Allison Brennan - If I Should Die

“Shut up. Paul wouldn’t say a word because he’d be dead. It’s mutually beneficial that we both keep our end of the bargain.”

They came to a split in the tunnel. She remembered Jon’s words. Stay left had two meanings. Stay to the left tunnel or stay to the left of the tunnel? She shined her light down on the ground. The tracks split and went both ways.

“That way,” Bobbie said.

Lucy walked slowly, but Bobbie wasn’t patient. “Come on, move it!”

“I’m just curious,” Lucy said. If she could keep Bobbie talking, they would go slower, and Lucy was all about caution right now. Her heart pounded. She feared falling to her death far more than she feared Bobbie’s gun-and she was scared plenty of Bobbie’s gun.

“You know what they say, curiosity killed the cat.” Bobbie giggled.

“Do you think that after six years, the Molina drug family would still care that not only did you kill Herve yourself, but you stole everything in his safe? And that you turned over that valuable information to their enemies?” Some of this was conjecture, but Lucy bet she was right.

Lucy had been thinking about this situation for the last twenty-four hours. She didn’t think it was a coincidence that Bobbie had made a deal with Lowell on the guns. He trusted her because she’d already been working for him.

“You’ve been working for Sampson Lowell from the beginning,” Lucy guessed.

She expected a reaction, but not a simple admission. “You are smarter than the men.”

“If I figured it out, the FBI will figure it out, too. And they have more information than I do.”

“Shut! Up!” Bobbie pushed Lucy down the tunnel to get her moving. Lucy stumbled and dropped her flashlight. It didn’t make a sound. It fell down a deep hole, the light bouncing off the ceiling until it broke or went out or was too far down to shine this far.

Lucy screamed.

“I don’t need you,” Bobbie said. “Meet the Hell Hole. You can join your fellow FBI agent Victoria Sheffield, Bitch Number One, at the bottom of the pit. But she had it easy. She was already dead before she went down.”

Bobbie lunged for Lucy. Lucy jumped to the left, her back flat against the wall. Bobbie lost her balance and stumbled. She reached for Lucy, but her foot slipped into the hole.

Her hand wrapped around Lucy’s ankle. Lucy fell hard as Bobbie pulled her down, grunting as she tried to use Lucy’s body to climb to safety. The side of the exploration shaft began to crumble and Lucy felt herself falling.

Sean heard Lucy’s scream. She was closer than they’d thought. They had been following the light ahead of them, their flashlights turned off, because Sean didn’t want Bobbie to know she was being followed. Then the light changed, faded, and there was only one beam.

“They’re at the Hell Hole,” Ricky told him.

“Stay back,” Sean ordered. He checked the harness Omar had strapped on him. The end was secured to the bumper of his truck.

Suddenly, everything went dark and Lucy screamed again. Sean turned on his light and rounded the corner.

Lucy was on the ground, clawing at the rocky bottom of the tunnel. Bobbie had her leg and was trying to use Lucy’s body as leverage to climb out of the exploration shaft.

“Lucy!” Sean reached out.

She grabbed his hand. Her hands were slick with dirt and blood and she began to slip. Bobbie’s weight was pulling her down.

“Ricky! Light!” Sean called out.

Ricky came around the corner and shined his bright light into the tunnel.

There was nowhere to gain traction. Nowhere to gain a foothold. Only his raw strength and the cable that strapped him to the truck held him in place.

He shouted into his radio and prayed they could still hear him, “I need more rope!”

Omar came back with, “That’s it.”

“I need more!”

Sean dropped his own flashlight and grabbed both of Lucy’s hands. The rappelling vest dug deep into his flesh, making breathing difficult, as he strained to hold on to Lucy’s hands.

“I’m moving the truck into the mine entrance,” Noah said over the radio. “I can get you ten more feet, max. Omar, move,” Sean heard before the radio went off.

Suddenly, the slack on the rope caused Sean to slide precariously closer to the edge of the exploration shaft. Lucy screamed as her legs went over the side. Bobbie shouted, “I’ll kill you!”

Lucy screamed again, this time in pain, not fear.

“What?” Sean grunted.

“Knife. She cut me.”

Ricky stood over the shaft with a small.22. Sean didn’t know he had it. “No, Ricky.”

Ricky shined the light into the pit where Bobbie held on to Lucy’s legs. “Good-bye, Aunt Bobbie.”

Ricky fired the gun, and suddenly Lucy was out of the pit and in Sean’s arms on the floor of the tunnel. He scurried away from the edge of the pit, the Hell Hole, and held her close. “God, Lucy, thank God. I can’t lose you.”

Ricky picked up the line, using it to guide him back to the mine entrance, giving Sean and Lucy a moment of privacy.

Noah’s voice barked over the radio, “Report!”

“I have her,” Sean said. “Lucy is safe. Bobbie Swain is dead. Give me a minute.” He needed to just hold her. It had been close, too close.

Lucy clutched Sean, didn’t want to let him go.

“I don’t want to die without you knowing how much I love you,” Lucy said.

She had finally said it, and though her entire body was shaking from fear and adrenaline and shock, her heart was no longer gripped by the fear of loving Sean. Her uncertainty was gone.

“I love you, Sean Rogan. I’ve always known it, but was too scared to say it. Still, you stuck with me.”

They had issues they needed to talk about. Their lives were not safe or simple; they were dangerous and complex, and either of them could die at any time. This week had proven that-trouble found them. But they loved each other, and that had to mean something. It had to be stronger than their differences, more important than their egos.

Sean stared at her, wiping dirt and blood off her face. His expression was almost as if he hadn’t heard her. “Luce-”

“I never want a day to pass where I don’t tell you how I feel,” Lucy said, holding his face in her hands. “You know the truth, you always have.” She kissed him lightly, looking him straight in the eye. “I love you, Sean Rogan,” she repeated.

Sean pulled her to him and kissed her fiercely, passionately.

She lost her breath again and almost forgot where they were.

He leaned back, pulling her with him, resting against the tunnel wall. She didn’t know if she could walk-her leg throbbed from where Bobbie had stabbed it, but the cut wasn’t deep, just painful. Sean’s heart beat rapidly against her palm. Then he smiled his impish grin in the pale glow of the flashlight and said, “I knew you’d come to your senses soon enough and admit that you’re deeply and madly in love with me.” His thumb trailed from her chin down her throat.

His voice cracked when he said, “I love you, too, Princess. And neither of us died today. I’d say it’s a win-win all around.”

Two days later

Sean and Lucy walked into Albany FBI headquarters Tuesday afternoon. Sean was glad to finally leave Spruce Lake, confident that Tim and Adam Hendrickson could move forward on their resort. In light of the continuing police presence as local and federal authorities shut down the drug business and raided multiple buildings, seized several tons of marijuana, and removed all related computers and files, the brothers decided to postpone the resort opening until next year. Tim believed his financial knowledge and collateral would help bring redevelopment money into the area, and Adam planned to simultaneously open separate Boy and Girl Scout camps, something their father had dreamed about. They vowed to work closely with the people in town to develop a viable tourist area. Tourism wouldn’t bring in the big money of drugs or gunrunning, but it also wouldn’t get the townsfolk killed or imprisoned. Already, residents were calling Tim to thank him for standing up to the Swain family and for the first time in their lives, they felt both safe and hopeful.