Springer, Jan - Be My Dream Tonight [The Desperadoes 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (23 page)

Suddenly there was an intense explosion from behind him, and he was flying through the air. He hit the ground hard, and his right shoulder made a not-so-good snapping sound as he struck the rocky terrain.

He cursed angrily as pain swirled through his arm like a lightning bolt and snapped his senses, dragging the breath out of his lungs. It took a few precious seconds to orient himself as to what had happened, and then he quickly regained his breath.

Ignoring the pain snapping through his shoulder, he scrambled to his feet and started running like hell again. He had to, because the explosives he’d placed all around the mouth of the cave were loaded with trip wires.

Maddox couldn’t help but grin as he ran faster. It wouldn’t be long before Wolfe and his gang realized they had a big problem on their hands.

* * * *

“What in the world was that?” Eve gasped from behind Kayne as a soft rumble rolled through the corridor. He squeezed her warm hand gently in reassurance but kept pulling her along behind him. The torches that he and C.J. were holding in their hands were beginning to flicker back here. There was barely enough air to sustain the torches, let alone a human being. Behind him she stumbled, and he held tighter. He ignored the fact that she was losing her footing too much. He hoped it had everything to do with the thin air in here and less to do with the beating that son of a bitch had given her.

Cripes, just thinking of that bastard touching Eve sent such a violent rage through him. He wanted to wrap his hands around that guy’s neck and watch the life die in his eyes.

“Don’t worry about it,” he snapped at her and tugged harder. They needed to keep moving because he wasn’t sure if the guards at the back entrance could hear the explosion at the other end of the cave. The guards may have come through here to explore, and they would need to be ready to take them out.

Kayne’s grip on his gun tightened as he tried like hell to see down the very dimly lit corridor.

“Why do…I get the feeling…you aren’t telling me everything?” She gasped as she struggled to inhale.

“It’s all… planned, sweetie. No worries…okay?” C.J. said from in front of them.

He could hear she was breathing heavily, too, as she struggled to inhale the depleted air. But if she wasn’t leading them into a freaking trap, they should be getting fresh air again soon, because according to C.J., the gold was stashed in an area near the back entrance to the cave. There, Riley would be waiting for them.

Obviously someone had already tripped one of Mad’s explosives at the front entrance. He’d set them around back and had been diligently setting them at the front when Kayne and C.J. had entered the cave.

He had to say he was impressed with this dark-haired beauty who tended to shield her scarred face with scarves and by lowering the brim of that cowboy hat she liked to wear. She’d been a fountain of information and coughed up a lot of good tidbits about Wolfe and his gang.

Wolfe was a creature of habit. He liked routines, and chances were good he wouldn’t have deviated much from the guard placement since C.J. and Eve had escaped, or at least that’s what she’d led them to believe. Once again his gut twisted with mistrust as he wondered about her laying a trap for them. He pushed those feelings aside. He’d seen the caring way she’d looked at Eve. That hadn’t been faked.

Earlier, using the aurora borealis as their light, she’d used a stick to carve a map in the ground and stones to outline areas such as in the interior of the cave where all the guards were posted and even where they would find the gold.

She hadn’t been shy in explaining that there was a good likelihood if Wolfe had Eve that she would already have been beaten, probably raped by Wolfe, and she would be in his quarters.

He thought he’d been prepared at the thought Eve would be injured, but the instant he’d seen her cowering behind that fire pit, his anger had just about toppled him over. But he’d managed to pull himself together long enough to check her for serious injuries. One look into her beautiful eyes, though, told him Wolfe hadn’t raped her.

Another low rumble echoed through the corridor.

“I’m hoping that’s thunder, not a cave-in.” Eve chuckled. He noticed her voice was stronger now. Noticed his thoughts were becoming more coherent and the air fresher.

Excellent. Hopefully if things went according to plan, they could pull off the heist without a hitch and pack the gold bars out of here in the knapsacks in one hell of a hurry. Then he could take care of some personal business with Wolfe.

* * * *

Wolfe rubbed his scraggly beard with his hand as he watched another one of his men blow up under a thunderous crash and a burst of orange flames. After the first explosion, he’d suspected the area would be rigged with explosives. That bitch had been right. They were surrounded, and the intruders had done a damned good job in making sure his people were nervous little ninnies.

He clicked his fingers and called another of his soldiers by his side. Wolfe could tell the pathetic bastard was itching to get the hell out of here. Christ, but he’d thought his people were more loyal to him than this. After two of his soldiers blowing up, it looked like the rest of them were cowering and shitting their pants.

Idiots. He was surrounded by idiots.

“To the left,” he instructed. “I want you to go in that way. If you don’t blow up, then you get a gold bar.”

His solder hesitated as he gazed toward the mouth of the cave. Terror zipped along his dark eyes, but the lust of greed glowed there as well. Getting a gold bar was like getting a gold star in kindergarten for his followers. At least he hoped so.

The soldier nodded and then whispered, “Yes, sir.” He got into a crouch and started a careful lurk across the dark clearing toward the mouth of the cave. When nothing happened, Wolfe breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe the place wasn’t rigged as much as he’d thought.

He took a step forward and the next thing he knew he was flying through the air. He hit the ground hard, flat on his back, the wind knocked out of him. For a few panic-stricken moments he couldn’t catch his breath, but then the fresh, flesh-burning-stricken air sifted into his lungs.

Fuck. Another soldier was gone.

When no one came to his aid to help him to his feet, Wolfe knew the rest of the cowards had run away.

Shit! He’d have to head to the back entrance. Hopefully it wasn’t rigged as well.

* * * *

Pain sliced through Maddox’s shoulder as he kept running. Sweat poured into his eyes, and with his good arm, he managed to swipe most of it away. Unfortunately, what he’d thought was sweat came away red and sticky-warm.

Blood.

He must have hit his head, too, when he’d fallen. Maybe that’s why he had a hell of a headache.

But damn, his shoulder was killing him. He’d popped it out of its socket, and it was burning pain through him like a son of a bitch. How in the hell was he going to be able to rig the explosives at the back door of that cave without two good hands? He tried to run faster, but every jarring step loosened another volley of mind-splintering pain through his shoulder and now his head.

Damn, he also noticed instead of speeding up as he thought he’d been doing, he was slowing down, staggering, and totally not sure of where he was at the moment. He came to an abrupt stop and settled himself on a fallen log to catch his breath. Waves of dizziness swept over him, and he grabbed a hold of a nearby sapling to keep from falling over. Ah, shit. This wasn’t good. It looked like he would be out of commission.

He stared out into the darkness and breathed a heavy sigh of defeat.

They were on their own, and they didn’t even know it.

* * * *

“Wow, this is amazing.” Eve barely heard Kayne’s voice as she stared at the gold bars, at least several hundred brick-shaped bars, stacked in the darkness of a small nook. C.J. had lifted a torch and brought it closer, allowing them to see the gold.

“Don’t go close. Remember, its booby trapped,” C.J. warned. “At least that’s what Lane told me.”

“I already see a trip wire here,” Kayne whispered as he pointed to the ground. “And it goes up there.” He pointed upward over their heads. C.J. lifted the torch, and they were able to make out a rope fishing type net filled with boulders hanging there.

“Another trip wire here,” Eve breathed as she spied a very thin wire going horizontally and about two inches off the ground about five feet from the bars. They followed the wire, which disappeared in a crevice and toward the ceiling. To the right of the net containing boulders, they noticed about twenty spears lodged in a line, all pointed directly at them.

Ouch.

“Obviously if you touch the wire, then some mechanism will let those spears loose onto any unsuspecting victims,” Kayne supplied.

“Yeah, fortunately we aren’t unsuspecting,” Eve replied.

“I wonder why none of Wolfe’s men just didn’t take off with the gold?” he asked, and Eve couldn’t help but grin to hear these two actually carrying on a decent conversation. Ever since Lane had died, C.J. had refused to speak to men.

“One, they’re terrified of him,” C. J. explained as she kept her gaze moving along the walls, obviously still searching for more booby traps. “Remember, he eats unborns. Any man who does that has a whole bunch of screws loose, and he’s capable of anything. Two, he’s convinced everyone around him if they wait for a few years, then the gold will just increase in value. He figures by then any paper dollar bills will probably be out of circulation because no one’s minding the mint, so to speak, and the main currency will be end up being gold. He’s banking that pre-Catastrophe days won’t be coming back.”

“Wow, he’s a very optimistic son of a bitch, isn’t he?” Kayne muttered.

To Eve’s surprise, C.J. chuckled. “The people he surrounds himself with are just as brutal as he is, so they connect on some weird level. Creeps like that surely would stab each other in the back eventually. I’m surprised they haven’t done each other in yet already.”

“Killing themselves off would be doing a lot of people a favor. Anyone see any other problems in getting to the gold?” he asked.

They fell silent as they visually looked around and found nothing else.

“Eve, you hold the torch high so that Kayne and I can grab some bars,” C.J. instructed. “The bars are going to get heavy if you pack too many, and it’s a good fifteen or so minutes out to the back, so we’ll need to take several trips so we don’t get too tired.”

Eve accepted the torch and held it at such an angle as to give off as much light as possible so Kayne and C.J. could step over the wires without setting them off.

“I’ll go first. You make sure you follow exactly in my footsteps,” she ordered.

Kayne looked as if he was about to protest when C.J. held up her hand. Her eyes flashed a firm warning. “I’ve been here before, remember?”

Kayne swore softly beneath his breath, and there was an odd look that passed between the two of them, making Eve wonder exactly how much had C.J. told him about her time here in this cave.

“Wouldn’t think of doing it any other way than your way.” Kayne bowed slightly, an affirmation of giving in to her.

C.J. rolled her eyes at Eve and shook her head. But Eve detected the edges of her friend’s lips tilting upward ever so slightly as she turned away.

Eve held her breath as first her best friend and then Kayne began stepping cautiously toward the gold bars. It took only moments before they were both safely at their destination. They crouched around the bars, and upon further examination, they both began packing the bars into three knapsacks.

She noticed immediately the bags weren’t being filled equally. One of them, and she knew it would be the one she would carry, only had about a third compared to the other two.

“I can carry my weight. Put more in that knapsack. I’m okay,” she complained, wishing she could go over and help but knowing it would be best if she stayed here at the entrance and kept watch for any potential problems.

“After the beating you took, I’m sure you’re a hurting unit, Eve,” C.J. answered back as she kept putting in the bars.

Several moments later, Kayne and C.J. joined her, and Kayne instructed her to turn around so he could help her put on the knapsack. She held back a grimace as he slowly let go of the bag and allowed it to settle over her back. With the full weight, it almost felt as if her shoulders were being ripped out of their sockets. Wow, it was a good thing they hadn’t listened to her complaints. These bars were heavy!

He turned her around, and with his warm, sweaty hands, he smoothed the hair out of her face. He scowled as he peered at her swollen-shut eye.

“I’m going to kill that fucking son of a bitch, if it’s the last thing I do,” he whispered.

“There’s no time for that. We need to get in and out as quickly as possible,” Eve whispered back, giving him the brightest smile she could under the circumstances. She didn’t want him worrying about her.

“He’s a slime bag,” Kayne replied, his voice dead calm. Too calm. The sound of it sent shivers shifting through Eve. There’d been a few times when he got angry like this and they’d all had to do with the fat cats who took advantage of people and became rich off their misery.

“Save your revenge for later, Mr. Macho Man,” C.J. interjected from the entranceway. “I’m not hearing any more explosions, so they may be heading around to the back.”