David Wiltse - Into The Fire

Swann doused his headlamp and rushed to blow out the candles. When he stood abruptly from extinguishing the second candle, the pain in his eye struck him so severely that it nearly knocked him off his feet.

Aural heard Swann gasp with pain. He was only a few feet from her,just the other side of the protective formation that shielded her from his view. She would go straight for his eyes, she told herself. If he found her, she would strike at his injured eye with all she had and simply forget about his knife. If she ran into it, what did it matter, she would die anyway if she didn't get away from him.

She would lunge before he realized he had found her; if he had the knife in front of him, then she would skewer herself on it, but at least she would be trying, she would be doing her best to ruin him in the process.

His light snapped off abruptly, then the candles went out. Aural could hear him panting with pain, then she heard something else. It sounded like-she knew it couldn't be, it was a cruel trick of her imagination, but still it sounded like someone else entering the cavern… but where was the light? No one would come without light.

Blessedly, Pegeen was able to stand. She rose to her feet, stretching her back after the long journey, trying desperately to orient herself.

She reached her arms out to her sides and felt nothing. Nothing to either side, nothing above her. The tunnel had been horrible, but at least she knew where she was in relation to her surroundings; now she felt as if she had stepped into the emptiness of outer space. Her feet told her which way was down, but that was all she knew.

She silently cursed Becker. He had abandoned her, sunk into himself, and she had neither light nor weapon.

Swann knew where she was, he had heard her coming and doused the light, he had had time to prepare, he knew where the tunnel was in relation to his position, he knew what lay between it and himself. Pegeen knew nothing.

For all she could tell, he stood within a foot of her. She felt her skin tighten at the, thought.

Pegeen bent her knees, sinking into an athletic crouch, elbows out, hands ready. Beyond that, she didn't know what to do but wait.

The silence of the cave seemed ominous as she strained every nerve to hear some human sound. It took several minutes for her mind and heart to quiet enough before she could make out a distant trickle of running water and, somewhere closer, an occasional drip.

Finally, she had no choice but to act. It was why she was here.

"Federal agent," she said. She was surprised by the strength of the echo. "Swann, you're under arrest." She hoped the threat didn't sound as foolish to Swann as it did to her.

She heard a low sound, a moan, then silence. Pegeen moved forward, towards the sound, walking in the crouch, securing one foot before creeping forward tentatively with the next. Her boot slipped out from under her and she fell, catching herself with her hands. He can take me anytime, she thought desperately, anytime. I could walk right onto him and never know it. When she had calmed herself, she started forward again, no longer certain after the fall if she was heading in the right direction or not. But the girl was still alive, she knew that-she had heard her groan.

Pegeen used the girl to draw her forward.

"You don't have any light," Swann said incredulously.

He couldn't believe it, but hearing the woman stumble' about in the dark left him no other conclusion. They had sent a woman to catch him, and she came without light.

He could not have asked for more.

He heard her footsteps stop. She would be orienting herself, he thought.

She wouldn't know how hard it was to pinpoint the source of a sound because of the echoes; she would need help. Swann smiled to himself. He would help her right onto the tip of his knife. He could hear her coming; she would never know where he was until it was too late.

"Are you afraid of the dark?" he asked. Her steps resumed, heading in the right direction now. She moved quickly at first, then slowed as she lost her bearings.

"Most people are afraid of what they'll find in the dark," Swann said.

"I'm not… It's me." He tittered, then listened to the steps hurrying towards him again.

Aural could hear Swann edging slowly towards her hiding place, moving when the woman moved. Maybe he wanted his back to a wall when the woman got to himshe didn't know, she only knew that he was coming closer. He was within a few steps now. If only Aural could move silently, if only her slightest movement wouldn't be betrayed by the clink of chains, if only she could help in some way… The woman was coming to her death;

Aural could hear every step that brought her closer.

Swann felt the rock of the wall with his hand and eased his back against it. He was ready now. The agent was closer, soon she would be within striking distance. He controlled his breathing, keeping it as shallow as he could.

She would not hear him unless he wanted her to, and then it would be too late.

Closer she came, only a few steps left, but a little off course. That meant nothing, he would strike her in the side rather than the front, or wait until he heard her go past him, then hit her in the back. She didn't need to come right into his lap, just close enough. She was almost there now… but she had stopped.

Pegeen paused. Her nerves were screaming with tension. He had to be close, she was very near him now, must be, but he sent no more clues.

The only human sounds were her own. She felt as if every step now was in a minefield, things could explode on her at any time.

She wanted to run, to turn and run and hide herself somewhere in the darkness, cowering, pulling her knees to her chest and waiting until someone else did something, someone else took care of it.

She held her breath, straining to hear. Then came the scream.

"He has a knife!" Aural yelled.

Swann turned, startled by the sound, amazed that he had been almost atop the girl the whole time. He reached out, touched only stone, then swung back to face the agent, who came towards him in a rush. Swann struck, hitting up, felt the knife strike bone. Something swished past his face, missing, and he struck again. The agent gasped and fell away from him, landing hard on the stone.

Swann lifted the blade to stab again and heard the tinkle of chain just fractionally before he felt Aural's hands grasping at him, locating him, then clawing upwards towards his face.

He turned his head, flew at her with his elbow, then kicked her legs.

She cried out in pain but kept after him until he clubbed her with his fist, hitting her several times, then kicking her off balance until she fell. Swann turned back to the agent, feeling for her with his foot on the rocky floor. She tried to scrabble away from him but he had her now.

He knelt and lifted the knife.

There was a sound, more of a sense, of something rushing at him very fast, and Swann turned and lashed out wildly with the knife, trying to fend it off. The knife caught flesh, ripped, and he heard a grunt as the momentum of the thing took it roaring past him.

Swann snapped on his headlamp and saw Becker, who had raced several yards past, turn and blink at the light.

A gash of blood was welling up across his forehead. In the instant Swann also took in the woman agent who was lying beneath him, her arms crossed to ward off another blow, and Aural, also down, a few feet to one side.

For a second, everything seemed frozen in time, then Becker came up on all fours, snarling. Swann screamed and ran towards the tunnel.

In the receding light of Swann's headlamp, Becker knelt beside Pegeen, his hands searching for her wounds.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"Get him," Pegeen said.

Becker put a flashlight in her hand. Swann had reached the tunnel; the light all but disappeared as it burrowed into the long hole in the night.