Page 116 of Counter Attack

“I’ll go first.” He tapped his chest, then pointed at her. “You’re next, then Mark,” he mouthed, pointing at the deputy, and they both nodded they understood.

Nathan glanced up at the ceiling to see if the slab had moved, and his helmet light flickered. No! It had fresh batteries—it should be good. He took the helmet off and shook it, and the light went dark. Must’ve been from the explosion.

Nathan put his helmet back on just as light came from Mark’s direction. He’d gotten his helmet light to work. Nathan gave him a fist bump as Mark fished another flashlight from his vest and handed it to Alexis.

Nathan took a deep breath and pointed his flashlight toward the passage. He didn’t know how far they’d have to hike to get out of the cave, but it started with one step.

After they’d been walking for a few minutes, he felt a jerk on his sleeve, and he wheeled around.

Wide-eyed, she gripped his arm. “Where’s Mark?” she mouthed.

Nathan looked beyond her. The deputy had been right behind them and now he wasn’t. Had he set the explosive and was now escaping out the other passage?

Surely he wouldn’t have been in the cave if he intended to blow it up. Unless something went wrong and it went off before it was supposed to.

“Do you think he’s hurt?” Alexis asked.

That was a more likely scenario. “Can you hear anything yet?”

She pinched her thumb and finger together.

A little. Good. That would make it easier to communicate. “We haven’t gone far,” he shouted. “I’m going back to find him.”

She gripped his arm tighter.

Nathan was torn between Alexis waiting here or backtracking with him. If there was trouble, he didn’t want her involved. But what if someone else was in the cave, and they’d attacked Mark? Regardless, he felt better having her with him. Finally he nodded.

She pressed against the wall, and he crept around her. They found Mark on the cave floor not far from the cavern where Alexis had been held. Nathan shined his light on him, wincing. The deputy lay unmoving.

He should’ve checked him out better before they left the chamber. Unless ... someone could be hiding in the shadows. Nathan quickly bounced his light around the walls of the passage and then down the straight path they’d just traveled.Nothing moved. He turned to Alexis. “Watch,” he mouthed, then knelt and felt for a pulse. Nathan blew out a breath when he found a strong one.

He shook Mark by the shoulder. If the deputy made a sound, he couldn’t hear it. “Mark!” He shook him again, and slowly Mark’s eyes opened.

“What happened?”

At least that’s what Nathan thought he said. “Can you hear me?”

“Barely.” Mark struggled to sit up.

Nathan helped him and handed him a small bottle from his vest.

The deputy uncapped the bottle and drained it. Then he pulled out a plastic bag from inside his vest.

The note that’d been wedged between two stalactites. That’s why he’d gone back. Nathan studied the note. There was a string attached, but strings didn’t trigger explosive devices.

That meant someone else did. Was he out there now, waiting for them to emerge from the cave?

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Ignoring the pain the fall had ignited in her wrist, Alex stared at the plastic bag with the string that Nathan held. Pretty sure he was thinking the same thing she was. A string didn’t carry electric current through it, but it was too coincidental that the bomb went off right after Mark pulled the package down. Maybe it was attached to a trip wire that set the bomb off when Mark moved it. She pointed to the string. “Trip wire?”

Nathan cupped his ear, and she repeated the question louder, then looked to each man for their reaction.

The skeptical look on Mark’s face said he didn’t think so, but a few of the worry lines faded on Nathan’s face. “Maybe.”

Alex ignored her throbbing wrist and flashed her light on the note. Nathan turned it where she could read it.“I WON! You lose.”And beneath the words was a drawing of the White king on its side.

Nathan turned the bag where she could see another paper of a chess game. Alex studied the picture. Even as a newbie chess player, she could see that the White king was surrounded by his pawns, knights, and bishops, and even his queen. Black had the king in check with a knight. No. Not just in check. Black had the king in checkmate—the White king had nowhere torun. That’s what the drawing with the White king on its side indicated—White had conceded the game.

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