Chapter 28 #2
Until I realized how narrow the tunnel leading up to the sunlight actually was.
Smaller than anything so far by a lot. Smaller than the hole my shoulders had just barely fit through. Maybe eighteen inches wide at most. I would have to lie down and drag myself through, the rock pressing against my chest, my back, every inch of my body crushed between stone.
Much smaller than the closet Coop had locked me in.
Smaller than the crumpled car where I’d spent four hours screaming.
No. I couldn’t do it. There was no way.
My feet stopped moving. My flashlight shook in my hands, the beam dancing across that impossible gap, that tantalizing glimpse of sunlight I couldn’t reach.
Behind me, Oliver’s industrial strength beam of light swept across the walls. His never-ending taunting was getting closer.
I couldn’t go forward. I couldn’t go back.
I was trapped.
I pressed myself against the tunnel wall, trying to breathe, failing. The darkness pulsed at the edges of my vision. My legs wouldn’t hold me. I slid down the rock until I was sitting in the dirt, the ruined dress pooling around me.
This was where I died. In the dark, alone, unable to save myself because my own mind had become a prison I couldn’t escape.
That’s not what’s going to happen, Kitten. You’re not dying. Not today.
Imagining Coop’s voice wasn’t going to save me now. This gap was too small, and Oliver was too close, and I was too broken. No amount of pretending Coop was with me would make my body squeeze through that tunnel.
Coop was probably dead anyway. Oliver had wanted a good hunt, so he’d given me a sick hope that Coop was alive. He probably had Coop’s body in the back of his vehicle and planned to do unspeakable things to me next to his corpse.
I was alone.
“I can’t.” The words scraped out of my throat, raw and broken. Pathetic. Talking to no one. “I can’t do it.”
“Mia! Yes, you can.”
I shook my head. The voice couldn’t help me now.
“Mia. I’m here.”
I slammed my hands over my ears. I didn’t want to hear his voice, not when I was going to disappoint it by giving up. “You’re not real.”
“I sure as hell am real, Kitten. And you better get your sweet ass out to me right damned now.”
I moved my hands from my ears. That hadn’t come from inside my head.
Oliver’s light was brighter now, bouncing off the walls of the tunnel. He’d be on me in a minute.
“You’re not real,” I said again. “You’ve been in my head this whole time, and none of it—”
“I am real. Ask me something.” His voice was low, urgent. “Something only I would know.”
My mind blanked. Oliver’s footsteps. Getting closer.
“The first time we kissed.” The voice through the gap was steady but strained, like he was fighting to keep it controlled. “You had powdered sugar on your lip from those beignets we got at that food kiosk. I licked it off. You said—”
“That I was going to sue the beignets for assault.”
Pike Place Market. Tourists everywhere. He’d pulled me into that kiss without warning, and I’d been so surprised I’d dropped my coffee. The memory crashed through me, stealing what little air I had left.
I’d never told anyone that story. Not a single soul.
“Coop?”
“Yes, Kitten, I’m here.” His voice cut through the stone, stripped of everything but need. “I need you to come to me now.”
“The gap.” I was shaking so hard my teeth chattered. “It’s too small. I can’t—”
“You can. You’ve survived things harder than this.”
Oliver’s light rounded the corner behind me. I heard his footsteps slow. Heard him stop. He couldn’t make it through that one hole into this cavern.
“Well,” Oliver said. “Here we are.”
“Now, Mia. Right now!” Coop yelled.
Oliver was saying something else—more taunts—but I ignored him. I kept my eyes on the gap, on the light at the end of that impossibly small tunnel, on the promise of Coop’s voice on the other side. I climbed farther into the crevice so Oliver couldn’t reach in and grab me. He couldn’t fit in this.
But I couldn’t make myself move into that tunnel.
“Come on, Kitten,” Coop said through the stone. “Thirty seconds of agony. Thirty seconds and you’re out.”
“How touching,” Oliver called. “The cavalry arrives. But you’re stuck, Mia. Caught between two men who can’t reach you. How apropos.”
The gap was too small for either of them. Only I could fit.
“Go ahead and go, Mia. But if you do, you’re going to die right there in that tiny tunnel. That feels right somewhere, doesn’t it? This will finish off what the accident started all those years ago.”
The stone seemed to close in more at Oliver’s words.
“That’s right. Go on into the tunnel and hyperventilate for me like a good girl. You’ll be trapped there. You won’t be able to move.”
“Mia, don’t listen to him,” Coop said.
“Or you can come out to me.” Oliver’s voice was low and almost soothing. “No impossible tunnels. No dying in agony. Hell, maybe you’ll even be able to get away from me. You never know. But you know what happens if you move forward in that tiny tunnel, don’t you? You die.”
“No, Kitten, you don’t die. You’re stronger than anyone knows, including you. You can do this. Think about me on the other side. Think about Garnet Bend. The life we’re going to have.”
Garnet Bend. Wide-open spaces and mountain air and room to breathe.
“Think about Al Pacacino and his ridiculous face.”
A sound escaped me—not quite a laugh, not quite a sob. That stupid alpaca with his stupid name. Coop grinning at me in the dark at the compound, making me laugh when the world was falling apart.
“Come on, my love,” Coop said. “Come to me. Come to us. I’m never leaving you again.”
Behind me, Oliver started forward. “This is pointless. We both know—”
I dropped my flashlight and dove for the tiny opening.
The rock hit me immediately—arms, shoulders, chest, back.
I’d gone in headfirst, arms stretched ahead of me, and the stone pressed down like a giant’s hand, squeezing the air from my lungs.
I couldn’t move. The walls were crushing me, I was trapped, I was going to die here in the dark just like in the car—
“Yes, Kitten. Keep coming. One inch at a time.”
I clawed at the rock ahead of me. Dragged myself forward. The stone scraped against my exposed flesh, tearing the dress, tearing skin. Every inch was agony.
“I can see you. You’re almost through. Keep moving, Mia.”
Behind me, I heard Oliver reach the gap. Heard him try to follow. Rock scraped against fabric, against flesh.
“Son of a—” Frustration cracked his composure. He couldn’t fit. Couldn’t get through.
“That’s it. Just a little more.”
But the passage narrowed again. The rock pressed against my back and chest. I couldn’t inhale. Couldn’t expand my ribs enough to take in air. My vision went gray at the edges, then started to narrow. I was stuck. I was going to die here, wedged in this gap, just like Oliver had said.
I clawed at the stone. Dragged myself forward another inch. My fingers found the edge of the opening, the place where stone gave way to nothing—
Hands grabbed mine. Strong and warm.
Coop pulled.
I slid through the last few inches of the gap, skin tearing, ribs screaming, and then I was falling forward into open air, into arms that caught me and cradled me against a chest I’d thought I might never feel again.
“I’ve got you.” His words flowed against my hair, in my ear, surrounding me. “You did it. You’re out.”
I couldn’t speak. My fingers twisted in his shirt, holding on like he might disappear. My whole body shook with sobs I couldn’t control.
He held me tighter. Let me fall apart.
I didn’t know how long we stayed like that. Long enough for my legs to give out completely, for him to take my weight without shifting his grip. Long enough for my sobs to quiet into shuddering breaths.
When I finally lifted my head, I made myself look at him. Needed to see him, to make him real.
He looked like hell. A gash above his eyebrow had bled down the side of his face, the blood dried dark against his skin. Dirt and scratches covered his arms. His clothes were torn in places, and he moved like his ribs were hurting him.
But his eyes—his eyes were fixed on me like I was the only thing in the world that mattered.
“You’re hurt,” I managed.
“I’m fine.” He gently took my face in his hands. “You’re the one who just crawled through a mountain.”
“Had some motivation. And a voice in my head that wouldn’t shut up.”
Something flickered across his face. He pulled me close again, his forehead dropping to rest against mine.
“When I heard Oliver had you—” His voice cracked. He stopped. Breathed. “I was afraid I was too late.”
“You weren’t.”
“Almost was.”
I pressed my palm flat against his chest, feeling his heart pound beneath my hand. Alive. He was alive.
From inside the mine came the sound of shouting. Not just Oliver—other voices, the scuffle of boots on stone.
“I brought reinforcements. Hunter and Beckett went in through the main entrance after we took down Bishop,” Coop said, though he didn’t lift his head from mine. “They’ve got Oliver trapped between them.”
“I can’t believe you’re here.” I twisted my fingers in his shirt, afraid to let go.
“I was working on finding a back entrance to sneak in when I found this opening, heard Oliver talking. Knew you had to be close by.”
More sounds echoed from inside. A struggle. Then a voice crackled over a radio Coop wore on his vest—Hunter’s calm tone cutting through the static.
“Target secured.”
Coop’s arms tightened around me. I pressed my face into his neck and breathed. The setting sun fell across us, bronzed and clean. The mountain air was cold and sharp and perfect in my lungs as we walked back toward the mine entrance.
It took a while, but eventually, figures emerged. Hunter came first, his scarred hands steady on the weapon he carried. Then Beckett, jaw tight.
Between them, Oliver.
His hands were cuffed behind his back. His clothes were torn, dirt smeared across his face, and something had gone wrong with his mouth—split lip, maybe, or a tooth knocked loose. The polished control was gone. What was left looked brittle. Exposed.
Bishop sat on the ground beside Oliver’s SUV, similarly restrained.
Federal vehicles were pulling up the access road, red and blue lights strobing against the trees. Doors opening. Agents pouring out. More than I could count.
Coop wrapped his jacket around my shoulders—I was shaking, though I couldn’t tell if it was cold or shock or both. He positioned himself beside me, solid and present and alive.
I watched them lead Oliver toward the vehicles. Watched his pale eyes scan the scene—calculating, even now, looking for angles that didn’t exist anymore.
His gaze found me.
I held it. Didn’t flinch. Didn’t look away. I would never be his prey again.
He was the one who broke first, head turning as they pushed him toward a vehicle. The door opened. They guided him into the back seat.
The door slammed shut.
Coop’s arms wrapped around me from behind, pulling my back into his chest. I could feel his heart beating, steady and strong. Could feel his breath warm against my hair.
“It’s over,” he said.
I leaned into him. Let myself feel the open sky above me, the solid ground beneath my feet, the warmth of him surrounding me.
“Yeah,” I said. “It is.”