Chapter 12
Twelve
IN SPITE OF HER WORDS of reassurance to Gideon, if she didn’t get out of the dark tunnel, she was going to start screaming.
The only thing holding her together was her grip on Gideon’s belt—and wondering what Vance meant about not wanting the ranch.
She followed him around a sharp curve and gasped at the faint light shining from above. “It’s a cavern.”
“Correction. It’s a ventilation shaft,” he said. “About three hundred feet to the top.” Almost the length of a football field.
“Which means up is out.” The light above was very faint, but it was there, and it spilled down to them so they could at least see each other’s outline and a little bit of their surroundings.
“We need more light,” he said. “I want a good look around us.”
“Try turning your phone on again. Sometimes you can get it back on for a few seconds after it shuts off.”
He tried and it powered up. He pressed the flashlight icon and quickly shone the light around.
Maya spied a rusted ladder bolted to the wall. It looked ancient, its rungs corroded and bent, but still . . . “That’s our way out,” she said.
Gideon powered down the phone once more just in case he needed to save what little juice was left. He grabbed two rungs of the ladder and pulled. It groaned but stayed attached.
Maya moved close enough to be able to see him. “Will it hold you? Us?”
“Yeah, I think so.” He tested each rung he could reach and one broke off in his hand. “I suppose I should be glad it’s only one.”
“Only one of those you can reach,” she said.
“True.” He paused and listened. “Do you hear anything?”
She stilled. “No.”
“That worries me.”
“Let’s just get out of here.”
A flashlight beam bounced on the far wall. “He’s in the tunnel and coming this way,” Gideon said, his voice low, hushed. “How’s your shoulder?”
“Sore, but nothing that will keep me from climbing. How’s your back?”
“Same. Okay then, it’s time to go. Normally, I’d say you go first, but I want to make sure the rungs are safe.
I believe it will hold both our weights, but we’re going to be strategic about this.
I’m going to climb more to the left and you stay over to the right.
That way if something falls, it won’t hit you. ”
“Fine. Got it. Climb.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He gripped the first one and started climbing. Maya waited a moment, then followed, staying to the right as he’d asked. It was more awkward this way, but it was better than having a rusting steel bar land on her head.
Footsteps thudded below her, drawing closer.
The ladder shuddered and Maya clung tightly. The higher they climbed the lighter it grew. But the ladder shook and the top left-hand bar pulled from the wall. She gasped and lost her grip with one hand—the one attached to the arm with the sore shoulder.
“Maya, hold on tight.”
“I am. What about you? I know this has to hurt your back.”
“I’m fine. How’s your shoulder?”
Not necessarily fine, but she’d manage. “It’s okay. Keep going.”
He moved up three more steps, grabbed the next rung, and it came off in his hand.
His feet slipped and Maya gasped. “Gideon!”
His right foot found the nearest rung and Maya could breathe again.
“I’ve got it,” he said. “Just be careful.”
Gideon continued his climb, and Maya stayed right behind him while Vance’s footsteps grew closer.
They were about halfway to the top when the first shot rang out, the bullet striking the wall near Maya’s foot.
Rust and concrete fragments showered down, the metallic tang of corroded steel mixing with the damp, musty air of the shaft. She jerked, nearly losing her grip.
“Vance! Stop! You don’t want to do this!”
“Come back down and I’ll stop shooting!”
Once a liar, always a liar. Maya didn’t believe that for one second. “You just told me you wanted me dead!”
“I don’t want the land, but Ellie won’t listen to reason.”
“So, I’m supposed to die?”
“Don’t look down,” Gideon said. “Keep going.” The shaft walls glistened with condensation, decades of moisture having eaten away at both concrete and metal. Each breath came out in visible puffs in the frigid air. Now that she could see, she almost didn’t want to.
The next rung he tested broke free with a metallic snap that echoed through the shaft. “Give me that,” Maya said. “Hurry.”
He passed it to her, and she turned, looked down to see Vance taking aim again.
She bit her lip, held on with her left hand, shoulder protesting, and threw the piece of metal at the man she’d once considered a friend.
He cursed and ducked. She climbed faster.
They were almost there. Her breaths came in frigid pants, and she kept expecting to feel the bite of a bullet in some part of her body.
“This is all her,” Vance shouted. “Everything! . . . Well, almost everything. Not the phones. That was me. All me. Cut off communications, straight from the manual, right? Improvise. Modify, and adjust. Outsmart the enemy.” He mumbled something about the snowmobile accident that she didn’t catch but figured he’d been behind the sabotage.
“That was supposed to land you dead or in the clinic. Easy access. She kills you and is arrested and I’m free!
” More mumbling about achieving his mission. Then an odd laugh.
“I’m not sure I understand that plan,” Maya said.
Gideon huffed and moved to the next rung. “Doesn’t make any sense to me. He’s sounding unhinged.”
The ladder groaned, the sound of metal scraping against concrete sending shivers down her spine.
Another shot echoed through the shaft, closer this time.
She glanced over her shoulder to see Vance climbing as well.
At least his aim was off with trying to climb and shoot at the same time.
She dug into the pocket of her coat and snagged the flashlight.
Curled her fingers around it and paused. Turned to see Vance aiming again.
She let the flashlight fly and it clipped his head. He screamed and fumbled with the weapon. She held her breath, praying the gun would fall to the floor, but he caught it.
“Almost there,” Gideon said. His hands reached the edge of the ventilation opening where winter sunlight filtered through, casting long shadows down the shaft.
Snow had drifted into the opening, creating patches of ice on the upper rungs.
He pulled himself up, stretched out a hand, and shoved at the wire covering.
Maya breathed a sigh of relief when it gave way with a loud protest. He looked down and his eyes flared a fraction before meeting her gaze.
“As soon as I’m out, reach up and I’ll pull you up. Hurry.”
She nodded and watched him disappear through the opening. Vance had stopped shooting, and she looked back one more time. He was climbing fast and gaining on them. His proximity explained Gideon’s look. She had to get out before Vance reached her or she was dead. She scrambled upward.
The ladder lurched with a screech of tearing metal, pulling away from the wall. Maya screamed as she fell backward, the shaft spinning around below her.
Vance’s cry reached her as well.
“Maya!” Gideon lunged, catching her wrist in a tight grip.
Pain raced up her arm, panic flowed, and she slammed back against the ladder. She waited for the drop, the terrifying freefall that would lead to her death at the bottom of the shaft, but the other side held as well as the bolts just below her. Thank you, God.
“I got you,” he said.
“Let go of my wrist. I need my hand.”
He released her, and she clamped her fist around the rung and moved upward once more. Vance’s flashlight beam found them, and she looked back to see him taking aim.
As soon as her hand clamped on the concrete side, Gideon locked a hand around her wrist again. She placed a foot on the wall and pushed upward. The momentum propelled her forward as Gideon pulled her through the opening.
The gun cracked once more, and the bullet whizzed past her ear just as Gideon hauled her out of the shaft. The distance from the top of the shaft to the snow-covered ground was only about three feet, but the hard landing stunned her for a brief moment.
“You okay?” Gideon asked.
She nodded and sucked in a lungful of crisp mountain air.
The cold had never felt so good. The shaft opening was located in a small clearing, encircled by trees. The sky was gray above them.
She had no idea which way led to safety, but they were out—and Vance was closing in. “He’s going to be coming out of there as long as the ladder holds him,” she said.
“I know,” Gideon whispered. “That’s why I’m going to stop him.”
“He’ll have the gun.” She kept her words soft as well.
“I know that too. Run for the trees and hide. I need you to leave your footprints running in that direction. Weave back and forth. Try to make it look like I’m with you.”
“You have a plan?”
“Yeah. As soon as he goes after you, I’ll go after him. But you’re going to give me the element of surprise.”
“Got it.” To their left through sparser trees, the main ski slope stretched down the mountain, dotted with late afternoon skiers living their best lives, unaware there was a killer in their midst. To Maya’s right were the dense trees that offered a hiding place. She took off toward the trees.
Gideon dropped to cozy up to the side of the concrete shaft. Maya made it to the tree line and ducked behind a large fir. Gideon had his eyes on the opening, looking up from his crouched position.
She peered through a gap in the branches and saw Vance’s head come into view.
He paused to look around, saw the footprints, and pushed himself out, his right hand clutching the weapon.
He dropped to the ground. Gideon popped out from his hiding place and swept a foot into Vance’s.
Vance hit the ground hard but brought the gun around to aim it at Gideon.
Gideon clamped a hand around the man’s wrist and held it so the weapon was aimed at the sky.
Then Gideon stumbled and the men went down together. Maya raced toward them.