Fatal Secrets

been sending the women out one at a time.”

Dean spoke into his walkie-talkie. “Agent Knight? Callahan?” Nothing. “Clinch? Anderson? Anyone?”

“Hooper, it’s Trace Anderson.”

“Where’s Sonia?”

“She and Clinch pursued the other suspect.”

“The curator?”

“The guy with glasses? He’s fine, sitting in my car. We came across a truck on the road. They fled when they saw us and went over the cliff right at the bend not half a mile down the road. You might have heard the explosion.”

“It caved in part of the mine.”

“You okay?”

“Yes. The women?”

“We have a sheriff’s med unit and van here, and an ambulance on its way.”

“Good. Now find Sonia and Clinch.”

Cammarata heard the conversation. “She went after Marchand, did she?”

“I don’t know.” But Dean feared she had.

“Shit.”

Dean was itching to get out and find her himself. His skin crawled, thinking about what might happen in a confrontation between Sonia and her father.

Clinch shined his light down the hole. “He’s dead.” “Where’s Sonia?” Sam Callahan looked around.

“Sonia! Sonia Knight!” He asked Clinch, “Are you sure there were only two of them?”

“Yes,” Clinch said. “Dammit, where is she?”

Sam took out a heavy-duty light and shined it into the hole. “Do you hear that?”

Clinch listened. “It sounds like running water.”

Sam called Brian Stone on the radio. “We have a situation. We need rope and lights. Tell Hooper that Agent Knight may be in trouble.”

Dean followed Trace and Brian to the edge of the hidden shaft that Sonia had fallen down. “Where is she?”

“Dr. Sheffield thinks she fell into an underwater river,” Trace said.

Dean couldn’t have heard that correctly. “I don’t understand.” His skin prickled and his chest tightened. “Where is she?”

Sheffield shined a heavy-duty light on the blueprints. “This river is flowing toward the mine. It was a huge problem for the original miners before they-”

“Stop,” Dean said. “I just need to know where she is.”

Sheffield continued. “It flows east to west, of course. It’s heading toward the mine, but it’s more a pool of water this time of year. If she didn’t drown-”

Dean closed his eyes. “I’ll go in. Get the rope, Brian. Lower me down.”

Sheffield shook his head. “Not a good idea. All this movement and activity has disturbed the sediment. But I know where she’ll end up.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Cammarata exclaimed. “She could be hurt, she could be-”

“Lower me down,” Dean repeated. But it was too late. Cammarata jumped into the shaft and disappeared.

“Shit!” Dean turned to Sheffield. “Take me to where she’ll be. Right now.”

“It’s dangerous-”

“I don’t give a shit how dangerous it is. I need her back.”

I need her alive.

Sonia coughed up muddy water. It was pitch-black. She couldn’t see anything, not even her hands in front of her. She shivered, soaked through.

Where on earth was she?

Running water echoed all around her, deafening. She’d lost her gun when she fell-she felt around for it and her hand fell into deep water. She scrambled back up to where she’d landed. She’d lost consciousness at one point. She must have. She remembered falling and then … now.

More cautiously, she felt the surrounding area, crawling away from the water. Her knees and hands sank deep into mud. She sat and wrapped her arms around her legs, rocking herself.

It was so dark.

The familiar panic rose in her chest, her body breaking out into a sweat. But it was cold, so cold, and she shivered uncontrollably.

Her voice echoed eerily in the dark. “Don’t move, Sonia. Sit tight. Someone will find you. Don’t move. Don’t move. Don’t move.

But they would never find her. How long had she been here? How far had she fallen?

She had to find a way out herself. Or she would die here.

Come on Sonia! You’re not a victim anymore.

She crawled again. Slowly. Carefully. The mud sloshing through her fingers. The ground became firmer the higher she went. Okay. This was okay. She wished she had a light …

Idiot! Brian Stone had given them all emergency lights. Shake and break, he’d said. The long stick was still in her pocket. She pulled it out with trembling fingers, holding it as if it were a life jacket. Shake. Break. A faint glow emanated from the stick. She held it up.

A skull glowed inches from her face.

She screamed.

Dean stopped walking. “Did you hear that?” he asked. He, Brian Stone, and Sheffield were back in the original mine, going down a long shaft following metal rails that had been laid more than one hundred fifty years ago.

“I hear water,” Brian said.

“Good sign,” Sheffield replied, spry for his age. He led the way. “The cavern opens up down here. Unless the river has changed flow dramatically over the last hundred years.”

Dean didn’t want to hear it. He couldn’t. He would find Sonia. He wasn’t going to let her die, not like this.

They continued walking down the shaft.

“Help me!”

“Did you hear that?” Brian said. “She’s not far.”

She’s alive.

Sonia cried out again. How were they going to find her in here? She held the light up, but the cavern was so huge she couldn’t see the walls around her.

She heard a grunt and splash. “Help me! Help!” She cried out. “It’s Sonia.”

“Sonia! Thank God.”

“Charlie? Where are you?”

“I see your light.”

He grunted like he was in pain. She held up the light and saw a dark red shirt in the water as Charlie struggled to get up the slope she’d landed on. She slid down the mud and held out her hand.

He took it. Slowly, she pulled him out of the water.

His shirt hadn’t been red when she last saw him.

“Oh, God, Charlie, what happened?”

“They said you fell. I didn’t know if you had been shot or what. I came after you.”

“Why?” She hugged him tightly. “Charlie, you’re bleeding.”

“There are rocks. I-” He coughed. “I hit them.”

She held up her light and pulled up his shirt. His chest was bloodied; she saw a rib protruding.