Robo didn’t bark a warning; he didn’t growl. He hit the runner in silence, slammed his body into the runner’s back, and clamped his jaws on the arm that held the flashlight. The force from Robo’s momentum and his crushing bite brought the figure to the floor. His flashlight hit the ground and its beam went out, pitching them all into utter darkness.
The person screamed.
Flipping on her own weak light, Mattie rushed down the tunnel, pulling plastic tie cuffs from her utility belt while she ran. When she closed in, she could tell it was Tommy.
Robo was doing exactly what he’d been trained to do: bite and hold. Haunches in the air, he used his tremendous strength to pull on Tommy’s arm, dragging him across the rough tunnel floor. There was no weapon in sight.
Tommy screamed the whole time.
In combat position, Mattie crouched near him, ready to use physical force herself if necessary. “Robo, out!”
Robo released Tommy’s arm and backed off a few steps.
“Guard!”
Robo crouched, eager to attack again. His tail waved slightly and his teeth were bared in a scary grin. Mattie could tell he was having a great time.
“Put your hands on your head. Now! If you make one move toward me, this dog will attack.”
Tommy put up his hands. “Keep that monster away from me! Son of a bitch!”
“Tommy, do you have any weapons?”
“What? No! What are you talking about?”
“Stand up and put your hands on your head. I’ll warn you again, don’t make a single move toward me. This dog can’t wait to get another piece of you.”
She flicked the light onto Robo, who had his eyes pinned on Tommy. The kid complied.
“Now, turn around and place your hands on the tunnel wall. I’m going to pat you down.”
“Shit!”
“Do it!”
Tommy turned away from her, hands on his head. With his back toward her, he moved his hands to the wall and leaned on it.
Mattie asked, “Where’s Sean?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where’s Brennaman?”
“I don’t know. He took him.”
“He took Sean?”
“Yeah.”
With her boot, Mattie tapped the inside of his feet. “Spread ’em.”
After he assumed the correct position, Mattie started to search him. At the front pocket of his baggy pants, she felt a solid rectangular object. She slipped her hand inside and drew out a pocketknife. She said, “Tommy, I’m disappointed. You lied to me.”
“What? That’s just a pocketknife, man, not a weapon.”
She slipped the knife into her own pocket and continued patting down his legs. At his right calf, she felt something hard and bulky. “What’s this?” she asked, squatting down to pull up his pant leg.
The light glinted off a large knife strapped to his calf.
“I think we might agree that this would qualify as a weapon,” Mattie said, reaching for it.
Tommy twisted, leaned over her, and grabbed her wrist in a viselike grip.
Robo needed no command. He snarled and leaped, snapping up Tommy’s arm in his terrible jaws.
Tommy dropped Mattie’s wrist and screamed. Robo weighed almost ninety pounds, and he used every ounce to pull Tommy down. The kid fell to his knees while Robo tugged harder, stretching him out. Mattie decided to let Robo hold him while she took the knife.
She crouched to reach for it. Suddenly, movement at the edge of the shadow made her look. Brennaman rushed out of the darkness, crouching, with a two-by-four raised as high as the tunnel would allow. In the moment it took to register that he meant to hit her with it, Mattie raised her arm to shield her head. The club smashed into her arm. The shock of the blow turned her forearm numb. Then pain ripped its way up her arm.
The only light in the tunnel went out as her flashlight hit the ground. Mattie’s world tilted. She dropped to the floor to get her bearings. Her mind cracked open and memory flooded her senses. A child—quivering in the darkness. A creaking door—the sour smell of booze. Fear. Pain.
Robo’s growls filled the darkness. Mattie heard a loud thud. Robo yelped. Silence.
Rage replaced her helplessness, infused her with power so raw it brought her to her feet. Brennaman had hurt Robo. Her partner needed her. She decided to use her baton instead of her Taser. No way would she risk a misfire in the darkness and hit Robo. She grabbed the baton, pressed the button, and heard the snick as it extended to its full length, automatically locking into place.
A click sounded from several feet away, and Brennaman’s flashlight lit the tunnel. The light blinded her for a moment. She raised her injured arm to block it from her eyes and scanned the area. Tommy was still on the floor to her left, rising up on one elbow. And just beyond Brennaman . . . Robo. Her partner lay inert, the hair on his head wet and matted. Blood.
She crouched, lowering her right arm from her face, keeping her left low with the baton hidden beside her leg.
“Give it up, Mattie Lu,” Brennaman said, his voice sounding like he was pleased with himself. He’d put down the club, and now he held a dark, snub-nosed revolver.
Tommy sat up, cradling the arm that Robo bit. “That black son of a bitch bit me,” he said.
Mattie stared hard at Robo and saw his ribcage lift. He was still breathing. Not daring to look at him any longer and wanting to divert the other’s attention from him, she asked the first thing that popped into her mind. “Where’s Sean?”
Brennaman smiled. “Oh, he’s still alive, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“Where is he?”
Brennaman used his head to gesture to the tunnel behind him. “I left him back there. We’ll join him in a moment.”
“You know that if you shoot me, you’ll bring this mine down on yourself.”
“I don’t think I care about that. Better to die here than in prison. But if you cooperate, you might be able to save yourself and the kids. The kids seem important to you, Mattie, if I read you right.”
“Of course they are,” she said, hoping to keep him talking. “Are you one who killed Grace?”
“Oh, Mattie. You think you’ve figured things out.”
“Did you?”
He dropped the smile and his expression turned fierce, the flashlight casting dark shadows across the planes and hollows of his face. “Grace should have never been there. Her death was on Mike Chadron.”
“But you shot her.”
“Quit trying to get a confession out of me,” he said, his tone mocking. “You won’t be able to; you’re not that smart.”
Tommy started to get to his feet.
“Stay there for a minute, Tommy,” Brennaman told him. He directed his gaze back at Mattie. “Don’t you want to hear my plan for how you can walk out of here with both of these kids?”
Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw Robo’s ear twitch. She suppressed the joy that lifted her spirit and focused on trying to hold Brennaman’s attention. “Sure. What’s your plan?”
“Your vehicle’s out front, right?”
“Yes.”
“You come with me to the end of this tunnel where Sean is. I leave you and the kids tied up, leave your patrol car out front so the others know where to look for you, and have time to get way the hell out of Dodge.”
Again, movement from Robo. She needed to keep Tommy’s attention, too. “Tommy, why did you bring Sean to the mine?”
“He asked for it. He was going to tell you about the drugs. I had to scare him into keeping his mouth shut.”