Risky Obsession (Wolf Security #3)

32. Kane

CHAPTER 32

Kane

T he cold, crushing weight of water pressed against my body as darkness consumed me. I lost all sense of time. How long had I been trapped down here? An hour? Two? Half a day?

Panic burned in my chest, threatening to tear me apart. I was trapped like a rat in a sinking ship, and I was all out of ideas on how to escape this hell.

Who did this?

And why?

They could have shot us, a quick kill. But this . . . this was cruel. Evil.

Did Lacey escape? Or did that fucker get her?

Anger stung my brain like salt on an open wound.

I’d seen Lacey fight. She may be petite, but she was agile and a fierce fighter. Maybe that bastard didn’t have a gun, and that was why he couldn’t shoot us.

Clinging onto that thought, I had to believe she was okay. The alternative shredded my mind to pieces.

Trying to remain calm, I focused on my breathing. Inhale, exhale. One, two. I counted each breath, trying to find a rhythm despite the chaos crashing through my thoughts.

I inhaled a lungful of stale air through the pipe, then slowly let the bubbles release from my nose. It was equal parts a delicate dance, and a deadly game .

My heart pounded in my ears, drowning out the sound of my ragged breathing. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could do this.

Where are you, Lacey?

The darkness seemed to swallow my thoughts, making them barely audible even to myself. I couldn’t shake the gnawing dread that coiled around my stomach that something had happened to her.

I could still hear her voice, telling me she loved me.

I should have told her that I loved her, too, and that I forgave her.

Why didn’t I? Did she die thinking that I didn’t love her?

I choked back a sob, and the weight of my anger threatened to crush me. Each stale breath I dragged through the pipe was harder than the last.

I screamed my anger, releasing a burst of bubbles that went up my nose. Gasping, I sucked in a mouthful of foul water. It hit my lungs like a brick, and bucking against the pain, I hit my head on the roof.

Fuck!

My mind shattered as I fought the panic racing through me. Drawing on the last of my air, I blew into the tube, hoping the pressure was enough to clear the airway. When my lungs couldn’t wait a second more, I sucked in a huge breath.

Stars danced across my eyes, and I welcomed the distraction. Forcing myself to get my shit together, I returned to counting my breaths.

It would be so easy to let go of the pipe. Sure, the pain would be excruciating, but it would be over quickly enough.

Lacey’s beautiful eyes drifted into focus, but they didn’t shimmer with the element of mischief that I loved about her. Instead, they were bloodshot and flooded with tears.

If I died, she would blame herself.

I banged my fist against the ceiling

Get your shit together. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

With each passing second, the darkness closed even tighter, smothering me.

Pops drifted into my mind, calm as ever.

You’d be proud of me, Pops. I got the treasure, and I got the girl.

The last words Pops said to me before he slipped into oblivion was that wealth was worthless if you didn’t have someone to enjoy it with.

It was a cruel irony that I was going to die alone with a fortune at my fingertips.

Oh God. I’m going to die alone!

Despair consumed me, and I shivered in the cold darkness.

Fuck that!

And fuck this shit!

I clenched my fists, digging my nails into my water-soaked palms.

But my grip on hope was slipping, and despair consumed me as I shivered in the cold darkness.

I wasn’t sure how much longer I could cling to hope. I turned my focus to my breathing again. In. Out. In.

An eruption of bubbles swirled around me, snapping me to attention. My heart raced as I blindly reached up into the shaft. I wrapped my hand around a fist-sized object, and as I pulled it toward me, bubbles swirled, and the water seemed to hiss.

My mind jumped for joy. A scuba breathing mask.

My trembling hands fumbled with the breather as I shoved it into my mouth and inhaled the sweetest air I’d ever tasted.

Banging the pipe back and forth in the chute above me, I cheered through the breather.

Lacey, you’re a fucking miracle worker.

My chest heaved with a renewed sense of hope. Someone grabbed the pipe at the other end and as we seesawed back and forward a few times, I pictured Lacey grinning her gorgeous smile.

Dropping the pipe, I rolled my neck forward for the first time in what seemed like hours.

Maybe it was.

As my lungs filled with fresh air, something prodded the top of my head. Blindly reaching up, I found a scuba mask had been pushed down to me. I just about wept at the prospect of being able to open my eyes. Not that I would be able to see anything down here.

Grateful that Archer had taught me how to scuba dive several years ago, I used the air from the breather to clear the water from the mask. Sighing with relief, I blinked away the sting of salt water.

Someone positioned a light over the shaft, so the beam penetrated my liquid world. It was incredible just to see my hands. They were wrinkled and pale, and I tried to calculate how long I’d been down here.

And more importantly, how much longer.

I peered into the murky water that had rushed into this space so quickly. Hopefully, the hole that created that torrent was big enough for someone to get to me. If not, I could be down here for a lot longer.

The minutes slithered by, and the icy grip of hopelessness tightened its hold on me again.

Cold dread churned in my stomach as I began counting my breaths, but I lost track sometime before I reached a hundred and my thoughts drifted to a question that was impossible to answer. How many scuba cylinders did they have with them?

If my memory served me right, the average scuba tank lasted about an hour.

Each breath depleted my air.

I could still be fucked.

Get a grip. Or you will die.

Trying to push down another wave of panic, I slowed my breathing, taking long deep breaths rather than shallow ones.

My thoughts tumbled to the last time I’d thought I was fucked. I’d been twelve years old, and my life had become pure hell. But I had survived, and I’d become stronger because of it.

That moment had shaped me.

This one would shape me, too. And I would never take breathing for granted again.

A faint glow appeared in the dark tunnel to my right, casting eerie shadows on the walls around me.

Yes! Someone is coming.

My heart thundered as the light grew brighter. The glow from a flashlight appeared, and I squinted against the glare, trying to work out who was swimming toward me.

A face emerged through the murky water.

“Archer!” I released a muffled cry through my breather.

We wrapped our arms around each other, and relief turned my body to mush.

Using the light, he showed me a set of scuba diving gear he’d brought with him. As I pulled on the vest and tank, my fingers trembled so much I couldn’t connect the clips across my chest.

Archer helped me do up the gear and checked that I was receiving air. Finally, I was mobile, and although I was desperate to get out of that watery bunker, I had to show Archer why we were here in the first place. I gave him the okay signal and then indicated for him to follow me.

I led him to the gold and when he shone his light into the crate, the bars shimmered as if celebrating being discovered. Excitement glistened in Archer’s eyes.

He clapped me on the back. He knew just how long I’d been searching for this gold.

Ten long years I’d waited for this moment, and it was surreal that I’d shared it with my long-time mate, and Lacey, a woman who I planned to share many more special moments with.

Archer and I left the cold darkness of the underground bunker and navigated the narrow tunnel. My waterlogged muscles were pathetic as I kicked my heavy boots, trying to keep up with Archer’s smooth pace with his fins. He waited for me at a jagged hole in the concrete wall, and I followed him through the breach in the tunnel.

My scuba tank scraped across the rocks as we squeezed into a passage that was all sharp edges and loose rubble. This must be the blast zone.

The wormhole became tighter, and one section was so narrow, we had to take off our tanks to get through.

Just as I thought I couldn’t continue any longer, a faint glimmer of light emerged ahead, growing brighter as we inched forward.

Finally, Archer indicated for us to surface and side by side, we swam upward.

We pushed through to fresh air, and I spat the breather from my mouth. I tore the scuba mask from my face, and as salt water stung my eyes, my vision blurred.

We were inside one of the middle submarine pens.

A squeal of joy echoed off the water.

Lacey!

“Kane!” Lacey rushed toward us from the concrete platform, and she lowered onto her hands and knees, reaching toward me with relief etched across her beautiful features. “Thank God you’re okay.”

She squeezed our palms together.

“Thanks to you,” I said.

Archer helped me remove the scuba tank and shove it onto the platform. I had to fight gravity to get my body up onto solid ground .

Lacey threw herself into my arms, and as I held her tightly, feeling the warmth of her body against mine, I ran my hand over her wet hair.

“Good to see you again, Kane.” Rosalina rubbed her hand up my arm.

“You too, Rosalina.”

Lacey trembled in my arms.

“I can’t believe you found Archer and Rosalina so quickly,” I said against the top of her head.

“I got lucky. I’m so glad you’re okay,” she whispered. “I was so scared for you.”

“She didn’t just find us.” Archer clapped my shoulder. “She fought off the asshole who tried to kill you guys.”

He pointed toward the mechanics shed.

Lying on his side on the ground, was a man with his hands and feet behind his back, and blood stains over his puffer jacket.

“Who is he?” I asked Lacey.

“Don’t know his name, but he’s the bastard who attacked us back at the first hotel.”

“Jesus, and you took him down!”

“Yeah, well, I was angry.” She shrugged. “And he wasn’t watching his back. He probably thought we’d both drowned.”

She risked her life to save me.

“You’re amazing,” I said.

“She sure is,” Rosalina said.

“How did you find Archer and Rosalina?” I asked.

“We’re anchored offshore,” Archer said. “We’d been there about an hour, trying to contact you.”

I frowned, still trying to piece the scenarios together.

“I jumped off the cliff and swam to their yacht,” Lacey said.

“You jumped?” I blinked at her.

She nodded and her cheeks flushed pink. “I couldn’t just let you drown, could I?”

“Thank you.” I tightened my grip on her, squeezing her to my chest.

Archer winked at me with a goofy grin.

I rolled my eyes at him but couldn’t stop the smile claiming my lips.

“So . . .” Archer nodded toward the man on the floor. “Want me to kill that asshole?”

Lacey shoved back from me. “Like hell you will.”

“Whoa!” Archer burst out laughing. “I’m joking.”

Lacey brushed her hands together. “Good. We need answers from him. And I’m arresting him for murder, attempted murder, theft, break and enter . . .. He’s going to jail for a very long time.”

Archer blinked at her.

“She’s a cop,” I said with pride wrapping around my heart.

Lacey seemed to deflate as she nodded at Archer.

“A damn good cop,” I added. “And her real name is Lacey, not Tory.”

Lacey’s expression morphed from confusion to confidence as she straightened her shoulders and held her hand toward Archer. “Detective Lacey Brooks of the Rosebud Police Station. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too, Detective Brooks.” Archer shook her hand. “I can’t wait to hear the story behind that.”

“Can we get out of here first? I don’t know about your guys, but I’m freezing.” Rosalina hugged her arms.

Lacey’s hand slipped into mine, our fingers intertwining. “What do we do with him?” she asked, nodding toward the bastard who had tried to kill us. “We can’t leave him here.”

“We’ll take him with us,” Archer said. “There are plenty of places onboard where we can keep him restrained.”

I grinned at her. “Then you can do whatever you want with him, Detective Brooks.”

Her expression morphed to serious. “I need answers. He’s somehow connected to Grant Hughes, and I need to get my hands on him, too.”

“Who?” I frowned at her.

“Grant Hughes.” She raised her right hand. “The bastard who dislocated my fingers.”

“Wow, you two really do have some stories,” Archer said. “Come on, we better get moving before Rosalina unleashes her wrath.”

“Me!” Rosalina faked horror. “You boys should be worried about Lacey.”

Rosalina and Lacey shared a look, and all four of us laughed.

As we made our way toward the mechanics shed, the man raised his head. “You lot are all dead.” His glare was so evil, I knew that capturing him was not the end of our problem.

Shit. Did we just make our situation a hell of a lot worse?