Page 63 of Trapped with the Covert Ops Soldier

“Yeah, want to bet this back door was dug out by a mine company man hoping to cash in on the gold rush under the noses of his bosses?”

“It’s as reasonable an assumption as any,” Abby replied. “But even if this cave ends up leading to the main mine shafts, the exit is under water.”

“We don’t need to find a different exit out.” He looked at her with a sneaky smile. “Virgil isn’t going to just leave us in the shed for long. He’s going to come back sooner or later to ask more questions or shoot us. I’m thinking sooner.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because he’s obsessed with the idea that you’ve found another entrance to the mine, and all the gold there might be in it.”

“Obsessed?”

“He’s been keeping his head down for years, not making any waves with the people who live here, not getting in trouble with the law. But as soon as he saw the dynamite, he broke all the rules of hiding in plain sight. He doesn’t care if anyone finds out what he’s done, he figures he’s got his meal ticket out of here.”

“Out of here like living like a king in some South American country with no extradition treaty with the United States?”

“Yeah.”

Abby looked into the dark maw of the cave and sighed. “Well, I don’t have any better ideas, so... where do we hide?”

“Won’t know until we look.”

She stared into the unending darkness and shivered. “I was afraid you’d say that.”

“Before we do that, though, I’m going back for a couple more lamps. We’ll leave one lit here at the back door and take an extra to leave somewhere we aren’t so Virgil has something to follow.”

Air shouldn’t have a perceptible weight, but she couldn’t shake off the sensation that in this space it did. “Fine, I’ll wait here.”

He studied her face in the dim, yellow light. “Are you okay?”

Was he serious?

Chapter Fourteen

“No, I’m not okay,”she hissed. “I’ve been shot at, kidnapped, and now I’m hiding inside an old, unstable mine, that’s also a mass grave, waiting for a homicidal geriatric to try to kill me.Us.” She ran out of air and had to take in a deep breath. “So,noI’m not okay.”

He stared at her for a moment, then asked, “Do you want a hug?”

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