Not for the first time she wondered whether he was the ringleader, the person in charge of Stonefish, the crime syndicate they’d been trying to break since the start of the year. He’d not hesitated to kill when required, silencing those who may have provided information about the organisation.
He slowly raised his hands.
“Where are Jordan and Cody?” Sherlock demanded, striding forward while Nhiari kept her gun aimed at Lee. He acknowledged everyone in the cave, no fear in his eyes, but his gaze lingered on Nhiari. His chocolate brown eyes showed no emotion, but it was as if he was waiting for something from her. Finally he said, “They escaped.”
It took Nhiari a second to remember the question he’d been asked.
“What?” Gretchen asked.
He moved his gaze to the frantic mother. “Your son and his friend escaped their bonds.” He shook his head. “I don’t know how.”
The obvious surprise in his voice made Nhiari frown and reassess. This area was deserted. No roads, no tourist lookouts, no fresh water unless you knew where to look. And it was hot. It would have to be close to thirty-five degrees outside today. The boys could be in serious trouble.
“Why didn’t you take better care of them?” Gretchen demanded.
“What happened?” Sherlock moved closer, his voice low and dangerous.
Nhiari glanced at him. Was she going to have to stop him from doing something stupid?
“I had the boys cable-tied in here,” he said. “They were safe, but I didn’t know if anyone from Stonefish was coming to get them, so I had to keep them tied.” He directed the last comment to Gretchen. “I heard someone approach, so I went outside to investigate. It was Georgie. I was gone five, maybe ten minutes.”
“I taught the boys how to remove cable ties,” Arthur said, a hint of pride in his voice.
“How long ago did you leave?” Gretchen asked Lee.
“I’ve been arguing with Georgie for a few minutes, so it’s been no more than fifteen minutes since I saw them.”
Gretchen went to the mouth of the cave. “Jordan! Cody! Come out.”
“Where were they tied?” Arthur asked.
Lee motioned to the back of the cave, which had a tunnel running off it. Matt and Arthur examined the ground, Arthur shining his phone torch to get a better look. Nhiari stayed where she was, keeping her gun trained on Lee.
“Everyone stay where you are,” Matt said. He shone his light down the tunnel, and then shifted towards the entrance. He glanced at Arthur. “Did you teach them to backtrack?”
Arthur nodded.
“Good job. There are footprints leading into the tunnel and ones leaving the cave.”
“They’ll have left the cave,” Arthur stated.
“Impossible. I would have seen them leave,” Lee said, sounding offended.
She couldn’t deal with egos right now. “We don’t have time to argue,” Nhiari stated. “We need to find those boys before it gets dark.” She turned to Lee. “You know these tunnels?”
He nodded.
She holstered her gun and walked over, handcuffing him, ignoring the roughness of his palms. “You and I will search the tunnels. The rest of you search outside. We’ll meet back here in an hour. If we don’t find them by then, I’ll call in search and rescue.”
“I’ll call Parks and Wildlife now. Get my colleagues to look for them,” Georgie said.
Good idea. There could be rangers nearby.
Arthur joined Gretchen at the entrance. “The footprints go that way.”
Nhiari waited for her friends to leave the cave, and turned her attention to the man beside her. His cuffed hands hung behind his back. Awareness and tension smothered her. “Let’s go.”
“It’s good to see you, Nhiari.”
