The Templar's Code

CHAPTER 93

I can’t see anything!

Terrified, Edie shrieked.

The high-pitched sound reverberated off the stone walls. Endlessly echoing. Deafening even to her own ears. Oh God! She was totally disoriented. Pitch-black darkness, fear, and uncertainty all compressed into a painful cranial throb that felt like it would detonate at any moment.

A split second later, a second bullet discharged, whistling past her head, lodging in the pilaster behind her. She heard several pieces of stone, blasted free, pelt the ground.

“Hit the floor!” Caedmon ordered, his disembodied voice echoing off the sanctuary walls.

Gripped with terror, she reflexively dropped to the ground. On the other side of the sanctuary, she could hear Dr. Lyon’s erratic breathing. Or was that her erratic breathing? Edie held her breath, afraid Dr. Death would home in on her serrated exhalations.

Shifting into high gear, she crawled away from where Dr. Lyon had been standing.

At least, she hoped she was moving away from the monster. She couldn’t see a damned thing. Trying to make as little noise as possible, she winced every time the tip of her hiking boot scuffed the uneven stone surface.

“Three blind mice, see how they run,” Dr. Lyon taunted. Not sounding the least bit afraid. His courage no doubt bolstered by the fact that he had a loaded pistol clasped in his hands.

That or the crazy old coot could see in the dark.

Like she wasn’t scared enough, that thought sent a shiver of pure panic up her spine. Edie wondered how long they could play the avoidance game. Although the sanctuary was fairly large, with a diameter of some twenty-five feet, at some point, they were bound to bump into each other.

If she could just find Caedmon, maybe they could escape together before their would-be killer figured out they’d gone AWOL.

No sooner did that plan cross her mind than she brushed up against something warm. A body! She instinctively jerked, fell over, started to scurry away. A strong hand grabbed her ankle.

“It’s me, love.”

Caedmon! Thank God!

Relief instantly morphed into panic, another gunshot ringing out.

“You will both pay for the heinous crime that you committed,” Dr. Lyon announced.

Edie’s stomach painfully knotted. She frantically reached out, grabbing hold of the first thing that her hand came into contact with — Caedmon’s kneecap. Which one, she had no idea. “We have to turn the lantern back on!”

He leaned close to her, his nose bumping against her cheek. “I’m afraid that the lantern’s a lost cause,” he whispered in her ear.

“I have a second one in my duffel bag. It’s on the other side of the cave. All I have to do is crawl—”

“No!” he hissed, his warm breathing hitting her full in the face. “Any idea how many death traps are in the cave?”

“There are two of them — the one behind the altar and the one that I fell into earlier in the week.”

“Right. I want you to stay put while I go after the bastard.”

“Are you crazy? Not only are you handcuffed, but you have a broken hand.”

“Trust me, love, he will kill you.”

“Like you’re gonna get off with only a slap on the wrist. Not only do I have two good hands, but I’ve got a mean side kick in case you missed the earlier show. So I want you to stay—” Edie swept her arm to and fro across the stone floor.

Where before there had been a hard knee and a warm body, there was nothing but thin air.

Caedmon was gone!