The girl was still unsure where she was. She would be hesitant. Not as confident in where she was in the dark as he was. Ernie reached out.
And wrapped his hand in her hair just as they entered the larger middle cavern.
He yanked.
Pulling her off her feet and into his arms.
His hand wrapped around her neck. He yanked her closer. “Damn it, Madison. You have more fire than I anticipated.”
“Let mego!’”
“Newcomb. TSP! Get your hands off her and stop moving. Now!”
Son of abitch.
He tightened his hold on her neck. So much so she cried out. “If you don’t let me pass, I will break her neck right now.”
118
K.J. could see his face.And he meant it. She also saw Madison’s face in the night vision. She didn’t think Newcomb had seenthemat all, even though he knew they were there. He had no way to know how many of them there were, either. The infrared in her hands didn’t put out enough red light for the human eye to see. Acardi was partially blocking her now.
“I am moving closer,” she said as quietly as she could to Miguel. He nodded. She felt it more than saw it.
“Get behind.”
“His weapon is holstered. But she’s right on the edge. I can’t tell over what. For all we know it’s a thirty-foot drop behind her. Or more.” K.J. reported exactly what she saw.
“I see. Go.” Miguel paused for a moment. “Dom, you start talking. Make him think you are alone in here. We’re getting into position now.”
K.J. took that first step.
“Newcomb, we’re going to talk,” Acardi said. His voice didn’t waver. K.J. had to give it to him. She was ready to pee her pants down here, and she had a way to see where she was going. And what was happening. Acardi didn’t.
And Madison was the woman he loved.
“I can only imagine what you want,” Newcomb sounded almost cocky. Which…exactly the opposite of how he had always come across to her. Had he been that much of an actor forfortyyears?
“Dom?” Madison’s voice only shook a little. “I knew you w-would come for me.”
“Of course I came for you. I told you that I always would.” His broke, too. Right then. Telling them all how he really felt.
K.J.’s heart broke then. She heard the way he loved her. And she hurt for them both.
Ernie Newcomb didn’t have a right to get in the way of this. He just didn’t.
She took another step.
And almost went down. K.J. bit back a curse. There was a dark hole where she had just stepped. She had just gotten luckier than she ever had in her life before.
“What was that?” Newcomb asked.
K.J. froze.
119
Dom was there.Just like she had known he would be. Madison ignored the arm around her neck and tried to calm herself down. She felt like her heart was going to beat right out of her chest. “I…this was not how I intended to spend the night, you know. I was going to drag you up to my suite at the Castle of Ostentatiousness and do things to you. Talk to you about…maybe…having a few cavebabies someday. After…we played with Heather’s little girls tonight, of course. Read Frankie a Wonkus McBubbles story. Helped Heather get Ember into her sleeper. I love rocking that baby girl. They are so wonderful. And I…really…I had plans for you.”
“Well, as soon as we are out of here, I think we’ll do that. How many cavebabies do you want, sweetheart? Two or three would probably be something we can handle. They’ll probably be into everything. But…my dad, your mom—they’ll babysit when we need it, I’m sure. Or Max. He’ll be one hell of an uncle, that kid.”
