© Copyright 2006 by More Than Novellas

Part III

Sarah
July 24, 05
baughmanks@sbcgobal.net

Alex breathed a prayer for strength to face whoever was now barreling down the tunnel, and for protection for himself and for Ally, who had been unwillingly dragged into harm's way.

Taking a deep breath to steady himself against the queasy feeling his loss of blood had generated, he strained his ears to determine how close the other person had come.

"Ally, you wait here. No matter what happens, if they don't see you, don't reveal yourself." He shifted slightly so that his lips could find hers in the dark. The kiss was brief, chaste, and lit a fire in Alex's gut. His heart knew with certainty that Ally was a special woman. "And if they do see you, may the Lord God protect you."

At what he prayed was the best possible moment, he jumped down from the ledge, his pistol trained on the man's chest.

Suddenly, Alex felt the blood rush from his head. Taking a deep breath, willing oxygen to flow to his brain, he noticed for a puzzled moment the strange man's hair color. Even in the tunnel, dimly lit by the stranger's flashlight, Alex could see how strikingly it resembled Ally's own hair color. Then his world went completely dark.

Elizabeth Delayne
July 27, 05
lizdelayne@hotmail.com

“Joseph, don’t!” Ally jumped out of the shadows as her brother, the oldest and strongest of the four, started to drag Alex up by his arm. “He’s injured, can’t you see that?”

Joseph shinned the light down on them as she knelt at Alex’s side.

“I can see you’re here and not at the wedding, down in the caves … in a dress. What’s going on, Ally?”

“It’s too complicated to explain—“ Ally muttered, but the truth was, she didn’t know. Not really. “We need to get him to a doctor.”

“He’s been shot!” Joseph muttered as he pushed her hands out of the way. He shinned the flashlight on her face. “What have you gotten yourself into, Ally? You’re going to have to tell me something.”

“I’ll explain, on the way. Let’s get him some help.”

He grabbed her arm, held her in place. “Who is he?”

“Alex.“

“Alex who?”

“Alex Thornton and he works with the CIA.”

“Did you know him before today?”

“Well, no—“

“Then, how do you know for sure?”

“He showed me his credentials. He’s protecting me.”

“Protecting you? Ally, he got you down into the caves. He’s been shot. And he’s protecting you?” She shrugged, but she couldn’t let go of the feeling that she was finally in the right place. “I told you it was complicated. Please, Joseph … please trust me on this. For once, just trust me?”

“You’ll tell me on the way to the hospital.”

“Not the hospital—they must know he’s been hit. I have to figure this out, something out. Maybe I can call … someone. Isn’t there somewhere we can take him?” He stared at her. “I know someone. But you will tell me?”

“As much as I know.”

Her brother, having explored the caves as much, if not more then she walked to the back exit where they had been heading. She held her breath as they walked out into the sunlight.

“How did you know we were here?”

“There were some men there, asking around—like they were detectives or something. I saw you leave with him.”

Ally put a hand to his arm. “You didn’t tell them—“

“I didn’t know what to tell them. But I followed.”

Mrs Brown
August 3, 05
mrsbrown1@optusnet.com.au

“Thank you, Joseph,” she replied, touched that he not only noticed what was happening but had come after her, “the tables have really turned having you rescue me from a scrape.”

He ruffled her hair affectionately, and for once it didn’t annoy her.

“Yeah, well – I certainly owe you that.” Joseph cleared his throat uncomfortably, “Y’know, I couldn’t believe it when I saw you heading toward the mine, after everything that happened down there that time – thought it would be the last place you’d ever go.”

“So did I,” Ally replied brusquely, anxious to change the subject, “Look, we can’t stand around here talking – even if those men have gone they’ll probably be back soon – can we get Alex to your car and take him to your friend?” She was dismayed to see him shake his head.

“No. I had to park half way up the hill so I couldn’t be seen and scramble down the embankment. There’s no way he’ll make it in his condition. We’ll have to bring help to him.”

Ally drew her teeth across her bottom lip, “Okay . . . I’ll go back and wait with Alex.”

Joseph frowned, “You sure? Even if he is who he says, you don’t owe him anything.”

“Yes, I do. He wouldn’t have been shot if it wasn’t for me.”

There was a lot more to it than that, but how could she possibly explain to her brother that she felt the rest of her life was tied up in a man she’d only met that day. Ally watched until her brother disappeared into the woods, and then took a deep breath before returning to the black, gaping mouth of the tunnel exit.

***

Alex felt cool fingertips stroking the hair from his forehead and his mind slowly began to clear. His eyes were open now, but it took a while to get his bearings in the faint torchlight.

“How are you doing?” Ally’s voice was like sweet music, unexpectedly calm.

“Since we’re both still alive, I guess that was a friend coming down the tunnel,” he replied. “Was it your brother?”

“Yes – Joseph, the eldest. He saw me leave the reception in the company of a strange young man, so he followed us,” she explained, a smile in her voice. “He’s gone to get help, hopefully he shouldn’t be long.”

“That’s good of him, not knowing me from Adam.”

“Yeah, well he owes me one or two. But . . . he did make me promise I’d tell him everything when he got back,” she said slowly, “which is a bit hard since I don’t really know anything about what’s going on. Will you tell me?” Alex had felt her tense up beside him as she asked, and he realised her question had everything to do with finding out how much he trusted her. He smiled to himself – he trusted her completely, but Ally would have to be willing to trust him too.

“Yes, on one condition. That you tell me what it is about one of these tunnels that’s got you so freaked out.” Her heard her sharp intake of breath.

“Okay . . . I will. Actually, maybe you can tell me what I should do – it happened just before I became a Christian but it has never sat well with my conscience ever since. But you first.”

Alex found her hand, and gripped it reassuringly as he began to explain about the case he’d been working on. It had seemed fairly routine to start with, tracking down an informant his agency had lost contact with over two years ago. The informant had connections with a major Eastern European crime syndicate, and when he suddenly disappeared around the same time as some sensitive information from their agency they’d assumed he’d double crossed them – but recently they’d became aware that the stolen information had never made it to the crime syndicate and that they too were searching for him.

The informant’s trail led Alex to this area, and that morning he’d managed to find the last motel where he’d been staying, as well as a suitcase of his that had been left unclaimed in the motel room. There was nothing in it beyond personal belongings – but the men who had tailed Alex from the motel obviously didn’t know that, and were prepared to kill him for the information they thought he must have.

“Which is where I met you,” Alex concluded. “I knew they hadn’t seen me closely and when I saw the crowd going into the reception I thought I might be able to lose them in the crowd.” He stopped speaking, wishing he’d never made that choice to involve Ally, but knowing that then he never would have met her . . .



“I guess it’s my turn then,” Ally said softly a few minutes later and hearing her reluctance, Alex slid his arm around her shoulders, “A few years ago, I got a message from my brother’s friend asking me to meet him here with a change of clothes for him. Although it was certainly illegal, my brothers and their friends used to hang out here, do a bit of hunting in the woods, a bit of drinking . . . I didn’t know what had happened, but I was used to covering up for them with Mom and Dad so I came straight away.

“I met them in bottom of the main shaft, my brother’s clothes had blood all over them – but before they could explain anything we heard footsteps and everyone panicked and ran. They left me behind and I took the wrong tunnel . . .” Ally was shaking again, and Alex drew her tightly against his chest, willing her to continue. It was a few minutes before she began again, her voice barely audible.

“I tripped over someone . . . I turned on my torch . . . it was . . . the body of a man. It was horrifying, and then I heard footsteps just outside the entrance and I was too frightened to scream, let alone try to get back out. It was hours before my brothers came back and found me, and I was pretty much a mess by then.” Alex felt a hot anger burning against her brothers, “How could they leave you like that? What was going on?”

“They just didn’t think. While they were out shooting that afternoon, a man had come out of the trees suddenly and pulled a gun on them. One of them, no-one will say who, panicked and shot him – killing him outright. They just decided to leave the body down here and that none of them would ever speak of it again. I just got drawn into it and have never known what to do. I couldn’t ask anyone because I didn’t want to get any of my brothers in trouble.” Ally buried her face against his chest, and he could feel the dampness of her tears through his shirt. He gently stroked her hair, thinking through what she had just told him.

“When exactly did this happen?” he demanded suddenly.

“June 6th, two years ago.”

“And did you see this man that was shot? Could you describe him?”

Ally shuddered, and he regretted forcing her to remember, but if there was even a chance . . .

“Short. Slight. Red hair, thick beard,” she whispered, “I’ve never been able to forget.”

Alex hugged her tightly, “Sweetheart – I think it’s one and the same man! He probably panicked seeing the guys, he must have known he was being pursued.” He dropped a kiss on the top of her head, “If it is him, they couldn’t get in any trouble – he was a wanted man – and I’ve no doubt he would have shot them if they hadn’t got him first. I’ll just need to find his body and have it identified -”

He broke off, the light of a torch in the distance piercing the tunnel’s darkness.

Rachel Waspe
August 4, 05
Funshine999@aol.com

He pressed his mouth close against Ally's ear. "Get back up on that ledge and don't make so much as a peep." he whiepered hoarsely, giving her a slight push to let her know that he meant what he said.

"What are you going to do?" Ally whispered back, not moving an inch.

"I'm going to play dead. Don't worry sweetheart, I've done it thousands of times. Now get up there."

The light was getting closer and closer and Alex was horribly afraid that Ally wasn't going to make it on time but not once did he see the beam of light pick her out.

He waited until she was pressed back into the shadows and then he slumped back on the floor, closing his eyes and regulating his breathing to 'very shallow'.

Even with his eyes closed he could see the light as it flowed over him. Somebody bent over him and a wave of foul breath almost made him gag as the someone spoke.

"It's that same guy alright. Let's get those papers off him." The man's hand slid inside Alex's jacket and rummaged in his pocket. He stopped. "He's alive, maybe we had better take him with us. He knows too much."

"Good idea." Another hand roughly grasped his injured arm .

Just as he faded back into a faint, Alex heard Ally scream 'NO' and saw a shadow lurch from the ledge.

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