Chapter Seventeen
Thirteen Witnesses
Larabee’s excitement became apparent as he rushed out to meet them.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” he told them before heading back inside the mine.
“The collapsed portion has been cordoned off and secured as best as possible.” He stopped when they reached an area that Caleb believed was on the opposite side of the collapse where he and Ava had been trapped.
“It’s this way.” Larabee turned right down a small corridor. “About a quarter of a mile.”
Shadow strained at his lead, almost trampling Larabee in his urge to hunt.
“Heel.” Ava reined the dog back to her side.
“We’ve had people spreading out throughout this mine. They’ve found half a dozen similar passages. All have led to a dead end. But this one’s different.”
Caleb’s knot in his stomach tightened as they neared a ladder.
“It’s up here.” Larabee headed up the ladder.
Ava’s stopped Caleb. “We’ll need Shadow’s assistance in tracking Wax. Can you help me get him up?”
Caleb didn’t hesitate. “Hey, Larabee.”
The ranger stopped near the opening.
“We need the dog. I’m going to hand him to you.” Caleb climbed a few rungs and then asked Ava to hand the dog off.
She unsnapped the lead and gathered Shadow up. The animal squirmed in protest, but Ava quieted him. “It’s okay. We’ve got you.” Once the K-9 was calm, she gave him to Caleb.
“Easy does it, boy.” Caleb climbed a few more rungs before handing Shadow off to Larabee who placed the dog onto the floor above them.
“He’s safe,” Caleb told Ava.
She stepped up on the first rung and followed Caleb up and inside the opening.
When he straightened and looked around what he saw was something straight out of some eighties horror movie. “What on earth is this place...”
Beside him Ava’s horrified expression said it all.
“Yeah, that was my reaction,” Larabee told them.
Novak, who was talking to some of the ERT agents, spotted them and came over. “They’re not real,” he assured them. “Just wax statues he’s created.”
Wax candles burned down low. Iridescent wax had dripped all around the room.
Shadow stuck close to Ava’s side. The dog’s bravery was unquestionable, but Ava shared his military past and the scars it had left both physically and emotionally.
“How did he get them up here?” Ava asked, her gaze fixed on one statue in particular.
Caleb’s attention went to it. He saw the likeness. It was her.
“I’m guessing he created them here.” Novak turned toward the silent witnesses. “This guy is really sick. Look at the expressions on their faces.”
“I want a closer look. Heel, Shadow.” She waited until the dog obeyed before she moved carefully to the statues not wanting to contaminate the crime scene.
Caleb remained near the dog watching her work. There were eleven statues including the one that matched Ava.
“That’s Emily.” Ava moved to the statue that resembled their first new victim. “Beside her is Jennifer.” Ava moved past the two recent victims to the previous victims from three years earlier. “Victoria, Maria, and Samantha.”
“So, the statues were created to depict his victims.” But it wasn’t adding up in Caleb’s mind. “There are thirteen.”
“This is the lady in the lake.” Ava stopped in front of the woman whose face had been stuck in Caleb’s head ever since they pulled her wax-encased body from the lake.
Ava kept going. “We’re missing victims if the statues are correct.” She came back to Caleb. “Where are they?”
Caleb’s brow furrowed as he studied the statues. “In Scripture, thirteen is tied to rebellion.”
In her opinion, every scene was a sermon in Wax’s mind. “He’s not just rebelling,” she whispered. “He’s preaching his own gospel of chaos.”
Ava frowned as she studied the statues. “There’s something different about those two at the end. They don’t have faces.”
Shocked, Caleb looked closer. “You’re right. What’s the significance of that?”
“I don’t know but we’re running out of time.” Ava’s worry over Rachel was clear.
“Agent Blake, we have something here,” Novak told her.
Ava followed him over to what appeared to be another altar set up opposite the statues—an identical blue cloth draped over it.
Caleb went with her.
A cell phone had been placed next to one of the candles that had spilled wax over it.
“That’s Rachel’s,” Ava said. “I recognize it from earlier.”
Novak nodded. “We’ll have ERT bag it and take it down to the lab. We’ll get the statues transported as well.”
“Thank you. He left them here for a reason. He wanted us to find them. We need to be careful but we need to check inside the wax on the statues to see if he’s left clues.”
“I’ll make sure to tell them.”
Caleb’s attention went to the far end of the sanctuary. “Is that another opening?” A square spot appeared to be cut out of the rock.
“It is,” Novak told them. “It leads to another corridor. We have people searching it now.”
He and Ava returned to the dog who still sat where she’d commanded him.
“Now what?” Caleb asked, feeling the stress of the hunt and the endless clues catching up with him.
“I’m not sure.” Ava glanced around the space with a frown. “He wanted us here. Wanted us to find the statues and Rachel’s phone. He wouldn’t just build something like this and then abandon it.”
Caleb watched her frown deepen. “If he built this, he’s been at this for years. As those statues seem to indicate.” She whipped to Novak who stood close by. “Who owns this mine now?”
Novak appeared surprised by the question. “A private mining company that went out of business a few years back. This place has been abandoned for a long time.”
“Get me everything you can on the owners. I need it now.”
“Copy that.” Novak called in the request.
“What are you thinking? That one of the owners of the mine might be Wax?”
“It’s possible,” she told him. “And it’s worth a shot. Right now, we have nothing.”
◆◆◆
Shadow sniffed the air before pulling Ava toward an area that was away from the statues.
Her surprised gaze met Caleb’s.
Shadow reached the stone wall and stopped, letting out a sharp bark.
“What is it, boy?” Ava asked because all she saw was a solid rock.
Shadow sniffed the air and barked again.
“He has something,” Ava said. “I just can’t see it.”
“Hang on.” Caleb stepped past her and felt around looking for a hidden panel like they’d found before, only there wasn’t one. “Nothing.”
“What are we missing?” Ava stepped sideways and felt the ground beneath her feet give away.
Caleb pulled her back before she fell while Shadow barked aggressively.
Novak and Larabee ran over.
“Are you okay?” Larabee asked.
Ava couldn’t stop shaking. Another hidden passage. “I think so.”
Caleb let her go.
She stared down into the opening and realized that a set of stairs led down. “This must be how he got away.” Ava could feel her pulse explode at the possibility of tracking Wax to his lair.
She started for the steps with Shadow, but Caleb stopped her. “Hang on a second and let’s think this through.”
Ava’s shoulders slumped. “You’re right. He wanted us to find this place which stands to reason he would expect us to find the opening.”
“We proceed with caution.” Caleb waited for her to agree.
“Novak, you, Larabee and Shackleford come with us. We need other agents.”
Novak nodded. “I’ll get them here.”
“I need your flashlight,” Ava told Shackleford, who handed her the device. She flashed it down into the expanse. There appeared to be around twenty steps before they ended in a landing of some sort. Ava couldn’t see beyond it.
Would they be walking into another trap?
Novak came back with Harper Lee Stevens and Jace Maddox without their K-9s.
“I have some news on the mine’s owner,” Novak told her. “The company is Glacier Reserve. It appears to be some shell corporation. I’m still peeling back the layers to get the person in charge.”
Ava nodded and focused on the opening before she glanced down at Shadow. “Ready, boy?”
Shadow looked up at her with those deep brown eyes that seemed to connect to her soul before he confirmed with a single short bark.
“We’ll take the lead,” she told her team. “Caleb, you’re with me.”
Caleb clicked on his flashlight and glued himself to her side as they descended.
The rest of the team remained close.
Ava’s pulse hadn’t let up since they found the opening.
The air became considerably colder the farther down they went.
Once Ava reached the landing she halted the team. She flashed the light around. The walls were thick stone on either side. She flicked the flashlight in front of them. “There’s another set of stairs heading up.”
Nothing about this made sense. But then, nothing about Wax did either.
She watched Shadow’s reaction. The dog strained to move toward the next set of stairs. “He’s onto something. Let’s keep going.” She glanced at Caleb, whose set jaw reflected his concern.
She kept Shadow on a tight lead as they moved toward the next set of steps and slowly ascended them until they reached a third set that headed still upward.
“Stop,” Ava said. “Where are we?”
Novak brought up their location on his phone. “Deep inside the mountain. If we keep going this way, we’re heading straight for part of the Lewis Mountain Range located near Hidden Lake.”
Shock ripped through Ava’s brain. That couldn’t be a coincidence.
She remembered Caleb telling her the mountain chain near Hidden Lake was inaccessible at this time of the year. Wax had found a way by tunneling through those very mountains.
“Everyone, be on alert.” She searched for any sign Wax might be watching them but there weren’t any hidden cameras that she could see.
She started up the steps with Shadow still on Wax’s scent.
At the top of the stairs there was another set.
“This just keeps going,” Caleb said quietly. “We have to be close to eight thousand feet by now.” His words chilled the air in front of them. Ice clung to the walls.
A shiver of unease sped down Ava’s spine at the thought of being trapped here.
After another set of steps, they climbed farther before reaching a door.
Ava swallowed deeply. “This could be rigged.” Wax had deliberately planned the explosion they’d survived.
Shadow continued to sniff the air close to the door indicating he was on the right path.
Ava reached out and gripped the doorknob with fingers that trembled.
Please, Lord. Protect us. Don’t let me lead these people to their deaths.
The silent prayer rushed through her mind. It had taken the possibility of facing off with Wax again to lift her prayer drought.
Ava looked to Caleb for emotional support and saw him nod.
She turned the knob and closed her eyes, half expecting the world around her to explode.
When nothing happened, she slowly opened the door. A blast of freezing air rushed past her.
She hesitated. Goosebumps scattered across her arms. Shadow pushed inside, pulling Ava along with him.
She was barely aware of Caleb at her side. All she could see was the walls of ice bathed in amber. Candlelight flickered all around the room, softening the horror of them.
Two statues, their wax faces contorted in pain. She became aware of Shadow tugging hard against his lead, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the statues.
Against her will, Ava neared the first one. A man. All of Wax’s previous victims were female. Who was he?
Once she drew closer the truth became clear. These weren’t just statues.
These were victims.