Page 68 of Dangerous Secrets
The tunnel flooded withlight.Jerod Fetterly, his shadow looming monstrously large on thewall, held the lantern in one hand, dragging the pickax with theother.Walker pushed her behind him.“I’m taking him down.When Ishoot,run.”
Fetterly held up the lantern.“FuckingWalker McGrath.”Gone was the taunting, sing-song quality to hisvoice.It sounded rough and ended on a gurgling cough.“Gonna killyou.I’ll use the pickax on her.But you—” he coughed,“first.”
He raised the lantern higher.Thefront of his shirt was soaked, blood dripping from his beard.Hedropped the pickax and reached for his hip where his gun washolstered.Walker flung himself across the tunnel and Delaneyrealized he was trying to draw Fetterly’s attention away fromher.
Following his movement, Fetterly swungaround, tottered, and lost his grip on the lantern.Glass shatteredand the mine plunged into darkness.
Rapid gunfire, blast after deafeningblast, reverberated through the tunnel and Delaney hit the ground,lying flat until the shooting stopped.The muzzle flash told hersome of the shots had come from Fetterly.
She needed to distract him, draw hisfire so Walker could take him out.She took three quick steps toset the flashlight on the ground in the middle of the tunnel,pressed the button to shine the beam toward Fetterly, then dartedback.
Her plan worked.
More shots echoed, bullets thuddinginto the dirt floor near the flashlight.She felt like she waspunched near her hip, but she couldn’t take the time tocheck.
Fetterly seemed to realize the beamdirected at him put him at a disadvantage and moved away from thelight.
Too late.Shots from Walker’s gunsounded like cannon fire.Another gun blast, then a loud grunt wasfollowed by sounds of a scuffle and flesh hitting flesh outside thecircle of light.
Then silence.
Not daring to move, scared Walker waswounded, she held her breath, heart racing, through the longestminute of her life.
“Laney, shine the lightover here.”Her breath released in a whoosh.Walker’s voice soundedstrained, but he was alive
She picked up the flashlight, the beamrevealing Fetterly face down in dirt darkening as it absorbed hisblood.He was squirming, but with Walker’s knee in his back, he hadno place to go.Walker reached into a pocket and pulled outhandcuffs, cinched them around Fetterly’s wrists, then scooped uphis gun.Walker dropped the magazine out of the grip of Fetterly’spistol and pulled back the slide, ejecting another round.Thebullets went in one pocket, the gun in another.He patted downFetterly, taking a folded knife from a cargo pocket.
Only then did Walker rise slowly tohis feet.“You were supposed to run.”
“I wasn’t leaving withoutyou.”
She couldn’t read the expressioncrossing Walker’s face as the cave seemed to get darker.
“Laney.”
His voice was the last thing she heardbefore everything went black.
***
Walker surged forward and caught Laneyat the same time the tunnel filled with light.A dozen people weresuddenly swarming around them.Search and Rescue, sheriff’sdeputies, Sawyer included, EMTs.The cavalry had come.ClutchingLaney close to his chest, Walker felt warmth spreading over hishand.Panic surged when he realized the warmth was blood.“She’sbleeding, she must have caught a bullet or ricochet.”
Several members of the group convergedaround them.
“We got her.”
“Walker, you can let hergo now.They’ll take care of her.”Sawyer was at his elbow, andonly then did he realize he wasn’t letting the EMTs take Laney fromhim.Loosening his hold felt like the hardest thing he’d everdone.
They laid her on a stretcher andSawyer gripped his arm, pulling him back.“Stand back, man, letthem do their job.”
“She’s been shot.”He feltpunchy, like his brain was functioning in slow motion.
“That’s why you need togive them room to work.”
One of the EMTs pulled up Delaney’sshirt to reveal a wound to her right side above her hip.So muchblood.How could anyone lose that much blood and still bealive?
Sawyer pushed him farther back.“Youneed medical attention too.”
An EMT who introduced herself asJoleen and her partner as Kurt moved him away from the team workingon Delaney and began poking at him.
