Til Death Do Us Part (22 page)

“Plott's wig.” Joseph lifted the hairpiece from J.T.'s hand, then waved to the men in the truck. “He's gone toward the old uranium mine. Stay behind us and don't take any action on your own.”

“Once he's figured out he can't get out of this alive, he'll kill Joanna.” J.T. followed Joseph back to the patrol car and got inside. “We shouldn't go storming in there.”

“Man, start thinking with your brain instead of your heart.” Joseph tossed the wig into the backseat, then slid under the wheel. “He's planning on killing her, regardless. If he knows we have him trapped, he might be willing to bargain for his life.”

J.T. didn't want to admit that he wasn't thinking straight, that at this moment he was far more lover than protector. Gritting his teeth, he shook his head. “How far is this mine?”

“Not far. About two miles up into those hills.” Joseph turned on the ignition and shifted gears. “The place was
abandoned years ago. Radioactive contamination to the workers caused a lot of our people to die from cancer.”

“He'll take her inside the mine,” J.T. said, but he wasn't actually talking to Joseph, just thinking aloud. Before he could close out the thoughts, he pictured Joanna's face, her terrified green eyes, and a surge of sour bile rose from his stomach to his throat.

He was going to rip Plott apart, piece by piece. And if Plott had harmed Joanna, he was going to take his sweet time killing the man.

When they reached the old mine, they saw a parked car with both front doors standing wide open. The late-afternoon sunshine glinted off the windshield of Eugene Willis's dust-coated gray sedan. Joseph slammed on the brakes of his patrol car, flung open the door and jumped out. J.T. swallowed the bitter juice coating his mouth and got out on the passenger side, then looked up toward the old, abandoned mine.

“Is there another way out of there?” J.T. asked.

“Yeah, around on the back side.”

“Then it's possible Plott could try to escape that way.”

“He won't know about the back entrance, and it could take him hours, maybe days to find it,” Joseph said. “Besides, where's he going to go? I told you, there's only one way out of this canyon, unless the guy can climb better than a mountain goat.”

“We'll need some sort of light.” J.T. checked his gun.

Joseph stared at his cousin. “I've got a couple of flashlights and I'm sure they—” he nodded toward the men getting out of the truck “—will have one or two if we need them.”

“I want you to show me the way into the back of the mine. I'm going in alone. Understand?” J.T. waited for a reply, but Joseph only nodded agreement. “If you can
keep him distracted from this side, I should have a good chance of sneaking up on him.”

J.T. knew that this could be their only hope of getting Joanna away from Plott—alive!

J
OANNA'S EYES HAD
become accustomed to the partial darkness and the eerie silence inside the old mine. Thankfully, Plott hadn't taken them very far inside. She could still see glimmers of sunlight toward the entrance. She lay quietly on the ground where Plott had tossed her, humming softly to herself.

If she thought she had a chance of escaping, she would try to crawl. But she'd never make it past Plott to get to the entrance, and if she tried to go in the opposite direction, she would be lost in total darkness.

Plott gazed around, turning his head from side to side. “Isn't this an appropriate place to die? Almost like being in a grave already, isn't it?”

Joanna shuddered at the thought. Was she really going to die like this? Wasn't there anything she could do to save herself?

Plott shone Eugene Willis's flashlight up, down and around, then dropped to his knees beside Joanna. She didn't move a muscle, didn't even breathe for several seconds. He laid the flashlight on the ground, within arm's reach.

“I'm going to untie you, baby doll, so we can have a little fun before I decide exactly how I'm going to kill you.”

When he reached for her, Joanna scooted away from him. He threw back his head and laughed, then grabbed
her by the feet and hauled her up and under him, straddling her hips.

“I want you to be free to fight me the way you tried to do the last time we played. Remember?” Lifting himself off her, he pivoted around until he faced her feet. “I'll never forget how much fun I had that night at your apartment. I bet you won't ever forget, either. Not as long as you live.” Reaching down, he began untying her ankles.

His diabolical laughter echoed off the rock walls. Joanna raised her arms, aimed her bound hands and pounded Plott on his head and back. Twisting his body around enough to knock her hands away from him, he leaned backward and slapped her across the face. Then, after kicking the loosened strands of her ripped blouse away from her feet, he rubbed his hands up and down her legs.

Joanna shuddered. She couldn't bear for him to touch her intimately that way. She would much rather he beat her. The physical abuse didn't hurt her nearly as much as his sexual caresses. But his caresses weren't truly sexual. She understood that, now better than ever before. Plott's every touch, whether he was beating her or caressing her, was a form of brutalizing manipulation. To him it was all a matter of power.

Plott stood, removed Eugene Willis's suit coat and tossed it on the ground. Joanna glared up at him, seeing only his dark, shadowy outline as he loosened the shoulder holster, took it off and laid it down beside the flashlight. Joanna's eyes focused on the gun. She swallowed. If there was some way she could get hold of that gun…

Unbuckling his belt, Plott lowered himself back down, straddling Joanna's hips again. When he touched her cheek, she spat on him. He laughed, and the sound made her want to scream.

“So much to do,” he said, “and so little time to truly enjoy ourselves.”

He unbuttoned her jeans. She bucked upward, trying to throw him off, then lifted her arms and brought them down against his chest. Grabbing her wrists, he flung her arms over her head and spread himself out on top of her. He insinuated one hand between their bodies and slid it between her thighs.

“Just think, baby doll, your last moments are going to be spent with me on top of you. My face is the last one you'll see. What I've done to you will be the last thing you remember.”

“No!” she screamed. Her adamant denial echoed in the empty caverns of the abandoned mine.

 

J.T.
HEARD HER
scream at the same moment he saw the beam of light. A flashlight lying on the ground! All he wanted to do was go flying toward the sound of her terrified voice, but he stopped dead still and listened to his gut instincts and to his years of professional training. He checked his gun.

He had to take Plott unaware. It was the only way. Suddenly J.T. heard the rumble of men's voices. What the hell? Then he realized the sound wasn't people talking, but a distinct, synchronized chanting in a language with which he had recently become reacquainted. Why were they chanting? What purpose did it serve other than to alert Plott to their presence?

The rhythmic thumping of what sounded like a drum blended with the voices. A picture of men painted and ready for battle sprang into his mind.

Realization dawned on J.T. Damn, but Joseph Ornelas was a wily fox. The chanting and drumming would not only draw Plott's attention, they just might spook him. This was J.T.'s chance to strike. He had to act quickly and silently.

 

L
ISTENING
, L
ENNY
P
LOTT
lifted his head, turned left, right and left again. “Do you hear that?”

Joanna heard the chanting and the drumbeat. “They've found us. J.T. isn't alone. You'll never get away, now.”

“Shut up! I need to think.”

“Do you have any idea what they're going to do to you if you kill me?” Joanna wanted to cry out, to tell J.T. to come for her now, that she couldn't bear being trapped like this another minute. But she would not allow herself to panic.

“I said shut up!” Lenny grabbed her by the wrist, jumped to his feet and jerked her up beside him. “We'll go deeper into the mine. If they try to come after us, I'll be able to kill a few of them before they get me.”

He bent over, clutched the 9-mm in one hand and picked up the flashlight with the other. Joanna jumped on top of his back, the sudden impact knocking him flat on his face. Even with her wrists bound, she tried to grab the gun out of his hand. Before she could reach it, Lenny threw her off him and moved a couple of feet away from her.

“You just don't know when to quit, do you, baby doll?” Standing, he aimed the gun at her and grinned. “Maybe I'll use all my bullets on you before those savages come in here and rip me apart. I can make your dying a slow, painful ordeal.”

Joanna simultaneously heard the feral growl and saw the huge shadowy form of a man behind Lenny Plott. She sucked in her breath. J.T.! She bit down on her bottom lip to keep from crying out to him.

With the 9-mm in his hand, Plott spun around and faced J.T. The two men stared at each other for a split second in the semidarkness.

J.T. glanced down quickly at Joanna lying at Plott's
side, directly below his hand that held the semiautomatic. Could he shoot Plott and put him out of commission before Plott could shoot Joanna?

Plott spread out his leg until his calf touched Joanna's shoulder. “Shooting me won't save her life.” He pointed the gun squarely at Joanna's head, then smiled at J.T.

The moment Plott directed his attention on J.T., Joanna scooted slowly backward, inching her hips across the smooth rock surface. Plott glanced in her direction, then jerked around toward her. J.T. flung himself at Plott, knocking him over. The two rolled around on the ground, both men holding on to their weapons. Joanna scrambled to her feet and backed up out of the way. Lifting her bound wrists to her mouth, she bit into the silk material and began pulling on the tight knot.

She glanced up from her task and saw two forms rise to their feet. She heard fists striking flesh, grunts, groans and curses, then the rattle of metal hitting the rock wall, then another loud clank as something hit the ground. An earsplitting gunshot echoed in the darkness.

Neither man slumped to the ground. She had no way of knowing whether one of them had been hit or whose gun had been fired.

She watched the two figures continuing their struggle, moving farther and farther back inside the tunnel and away from her. Giving a final tug on the silk knot, she managed to loosen the binding completely, and slipped her hands free.

Bending over, she picked up the flashlight Plott had brought into the mine with them. She pointed the beam inside the mine, but J.T. and Plott were almost out of sight. She shone the light all around over the ground, looking for one of the guns. When the light reflected off the bar
rel of J.T.'s 9-mm Glock, she ran over and picked it up, gripping it firmly in her hand.

Using the dim glow from the flashlight to guide her, Joanna headed back inside the mine. She saw J.T. throw Plott against a wooden support beam. If only she were closer, she could shoot.

A rumble drifted from inside the mine, then a loud crash. Joanna pointed the flashlight in the direction of the noise and saw Plott lift his fist, then suddenly stop and stare up above his head.

She shone the light toward the ceiling and screamed when she saw the heavy, rotted beams cracking. Huge, loose chunks of old timber fell, knocking both Lenny Plott and J.T. to the ground. Joanna ran toward J.T. He didn't move.

Dear God, please, don't let him die!

When she neared, she heard J.T. groan. She glanced over at Plott, who seemed to be unconscious. Kneeling over J.T., she wedged the flashlight between her breasts, sticking the handle inside her bra. Holding the gun, she laid her hand flat over it as she placed it on the ground.

“J.T.?” She turned him over on his side and saw several small rivulets of blood streaking his face.

He groaned. She wiped his sweaty, blood-smeared face with her palm and called his name again. His eyelids fluttered.

Pain shot up from her hand to her arm. She looked down at the big foot crushing her hand that held the Glock, then she glanced up at Lenny Plott who stood towering over her. She tried to hold on to the gun, but knew she had lost it the minute Plott bent over and lifted her hand. He picked up the gun. Joanna's heart beat frantically. J.T. moaned, then opened his eyes. Plott jerked Joanna up and
shoved her in front of him. She clutched the flashlight that she'd stuck between her breasts.

What was Plott going to do? Would he shoot her and then J.T.? Was there any way she could stop him? What if she hit him in the head with the flashlight? She might not be able to strike, but even if she did, the blow probably wouldn't stun him.

“Let her go, Plott.” J.T. struggled to lift his head.

“You're in no position to bargain,” Lenny said.

A rifle shot hit the wall behind Plott's head, sending shattered pieces of rock crashing down onto the ground. “But I am.” Joseph Ornelas's deep voice echoed in the stillness of the dark mine.

“I'll kill her!” Plott yelled. “Whoever the hell you are, stay back or I'll put a bullet in her head right this minute.”

“Do what he says,” J.T. shouted.

“Yeah, you'd better listen to your friend.”

Using Joanna as a shield, Plott backed farther into the mine. Taking her one free hand, Joanna reached inside her bra, pulled out the flashlight and tossed it toward J.T. Plott cursed her, but didn't stop moving, backing farther and farther into the darkness.

J.T. rose to his knees, grabbed the flashlight and stumbled to his feet. He pointed the beam toward the mine entrance where Joseph Ornelas stood waiting. He motioned the other man to come on inside, then turned and followed Plott deeper into the mine.

Joanna knew she wasn't going to die without putting up a fight. Turning on her assailant in the darkness, she jerked out of his grasp and pelted him with her fists. He reached for her, but she escaped his grasp. He grabbed her arm. She cried out as his fingers bruised her flesh.

He jerked her toward him. She shoved against his chest, pushing him with every ounce of her strength, but he held
on to her arm as he staggered backward. He screamed when the ground disappeared beneath his feet and continued screaming as he dropped straight down into an open shaft, dragging Joanna with him, but unable to keep his hold on her wrist.

When she realized what was happening, Joanna reached out, praying for something—anything—to grab on to to stop her deadly fall. She clutched a jutting piece of timber sticking out from the rock wall.

Plott's scream ended when his body hit the bottom of the deep shaft.

With her feet dangling over the precipice, Joanna struggled to hold on to the edge of the wooden beam with both hands. J.T. thrust the flashlight into Joseph's hand, fell to his knees and called out to Joanna.

Joseph flashed the light over the edge of the shaft. Joanna gazed up at J.T., her eyes wide, her mouth trembling. The tight emotion-formed knots in J.T.'s stomach constricted painfully. One wrong move on his part and Joanna would fall to her death.

“Hang on, honey. I'm going to pull you up.”

Lying flat on his stomach, J.T. leaned over the shaft and stretched out one hand. Instantly he realized he couldn't reach her.

“You're going to have to give me your hand,” he told her. “Just reach up to me with one hand.”

“No! I can't! If—if I let go, I'll fall.” Sweat dampened her palms. The wooden beam felt moist. What if her hands slipped off? What if she couldn't continue holding on?

“You won't fall, honey. I'm right here. See how close I am—” He wiggled the fingers of his right hand. “See how easy it'll be to just reach out to me.”

What if she let go and lifted her hand to him and he still couldn't reach her? What if he caught her hand and
couldn't hold on to her? “I can't, J.T. I can't. Please, think of something else. I just can't let go.”

“She's scared,” Joseph said. “She's not thinking straight.”

“Joanna, hold on. I'll find a way to get you.” J.T. looked up at Joseph. “I'm going to have to lean over farther to reach her. I need the light to see her, but I also need you to anchor me to keep me from falling into the shaft.”

“No, J.T., don't risk your life,” Joanna yelled. “Can't you go get a rope or—” The beam she clutched with all her might groaned, loosening just a fraction from the rock wall and sending a shower of granular sediment cascading down over her. “J.T.!”

“Give me your hand, Jo. Now!” He leaned into the shaft, stretching out his hand as far as he could. “Trust me. Believe that I can save you.”