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Chapter Twenty-One
Alexa didn’t knowhow long it was before the branch she was crawling through widened again. Enough that she could sit up and mentally calm the frantic racing of her pulse. The darkness was oppressive. She took out another ChemLite, bending and snapping it until it shone and set it down near the cave wall. She’d read articles about the effect of sensory deprivation, and she could understand it now, only too well. The lamp on her helmet appeared to dent the blackness instead of splitting it. The shadows on either side pressed against the glow as if seeking to extinguish it. Alexa wondered if she only imagined that the light seemed a fractiondimmer.
The radio on her belt crackled again. She unclipped it to listen, but there was only static. Then a shrill cry sounded. She froze, remembering Patrick’s shriek of pain earlier. But this noise was higher. A wavery, high-pitchedwail.
Ababy.
She shuddered violently. The sound went on and on, the pitch climbing until it raked up her spine. Drilled into her ears. With a brutal knifelike pain, Alexa was reminded she’d never heard Olivia’s cry. She’d never been given thatgift.
Just as suddenly as it began, the sound was cut off. And the resulting stillness rang with the now silenced cries. “That’s what you did when you terminated your pregnancy,Alexa.”
“That’s not true.” She didn’t even use the radio; she was shouting the words into the darkness. “Is that was Reisman told you? How would he know? I never spoke to my parents again after Ileft.”
“Don’t compound your sin by lying about itnow.”
She turned around wildly. Because there was no static in the voice this time. Tillman was close enough to beheard.
One shaking hand went to the Taser on her hip.Keep him talking. Draw him out.“It was a placental abruption.” Where was he? She turned in a full circle, slowly looking for signs of movement in the darkness. “I started bleeding. I had to stay in the hospital. But then…” Oh, God, she didn’t want to relive this now. Not with a madman. “Then the bleeding started one night again and...” Her mouth dried out. “The baby was stillborn. I nearly died, too.” And a part of her had wanted to, she remembered painfully. When she’d finally gotten well enough to realize what hadhappened.
“Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be yourdownfall.”
He wasn’t here. At least not in this small clearing. Alexa spotted the next slight glow and made her way toward it on hands and knees. “‘For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come tolight.’”
“Luke 8:17.” Was that approval in his voice? Revulsion shook her. “One of my favorites. We’re well-suited, you andme.”
Her stomach heaved at the words. She darted down the next passageway, then froze at the sudden thought of him sliding into the space after her. She threw an agitated look behind her, but couldn’t see anything over her shoulder. Where the devil wasPatrick?
Alexa heard nothing from Tillman again as she wiggled along as fast as she was able, leaving ChemLites every thirty feet or so and turning into each of the marked passages. He’d gone to a lot of trouble to set this up, and there was no question that he was planning a trap. But she had a few surprises for him, too. He wasn’t going to win. Not thistime.
The cave grew exceedingly narrow. She belly-crawled again for what seemed like a mile. A bat flew close enough to touch her face and Alexa jerked back, rapping her head smartly against a jut of rock on the ceiling. Even with the helmet, the force of the blow brought tears to her eyes. The rough walls beside her caught and tore at her clothing, and she could feel blood trickling down her limbs. But still, she couldn’t slowdown.
She struggled to her feet when the opening led to a bigger space. Left a ChemLite and stumbled toward the next marked passage. But this one was wider. There was light coming from the end, although she couldn’t see from where. Because there was a bend in the passage, she finally realized. She made the turn and walked in a crouch toward the light. Until she stepped and her foot feltnothingness.
Frantically, she threw herself backward, her arms wheeling. Her body slammed against the wall of the cave with a force that had all her nerve endings screaming. Alexa’s heart was in her throat. Panting, she edged along the wall until she was certain her legs would hold her. Weaver had mentioned this, she recalled dimly. That there were areas with keyholes in thefloor.
“Alexa.” She stilled. The voice was close. Much too close. “That way is dangerous. Comeback.”
There was a light bouncing in the darkness, approaching her from behind. No, not a light, alamp. Like the one on herhelmet.
“I can’t. I’m hurt.” She inched along the wall toward the keyhole again. Maybe there was a way around it.Maybe…
“Hurt! Do you know what pain is? To have a hammer used on your knee until it shatters and requires three separate operations to repair it? Do you realize what it feels like to have your testicle crushed? For your fingernails to be pulled out one at a time while someone watches and laughs?” His voice raised on each question until it was nearly a screech. “That’s pain. The kind you don’t think is possible to endure. And I wouldn’t have if something hadn’t happened that drew both men away so I could make myescape.”
He was talking about Simard and Fornier, she realized. And it wasn’t gratifying at all to recognize that she’d been correct about the incident that had triggered hisescalation.
She kept her head down to better light the floor of the cave. And this time she saw the yawning cavity she’d almost fallen through. A moment later she noticed the boy standing several yards beyond it, in front of an opening with dim light pouring throughit.
“Patrick!”
“Ah, you found him.” Tillman seemed calmer now. “There are only two ways out from there. Forward, into the lagoon. Orback.”
Back wasn’t an option. There was a monster in the passage behind Alexa, blocking herway.
“There’s only one life jacket. Do you seeit?”
She looked around frantically. Finally spotted it lying in front of the yawning expanse on the floor, against thewall.
“If you can get the lifejacket to the boy, he just might survive. He’s not a strong swimmer, I’m afraid. And the lagoon below is quite deep, with surprisingly strong currents. If I get to him first…well, let’s just say I won’t bother with any safetydevices.”