Page 69 of Trapped with the Covert Ops Soldier

An evil laugh as robust as any Hollywood villain’s echoed out of the tunnel and into the cavern.

“Get in there, Jack.”

“No.”

“Get in there,” Virgil roared. A shockingly loud sound.

Somewhere deeper in the cave system, stonecrashedagainst stone.

Abby flinched and waited to see if any more rocks fell, but the cave was silent once again.

“We have got to get out of here,” she whispered to Smitty.

He shook his head.

“You think you’re going to find gold in there?” Jack asked, his tone laced with razor-sharp sarcasm. “You think you’re going to get rich and live high on the hog for the rest of your stupidly short life?”

“This fucking country owes it to me.” Virgil’s tone was so guttural she almost couldn’t make out his words. “Whatever is in there is mine.”

Chapter Fifteen

“There’s nothing tofind in there but death,” Jack said, sounding completely sober. “This whole mountain is a graveyard and if there’s gold in there, the dead own it.”

“If you don’t start moving, I’ll shoot you in the leg, drag your bleeding carcass through this mineshaft and leave you there to bleed to death.” Every word was spoken without inflection or any emotion at all.

A boot scraped stone, quickly followed by the sounds of someone making their way through the tunnel.

Smitty grabbed her hand and tugged her with him as he retreated toward the cave-in. Part way there was a collection of rounded boulders off to one side of the riverbed. He picked his way through them until they were out of sight of anyone who might approach using the dried-up waterway.

A minute or so later, that laugh echoed through the cavern again, only this time it was obvious that the man who laughed was out of the tunnel and inside the cave.

“I knew it,” Virgil crowed, his tone far too celebratory. “I knew it!”

Another rock smashed against the cavern floor.

“Someone is down here,” Jack said, sounding small.

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