Scream for Me (12 page)

They needed to get her out of hell.

Cadence led the way, shining the light as Kyle carried Lily. “Hold on,” he whispered to her. “You’re almost home.”

Alive
. They’d actually found her alive. Lily’s heartbeat was too slow, and his was about to burst from his chest.

He followed Cadence’s light, watching it cut quickly across the room.

Her light froze, locking on the wall to the right.

To the tally marks carved into the cavern’s wall.

There were thirteen marks carved into that wall. Fucking
thirteen
. His heart stopped when he saw those marks and realized just what the hell they meant.

Her light swept away from the marks to the floor.

He eased over the trip wire.

Lily barely seemed to breathe in his arms.

The sound of his and Cadence’s breathing was far too loud.

Was the SOB here? Was he watching them in the dark?

Cadence turned. They were outside of the door. They just had to backtrack, go to the fork, and then make their way toward the fresh air.

They were close to freedom.

So fucking close.

Then he felt the trembles shake the ground beneath him.

“Kyle…”

Cadence was afraid again.

“Hurry, Kyle,” Cadence said.

He clutched Lily tighter.

“Hurry!” Cadence screamed.

There was another blast. They hadn’t stumbled into a trip wire, he knew they hadn’t.

Was he watching?

Trying to kill them all?

Kyle started running, with Cadence right in front of him. The light bobbed and weaved, and rocks bit into his shoulders as he forced his way through the tunnel toward freedom. Behind him, the sound of falling rocks roared.

Faster, faster…

They were at the fork.

Cadence’s light hit the right tunnel.

Safety.

If the cave walls would just last.

But the shaking, the reverberations, were everywhere.

The light began to weaken.

“Straight ahead!” Cadence yelled. “We’re going to make it!”

There wasn’t any other option.

He could taste the fresh air. His hold tightened on Lily. A rocky outcrop slammed into his side. He pulled her closer, shielding her head, making sure he took any impacts.

Then he heard it—the rushing sound of water. Thundering.

Like a waterfall.

Yes, fuck, yes…he could even see the flow of water in the cave, could see
light
.

His feet slipped in the water. It wasn’t a trickle of a stream, not like before.

It was deeper.

A few more steps, and he saw it. A wall of moving water, right before him.

Cadence glanced back at him. There was blood on her beautiful face. What looked like the dried tracks of tears. “There’s a ledge,” she said, voice rising to be heard over the blast of the falls. “Stay close to the rocks. We can walk around the falls.”

He shifted Lily in his arms. She felt cold, and she still hadn’t spoken. Carefully, he followed Cadence’s orders, moving as gingerly as he could. One step. Two. The ground was wet and covered with thick, green mold. He didn’t want to risk crashing into the water with Lily. He didn’t know how deep it was, and he wasn’t even sure Lily
could
survive a plunge like that.

One step. One slow step. Not running anymore because they were free.

Almost.

Inch by precious inch, they went.

Water sprayed against him, soaking his clothes.

They were skating around the rocky edge.

Every heartbeat seemed to echo in his ears, even as the falls thundered around him. The sunlight was bright, banishing the darkness of the caves. Lily was in his arms. Alive.
Free
.

We saved her
.

He searched the area and found a safe spot for Lily. Then he put her down as carefully as he could.

“Lily?” Cadence bent over her. “Lily, open your eyes,
look at me
.”

Lily wasn’t stirring.

Kyle yanked out his phone. A signal. Hell, yes! He called for help.

Cadence was holding Lily’s wrist. Kyle saw the flash of her eyes, heard the harsh inhale of Cadence’s breath. “There’s no pulse.”

She’d been alive. Back in the cave, Lily had said—

“
Nine-one-one, what is your—
”

Cadence’s hands pushed against Lily’s chest. Started chest compressions.

“This is FBI Agent Kyle McKenzie. Get a lock on my phone. We’ve got Lily Adams. We’re next to some damn falls.”

Cadence kept working. Talking, whispering, “Stay with me, Lily. Don’t go. Don’t leave your daughter. Carrie needs you.”

“There’s a search party in the area!” The operator’s voice cracked with excitement. “They’re looking for you. Detective Marsh called in the accident.”

What fucking accident? It had been a trap. A deliberate attack by the SOB who’d taken Lily and all the other women.

“They’re searching for you right now.”

“Her heart isn’t beating.” The words were torn from him. “Get an airlift out here. Get
help
!”

Lily Adams had survived hell, and he didn’t want her to die just when she’d been brought back into the sunlight.

Bastard.

He watched them from the cover of the trees. They’d made it out. They had
Lily
.

But Lily was dead. He saw the way the female agent was working on her. Lily lay there, sprawled, her eyes closed.

Gone.

She wouldn’t be able to tell.

The agents should have died in the cave. He’d planned so carefully, to make certain any visitors would never get out once they’d stumbled in.

To make sure Lily would never get out.

The falls crashed behind the agents.

The female agent was still pressing her hands into Lily’s chest. Trying to save a dead girl.

There was no point in that.

No point…

Lily was gone.
You lost her, too, McKenzie. How does that make you feel?

He smiled. At least Lily hadn’t been a total loss. And McKenzie wasn’t a freaking hero anymore. The big agent who saved the day.

You lost another girl, McKenzie. You didn’t bring down the killer. You won’t get the spread in the papers for this
.

All you’ll get…is death
.

“Come on, Lily,” Cadence urged as she kept up the chest compressions. “Stay with me!”

Kyle crouched beside her. Help was coming. Would it get there in time?

He reached for Lily’s hand. So cold and limp. His fingers curled around hers. Held tight. “Carrie needs you,” he told her. Cadence’s voice had been low. Beseeching. His was hard. Demanding. “Do you want to leave your daughter on her own? Because I don’t think you do.”

Cadence pushed down.

“I think you want to get back to her.” How much time had passed?

Cadence was frantically checking Lily, working to bring her back.

“Don’t leave your daughter, Lily,” he told her. “Don’t let that bastard win. Get back home to Carrie. Get back—”

Footsteps rushed toward them. Kyle’s head jerked up.

Cadence never stopped working on Lily.

The search team spilled toward him. He saw the familiar uniform of two EMTs. Captain Anniston and a battered Jason Marsh were running with them, as Heather Crenshaw and Randall Hollings trailed close behind.

“I’ve got a heartbeat!” Cadence yelled.

Kyle realized that he’d lifted his knife at the sound of those stomping footsteps.

His attention flew back to Lily and Cadence as hope pushed through him once more.

But the EMTs shoved him back as they surrounded Lily. As they kept fighting to make sure that she lived.

His gaze lifted. Tracked up the falls. He couldn’t see the entrance of that damn cave.

We got her out. And we’re going to fucking find you
.

CHAPTER SIX

The hospital was bright. Too bright and white, and after being in those caverns, it almost hurt to be surrounded by so much light.

Kyle sat in the cracked chair, his eyes locked on the door leading back to the ICU.

Cadence had brought Lily back. Lily’s heart had still been beating when she was rushed away in that ambulance. But even though her heart beat, Lily hadn’t opened her eyes. She hadn’t come back to them fully. Not yet.

A coma.

The docs said Lily had been drugged. An overdose. They were trying to bring her out of the coma, but, so far, nothing was working.

“Mister…” A quiet, shaking voice reached him, pulling Kyle’s gaze away from those doors. He looked to the left, and saw the girl, Carrie, staring up at him with her wide, tear-filled eyes. “Did you save my mommy?”

She’d been at the hospital, along with Lily’s mother, Martha, before they’d arrived. James’s orders.

In case Lily didn’t make it, he’d wanted the family to be able to say their good-byes.

I haven’t saved her yet
. “I helped bring her home,” he replied carefully.

She looked down, lip quivering. “I want to see Mommy.”

Dammit. There was something about a little girl crying. It felt like she was squeezing his heart—no, crushing the thing—between her small hands.

The ICU doors opened with a whoosh of sound.

Cadence marched out. The blood had been washed away from her hands and face. She’d changed into scrubs, ditching her torn clothes. A small, white bandage covered her temple.

Her gaze met his. Kyle realized he was holding his breath.

Tell me she’s going to make it. Tell the kid her mother is going to make it
.

Cadence’s gaze dropped to the little girl. She swallowed.

“How is she?” came from James as he rose to his feet. The captain had been keeping a silent vigil near Kyle.

Kyle’s back teeth clenched.
Don’t ask that fucking question in front of the kid
.

The guy should know better.

“Stable,” Cadence said. “For now, she appears to be stable.”

That was good news, right? Stable sounded real good to Kyle.

A doctor appeared behind Cadence. Called for the family.

As they surrounded him, Cadence headed toward Kyle and James. “They think she’ll recover. Her heartbeat is growing stronger, and her brain activity…” Her voice was low, just for them. “The doctor thinks she’ll wake up.”

“When?” He wanted to know just who had taken Lily. What the bastard had done to her in the darkness.

“Maybe tomorrow. It’s hard to say.” She pushed back her hair. “We need to talk, privately.”

Away from the family rushing toward the ICU doors.

James motioned to the cops who’d been waiting a few feet back. Heather Crenshaw and a bruised Jason Marsh stepped forward. “Stand guard, got me?” James demanded of them.

They nodded. Jason’s gaze cut to Cadence. He looked like he wanted to speak, but Cadence had already stepped away.

She, James, and Kyle slid into an empty hospital room. Cadence shut the door, sealing them inside.

“Preliminary exams are showing there’s no sign of rape,” Cadence said.

Thank Christ.

“She’s got lacerations on her wrists and ankles, no doubt from the ropes, but Lily appears to have no other physical trauma.”

“Except that the bastard drugged her,” James snapped as he ran a hand over his gleaming head. “Tried to kill her.”

“We were close.” Cadence clenched her own hands into small fists. “He didn’t want her making it out of those caverns.”

He hadn’t wanted any of them getting free.

“He set his traps,” Kyle said, and there was rage rumbling in his voice at just how close they’d all come to dying. “He tried to bury us alive.” The trip wire in the Statue of Liberty chamber had been set to bury anyone who’d been lucky enough to find those remains.

He remembered his first glimpse of Lily. Her stark eyes, unblinking.

The darkness. His light had cut through the dark.

Thirteen tally marks
.

“As soon as he got clear of the debris, Jason called in backup.” The lines on James’s face were even deeper. He looked as if he’d aged ten years in the last two days. “We couldn’t get through the rocks, and we were trying to find a way to you.”