Page 114 of Counter Attack

First rule in caving was always carry plenty of flashlights.

“I have two.”

He nodded and turned to Alex. “You ready?”

“Anytime.” At least her voice didn’t shake.

They flipped their headlamps on, and Nathan went in first. She followed, remembering the narrow passageway from yesterday. It was much better with light.

“You okay back there?” Nathan asked.

Mark answered in the affirmative first.

“Me too,” Alex said. But crawling was much harder with only one good hand than she thought it would be, and she should have put on knee pads. More than once, it took everything in Alex to keep from groaning, but she was afraid if she did, Nathan would send her back. Not that she wouldn’t almost welcome it. Even with the headlamp, the close passageway was claustrophobic.

Just when she didn’t think she could stand it another second, the tunnel opened up.

“I think we’re here,” Nathan said and rose to his feet. “Ow!”

“You okay?” Alexis asked as she practically fell into the cavern.

“Hit my head.” He turned toward Mark. “Be careful standing.”

Alex used one of the flashlights Nathan had given her to shine around the small chamber, and her breath caught. The light bounced off stalactites hanging from the ceiling in onecorner, and on the other side stalagmites rose up from a shelf above the cave floor. Under other circumstances, the room would be beautiful.

Next to the stalagmites, two passages that led out of the cavern were tall enough for them to stand upright and at least three feet wide—not nearly as claustrophobic as the way they came in. But the passages could lead deeper into the mountain instead of out.

“Oh, man,” Mark said, shining his light toward the far wall. “Looks like this is a shelf.”

He walked to the edge and traced it with his flashlight. “There’s a twenty-foot drop at least.”

“I know,” Nathan said. He turned to Alex. “We were in this cave years ago, and I remembered the drop-off.”

That’s why the cave felt familiar, and she hadn’t been wrong about the rocks splashing. Alex eased over to the edge, and her knees threatened to buckle. More than enough room for her to have rolled off into the water below.

Alex uncapped the bottle of water and guzzled it. Then she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Let’s see if my kidnapper left anything behind.”

60

Nathan turned away from the drop-off. Just thinking about what could’ve happened if she’d gone over the edge sent chills through him. “Don’t forget to put on your gloves.” He waved his nitrile gloves before shoving his hands into a pair.

While Alexis and Mark pulled on theirs, Nathan swept his light back and forth over the cave floor. Even if they found something, it could have nothing to do with Alexis’s kidnapping. Caving was a popular sport around Pearl Springs.

“Hey! What’s this?” Mark said.

Alexis and Nathan swung their lights toward where he was bent over and then pinpointed the item he examined on the cave floor.

“A scrunchie?” Alex said. Her hair had gotten in her face when she’d crawled out yesterday, and she peered closer. “I don’t have any like that.”

Nathan bagged the elastic band. “It doesn’t mean it belongs to your captor.”

“True,” Mark said. “The path to the cave is pretty well worn.”

Alexis kicked at a rock. “I’m going to keep looking.”

“Good idea.” Nathan swung his light around the shelf and craggy walls while Alexis and Mark examined the cave floor.

Half an hour later by his watch, he was about to give up on finding anything. He swept the light over the walls one last time.

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