Chapter 10
Ten
MAYA STUMBLED UP the hill, guided by the woman pressing the gun into her back. “Where are we going?”
“Just walk.”
She’d been walking.
First out of the cabin with a very healthy Ellie Harland and then into the tree line where they were hidden from any prying eyes.
Self-defense moves came to mind, but the woman’s finger had been on the trigger the last time Maya had been able to see the weapon.
Doing something to cause her finger to twitch didn’t seem like a smart idea.
So she played along while doing her best to keep her heart rate under control and her panic from flaring.
She’d survived a combat zone. She’d survived losing her best friend. She’d figure out how to survive this. Please, God, don’t let her kill me. And thank you that it’s not snowing.
She rubbed her bare neck and could only pray someone found the necklace and came looking for her.
The resort was big, but there weren’t that many hiding places.
Places where someone could commit murder without screams being heard.
And she planned to scream should it come down to it.
Gideon should have noticed she was gone by now and would be looking for her.
He’d find Vance and demand to know where she was.
“How does Vance fit into all of this?” Maya asked. “He was so convincing and worried about you. Does he know what you’re doing?”
“Of course he knows. We’re in this together. He was supposed to grab you the first day we were here but wimped out and had a stupid episode over some stupid limbs falling.” The disgust for her husband rang loud and clear. “He’s such a loser.”
“Then why stay with him?”
“Because he has money. And with your help, he’s going to have more.”
“I don’t understand. If you’re going to kill me, could I please know why?”
The gun dug into her right kidney and Maya winced. “Follow that little path to your right.”
Maya did so. “Where—”
“Shut up and just keep walking. You want to know why you have to die? Because Vance comes from a long line of idiots. Men who’d rather gamble their savings and land away rather than take care of their families.
Thankfully, his grandmother knew this about her husband and worked around his gambling and wicked ways after he lost the land.
She rebuilt their fortune through investments and wise business practices, never letting on she had done so.
But she left that money to Vance’s mother with a note about how your grandfather took advantage of Vance’s grandfather in the poker game. ”
The light was beginning to come on. “My grandparents’ land, the land my grandfather left to me, used to belong to Vance’s grandfather.”
“It did. And as soon as you write your note of regret, how you learned the land belonged to Vance’s grandfather before your thieving grandfather cheated him out of it in the poker game and you have to do the right thing in turning the land back over to Vance . . . Do that, then all will be well.”
All would be well for whom? Not Maya, that was for sure. “Even if that would stand up in court,” she said, “my grandmother is still alive. She’ll never believe that. She and I have had too many conversations about that land and what my grandfather wanted for it.”
“I know. Too bad she’ll soon die of a broken heart after hearing of your demise at the resort. She’ll never know about the letter or that you signed the bill of sale over to Vance.”
Chills and panic skittered up Maya’s spine. No. This couldn’t be happening. “Ellie, my grandfather went to Vance’s grandfather—what was his name? Charlie?”
“Yes.”
“My grandfather paid Charlie for the land.”
“No, he didn’t.”
“Yes, he really did. I have the receipts, the deed, everything. My grandfather felt horrible about the way he got the land and did his best to make it right.”
The woman fell silent. “I don’t believe you. Vance told me everything his grandmother told him. Lying won’t get you out of this.”
“His grandmother was the one lying if she said any different.”
“Shut up and stop here.”
Maya stopped. “Why have we stopped? Where are we?”
“This wasn’t the original plan, but it will have to do for the moment. This is a place for you to hang out and sign the bill of sale I’ve had drafted.”
The gun shoved against her back and Maya stumbled forward. Caught her balance just before she fell into a hole in the ground. She turned. “Ellie—”
“Go down. Now. Walk and remain unhurt or I’ll shove you. Your choice.”
Maya started down the stone steps backward, keeping her eyes on Ellie. She wouldn’t let the woman shoot her in the back. Then again, Ellie still needed her alive. Her right foot slipped midway down, and she landed hard with a pained cry, then rolled to the bottom with a hard thud.
The air left her lungs, and she lay still while she struggled to catch a breath. Finally, she dragged in a ragged one. Now . . . what hurt?
She moved and her knee ached, but after another moment she decided it was just bruised, not broken.
And the shoulder she’d injured with her jump from the snowmobile probably had another bruise or two added to it.
Other than that, she seemed to be in one piece.
She looked up to see Ellie’s emotionless face staring down at her from six feet up.
Maya stayed put since the woman still aimed the weapon at her.
“Think about your situation,” Ellie said. “I have to get back to the cabin before someone realizes I’m missing. I’m sure Gideon has raised the alarm about your disappearance by now. No doubt he’ll be knocking on my door asking if you’ve been by.”
“I left a note telling him I was going with Vance to check on you.”
A rustling sound reached her and then Ellie held up a piece of paper. “This note? Yeah, we don’t need any connection between your disappearance and Vance or me.”
So Vance had grabbed it on his way out. But when had he gotten it to Ellie? There’d been no time—
Unless he was up there now and had followed them from the cabin.
“Vance? Are you up there? Vance! You can’t be okay with this!”
“Shut up,” Ellie snapped.
Maya wanted to bang her head on the ground and wail out her frustration. Instead, she said, “I don’t understand. If you need me alive, why try to kill me?”
Ellie’s frown deepened. “What are you talking about?”
“By sabotaging my snowmobile and trying to push me into the firepit, for starters.”
“I never did that. Vance was just supposed to grab you and bring you here.”
“But—”
“But nothing. I’ve got to go.” She tossed the paper down.
It fluttered to settle at Maya’s feet. She set a flashlight on the top step and started to close the hole covering and paused.
“Here’s one last thought for you. If you refuse to do as I ask, I’ll kill Gideon.
Do it, and he’ll be fine. I won’t touch him. ”
The door shut and Maya was surrounded by blackness.
She stayed completely still while a bone-deep chill crept through her.
A cold not just from the weather but from the betrayal—and fear.
Thankful she’d grabbed her winter gear before venturing out on what was supposed to be a mission of care for a friend, she tamped down the desire to have a full-blown panic attack and continued to focus her thoughts on escape.
That meant moving, and now that the adrenaline was ebbing, aches and pains were popping up all over her poor body.
But standing there looking up at a door that wasn’t going to open anytime soon wasn’t going to get the job done.
“Okay,” she whispered to the darkness, “think. Think. You’re in a hole underneath the ground.
But there are tunnels around here, remember?
So . . . no need to lose it just yet. Time to explore.
You’re going to find a way out. You have to.
And there’s a flashlight on the top step. Get it and you’ll be fine.”
A breeze whipped around her and she shivered. Then froze. If there was a breeze, there was an opening. Right?
Right.
She pulled in a ragged breath and said a short prayer for help. Then decided to keep praying while she looked for a way out. Or rather felt her way up the steps to retrieve the light.
Because it was dark in here.
The least the woman could have done was turn the thing on.
The darkness was going to suffocate her. Steal the breath right from her lungs.
“Don’t panic,” she said aloud. “No need to panic. These tunnels have been here for years. They’ll be here for a long time. They have to go somewhere.” She closed her eyes and pulled in another breath. Tried to take a step and couldn’t make her legs move.
Terror held her captive. Her lungs squeezed. Even knowing there was light not too far away couldn’t compel her to move.
Please, God, help me keep it together. And help me find a way out. I don’t want my life to end like this. I have too much to do. Too many people to help. And I think I love Gideon. I think I always have. Give me the opportunity to get past my fears and tell him how I feel.
Somehow that now morphed into the motivation to conquer her fear of being trapped in a cold, dark place.
She had to escape and get to Gideon so she could tell him she loved him.
With her hand on the wall to guide her, Maya took a step.
Then another. It would be slow going, but at least she was moving.
She found the steps she’d fallen down and climbed one at a time.
And finally, her fingers wrapped around the flashlight.
She pushed the button and the beam lit up the area.
There was a pen on the top step. She grabbed it and stuck it in her coat pocket.
Then used the flashlight to guide herself back down, where she grabbed the paper and pushed it into her pocket.
She’d need it for evidence for when she got out.