a firm shake. “Did you bring the map?”
“Here.” Hailey fished the map from her back pocket, unfolded it quickly and slapped it on the sand in front of them.
Lisa looked closely, followed the tunnel with her finger to her current location. “There.” She looked up and pointed through the trees. “About twenty yards that way.”
“We just came from there,” Hailey said. “There was no blue hole.”
“They covered it.” Lisa pushed shakily to her feet. “We need ropes and harnesses. It’s a steep drop.”
Pete pulled a walkie-talkie from his belt as they started walking. “Billy, listen up.”
Lisa darted a look at Hailey’s grim expression. “Billy’s here?”
“Yeah. Long story.” And one she obviously wasn’t going to get into now. “Let’s hustle.”
She’d been gone too long.
With one hand over his mouth, Rafe paced the dark cavern and tried to keep the panic at bay. He refused to think about the fact she could have drowned down there. That the map might have been wrong, that she wasn’t strong enough to swim that far.
Carajo. He never should have let her go.
“She wouldn’t have stayed, even if you’d made her,” Shane said from across the darkness. His voice was weak and tired, but steady. “She doesn’t listen to anyone, in case you haven’t noticed.”
Yeah, Rafe had noticed. But he’d thought they’d turned a corner.
Shane shifted on the rocks, grimaced and pushed himself more upright. “She’s stubborn as a mule. Would have gone after Tisiphone with or without you. Odds are pretty good she’d have ended up here anyway. Except then she would have been alone.”
Rafe’s eyes slid closed. “That doesn’t help.”
“It’s not meant to,” Shane said. “But it’s starting to look like Swanson’s had it in for her for a long time. That she and Stone have been following her and waiting for the”—he cringed—“right moment. I’m just glad she wasn’t here by herself when it happened.”
So was Rafe. But right now he’d give anything just to hear her voice.
Scraping echoed from above. Rafe shifted and looked up. Muffled voices drifted down from the top of the sinkhole. The wood over the opening pushed to the side, and bright sunlight shone through the hole above, making him blink and cover his eyes.
“Well, well, well. Looks like I’m savin’ your ass this time.”
Rafe’s heart all but stopped as he squinted up toward the sky. A smile curled his mouth at the sound of his brother’s voice. A voice he’d never been so happy to hear in all his life. “Holy shit. I never thought I’d see the day.”
Billy’s irritating mug grinned down at him.
Hailey’s face popped over the ledge. “Rafe? Shane?”
“Here.” Shane croaked. “Somebody send down a harness and get us the hell out of here.”
“Pete’s coming down,” Hailey said with a hint of worry in her usually steady voice.
Pete was here? And Billy? Rafe tried to wrap his mind around just how that had transpired as Pete rappelled into the cave.
Pete’s feet hit the cave floor. He unhooked the harness, turned and grinned. “You got nine lives, man.”
As much as he wanted to breathe easy, he couldn’t. Not yet. “Where’s Lisa?”
“Relax, she’s fine. She’s above, waiting. Looks a little shell-shocked though. Kinda like you.”
Pete had no idea. Rafe closed his eyes and said every prayer of thanks he knew. She’d done it. Awe, admiration, love for her rippled through him.
He wanted to see her, to hold her, but he knew they had to get Shane out first. He quickly made introductions while he and Pete helped Shane strap on the harness. “Belay on,” Rafe called up to Billy who was at the top controlling the rope.
“Yo. Ready up here,” Billy called back.
Rafe shook his head at Billy’s word choice. Shane grimaced as he was lifted off the cave floor.
“Gotta love that kid,” Pete said with a grin.
Rafe watched as Shane was pulled to the top of the cave. When he disappeared over the ledge, he turned toward Pete. “Now tell me what the hell happened.”
Pete perched his hands on his hips. “Got a call from Winters.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“Seems something or someone freaked him out. Said he wanted out of the game.”
“Just like that?” Rafe knew Winters, and that didn’t sound like the hard-as-nails criminal he’d tangled with before.
“I think he’s up to his eyeballs in deep shit.” Pete said. “Trying to cover his ass. Offered up info for a price and a guarantee we wouldn’t try to track him down.”
“And you went along with it?”
“Had to. When I found out Landau’s gallery manager was Stone’s