She released the empty clip. Before she could insert a new one, she felt a gun pressed against her neck.
“You’re wrong,” the woman whispered in Daina’s ear.
“What about?” Daina sneered, her fingers moving to the knife at her waist.
“I’m not Dallas.”
“You’re lying!” Daina snarled as she slashed behind her with the knife. She met nothing but air. The gun against her neck had disappeared, and so had her opponent.
Daina slashed into the dark again and again. The haunting laughter seem to come from directly in front of her. She lunged forward just as a hand pushed between her shoulder blades and Daina’s foot didn’t land on firm ground, it swept through empty space. She twisted in mid-air, her startled scream echoing back a thousand-fold.
She landed with an agonizing crunch, her lower back at an awkward angle. The red light on her vest cast its glow upward. She reached for the pistol at her side—or tried to. Her arms didn’t move. She tried again, but for some reason, her arms weren’t responding to her mind’s commands.
Slowly, with blood running to her head and the loud sound of her breaths emphasizing how difficult it was to breathe, the realization dawned that she couldn’t even feel her arms… or her legs.
Seconds passed, and her body remained unresponsive to her mind’s commands. If she was trembling with the shocking awareness that her back was broken, she couldn’t feel it. Only her mind continued to function, and as the realization of what had happened and the likelihood that she would die here settled in, she screamed.
Unfortunately for her, the ghost who had lured her to her gruesome death was no longer there. Daina was alone.
* * *
Midnight followed the sounds of people in the tunnel and her hand ran along the wall, feeling the telltale marks that Junayd had carved in case he ever got lost here.
She entered a cavern that was three-times larger than the last one. The faint light coming in from the ceiling silhouetted a line of soldiers led by one of her favorite people. Her heart swelled with love.
“Junayd!” she cried.
Junayd froze and turned toward her, the red beam of his headlamp illuminating her. She raced across the rock-strewn flat ground of the cavern and flung herself into his arms.
She buried her face against his neck, breathing deeply and holding him as if she would never let him go. He held her tight and shuddered.
“Are you hurt? Where are the assailants?” he demanded.
“Dead. Well, two of them are. The last of them might as well be. She is in the bottom of that pit you warned me about. I think her back is broken.”
“I’ll take a team to check,” Ziya said.
Junayd nodded. “Be careful,” he warned.
“I will. I know where the pit is,” Ziya replied.
Midnight pulled back, cupped Junayd’s face between her palms, and kissed him. He returned her kiss, and they were both breathless by the time he pulled back.
“What was that for?” he asked in a low, raw voice.
“I love you. I should have told you that earlier.”
He released a long breath. “I love you, too,habibi.”
“We’ll go check on the other two men while you two catch up,” Idella dryly commented.
“Oh! Issa needs your help. He’s been shot.” Midnight pulled out of his arms and tugged on his hand.
He held her still for a moment, his eyes running over her with a frown. “Where are your clothes?” he asked.
She looked down at her sports bra and boyshorts and shrugged. “I had to ditch them when they got soaked. It was easier to climb in this,” she said.
“Let’s go to the pool room. You can grab a pair of my shorts and a shirt there,” he muttered.