She drove up and parked close to the two vehicles. Getting out cautiously, she strained to see in the darkness. Taking her flashlight, she approached slowly, splaying the beam over the first vehicle, a gray Jeep Cherokee. As she directed her light toward the other vehicle, a chill flowed from her scalp down her spine.
The second vehicle was Brennaman’s 4Runner.
Chapter 28
Two kids were in the mine with a killer. Mattie couldn’t wait for backup; she needed to get to those kids now. She sprinted to her cruiser and started pulling her gear out of the trunk. Robo whined and shifted to the front of the cage, his weight causing the vehicle to bounce.
“Come, Robo,” Mattie called, not bothering to open a door in back for him.
Robo bolted from his platform, over the front seat, and out the door. He sat at Mattie’s feet while she put on his tracking harness. She poured a half cup of water into his bowl. This was not the time to get in a hurry and skip procedure. She needed Robo’s nose to be as sharp as possible if they were going into the darkness to track those kids.
Finding Sean was her first priority, so she decided to get his scent from the passenger seat of the Jeep. From there, Robo might be able to trail him. After leading Robo to the vehicle, she opened the door on the passenger side. In a smooth transition, he sniffed the seat, moved his nose to the door panel, and dropped into a sit, telling Mattie he’d discovered the scent of some form of dope.
Oh, man! She remembered Robo acting so squirrely when the Jeep had driven past last night. Her own ignorance and inexperience had made her ignore her partner’s signals. She didn’t have time to moan over it now. She stepped to the back and took note of the license plate in case the vehicle was gone when she emerged from the mine.
She patted the seat and told him, “Scent this.”
After sniffing the seat, Robo put his nose to the ground and moved to the mine’s entrance. Mattie followed, pulling her flashlight from her utility belt, flipping it on when they entered the mine and the darkness consumed her.
The tunnel walls were constructed of hard rock. Wooden beams, spaced approximately every twenty feet, supported the sides and ceiling. The main tunnel quickly narrowed from a diameter of about ten feet at the opening to only six feet high by four feet wide. After fifty yards or so, they came to the tunnel’s first branch. Without hesitation, Robo followed the left one, nose to the ground.
The darkness deepened, and Mattie felt claustrophobic. She fought the tight feeling in her chest as her flashlight illuminated the tunnel ahead, showing that it narrowed down even more, forcing her to crouch to make her way through. So far, the floor of this particular shaft was dry, and it angled upward, giving her hope that it would stay that way. Soon the tunnel took a slight turn to the right and started a steep descent, leveling out into what appeared to be an open room.
Robo showed no sign of pause, and Mattie didn’t want to slow his momentum, so she quickly splayed her flashlight’s beam around the cavern, taking stock while she tried to watch her footing. The ceiling was about thirty feet high and she guessed the space to be around fifty feet in diameter.
The air felt dense and dank, and she doubted there was another exit to this tunnel anywhere close. She battled her growing sense of suffocation as she turned her flashlight and her attention back to Robo.
Once the flashlight lit his glossy back, Mattie noticed that his hackles were raised, causing the same reaction on her own neck. What if Brennaman was ahead? What if he heard them coming and set up an ambush? She stayed close to Robo and continued to move forward.
After the space narrowed, it branched again. The tunnel that Robo chose took a steep angle downward to a smaller shaft. Here, the walls were rough, and rocky prominences poked out in several places forcing Mattie to duck to avoid bumping her head. Below, the footing grew damp and slippery. When it became muddy, it gave her a clear view of three different sets of footprints, two large and one small. The small ones looked so vulnerable, it made her chest ache.
The reassurance that they were on the right track gave Mattie a rush. She resisted the urge to praise Robo. She needed to proceed as quietly as possible. Sweat prickled her skin, and she trained her eyes on Robo, trying to read his body language. Their survival depended on it.
The tunnel walls looked less and less stable as they probed deeper inside the mine. Shale sloughed from the side when she brushed against it. She wondered why Brennaman and Tommy would come into an area of the mine so obviously at risk for collapse.
Her flashlight dimmed, and she fought a rising panic. When had she last changed the batteries? She couldn’t recall.
Could Robo’s nose carry them along in pitch darkness? Could she control her panic, or should she turn back and wait for backup and a fresh light?
While she considered what to do, Robo led them to another fork in the tunnel. Down the right branch, she spotted a light in the distance. She turned off her own. The other bobbed for a brief moment and then disappeared.
Mattie stopped in midtread, but Robo pulled against his lead, trying to tug her along behind him. She felt frozen in place, her eyes staring into the black void in front of her. Fear sucked the strength from her legs.
Her mind filled with questions. What was the footing like up ahead? Who was down there? Did Brennaman know she was coming? Should she turn her light back on or try to follow Robo without it?
Shortening Robo’s lead, she took a few hesitant steps so that she could come up beside him. She placed her hand on his back and noted that his hair still bristled. Terror threatened to immobilize her.
Forcing herself to move, she kept her flashlight off and stayed in the dark. She whispered, “Search.”
Crouching to protect her head from the low ceiling, Mattie inched her way down the tunnel, holding onto Robo’s tracking harness. She kept him as close as possible, letting him lead her in the darkness. She focused on staying with Robo and finding Sean, and she tried to forget her fear of suffocating.
She lost all sense of direction and placed her trust in her dog. They crept down the tunnel for what seemed like hours.
Suddenly a light reappeared in the distance, and Mattie realized it was coming toward her now. Her adrenalin surged, and her muscles tightened. She started to draw her service weapon but realized she couldn’t risk using it. A shot might bring the mine shaft down around them. She froze and held tightly to Robo’s harness. “Wait,” she whispered.
He took a step forward but stopped when she held him back.
She strained to see who was behind the light. It was directed at the tunnel floor, and she couldn’t distinguish anything. She hoped that the person didn’t know she and Robo were there. The element of surprise could make all the difference inside this close, dark place.
Crouching beside Robo, making herself as small as possible, Mattie waited until the light threatened to reveal them. Robo’s muscles bunched, ready to spring.
With her heart pounding, Mattie shouted, “Police! Stop and put your hands on your head!”
The light whirled, and its bearer ran away. Mattie could see only one figure backlit by the light. And it wasn’t small enough to be Sean.
Mattie unclipped Robo’s leash. “Stop or I’ll send the dog.”
The person scrambled faster down the tunnel.
“Robo, take him.”
This was the drill Robo had been waiting for since their run-in with Patrick O’Malley. His toenails scratched the rocky floor in the tunnel as he launched himself after the fugitive. In awe, Mattie watched him become a silent dark shadow.