* * *

A static sound pierced his eardrums and rippled through his head. It forced his eyes open and he moved his head. A searing pain rushed through him, running straight from the top of his head and scattering down the nerves of his spine.

He’d fallen from up high and hit his head. He didn’t even remember getting knocked out.

Wade looked up and saw the hazy outline of the drop. There were, indeed, arrows all around him. There was one in his arm that hurt like a bitch.

“Wade, are you okay?” Wes’ voice came into his ear and hurt his head.

“How long was I down for?” Fright gave him the strength to move against the dizziness that slowed his movements. He didn’t know what time they had left.

“Twenty minutes. Wade, unless if they were bluffing, we have fifty minutes left from the time that we left the house to get to Taylor and Chloe and disable the bombs.”

“Shit,” Wade cursed, pulling himself up.

The pain was secondary and could be dealt with later. His collarbone didn’t feel right, but that could be dealt with later, too. He was standing and that was all he needed, strength and the ability to move.

“How far away am I Wes?”

“Not far. If you follow the passage, that will take you straight to them. Keep to the passage and stay close to the wall. I’ve been looking around to see what could set off the traps. It looks like if you keep to the wall you’ll be fine. I mean, like, seriously creeping along the wall, but as fast as you can. More the sort of rock climbing, but across the wall as opposed to up it.”

Wade could do that. There was only one mountain left in this world that he hadn’t climbed, so this cave was nothing. He could and would do this. He had to save Chloe and Taylor.

“Are the girls okay?”

“They’re alive but they’re not okay. Taylor’s calming Chloe, she looks sick. They’ve put her next to a headless corpse. Wade, you’ll have to bring them with the vests because removing them will detonate the bombs instantly,” Wes explained.

“What! How can you tell?”

“Zeek went back to the room and said something about it. We don’t want to test that to see if he was bluffing on that. When you get to them, look at the timer. I can’t see that, so we have to go with what they said. And Wade…” His voice took on an uncertainty Wade didn’t like.

“What is it?”

“Your mom and Brian got separated. Aaron’s holding your mom at gun point and Brian went on a path that has no surveillance. I spoke to Detective Fray and he’s arranging for a squad to come to all entrances of the mountain. The path your mom and Brian went on crumbled away so the squad have to go in from the south side. There’s no surveillance there at all.”

Damn it. Everything was so hard.

“I have to help them.”

“Deal with the bombs first and get the girls out. Do that and we can see what we can do from our side. I have five cops with me who are part of the bomb squad. We’ll figure something out.”

If it was one thing he knew Wes for, it was his positive attitude to anything and any situation.

Wade was grateful for it now and knew he couldn’t waste any more time.

“I owe you a lot, Wes,” Wade told him.

“You can thank me by getting my girls out.”

Wade nodded firmly, knowing Wes could see him. “I will. Here I go.”

He took the flashlight, set it in his mouth again, and climbed up the wall, moving across it and down the path. He didn’t waste time looking around him. Wes told him where he had to go and that’s where he went. As he moved along, the area brightened until the light absorbed that which came from the flashlight, making it easier for him to see.

With his skills, he got to the end quickly. Another path verged onto this one and he could see stairs leading up to an office and the track below at his level.

“That’s where they are,” Wes said into his ear. “You’ve cleared the traps so keep going. The ground from here looks safe.”

On hearing that, Wade jumped off the wall and bent his knees to take the impact of his landing.

“Wade, watch out, it’s Zeek!” Wes cried.

Wade turned and came face-to-face with Zeek. He’d come out of nowhere and he was carrying a gun.

Zeek smiled at him, believing the gun would scare Wade away.

It didn’t. Wade was past feeling scared. This little idiot had put him through so much and had done so much wrong that all that was in Wade’s mind now was to end him.

Zeek raised the gun at him, but Wade stepped straight in the line of the barrel and grabbed it from him, throwing it to one side.

The shocked look on Zeek’s face was classic, but it was immediately replaced when Wade landed a cross punch and an upper cut in quick succession straight in his face.

He heard his nose break and blood spurted from his nostrils.

The impact sent Zeek flying, but the fool was dumb enough to get up and come at Wade, who had a jab waiting for him.

With a kick to the stomach, Wade took him down and jumped on him to beat the life out of him.

“Wade.”

That voice was too close to belong to Wes. Wade looked up and saw Brian coming towards him.

Wade was gasping and panting from the anger that raced through his blood. He wanted to finish Zeek off, make him pay for everything he’d done. For killing Merissa. He didn’t have to kill her. He could have kidnapped her and tortured her, anything would have been better than death. When he looked at Zeek he saw a man who had murdered an innocent woman who deserved so much more.

“Leave him,” Brian cried.

“Wade,” Wes’ voice came on line. “Listen to Brian. Leave Zeek. You have forty minutes to get out of there and disable the bombs.”

Wade stood up and looked down at Zeek. He was out cold and Wade hoped he was in pain. He looked at Brian as he came closer.

“Come on, son,” he beckoned Wade. “I lost your mother back there. Let me help you find the girls and then I have to get help for your mom.”

“Stay with me, I have a plan.” Wade gathered himself and tried to calm down. “Wes is above us with surveillance of most of the area. I have a microphone so I can hear and speak to him.”

“Really?” Brian looked both surprised and impressed.

Wade nodded. “The girls are up there.” He moved quickly towards the stairs and Brian followed.

As soon as Wade got up the stairs, he heard crying. He could hear both Taylor and Chloe.

He kicked the door open and almost heaved from the smell and the disgusting sight of the corpse with the maggots crawling all over it.

His eyes went straight to Chloe’s and then to Taylor.

“I’ll get Taylor, you take care of Chloe,” Brian instructed.

“Dad.” Wade heard Taylor cry. It didn’t even sound strange to hear it.

His poor Chloe looked happy and relieved to see Wade, but she was crying so much she couldn’t talk.

“Baby, don’t cry. I got you,” Wade said, going over to her. He went behind her and untied the ropes that bound her hands. They were so tight it left her skin raw and bruised around her wrists. As soon as she was free she made a move to hug him, but then stopped because of the bomb vest.

“Wade, thanks for coming,” she cried even more.

“I’m so sorry.”

“No, don’t say that. This isn’t you. Wade, Aaron is Richard,” she cried, shaking her head.

He cupped her face. “I know, baby, listen, we have to get out of here.” He looked over at Taylor and Brian. Brian had just released Taylor, too, and held her face.

Taylor looked over at him.

“Wade, tell her it’ll be okay,” Wes said quickly. His voice sounded heavy with emotion and his breathing made the sound crackle with static. “She needs to be told that. It gives her strength. Just tell her I said that.”

“Taylor, Wes says everything will be okay,” Wade said.

“Wes? He’s here?” Taylor’s face immediately brightened. No one would have thought that they were in a cave and she had a bomb attached to her, with another on Chloe just paces away, a dead body, and all manner of hell breaking loose.

“Here.” Wade pointed to his ear and briefly pulled out the microphone so they could all see. He put it back. “He said you’d need to hear that for strength.”

Brian smiled at that.

“Tell him I love him,” Taylor replied.

“Tell her I love her, too, but I’ll say it again when I see her in person.”

Wade relayed the message and then looked back at Chloe. “Wes has been my eyes and ears, and he’ll get us out of here.”

Chloe managed a grateful smile.

Wade moved to her to look at the bomb.

“It’ll detonate if we take them off,” she muttered.

“I know. I’m just checking the timer.” He lifted the flap and saw that they had 35 minutes.

“35 minutes, Wes. What do we do now?”

“The mining carts. Go straight to them. They’re real old fashioned, but they look workable. You should be with me in less than ten minutes, and the bomb squad can disable the bombs,” Wes replied.

“Come, let’s go. We have to use the mining carts. There’s a bomb squad with Wes. We just have to get to them.”

They left the room and headed to the carts. Wes wasn’t joking about them being old fashioned, and they barely looked functional. But that was their ride. Wade helped Taylor and Chloe to get inside one cart, and then he and Brian got into the one at the front. There was a panel with buttons to press so that it would start up. Wade pressed a button that was labelled on and the whole screen lit up. Next to it was a green button which he presumed would make the cart go.

“Let’s go, guys,” he said when he saw that they were all secured inside and ready.

Brian nodded and Wade pressed the go button, bringing the thing to life. It must have been electrical with a connection in the rail. It roared to life and started moving at a quick pace, making an awful racket sound as it propelled along the rails. They moved along the twists and turns, then suddenly a spark on the rail caught his attention. Another one hit it and Wade realized they were bullets.

He looked up to where they came from and saw Zeek above them on one of the paths. He fired one shot after another.

“Get down!” Wade yelled. He attempted to go into the cart with Chloe and Taylor, but they were travelling too fast and he couldn’t. He looked up as more shots were fired and Zeek now ran along a platform. Within seconds he’d be across their route and he would be at the perfect angle to shoot them all.

Zeek laughed as he approached. Wade looked at him, gearing himself up to receive a bullet.

“Wade, stay down!” Wes was yelling, but Wade couldn’t. He was gearing up to jump in the back cart to use his body to shield Chloe and Taylor.

He stood up, ready to turn and take off, when a piercing sound heaved through the air. Another gun.

Something rippled straight into Zeek, a bullet from a shotgun that took off his whole arm. They all turned in the direction the bullet came from and Wade saw his father standing on the other side on the cavern. He held a shotgun, pointing it skillfully at Zeek.

Wade watched him fire another shot that went straight to Zeek’s heart, taking him out and knocking him right over the path and into the abyss of the chasm.

“Dad!” Wade yelled, but his father just looked at him as the cart went by.

“Dad!” Taylor cried, but he still didn’t answer.

“Take care of my kids, Brian. They are treasure to me,” was all he said.

“I will!” Brian called back.

They only had a few seconds before they could no longer see him. In those moments, he looked at Wade.

Earlier Wade had made the decision that his goodbye was goodbye. But this was different. The look on his father’s face said goodbye forever.

They rolled on by on the path and soon broke out into the oncoming night. It had to be approaching eight and the darkness of night was beginning to absorb the daylight.

The carts slowed and Wade pressed the button to ease it into a stop. Wes was already there waiting for them with the squad. As soon as the cart stopped, they took hold of Chloe and Taylor and got to work on disabling the bombs.

Wade took a moment to look back at where they’d come from.

“Regina’s still in there,” Brian stated.

“There’s a team going in for her now,” one of the officers said.

Wade walked to the edge to see if he could see any sign of his father but saw none. Wes joined him.

“I lost sight of him, but we can look on the surveillance if you want,” Wes offered. “He might pop up again.”

Wade turned to face him. “He saved us.”

“He’s your father, it’s what they do.” Wes offered a kind smile.

Wade nodded, grateful for the comment. He thought of what his father said to Brian, then he looked back at Chloe and Taylor with the squad.

“I just wish I knew what was happening, inside.”

Both his parents were inside, and he was here. Out of danger.

“I know,” Wes agreed.

They might have been out of danger, but danger hadn’t finished with them yet.

His mother and father were inside the mountain with Aaron, who was carrying another bomb. This was by no means over yet.

* * *

* * *

Regina sat at the computer in the office. She’d just transferred one billion dollars to an off-shore bank account in the Maldives.

That was from her personal account.

Aaron stood behind her the whole time, holding the gun at her head.

“Very good.” He beamed. “Now come.”

“What now?” she asked. She doubted that he’d just allow her to go, but she prayed that maybe he would. Maybe he would do that.

Wishful thinking.

She stood up and walked out with him behind her, keeping the gun in place.They walked back to the platform near the chasm.

“Go to the rail,” Aaron told her.

“Why?”

“Do it.”

She walked over to the rail.

“Now jump over.” He smiled.

God. No. This couldn’t be it for her. She started to cry. Crying for all that had happened and how her life would end.

“Can’t you just let me go? I did what you asked.”

“My mother begged just like that. Worse,” he said.

“I didn’t kill your mother.”

“It doesn’t matter. You’re all the same. You, Regina, you knew what Ben was like. I know you must have known, but you stayed with him.”

“For safety,” she said quickly. “I was afraid of what would happen to my kids,” she cried.

“Bullshit!” he yelled. “You could have left. You’re Regina Vanderville, rich, successful, powerful. You couldn’t have been that scared.”

“I was terrified,” she retorted. “And since you know us all so well, you should understand. You saw first-hand what Ben is capable of. I was terrified for my children.”

He stopped and considered this, but didn’t look like he’d be changing his mind anytime soon.

“But you did nothing, you just stayed with him, even when you suspected he was doing all wrong. You stayed.”

“I gave you my answer. Before Runway, I had nothing, I waited until I built up a name for myself and a successful empire, and then my plan was to leave. That is the truth. The only confirmed thing I knew that Ben did was falsify documents in the oil rig disaster. But I couldn’t prove it. Everything else I had no idea on.”

His eyes turned colder and his face harder. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to watch your mother die, and in such a cruel way? Jackson Donovan shot her multiple times. Ben told him to kill her.”

She shook her head. “There are no words to express how sorry I am. I didn’t know he was capable of murder.”

Until now she was still shocked. That hadn’t sunk in yet, and most likely never would because she couldn’t accept it. For her own sanity it was better to forget. If she had the chance. Right now, her life stood in a balance between walking away and this chasm.

“You’re still going to die, Regina. I will not have mercy on you. Now jump or I’ll shoot you dead and you will fall.” His words were ridged, harsh, abrasive.

There was nothing human left in his eyes.

It was hard to think of him as Aaron when she’d known him as Richard for the last two years that Taylor had dated him. He’d shown so much respect for her. It was hard to believe that this same man wanted to kill her now.

“Jump!” he screamed, making her bones shiver from the cold terror that gripped her soul.

“Let her go,” a voice she knew all too well sounded from the space behind Aaron.

It was Ben.

But she couldn’t see him.

He came. Regina’s heart started pounding within her chest at the possibility of hope. Hope to survive this madness.

“Well look who decided to show,” Aaron said with a smile. “Full of surprises, aren’t you Ben?” Aaron turned with the gun and searched the area. “Where are you then? Scared to face me like the monster you are?”

“Drop the gun.”

Regina looked but she couldn’t see him. She did, however, hear the distinct click of a gun. Ben had the shotgun he used to use for hunting when his father was alive. That click sounded like it belonged to it. She only remembered because she hated hunting and they’d taken her along on one trip.

“No. I’m not dropping it. Come out from where you are, coward,” Aaron balked.

Footsteps sounded and then Ben emerged from the darkness of one of the passageways. He held the shotgun in position. The sight of a much bigger gun seemed to throw Aaron.

“Here I am,” Ben replied.

“You came.”

“She’s my wife, of course I came.”

Regina looked at him, surprised by his words.

“Don’t you mean ex-wife? You got divorced this morning,” Aaron taunted.

“I was married to this woman for over thirty years, you don’t wrap that up in one morning.”

Regina was looking at Ben, but not once did he look at her. She never expected him to say anything close to that and it struck her that she really didn’t know him. She didn’t recognize this side of him, had never seen it.

“How touching.”

“Let her go and drop the gun.”

“No, I won’t.” Aaron had that angry look on his face. “You bastard, you had my mother killed and ruined my life. You had my grandmother committed to a mental institution and, when I tried to tell the police what you did, you paid them off. No one believed me.”

The more the story unfolded, the worse it revealed. Damaging any good she may have seen in Ben.

“I can’t apologize to you, because what I did was pure evil, but I will ask that you let Regina go.”

Aaron shook his head vigorously. “My mother for your wife. A life for a life, killed the same way!” Aaron yelled. “But you first.”

In the split second that Aaron pulled back the trigger, Ben fired the shotgun and the bullet blasted the gun out of his hand. Regina jumped out of the way and ran towards the lift shaft where she hid.

Poking her head out, she saw Aaron lunge towards Ben. Ben could have shot him, but she understood that he wouldn’t. Instead he struck him on his head with the gun.

The blow produced a nasty gash but didn’t slow Aaron down. He managed to knock the shotgun out of Ben’s hands and the two ended up on the ground, punching each other. Regina was surprised that Ben could give as much as he got. He was over twenty years older than Aaron but fought like they were on the same age and level. The shotgun lay a few paces away from them, and Regina wondered if she could make it over to them and get it.

It was an option she would aim for if she could. Something fell out of Aaron’s pocket and she realized it was the bomb.

Shit, she’d totally forgotten that he had been carrying it and it was probably the worst idea in the world for them to fighting like that.

She had to get that, too, and move it away from them. In her mind, she could just imagine Aaron grabbing it and setting it off, killing them all. All of them. She didn’t know if Wade had gotten to the girls, and Brian, she didn’t know what had happened to him.

On that thought, Regina made a move and ran over to them.

She managed to grab the bomb and rushed over to where the shotgun was, to get that, too, but stopped when she saw how close they were to the edge of the chasm.

“Ben, stop!” she cried.

Ben looked over at her momentarily, blood running from his nose. Aaron hit him again and again, and with one swoop, grabbed him, moving them to the edge.

“Ben!” she cried once more, moving to go and help him.

“Stay back, Regina!” he yelled. “Stay back.”

She screamed as the area they’d been fighting on shuffled and started to crumble away, very much like the ground did on the passage she’d been walking on with Brian.

“Be—”

Her voice left her as she watched them both go over the side, falling away with the rubble as it crumbled beneath them. She couldn’t even scream, or breathe.

Adrenaline moved her closer to the edge despite the danger.

She searched for Ben, but it was too dark to see down the depth of the chasm. Regina hadn’t realized just how deep and far down the drop was until just now, being this close to it. It was bottomless.

Ben went over the side, and died.

Her years spent with him had been a true depiction of a nightmare. She wished to never see him again, but she didn’t want him to die. She never wanted him to die.

A hand suddenly shot up from the darkness and gripped the edge of the rock that jutted out.

Her heart pounded again as she thought it could be Aaron. Another hand came, and when Ben’s head surfaced as he pulled himself up, she cried out in relief and rushed to help him.

She set the bomb down, away from them, and assisted in his last effort to save himself.

It was instinct that made her hug him. Tears ran down her cheeks from the relief and the sudden thought that this was over.

He hugged her, too, and pulled away so that he could look at her.

“Are you okay?” he asked. It was the first time she’d ever seen concern in his eyes for her.

“Me? I’m fine. Are you okay?”

His face was bruised and bloody. He looked far from okay, but at least he was alive.

He nodded and pulled in a deep breath.

“You came for me,” she stated.

“Of course I came. Damn it, Regina, the question is why did you come? You should have let the police handle it.”

“He said he had you, and he was going to kill you.”

He looked at her with pain in his eyes. “And so you came for me? After all I put you through? I deserve what I get.”

“Yes, but not on my watch.” She looked at him sternly.

He offered a weak smile.

A ticking sound brought their attention to the little bomb on the ground.

Ben bent down and picked it up. “Shit.”

“What is it?”

The pained look in his expression told her that she wasn’t going to like what he had to say.

“The bomb just went live. It says ten minutes.”

He tried to press a red button, she guessed to disable it, but the bomb was still ticking.

He looked over at her, stared long and hard into her eyes, then moved over. And to her greatest surprise, he kissed her.

The action stunned her so much it paralyzed her and she couldn’t move. Then he moved back and, before she could say a word of protest, he ran to the lift shaft and sealed himself in, locking the door from the inside.

“Ben, what the hell are you doing?” she yelled, running over to him.

He put the bomb in his pocket and pressed the elevator on to start it up.

She held onto the bars, trying to pry the door open, but he’d secured it.

“The control doesn’t work, and since I have no idea how to disable a bomb, this will without a doubt go off,” he said.

“Open the door, Ben,” she demanded.

“The kids made it out with Brian. If you take that cart over there, you’ll make it to them.”

The tears came again, running down her cheeks.

The Ben she didn’t recognize was standing before her in the elevator shaft, ready to sacrifice himself.

“Open the door, Ben. We can throw the bomb into the chasm and it will be okay.”

“We don’t know that. I need to take it as deep down as I can get. Make sure it gets a far away as possible. It’s a bomb, Regina.”

That made sense. It did, but she was still searching her mind for another way.

“Ben.” She said his name softly.

“The time is going, please go. I’m sorry you had such a terrible life with me. I was an awful husband, and I should have allowed you to leave me and be with Brian. It was selfish. Forgive me.”

“Yes, now please come out of there. There has to be another way. You can’t die on my watch.”

“No, this is on my watch. Go, Regina. For heaven’s sake, don’t let me do this in vain.” He pulled the bomb out and took a quick glance at it and frowned. “Eight minutes. Go!” he yelled and, before she could protest, he pressed the down button and down he went. Away from her.

She stood there for a second and panic crippled her, and then she straightened as her mind took her body.

She thought of her family, and her love for Brian. She thought of Ben and what he was doing, and that made her move to the cart.

She jumped into it and started it up. It looked old but worked fine.

It came to life and started moving along the track. Within minutes she came out into the fresh night air and saw lights beaming ahead of her.

She saw Brian first. Then Wade, Chloe, Taylor, and Wes. They were all looking on as the cart pulled up.

When it stopped, she jumped straight into Brian’s arms and he held her close to his heart, where she felt safe.

But they weren’t safe just yet. The bomb had yet to go off.

“We need to get back. Far from here,” she cried. Detective Fray and two officers approached them. “There’s a bomb. Ben has it. It’s set to go off any minute.”

“Mom, what do you mean?” Wade asked. “Where’s Dad?”

“He and Aaron had a fight and Aaron died. The bomb he carried must have gotten damaged and we couldn’t switch it off. If there are any officers in the cave, you need to call them back now. They have about two minutes before the place blows.” She was talking so fast her mouth couldn’t keep up with the words that were flowing from her mind.

Detective Fray got on his phone immediately and sent a message to the squads that surrounded the area.

“Everyone jump into a vehicle and drive as far north as you can.”

No one hesitated. They moved in an instant. Wade took Chloe on his bike and Regina and Brian went with Wes and Taylor. Regina’s car was on the opposite entrance to the mountain and would most likely be destroyed.

About a minute later, a sound shattered through the night, piercing the sound barrier as the explosion went off and the earth started to shake. Wes could barely drive against the impact.

He sped up and blew down the road, past the shaking, catching up with Wade and Chloe, who were ahead and in line with the police vehicles.

Regina looked back at the mountain and saw parts of it crumbling in the dark. It looked like a massive shadow moving around in an angry cloud.

“Ben,” she whispered.

Brian looked on as well, and then to her with sad eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I really am.”

She closed her eyes and lowered back to the warmth of his embrace, trying to absorb the strength of their love as she broke down.