Page 10 of Secrets Beneath the Waves

Zeyla glanced over at him. “Maybe there’s hope for you yet.”

Ramon signed off with Maizie and ended the call. He took the turn indicated on his GPS. “Wanna tell me why we drove two hours into the middle of nowhere?”

“This is where he lives.” She motioned to a clearing, and he parked at the edge just in case he had to turn quickly and head back the way they’d come. “My contact, who left the intel at that PO box, lives out here. But there’s a reason I do a pickup in town instead of coming out here. He doesn’t like uninvited guests.”

Ramon peered over the steering wheel at the ring of trees with grass in the center. A couple of blackbirds flew out of the top of a tree, up into the sky. “There’s nothing here.”

“We have to hike.”

Ramon frowned, pushing open the car door and meeting her at the front end. “How far?”

“Are you going to ask questions the whole time?”

“Just tell me how far. I’ll change my shoes if it’s rough terrain.” He wore boots with jeans, a T-shirt, and jacket, pretty much like always.

“You’ll be fine.” She tromped off across the clearing.

He pocketed his keys and followed her between the trees on the left side, then along a thin trail that snaked through the woods. “This path isn’t wide enough.”

“It’s a deer trail.”

“Are we going to see an animal? Should I have packed a rifle?”

She chuckled, walking fast ahead of him. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you from the wildlife, City Boy.”

He was about to respond back that he’d spent plenty of time in the wild when her footsteps faltered.

She reached her hand up to a branch over the path about her shoulder height. The branch had been broken. “This has blood on it.”

Zeyla took off running.

CHAPTER

FIVE

Zeyla ranto a bend in the path, then jumped over a bush into long grass and ran between the trees. Ramon raced after her, trying to see if there was a clearing or any kind of structure up ahead. All he saw was trees. But if this guy was half as paranoid as she’d said, maybe that was the point.

He spotted a smear of blood on the bark of the tree he passed.

Zeyla sped up.

Ramon caught up to grab her elbow. “What are we looking at here?”

She barely slowed, breathing hard. “I need to get in there.”

He pulled her all the way to a stop. “Talk.”

“It’s a shipping container in the hillside. He lives inside. Composting toilet. Natural cave spring in the back for showers. Real off-the-grid type stuff.”

“Lead the way. But don’t run headlong into the place and get yourself killed if someone is still inside.” He let her go, and she jogged to a spot between two trees, tucked against the hillside.

This guy had to have constructed the place years ago in order to get the vegetation to grow over it and disguise the whole thing in this way. All Ramon could see were trees and vines,bushes and grass. It must have taken a lot of work to render the residence basically invisible.

Zeyla ducked her head, and he heard the metal door swing open.

He followed her into the darkness, instantly smelling the tang of spilled blood and other bodily fluids. The kind of messy death that came with terror and fear.

She navigated her way in the dark, then flipped on an overhead light. This was bigger than one shipping container. It looked more like he had welded two side by side. At the back, there were more rooms beyond what he could see.