Page 117 of Doyle

Doyle read it on his expression. “It’s not armed, is it?”

North got up, his eyes on the screen, his mouth a grim line. “It says it’s been disarmed for twelve hours.”

“Is there a video feed?”

North clearly had already opened it, because he was thumbing through it, his gaze on his phone.

He groaned and shook his head, looked away.

And Doyle knew it—he justknewit?—

“Looks like Tia left around six this morning.”

“What?”

“And she wasn’t alone.” He held up the video. “You know this guy?”

Doyle went hollow, his hand braced on the table as he took North’s phone, watching Tia as she walked through the gate, a man holding her arm. He paused the video. Turned it to North.

It took a long second for him to find his voice, to pry it free from the terrible knot in his chest. “That look like a gun to you?”

North leaned in. Took the phone. “Who is he?”

“His name is Keon. Used to work for us. Now works for Sebold Grimes. Local pirate. And I’ll bet he found out that we have his gold.”

North frowned, pocketed the phone. “Gold?”

Doyle stood up. “If my gut is right, we’re in for big trouble.”

* * *

Emberly had turned the headlamp onto the lowest setting to save battery, but even with that, the light had dimmed to nearly nothing. A dent against the darkness.

Stein walked behind her, footfalls, a breath, his presence enough to keep her from spiraling out into panic.

Breathe.

Maybe this hadn’t been such a brilliant idea. But Emberly refused to say that, despite the hours and hours of swimming and now hiking through the bowels of the mountain.

Wetness seeped from the walls, and she didn’t want to imagine what kind of crawlies might be embedding into her grimy skin.

“Your GPS still working?”

“It’s not getting a signal if that’s what you mean, but it has been keeping track of our movements.” She pressed the button on the side of her wrist unit, and the tiny map illuminated the darkness.

Stein stepped up to her, looked over her shoulder, his body against hers.

Weird how just having him around felt...

Safe. Like if she were to fall, he might catch her.

“You still don’t trust me.”

“I never should have.”

That had been a spear to her soul. But frankly, he was a smart man. She had a mission to finish.

“According to your map, it seems like we’re under the western edge of the mountain.” He reached out and grabbed her arm. “This looks like a large opening—” He pointed to a circular depression at the end of a tunnel that angled north. “Maybe that’s a way out.”

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