Page 58 of Silent Ritual

Finn held her gaze for a moment more before sighing. “Alright, Sheila,” he said, his voice heavy. “You take the right, I'll take the left.” There was no mistaking the disappointment in his voice, the worry.

Sheila held her partner’s gaze a few seconds longer just to let him know she realized how difficult this was for him. Then she turned on her heel and disappeared into the left tunnel, leaving Finn alone to grapple with his misgivings.

As she ventured deeper into the darkness, every sound was amplified—a drip of water from stalactites overhead, the crunch of salt under her boots, her own breathing echoing off the stone walls. Her heart pounded in rhythm with each step, the silence pressing in around her like a tangible weight.

Suddenly, she stopped. From up ahead came a dry shuffling sound coupled with soft muttering. She squinted into the darkness. Her flashlight beam darted over gnarled rock formations and glistening mineral streaks but found no human figure.

Sheila breathed through clenched teeth as she moved forward. Every instinct screamed at her to call for Finn, but there wasn’t time. Any second now, Solberg could disappear and another woman could die.

Just as she stepped past another rocky outcrop, her flashlight beam landed on something other than rock—something distinctly human-shaped and moving.

“Freeze!” Sheila shouted, leveling her gun toward the figure.

To her surprise, however, it wasn’t Solberg. It was a tall woman with long black hair.

A woman whose hands were bound behind her back.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

“Please,” the woman said in a desperate whisper. “He’s still in here somewhere. You have to get me out."

Sheila lowered her weapon and moved closer to the woman, recognizing her from the missing persons report. "Laura Simmons?"

Tears welled up in the woman's eyes. "Yes, please…he’s insane."

Sheila quickly cut the bindings around Laura's wrists with a knife while keeping an eye on the darkness around them. She took off her jacket and draped it over Laura's shaking shoulders, checking her for injuries.

"Where is he? What happened?" Sheila asked, keeping her voice low.

"He climbed out of the tunnel, wanted to check and see if there were any police waiting outside. He warned me he would make me suffer if I tried anything, but as soon as his back was turned, I just ran and ran.” She took a trembling breath. “Please, we have to get out of here before he comes back.”

"We will," Sheila reassured her. "Can you walk?"

Laura nodded weakly, stumbling when she tried to take a step forward.

“What’s wrong?” Sheila asked.

“I twisted my ankle, but I’ll be alright. It’s not bad.”

Sheila wrapped an arm around her waist, supporting her weight as they started walking back toward where she had left Finn.

They hadn’t gone far when the sound of footsteps echoed from behind them—quick, decisive steps that caused the hairs on the nape of Sheila’s neck to rise. She halted abruptly and turned around to face the direction of the sound.

What she saw made her blood run cold.

A figure stood at the mouth of the tunnel they'd just exited.

"Laura," he called out, his voice echoing off the craggy walls of the tunnel. "I must say I'm disappointed. You've disrupted my connection with the divine energies."

Sheila pulled Laura behind her, raising her gun and pointing it at Solberg. Laura whimpered softly behind her.

"Drop your weapon, Solberg!" Sheila shouted.

Solberg laughed—a cold, cruel laugh that echoed around them, seeming to come from all directions at once.

"I have no weapon," he said. He raised his hands in a placating manner, though his eyes held a dangerous gleam. "Only the truth of the cosmos."

"Stop talking and get on the ground!" Sheila yelled. But instead of complying, Solberg merely stood there, watching them. It was almost as if he knew something they didn’t.

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