Page 40 of Avenging Angel

“I do and I don’t. Daisy, Bennett isn’t here to help us in the way you want. He had pictures of forty girls, far more than what we knew of. I’m sure it didn’t escape your notice that your picture was among them. It surely didn’t escape mine.”

“It did, but it would make sense because I was abducted.”

“But why have the picture if you’re supposed to be dead? While you were busy looking at the photos Bennett was placing in front of you, I was looking at Bennett. He was watching you for a reaction when he slid yours across the table. You gave him one when your breath hitched. I believe he suspects that you and Sadie are related in some way, but he’s not sure how yet. He may even suspect you are Sadie. I might be wrong, but I don’t think I am.”

“That doesn’t explain why you put a tracker on him.”

We come to a cavern where several tunnels branch out. Angel shines his headlamp on the walls and then looks just past me so the light doesn’t blind me. “I guess I wanted to see where he goes and if he was telling the truth about having to go to Langley. For a split second, the thought crossed my mind that he works for Dominion.”

It hadn’t crossed mine until he just said that. “Well, he went to Langley like he said. The last known position you had for him was in a parking lot at CIA headquarters.”

Angel nods. “Yeah, but I don’t know if that’s better or worse.”

His face suddenly goes pale when his light shines toward the spot where the wall meets the ground. I turn around and see wires running along the edges. It’s only then that we notice a faint red glow coming from one of the tunnels on the opposite side.

Angel tells me to stay put while he goes to check it out. I wait for a full minute until his light bobs up and down as he sprints toward me.

“Countdown timer! It’s a trap!”

He tackles me and covers my head as five explosions detonate in sequence. The ground shakes and rumbles beneath us while rocks rain down from the ceiling and pepper us with debris.

It’s more than a trap. It’s a death sentence.

Chapter sixteen

Angel

It takes a moment for me to register my surroundings: a darkened cave with only Daisy’s headlamp focused on a pile of rocks, me with my back against a wall, my pack at my feet, and an ache in my head that only eight aspirin can help. Anything less would be a tease.

Reaching up to touch the tender spot, I feel a bandage rather than anything wet or sticky. “What happened? What are you doing?”

Daisy turns around quickly, surprise registering on her face. “You’re awake!”

“How long was I out?” I wince when my fingers touch the back of my head and find a knot the size of a walnut.

She walks over and kneels beside me, her light blinding me for a moment while she inspects the dressing. “I can’t say for certain because the battery in my phone crapped out hours ago, but my best guess is around thirty-six hours. If it weren’t for the steady rise and fall of your chest, I would have thought you were dead.”

Lowering her voice, she adds, “I’ve never been so scared in my life.”

“Being trapped is scary, but we’ll be rescued.”

Her hand finds mine, the light moving across my chest from side to side as she shakes her head. “Not of being trapped, Angel. I was scared of losing you. I know that I said friendship is all we can have for now, but the mere thought of not having the chance for something more than that terrified me.”

For Daisy to say that losing me was scarier than her time in the wilderness, my sister being kidnapped six months ago, and the possibility that she’ll never catch the man who abducted her speaks volumes. As loud as the proclamation is, I still need clarity. “What are you saying, Daisy?”

She dims her headlamp to the lowest setting, allowing the world around us to darken until it’s just the two of us in a bubble. Her hand finds my cheek as her eyes find mine. “I’m saying that time is a fickle beast, and we aren’t promised tomorrow. I’m saying that I’d like to be more than friends, if you’re still interested in going down that road with me. It’ll be a rocky one, I’m sure, but….”

“One worth traveling. The best views always come after traversing the toughest trails.”

Daisy brushes her lips against mine, so softly I can barely feel them. It’s a step in the right direction, but what I really want to do is set her in my lap and kiss her like it might be our last while praying at the same time that it won’t be. Instead, she lifts my arm and cradles herself in the crook. I’ll take it, because holding Daisy is almost as wonderful as kissing her. It’s a very close second.

“Are you going to tell me what you were doing when I woke up? The last thing I remember is seeing a timer and running toward you.”

Brightening her headlamp, she scans the room. At each entrance is a pile of rocks blocking our exit. “The explosions were rigged in every tunnel. The piles of stone and earth are deep enough that if someone is on the other side, I can’t hear them. You caught me trying to clear away the rubble so we don’t die in here.”

I’m not a mathematician by any means, but looking around and seeing that we’re in a relatively airtight space, I conclude that our situation is dire. The cavern is large enough that oxygen won’t be the problem. It’s the CO2 buildup from our breathing that will be our downfall. With nowhere for it to go, we’ll become hypoxic and suffer symptoms like cyanosis, disorientation, fatigue, and a laundry list of other side effects. In that condition, it could lead to death if help doesn’t arrive in time. That’s what happened with the three hikers when the earthquake hit and they were trapped on both sides.

“I should help you. Even though Vinny, Scott, and Owen know where we’re at, it could be another day or two, possibly even three, before they get to us.”