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And then, like a whisper in the wind, he heard it—a faint sob. It was barely audible, but it sent a surge of adrenaline coursing through his veins. He quickened his pace, following the sound as it grew louder and more desperate. With each step, the walls closed in around him until he had to walk in a crouch. Was he even going in the right direction? The tunnel dead-ended, but the sobs echoed all around him.
“Lucy?” he called out again.
The sobbing grew louder, mingling with muffled cries for help.
“Hold on! I’m coming!” Connelly’s heart raced as he backtracked and found another, narrower passage forking off to the left. Her voice came from the other side, but his shoulders were too broad to fit.
“Connelly?”
He jumped at Sawyer’s voice and swung his flashlight beam around to illuminate the man and his dog.
“Jesus. What are you doing in here?” Stunned, he shone his light a few feet over at the gaping crack in the rock he’d jumped coming in, then swung it back at Sawyer. “How did you get in without falling?”
Sawyer snorted. “Hear that, Zelda? He doesn’t think you’re very good at your job.”
Zelda huffed as if to say, “Jerk.”
“She would never let me fall. Hell, for that matter, I’d never let me fall. I can tell when there’s a drop in front of me. The air’s different.”
Shame burned up the back of Connelly’s neck. “Sorry. I don’t mean to underestimate you.”
Sawyer waved the apology away. “Hey, no worries. A few years ago, I didn’t think I could do anything either. I thought my life was over, but I got Zelda and realized that wasn’t true. I can still do everything I did before. I just have to go about it differently now. I came down to let you know the calvary’s on the way with gear to extract her. I shouted but you didn’t hear me.”
“What’s their ETA?”
“Fifteen minutes.”
“Is our stalker still up there?”
“Nah. When Ash radioed, I heard him beat feet out of there. We got him running scared.”
Not for long, Connelly thought but he didn’t bother saying it out loud. They both knew it. This guy wasn’t done with his sick game yet.
Sawyer cocked his head, listening, and his pale blue eyes narrowed. “Is that Lucy? Jesus, she sounds terrified.”
“Yeah. I’m pretty sure she’s on the other side of this wall, but she can’t hear us.”
“Can we get to her?”
There’s a tunnel, but it’s narrow as hell. I can’t get through.” He eyed Sawyer and then the passage consideringly. Sawyer was built like a runner, all long, lean muscle. “But maybe you can.”
Sawyer nodded. “Let’s do it. Point me in the right direction.”
chapter sixteen
Sawyer listened as Connelly gave detailed instructions on how to maneuver through the tight space and thought, Shit. This is a bad idea.
“If you get in there and find her,” Connelly added and dropped a rescue glow stick in his hand, “crack this to pinpoint her location, then calm her down until help arrives. Give her some water if you can. She’s probably dehydrated. Try to find out if she’s injured and where. That knowledge will help with the extraction process.”
Sawyer nodded, his heart pounding with a mix of fear and determination. He took a deep breath, steadying himself before he began the arduous task of squeezing through the narrow passageway. Zelda whined anxiously behind him, sensing his unease. He wanted to pet her, but his arms were already pinned at his sides by the walls.
“It’s okay, girl. I have to do this. Conn, keep her out here with you. I don’t want her to get hurt.”
With Connelly’s voice as his guide, he inched forward, relying on his heightened senses to navigate the claustrophobic space. The jagged rocks scraped against his back and skinned his arms as he maneuvered deeper into the darkness.
This was what he’d thought blindness would be like when he woke up in the hospital in Germany after taking a sniper’s bullet to the brain. When they told him he’d never see again, he’d imagined a life of absolute darkness, and the idea of it was terrifying. Suffocating. If this had been how his blindness manifested, he wouldn’t have survived it. He didn’t know how anyone could. Humans weren’t meant to live in the dark.
The walls pressed in on him like a vice, squeezing his body with unrelenting force as he walked and then crawled forward. The earth resisted his progress, making it feel like he was trying to move through quicksand. The air thickened and became suffocating, causing sweat to pour down his face and soak into his T-shirt. He inhaled musty dirt and each breath left a dry, gritty feeling in his mouth.
