Circle of Fire Read Online Free PDF Page B

from her ponytail. She caught the flyaway ends, tucking them under the collar of her jacket, then studied the fields before her. Somehow, the place felt right. She couldn’t explain how or why, but she knew that Jon was here somewhere. Either that, or she
was
finally going mad.
    She grimaced. That was still a very real possibility. After all, here she was in the middle of nowhere, trusting the words of a man who might yet prove to be a ghost.
    She grabbed the flashlight and locked the truck. The fence was a mix of plain and barbed wire. After climbing through carefully, she studied the dark field. Where was the most logical place for a well? She swung the light from left to right but couldn’t see any possibilities. Yet in the distance she could see the dark outline of several buildings. The old farmhouse, maybe? It was as good a place as any to look.
    It took five minutes of tramping through the overgrown field to reach the outbuildings. To the right ofwhat looked to have been a barn was an odd-shaped mound of stone. Her heart leaped and she ran toward it.
Please, please, let this be it …
    She slid to a stop and leaned over the uneven wall. The knobby edges of the stone dug into her stomach as she directed the flashlight into the well. Deep down in the darkness, gold flickered.
    “Jon?” She waited anxiously for an answer, but nothing came. Maybe he was unconscious. “Jon!”
    This time something stirred. She leaned over the edge a little more, desperate to catch any noise.
    “Jon!”
her voice echoed. After a moment, she heard a soft groan. He was down there all right, but he had to be awake if she was going to help him. She couldn’t get him out of the well on her own. “Answer me, damn it!”
    “Madeline?” His soft question was harsh with disbelief.
    Tears sprang to her eyes, and she blinked them away quickly. Crying wouldn’t help anyone. It certainly wouldn’t help
him
. “I’m here. I’ve got some rope in the truck. I’ll go get it, but you have to stay awake, okay?”
    He grunted or groaned in reply—she wasn’t sure which. She ran back across the field, the flashlight weaving uneasy patterns through the darkness ahead. She hesitated when she reached the fence. Was there a gate somewhere, or would she have to cut the wire? The light reflected oddly on something to her right—someone had looped the wire loosely around a pole. Once undone, the gap would be wide enough to drive the truck through.
    She quickly undid the wire. The last strand snappedaway from her grasp, tearing at her fingertips and palm. She swore and shook the blood away as she ran back to the truck.
    Maybe it sensed her urgency, because the engine roared to life the second she turned the key. She reversed out of the clearing and drove down the road until she saw the gap in the fence. Changing gears, she headed into the field, the truck bumping and lurching over the rough ground.
    She stopped near the well. Leaving the headlights on and the engine idling, she scrambled out and ran to it.
    “Jon?” she called, leaning over the edge again. Stone shifted underneath her, and several rocks fell down into the darkness. Water splashed.
    “Here!” he called, his voice stronger than before. “Stop throwing things at me.”
    She smiled, and yet his comment made her uneasy. What sort of man made jokes in a situation like this? A man who was used to being in dangerous situations. And just how wise was it to get involved with this man? While she had no doubt she’d need his help, she knew nothing about him. Not even whether she could trust him.
    “Still with me, Madeline?”
    There was a hint of tension in his voice, as if he’d sensed her sudden doubts. She nodded, then remembered he couldn’t see her. “Yes. If I throw a rope down, will you be able to tie it around you?”
    “Yes.”
    Her palm was still bleeding, she noticed, as she ran back to the truck and hauled the rope out of the box in the back. She wiped it hastily on her