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truth and was working against him?
Despite the appearance of a dead end, he twisted his body into a seemingly invisible space and as she followed, she realized they’d entered a cave tunnel. She could feel a faint breeze on her face and knew the end wasn’t far.
He paused once again, this time to pull a radio from his pocket. “It’s Micah. I’m coming in with two.”
“Copy,” a faint voice replied.
Micah dropped the radio back in his pocket and moved forward. Within moments they had left the cave and entered a small valley. The moonlight was brighter now and she could see a man standing in front of a rocky entrance of a half-hidden cave.
He was armed, but greeted Micah by name. “I told June you’re coming in,” he said.
“Thanks, Jesse.” Micah grabbed her by the elbow, his big hand warm on her skin.
They went through another small narrow passage and that opened into a huge cave that had been transformed into living quarters.
Olivia felt her mouth drop open as she took in her surroundings. It was like entering an alien world with huge ceilings and furnished comfortably with wood, bone, animal skins and whatever else the forest could yield.
“Follow me,” Micah said. “June will probably be in the kitchen area and we have questions for you.”
She had plenty of questions for him, too. She’d expected the rumored safe house to be a little cabin in the woods where people were spirited in and out of the area in the middle of the night.
But, as she heard the sound of laughter coming from someplace in the distance and followed Micah through the huge main room where the scent of something cooking wafted in the air, this place felt more like a thriving community than a pit stop on the way to safety.
Micah led her into a kitchen where the focal point of the room was a huge rough-hewn wooden table above which hung a chandelier fashioned from antlers.
A woman stood at a stove stirring what smelled like some sort of stew. She turned at the sight of them and offered Olivia a tentative smile. “Got the news there were two incoming, didn’t realize it was really one and a half.”
Olivia looked down at Sam, who had fallen asleep against her chest and fought the tears that pressed hot against her eyes.
“She says she’s been in the woods for two days,” Micah said as he gestured Olivia into a chair at the table.
“And you must be starving,” the tall, willowy, red-haired woman said as Olivia took off her backpack and sank into one of the chairs. Micah took the chair next to her and she was instantly aware of two things—he smelled like the forest, fresh, wild, yet clean and utterly male. And even though he looked amazingly like his brother, Samuel Grayson was really just a pale imitation of the handsome, hard-featured man seated to her right.
“I’m June Farrow,” the woman said as she set a bowl of hot stew in front of Olivia. “And I’d be more than happy to hold that sleeping little boy so you can eat.”
Olivia looked down at Sam and for a moment the last thing she wanted to do was relinquish possession of the one child she had with her. Once again as she thought of her missing three-year-old, her eyes welled up with tears that she desperately tried to control.
“What’s his name?” June asked softly.
“Sam. His name is Sam.” Olivia pulled the child from the front sling and handed him into June’s awaiting arms. She had to trust these people, she had no choice and the scent of the food cramped her empty stomach. She’d had nothing to eat for the last two days, afraid that if she took a single bite of anything that had been in her backpack, it might mean Sam going hungry.
Micah sat silently as she ate. She tried not to shovel the savory stew into her mouth like a wild animal. She had no idea what exactly was in the stew, but nothing had ever tasted so good.
When she was finished she looked at June. “Is there milk? I have a bottle for Sam in my backpack but he emptied it the first night we were in the woods.”
The area where she sat was warmer than it had been outside and with her belly full, all she really wanted to do was sleep. She’d only had unanticipated fitful dozes while in the forest; she’d been too afraid to allow herself any real sleep. The forest had been filled with critters, both animal and human.
“How about I get a bottle ready for Sam and put him down in the nursery?” June asked.
Panic once again clawed up Olivia’s throat. “Nursery? Where is that? What, exactly, is this place?”
“You’re safe here and nobody will hurt you or your son,” Micah finally spoke. “Why don’t you and June get the boy settled in for the night and then the three of us will talk some more.”
Olivia hesitated for a long moment, so many questions whirling around in her head, coupled with the crushing fear for the child she had left behind.
She finally got up from the table and rummaged in the now nearly empty backpack for the empty bottle. June handed Sam back to her and Olivia watched as the woman washed the bottle and then filled it with milk. “Come with me,” she then said.
The cave was a maze of rooms, some small, some much larger, some with wooden doors and some without. The temperature was slightly cooler away from the kitchen area, but not unpleasantly so.
They finally came to a medium-sized room that held several cribs and child-sized cots. “We have a couple three-year-olds, but they’re sleeping with their mommy in another room, so right now he’s the only little one we have here,” June said as she motioned for Olivia to place Sam in one of the cribs.
Sam awakened and as always gave his mother a beatific smile and then when he saw the bottle June held, his fingers worked in a gimme fashion. “Bot,” he exclaimed.
June smiled and gave him the bottle and as he began to drink it, his eyes drifted closed once again. The two women backed out of the nursery and June showed her the room next door. “We’ll put you in here, that way you can hear if he needs anything throughout the night.”
This area was small, with a door and a double bed covered with what appeared to be clean sheets and a lightweight blanket. A small rustic wooden table sat next to the bed with an oil lantern burning to light the room. “I’m afraid it isn’t exactly the Ritz, but we all manage.”
“It’s fine,” Olivia replied, still feeling as if she’d entered a surreal world she didn’t quite understand.
“We’d better get back to Micah. He’s probably chewing off his own arm waiting to ask you some questions.”
When they headed to the kitchen, the scent of freshly brewed coffee filled the air. Micah was seated where he’d been when they had left, but three cups of coffee were on the table. “I wasn’t sure how you drank yours,” he said to Olivia.
“Black is fine.” She curled her fingers around the warmth of the mug and then looked at June. “What is this place and what are all of you doing here?”
“The cave was built a long time ago by an architect who went crazy and became an eccentric survivalist—decided to prepare for the end of the world. He was something of a genius when it came to using the natural resources accessible in the mountains. Rumor has it that he died when he’d finished construction and it was left to a distant relative of his. About five years ago, when we realized what was happening in Cold Plains, we knew we’d need a place of safety so we contacted the owner who told us to do whatever we wanted with it. We did a little refurbishing to make it once again livable and here we are,” June explained.
Olivia was aware of Micah’s dark gaze lingering on her, but she wasn’t finished getting answers from June. “So, this is about an investigation of some sort? Are you a police officer of some kind?”
June smiled. “Heavens no. I’m just a widow who, years ago, lost my family to a cult and now I’ve