The first guy's body slammed into a fourth climber, taking him down, too. The four men fell the forty feet in a matter of seconds. No one screamed as the bodies hit the water hard enough to make Finn wince.
Four down.
Dakkadakkadakka. A hail of bullets sent up debris
. Gritty sand and small rocks peppered the surrounding area.
Dakkadakkadakka "Stay down," he shouted to Peri over the resonating pings of ejected spent cartridge cases interspersed with semi-auto fire and the crack of shattering rock.
"Let my men come for Ariel, Gallagher," Núñez yelled up. He hadn't budged from the entrance, choosing instead to send his men as sacrificial lambs. "They'll spare your li-"
Lifting his head, Finn aimed at Núñez, and squeezed off a shot. But the son of a bitch shifted, and the bullet struck the soldier next to him, who fell against Núñez, taking him down. The soldier was dead, but the impact sent Núñez plunging down the slope towards the water. A couple of his men darted after him, and hefted him back to level ground.
Another short burst of gunfire. Finn held tough. Law of averages forced him to bide his time. Two men were still doggedly climbing, and more on the flat surface near the entrance. He had only seven more chances to level the playing field.
Not great odds. His biggest fear was failing Peri. If anything happened to her- Fuck. Nothing was going to happen to her on his watch. To his right, the two climbers, some thirty feet below his position, inched closer, clinging to the sheer granite face. They didn't move like experienced climbers, they were slow and cautious. Finn calculated the angles. Not yet. He scanned the area from right to left. He had the advantage of higher ground, he just had to be patient.
He spared a glance over his shoulder. "I'd feel a hell of a lot better if you'd move your ass as far back as possible out of the range of fire. One of these fuckers is eventually going to get lucky."
Using her elbows to move forward, Peri slid up beside him. Her cheek brushed his arm. "You don't seriously think I'd cower in the dark while those asshats take potshots at you? Think again, Rocketman. We're in this together."
Almost giving Finn a fucking heart attack, she suddenly jumped to her feet. The brilliant lights below picked up the orange flame in her hair, and the stark freckles on her pale skin. "Hey, Theo?" she yelled down, wildly waving her arms. "If you want my womb, you better not shoot me. And by me, I mean Finn. He's as close to me as white on rice. If one of your men kills him, they'll kill me, too."
