Page 45 of Coordinates of Death

“Wait, Quinn!” Aurora gripped the phone tighter. “I gotta go. Tell me if you hear from Wheeler.”

“Will do. We’re heading back down the mountain,” Dirk replied.

“Meet you at the station.” She ended the call. “Nothing in the east cave. I’m calling Wheeler. They should have reached the west one by now.” She punched in the number and waited.

No answer. Not good. She dialed again.

Nothing.

Aurora ended the call. “Something’s not right. We should—”

“Wait, that doesn’t look good.” Kordell pointed.

A plume of smoke clawed its way to the sky, twisting with unrelenting anger at anything in its path.

Dread locked every muscle in Aurora’s body, stealing her breath. “Isn’t that where Wheeler’s team went?”

“Looks like it. Try him again.”

Before Aurora could key in the number, the sat phone rang. “Hunt here.”

“You broke the rules again,” the robotic voice said. “Your friends paid the price. Didn’t you think I’d take precautions? The caves are rigged, so don’t mess up again. Ticktock.” The call ended.

“No!” Aurora fell to her knees.

God, why didn’t You protect my team?

Did they all perish? She prayed they had escaped the explosion.

“Hunt, you need to see this,” Quinn yelled from the cave’s entrance.

Get it together, Rory. She rose and rushed over to Quinn, with Kordell at her side.

“This way.” Quinn motioned with his flashlight.

They followed, ducking to enter the low opening.

“There.” He shone the flashlight toward the back of the cave.

A woman lay propped against the damp wall, eyes open and staring at the ceiling.

They were too late. Aurora checked the stopwatch. “Wait, we still had an hour.” Had SBK jumped the gun because of her cheating here too?

Kordell frowned. “Rory, I know what you’re thinking, but this woman has been dead for hours.”

Which meant SBK had no intention of letting them win his game.

How could they if he kept changing the rules?

Chapter Eight

Kordell watched the coroner as he examined the woman’s body meticulously two hours later. Finally, Wheeler had contacted Aurora, reporting that someone had rigged their cave but he and his niece had escaped before it blew. However, Constable Murphy hadn’t been as fortunate. Wheeler said that the officer had succumbed to his wounds.

Right now, Aurora stood off to the side of the crime scene in a daze, biting her lip. Her fellow officer’s death had taken its toll, and Kordell guessed she was wrestling with guilt. He tried to offer comfort, but she had thanked him politely and stated she had to think.

Kordell returned his gaze to the crime scene, putting his brother Dawson’s profiler hat on.

Female, approximately sixty-five. Long grey hair. Wearing a short-sleeved pink top with jeans and fur-lined winter boots. Makeup painted heavily on her face like a doll, bright red lipstick. Her hands rested on her chest, eerily similar to those of a corpse in a coffin. Creepy.