Page 183 of Her Reluctant Hero
Chapter Nineteen
Adrian couldn’t hear her, not the splash of the water against the rocks, not the sound of her breathing, amplified in this space. His mind whipped through all the possible scenarios—she’d gotten stuck in a tunnel and drowned, she’d hit her head and drowned, she’d dropped from exhaustion and drowned.
All would be his fault. Smoller wouldn’t have killed her. He was fairly certain his former partner had a soft spot for her, so Adrian dragging her along on this escape hadn’t saved her—it had put her in danger.
He rolled so his feet were in the water, keeping his arm pinned to his side. It had stiffened up in the cold and the wet, but he could feel the blood flowing from it again, trickling down his arm.
How deep was the water here? He couldn’t swim in this tight space, not with one arm. But he could hold onto the wall and go after her. He should be able to find his way back if he needed to. He hoped he didn’t need to, not if she’d found a way out.
Linda crouched at the opening of the cavern, backlit. Mallory rose from the water and stumbled toward the girl, shedding her dive gear, numb with shock. Linda was alive! Mallory had seen her shot, watched for her body. After the swim that she and Adrian had made, she knew no one with a gunshot wound could have made it so far alone, not without a tank.
But just when she was about to fling her arms about Linda, her eyes adjusted to the light and she saw the gun in Linda’s hand, pointed at Mallory. She stopped abruptly. What was Linda thinking?
“Linda, it’s me!” Did the girl not recognize her? “I’m so glad you made it—I thought you were dead. God, how did you know where to find me?”
Confusion furrowed the girl’s face, shadowed by the swirling clouds overhead. Surely she didn’t expect such a reaction while she was holding a gun on Mallory. But Mallory couldn’t think of how else to react. She was no Lara Croft. Still, Linda lowered the gun just a fraction.
“We’ve been combing the area for you,” Linda said. “When you weren’t at the beach, we started looking at the sinkholes.”
So had they found Toney and Jacob? As much as she wanted to know, Mallory couldn’t alert the girl to the possibility they were around. Mallory pressed on as the wind kicked up around her, moving closer, keeping the girl off balance, keeping herself between Linda and the opening of the cave in case Adrian managed to follow her. He would freak if he saw the gun and do something foolish.
Or maybe he’d be as perplexed as she was.
“How could you make that swim after you’d been shot?” Mallory held her hands toward the girl as if prepared to examine her. Her wet hair slapped her face in the strong wind, but she dared not take her eyes from Linda and the gun to check the storm’s approach. She wished she’d taken more time to get to know the girl. She could use some inside information now to appeal to her. “How have you managed to get around? We need to get you to a doctor.”
Linda snapped her gun up, aiming at Mallory’s chest. “You idiot,” Linda growled. “I was never shot. It was a trick to get you to do what you were told. It didn’t work for long, I see.”
“You were working with Valentine? All this time?” Mallory knew there had to be a purpose behind the sabotage of Adrian’s mouthpieces, but she hadn’t suspected this. Adrian had been vulnerable for months—he couldn’t have had a clue. Valentine hadn’t taken any chances with Dr. Vigil betraying him. He’d inserted his own spy in Adrian’s camp, and Adrian, so unlikely to trust, had fallen for it. Of course, Valentine would know just what qualifications Adrian was looking for. “The day Adrian was bitten—had you been down? Did you put the amphora there?” She’d always wondered how the eel had found his new home so quickly.
Linda lifted a shoulder. “I merely moved it from one place to another. If you look at the amphora, it’s not even real. I set it out until I had what I needed, put a lid on it and placed it at the site.”
“Why?” Mallory had trouble even forming that word, so great was her shock.
“I had to get Adrian out of camp.”
“And if the eel had bitten someone else?”
“He still would have left the camp. Especially if he’d had to take you to the doctor.”
“What is so important about this site that you’d risk killing someone to help Smoller?”
“He needs the casket.”
Mallory shook her head. All this for a simple artifact. “Why? What does he plan to do with it?”
Linda lifted a casual shoulder, but her eyes were still sharply trained on Mallory. “His plans are his plans, but they’re important. Because they’re important to him, they’re important to me.”
“Why? Linda, you have to see what Valentine is.” Mallory wiped strands of wet hair from her chilled face. Lightning illuminated the sky and every molecule in Mallory urged her to get off this hill. She looked past Linda to the Land Cruiser parked crookedly on the uneven ground, one of theirs. “You have to help me get away.”
Linda lifted the gun toward Mallory’s throat. “I’m afraid I’m not going to do that. It’s taken a long time to gain my father’s approval. I’m not going to blow it now.”
“Your father.” Horrible realization washed through Mallory and she staggered, her bare foot sliding on the rock. “Valentine is your father.” She could see it now, in the shape of Linda’s eyes, her mouth. So she was Robert’s granddaughter. Questions tumbled through her mind at the revelation. But her first concern was her husband. “You set Adrian up.”
Linda lifted her eyebrows. “He made it very easy.”
“He trusted you,” Mallory said through her teeth.
“He shouldn’t have.” Linda looked past her to the clouds above. “Is he with you?”
