Harlequin Intrigue April 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 Carol Ericson (short books to read TXT) 📖

She couldn’t stay here. Even without the added pressure of a killer on her trail, she needed food, water, medical attention. Dylan had been shot. As much as she was certain Gresham PD had gotten him the help he’d needed, she couldn’t leave him with the uncertainty. She couldn’t let him spend the rest of his life trying to find her as he’d spent the past two years hunting for the New Castle Killer. That wasn’t the life he deserved.

He deserved more. A partner, a family, someone he could trust and rely on. Someone to ease the burden he’d carried all these years trying to right the mistake he’d made. He deserved to be happy.

Hell. She wanted to be the one to make him happy. The gut-wrenching realization punctured the protective layer she’d held on to since losing her family in that fire. But if the killer believed she’d died in theses tunnels, he’d go after Dylan next, and she’d never forgive herself. Emotions led to vulnerability. Vulnerability led to mistakes and losing the people she cared about, and she couldn’t lose him.

Remi rolled onto her uninjured side and forced herself to sit up. Her head collided with a low section of cave ceiling, and she automatically brought her hand up to test the extent of the drop in height. It seemed to go on forever. She maneuvered onto her hands and knees and crawled forward. These past six months, Dylan had forced her to confront her failures and shame. No matter what happened, she wasn’t going to run this time. Not from him.

TIRES SKIDDED ACROSS the dirt as Dylan slammed on the brakes in front of the cave entrance. The call for backup had gone out a few minutes before, but he wasn’t going to wait. Remi didn’t have that kind of time. He reached into the glove box for a flashlight. Exiting the SUV, he unholstered his weapon and rounded the front of the vehicle. Knee-high weeds rustled as he moved into position.

The sun had gone down hours ago. It would be a maze inside with or without the flashlight, but that wasn’t going to stop him from getting to her.

Cool air brushed against the underside of his jaw as he pressed his back against one wall and craned his neck to search inside the entrance. No movement. Nothing to suggest an ambush. Yet. Barely more than four feet wide and five feet tall, the entrance to the cave seemed to breathe on its own. If the map hadn’t told him exactly where the entrance had been located, he would’ve missed it completely, but his instincts and a fresh set of footprints in the dirt confirmed he was in the right location.

His harsh exhale echoed back to him as he heel-toed it along one wall. He clicked the flashlight to life, scanning the ground in front of him. Rough, bubble-like formations threatened to throw him off balance with each step. Cracks spread out from sections of rock, indicating the ground itself had settled over time.

What appeared to be yellowing stalactites clung to a large section of the ceiling to his left. He managed to avoid a dip in the ceiling height as the entrance tunneled in four separate directions. Dylan paused. Remi could be down any one of the tunnels. One wrong choice, one mistake, and he’d lose her forever. Not an option. Searching for the footprints he’d noted in the dirt at the entrance, he followed a path to the tunnel on the far left. “I’m coming, Sheriff. Hold on.”

The hairs rose on the back of his neck as he ducked into the largest of the four tunnels. If Remi’s abductor had had to carry her in here, Dylan imagined this was the tunnel he’d used, but there was still a chance these passageways were empty, and he was on a scavenger hunt that would end in his own death.

The cave floor declined under his boots, and thousands of tons of rock suspended above him bled into focus. Goose bumps prickled across his arms as temperatures dropped. Caves had their own climates. Species of animals and organisms never found anywhere else on the planet. Glancing back toward the entrance, he calculated he’d walked about one hundred feet. How far would the killer go to ensure Remi was never found?

A brush of something against his arm twisted him around. His stomach rocketed into his throat as the flashlight worked to reveal whatever’d run into him. Small squeaks reached his ears and echoed off the walls. Bats. He must’ve clipped one when he’d—

A wall of muscle slammed into him and anchored him against the opposite wall. His weapon fell from his grasp, lost in the darkness. Shards of rock dug into the muscles between his shoulder blades as he struggled to refill his lungs. Dylan gripped the flashlight, braced the underside of his fingers with the cylinder and shoved away from the wall.

His attacker ducked his shoulder into Dylan’s midsection and spun to squeeze his arm around Dylan’s neck.

Dylan hauled his fist into the bastard’s kidney. Once. Twice. A groan filled his ears. The flashlight beam grazed his dropped weapon, and Dylan lunged to collect it. Pulled back by his clothing, he swung his elbow up and over and connected with the son of a bitch’s face. The slack between him and his opponent disappeared as the suspect hauled Dylan straight back into his spine and flipped Dylan onto his stomach.

Pain exploded from one side of his rib cage and aggravated the bullet still ripping through the soft tissue in his side. Dirt caked his mouth as he struggled to take a full breath.

“You’ve come to take my prize from me,” the outline above him said.

“What can I say? I’m a selfish bastard.” Dylan launched himself toward the gun, knocking it farther out of reach just as a heavy boot slammed into his lower back. Sweat built at the base of his neck and