Almost.
Inch by precious inch, they went.
Water sprayed against him, soaking his clothes.
They were skating around the rocky edge.
Every heartbeat seemed to echo in his ears, even as the falls thundered around him. The sunlight was bright, banishing the darkness of the caves. Lily was in his arms. Alive. Free.
We saved her.
He searched the area and found a safe spot for Lily. Then he put her down as carefully as he could.
“Lily?” Cadence bent over her. “Lily, open your eyes, look at me.”
Lily wasn’t stirring.
Kyle yanked out his phone. A signal. Hell, yes! He called for help.
Cadence was holding Lily’s wrist. Kyle saw the flash of her eyes, heard the harsh inhale of Cadence’s breath. “There’s no pulse.”
She’d been alive. Back in the cave, Lily had said—
“Nine-one-one, what is your—”
Cadence’s hands pushed against Lily’s chest. Started chest compressions.
“This is FBI Agent Kyle McKenzie. Get a lock on my phone. We’ve got Lily Adams. We’re next to some damn falls.”
Cadence kept working. Talking, whispering, “Stay with me, Lily. Don’t go. Don’t leave your daughter. Carrie needs you.”
“There’s a search party in the area!” The operator’s voice cracked with excitement. “They’re looking for you. Detective Marsh called in the accident.”
What f**king accident? It had been a trap. A deliberate attack by the SOB who’d taken Lily and all the other women.
“They’re searching for you right now.”
“Her heart isn’t beating.” The words were torn from him. “Get an airlift out here. Get help!”
Lily Adams had survived hell, and he didn’t want her to die just when she’d been brought back into the sunlight.
Bastard.
He watched them from the cover of the trees. They’d made it out. They had Lily.
But Lily was dead. He saw the way the female agent was working on her. Lily lay there, sprawled, her eyes closed.
Gone.
She wouldn’t be able to tell.
The agents should have died in the cave. He’d planned so carefully, to make certain any visitors would never get out once they’d stumbled in.
To make sure Lily would never get out.
The falls crashed behind the agents.
The female agent was still pressing her hands into Lily’s chest. Trying to save a dead girl.
There was no point in that.
No point…
Lily was gone. You lost her, too, McKenzie. How does that make you feel?
He smiled. At least Lily hadn’t been a total loss. And McKenzie wasn’t a freaking hero anymore. The big agent who saved the day.
You lost another girl, McKenzie. You didn’t bring down the killer. You won’t get the spread in the papers for this.
All you’ll get…is death.
“Come on, Lily,” Cadence urged as she kept up the chest compressions. “Stay with me!”
Kyle crouched beside her. Help was coming. Would it get there in time?
He reached for Lily’s hand. So cold and limp. His fingers curled around hers. Held tight. “Carrie needs you,” he told her. Cadence’s voice had been low. Beseeching. His was hard. Demanding. “Do you want to leave your daughter on her own? Because I don’t think you do.”
Cadence pushed down.
“I think you want to get back to her.” How much time had passed?
Cadence was frantically checking Lily, working to bring her back.
“Don’t leave your daughter, Lily,” he told her. “Don’t let that bastard win. Get back home to Carrie. Get back—”
Footsteps rushed toward them. Kyle’s head jerked up.
Cadence never stopped working on Lily.
The search team spilled toward him. He saw the familiar uniform of two EMTs. Captain Anniston and a battered Jason Marsh were running with them, as Heather Crenshaw and Randall Hollings trailed close behind.
“I’ve got a heartbeat!” Cadence yelled.
Kyle realized that he’d lifted his knife at the sound of those stomping footsteps.
His attention flew back to Lily and Cadence as hope pushed through him once more.
But the EMTs shoved him back as they surrounded Lily. As they kept fighting to make sure that she lived.
His gaze lifted. Tracked up the falls. He couldn’t see the entrance of that damn cave.
We got her out. And we’re going to f**king find you.
CHAPTER SIX
The hospital was bright. Too bright and white, and after being in those caverns, it almost hurt to be surrounded by so much light.
Kyle sat in the cracked chair, his eyes locked on the door leading back to the ICU.
Cadence had brought Lily back. Lily’s heart had still been beating when she was rushed away in that ambulance. But even though her heart beat, Lily hadn’t opened her eyes. She hadn’t come back to them fully. Not yet.
A coma.
The docs said Lily had been drugged. An overdose. They were trying to bring her out of the coma, but, so far, nothing was working.
“Mister…” A quiet, shaking voice reached him, pulling Kyle’s gaze away from those doors. He looked to the left, and saw the girl, Carrie, staring up at him with her wide, tear-filled eyes. “Did you save my mommy?”
She’d been at the hospital, along with Lily’s mother, Martha, before they’d arrived. James’s orders.
In case Lily didn’t make it, he’d wanted the family to be able to say their good-byes.
I haven’t saved her yet. “I helped bring her home,” he replied carefully.
She looked down, lip quivering. “I want to see Mommy.”
Dammit. There was something about a little girl crying. It felt like she was squeezing his heart—no, crushing the thing—between her small hands.
The ICU doors opened with a whoosh of sound.
Cadence marched out. The blood had been washed away from her hands and face. She’d changed into scrubs, ditching her torn clothes. A small, white bandage covered her temple.
Her gaze met his. Kyle realized he was holding his breath.
Tell me she’s going to make it. Tell the kid her mother is going to make it.
Cadence’s gaze dropped to the little girl. She swallowed.
“How is she?” came from James as he rose to his feet. The captain had been keeping a silent vigil near Kyle.
Kyle’s back teeth clenched. Don’t ask that f**king question in front of the kid.
The guy should know better.
“Stable,” Cadence said. “For now, she appears to be stable.”