Chapter 42 THE TEAM

Chapter 42 THE TEAM
Joyce's POV

My sister had a bomb strapped to my heartbeat.

If I died, she died.

Vane had turned me into a weapon against my own family.

Dalton grabbed the laptop. "Victoria, send more team to Portland, now."

"We do not have anyone left. Everyone is deployed between the hospital and the search."

"Then pull them back."

"That leaves the hospital unguarded."

I looked at the timer on the screen. Forty-six minutes until the hospital bomb detonated, and hours of driving to Portland. 

We could not do both.

Dalton slammed his fist on the table. The laptop jumped. "He divided us. He knew we would split our forces."

Taylor spoke through the radio. "Alpha, my wolves are three hours from Portland, but we can evacuate the hospital. Get everyone out before the deadline."

"And abandon the hunt for Vane?"

"We have no choice."

I grabbed Dalton's arm. "We do have a choice. We find Vane and end this."

"Your sister will die."

“I have a contact that can bring us a helicopter, to get us to Portland in thirty minutes”, Dalton said. “But we still need someone who understands how Vane’s bomb works.”

Victoria cut in. "Who? The bomb tech is in the hospital."

I thought fast. Elias. He worked with Hunter. He knew how their explosives worked.

"Get Elias," I said.

Dalton stared at me. "He is still recovering."

"He can walk. He can think. That is all we need."

Victoria was quiet for three seconds. "I will bring him."

Dalton split the pack over the radio. Half would evacuate the hospital. Half would continue hunting Vane. Elias would drive to Portland to join Taylor’s team.

We were stretched too thin, and Vane knew it.

But we had no other option.

"I am staying with the hunt," I said.

Dalton shook his head. "You are going to Portland."

"Megan needs Elias, not me. I am staying."

"Joyce."

"You need every wolf you can get. I am not sitting in a car for six hours while you fight Vane alone."

Mark, one of the search team members, appeared at the cabin door. Blood streaked his face. "We found another camp, two miles west. Fresh tracks leading away."

Dalton turned to me. "Stay close. Do not fall behind."

We left the cabin at a run.

Trees and snow and the sound of our boots hit frozen ground. My lungs burned, but I kept pace.

Behind us, engines roared to life. The Portland team was leaving. The Helicopter had arrived five minutes after Dalton called.

I prayed Elias knew what he was doing.

We reached the second camp in ten minutes. A tent stood half-collapsed in the clearing. On the snow were empty food cans littered and a fire still burning in a ring of stones.

Dalton knelt beside the fire. He touched the ash. "Twenty minutes old."

"He is close."

Mark circled the clearing. "Tracks go north. Toward the river."

We followed.

The river was frozen solid. Ice stretched across the water in jagged sheets. On the other side, more tracks disappeared into the trees.

Dalton tested the ice with his boot. It cracked but held.

"Spread out," he said. "Cross one at a time."

Mark went first. The ice made a cracking sound under his weight, but did not break. He made it to the other side and waved us forward.

I went next.

The ice was slick. My boots slid with every step. Halfway across, a crack split the surface beneath me.

I froze.

"Keep moving," Dalton called.

I took another step. The crack spread wider. Water seeped up through the gap.

"Run."

I ran.

The ice shattered behind me. Freezing water sprayed my legs. I hit the far bank and rolled into the snow.

Dalton crossed after me. The ice broke apart in his wake, but he was fast enough to stay ahead of it.

We kept moving.

The tracks led to a cave entrance hidden behind a fallen tree. Dalton signalled for us to stop.

He listened. I heard nothing but wind and my own breathing.

"He is inside," Dalton whispered.

Mark pulled a gun. "I will go first."

"No, I go."

"Alpha."

"That is an order."

Dalton entered the cave. I followed before he could stop me.

Inside, the room was very cold. Our breath fogged in the air.

The cave opened into a larger chamber. In the centre sat a chair. And tied to that chair was a man.

Blood covered his face. His hands were bound behind his back, and a gag filled his mouth.

Dalton approached slowly. "Where is Vane?"

The man made a muffled sound.

I pulled the gag free. "Talk."

He coughed. "He left two hours ago."

"Where did he go?"

"I do not know."

Dalton grabbed his collar. "You are lying."

"I am not. He tied me here and left. He said to tell you Merry Christmas."

My stomach turned. This was a trap.

"We need to leave," I said.

Dalton cut the man’s ropes. "Can you walk?"

"Yes."

We turned toward the exit.

The cave entrance exploded.

The blast knocked me off my feet, my ears rang, and smoke filled the chamber.

When the dust cleared, the entrance was gone. Sealed by a wall of stone.

We were buried alive.

Mark tried his radio, but it was static. "We are too deep."

Dalton checked the walls. They were solid rock. 

The man sat in the corner. “Vane knew you would come."

"How long do we have?" I asked.

"Until what?"

"Until the air runs out."

Hunter looked at the ceiling where water dripped from the ice. "A few hours."

I pulled out my phone. No service.

Dalton tried his. Same result.

We were trapped.

Outside, the hospital bomb would detonate in thirty minutes. In Portland, Megan sat next to a bomb that would explode when my heart stopped. And here we were, buried in a cave with no way out and air that would not last.

Vane had won.

I sat against the wall, shivering from the cold.

Dalton sat beside me. "We will find a way out."

"How?"

"I do not know yet."

Mark paced the chamber. "There has to be another exit. Caves always have multiple openings."

Hunter shook his head. "Not this one. I checked when we got here"

"Then we dig."

"With what? Our hands?" The man laughed. "The rock is too thick."

Dalton stood. "Then we make noise. Someone will hear us."

"The nearest search team is miles away. They will not hear anything through this much stone."

I closed my eyes. We were going to die here.

No. I refused to accept that.

I stood and walked the perimeter of the chamber. My fingers traced the walls. 

In the back corner, I felt something different. A draft.

Cold air flows through a crack in the stone.

"Here," I called.

Dalton joined me. He felt the crack. "It is too small."

"We can make it bigger."

Mark found a loose rock and started hammering at the crack. 

We took turns. My hands went numb from the cold, and the impact and blood seeped from my knuckles.

But the crack grew.

After twenty minutes, it was wide enough to see through. Darkness on the other side. But the draft was stronger now.

"Keep going," Dalton said.

My phone buzzed. It showed one bar of service and a text from Elias. Arrived in Portland. Megan stable. Examining the bomb now."

Relief flooded through me. Megan was alive.

For now.

Another text. "Bomb is more complex than expected. Need more time."

How much time did we have?

The hospital timer would hit zero in ten minutes. If they had not evacuated everyone, people would die.

I texted back. "Hospital?"

"Evacuated. All clear."

Thank God.

But we were still trapped.

Mark widened the crack enough to fit his arm through. "I feel open space. This goes somewhere."

We worked faster.

The gap grew large enough for a body.

Dalton went first. He squeezed through and disappeared into the darkness. "It is a tunnel."

I went next. The stone scraped my shoulders. I could barely breathe in the tight space.

But I made it through.

The tunnel sloped downward. Water pooled on the floor. We waded through it.

Behind us, Mark and the man followed.

The tunnel opened into another chamber. This one had a natural shaft leading up. Moonlight filtered through from above.

"There," Dalton pointed.

The shaft was twenty feet high. Steep walls. No handholds.

"We can climb it," Mark said.

I looked up. "Not all of us."

Dalton grabbed my waist. "I will lift you. You go first."

"What about you?"

"I will follow."

He lifted me. I reached for the shaft wall. My fingers found a small ledge, and I pulled myself up.

Inch by inch, I climbed.

The stone cut my hands. My muscles screamed. But I kept going.

I reached the top and pulled myself out into the forest.

Cold air hit my face.

I looked down. "Your turn."

Dalton climbed next. Then Mark, then the man.

We stood in the forest, covered in blood and dirt and ice.

Dalton pulled me close. "We need to move. Vane is still out here."

My phone buzzed. Elias again.

"Found the trigger mechanism. I can disarm it, but I need you to stay calm. Your heart rate spikes, and the bomb will become unstable."

I read the message twice.

Dalton looked at me. "What is wrong?"

I showed him the text.

His face went pale. I pulled him aside. "If I do not make it back from this hunt, promise me you will complete the mate bond with someone worthy. Do not spend your life alone because of me."

His eyes turned red.

He held my shoulder and shook me.

"You do not get to say goodbye. We are both surviving this." His voice broke.