Page 54 of So Insane

“Frankie!” Shawna called again. “Where are you?”

They had left the mines a little less than an hour ago. In another hour, it would be dawn. By Shanwa’s best estimate, they had been in the cave for six hours. That meant they had come into contact with the killer about five hours ago.

That didn’t bode well for Frankie’s chances, but if Shawna had survived four of those hours, there was always the possibility that Frankie had too.

Turk stopped and pricked his ears, standing still and listening. Faith stopped as well. Shawna drew in breath to scream again, but Faith waved for silence.

Turk turned to the left and sniffed the air. Shawna’s eyes widened. “Does he hear Frankie?” she asked.

Faith put a finger to her lips, but the interruption apparently didn’t phase Turk, because he barked again, then sprinted down the cave. Faith rushed after him, keeping the flashlight up so it illuminated the ground in front of Turk. She looked behind and was surprised to see Shawna keeping up.

Love could motivate you to do incredible things.

She checked her phone. There was no signal, but the location share showed Michael moving in the same direction they were, though much slower. That didn’t really mean anything since she had no idea what the caves looked like where Michael was, but she allowed the thought to comfort her.

She tried her radio but got only static. “Dammit.”

She should have planned for that. Oh well. She couldn’t go back now.

Turk led them to a ledge and leaped easily up to the tunnel above. Faith helped Shawna up, then boosted herself up. Turk barked impatiently, frustrated that the darkness forced him to move at the pace of the humans. As soon as Faith was on her feet, he bolted up the tunnel.

And the tunnel did move up at a shallow but constant angle. The air cooled slightly, the predawn chill outside filtering downward. They were near the surface.

That gave Faith a leap of hope. If Frankie had made it to the surface, she would be okay. If the three of them caught up to her, then Faith could protect both of them. Underground, the killer had home-field advantage, but it was a different game up top. That was Faith's court.

She turned a corner and felt another rush of cool. Turk, I hope you have something.

Then Turk barked in alarm. He sprinted past the beam of her light, barking over and over.

“Turk!” Faith called.

Then an earsplitting scream filled the tunnels.

“Frankie!” Shawna shrieked. She too, sprinted past Faith, her own safety unimportant in the face of her girlfriend’s danger.

Faith swore and picked up her own pace, drawing her weapon and praying to God she reached Frankie before the killer finished with her.

She rounded another corner and saw Turk wrestling with a man holding a knife. In front of the man lay a young woman, screaming and holding her hands up to protect herself.

The man snarled and lifted the knife. Shawna shrieked.

“Hey!” Faith shouted so loudly that all three of them turned toward her in shock. She leveled her handgun at the killer and said, “Drop that knife or I drop you!”

The killer looked at Turk, seemingly unconcerned by the fact that the big dog’s teeth were sunk into his thigh. He looked back at Faith, and Faith said, “Drop the knife or I will shoot you.”

He dropped the knife. Faith sighed with relief and said, “Okay, Turk, release him.”

Turk dutifully let go of the killer’s leg.

And the killer picked him up and threw him at Faith.

The movement was so fast that she didn’t realize what happened until she saw Turk’s body hurtling toward her. She cried out and opened her arms to catch him, and as soon as her eyes and her pistol left the killer, he rushed for the knife.

“No, Dammit!” Faith called. Turk dropped lightly from her arms and sprinted back toward the killer, who had retrieved the knife and was now leaping at Frankie.

Faith lifted her handgun and squared her stance. “Turk,” she commanded, “stay low.”

Turk looked behind and immediately flattened himself.

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