Page 83 of Deadly Charade

Kira held her breath and prayed.

A pop sounded, then a creak.

And then a rumble.

The wall between the two lanterns rolled to the right like a sliding glass door to reveal a tunnel. She looked at Bryce. Her eyes had to be as wide as his. Several people called Fenton eccentric. And this proved it.

“The Collector upgraded his game over the years. That was pretty high tech.” Kira peered through the opening but saw only darkness. Should they enter or insist on the release of hostages first? Did she and Bryce have any bargaining power?

And did the FBI know where they were?

Victor took charge. “I’m going in and taking Kira and Sophia. You men won’t do anything to jeopardize the lives of the women you love.”

Love?

Although Kira had met Bryce mere days ago, she could see herself falling for him. If she hadn’t already. But did he feel the same? She could only pray she lived to find out.

“No.” Bryce stood and faced the man. “Take me.”

Victor raised his gun and fired. Someone screamed. Bryce grabbed his shoulder. Blood seeped through his fingers. Kira clamped a hand over her mouth.

No. No. No. Please, Lord, don’t let Bryce die. Not when we just found each other.

She raced toward Bryce, but an arm caught her and dragged her to the tunnel. Victor shoved her through the opening. She stumbled and fell to the ground, landing on her hip. Pain flared.

Using his flashlight, Victor found a button on the inside wall. He pressed it and lights illuminated a pathway. Then, at Victor’s nod, a gunman handed Sophia off to him, and he pulled her into the passageway as Kira rose to her feet. He pressed another button, and the wall started to slide back into place.

“No!” Kira attempted to race through the closing entryway. Victor shoved Sophia toward her. Sophia fell, blocking her way, and the wall closed with a thud, trapping the three of them on one side.

“Get up,” Victor said to Sophia, who sat on the ground sobbing.

Kira wanted to join her on the floor and cry. Instead, she stuffed her feelings into a mental compartment and forced herself to focus on staying alive. And helping Sophia do the same.

She pulled the sniffling woman to her feet. “Stop crying,” Kira said, keeping her voice soft. “It won’t help get us out of this.” If Victor heard her, he didn’t bother responding. The place had lights embedded into the wall on one side that gave them just enough light to see. A tunnel, carved into the mountain, lay straight ahead of them. Kira pulled out the mini Maglite and shone its powerful beam around the area. At least Victor had let her keep it. Too bad it wasn’t big enough to make an effective weapon.

Sophia whimpered, and Kira found her heart had softened a bit toward the woman. Someone had kidnapped her son. The Society had blackmailed them into doing their dirty work. While Alex may have been involved in the smuggling ring, no one deserved to have their child stolen in the middle of the night.

“Move,” Victor yelled from behind them. He hung back, planning to let them take the brunt of any booby traps.

Kira and Sophia pushed forward through the stone corridor. The eccentric Young family had taken it upon themselves to preserve art from war, but they hadn’t made it easy for anyone to find.

“I’m so sorry.” Sophia sniffled. “They made me be a distraction to your husband. They planned on taking pictures of him and me and blackmailing him. Before they knew who he really was. But I guess he’s not really your husband.”

The words stung, but Kira had no idea why. She and Bryce weren’t married—that was true. But the last reaction she expected to that statement was sadness. She shook it off. “I’m sorry they took your son. I’ll do my best to help bring him back. I have resources.” She checked over her shoulder. Victor was shining his flashlight along the walls.

“Look out!” Sophia pulled Kira to an abrupt halt.

Kira stared down and gasped. One more step and she would have fallen into a black hole. She shuddered and swallowed a surge of nausea. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Victor waved his light around a cavern. The light never reached the top or the bottom.

The tunnel ended. Below them was inky blackness.

She pulled a bottle of hand sanitizer from her pocket and tossed it into the hole, waiting for a splash or thunk when it hit the bottom. But all she heard was her own ragged breaths. More nausea churned. The cavern was deep. Even with her flashlight and the ambient lighting from the cave’s wind-powered lights, the only thing she could see was darkness. No shapes or shadows.

Just emptiness.

A splash of water hit her face and she wiped her brow and listened. The faint sound of water reached her from . . . somewhere. But she couldn’t see the source.