Her hand curled over his. “I love you, too.”
They could’ve had a life together. The two of them. Maybe even a kid. He would have liked a girl.
A girl with her smile. Her golden eyes.
Maybe they could have named her Maria.
Yes, he would have liked that.
Kyle knew how bad his wound was. Only rage and fear had given him the strength to get down the tunnel. Rage, blinding fury, and fear. Fear that Cadence wouldn’t survive.
But James was dead now, and Kyle’s strength was gone.
He didn’t want Cadence to watch him die.
“Go to the falls…” She could follow the sound. Find her freedom. “Get…help…”
Cadence shook her head. “I left before because you didn’t want Anniston to escape. He’s dead, and I’m not leaving you.”
But he was leaving her. His heartbeat was struggling in his chest. A stutter, a beat, a stutter.
He fell back, his head hitting a stone. Can’t feel it. At this point, there was only numbness.
He’d miss Cadence. Miss so damn much. Happiness had finally been in his grasp.
“Don’t do this to me!” Cadence yelled at him. Her hands were on his chest. He knew where they were, not because he saw them or felt them, but because he heard the sound of fabric ripping as she tore his shirt. “Don’t you do this! You fight, Kyle! You fight to live!”
He had. He’d managed to get down the tunnel. Managed to get to her.
“Love…” Had he told her that he loved her? It was so important she knew, and he wasn’t sure.
“I love you!” Her words were a scream. “I’m not letting you do this to me! You aren’t leaving me! Kyle, you can’t! You don’t want to leave me in the dark. You don’t want to leave me alone!”
No, Cadence couldn’t stay in that dark grave with him.
“Falls…” She had to get to the falls. To the light.
“I won’t go without you. If you want me to make it, then you have to make it, too.”
There was pressure on his chest. So much pressure. He felt it past the numbness.
“If I have to make your heart keep beating, I will!” Was she yelling or whispering? He couldn’t tell for sure. “Don’t leave me!”
“Always…be with…Cadence…” She was his constant.
“Kyle!”
He f**king hated the darkness.
And loved her.
Ben and Dani were soaked. They’d run through the falls, headed back into the deep caverns, then heard the gunshots.
Ben rushed after the gunshots, chasing the thunder even as he knew he should be more cautious. The gunshots themselves could send more of the tunnels caving in.
But I’ve got two people missing.
His flashlight beam bounced as he ran.
“There!” Dani’s cry.
He froze. Tracked his beam to the left. Saw the hunched figure of Cadence on the ground. She was crouched over—Kyle.
Kyle wasn’t moving.
Another body was there, too.
Dani’s light hit him—Anniston. A knife handle protruded from the man’s throat.
Ben rushed forward.
“Kyle, don’t do this,” Cadence was saying, begging, her voice was so low and desperate. “Stay with me. Don’t leave me in the dark, stay.”
“Cadence?” Dani called.
Cadence’s head whipped around. The lights caught the tear tracks on her face. “Help him!” Her hands were still on Kyle’s chest. “He can make it! The knife sank too deep. But there’s no sucking chest wound. His lungs are clear, we just have to stop the blood!”
Oh, Christ. He could see all the blood.
“Go back out,” he told Dani. There was no phone signal down there, he’d already tried to get one too many times. “Get the medical airlift out here! Tell them we have an officer down!”
Dani ran back through the darkness, not even hesitating.
He realized Cadence’s hand was in Kyle’s wound.
“Cadence…” He’d never seen her look so lost.
“I need to keep my hand right here. I can feel his life…in my hand.”
More tears leaked from her eyes.
His jaw locked.
But she wasn’t looking at him anymore. Cadence was pressing a kiss to Kyle’s still lips.
Is he alive?
“I’ll get you out,” she told Kyle. “You won’t stay in the dark. I won’t stay. We’ll get out together.”
Ben’s light swept back to Anniston. He saw the bullet wounds. The gaping throat. The knife.
What the hell was in the guy’s eye?
“He took them all,” Cadence’s voice was hoarse. “Then he tried to take Kyle. I won’t let him do it. I won’t let Kyle go.”
Ben swallowed the lump in his throat. Then he bent next to Cadence. “Show me what to do.” As long as Cadence had hope, he would, too.
“We have to keep his heart beating,” she said, still in a hoarse and broken rasp. “The heart has to pump so his brain gets oxygen.” Her fingers were moving on his chest, in his chest. Keeping his heart beating. “We keep him alive until help gets here.”
Ben nodded. “We keep him alive,” he repeated.
It took five men to get Kyle out of the tunnel.
The airlift was a nightmare. The whirring of the blades—that hollow sound would stay with her forever.
He was flown to the nearest trauma unit. Doctors and nurses rushed out to meet the copter.
They made her let him go.
He’d never opened his eyes. Not when they came out of the tunnel. Not when they flew in the air.
Not when the hospital staff wheeled him away.
His eyes stayed shut the whole time. He couldn’t see that he wasn’t in the dark anymore.
“Cadence…” It was Dani’s voice, sounding worried. Scared.
Cadence turned toward her, her movements sluggish. Her fingers had cramped, locked, because she’d worked on Kyle for so long.
Long enough? Please, please be long enough.
“Cadence, I’m so sorry.” Dani’s arms wrapped around her. Dani held her tightly.
Cadence crumbled.
Kyle wanted to see Maria again. Laughing. He wanted to climb into her car and drive down to Florida with her.
I’m all grown up now, remember.
He wanted to stay with her. To be with her. To make sure she was safe.
I want to go home!
Only there was no home. Their parents were dead. Maria was dead.
Kyle pushed through a sudden surge of pain. His chest—someone was carving it open.