Page 103 of A Touch of Treachery
I didn’t actuallyseeanything, but my synesthesia kept screaming out a warning.My magic had only acted up when Joan had moved forward, so I crouched down and studied the ground in front of her.A bright red glare filled my eyes, centered on a small pile of dirt about two feet in front of Joan’s right boot.
I pointed it out.“See how the dirt is loose instead of hard-packed like the rest of the ground?I’m betting there’s a pressure plate or some other explosive hidden there.”
Joan hissed out a breath and eased away from it.“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.Let me go first, and stepexactlywhere I step.Bryce and his men probably left more booby traps behind.”
I carefully maneuvered around the pile of dirt.Joan followed me, with Gabriel bringing up the rear.I was right, and we passed two more similar dirt bombs set about twenty-five feet apart from each other.
Shortly after that, the ground morphed from the natural stone and dirt of the old mining tunnel into smooth dark gray concrete.We walked ten feet, twenty, thirty, fifty, a hundred ...
“How long is this tunnel?”Gabriel groused.
“At least a mile,” I replied.“That would match the distance from this mountain and shoreline across the lake to the resort.”
“So Henrika’s labison the resort grounds,” Joan murmured.“We just couldn’t find it because it’s so deep underground.”
The farther we walked, the more doubt and dread crept into my heart.What if Henrika hadn’t come here?What if she had already gotten the information she wanted from Desmond?What if she had already killed him?
No.I banished that thought from my mind.I wouldnotconsider that possibility.
Desmond was a trained spy and a strong paramortal.He could hold out—and hold his tongue—for a long, long time, especially about his own secrets.All I had to do was find him, and then we could escape from this place together, just like we had escaped from Tannenbaum Castle a few weeks ago.
The tunnel curved to the right again, and we rounded a corner and stopped.We’d come to a junction, and the tunnel branched off in three different directions.
“Eeny-meeny-miny-moe,” Gabriel muttered.“Any idea which way we should go, Char?”
I pulled out the map of the old mine again, but I couldn’t correlate the three tunnels with anything on the image.This must be a new section Henrika had constructed.I glanced into each of the three tunnels, but they all looked the same—long corridors with metal doors set into the walls.
“No clue,” I replied, sliding the map back into my pocket.“We’re going to have to split up.”
Gabriel opened his mouth to protest, but Joan shook her head.“Charlotte’s right.If we all go down the same tunnel and choose the wrong one, we’ll have to backtrack, and Desmond could be dead by the time we find him.”
Gabriel shut his mouth.A grim look flickered across his face, and he nodded.
“We don’t know how many men Henrika might have down here,” I said.“If you run into any guards, let everyone know via comms, then fall back here, retreat up the old mine tunnel steps, and get back to the surface.”
Joan nodded.Gabriel stared at me a moment before he also nodded.
“See you on the far side.”He raised his gun to his forehead and snapped off a salute before stepping into the left tunnel.
“Good luck,” Joan said, then moved toward the right tunnel.
“We’re all going to need it,” I replied.
I squared my shoulders, raised my gun, and entered the center tunnel.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
DESMOND
Iscreamedforalong, long time.
Everything else dropped away.The tight plastic bands around my wrists and ankles.The hard chair cushion against the back of my body.Even Henrika intently studying my reactions while Bryce grinned with glee at my suffering.
All I was aware of was the Redburn poison burning through my veins, scorching every single part of me.Head, fingers, chest, toes.I half expected them all to erupt with actual flames, and yet that wouldn’t have been as painful as the unending agony pumping through my body with every frantic, fluttering beat of my heart.
No flames appeared, but my skin grew redder and redder, as though I’d developed a sudden severe sunburn.My hands and fingers took on a bright sheen, and my skin grew tight, as though it was a too-small suit stitched onto my body.The tightness intensified, along with the redness, until blisters erupted on my skin.The blisters grew larger and larger, even as the neon-red burns spread across my body, eating through one layer of flesh after another.
