Extreme Exposure Read Free Page A

God help them. Their only chance wasn’t a chance at all. If they managed to get out of the cave, they’d be easy targets above ground. But what choice did they have?
    A noise came, a loud growl over the rumble of the waves and wind. The speedboat was right behind them. Pulse quickening, he pointed the rowboat at the mouth of the cave and rode full speed. A bullet blew a hole through the wood panel at the back of the boat, inches from where he was sitting.
    “Duck!” he yelled as the boat shot through the narrow slot. Whirling, he caught a glimpse of the speedboat framed in the opening of the cave before the current sucked them into the murky darkness and out of sight.
    Matt cut the engine as the dank, musty smell of the cave assaulted him. “There’s a flashlight in my pack. Can you get it?” His voice bounced off the walls. Every sound amplified, the waves boomed like thunder as they smashed against the walls.
    Emily found the flashlight and switched it on. Stalactites hung like icicles from the ceiling, while dark rocks jutted out from the walls.
    “How far do we have to go?” Her voice was sharp and brittle as glass. The temperature had dropped a couple of degrees, and she rubbed her arms.
    “Not too far.” What if the hole had caved in? He gave his head a little shake. Better not to think about that. They couldn’t go back.
    Emily shone the light at the ceiling. As each second passed, the passage became narrower and narrower. Now, the wet, jagged walls were close enough to touch, the ceiling just a couple of feet above their heads.
    A minute later, as the boat reached the far end of the cave, the flashlight picked up a gaping hole in the ceiling. It was large enough at the opening for two people, before it turned a corner and the light from the flashlight bounced off the slimy black walls. He remembered crawling on his stomach as a kid through some tight squeezes. At one point, he’d been sure they wouldn’t make it out. Part of the passage was man-made, carved out decades ago for some reason that escaped him now.
    She stared up the hole. “How far is it to the top?”
    “Forty, fifty feet?” He pointed to a rock ledge near the edge. “We’ll climb up from those rocks.”
    “How small is it?”
    “It’s small, but it’s on a slope, maybe sixty degrees, so you can crawl. There’s not much climbing.”
    Jamming the boat against the ledge, he picked up his pack, turned to Emily. She wasn’t moving. Hands clamped over her mouth, she gave the impression she was screaming inside.
    “What’s the matter? We have to hurry. The cave’s flooding.”
    She shifted her hands to speak. “I’m staying here.”
    *  *  *
    Emily grasped the side of the boat as it bashed against the cave walls. There must have been a hole in the hull, because icy water sloshed in the bottom, soaking her sneakers and splashing against her legs.
    Indifferent to this, she said, “I can’t go up that hole. I will die.”
    Open-mouthed, he stared at her as if she were insane. “You’ll die if you stay here.”
    The tightness in her chest had become a crushing sensation so intense every breath hurt. But worse, much worse, was the thought of going up that hole. There was no way. She’d have to burrow like an animal to get out. For who knows how long. An image of herself trapped, suffocating, flashed across her eyes.
    She didn’t want to die like that.
    “I’m not going.” Meeting his eyes, her voice came out strong. “But you have to go.”
    Matt sat beside her. Earlier, in the channel, she’d had the impression of a man who was dangerous, capable of violence, as if nothing could stop him from getting what he wanted. It had scared her, yet oddly had made her feel safer at the same time. Now, he was like another person, the small smile on his face transforming him into something softer, less intimidating.
    He wasn’t much over thirty, but there was a maturity to his hard-boned face, with the two-day stubble, prominent