Page 36 of Fighting for Mallory

“No.”

“Where did you lose her? California?”

Tex shook his head. “No. Here in Tennessee.”

“Okay, stop evading. Where is she?”

“Luca, I don’t know. The last ping I received was in Rutherford County, about three hours away from Memphis.”

Luca frowned. His head pounded as blood flowed through it. “What’s in Rutherford County?”

“Caves. The largest number of known caves is in Tennessee. One hundred and twenty-nine, to be exact, in Rutherford County. Altogether, the state has almost ten thousand caves. And those are the ones that are known.”

“So, what you’re saying is that Mallory has been taken underground, and that’s why you can’t track her.”

“Yeah.”

“Or they ripped out her earrings.”

“That’s a possibility, too.”

“Jesus, Tex. I’ve failed Mallory. I’ve failed to protect her. And now I’m laid up in this fucking hospital bed for God knows how long and can’t even help search for her.”

Tex shot him not a look of sympathy but one of understanding. “You haven’t failed her. You have a team of brothers searching for her. Maverick’s employer has a top-notch search and rescue team standing by as soon as we give them the green light.” He rose carefully from the chair and placed a new burner phone on the mobile tray stand. “Here. Yours was crushed in the attack. Call Justice. He’s concerned about you.”

“What if Mallory tries to contact me?”

“If she’s able to get her hands on a cell phone, I doubt there would be service in the caves. Above ground, if she can’t get in touch with you, she’ll call one of us.”

Luca stared at the phone. His mind whirled with different scenarios regarding Mallory’s chances of survival, none of them good. “Thanks, Tex,” he muttered.

Two days later Luca left the hospital against Dr. Stanford’s advice. He signed a waiver releasing the doctor and the hospital of all liability and walked out under his own power instead of following policy and using a wheelchair. Dr. Stanford had sent him home with pain medication and antibiotics, which he intended to take as prescribed, but he had no intention of deadening his pain. It kept him sharp and alert, and he needed his wits about him as he searched for Mallory.

One week. That’s the amount of time they had to find her. If they were right about the full moon theory. If.

Maverick picked up Luca and drove him to Detective Scope’s home where they were using his den as a command center. His friends had decided while he was in the hospital not to launch a coordinated search with law enforcement to lull Mallory’s abductors into a false sense of security. If they believed they couldn’t be identified or located, they might make a mistake.

Maps of Tennessee’s extensive cave system were tacked to the walls of the den. Some areas had been circled with a dark red Sharpie. The place where they had lost track of Mallory was marked with a huge X. Hutch and Detective Scope were deep in conversation but glanced up when Luca joined them.

“Jesus, Luca! You look like shit,” Hutch remarked. “Are you okay? Maybe we should take you back to the hospital.”

No, he was not okay. He would never be okay until Mallory was safe in his arms again. Sweat ran in rivulets down his face, and a cold, sick feeling settled in his gut. His knees buckled, and he dropped into a leather recliner. Luca gazed down at his T-shirt to check for blood, hoping the exertion of leaving the hospital hadn’t torn loose any stitches. It was clean, along with the dressing from his surgery.

“I’m fine.” He swallowed the panic rising in his throat. “What’s the plan to find Mallory? And where’s Tex?”

“Tex had an emergency and went home. Don’t worry, he’s staying on top of the search. Right now, we have operatives staking out the bar and grill where you saw Neheb’s cult members and protecting the waitress who provided us with descriptions of them. Another pair of operatives are acting as students at the University of Memphis and keeping an eye on Dr. Samir.”

Maverick continued, “My boss already has our search and rescue team in place. The team leader, Clayton Wemys, has a degree in speleology, the study of caves. We’re ready to go in after dark. Here,” he pointed at the X on one of the maps, “where we lost track of Mallory. There’s just one glitch.”

“What?”

“Clayton is overseas on business. It’s going to take some time to get him stateside.”

“How much time?” Luca demanded.

“Between thirty-six to forty-two hours.”

“So the window to finding Mallory alive closes even more.” He met the sympathetic expressions on his friends’ faces and waved them away. “Let’s get to work.”

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