Welcome To My World (Hell Yeah!) (22 page)

“Malone, this is Arnold Copeland over in Wimberley. We’ve got a situation, I’m sure you’ve heard. Since its Senator Horton’s son and a friend, it’s all over the news. I know your dive partner is out of commission, but we need you. We’ve contacted Joseph McCoy to help us out. He’s got some experience in this area.”

Even before he asked the question, Bowie had a bad feeling. “No, I haven’t heard anything, what are we talking about?”

“Jacob’s Well. The kids went cave diving in Jacob’s Well and they haven’t come back.” This piece of news made everything else that had gone wrong that day a piece of cake. Chills covered Bowie’s body when he realized what he was being asked to do. He had performed dozens and dozens of rescues in his career and there wasn’t too much in the world he wouldn’t tackle, but Jacob’s Well was one place that gave him the creeps. He’d been down in it twice and swore to all that was holy that he wouldn’t ever go back.

For the first time, Bowie almost told them no. “How long have they been down?”

“Too long, even with an extra tank, but it’s still classified as a rescue mission at this point.”

“Well, at least that’s something.” But if he’d gotten past the second chamber, there were a couple of places that could fool an experienced diver, much less a newbie. A false chimney, a gravel bed that was almost like quick sand and a room filled with fine silt which could throw up a cloud and obscure your vision until you didn’t know which end was up and that was just a few of the hazards. There was also the possibility of nitrogen narcosis poisoning. At least nine people had perished in Jacob’s Well, some whose remains had never been recovered.

Bowie bowed his head and sent up a prayer. “I’ll be there as fast as I can drive.”

He didn’t even take time to go back in the house. Calling Cassie on her cell, he let it ring till it went to voice mail. Damn. There was no time to waste. Grabbing his gear, he headed out.

*  *  *

Cassie heard the phone ringing, but it seemed she couldn’t move. She’d been picking up things in their bedroom and found Bowie’s checkbook. Not wanting to misplace it, she’d gone to his desk to slip it in the top drawer. She’d had no intentions to snoop. But when she focused her eyes, she saw her own name on a yellowed piece of newsprint.

CASSIE CARTWRIGHT SHOT IN ACCIDENT

With trembling fingers, she lifted it out and scanned the short article. A crushing pain centered around her heart. Cassie thought she was going to pass out.

Bowie knew.

He knew.

Bowie knew he had been the one to shoot her.

Cassie doubled over in the chair. God. God. God. He knew.

She was trembling. Shaking. Trying to figure out what this meant. He knew, but he hadn’t said anything. God, he was redoing his house. He brought her into his home. Bowie was making room for her in his world. He was giving her a life she’d never expected to have.

“God, no!” Cassie began to cry.

Bowie wasn’t with her because he loved her. He wasn’t with her because he desired her.

Bowie was with her because he felt guilty.

Sorrow beat her down so that she could barely move. Unable to bear it, she grabbed a few of her things and called Sassy and Patience. It took a couple of trips and quite a bit of time to load her candles and supplies, but as quickly as she could, Cassie loaded them up and drove home. She could barely see the road through the haze of tears.

Her world had just shattered at her feet.

*  *  *

Bowie drove as fast as he could. It was just over eighty miles from Bandera to Jacob’s Well. He’d only been on the road about twenty minutes when he decided to call Cassie again. Reaching in his pocket for his cell phone, he came up empty.

“Shit!” He searched around in the seat and leaned over to search in his gear. Damn! He’d left it lying on the desk.

“Hell, I can’t go back now. Someone’s life is depending on us.” He raced on, letting his mind wander. Today, he’d planned on buying Cassie a ring. Bowie had to smile, remembering their passion from the night before. God, she was hot. He loved her so much. The only cloud in their sky was the fact he hadn’t been honest about their past. Lord, who was he kidding? That wasn’t a cloud, it was a fuckin cyclone. Bowie vowed as soon as he got home, he’d make her understand, somehow.

The closer he got to Wimberley, the more the memories of Jacob’s Well came clamoring into his mind. He’d done plenty of cave diving. In fact, he and Joseph had done some together. Hell, Joseph had set records in the past. But Jacob’s Well wasn’t a normal place. If he believed in curses, he’d say the place was marked for tragedy. The complete history of the spring was unknown. Native Americans considered the area sacred and Spanish explores described it in their journals. A survivor of the Battle of San Jacinto named Jacob’s Well after coming upon the spring and thinking it reminded him of the wells described in the Bible. Efforts had been made in the past to prevent people from diving into the caves, but even a grate which had been installed was removed and a message left on the cave wall, “do not try to keep us out.”

Bowie’s own experience had been hair-raising. The spring on Cypress Creek would swallow you whole if you gave it a chance. Undoubtedly, it was one of the most dangerous diving locations in the world. He’d been on a mission to rescue two divers from Houston. The rescue attempt became a quest to retrieve the remains. The inexperienced divers had simply run out of air. But in the third chamber, Bowie had gotten buried in the sliding gravel. He could still remember the panic, the foreboding, the horror-movie type terror of knowing how deep he was underground and the inability to get free. Just as he ran out of air, he’d been rescued by two other divers, one of them had been Tanner. The fast, unconscious but necessary ascent had ruptured his stomach. A brush with death that close was bound to haunt anyone.

When he turned off on the road that led to the spring, Bowie could see a crowd gathering. Everyone from cops to news reporters to EMTs. Spotting Joseph, he hopped from the truck and ran over to where he was standing. “Hey, McCoy, can I use your phone?”

Joseph drawled, “Well, hello to you too.” But he handed him his cell.

“I’ll explain in a second.” Without wasting time, he tried Cassie’s number again, but still, no answer. Voice mail was great, but not this time. “Cassie, call me!” He demanded. Next, he tried Uncle Michael. Thank God, he answered. “Hey, no time, just listen. I’m at Jacob’s Well. I don’t have a choice but to go in.”

“Damn.” His uncle knew what that meant.

“Listen, I need you to find Cassie, she’s not answering her cell. I’m worried. I’ll check in with you when I can.”

“Sure.”

Bowie hung up, hearing his name being called.

“Ready to go down, Malone?”

No. The answer was no.

*  *  *

“Well, where the hell do you think she is?” George asked Michael as they tromped through the house. “Do you think we should call the police?”

“No.” Michael shook his head. “She might have gone on an errand, there’s no use to panic yet.”

“Let’s go check over at her home.” George suggested.

“Good idea.” Together they jumped in Michael’s jeep and headed over to the old Sever place. When they arrived, Cassie’s van was there. “Thank God.”

But when they went to the door and knocked, no one answered. “I’m going in.” George pushed the door open. It’s wasn’t locked. “Cassie! Cassie!”

To their puzzlement, she wasn’t at home. The only sound of life was the barking of the little dog off in the distance. “Maybe she rode off with someone.” Michael suggested.

“Maybe.” George wiped his face with his bandanna. “God, she has it hot as a firecracker in this house.”

“Yea,” Michael observed. “Women are cold natured, I guess.” He looked out the window, seeing nothing odd. “Well, hell. What do we do now?”

“I guess we go back to the house and wait awhile. Maybe we’ll hear from Bowie soon.” George started out the door.

“I’m worried about him. He’d rather walk through hell in his bare feet than go down in Jacob’s Well.”

George and Michael returned to Vega Verde and tried to work, but George couldn’t stop thinking about Cassie. “Man, I hope she’s all right. If she’s not, it will just kill Bowie.”

Michael washed the grease off his hands. “What do you want to do?”

“Go back over there, I guess. We didn’t really look around good outside. I’ve got a funny feeling. Do you remember hearing that little wiener dog bark? That dog rarely left her side.”

“I agree, come on.” Michael started off, but he didn’t get three steps before his cell rang. “Bowie?”

“No, sir. This is Copeland. McCoy told me Bowie called this number earlier. Are you the next of kin?”

Next of kin? Michael almost stumbled. He had to grab ahold of his truck for support. “I’m his Uncle.”

“Well, I have to inform you that Bowie Malone didn’t come up from his cave dive. Joseph McCoy surfaced and has gone back down to find him. But we thought you ought to know.”

“What’s wrong?” George yelled. He could read Michael’s face like a book.

“Bowie’s lost down in the caves. Joseph has gone back down after him.”

“God, we need to go over there.” George stopped and looked around, unsure of what to do. “No, we need to see to Cassie first.”

“I agree, but let’s hurry.”

This time when they went back to the small white house, they decided to take a different approach. “I’ll run inside and look one more time,” George offered. “And you find that dog.”

*  *  *

Bowie thought of Cassie. He could see her beautiful face. In the black dark of the cave, she was the only light he could see.

How in the hell had everything gone so wrong? He and Joseph had found the bodies, they had taken off their tanks in a narrow passageway and had lost them in the dark. Joseph had begun making his way out with one man, while Bowie was following with the other. It was a slow, painstaking process. All had been well until they had gotten halfway through the third chamber. Joseph was well ahead of him when a weight belt had slipped from the body and thrown up a massive cloud of silt, effectively blinding Bowie.

He had fought the panic. Unable to tell up from down, Bowie had no choice but to drop the body and begin trying to find his way out. It was like swimming through smoke, he could see nothing. Finally, he touched the side of the cave and he began following it. He couldn’t tell if he was going up and down, but he when he reached a dead-end, he knew it was over.

All he could think of was that he’d never told Cassie he loved her.

*  *  *

“Cassie! Cassie!” George and Michael began tromping through the brush behind her house. A few guineas ran around frantically, spooked by the heavy footfalls and loud voices.

“Stop!” Michael held up his hand and George came to a halt beside him. “Listen.”

They could hear a dog barking some distance away. “Let’s go. Down by the creek.” George took off at a run.

“Oh, God.” Michael huffed as he followed his friend. They ran a few hundred more yards. “Cassie!”

“I’m here.” Came a weak voice.

Breaking through the underbrush, they saw Cassie on the ground. “Are you all right?” George exclaimed as they ran to her.

“Yea, I think so.” She began to sob. “My chair got hung on a root and I turned over.”

“What are you doing down here, little girl?” Michael asked as he picked her up.

“I just needed to think,” she cried. “It was a mistake.”

“I should say so,” George said and Michael whacked him. “I mean, I’m just glad we found you.”

“Why did you leave the house? Bowie tried to reach you several times.”

“I turned off my phone,” Cassie admitted.

“Why? Did you two have a fight?” George asked.

Michael didn’t say anything because he figured he knew what the trouble was about and it wasn’t his cat to let out of the bag.

“No, not really,” Cassie said softly.

“Well, now’s not the time to worry about things like that,” Michael said. “Bowie’s in trouble.”

“In trouble!” Cassie’s concerns for herself flew right out of her mind. “Where is he?”

“Come on, let’s go to him. We’ll explain on the way.”

Michael and George took her in and she changed clothes quickly, shaking from worry. “Where is he?” she called out, unwilling to wait to know more.

“Hurry, Cassie!” George said.

“He got called away on a dive to Jacob’s Well.”

Michael didn’t think Cassie would know what that was, but she was a native Texan. “No, no,” she whispered. “That’s a death trap.”

“Exactly and he’s been trapped down there before. If Bowie had a phobia about a place, this was it.”

Cassie wanted to scream and yell, but right now that wouldn’t do any good. She needed to get to Bowie. “We’ll leave the animals inside. I’m ready.”

A short time later, they were on their way.

*  *  *

Joseph McCoy wasn’t about to give up. This time he had brought a guideline and he was going to find his friend or…well, there just wasn’t an ‘or’ he would consider. Making his way back through the first chamber, he came to the smaller opening leading to the next chamber. Every moment he thought of Cady and his unborn children. Cave diving wasn’t new to him, but the other times had been for sport or exploration, once even to set a record. But saving a life, this was completely different. He was a born risk taker, but that was before he had a family. Now, he just intended to go down, get Bowie, and get the hell out of this fuckin’ hole.

Up ahead he could see a silt cloud. No wonder. God, he hoped Bowie was all right. If he had been down too long, even with the air, he could start to get nitrogen narcosis poisoning and then he wouldn’t be thinking clearly—that was the most dangerous possibility of all. Keeping his focus and fighting to remain calm, Joseph continued on into the funnel shaped opening. This chamber was narrow and about fifty-five feet long. Some places were so tight, he was touching he bottom with his body and scraping his air tank on the top. Shit.

Joseph began to pray. Bowie was family. Jacob thought more of Bowie than he did anyone but Jessie and BT, Joseph supposed. He couldn’t let anything happen to their friend. Suddenly, he saw something move. Bowie! Increasing his speed, he reached out to touch the figure and Bowie jerked. When their eyes met behind the masks, they needed no words to communicate. It was time to go home.

Up on the surface, an even bigger crowd had gathered. Everyone was saddened at the deaths and horrified that Jacob’s Well might claim yet another victim the same day. Michael, George and Cassie hovered near Bowie’s truck, waiting.