“half-breed.” As though any one person was less valuable than someone else.
Was this boy one of them?
If he’d come here, perhaps he’d been looking for something.
Or someone.
“And all you found was death.”
This was what her grandfather wanted her to find? A secret he’d trusted her with.
Dean cried out. She knew it was him. Ellie whipped around, looking at the blind corner that led back to the tunnel.
She clambered to her feet and stuffed the passport in the back of her waistband. Then she looked from the body to the backpack. Was there a weapon in there she should get, one she could use? Dean was a warrior. A former SEAL. With a massive shoulder injury.
She could feel that tree at her back. Just like the wall, pressed against it with Ed Summers in her face. Ellie’s breath came quick and erratic until spots seemed to spark in her vision. No. She couldn’t let the fear of facing him again paralyze her the way it had all these years. The way it had kept her from returning to Last Chance. So scared she’d run into Ed.
Now he was dead, so there was no threat.
Summers had been in jail when she’d come for the funeral. Since then, he’d been killed in prison.
Now a new threat rose like a specter. The last thing she wanted was to be haunted for years to come over a new person, her abductor. A guy who had stood by the side of the road and threatened her with gestures while someone else spoke to her on the phone.
Which meant there were two people she needed to fear.
And one of them was here.
She scrambled to the backpack, looking for a weapon of some kind. A gunshot rang out. Dust fell from the ceiling like a mist.
Ellie turned to the entrance too fast. Her back muscles cramped. Her fingers were on the backpack zipper when she saw someone enter.
“Dean.” She lifted her flashlight and shone it at his face.
But it wasn’t him.
It was Mark.
“You’re the one who abducted me.” She scrambled back, then realized she was standing right over the spot the body was buried. Ellie changed directions, moving toward the wall. Still clutching the backpack in one hand. She stuck her hand in and rooted around.
“Drop that now.” He lifted a gun and pointed it at her face.
Ellie let go of the backpack, but her hand was inside still. She pulled out slowly. Palm out so he could see she held nothing. She didn’t want to get shot. “Why are you doing this?”
He motioned to the body with his gun. “Get over there.”
“What?”
Was he going to kill her and leave her here with the dead Vietnamese boy? “Where’s Dean? Did you kill him?”
Surely that was what the gunshot had been. Dean was dead. Surprised and killed. Now he probably lay bleeding on the ground.
Leaving her alone. Dean. She couldn’t grieve for him. Not yet. Not until she knew he was actually dead. “Is he bleeding out? Did you shoot him?”
Mark chuckled. He took a step toward her, every line of his body screaming threat. “All you need to know is that I’m going to kill you if you don’t get over there.”
She hesitated, then stood. Moving slowly, Ellie tried to figure out what to do while she took small steps around to the other side of the body. She wasn’t far enough away and would for sure get hit by this guy—no matter how badly he aimed.
Her voice quavered. “Someone will find my body.”
“Nobody found his.” He motioned to the mound of dirt. “You think they’ll find you? Or your hotshot bodyguard out there?”
She spotted a flash of teeth in the dim light. How could she talk him down? He already believed he could do whatever he wanted and get away with it. Help.
Ellie didn’t know who she was talking to. But she needed aid. That was plain enough for anyone to see. Ellie had no fighting skills. Dean had plenty, and he was down. Incapacitated.
She tried to think past the fear. Tried to figure out what she was supposed to say. All that went through her mind was the strength of his body as he pushed her against that tree and put his hands around her neck.
She whimpered. It sounded too loud in this enclosed space.
Help.
“It’s buried under the body.”
She shook her head. “What?” She had no idea what he was even talking about. But she was alive.
“Dig. I want what’s under there.”
“What?”
He shifted the gun and