Saint (21 page)

He immediately lowered her to the ground.
Maria tried to stand, but everything around her kept moving.

* * * * *

“We’ll, I’m damned,” Gabriel slapped his
thigh, breaking into a wide grin. “The little heifer’s drunk.”

Shit. Seth paused in searching through his
satchel to look up at Joan. “You didn’t?”

Joan shrugged his massive shoulders. “I
only gave her one piece. I thought it would take her mind off her foot.”

Francis rolled his eyes. “Joan, you stupid
shit, that gum’s too strong for a little piece of fluff like her. It’s a wonder
she remembers her name.”

Maria weaved back and forth so that she had
to clutch onto one of the small birch saplings for support. “I am not a heifer.
And my foot is not drunk. I’d know if I was drunk, I’m not very good at it.”

Francis steadied her as she tried to step
away from the tree. “’Course you’re not, Angel.”

“Get some food down her.” Rancor sharpened
Seth’s tone. He couldn’t believe Joan had given her the gum he soaked in
homemade two-hundred proof hooch for Francis when they made a mission together.
He’d learned a long time ago not to expect the preacher to go straight for more
than a few days at a time. It had been Joan’s idea to soak chewing gum in the
firewater from his still back home—for emergencies. As long as Francis had the
taste and a little moonshine flowing through his veins, he could function for
long periods without a drink.

“Come on, honey,” Francis crooned to her, “let’s
you and me have a candlelight dinner, just the two of us.”

The pair hadn’t made it three steps when a
spray of bullets splattered the clearing, ricocheting off the rocks.

The all dove for the ground, some with less
grace than others.

Chapter Ten

“Gabe, you asshole,” Francis cursed,
throwing himself on top of Maria. “You missed one!”

“Like hell I did,” Gabriel hissed, crawling
over to his duffel to pull out his rifle.

Seth pulled his Glock from his waistband
and inched closer to the edge of the brush. “Where, Francis?”

The preacher listened intently for a
moment, then pointed. “There, on the right, about fifty yards.”

“Joan, Gabe, take him out. Maria, stay down
and stay quiet.”

Maria shook her head as if to clear it as
Francis moved from atop her. He hoped to God her brain was working succinctly
enough to understand the deepening shadows of evening would work against them
as well as for them. She reached for his hand with her shaky one when he
crouched beside her, gripping it fiercely.

“It’s okay,” he whispered. “See that
opening behind the brush? I want you to crawl in there and stay until I come
for you. No matter what happens, don’t come out.”

She saw the opening and nodded, but still
didn’t move. “Wait! Don’t go. What if you don’t come back?”

“I’m coming back.”

“Give me a gun, I’ll help. You said it was
as simple as pointing and pulling the trigger.”

“Yeah, well I lied. It takes a hell of a
lot more than that. Let go of my hand and move. That’s an order.”

“Shove your order. I can gather the duffels
and hand out ammo.”

He grabbed a handful of shirt and yanked
her close, growling, “This isn’t a democracy. When you get to be a colonel you
can make the rules. Now move your ass through those bushes and stay put!”

She opened her mouth to argue the point,
then another spray of bullets ricocheted through the clearing. She sobered,
released his hand and crawled toward the opening.

Seth checked his ammo clip. “What do you
think, Francis?”

“I think it’s a wonder she hasn’t peed her
pants yet. She’s scared shitless.”

“Do you think you could fucking concentrate
on something other than pussy for five minutes?”

“With both ears tied behind my back. There’s
more than one, must be the rendezvous party.”

The rat-a-tat of exchanged gunfire could be
heard through the trees. Silencers muffled the commotion, keeping the echoes
from reaching the township below.

“Take the sniper rifle and see if you can
spot anything from up that oak.” Seth crawled around the area and cautiously
collected the duffels, pulling them back against the rocks.

Seconds later, Gabriel came lowballing
through the trees to drop beside him and dig out a fresh clip. “Five, maybe
more. Well, three now.”

“Listen up. Behind this brush is another
cave. Back them off, then follow the tunnel to the end and veer left, the right
tunnel dead-ends into a cavern. I’ll take Maria and the duffels and meet you on
the other side.”

“Roger that.”

* * * * *

Maria sat crouched against the sheared
wall, visibly sighing in relief when she spotted him.

“Can you walk?” he asked.

“I think so.”

He searched out a flashlight from one of
the duffels and pulled her to her feet. “C’mon, there’s a back way out of here.”

“Yippee.”

“Grab hold of my belt.” He led the way
through the hollow tunnel, careful to keep the pace slow but steady because of
her injured foot. The air grew cooler as they wound deeper into the bowels of
what once had been a rock quarry.

“Who’s shooting at us now? Like it makes a
difference.”

“Same guys. They probably kept in contact
with the first wave, hoping to corner us.”

“You never went looking for Will, did you?”
her accusing tone whipped over him. “You were out here, scouting across these
hills for places to hide.”

Just this minute he wasn’t interested in
mollifying her. “I had a few old contacts scope out the situation within the
DEA for me, just as a matter of interest. If there had been an easier way out,
I would’ve taken it. This way.” He turned left at the end of the main tunnel
into a narrow offshoot. With little natural light left to mark the exit, he had
to turn off the flashlight to judge the distance.

“Can you swim?” he asked.

“Yes, why?”

“Do you trust me?”

Seth could almost see the wheels in her
head spinning, picturing scenes from any number of action flicks where refugees
from justice were forced to swim for their lives through underground water
flows with little or no air.

He clasped her chin between his thumb and
forefinger, forcing her to focus. “Maria, do you trust me?”

“I-I don’t know,” her whisper was barely
audible.

“Give me your hand. See that light at the
end of the tunnel?”

She peered around him, squinting to make
out the exit. “I think so.”

“Run toward it.”

Her alarmed gaze swiveled back to his. “What
am I supposed to do when we get to the end?”

He didn’t answer, giving her no time to
think as he broke into an easy lope and pulled her behind him. “I’ll tell you
when we get there.”

He felt her resistance as they neared the
point of no return and tightened his grip on her hand so she wouldn’t break
away until the right moment.

“Oh shit! Oh shit! Seth!”

She tried to balk but he yanked her hard. “Jump!”

When they cleared the ledge he let go of
both her and the packs. Her scream of terror echoed off the sheer rock walls as
she tumbled through the air, arms and legs flailing. He only hoped she didn’t
forget to hold her breath when she hit the water. He’d worry about the rest
later.

* * * * *

She was going to die.

The thought struck her acidly as she
twisted to look down and instantly estimated the fall was a good hundred yards.

Cold, numbing water shocked her system as
she plunged into the depths.

Her brain conceived that the fall hadn’t
killed her but she was unable to discern which way was up, or see farther than
a foot or two through the hazy water once she opened her eyes.

Her hair floated freely in front of her
face, further obscuring her vision.
Bubbles. Let
out the bubbles and see which way they go.
But the weightless
strands of hair dispersed the pockets of air before she could make out which
direction to kick. Concentration was made more difficult by the fact her head
was still spinning from the spiked gum Joan had given her earlier.

She clawed the hair from her face, kicking
her feet to tread perpendicular. The streak of pain that shot up her ankle caused
her mouth to open in reflex. Water rushed into her lungs.

On the heels of disorientation came panic.
The dizziness increased. Any direction was better than none, so she cupped her
hands and kicked hard, reaching, hoping, praying she was heading upward. Spots
danced before her eyes. Her lungs burned to expectorate the water. Only by
sheer willpower was she able to keep from opening her mouth to scream.

Her hair caught on something, nearly ripped
by its roots from her skull as whatever it was jerked her in the opposite
direction. She struck out, but failed to sever the connection. Seconds later
she broke the surface of the water, choking and gasping.

“I thought you said you could swim?” Harris
demanded, hooking an arm around her waist while treading water to keep them
afloat.

She coughed and gagged, retching up some of
the water she had swallowed. Her fists slammed into any part of him she could
find. “Are you…trying to…kill me, you…maniac!”

“You can cuss me later. Right now I have to
get you to shore and dive for the bags.”

He towed her across the water. She couldn’t
have lifted a finger to help him if she’d wanted, the cold water had numbed her
extremities and she was still trying to suck air into her aching lungs. He
dumped her unceremoniously on the bank and dove back in, slicing through the
water to disappear below the surface in search of his lost loot.

Maria continued to gag and retch, spewing
up water and bile and basically wishing she were a man so she could pound Seth
Harris into the dirt. When she was able to sit up again she watched the water,
shivering uncontrollably as she waited for him to come up for air. At least two
minutes had passed and still there was no sign of him.

Two minutes stretched into three. Maria
stood up, hoping to get a better view. Harris had to come up soon, trained or
not, three minutes was a long time to stay under water. The heavy duffels would
have sunk to the bottom of the manmade lagoon with the weight of guns and
ammunition alone.

“It’s not worth it, Seth. Come up.”

Four minutes. “Damn you, come up for air.”

Four and a half. She reached for the cross
dangling from her neck, fingering the smooth, well-worn surface.
Please make him come up.

Another few seconds and she was ready to
scream. Then she heard the splash and saw his tawny head break clear. “Jesus!”
She sagged in relief.

As religion went, she believed in miracles,
but had come perilously close to begging Lucifer himself for aid when it seemed
the saints ignored her plea. Did the lousy bastard have any idea what she’d
just suffered through waiting to see if he’d drowned?

Harris staggered ashore, dropping his heavy
load. Without thinking, she threw herself at him. “You’re all a bunch of
freaks!”

His arms came around her as he drank in
oxygen to his starving lungs. “How’s your foot?” he panted.

“It hurts like hell,” she muttered into his
wet shirt. “But I’m stone-cold sober now if it’s any consolation.”

“Stop shaking.”

“I can’t. Was it entirely necessary to
scare the bejesus out of me like that? You could have surfaced for air.”

“I saw where the packs landed, they hit the
water before I did. Easier to gather them all at once than waste time making
several trips. I used to do this for a living, you know.”

“Why don’t you just admit you’re an
adrenaline junkie and be done with it?”

“You’d make a pitiful military wife. Let’s
get up the bank and I’ll start a fire. You have to get out of those wet clothes
and I want to have a look at that foot.”

She pushed away from him, furious that he
could be so casual about the risks he’d taken. “Would you shut up about my
foot! It’s nothing compared to the heart attack I almost had waiting to see if
you’d—”

“Do you like people telling you what you can
print in your magazine?” he countered.

“What? No, but—”

“Then don’t try to tell me how to do my
job.” He gathered up the duffels and started up the bank, leaving her to
follow.

She did, zooming in on her anger as a way
of blocking out the pain in her ankle. Her attitude hadn’t improved by the time
they reached the crest.

“It’s stupid to build a fire when those
snipers are still out there.” Maria sank to the ground on what she hoped was a
dry spot, but at this point who cared, she was soaking wet anyway. She removed
her shoe to lessen some the pressure of the swelling, which was worse with the
sprain she’d sustained during her high-dive debut.