Stolen Chances (14 page)

Frantic, she searched for her regulator in the thick silt, finally found the tube, and followed it to the mouthpiece. She popped it back in her mouth and drew a breath.

No air filled her lungs.

No. Oh shit. My tanks…

She looked up at the falling rock, still searching for her octopus. She felt like she had a sixty-pound stone anchored to her back. The other stalactite barreled close, and she twisted to the right, just barely missing it. The ground shook again. Pulse roaring in her ears, she trailed her hand through gravel and debris. Dammit, where was it? She knew it was hanging off her tanks, but she couldn’t reach it.

Her fingers closed around the small apparatus. Heart thundering, she pushed it into her mouth. Blew out water and silt. Tried to take a breath.

Nothing happened.

Shit.
Shit!
Her octopus was damaged too.

Fear consumed her. She wrestled with her harness, her back and shoulder throbbing as she searched the blinding maze of dust for Thad. Her chest grew tight. Icy fingers of terror trickled down her spine. Just when she felt the need to scream, Thad’s masked face came into view.

She gave a desperate signal she was out of air. He looked toward her damaged tanks, then took two deep breaths from his regulator and passed it to her. She breathed deep as he searched for his own alternate air source.

Oxygen filled her lungs, and she beat back the fear, just enough so she could unhook her straps. Once she was free, she looked down and realized her tanks were dented and pinned beneath not one but two stalactites and a handful of rocks. It was futile to try to save them. They’d be no help to her now.

Dread filling her, she handed the regulator back to Thad. He gave her the octopus, since it had the longer hose, and looked toward the tunnel they’d come through. Her gaze followed when she saw the concern in his eyes.

The passageway was blocked.

Oh God… The guideline was crushed, the tunnel impassable. And whoever had been on the other side had set off that explosion on purpose to trap them.

A watery grave…

Zantum Leonard’s words sent a shiver down her spine. She thought of Isabel, of all the mistakes she’d made, of what she was doing now to the people she cared about. Of Thad. The need to escape pushed against her lungs, forced her pulse higher, caused her breaths to come fast and shallow.

Thad touched her arm, shaking her out of her trance. She looked up sharply and caught the intense look in his eyes. He shook his head hard.

He knew she was losing it. If she let that happen, he’d die down here with her.

Pull it together, Maren.

She drew a deep breath, then another. And focused on slowing her pulse so she wouldn’t panic. They were alive. They had a chance.

When she felt steadier, she nodded. She couldn’t let him worry about her right now. She needed him focused so they could find a way out of this tomb. So she could get back to her girl.

Thad checked his cylinder and signaled his air was okay. Fear easing just a touch, Maren nodded again. He pointed toward another cave Maren hadn’t noticed earlier and took off swimming. Maren followed close at his heels.

Debris still swirled, making it hard to gauge where they were, but cenotes in the Yucatan had multiple entrances and exits. The key was finding another one.

Maren’s shoulder and back ached where she’d been knocked to the cenote floor, but she tried to forget the pain as she swam. It was dark—her light source had gone out when she’d lost her tanks—and Thad’s light shining ahead did little to illuminate the rocks and walls around her. She tried her best not to crash into the closing tunnels, but she failed more times than she succeeded.

Just when she was sure they were trapped down here forever, she realized the tunnel was gradually rising. A wave of relief rushed through Maren. They were making their ascent. They had to be getting close to the surface.

Maren pushed the thought from her mind and kicked hard to help maneuver them through the water, but her legs weren’t working. Behind her mask, she blinked twice against a wave of blurry vision and shook her head. She tried to wipe the silt from her mask, but her fingers felt heavy. Tingly. Numb.

Thad’s hands closed around her shoulders, and he pulled her up next to him. His intense gaze searched hers. God, he had the best eyes. So dark and sexy. Why was she always afraid to have those eyes focused on her? She loved looking at him. Loved being close to him. Why the hell was she trying to push him away again?

His light went out, and she panicked for a quick second, then relaxed. Darkness really wasn’t so bad. It was kind of relaxing. She closed her eyes. Her shoulder knocked into something hard. What was he doing now? Couldn’t he tell she was tired and just wanted to sleep?

Sleep, yeah. That was it. This cave wasn’t that bad after all. As the darkness closed in around her, she couldn’t remember why she’d had such a bad feeling in the first place.

C
HAPTER
E
IGHT

T
ime seemed to stand still, the sparkling light at the surface teasing Thad and dimming with every kick. His lungs burned, his muscles ached, and for one horrifying moment, he thought they wouldn’t make it.

Then his head broke the surface. He gasped for breath, filling his lungs with as much air as he could get, and pulled Maren up with him. Several seconds passed before his orientation righted. They’d surfaced in a new cenote. Rock walls rose on three sides; the fourth was covered with vines and brush. Against his chest, Maren lay limp, eyes closed.

Shit.
Shit…

Thad yanked the regulator out of her mouth and tugged off her mask. “Maren?” Water ran in rivulets down her face. When she didn’t respond, fear almost crippled him. He gripped her shoulders and shook hard. “Maren!”

She jolted and gasped, and the relief that poured through Thad was as sweet as wine.

He tugged the wet suit cap off her head and held her close. “Breathe, baby. Just breathe.” Her fingers dug into his shoulders as she sucked in air. A cough shook her body. “Breathe,” he said again, trying to steady his voice.

Slowly, her grip relaxed, and his heart rate slowed enough so he could think. There was just enough light coming through the vines to create swirling gold and yellow patterns on the ceiling of the cave. He dragged her toward the ledge where the pool met the long, flat rocks and helped her out of the water. She moved slowly, finally rolling over onto her side on the rocks. After dropping his tanks, he unhooked his restraints, yanked off his gloves, and gripped her face.

“Maren, open your eyes.”

She blinked several times.

“Can you hear me?” he asked. “Focus, Maren.”

“I’m… I’m…” She batted at his hand. Couldn’t seem to make her arm work. “I’m…okay. Di-dizzy.”

Her eyes were dilated. Her skin, still too cold. “That’s because we didn’t decompress. I was afraid if we did, we’d run out of air.” Her eyes slid closed. “Maren?” Panic clawed its way back up his chest, and memories of Colin’s limp body lying on the edge of that cenote threatened to consume him, but he fought them back. “No, dammit. Keep your eyes open and look at me.”

Her lashes fluttered. And this time when she lifted her hand, she connected with his bicep. “I’m…okay. I’m…just tired.”

Tired was good. Tired he could deal with. So long as she didn’t black out on him again. “What else? Keep talking, baby, tell me where it hurts.”

“My… My back and…shoulder. That stala… The stalactite hit my tanks. I think that’s why it hurts.”

“What about your joints? Any pain there? Any pain in your chest? Any numbness or tingling in your arms and legs?” She was disoriented; he just didn’t know how disoriented. Joints hurting was no big deal—just the bends—it would go away. Lungs burning excessively could mean respiratory distress. Severe tingling in the limbs could lead to paralysis...

She pressed her fingers to her temples. “My… My joints hurt a little. My chest is okay.” She shook her head. “No, the rest, no. I…I think I’m okay. Just fuzzy.”

Thad breathed a little easier. “Okay. Fuzzy I can deal with. Okay.” Rubbing a shaky hand over his face, he tried to steady his emotions. That had been way too close. He shouldn’t have let her dive after her odd behavior the other day.

He suddenly remembered the aspirin he kept in the thigh pocket of his wet suit. After fishing two out of his pocket, he cupped fresh water in his hands from the cenote for her to drink, then sank behind her on the rocks and wrapped his arms around her so she could lean back against him.

She was okay. They were okay. They’d made it out alive. She just needed some time to find her balance again, and so did he. The fear that had tightened his chest like a vise when he thought she wasn’t going to make it eased, just a touch.

He closed his eyes. “Scared me, Blondie. Don’t do that again.”

“I’m not going back down there.” Her voice was small and quiet, but he didn’t care. She was talking, and that was a good sign. “Fuck Patrick and his stupid obsession. Nothing’s worth that.”

He chuckled, because he was suddenly thinking the same thing.

Her chest rose and fell as she breathed deep. Even through their wet suits, her body heat seeped into him, warming places he thought had gone cold.

“Thad?”

God, he liked the feel of her against him like this. Relaxing into him. Leaning on him. He could do without the whole near-death experience, but this… Yeah, he liked this. “Hmm?”

“We weren’t alone down there.”

All that warmth felt like it was pushed out by an icy wave. “What are you talking about?”

“I saw another diver through the tunnel just before everything collapsed. That’s why I grabbed your arm. Someone else was down there with us.”

“I didn’t see anything.”

“I’m not making it up. I saw them.”

The lift to her voice told him she was getting agitated, which was the last thing he wanted for her. “I believe you.” He ran his hand down her arm, hoping to soothe her. “Tell me what you saw.”

She blew out a slow breath. “It was just for a split second. Through the tunnel. I saw a diver’s silhouette; then they swam off. And seconds later, the ceiling came down. That wasn’t an earthquake or an accident. That was some kind of explosion.”

Thad’s mind spun, and in the silence, his heart rate ticked up. “Who knew we were exploring this cenote besides Patrick and the team?”

“
Only
Patrick and the team. Of which there are several new faces.”

Including Drummer.

She didn’t say the words, but she didn’t need to. His conversation with Lisa on the boat ran back through his mind. Years ago, when Colin had been killed, it had been because one of the grunts Patrick had hired had filtered information to Declan. The treasure hunter had sent in his own team of divers to head them off, thinking they were close to locating
La Malinche
, and when one of them had tried to grab the bag off Maren’s hip, Colin had gotten in his way.

“We’re not close to finding
La Malinche
this time,” he said quietly.

“I know,” she answered.

But they could be. They were both thinking it.

His pulse was a roar in his ears, and his mind was churning a mile a minute, but when she turned onto her side and rested her cheek against his chest, everything else slid to the wayside.

“I’m tired,” she whispered.

He looked down at her wet eyelashes, already sliding shut. At the damp hair matted against her head. At her fingers, curling into the fabric of his wet suit. Brushing a lock away from her temple, he realized he should have taken the constricting garment off so he could feel her breath warming his skin, but he wasn’t moving her now. She felt too damn good against him, and he was still too keyed up by what had happened beneath the surface to let her go.

“Just breathe, Blondie. Rest.” He stroked her hair. “We’ll figure everything out later.”

Slowly, she drifted to sleep. And as his pulse slowly came down, relief eased the anxiety. He’d been scared underwater before, but never like this. Even when Colin had been injured, he hadn’t been as afraid as he’d been today, and he didn’t want to think too much about what that meant.

“Just breathe,” he whispered again, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close.

He just wasn’t sure if the words were meant for her ears or his own.

T
he sound of lapping roused Maren from a deep sleep.

Thad’s wet suit lay propped under her head, but the cold, rugged inflexibility of the rocks pressing against her aching back shot pain through every inch of her torso.

She sat up and rubbed her shoulder, surprised to find herself alone. She knew Thad hadn’t gone far, but she wondered how long he’d been gone. Wondered even more how long she’d been out.

She glanced around, for the first time taking survey of her surroundings. The cenote was large and sheltered, a narrow opening letting the dim light of day slide into the cavern. Stalactites hung down, even in here.