Chapter 16 - The Liar's TollThe radio crackled, emitting a burst of static that sounded unnervingly loud in the suffocating silence of the collapsed tunnel.
"Is it done, Taylor?" Evelyn’s voice slithered through the speaker, cold and demanding. "I heard the collapse. Do you have the drive?"
I pressed the barrel of the pistol firmly against Taylor’s spine. She swallowed hard, her eyes darting to the wall of rubble that had just entombed Arthur.
"Yes, Mother," Taylor lied, her voice remarkably steady. The Vance training was kicking in. "Mark is dead. He shot the ceiling and brought the tunnel down on himself. I managed to get the drive from his body before the cave-in."
There was a long, agonizing pause on the other end. I could almost hear the gears turning in Evelyn’s sociopathic mind, calculating the angles, looking for the deception.
"And Arthur?"
Taylor didn't hesitate. "He's dead, too. Crushed by the rockfall. It's just me."
Another pause. "Bring the drive to the surface. My men will escort you to the secondary extraction point. We are leaving."
The radio clicked off.
Taylor let out a shuddering breath and turned to face me. "There. I did it. Now let me go."
"Not a chance," I said, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her deeper into the labyrinth of the mine. "Your mother isn't leaving. She's setting up an ambush at the mouth of the shaft. She doesn't need you anymore, Taylor. With Arthur dead, you're the only loose end tying her to this mess."
Taylor stumbled over the uneven tracks, struggling to keep up in the dark. "You're wrong. She's my mother."
"She's a parasite," I countered, my flashlight beam cutting through the dust. "And right now, her host is dying."
We navigated the twisting auxiliary tunnels for what felt like hours, moving upward through the bedrock. I had studied the blueprints of this mine when I worked as a contractor; there was a ventilation shaft that exited a half-mile north of the main clearing.
Finally, the faint glow of moonlight spilled through a rusted iron grate above us.
I shoved the grate open with my shoulder, hauling myself out into the frigid desert air, then pulled Taylor up after me.
We crouched behind a cluster of boulders, looking down into the canyon. The main clearing was bathed in the harsh red and blue lights of Evelyn’s vehicles. But they weren't leaving. The guards were fanning out, their weapons drawn, sweeping the area. Evelyn was standing by the bulldozer, waiting to execute whoever walked out of that tunnel.
Suddenly, a hand clamped down on my shoulder.
I spun around, raising the pistol, my finger tightening on the trigger.
"Whoa, easy, little brother," David groaned, leaning heavily against the rock face.
His face was smeared with dirt and dried blood, and he was clutching his left side. A bullet had grazed his ribs, tearing through his tactical vest, but he was grinning. In his right hand, he held the detonator for the C4 he kept in his duffel bag.
"David! You're alive," I breathed, lowering the weapon.
"Takes more than a few rent-a-cops to put me down," he rasped, his eyes shifting to Taylor. His grin vanished, replaced by a look of sheer, cold hatred. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't throw her back down that hole."
"Because she's our ticket out of here," I said. "Where's the Jeep?"
May you like
"Stashed in the ravine, a quarter-mile east," David said, wincing as he pushed himself off the rock. "We need to move. Once Evelyn realizes no one is coming out of that main shaft, she's going to call in a search grid."
"Let's go," I said, shoving Taylor forward. "The night isn't over yet."
Related Stories
