Page 117 of Counter Attack

Mark fished his phone from his pocket. Alex stared at him. There was no signal in the cave. Then he typed something and showed it to Nathan, then her. “Smothered mate,” she read.

She and Nathan exchanged glances, and then Nathan typed, “You play chess?”

“Since I was a kid.”

Alex stilled. Mark liked caving, he resented her grandfather giving Alex the job, and he knew how to play chess.Andhe and Gem “happened” to find the fake bomb.

No. She brushed the thoughts away. If Mark was the murderer, he wouldn’t have let himself be caught in the explosion.

Alex dropped her injured wrist and helped Nathan get Mark to his feet. Even though her gut said Mark wasn’t her stalker, a tiny seed of doubt crept into her mind. He would bear watching.

Nathan turned and pointed forward. She fell in behind him, hoping the passage would lead to the outside. There was no guarantee. A few minutes later Nathan stopped. Why was he searching his vest? When he pulled out a lighter, she understood.

When they were caving years ago, he always kept a lighter on him. He flicked it and held it higher when the flame appeared. It flickered and then leaned in the direction they were walking.Yes!Alex glanced down at the cave floor. And unless she was imagining it, the floor slanted upwards. They were headed in the right direction.

A half hour later, she almost ran into Nathan when he abruptly stopped. Alex looked around him and her stomach unknotted. It was dim, but there was light at the end of the tunnel.

When they emerged from the cave, it took a minute toadjust to the sunlight as they all sucked in deep breaths of fresh air. Her ears still rang, but her hearing was returning. She could even hear Nathan and Mark as they took stock of their location. Both agreed it was about half a mile to the winding road in the valley below.

Going downhill was much harder than climbing up, and when they reached the bottom, Alex sat on the side of the road while the two men argued about which direction the vehicles were located.

She cocked her head. “Hey, you two, be quiet a minute.”

Both men stopped and stared at her.

“I hear something. Siren, maybe?”

“I hear it too,” Nathan said. He helped her to stand, and they walked in the direction of the sound.

A half mile later, they rounded a curve, and the hillside was covered with police vehicles.

“Reckon they’re looking for us?” she asked.

Four hours later, Alex rocked back on her heels. They’d gotten the last of the debris cleared from the tunnel, but Nathan and Mark deemed it too unstable for anyone to enter. She agreed with their assessment but was still disappointed that they couldn’t search for evidence. Although Phame wasn’t careless enough to leave anything behind.

“Are you ready for me to take you home?” Nathan asked.

She glanced past him to where her K-9 officer stood by his truck. “Let me say something to Mark first.”

Mark nodded as she approached. “You okay?”

“So-so. You?”

“I’m alive.”

“Yeah. I want to thank you for everything you did yesterday and today.”

“Just doing my job.”

“Yeah, but you used your personal time to come out here today.” She held out her hand. “I know we’ve had some differences, but I hope we’re past that.”

He studied her for a second, then grasped her hand. “I don’t think we’ll have any more trouble.”

Tension eased from her shoulders. “Good. Because you’re a good deputy.”

He ducked his head. “You’re not bad yourself.”

She grinned. “Thank you. Why don’t you take the weekend off?”

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