Chapter 1
The Grand Canyon hadn’t had an earthquake in more than thirty years, and yet it just had to choose the last day of June to wake up and say hello.
Today—only a week after the news of gold hidden in three chests throughout the Grand Canyon went viral, triggering gold seekers galore to flood the canyon in search of the remaining two chests.
So, great timing.
Noah Wilde yanked his ranger cap lower as his boots crunched over sunbaked gravel.
He approached the Tapeats cave system with practiced steps, though his jaw worked tighter than usual.
The passage wound under the Colorado Plateau for more than a mile, a labyrinth he’d explored dozens of times—back when the sandstone entrance wasn’t cracked like a spider’s web.
Back when it was safe. However, even then it had been off-limits to the public.
The canyon’s cliffs loomed above with layer upon layer of ancient rock striped in rust and amber and bone white. Brittle brush and stunted junipers clung to the rocks, and heat radiated from the stone.
The quake hadn’t been much—just 4.2 magnitude. But call after call kept flooding in about blocked trails, landslides, and cave-ins. Technically, all caves in the National Park were off limits, but since when did anyone follow the rules anymore? Not since the gold frenzy hit.
The discovery of a gold stash left by none other than Teddy Roosevelt’s great-great-grandson as a publicity stunt had encouraged more exploring in the parks and boosted tourism. Rumor had it that the canyon hid two more chests, each reportedly containing twenty gold bars.
Hence people were going to die.
The South Rim SAR team was already tied up at the Cave of the Domes, which meant this rescue fell to him.
Bringing Liam and Teague was a no-brainer. But Meg—
He cast a glance at her with her dark ponytail swinging in the harsh sunlight and her medic vest a vibrant splash of orange against the canyon’s muted palette.
Even approaching a potentially deadly situation, she moved with that easy confidence he both admired and worried about.
She was the last person he wanted here. Not because she wasn’t competent.
She was the best doctor he’d ever worked with. But she’d become too important.
He’d been trying to keep his distance since he kissed her two weeks ago. Fat lot of good that was doing. Here she was, ten feet away, and he couldn’t look at her without the ground shifting beneath him—and not from aftershocks.
Focus.
He forced his gaze back to the path.
“Over here!” A young man—maybe twenty, college-aged, with a backward baseball cap—waved his hands above his head. “She’s in here.”
Noah closed the distance in long strides and stopped cold.
As of yesterday, the cave entrance had been twenty feet tall and thirty feet wide. Now? It was just a jagged crack in the sandstone, with the opening just wider than his shoulders and sharp-edged boulders scattered like broken teeth.
Bad. This was very bad.
He turned to the kid. Dust covered his face and he was streaked with sweat.
“You the one who called this in?” Noah uncapped a water bottle from his belt and passed it over. “What’s your name?”
“Eddie.” The kid wiped his face with a shaking hand. “My friends are in there.”
Noah motioned for him to sit on a nearby rock. “Is the main cavern still intact?”
Eddie dropped onto the stone. “A few rocks fell from the ceiling, but it didn’t collapse like that.” He motioned to the cave’s entrance. “There was an aftershock and…”
Right. Who knew what he’d find now?
“What were you guys doing in the caves?” Noah kept his voice level. “You know they’re off-limits.”
Eddie stared off into the distance, then met his gaze. “My friend Jeremy figured some of the Roosevelt gold had to be in there.”
Noah scraped his hand down his face. This gold would be the death of him. Maybe not the gold itself, but the reckless fools chasing it into one deathtrap after another.
He’d deal with that later.
“How many are still in there?”
“Five. Two are—” Eddie swallowed hard. “We don’t know where they are. Lydia’s hurt, and Diana’s trying to help her. Jeremy is Lydia’s brother. He was trying to help too, but he’s pretty much just freaking out.”
Noah lifted his radio. “Eden, this is Noah. Do you copy?”
“Go ahead.”
“Injured girl in the cave, at least two trapped. Please advise.”
The line went quiet. Finally, the radio crackled. “Noah, South Rim SAR’s just finishing up, then they’ll head your way. Maybe an hour, maybe more. You’re lead.”
“Copy.” Noah clipped the radio to his belt.
His pulse kicked up. Meg’s blue eyes scanned the cave mouth with her jaw set in that determined line he recognized. She’d already pulled her hair tighter, secured her vest, and checked her medical kit.
No way. No way was he letting her go in there.
“Liam, you and I will go in and evaluate the injury. With any luck, we can splint or bandage what we find, then bring them out for treatment from Meg or the SAR team.”
Meg’s head tilted. “Wouldn’t it be easier if I—”
“No.”
Oops. That came out a wee bit too sharp.
Liam and Teague exchanged a look. He could feel Meg’s gaze burning into his back, but he refused to let it move him.
She’d said before that she trusted God to protect her. Well, he didn’t. After all, God hadn’t protected his wife.
Noah wasn’t about to trust the Almighty with Meg.
“I’m on it, boss.” Liam dropped his pack.
Noah did the same and stripped down to essentials—rope, headlamp, first aid kit, radio, water.
“The rock seems stable, but the gap’s tight.” Liam crouched at the entrance. “I’m pretty sure we can still squeeze through.”
Teague handed Noah a radio—a backup, standard procedure. “Gold’s made everyone stupid.”
“Two million dollars does that.” Noah flicked on his headlamp.
The entrance was too much for his six-four frame.
He hunched down with his shoulders scraping both sides.
The temperature dropped instantly as they stepped out of the desert sun.
But it still felt wrong. Too warm. Too stuffy.
The freshly fallen rocks still held the heat of the afternoon sun rather than the coolness his mind expected in a cave.
Beyond the entrance, sunlight vanished. The rough sandstone scraped his arms. Loose pebbles crunched underfoot. The air tasted of minerals and dust.
Suddenly, the rock next to him vibrated—a low frequency that rattled through his bones.
No.
“Aftershock.” Liam’s warning echoed.
Noah covered his head just as half a dozen boulders crashed down. Dust choked the air. He covered his nose and mouth with his heart hammering.
“Noah?” Teague’s voice crackled over the radio.
Noah met Liam’s wide-eyed gaze—both of them breathing hard—then clicked the radio. “We’re good.”
“Define good.” Liam’s laugh was brittle. “I say we get everyone out of here before another aftershock hits.”
Twenty feet in, the passage opened into a cavernous chamber—vast and echoing.
Noah’s headlamp beam couldn’t reach the far walls.
The air clogged with the scent of dust and blood.
The floor was uneven and scattered with rubble.
A dark pool of water sat in the center—the Tapeats Spring—with its surface mirror-still.
Noah’s beam caught two huddled people—maybe students—to the left of the pool, their faces pale.
Must be Diana and Jeremy.
“You two okay?” His words carried more edge than he’d intended.
“Two of my friends are still trapped.” Diana cradled her arm against her stomach. “And Lydia needs help.” She pointed down.
The girl at their feet pressed a hand to her chest and grimaced with each breath.
Jeremy’s hands trembled as he pointed. “A rock hit her in the chest. We moved it, but she can’t breathe right. Keeps gasping. Says it hurts to take a breath.”
Noah’s heart dropped.
Not good. That was so not good.
He knelt by Lydia. Her blonde hair was matted with blood.
Her body sprawled on the rocks at an awkward angle.
Her breaths came short and rapid. Her chest rose unevenly, with the left side barely moving while the right fought to compensate.
Her skin was pale, her lips blue-tinged, and her pulse fluttered weakly beneath his fingers.
“Liam, check that tunnel for the other two.” He looked at Jeremy. “What’s her age?”
“Eighteen. Why?” Jeremy’s voice rose. “And why are you sending him off? Lydia needs help!”
“Please step back and let me do my job.” Noah lifted his radio. “Meg, eighteen-year-old female. Took a rock to the chest. Pulse is weak. Breathing shallow, left side not rising. Lips turning blue. What do I do?”
“I’m coming in.”
No. The memory of those falling rocks flashed through his mind. “Meg, stay put. Just tell me what to do.”
“You aren’t even a doctor?” the boy snapped.
Noah ignored him. “Meg, it’s not safe—just—”
“Noah, it’s Teague. She’s already headed in.”
Noah gripped the radio. “Go with her. It’s not stable.”
“I’m trying, but my boss keeps talking to me.”
Funny, very funny.
Liam reappeared from the dark tunnel with two kids at his side stumbling over rocks and coughing. “They’d nearly dug themselves out when I got there.”
“Finally, something going right.” Noah stood and watched the opening for Meg’s headlamp.
“Lydia goes first.” Jeremy’s voice was insistent.
Noah ignored him.
When Meg emerged through the narrow opening with her medical pack turned sideways, he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Dust covered her vest, and her ponytail had come half loose.
Their eyes met—hers determined, focused—then her gaze slipped free. “Where is she?”
“Finally, someone who knows what they’re doing,” Jeremy said.
Meg hurried to Lydia’s side, dropped to her knees, checked her pulse, lifted her eyelids, and pressed her stethoscope to Lydia’s chest.
“I’m starting an IV.”
Only then did Noah notice that Meg’s hands shook—just slightly, but there. Blood streaked her gloves. She pressed her stethoscope to Lydia’s chest and moved it across different positions.