“I never did that. Vance was just supposed to grab you and bring you here.”
“But—”
“But nothing. I’ve got to go.” She tossed the paper down. Itfluttered to settle at Maya’s feet. She set a flashlight on the top step and started to close the hole covering and paused. “Here’s one last thought for you. If you refuse to do as I ask, I’ll kill Gideon. Do it, and he’ll be fine. I won’t touch him.”
The door shut and Maya was surrounded by blackness.
She stayed completely still while a bone-deep chill crept through her. A cold not just from the weather but from the betrayal—and fear. Thankful she’d grabbed her winter gear before venturing out on what was supposed to be a mission of care for a friend, she tamped down the desire to have a full-blown panic attack and continued to focus her thoughts on escape. That meant moving, and now that the adrenaline was ebbing, aches and pains were popping up all over her poor body. But standing there looking up at a door that wasn’t going to open anytime soon wasn’t going to get the job done.
“Okay,” she whispered to the darkness, “think. Think. You’re in a hole underneath the ground. But there are tunnels around here, remember? So ... no need to lose it just yet. Time to explore. You’re going to find a way out. You have to. And there’s a flashlight on the top step. Get it and you’ll be fine.”
A breeze whipped around her and she shivered. Then froze. If there was a breeze, there was an opening. Right?
Right.
She pulled in a ragged breath and said a short prayer for help. Then decided to keep praying while she looked for a way out. Or ratherfelther way up the steps to retrieve the light.
Because it was dark in here.
The least the woman could have done was turn the thing on.
The darkness was going to suffocate her. Steal the breath right from her lungs.
“Don’t panic,” she said aloud. “No need to panic. These tunnels have been here for years. They’ll be here for a long time. They have to go somewhere.” She closed her eyes and pulled in another breath. Tried to take a step and couldn’t make her legs move.
Terror held her captive. Her lungs squeezed. Even knowing there was light not too far away couldn’t compel her to move.
Please,God,help me keep it together. And help me finda way out. I don’t want my life toend like this. I have too much to do. Toomany people to help. And I think I love Gideon. I think I always have. Give me the opportunity toget past my fears and tell him how I feel.
Somehow that now morphed into the motivation to conquer her fear of being trapped in a cold, dark place.
She had to escape and get to Gideon so she could tell him she loved him.
With her hand on the wall to guide her, Maya took a step. Then another. It would be slow going, but at least she was moving. She found the steps she’d fallen down and climbed one at a time. And finally, her fingers wrapped around the flashlight. She pushed the button and the beam lit up the area. There was a pen on the top step. She grabbed it and stuck it in her coat pocket. Then used the flashlight to guide herself back down, where she grabbed the paper and pushed it into her pocket. She’d need it for evidence for when she got out.
And then the light weakened, bit by bit until it was gone and she was in the dark once more. “No! Don’t do that! No.” She shook the flashlight, clicked the button on and off, but got nothing. “I can’t sign your stupid paper if I can’t see it, you—”
She closed her eyes and bit her lip, then shoved the flashlight into another pocket. Wasting her breath yelling at someone who couldn’t hear her—and wouldn’t care if she could—wasn’t going to help anyone. Fine. On to plan B. She turned until she faced the moving air and shoved her hand out to the side to place her palm on the nearest rock wall.
Gideon had searched the clinic, the lodge, and the restaurant. And still no sign of Maya. No one had seen her. He stood outsidethe lodge, feet planted on the snow-covered deck while the flames danced in the firepit. Lila approached. She’d come as soon as she’d heard Maya was missing via paid teenage messenger.
“I need a phone,” Gideon said, his voice practically a growl. “We all need phones.”
“They’re still working as fast as possible to restore service,” she said. “The sat phone is in the medical clinic in case they have to call a chopper for another patient.”
“We need to call for more sat phones to be dropped so we can stay in touch while we search.”
“That’s going to take a while.”
“I know. I’m not going to stop searching, but we need to at least put the request in.”
She nodded. “All right. I’ll run over to the clinic and make the call. Where are you going to search from here?”
“Everything all right?” Ben’s question came from behind him.
Gideon turned. “No, Maya’s missing.”
“Missing? Missing how?”
