And how ridiculously ironic wasthat?
For days, she’d begged God for a miracle. Pleaded for Him to provide her and the girls a savior. Some sort of miraculous event that would ensure their return to safety.
Now here she was, throwing herself at His mercy with the hope that those sweet, precious girls were still in there. Still locked away in the very prison cell where they’d been forcefully kept.
Better there than in the hands of these monsters.
Evie was almost there. Just a few more rooms to pass before she’d be to the girls and?—
Someone’s there!
It was hard to make out, and for a minute, she thought maybe her throbbing mind had conjured up something that didn’t actually exist. But even as she considered this—even in her frantic state—Evie was convinced she’d seen something move.
There it was again!
She crept a few feet closer, stopping just before the opening of the next to the last room on her right. Laser-focused, she honed her vision in on the spot where she’d seen the shadow move just seconds before.
The small lights along the narrow path weren’t enough to make out any specific details, but even from here, she could tell the shadow belonged to a person. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead, and Evie’s lungs worked faster as they filled themselves with several quick, shallow breaths.
A glimpse inside the room to her right yielded nothing more than the same crude rock walls and dirt floor as the others. With her focus bouncing back to where she’d seen the ominous shadow, Evie watched the area like a hawk.
Her heart thudded against her ribs with maddening fear as she prayed whoever the shadow belonged to would decide to go the other way. Rather than shrink in size, however, the shadow expanded, and the sound of muffled footfalls grew closer.
Evie wasn’t as naïve as everyone always assumed, and she understood perfectly how dire her situation had become. If she were caught out here—caught trying toescape—she’d likely be shot on sight. Especially if these guys knew their anticipated windfall wouldn’t be coming anytime soon.
Pain knifed through her broken heart, but she refused to let it steal her focus. Being systematically disowned by her only livingparent had been a massive blow. Add to that the knowledge that her father had seemingly had no problem letting her die, and…
That was a realization from which she may never fully recover.
But right now, none of that mattered. Survival was the number one goal, and given her current situation, Evie knew her odds of making it out of this hellish cave alive were slim to freaking none.
I have to at least try.
She slipped quietly into the empty room. Rough edges scraped against her back as she made herself as invisible as possible, keeping her trembling form plastered to the wall just inside the unobstructed doorway.
Evie listened and waited, praying the room’s unlit shadows were enough to conceal her presence from whoever was about to walk past. The room’s state of emptiness provided hope that those she’d heard would simply walk on past. If they did that, she’d at least have a chance at getting to the last stretch of hallway, and to the room where she prayed the girls were still secured.
Approaching footfalls sounded, and Evie knew they were getting closer. She pressed her entire body back against the wall, making herself as small as humanly possible.
The air in her lungs ceased all movement as she refused to allow even the tiniest of breaths. Her injured ribs ached painfully from the pressure, the urge to reposition her arm as a makeshift brace tempting. But she didn’t dare move a muscle.
Sore ribs she could live with. A bullet to the head, not so much.
Evie listened intently as she waited, hiding in the darkness. Within seconds, it was clear the person whose shadow she’d seen was coming her way.
Don’t move, Eves. Don’t move. Don’t breathe. Don’t?—
A bright light appeared, its rays cutting through the room’s center. She made herself impossibly smaller as the thick beam swept the space from left to right, and it took her a moment to realize the light’s source was a long, terrifying-looking rifle.
Evie’s lungs burned with a desperate need for air, but she refused to draw in even a partial breath. Seconds ticked by, and the pressure in her head and lungs increased ten-fold as the light made another pass, pausing dangerously close to the edge of her right foot.
Her toes curled inside her worn and dirty shoes as if that would somehow make her feet invisible should the light catch them. The aching in Evie’s jaw worsened, not only from the blows she’d endured but also from clenching her teeth in terror.
She began to feel a bit lightheaded and feared she would pass out at any second. But then the beam—and the weapon it was mounted to—vanished, sending tears of relief rushing to the surface.
With several quick flutters, Evie blinked them away, finally releasing the air trapped in her lungs. She wanted to gasp like a fish out of water. To fill her lungs to their capacity again and again. But her fear of being heard overrode her body’s instinct to suck in as much air as she could.
Instead, she carefully allowed some much-needed oxygen to enter her system through slow, silent breaths. At least, she hoped like hell they were silent. The man behind the intrusive light may have continued on his path, but that didn’t necessarily mean she was safe.