Nowhere Pure, page 1
N O W H E R E
P U R E
(A Harley Cole FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 8)
K a t e B o l d
Kate Bold
Bestselling author Kate Bold is author of the ALEXA CHASE SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising six books (and counting); the ASHLEY HOPE SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising six books (and counting); the CAMILLE GRACE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising eight books (and counting); the HARLEY COLE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising ten books (and counting); the KAYLIE BROOKS PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising five books (and counting); the EVE HOPE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising five books (and counting); and the DYLAN FIRST FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising five books (and counting).
An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Kate loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.kateboldauthor.com to learn more and stay in touch.
Copyright © 2023 by Kate Bold. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the author. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Jacket image Copyright Dudarev Mikhail, used under license from Shutterstock.com.
BOOKS BY KATE BOLD
ALEXA CHASE SUSPENSE THRILLER
THE KILLING GAME (Book #1)
THE KILLING TIDE (Book #2)
THE KILLING HOUR (Book #3)
THE KILLING POINT (Book #4)
THE KILLING FOG (Book #5)
THE KILLING PLACE (Book #6)
ASHLEY HOPE SUSPENSE THRILLER
LET ME GO (Book #1)
LET ME OUT (Book #2)
LET ME LIVE (Book #3)
LET ME BREATHE (Book #4)
LET ME FORGET (Book #5)
LET ME ESCAPE (Book #6)
CAMILLE GRACE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER
NOT ME (Book #1)
NOT NOW (Book #2)
NOT WELL (Book #3)
NOT HER (Book #4)
NOT NORMAL (Book #5)
NOT AGAIN (Book #6)
NOT SAFE (Book #7)
NOT TODAY (Book #8)
HARLEY COLE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER
NOWHERE SAFE (Book #1)
NOWHERE LEFT (Book #2)
NOWHERE TO RUN (Book #3)
NOWHERE LIKE THIS (Book #4)
NOWHERE GIRL (Book #5)
NOWHERE TO HIDE (Book #6)
NOWHERE CERTAIN (Book #7)
NOWHERE PURE (Book #8)
NOWHERE SOUND (Book #9)
NOWHERE SANE (Book #10)
KAYLIE BROOKS PYSCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE THRILLER
LAST BREATH (Book #1)
LAST CHANCE (Book #2)
LAST WISH (Book #3)
LAST SHOT (Book #4)
LAST MISTAKE (Book #5)
EVE HOPE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER
IN HIS BLOOD (Book #1)
IN HIS SIGHTS (Book #2)
IN HIS REACH (Book #3)
IN HIS MIND (Book #4)
IN HIS WAY (Book #5)
DYLAN FIRST FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER
OUT OF REACH (Book #1)
OUT OF TOUCH (Book #2)
OUT OF TIME (Book #3)
OUT OF BOUNDS (Book #4)
OUT OF LUCK (Book #5)
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
EPILOGUE
PROLOGUE
“Aww, would you look at that,” Ginny said. “It’s locked. Guess you’ll just have to think of another dare, after all.” She gave a world-weary, what-can-you-do sigh and shrugged at Tiff.
Despite her light tone, however, Ginny was more than a little relieved to see the padlock on the old, sand-scarred door. The Mercury Missile Silo—Ginny couldn’t remember the list of numbers and letters written after the word “Mercury” on the faded sign she’d seen back at the gate walling off this little desert treasure—was one of many such sites scattered all across New Mexico—at least, that was what Mr. Partridge had said in history class. Ginny and Tiff had been learning all about the Cold War, thanks to Mr. Partridge’s intolerable obsession with anything approaching warfare, but Ginny hadn’t thought she’d actually visit one of these places.
And she wouldn’t have, if not for the dare.
Tiff really threw me a curveball this time, she thought. All she had to do was go to a total stranger’s house and ask to use their bathroom and then she makes me do this?
Night had fallen across the gray, moonlit desert, and everywhere around them cacti crouched like ragged coyotes ready to spring. Ginny’s eyesight was not particularly good (she hadn’t bothered to put her contacts in because they always seemed to dry her eyes out), and this shortsightedness only made the desert seem more sinister, forcing her to squint hard to see whether she really was looking at cacti or something else, something that might creep closer if she stopped watching it.
She cleared her throat, casting an anxious glance toward the gate where they had left Tiff’s boyfriend’s 1994 Camaro. She knew it was less than a quarter mile away, but in the darkness of the infinite desert, it might as well have been a hundred miles.
“Come on, Tiff,” she said, ready to get going. “You know the rules. I was ready to go down there, but I can’t help it if there’s a lock on the door.”
Tiff flicked a lock of platinum-blonde hair from her face and gazed fixedly at the door with her piercing blue eyes, the same eyes that could make just about any boy at Turner High do her bidding. Then she began making a slow circle around the graffiti-covered entrance, which jutted up out of the ground like a portal to another dimension.
Ginny sighed, frustrated. “Quit trying to find a loophole. It’s locked, so can we please go before we both freeze to death?” She shivered, crossing her arms. She hadn’t known the desert could get so cold. In truth, she didn’t spend much time outdoors. She was a creature of comfort, and she liked the security of being surrounded by four protective walls. Out here …
It’s like sharing a room with the whole world, she thought.
Even so, it was probably better than whatever creepy dungeon she might have found down in that silo if it had been unlocked.
Tiff reached the front of the entrance again, her eyebrows still scrunched together in thought.
“That’s it,” Ginny said, throwing up her hands in frustration. “I’m going without you.” She took a few demonstrative steps in the direction of the vehicle, but it was only a bluff. The desert was creepy enough when it was the two of them, but trying to brave it by herself?
No, thanks.
Besides, she wasn’t entirely sure she remembered where they had left the Camaro. She thought she did, but what if she was wrong? What if she got lost?
Just as she was debating whether or not to turn around, she heard a metallic rattle behind her. Tiff was fidgeting with the lock.
Ginny sighed and looked back. “Come on, Tiff, you’re not going to unlock it. It’s—” She fell silent at the sight of Tiff smirking at her, the heavy lock resting in her outstretched palm like an offering.
Ginny gasped. “How’d you do that?”
Tiff shrugged coyly. “I have my ways.”
“Meaning you batted your eyes at it, and the lock did whatever you wanted?”
Tiff dropped the act. “It wasn’t really locked. It was, like … supposed to look that way, but it wasn’t actually clipped together.” She smiled impishly. “Looks like you’re not getting out of this so easily, after all, Gin-Gin.”
Ginny ran an exasperated hand over her face. “You know I hate it when you call me that,” she said, but inwardly, she was wondering: Can I really go down there? Do I have to?
“Quit stalling,” Tiff said, tossing the lock on the ground. “You took the dare, fair and square. I’ll be right behind you.”
Ginny held a warning finger at her friend. “If you grab me one time, I’ll scream so loud it’ll burst your eardrums.”
Tiff laughed, looking delighted as she stepped aside to give Ginny a clear path to the door. A chill ran down Ginny’s spine as she stared at it. She thought of all the Have You Seen M
Was that what people would think if she went through that doorway and never returned? That she’d had a bad fight with one of her parents—it was a common enough occurrence in her household, truth be told—and she’d decided to beat feet?
The car’s here, dummy. Even if something happened to you and Tiff—and it won’t—someone would find the car. Eventually.
And would she even be alive at that point? What if she fell and broke her leg?
“Come on, scaredy pants,” Tiff said. “Time to put up or shut up.”
If Ginny backed out of the dare now, she knew she’d never hear the end of it. Better to face her fears and move on with her life.
Riding this swell of determination, Ginny strode forward and grabbed the handle. The metal was cold and pitted, and there was a loud, high-pitched creak as the door swung open, revealing a set of stairs descending down into darkness. Graffiti lined these walls, too: leering faces, blocky letters too overlapped for Ginny to puzzle them out.
Pausing at the top of the stairs, Ginny fumbled in her pocket for her cell phone. The good news was that the signal showed two bars, which meant she could call for help if something went wrong (though she was not sure how long this would hold true once she started to descend the concrete stairwell). The bad news was that the battery was almost in the red, and turning on the flashlight would quickly drain the rest of it.
Still, she was not about to go down into this bunker without some light. Not on her life.
The moment she turned the light on, something small and dark darted across one of the steps and trundled into a crack in the concrete. Ginny jumped backward, smacking into Tiff, who let out a startled grunt.
“What was that?” Ginny whispered.
Tiff rubbed her mouth, which had collided with the back of Ginny’s head. “Just a cockroach,” she said. “I swear, if you busted my lip …” She didn’t finish the threat, for which Ginny was grateful. Tiff had a mean streak that Ginny had only seen a few times, but a few times were enough.
Holding the light before her like a sword to fight the darkness, Ginny began to descend the stairs. No more cockroaches fled the light, and there was no sound in the narrow passage but the girls’ steady breathing and the scuffing of their sneakers.
They had only gone a short distance when they heard a squeal come from behind them, followed by the clap of metal. Ginny spun around, blinding Tiff with the flashlight.
“Would you get that out of my face?” Tiff said, raising her arm to shield her eyes.
“What was that sound?” Ginny asked in a tight whisper.
“Just the door swinging closed in the wind. Jeez, I wouldn’t have come down here with you if I’d known you were going to be so jumpy.”
Ginny’s heart skipped a beat. “It can’t …like … lock itself or anything, right?”
“Not unless that padlock grows a pair of legs and climbs back up.”
Ginny nodded, though in truth she did not feel particularly reassured. Still, there was no use worrying about it now. Either it was locked, or it wasn’t.
She continued forward again, straining to see what lay beyond the reach of the flashlight. The stairs seemed to go on forever, sinking down and down below the earth.
Nobody up there would even hear me if I shouted, she thought as a shudder passed through her body. Or screamed.
She tried to put these thoughts aside as she finally reached the bottom of the stairs. Bits of trash—a crumpled hamburger wrapper, a torn sneaker, something that looked suspiciously like a discarded needle—lay on the ground beside the last step, and on closer inspection, Ginny saw black dots in the dust covering the concrete floor.
“What are those … black things?” she asked in a hushed whisper.
“Oh, those?” Tiff said nonchalantly. “Probably just rat droppings.”
Ginny felt a sudden urge to vomit, and she covered her mouth.
A hand nudged her from behind. “Come on, Gin-Gin,” Tiff said. “It’s not like they’re going to try to eat you.”
Ginny heard something beneath the levity in Tiff’s voice, an undercurrent of uncertainty. This sign of weakness was a relief to Ginny. It was good to know she wasn’t the only one creeped out by the silo.
Struck by a sudden thought, she turned around and faced Tiff, her eyes pleading. “I don’t really have to go any farther, do I? You just said to come down here, and here we are. I did the dare.”
Tiff stared at her, her eyes glittering mischievously. “Now what would be the fun in that? Come on, we’ll just go to where they kept the missile. Then you’ll be free of the dare, and I won’t have to call you a wimp for chickening out.”
Ginny wanted to protest, but she knew there was no satisfying Tiff unless she fulfilled her demands. A dare was a silly thing … and yet, she didn’t relish the idea of the colorful tale Tiff would spin if Ginny didn’t complete the dare exactly as Tiff wanted.
Mustering her courage and quelling the last of her excuses, Ginny moved forward, pushing back the darkness with the flashlight. She was in a narrow tunnel, but after only a short distance she found herself at the entrance to a massive chamber, so wide that the light did not touch its edges. Looking up, she was startled to see nothing overhead but dangling chains and cables and, beyond them, a distant, broken grate through which starlight filtered.
“What is this place?” she whispered, awed.
“A missile silo,” Tiff said with a shrug. “Just like Mr. Partridge talked about. There probably used to be a missile right here in this room, ready to blow Moscow to kingdom come.”
A faint wind stirred, setting the chains tinkling. Somewhere nearby, water plinked into a puddle.
“Okay,” Ginny said, growing more uneasy by the second. “We found the room, so let’s get going. Come on, Tiff.”
She turned, but Tiff was not where she had been a moment before. Ginny’s heart skipped a beat. “Tiff?” she called.
“Over here, silly,” Tiff said, a taunting smile on her face as she backed into the darkness. “We might as well see the rest of the room while we’re here, right?”
As Ginny turned the light in that direction, she noticed a large shadow looming over Tiff. At first, she thought it was a blanket of some kind, dangling from one of the cables. But then she saw the light glinting back from a pair of eyes, and she knew better.
A warning rode up from Ginny’s throat, carried on a scream, “Tiff, stop!”
As Tiff’s taunting smile turned to a confused frown, the back of her head struck one of the feet, setting the corpse twisting as it swung away. Tiff turned around just as the foot swung back, colliding with her face, and she uttered a high-pitched scream that caused an owl to spring from the darkness, gliding upward toward a hole in the grate far overhead.
Ginny ran, panic fueling her flight, only pausing to make sure Tiff was with her. She took one final backward glance as she left the chamber.
The corpse twisted, making its slow, macabre dance. It was not the corpse, however, that captured her attention, but rather something along the wall, a door she had not noticed before.
In the open crack of that door, she witnessed a sight that would give her nightmares for years to come.
Then the door slowly closed, swallowing up what Ginny had seen.
She screamed, and the sound echoed on before her, sinking down into darkness.
CHAPTER ONE
Federal Agent Harley Cole gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles, stealing occasional glances at the dark-haired man handcuffed in the back seat of her Jeep.
You’ll tell me what you know, she thought grimly. One way or another.
She knew very little about the man she had kidnapped earlier that night, but the few details she did know were very significant. His name was Rufus Kain, he was a human trafficker (or had been, at one point in his life).
And, most damning of all, he had helped traffic her sister, Kelly, seventeen years ago. And she was going to do anything necessary to find out what had happened to Kelly, as well as to learn the names of the others responsible.
