LITMIR.BIZ

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lapsed back into silence, forcing their tired muscles up the hill. After a bit, Jack pointed them to the left. “Over there.”

      “Over there?”

      “Another mine.”

      “Is that good or bad?”

      “Good. I know this one. It’s pretty stable—the man-made passages lead to a series of natural caves. A lot of the teenagers use it for spelunking.”

      “Spelunking?”

      “Exploring caves and canyons.”

      “Oh, no. Bats.”

      “Yeah, bats. And narrow crevices and long, dark tunnels without the light of day.”

      “Can’t we just make a lean-to out of twigs?” she asked weakly.

      Jack stopped walking at last. He took both of her hands in his. “I won’t lie to you, Josie. You’re not going to like it in there. But we’re not doing so well out here. Exposure will set in soon. We don’t have matches, we don’t have food, we don’t have a set of dry clothes. We’re too far from civilization for help. This is the best idea I have.”

      “I know.”

      “Will you follow me, will you do as I ask even when it’s going to scare you to death?”

      She regarded him steadily. “I suppose I will.”

      “Josie…I’m sorry. For everything, I’m sorry.”

      “I know, Stryker. Maybe…maybe I even understand.” She shrugged halfheartedly, wanting to make things right as much as he did, but too tired and worn to sort through all the emotions that clutched at her chest. “Well, maybe someday we’ll look back on the whole thing and laugh.”

      “Yeah, maybe. I just wanted you to know I was sorry…in case.”

      She silenced him with her fingers over his lips. “Straight Arrow Stryker,” she whispered.

      His lips, warm and soft, curved against her finger ruefully. “Still trying to hold all the pieces together,” he admitted quietly, filling in her unspoken thought. “I can’t help myself, Josie. I…I don’t want anything to happen to you. And I can’t help but feel like this whole thing is my fault. I should’ve listened to you—”

      “You did. You checked out my house.”

      “I should’ve trusted my instincts—”

      “A cop can’t write instincts on an arrest form.”

      “I should’ve been there for you, Josie. I shouldn’t have left you feeling all alone.”

      “No, you shouldn’t have. But, news flash, Stryker: You’re not perfect. Another news flash—neither am I. Hmm, maybe that’s how we ended up handcuffed together racing through the mountains. It’s a thought.”

      “Josie—”

      “Come on, Stryker. We’re both chilled to the bone and who knows when Super Chick will appear again. Let’s walk, okay? Later, you can tell me how sorry you are. I’m thinking flowers, lots of tiger lilies. No, rare orchids. Hmm, maybe wildflowers, bluebells, daisies, sunflowers. No, no, peach roses. I want a lot of peach roses. And dinner, of course. Then we’ll move on to fine gems. Have I mentioned yet how much I like opals? I like fiery opals. Think about it, Stryker.”

      “I’ll think about it.”

      Josie nodded, satisfied, and turned back toward the rising mountain. The opening of the mine was barely visible from here. It gaped like the hole from a missing tooth in a monster’s gruesome smile.

      Dark, stale, and most likely filled with bats.

      Josie started walking, and Jack understood completely then why he was so enraptured with her. Not too many women would walk willingly into an abandoned mine. Not too many people could make him feel better about his own mistakes.

      It made him want to kiss her again. Kiss her and hold her and wrap his arms so tightly around her nothing would harm her. She would always be safe. Because if something happened to her, his father was right—he would shoulder the burden of the failure, adding it to the load he already carried. He knew how to forgive everyone but himself, and he had never learned how to forget.

      He followed her toward the mine. Behind them, the trees remained undisturbed.

      * * *

      “Fasten it here, and fasten it here. How’s that?” Jack pushed at the hard yellow mining hat experimentally, but it remained firmly attached to Josie’s head. He turned on the lantern bulb resting on her forehead, then found a hat for himself. The entrance to the mine held half a dozen miner’s caps. He figured on Friday night, they were all put to use, and he didn’t know whether to curse or praise the recklessness of the local teenagers.

      He’d half hoped to find dry matches, a canteen of water or leftover snacks. No such luck. Only the hats were left at the mine.

      He turned on his own light, illuminating the dark, dank tunnel. Oak beams held the hand-carved ceiling in place above them. Farther on, the sides turned to rock, still bearing the marks from the dynamite that had blasted the tunnel so many decades ago.

      The tunnels had been mined out two decades ago, but they remained popular, particularly for serious explorers—or Boy Scouts who had read Tom Sawyer one too many times. When Jack had been a teenager, he’d spent an entire summer coming to know first the man-made tunnels, then the labyrinth of natural caves and canyons that formed catacombs inside the mountainside.

      Here, he hoped to find the home court advantage at last. He finished adjusting his hat, took one last look at the gathering dusk, then turned to Josie.

      “Ready?”

      She looked the palest he’d ever seen her. “I don’t like dark places.”

      “It’s stable.”

      “It’s wet and cold.”

      “It twists down below the water table.”

      “Oh, goody, if it rains, we’ll drown.”

      “Only if the water rises forty feet.”

      Josie was still holding back. She finally wrenched away, unable to meet his eyes. “I really…I really don’t like closed-in places,” she whispered at last.

      “You’re claustrophobic?” He tried to keep his voice patient, but felt a small thread of panic. The best path he knew was tough enough for experienced explorers, let alone a woman who suffered from claustrophobia.

      “I have a healthy respect for oxygen and sunshine,” Josie hedged.

      “Take my hand?” he suggested gently.

      “I’m handcuffed to it, what else can I do?”

      “I’ll get you through, Josie. I know these tunnels. I even have a plan.”

      “A plan?”

      “A plan.”

      “When this is over,” Josie said weakly, “I want to take the longest vacation in history.”

      “When this is over, Josie, I will personally take you to Montana and we will both stand in the middle of the fields and watch the sky spread out forever.”

      “Is that a promise?”

      “That’s a promise.”

      He pulled down the last four mining hats from the makeshift pegs. He tossed them onto the ground and crushed their lightbulbs with his heel.

      “All right,” he said firmly. “Now we go.”

      * * *

      The beginning wasn’t so bad. The mine was wide with old tracks running down the middle. Josie could walk beside Jack, holding his hand and watching the beams from

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