Search Me(59)

“Lane, remember what we talked about staying strong and keeping it together,” he warned.

“That could take hours, and we’ll never find it in time. And Jensen…he’ll…my dad.” And that’s when the anger broke into raw emotion. The world spun around me, and I had to fight to find my breath. Even then, it came in ragged pants, and I felt like I would hyperventilate.

Maddox jerked me to him, crushing me against his chest. I gave over to my emotions then and let the desperate sobs roll through me. He only let me cry for a minute before his fingers gripped my chin and forced me to look into his eyes. “Now listen to me. We’ve come too long and too far for you to lose it now. I want to see the Lane who was going to kick Jensen’s ass not thirty minutes ago. Okay? And look, if we start running out of time, we’ll call Jensen and explain. That’s part of having a plan. Going to pieces is not. Got it?”

Snubbing and sniffling, I brought a hand across my running nose. “You’re right. Flaking out isn’t going to get us anywhere, so I’m sorry. And even though I said it before, I’ll really try to keep it together this time.”

He brushed his thumb across my cheekbone, surprising me once again with his tender side. “That’s my girl.”

I smiled up at him. “You know, after what you said in the truck and now here, you’re pretty good at the whole tough love thing.”

“Just be glad you weren’t in my platoon. I would’ve kicked the shit out you to get your focus back.” At my outraged look, he chuckled. “I’m military, remember?”

Smacking his arm, I said, “Yeah, well, don’t ever forget I’m a civilian.”

He grinned. “Point taken, Princess.” After rubbing his hands together, he gazed around the cave. “All right then. Let’s get back to work.”

Maddox then handed me another flashlight out of his bag. I clicked it on and started pointing the beam around the walls for any clues. While I did that, Maddox put the lantern down and then kept his flashlight beam to the ground and examined it for any burned marks.

A flicker of something with wings caught my attention. Shit, the last thing on earth we needed right now was a flock of rabid bats. I craned my head and shone the flashlight up to the top of the cave. I wheezed out of a sigh of relief when I didn’t see any winged creatures staring back at me with beady eyes.

But then my heart stopped and restarted. I squinted my eyes to see a discolored patch of the cave ceiling right above me. It looked…blackened.

“Maddox!” I cried.

He whirled around. “What?”

“Look up there. Does that kinda look like burned marks on the cave roof?”

Stepping over to me, he kept his gaze trained on the ceiling. “Yeah, it does.”

“Think it means the sacred fire was somewhere around here?” I tapped my foot along the ground, hoping that I would magically hear the hollow spot where the treasure was buried.

“I sure as hell hope it does.” Maddox brought his gaze off the cave ceiling and then swept it along the floor. He repeated the action several times. “Okay, it’s got to be somewhere along here.” With one foot directly in front of the other, he walked a small perimeter that could have allowed for the smoke stains.

Taking the shovel’s head, he started tapping it on the floor like I’d tapped my foot. I stood stock-still not wanting to miss the telltale sign. And then it happened. It wasn’t quite like the sound that hollowed out wood made, but it was definitely different. Maddox jerked his head up. His wide-eyed, open-mouthed gaze mirrored my own. “Shit, I think this is really it,” he murmured.

Wanting visual proof, I beamed my flashlight over to where the shovel was. I gasped at the sight of large fissures in the ground where the rock had once been cut or broken. Time and the elements had fused it almost back together. There were also the signs of burned indentations where the fire had been. “It is. Start digging,” I cried.

Maddox snorted. “This isn’t exactly dirt, you know.”

Excitement surged through me to where I squirmed all over like a puppy. “I don’t care what it is. Just make a hole or something.”

Giving me an epic eye roll, Maddox brought the hard edge of the shovel down on one of the cracks. He kept repeating the process, banging a trail that widened the crack until the rock started crumbling away. I dropped to the ground and started frantically picking up the broken pieces and flinging them behind me. Maddox joined in as well, freeing and hurling away rocks. Finally, we’d cleared away enough of them that I could actually see inside the hiding place.

“I need some light.”

Maddox held both the lantern and the flashlight over me as I peered down into the hole. Tentatively, I reached out and stuck my hand inside. I tried ignoring my overactive imagination that thought anything from spiders to scorpions to snakes could be in the hole. When my hand brushed against something, I squealed and jumped back.

“What is it? Did you find something?” Maddox demanded.

“I don’t know. But I definitely felt something.” I drew in a quick breath and then plunged my hand back down in the hole. This time I didn’t freak out when my fingers bumped against something. “I think it’s a bowl or something.”

“Let’s just hope it’s a pot of gold,” Maddox mused.