Agnes' Awakening: From Zero to His Whole World novel Chapter 352

The team leader frowned at the tracking device in his hand. The light source was moving.

"Mr. Newton, she's down there. She seems to be okay. The signal's moving, which means she's walking around."

He clipped the device to his belt, called a few of his men over, and they secured their ropes. One by one, they dropped into the hole. The rest of the group, untrained for this kind of thing, could only wait above ground.

The bottom was deeper than any of them expected. They moved carefully through the tunnel in a tight cluster, picking their way over uneven rock.

No one knew how long they'd been walking when they heard it. Stones shifting. Echoing from somewhere up ahead. And whoever was inside seemed to hear them too.

"Hello? Ms. Sinclair?"

"I'm here!" Agnes's voice tore through the darkness, raw with relief.

Raymond heard it crackle through the walkie-talkie, that bright, unmistakable voice, and his whole body seized. His knees buckled and he nearly went down.

He'd been wound so tight, holding himself together on fear and adrenaline alone, that the sound of her unraveled him completely.

They brought Agnes out of the cave, and Carmen broke into a dead sprint the moment she saw her. She threw her arms around Agnes and held on. "Agnes!"

Sobs wracked her voice. "Where did you go? Didn't I tell you to sit there and wait for me? I told you to stay put!"

She pulled back, eyes still streaming, and looked Agnes up and down. Aside from a scrape on her forehead, she seemed fine.

"Agnes!"

That voice. Low, familiar, unmistakably male. Agnes froze for half a second, then lifted her gaze.

Raymond stood several paces ahead, his face drained of color.

"I'm here!" she called back, putting everything she had into it.

Behind him she could see Frank, Neal, Vivian, and the rest of them. It looked like every person on this island had come out to search for her.

They escorted her back to the resort center. The doctor checked her over and confirmed it was nothing more than minor surface wounds. Nothing serious.

Carmen grabbed her arm. "Agnes, what happened? How did you end up in that cave?"

Agnes swept a sharp look across every face in the room. Her voice went cold. "Someone lured me out on purpose, knocked me unconscious, and dumped me in that cave."

The room erupted. Someone had attacked her in broad daylight, right here on the island.

"Who? Who would do something like that?"

"That's insane! Why would anyone do that?"

Then someone stopped short. "Wait. Didn't they say two people were missing? What about the other one? That staff member?"

Even though Brooke had pressed herself as far behind Vivian as she could get, hat pulled low over half her face, Kyle's gaze found her anyway. It locked on and darted back and forth, confirming.

"Her! Yeah, that's her! That woman right there!"

He flung his finger toward Brooke.

Brooke whipped her face away, her voice pitching into a near-shriek. "What? What are you talking about? I have nothing to do with this! I'm warning you, watch your mouth or I'll sue you for defamation!"

"I'm not lying! It was you! You're the one who told me to lure her out there!" Kyle shot back.

"Shut up! You're making things up!"

Brooke's panic had her spinning from person to person, desperate.

"It wasn't me! It's not true! He's lying! Someone obviously put him up to this. He's trying to frame me!"

Kyle turned to the crowd just as frantically. "You gotta believe me! I'm not lying! If I've said one word that isn't true, I swear on my mother's grave. I'll walk out of here and get hit by a bus. I swear on everything I love!"

Brooke lunged forward and slapped Kyle hard across the face. "Why would I tell you to do anything? We have no history, no grudge. Why would you set me up?"

Kyle hesitated. He glanced around the room. With this many people watching and a crime this serious, there was no point holding back anymore. He told the truth.

He pointed at Brooke. "Because... because you caught me stealing. You used it to threaten me. You said you'd report me, get me fired, and have me sent to the police."