“I have lost count. Two or three dozen, most likely. Keep walking.” No remorse. Nothing.
“How deep is the water?” It was to the left of where she walked. And she felt…open air, and then the wall was there again. For about six feet. She somehow doubted the mine had been designed that way—but cave-ins. They were a real possibility here.
The idea she was going to be buried alive here, or drown, or be shot, or?—
Madison fought the panic. She wouldnotpanic.
She was going to get out of here. No matter what.
“Probably a few feet. Depends on runoff, of course. But I am no scientist. I believe that is your thing.”
“I am not a geologist. Tiff is the one more into earth and space science.”
She needed her phone.
That light could mean the difference between life and death in here. One wrong slip...
Madison was a strong swimmer, but in the dark, in rushing water, in a cave?
No.
That would mean almost instant drowning. She needed to think. Madison just kept walking.
110
They were maybeten minutes away from the next cavern.
Then there was another tunnel that narrowed considerably. It was filled with dangerous shafts that were sometimes only shoulder-width wide. But the ground inclined up slightly and was above the waterline.
It was usually drier and less slippery.
That was where he would leave her.
Just drop her down the mineshafts. All he had to do was pick one. They were of varying depths, and locations. She could theoretically slip down thirty to forty feet. Be wedged in there indefinitely. Major Crimes would have a hell of a time finding her then.
Major Crimes and the rescue teams would be so busy searching for her that he would have time to get to Riely and the next stage of his journey.
“I truly do not have anything against you, Madison. I never have.” Far from it. He had enjoyed watching her and some of her friends, the way they would get the men of the TSP into twists. He had always felt he was above that sort of foolish behavior, but it had been entertaining to see how stupid some men wouldbecome over women. Just a year or so ago, two men in their near-fifties had gotten into a knock-down, drag-out over a nearly forty-year-old woman from the forensics lab. It had been the talk of the TSP in the region for a few weeks.
“You have a funny way of showing that, Ernie-pooh. A funny way of showing it.”
It survive a laugh out of him, as he nudged her to walk a little faster. This woman was more of a contradiction than he had expected. “If I were any other kind of man, I would just take you with me. I can see why Acardi wants you so much. Pity. Just keep walking.”
Ernie had had every intention of killing her. At first, but now…she intrigued him, Madison McAlister.
He considered just ending it for her quickly. A bullet to the back of the head. Not letting the girl suffer. He did have some compassion for her.
And she hadn’t done anything to him except do what she had to do to survive.
Or…maybe he would just let her go deep inside. Give her a fighting chance. It would still serve the same distractive purpose. Unless the girl got lucky and made her way out. She was smart enough to do that. And that would seriously complicate things for him.
“I’m going to leave you here, Madison. I need to retrieve my granddaughter. I cannot leave her behind. It would not be fair to her to face the consequences of my action and her own father’s. She is only fourteen. And I do not believe in the sins of the fathers thing. She has no one else left except those girls of Heather’s. They are my youngest granddaughters, after all. I have to get to her. She is my family. And that matters.”
“Oh wow. Evil-Ernie may just have asoul.Imagine that. And Heather’s babies willneverbe your granddaughters. There isn’ta drop of evil in those babies. I should know. I have held them in my arms. They are far better than you will ever know.”
Well, he did happen to agree with her there. “Children always are. It is the world that corrupts them, you know.”
And Erniewouldget his granddaughters one day. He had a plan for that, too.
