Page 39 of Trapped

The lights swiveled in the other direction. Cash waited until they had disappeared back into the tunnel. “We have to hustle,” he said.

“Right.” She stood unmoving beside him, and he wondered what she was doing, until she reached for him and wrapped her arms around him.

He was startled for a moment. Then he circled her shoulders and pulled her against him.

He could feel her trembling.

“Cold?”

“Scared.”

“You did fine.”

“I didn’t know it was going to be this rough.” She swallowed hard. “I didn’t know Phil was going to get killed.”

“Yeah. Let’s make sure it wasn’t for nothing.” He waited a beat, then said, “Maybe this is when you tell me who sent you here.”

She hitched in a breath. “An outfit called The Decorah Security Agency.”

“Who are they?”

“They’re in Beltsville.”

“You mean between D.C. and Baltimore?”

“Yes. They do some government contract work, and they were contracted by a Defense Department office that wanted to know what Montgomery was up to.”

“So, the point of the exercise wasn’t rescuing me.”

He felt her tense. “No. But it was the point for me.”

“Okay.”

“You don’t believe me?”

“I don’t know what the hell to believe any more.” He wanted to ask if she would have backed out if she’d known the guards were out for blood, but he kept that question locked behind his lips. Last night, she had kissed him passionately. Today she kept her head tipped down. So, was she trying to change the terms of the relationship?

If he kissed her again, he might find out. But he couldn’t do it now. Not when the guards were coming back.

She held him for long seconds before easing away.

“We’d better go.”

“Yeah.”

They both put on their night vision goggles and switched on their beams again. She moved hers in a circle and found one of the marks on the floor. Once she had her bearings, she began leading him across the cavern, where they had to keep detouring around stalagmites and ducking under stalactites.

Figuring he had nothing to lose, he began asking questions in a low voice—starting with, “I remember something about being in the bunker for three weeks. Is that correct.”

“Yes,”

He muttered a curse under his breath. “And I don’t remember any of it—until last night, when you woke me up. Well, I do have a few memories. I could find my way to the mess hall, the gym and Montgomery’s office.”

“At first your wound was infected. You were on heavy pain meds. So, there was no chance of getting information out of you. They had to get you well first.”

“How do you know all that?”

“The Decorah people had a lot of information on you.”

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