She tried the comms without any luck. Her phone revealed they had zero service in the belly of the mountain. She fought back hopelessness. “Does anyone have service?”
“Nothing,” Harper said after trying hers. Others confirmed the same.
Ava brought her thoughts together over the panic. “We need something to pry the door open.”
Caleb dug into his pack and brought out a small axe he used to clear trees from paths. He tried to get leverage but the door closed flush with the icy wall.
“It’s useless,” he said finally. “He designed it this way.”
“We’re trapped without any way to communicate,” Harper said with a hint of uneasiness in her tone.
Ava glanced around the icy room with growing apprehension. Why had Wax brought them here and isolated them? There was a reason.
Shadow still sat near the wall where she’d left him. He had Wax’s scent and it was pointing him toward the wall. There had to be another way out.
“Shadow.” She hurried toward the dog. “There has to be another way in. We just have to find it.”
Ava pounded on the ice wall while the rest of her team did the same.
Her attention shifted to something in the top corner of the room near the ceiling. She moved closer and realized it was a camera.
Her stomach turned. “He’s watching us.” She pointed to the camera.
“There’s more.” Caleb stopped beside her. “Over there.”
Ava focused on where he pointed. “That one’s different.” She squinted and realized it wasn’t a camera at all but some spigot.
A spigot. Why would Wax install a spigot unless...
A heartbeat later, the answer became clear as a pale gas blasted from the spigot. The sound it made came from several different directions.
“Cover your faces,” she yelled.
Ava buried her face in her jacket, but she knew it was losing battle. On an instinct she couldn’t explain, she tucked her cell inside her boot.
In her rush for answers, she’d walked straight into Wax’s trap without questioning it.
Her eyes streamed as the gas reached them, filling the space. The world became fuzzy. Caleb’s face swam before her eyes. She became aware of Shadow next to her, nudging her leg and then the dog was still.
“What’s happening?” She wasn’t sure she’d said the words aloud as the world around her grew dimmer.
Ava reached out for Caleb and fell into him. They both stumbled over something and hit the floor. She glanced up through the fog closing in and realized someone wearing a gas mask stood close to the two statues, watching.
“Wax.” She didn’t know his face, but it was him.
“You’ve come back to me, Ava.”
She barely registered the words. She blinked and tried to focus but it was next to impossible. An object grew closer. She squinted and realized it was Wax. He was standing over her.
“Where is she?” Her words slurred.
The sound of him breathing through the mask was its own type of nightmare.
“No.”No. Please no.Not when there were things she wanted to say to Caleb. She needed to tell him how much she loved him. How sorry she was that she’d let Wax win before.
Suddenly, she was floating—spindly arms holding her in their vice grip.
Then the familiar prick that sealed his control. As the drugs coursed through her body, she knew Wax was taking her to her final destination.
