Scream for Me (32 page)

She should be punished for that. She’d broken the rule.

He’d planned to leave her in the dark. The dark made his prey afraid. It was the silence and the darkness that broke them so quickly.

Then he’d heard…
Help’s coming
. That was what she’d whispered to Fiona. He realized what a fucking fool he’d been.

Cadence had been too confident. Too certain. He had to get out of there. Had to check to see where McKenzie was.

He can’t be here
.

As soon as he was sure Cadence’s words were a lie, he’d be back for her.

He’d finish what he’d started.

“Are any of the others alive?” Cadence asked as she bent over Fiona. Her fingers were at the other woman’s throat. Feeling the pulse struggling to beat.

Fiona’s breath wheezed out.

“Are the others alive, Fiona?”

“Jud…”

Judith isn’t alive any longer
.

“Are others in these caves? Are more girls here?”

She felt the slow shake of Fiona’s head. Her pulse was even weaker beneath Cadence’s fingertips.

I have to get her help
.

Cadence surged to her feet. She walked forward, with her hands out, movingly blindly in the darkness.

Trapped
.

The blackness was so complete. Not a hint of light.

Every ragged breath seemed magnified.

Her hands scraped against rocks. The side of the cavern. She started walking around, moving her hands up and down as she tried to find an exit. A way out.

Wood
.

Her breaths were even louder now as she slapped her hands against what she prayed was a door. But there was no knob on the door. Just old, rough wood. She shoved against the door.

It didn’t budge.

Again and again she hit the door. Pounding.

Then Cadence remembered…

Thud. Thud
.

The sounds that had drawn her to Lily in the dark.

Lily had been trapped. Desperate. But she’d kept hitting out, kept making the
thuds
that had led Cadence and Kyle to her.

Cadence hit the door again and again.

She wasn’t just imagining what it was like to be a victim anymore.

She was one.

But Kyle was coming for her. She’d guide him to her location, the same way Lily had pulled them in.

Cadence lifted her bound hands and rammed them into the door.

Again and again.

She didn’t care if the sounds alerted her captor. If he came back in, she’d attack him with everything she had. Cadence was
not
going to just wait in the darkness, not just sit in the silence like a good little girl while Fiona died.

She drove her hands into the door.

I didn’t scream
.

Cadence did. She screamed as loudly as she could.

Kyle froze when he heard the sounds. Pounding, like a hammer. Echoing. Sound traveled so well in the cavernous darkness.

Cadence
.

He lowered his light to the ground. Made sure no trip wires were in place.

Then he fucking ran toward the sound.

The others were right behind him. Dani, who
never
went in the field but had stayed with him for Cadence. Heather and Randall. Two more cops trailed in the rear. They knew just how close they were to their prey.

His light hit a door. Old, wooden, with heavy slats running its length. “Cadence!”

The pounding stopped.

He saw a thick, metal latch and shoved it aside. It groaned as it slid free.

Then he shoved open the door.

His light hit Cadence—and the blood covering her. She stood just a few feet from the door, frozen like a statue.

“Baby.” He grabbed her, pulling her close, his hands running over her desperately.

He couldn’t find her wound.

“Fiona,” she whispered. “We have to get her out!”

He turned. Dani had already found the other woman. Her flashlight bathed the still figure on the floor. The figure with blood soaking her shirt, and a knife still stuck in her chest.

Dani reached out a tentative hand. Touched the woman’s throat.

“She’s still alive,” Cadence said, speaking quickly, desperately. “We can help her.”

“She’s dead.” Dani’s soft voice told them.

A hard sob choked in Cadence’s throat. “It’s
Fiona
! She just wanted to go home!” Then Cadence yanked away from him. “He’s still here! He was just
here
! We have to find him!”

They were going to find the SOB. No,
he
was. Cadence needed to get to safety. “Dani, take Cadence out of here. I’ll keep heading through the tunnels. I’ll find the bastard.”

“No!” Cadence’s shout. Then she didn’t wait for him to argue. She lunged away from him and ran through the door. Heather hurried back, but she moved too slowly. Cadence grabbed the flashlight from the woman’s hands and fled deeper into the caverns.

“Cadence!” The echo of his shout reverberated as he raced after her.

She didn’t stop at his call.

Was she even looking at the ground? The bastard had planned to cover his tracks before. Why not this time?

“Cadence! Look out for trip wires!”

She didn’t slow. He saw the light bobbing as she ran.

He kicked up his speed, getting closer and closer to her.

He reached out his hand, but before he could grab her, she fell, tumbling down, face first, and he knew she’d tripped on something.

Kyle expected the explosion to rock through those caverns at any moment.

He expected hell to come calling and he threw himself toward Cadence. He’d protect her with his body. Maybe she’d make it out alive.

Only no explosion came.

A sob broke from Cadence. “I found them.”

Her light had fallen to the ground, too, and its beam focused in the middle of the tunnel, on the object that had tripped her.

A skeleton.

No, not just one skeleton.

His own light flashed down the tunnel.

One
.

Two
.

Three
.

The bones stretched in the darkness. A deadly trail.

The victims were now found. Bones. A graveyard in the dark.

But where was the bastard who’d done this to them? Where?

Kyle pulled Cadence to her feet. Held her close. She was shaking against him. Trying to jerk free. “He’s here! We have to go after him!”

Kyle locked his arms around her. “Reinforcements are coming. We’ll search the tunnels. Every damn space in here, I swear.” He breathed the words against her ear.

She didn’t stop struggling. “He’s getting
away
! Dammit, you wanted to stop him.”

He shook her. Hard. “I want you.” Fuck, didn’t she get that? “I want you safe. I want you out of here.”

She didn’t even have a gun. She was going to run blindly through the darkness? Where the killer could be waiting with his booby traps any moment?

No
.

He wanted the bastard. But…

Not at the price of her life.

Footsteps rushed toward them in the darkness.

Keeping a tight hold on Cadence, he whirled, shining his light on their company.

Heather. Randall. They were both out of breath. Both gasping.

His hold tightened on Cadence. “You did your job, baby. You found another lair.”

The tricky bastard. This made three kill sites. Three. Talk about confidence.

“This place connects with the other tunnels,” Cadence whispered. “Fiona said it all connected.”

Then they’d search until they’d covered every possible inch in the caverns. But they weren’t going in blind. It was what the killer wanted. For them to chase after him so he could spring another trap.

Not happening
.

“Get Cadence out of here,” he said as he forced his hands to release her. He didn’t want to release her. He wanted to hold her tight. To make sure she was okay.

She needed to be checked out. She’d been in a car crash. Who the hell knew what that bastard had done to her after that?

“I don’t want to go,” Cadence said as she dug in her heels. “I can help.”

“You already have.” They’d set up guards at the entrance to that hell. No one would get out that way. “We’re going to send teams searching through here. We’re going to find every secret the bastard has.”

So many of those secrets were right there. Their bones laid out in a macabre grave.

Is Maria there?

He slammed the door on that thought. He wouldn’t go there.

Not yet.

He had to hold onto his control. Not let the rage and fear break through.

Cadence needed him.

He needed
her
.

“Come with me,” Heather said softly. “It’s okay, Agent Hollow.” Her voice was low, soothing.

“Fuck that,” Cadence snapped back. “Nothing’s okay. You’ve got a sick, twisted SOB out here. He’s been hunting his victims for over fifteen years. Nothing’s going to be okay until we have him tossed in a cage, because he won’t stop, not until then. He won’t stop!”

“Cadence…”

She choked back a sob. “I couldn’t save Fiona.” She lifted her hands. The cuffs glinted. “If I took the knife out, she would’ve bled out faster. He left me with her, and there was nothing I could do.”

She was breaking him. Cadence backed away.

“I can get the cuffs off you, ma’am,” Heather said, still in the soothing voice. “Come with me. I have something we can use in my car.”

“I was supposed to save her,” Cadence whispered.

“Please, ma’am,” Heather pushed softly.

Cadence moved toward her. Her steps were wooden. Slow. But she left Kyle.

Cadence glanced back. “Screw his rules,” she said. “Screw him.”

Kyle didn’t move. He just stared after her until she vanished with Heather. Then he forced himself to speak. “There are bodies here,” he said to Hollings. “We’re gonna need an evidence-and-retrieval team down here.” Not just local guys. Ben would make sure they had the best team they could get. He’d fly them in.

“Is he here?” Hollings whispered.

Kyle stared down the darkened tunnel. “Get the ropes because we’re about to fucking find out.”

There were too many lights outside. Bright lights flashing from the police cruisers. Headlights turned on high. Searchlights.
Local county officers were running around, desperately trying to secure the scene as the rain continued to pound them.

“Chaos,” Cadence whispered as she rubbed at the goose bumps on her arms. This would be just the type of scene the perp wanted. He could slip right out with all these people here. All he’d need was a cop uniform. Or maybe even the clothes of an EMT.

“Agent Hollow?” The EMT frowned at her as Heather pushed her toward the ambulance. Heather had gotten the handcuffs off, as promised, then she’d started yelling for medical help.

I don’t need help
.

“Agent Hollow,” the EMT insisted, “I need to examine you.”

“I’ve got a concussion. I don’t have blurry vision, no memory loss. No shaking. I’m
fine
.”

His gaze slid to Heather.

“We understand why you did it,” Heather said softly. “It’s okay, Agent Hollow. She came at you, you must have needed to defend yourself.”