A Good Day for Chardonnay by Darynda Jones

21

Driver reported he swerved to miss a tree.

It was later discovered to be his air freshener.

—DEL SOL POLICE BLOTTER

Sun heard the ATVs coming up the mountain. It only took her and Levi another half-hour hike to get to the mine. She was surprised to hear her deputies coming so soon.

“The state cops must’ve been close,” she said, panting as they studied the opening to the Sawry Silver Mine. Her lungs burned and her legs ached. Clearly she needed more cardio and less Oreo.

The entrance was boarded up with the words KEEP OUT plastered all over it. “They may as well post a sign that says, Hey kids! Come on in! We dare you!”

“They are kind of inviting trouble with all of this.” He pulled away a board that hung loosely over one end of the opening. Dust billowed around him when it broke loose. “Here.”

She walked over and looked inside. “It’s very dark.”

“Scared?” he asked, taking his flashlight off his belt. The flashlight right next to the hunting knife.

She scoffed, ducked inside, and took out her flashlight, too. The dank smell mixed with animal droppings took some getting used to.

Levi crawled in after her, his wide shoulders barely scraping through. He winced and groaned a little, favoring the left side of his rib cage.

“You know, if you get a punctured lung up here, your chances of survival are almost nonexistent.”

“Thanks,” he said, his voice strained.

“Let me have the backpack.” She held out her hand.

“Please.” He whacked it out of the way, then scraped past her into the mine.

Rude.

She followed, the underground cave so dark it seemed to absorb the light from their flashlights the deeper they went. The slits in the wood slats glowed when she looked back at the opening, but the light didn’t reach far.

“How do you want to handle this?” he asked her.

“You’re sure they’re here?”

“I’ve been tracking them for the last two miles. Eli’s dirt bike is tucked behind a copse of bushes about twenty feet from the opening.”

“Do you think Adam came with his brother willingly?”

“I do. I don’t think he would force him.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“I am. If I remember correctly, the mine opens up to a chamber of sorts about a quarter mile in.”

Sun spun in a circle, careful not to knock herself out. Parts of the rock ceiling dipped low when one least expected it. “I haven’t been here since I was in high school.”

“Who’d you come out here with?” he asked, ducking under a low boulder.

“Friends. Quincy and a few others.”

“No romantic interludes?”

After an indelicate snort—not that any snort was delicate—she said, “Not unless you count the time Ryan Spalding tried to kiss me.”

“Tried?”

“And failed. What about you? Any romantic rendezvous in a dark, cold, creepy mineshaft?”

“Nah. There are far easier places to get to.”

Figured. She slipped but caught herself. Thankfully, he had taken the lead and missed her acrobatics. “What about with Crystal Meth?”

“I’ve never done meth. Here or anywhere else. Surely, you know that.”

“I mean the girl, which, by the way: poor thing. Her parents suck.”

“I gotta say, I really think they were oblivious.”

“Nobody’s that oblivious.”

“And you brought her up because?”

“You guys were making out the night Seabright was attacked. Outside the bar.”

He stopped and turned back to her. “Making out? Me and Crys?” The fact that he used her nickname so casually caused an unsettling in her stomach. “Where’d you get that from?”

“Crys.”

“She told you that?”

She shined the light in his eyes. Mostly because she could. “Not in so many words. It was very much implied, however.”

He frowned and tilted her flashlight downward. “We were just talking. She was asking for a job.”

“I bet she was. I can only imagine the interview process.”

He didn’t say anything for a few seconds, then asked, “Is your opinion of me really so base?”

His indignation shocked her. And thrilled her. Not that she actually thought so low of him, but he was now one of the privileged. One of the elite with enough money to buy half the state. They thought differently than the rest of the world, however. She was glad to know money didn’t change him. Or maybe it did, considering his tragic upbringing. His deplorable role models growing up.

“You’re right. I’m sorry,” she said, then squeezed past him, breathing in the earthy scent that wafted off his skin like a soft, alluring breeze, and headed farther inside the mineshaft. The ceiling dropped lower and lower and Levi had to duck down even more, putting a strain on his ribs if his breathing was any indication.

He put a hand on her shoulder to halt her and pointed. A couple dozen yards in front of them a soft light went out, while behind them, the ATV turned off. Its sound stopped its muffled echoing along the rock walls.

He twisted the lens on his flashlight. The color changed to a muted blue. Sun’s didn’t have that feature so she turned hers off altogether.

The floor was getting more uneven, the ceiling even lower, and the walls even tighter. Soon they would be on their hands and knees. “I forgot about this part,” she said softly.

“For good reason. The walls are literally closing in on us.”

She turned to him, panicked. “You’re not claustrophobic, are you?”

He didn’t say anything for a long moment and because she could barely see his face, she didn’t know what he was thinking. Then he said softly, “I can see why Ryan Spalding tried to kiss you.”

“Gross!” a kid shouted from deeper inside the mine.

They both startled and Sun almost knocked herself out on the rocky ceiling when she tried to straighten like the genius she was.

“That was so cheesy, Levi,” the kid said before he made gagging sounds.

Levi covered her head with a hand to try to keep her from concussing herself, then chuckled as a kid carrying a lantern popped his head into the narrow tunnel.

“It gets better,” he said. “Just keep coming. But only if you two stop making out.”

Another kid, Adam, poked his head into the tunnel from the opposite side and giggled as he looked on.

The older boy motioned them forward, but Sun couldn’t move. She could barely breathe. Elliot Kent, the boy she’d spent years trying to find, stood not fifteen feet away from her, as beautiful and healthy as ever.

If ever a dream had come true … She felt tears sting the backs of her eyes, the wave of emotion rising up within her unexpected and surprisingly strong.

“You okay, Shine?” Levi asked her softly.

She sank onto her knees and put both hands over her mouth.

“See?” Elliot said. “You shouldn’t have kissed her. Now she’s upset.”

She made a sound that was half laugh and half sob before regaining her composure. She filled her lungs and nodded up to Levi.

He leaned closer and tucked a strand of hair that had escaped her braid over her ear.

She beamed at him, then duck-walked toward the boys to get past a particularly low part.

“Be careful of the tripwire connected to the claymore,” Elliot said. When Sun stilled, he laughed. “Just kidding. I ran out of claymores a couple of months ago.”

“That’s too bad,” she said, easing closer to the roomy chamber where she could finally stand.

She looked between the two boys. There would be no doubting Adam’s parentage. He was the spitting image of his older brother. Smooth, pale skin. Thick, dark hair. Just enough baby fat to soften the strong features that would someday develop. It would be a sad day when that happened, because he was adorable.

“Elliot,” she said, trying to keep her shit together. “And Adam. Do you remember me? We met at your house.”

The younger boy smiled.

“I’m Sunshine.”

“For real that’s your name?” Adam asked.

“For real that’s my name.” She turned back to Elliot and did everything in her power to keep her expression neutral. “And I’ve been looking for you for a very, very long time.”

“Why?” Adam asked her.

“She’s stalking me,” Elliot said to his little brother. “What can I say?”

He laughed and Elliot mussed his hair.

“Sorry,” she whispered to him, remembering Adam didn’t know Elliot was his long-lost brother.

“It’s all good.”

It took everything in her not to pull him into her arms. She didn’t know if she could keep from stroking his hair and kissing his face, which would only scare him.

She looked around at the boys’ encampment. They had pillows and blankets. Foodstuffs and water. They even had a small propane-powered cookstove. All the comforts of home.

After a quick scan, Sun remembered the chamber, though she’d only been to it once. It was called the cathedral because the shadows cast on the walls from the lamps made the rocks look like saints watching over the trespassers. She also remembered that off to the left was an alcove, another tunnel only a few feet long that led to the pit. No one dared go down. It was too deep and too dangerous, especially for non-climbers.

“Elliot,” she began when a thought hit her. She turned to Levi. “There was only one.”

He was busy introducing himself to Adam. “One what?”

“One ATV.” She turned a confused expression back toward the main tunnel. “There should have been two. Quincy called for two.”

He tensed. “Maybe Zee came back alone? Once they got the men following us to the trailhead?”

“No. She would’ve radioed ahead.”

“Very good, Sheriff,” a male voice said to her. But the first thing she saw come out of the tunnel was the barrel of an assault rifle.

Her hand immediately went to her duty weapon, but the intruder stopped her with a soft tsk.

“Really, Sunshine? Are you faster than a 5.56 steel jacket lead core?”

Elliot stepped closer to his brother, but the rifle swung toward him.

Instinct took hold. Sun moved in front of the boys as the bearer of the rifle eased into the lantern light.

She blinked in surprise. “Carver?” Her blind date from hell?

“You never texted me back,” he said. The look he gave her expressed just how much he detested her. “I wouldn’t.” He gave Levi a sideways glance as though he were an idiot for even thinking about trying something.

Levi hadn’t moved, but even Sun sensed the tension coiled in his muscles.

He motioned for Levi to get closer to the group. He did, strategically maneuvering in front of Adam as Carver scissor-walked toward the opening on the west wall, putting some distance between them.

“Look at you two. Willing to risk your lives all noble-like.”

“What is this about, Carver?” Sun asked.

“See,” he said, getting frustrated. “That’s what I mean. You call yourself a sheriff, but you can’t even figure out what’s right in front of your face. There’s a little thief among us.” He leaned over and looked past her to Elliot, who’d eased his brother a little farther back. “Isn’t that right?”

Sun took another step sideways, keeping her body between the gun and Elliot about the same time she realized Carver was shaking. Adrenaline tended to do that, but this seemed like more. He seemed paler than usual. Shinier, his skin caked with sweat and oil, like he was on something. That fact raised the stakes even higher. Negotiating with a perpetrator on drugs was always volatile.

“Your father is very upset with you,” he said to Elliot, jabbing the gun in his direction. “But Seabright wouldn’t let him near you when he got out of jail. Had no idea where the soldier was keeping you, so he sent me in to find out.”

“Elliot’s father sent you here?” Sun asked.

“Mmm,” he said in answer. “I figured if I got Seabright out of the way, I could get to the kid.”

“You hired those men at the bar?” Levi asked, his tone razor-sharp.

“I did.”

“Sorry I had to kill one of them.”

“No worries. I killed the other two.”

“You killed them?” Sun asked, getting an answer to her immediate questions on how far was he willing to go. Rojas had called it. Man was a sociopath. “You tried to have Seabright killed because he wouldn’t let his father near Elliot? But why? Why go to all that trouble?”

If looks could kill, he would’ve done her in as well. “Because somebody moved the money! Pay attention, Sunshine!” He looked around her again. “And there was only one person on the planet who knew where that money was, right Eli?”

“The money from the Ponzi scheme,” Sun said as though confirming her suspicions. In reality, she was simply trying to keep him talking so she could come up with a plan. “His father had it the entire time.”

“Little shit was only five, so his dad didn’t expect him to understand what he was seeing when he buried that money. Much less remember where it was. But you did, didn’t you?”

Sun glanced to the side and could see Elliot in her periphery. The color had drained from his face. Adam’s as well. But both boys knew enough to stay quiet and absolutely still. Elliot reached out, took Adam’s hand, and pulled him closer. At the same time, Levi closed the distance between Sun and himself to keep Adam covered.

Without taking his hands off the rifle, Carver lifted a shoulder and mopped his brow with his shirt sleeve.

“Are you okay, Carver?” Maybe she could appeal to his drug-addled side. “You don’t look well.”

“I’ll be fine as soon as I get out of this fucking hole in the ground.”

He was claustrophobic? Unfortunately, Sun didn’t know if that would work for or against her. “You don’t like confined spaces?” she asked him, pretending to care.

He didn’t answer.

“Then I’m assuming you’re not really in pest control, what with all the creeping under houses and squeezing into crawl spaces. On the count of three,” she said as nonchalantly as possible.

“No,” Levi said.

Carver was starting to panic. The whites of his eyes shined in the low light. His brows snapped together as he volleyed the gun between them.

“He’ll take me out,” she said. “I could very well survive the hit, especially this close. Through and through. You know that. Either way, it’ll give you an opportunity to rush him.”

A waxy grin slid across Carver’s face. “This is going to be fun.”

Levi shook his head. “Not on your life, beautiful. I’ll rush him.”

He mopped his brow with a sleeve again. “Shut. The. Fuck. Up.”

“When I do, you put every round you have into his chest.”

“I can’t risk hitting you.”

“Are you guys inbred?” Carver asked, astonished that they’d kept talking.

They both watched him like hawks waiting for their prey to flinch. To weaken. To lose focus for that tenth of a second it would take for them to make their move.

“You’re stronger than I am,” she said. “You’ll have a better chance at overpowering him.”

“That’s it.” He pointed the barrel at Levi’s chest, and the world tilted under her feet. “How ’bout I just take him out of the equation altogether?”

Sun risked a glance. Adam had taken hold of Levi’s T-shirt with his free hand, the fear on his face palpable. Elliot stood close behind her, but he was also almost as tall as she was. She wasn’t as much of a barrier for him as Levi would have been. If she rushed Carver, Elliot could be shot instead of her. Or, more likely, the bullet would go right through her and into him.

She needed to divert the gunfire away from the boys and give Levi enough time to do the rushing. She would have to dive away from them.

“If you don’t stop those wheels spinning in your brain, Sheriff, I’ll kill the boys first.”

“If you kill them, you won’t know where the money is,” she said.

“I only need one for that, sweet cheeks.”

“Are you sure? How do you know Seabright didn’t move the money himself? Elliot could have told him where to find it.”

“I can work with that.” He was having a hard time keeping the gun steady. Her chances of survival were multiplying by the second. “I’ll kill you all and pay Seabright a visit in the hospital.”

“He doesn’t know where it is,” Elliot said, trying to step around her.

She held him back.

“Only I know where it is and I’ll never tell you.”

“Problem solved,” Carver said.

“On three,” she said to Levi. Of course, she wasn’t an idiot. She’d never really count. But Carver didn’t need to know that. She dragged her palm across her duty weapon in preparation.

Levi lowered his head and watched Carver from underneath his thick lashes.

Carver scoffed at her. “Do you really think you stand a chance against an assault rifle?”

“I do.” She tilted her head. “Not a particularly great one, but yeah. I think I have a decent chance.”

“I think I have a better one.” He stepped closer and aimed the gun at her chest point-blank.

He was really bad at this. He was far too close, for one thing. The small room probably had more to do with that than his bad-guy skills. She shouldn’t be so quick to judge. But the claustrophobia? He should’ve thought this through before barreling into a mineshaft.

Sun tensed, preparing to make her move, when Zee’s voice drifted toward them like a ghost in the darkness.

“I think I have the best chance of all.” She eased forward into the light, the shadow from the tunnel sliding off her like water. She kept her rifle steady and leveled at Carver’s head.

Quincy followed behind her, his sidearm drawn, his aim as steady as Zee’s despite his heavy breathing. He knelt at her side, keeping the sites trained on the sociopath.

Both of them were covered in a fine sheen of sweat. They’d run. Something had alerted them to Carver’s presence, and they’d run up the mountain instead of using the ATVs so they wouldn’t tip him off.

“It’s over, Carver.” Sun raised a hand and showed him her palm, keeping her other one on her sidearm.

“You clearly don’t know how talented I am with this gun. I once picked off a diplomat in a crowd of thousands in Russia at five hundred yards in high winds.”

“You’re an assassin?” she asked, appalled.

He lifted a shoulder.

“My parents set me up with an assassin?” She shook her head. “Why am I not surprised?”

He didn’t fall for it.

“Actually,” Elliot said from behind her, “if anyone pulls the trigger, the cave will explode.”

She glanced over her shoulder in shock. “What? Why?”

“I opened the propane tank.”

She looked down. Sure enough, he stood right by the propane tank hooked to the small cookstove and the smell of rotten eggs hit her.

“He’s lying,” Carver said.

She turned back to him. “Take a whiff, Carver. You pull that trigger, we all die.”

She could see it in his eyes. The moment he made the decision. The microsecond he’d come to terms with the fact that he would just have to kill everyone there, including Elliot, and hope to make it out alive. He stood at the opening to the tunnel that led to the pit. It was too much to hope he’d fall into it. He could fire his rifle and dive into the next shaft, but the pit was farther in, if Sun’s memory was correct. Carver could feasibly escape with his life. Maybe get to Seabright and attempt to torture the guy into telling him where the money was stashed.

Clearly, he didn’t know Seabright.

Carver tightened his grip on the rifle and eased back into the adjoining tunnel. “Then I guess we all die,” he said, squeezing his eyes shut for a fraction of a second as though trying to focus.

The claustrophobia was taking its toll. She imagined the walls were closing in on him. The edges of his vision were darkening. He was running out of time and he knew it.

Zee and Quincy exchanged glances, not sure of what to do. They couldn’t fire, either.

Then again, if Carver did, would the explosion really kill them? Sun doubted there was enough gas in the air to get the job done. It would burn off instantly, but the propane tank could explode. The propane tank that was right beside the boys.

The fact that Carver had yet to pull the trigger gave Sun hope. He could have killed her easily before Zee and Quincy arrived, but he hesitated. Maybe not quite the world-renowned assassin he claimed to be.

Both Zee and Quincy looked to her for direction. She quickly dropped her gaze, then returned it to them, indicating the boys. They nodded. The minute Carver fired, they would protect them the best that they could while she and Levi tried to subdue her would-be ex.

Carver backed farther into the tunnel, putting more distance between them. Lessening her chances of success with each step.

Sun felt rather than saw the tension in Levi’s muscles. They were coiled, ready to strike the moment she made her move.

Carver tightened his grip on the rifle, preparing to fire. She’d hoped for another blink. Another microsecond of freedom to up her chances of lunging toward him without getting a bullet through her heart, but even the sweat beading onto his lashes didn’t elicit a response.

“You’re forgetting one thing,” she said, stalling when she realized he was actually aiming at the propane tank now. It would definitely explode. It would likely kill Elliot. Or Adam. Or Levi. She fought the fear that had a stranglehold on her throat and moved to block his line of sight.

The glare he cast her should’ve scorched her skin. “Do you honestly believe your skinny ass will stop this bullet?” A visible drop of sweat fell from his brow onto his lashes and the involuntary reflex was the opportunity she’d been waiting for.

She lunged.

The gun went off.

The cave erupted into a ball of fire.

The explosion echoed through the chamber so loudly, Sun thought her ears would bleed, but it did propel her forward. She rammed into Carver with everything she had, but it wasn’t enough to take him down. He stumbled but kept his footing as they fought for the rifle.

Then she was airborne. She flew back and landed on the cavern floor. The air left her lungs in a pitiful whoosh.

Levi had dragged her off him so he could have Carver all to himself. Enraged, he wrapped a powerful arm around Carver’s neck and dropped back, taking him to the ground. Their struggle lasted all of five seconds and Sun was worried he’d break his neck before Levi’s choke hold began to take its toll.

Carver’s kicks slowed. His face crimsoned and his shallow breaths came in short, choking wheezes. Sensing the inevitable, he raised the rifle and aimed it at Sun.

Their date must have gone so much worse than she’d thought. She scrambled back, but the flash of a blade caught her gaze. Before she could order him to stop, Levi struck.

Two lightning-quick slices, as smooth and clean as a shark through water, and Carver’s arm went limp. The rifle fell to the side and his eyes rounded in disbelief.

Sun scurried closer as Carver lost consciousness. She took the rifle out of his grasp and tossed it aside.

Levi let go and pushed the man off him as though disgusted. He’d sliced through the tendons under Carver’s arm first, obliterating his ability to pull the trigger. In the process, he’d severed the man’s brachial artery. Next he’d severed his femoral artery. So fast Sun barely saw it happen.

Carver’s tactical khakis were soaked instantly, the blood-red pool spreading fast.

Sun pressed into Carver’s wound and spared a quick glance over her shoulder for something to help stop the bleeding. The chamber was empty of children, thank God. Zee and Quincy had gotten the boys out, but Quincy eased back inside, his movements wary, his gun drawn.

“Sunshine?”

“Clear,” she said loudly, then pointed to the boys’ blankets. “Hand me one!” That was when she noticed the propane tank spewing a bright blue flame. It hadn’t exploded.

Quincy hurried over and tried to turn the handle, but it was too hot. He grabbed a dirty T-shirt off the floor and twisted. The flame shut off. “The bullet bounced off,” Quincy said, gesturing toward the scuff mark. “The spark must’ve set off the gas.”

It must have. She’d been thrown from that direction. Not back, which was what would’ve happened if the gun had set it off. “Blanket.”

Quincy grabbed one and rushed forward, handing it to her before giving her a doubtful look.

Levi straightened to his full height. “He’s gone.”

“I need your belt,” she said, putting all of her weight into the task of suppressing the blood loss.

“Sun,” Quincy said.

She looked at Carver’s face. His eyes were open and his breathing had stopped.

Quincy bent to help her up. “He’s gone, boss.”

It all happened so fast, Sun sat stunned for a solid minute before she heard Elliot’s voice.

“Is he dead?”

Sun hurried to cover Carver with the blanket, then let Quincy help her up. She rushed to the boys. “He is, honey. Are you guys okay?”

Zee had let them come back in. “Sorry, boss. They got away from me.”

Sun summoned her best mommy frown and planted it on them. “I can’t imagine how.”

Elliot gave her a sheepish grin, but Adam’s gaze was locked onto the body. They both had black residue on their faces and scorch marks on their T-shirts.

She knelt in front of them, turning them this way and that and lifting their shirts to get a better look. “Are you hurt? Were you burned?”

When she lifted Elliot’s shirt where most of the scorching was, he grinned at his little brother. “What’d I tell you? Chicks dig me.”

His skin was red. He was burned worse than his brother, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could’ve been had the tank exploded.

Then she heard it. Someone else coming down the tunnel, but the newest visitor was having a hard time trying to navigate the narrow opening while running. All Sun heard was an occasional, “Son of a bitch,” and a “What the fuck?”

After a few seconds, Rojas emerged, a little bloody but no worse for wear.

He skidded to a halt in the chamber, his sidearm drawn, and watched as Zee knelt to officially check Carver for a pulse, noting the time of death for the ME. He braced an arm on the cavern wall to catch his breath.

Sun no longer cared what her attentions would do to the boys. They would be traumatized regardless. She gathered them in her arms and hugged, making sure to avoid the scorched parts of their shirts. To her eternal joy, they hugged her back.

Adam visibly shook, but either Elliot was amazingly well-trained or he was in shock. He wasn’t shaking at all, but he did hold on to her for dear life.

Then he turned and hugged Levi.

“What do you say we get you to your mom?” Sun said.

Adam nodded and wiped at his eyes.

She stood and nodded to Levi. “Thank you.”

He didn’t respond. He stared at her neck instead before walking closer and doing some checking of his own. “He got you.”

“No. That’s not my blood.”

“It is.”

Sun felt and realized the bullet had grazed her before ricocheting off the propane tank. “Oh.” She drew her hand back for a look. “It’s not bad. I’m fine.”

The worried expression on his face confirmed he wasn’t so sure. It left her warm and fuzzy inside, but she had to stay focused. She turned to Quincy. “How did you and Zee know Carver was up here?”

“Carver?” he asked, gaping at the assailant. “That was your date?”

“My parents set me up with an assassin.”

“Told you,” Rojas said, still panting. “Sociopath.”

“If you didn’t know he followed us up here, why did you run all that way?”

“We figured out that the third guy staking out the town wasn’t at the hotel. We thought maybe he’d slipped past us on the trail.”

A soft groan echoed off the rock walls around them.

Elliot cringed and looked at his brother. “He woke up.”

“Excuse me?” Sun said.

“Thank goodness he didn’t die,” Adam said. “Mom would be so mad.”

Elliot grabbed the charred lantern, eased around Carver’s body, and ducked back through the alcove. “Careful,” he said, stepping gingerly toward the edge of a very large, very dark hole bordered by a layer of rocks. He held the lantern over it and Adam shined a flashlight.

Sun, Levi, and Quincy looked over the edge. At the bottom of what looked like a mile-deep hole lay a man in a suit. He raised an arm against the light.

“Our third man?” Sun asked Quincy.

“I’d say so.”

“And the money?” She looked at Elliot.

“Yeah, I moved it.”

The man lay on a cushion of hundred-dollar bills. He laughed softly and called up to them. “I can think of worse ways to die.”

A couple of the plastic-wrapped blocks of money had broken open and hundreds spilled out around him.

“Still,” Sun said. “I know fifty million is a lot of money, but I didn’t think it would be quite that voluminous.”

“Try one hundred and fifty million,” the man countered.

“Holy cow,” Rojas said, leaning over the edge, shining his own light into the man’s eyes. “You a cop?” he asked him.

“DEA.”

“I suspected as much in town.”

She stared at Rojas slack-jawed. How the hell did he know these things?

“DEA?” Adam asked. He punched his brother on the arm. “We are in so much trouble.”