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Then I heard his voice.

One word, and every wall I built around my heart disappeared.

“Yes,” I whisper. “They’ll come.”

Headlights sweep across the tunnel entrance.

Engines rumble outside.

The guards begin shouting.

For one breathless moment, I think Sean found us.

Then the cargo van backs toward the tunnel.

The rear doors open.

Three armed men climb out.

“Move the girls!” someone orders. “We leave in ten minutes.”

The youngest girl grabs my hand.

I look at the frightened faces surrounding me.

Sean may be coming.

But we’re running out of time.

7

SEAN

“Silver Crown Mine is sixty-four miles north of here.”

Sheriff Vega spreads a map across the hood of her SUV.

Sixty-four miles.

Hayley is sixty-four miles away.

Maybe less by now.

Maybe more if Greg moved her.

Maybe—

I shut down the thoughts before they take over.

I spent eighteen years in Delta Special Forces learning how to function when everything inside me wanted to do something else.

Right now, everything inside me wants to get in the SUV and drive until I find Hayley.

That won’t help her.

Thinking will.

“County records show the mine closed twenty-six years ago,” Vega continues. “The main road comes in from the south. There’s one documented tunnel entrance here.”