No blending in.
They’d have him.
“Our crime team from Quantico is flying in,” Ben said, but his voice was considering. He went with her hunches, always had. No, not a hunch. Profile. She was certain. “They’ll search the caverns. The professor from Auburn said he’d have his team out here at first light.”
She could hear the approach of more vehicles. The professor was already arriving?
“I think there’s more video equipment in those caves,” Kyle said. His voice was still off. Too unemotional to match the discoveries they’d made. One of those skeletons could be his sister’s, but the man was acting like ice water poured through his veins.
This wasn’t the man she knew.
Cadence tried to slide closer to him.
He stiffened, then backed up a step.
Cadence’s breath caught. He’d never withdrawn from her before, and that small move hurt.
“A signal wouldn’t go far, not down in a place like that,” Kyle continued in his wooden voice. “So he must have a base room down there. If there’s more equipment…”
“We’ll find it.” Ben’s voice held plenty of emotion. And confidence. “We’ve got the equipment and the manpower coming in. Every damn secret he has down there, we’ll discover.”
“But you don’t think he’s there,” Cadence said. She’d caught what Ben said—and what he hadn’t. “You don’t think he’s hiding inside.”
“I think our boy had an escape plan in place, but I don’t think he’ll run forever.” Ben gave her another nod. “I told you, you did well on this one, Cadence. Now get back to your motel room before you collapse.” His voice hardened. “’Cause if you don’t get some rest soon, I’ll make those EMTs take you to the hospital.”
She started to shake her head.
Ben pointed to Kyle. “Take her to the motel.”
Kyle’s jaw locked. Cadence was sure he didn’t want to leave the scene.
“You both need time to rest, and this scene is covered, okay? I’ll supervise every move until you get back.”
A car door slammed. “Cadence?”
It was Aaron. Shouting her name. Running toward her and looking incredibly relieved when he saw her face.
“I can’t believe…” He stumbled to a stop. “I’m so glad you’re all right!”
He was tall. Just around Kyle’s height of six foot three. His shoulders weren’t as broad as Kyle’s but with the right coat in the dark, they could appear stronger.
“You didn’t mention the caverns tracked this far over,” she said to him.
Dani and Ben were both regarding him with suspicion.
But Kyle just looked on with those glacial eyes of his. Blue flames in ice.
That’s not Kyle.
“I didn’t know!” Aaron jerked a hand through his hair, causing it to jut out at rough angles. “I never explored this far!”
“Marsh told me stories have circulated up here ever since the Civil War.” Kyle’s voice was as cold as his eyes. She wanted to shake him. To make the real man come back out. “Confederates hid weapons up here.”
“And gangsters used caverns as speakeasies. Yes, yes, I know, but finding these places, after all this time, it’s next to impossible.” Aaron’s breath heaved out. “If I’d known, I would have told you! I didn’t! No one on my team knew about this area!” He gave some fast nods. “But I’m here to help you. Anything I or my team can do—”
“Don’t worry,” replied Ben’s certain voice. “You’ll help us plenty.” Ben’s gaze met hers. He understood. She could see it in Ben’s stare. Aaron was on their suspect list. To be watched, questioned, and certainly not trusted.
“Take her back to the motel,” Ben told Kyle once more. “We’ll meet back up at noon and see what’s been discovered.”
She expected Kyle to argue. Instead, he took her hand in a grip that was too light. As if she were too delicate. Or as if he didn’t want to touch her at all.
He led her away from the others. Opened the passenger side door of his vehicle. Giant streaks of mud covered much of the SUV.
She didn’t speak, not until he was in the vehicle with her. Not until the others were shut out and they were on their way back down the mountain. “Kyle?” She hated the hesitation in her own voice.
The fear.
“When I found your car, I thought you were already dead,” he said. There was still no emotion in his voice.
She had to break through his ice. “You saw the tracking device, though. You found me.” You kept your promise. She’d known he would come for her.
“How did Fiona die?”
She glanced out the window at the swirl of the trees. “When she wouldn’t kill me, he killed her.”
“That’s what I thought.”
How could he sound so cold?
“But what if she had gone after you, Cadence? Would you have killed her in order to save yourself?”
She hated that question. Deep inside, she wasn’t sure of her answer.
Fiona had suffered so much.
“The plan didn’t f**king work.” The words sliced like ice. No, like a knife. “I could have walked into that chamber and found you on the ground, with a knife in your chest.”
She glanced back at him. His knuckles had whitened around the wheel.
“Kyle…”
“What do you think I would have done then?”
She had to be careful. The ice was a lie, a protection to keep the fire inside him from raging out of control. “Our job is about risk.”
“Fuck the risk. What do you think I would have done?” The words were a lethal whisper.
Before she could respond, he said, “I can’t lose you. I won’t. I’ll do any damn thing necessary to make sure you’re never in his sights again.”
They’d found his girls. Soon, they would be brought out of the darkness. They’d be identified. Their families would be contacted.
The FBI would keep searching. The unit director was there now, a self-important jerk who was barking orders. He wanted everyone to be careful.
The guy was afraid traps were inside.
But he hadn’t put traps in this area. He hadn’t thought the FBI would be coming to this spot. This was his.
No one should have found it.
The bitch had been tracked. He shouldn’t have taken her. He should have just killed her.