Chapter 20

 

“DO WHAT HE says, Joe. He killed Scar and Clyde.” I glanced at the cavern door. Where the hell was Murray? What if Bear had surprised her? Was she lying out there somewhere in the tunnels, dead? I took a closer look at his gun. Though I couldn’t be sure—I wouldn’t know a Colt from an AK-47—it looked suspiciously similar to the one Murray carried.

Bear motioned to me. “Over against that column.”

“No!” Joe’s voice rang through the cavern, startling the bats topside. Swooshing, a flurry of wings filled the air. “Leave Emerald alone—”

“Keep your mouth shut.” Bear gestured toward one of the pillars that ran from floor to ceiling. “Emerald, is it? Well, Emerald, you just get your pretty little ass over there in front of that stalagmite.” He waited until I picked my way over to the column.

“Bear, you can still get out of here before they catch you. Leave now and you’ll have a head start.”

“Good try, toots, but no go,” he said with a grunt.

As I stared at Bear, his energy flared and I knew for certain that he’d never let us go free. Scar and Clyde’s energy prints were embedded in his aura, they were riding his conscience.

“Why did you kill them?” If I could keep him talking, maybe I could buy us some time.

Bear shot a piercing look at me. “Put it down to settling an old score. And now, sweet-cakes, you better make your peace.” He lifted his gun.

“Please—may I say a prayer first?” I ask

Joe let out a strangled noise. “Emerald—” but I stopped him with a look that said, “Follow my lead.” He nodded imperceptively and I could see him tense, ready for my next move.

Bear sucked in a deep breath. “Yeah, what the hell, but be quick about it.”

Taking a deep breath, I bowed my head slightly, inhaled as deeply as I could, then let out a shriek so loud and so ringing that I could have won an award at a Star Trek convention for the best Klingon death wail.

A stream of rocks cascaded down from the ceiling. Startled, Bear jumped out of the way too late as I hurled my flashlight at him and dove behind the column. The light hit him square in the balls. Score a triple-shot-in-one for the home team! Bear doubled over with a groan, and Joe seized the opportunity to roll behind the boulder he’d been leaning against.

I scrunched myself up behind the stalagmite as several loud pops came flying in my direction. Bear and his gun. Maybe he’d use up his ammo before managing to hit us.

The shots reverberated from wall to wall as I held my breath, squeezing my eyes tight. His aim was too high, too far to the left, thank God, and the bullets ricocheted against the wall behind me. Another stream of rocks fountained down the side of the flowstone.

“We’re sitting under a time bomb,” I shouted, peeking out from the side of the column. Without my flashlight, we had only the muted light filtering in from the ceiling to illuminate our way. I was pretty sure that Bear couldn’t see me, but I had him directly in my line of sight. “All we need is one good shock to trigger a major cave-in. If you don’t get out of here and leave us alone, I swear, I’ll scream so hard and so loud that I’ll bring the whole freakin’ mountain down on our heads. You’ll be trapped right along with us. You know I’ll do it!”

Another trickle of rocks responded to the sound of my voice. Bear wavered. He could probably kill at least one of us—he still had a couple of bullets in his gun by my count. But I was banking on his instinct for self-preservation. He knew the caves here were unstable, and he wasn’t stupid. He had to know that I’d go through with my threat, considering the alternative.

“Drop it, Ian!” A voice startled all of us, echoing from the entrance of the cavern. “Put down the gun and hold up your hands.”

Murray! She was alive! Sweet, wonderful Murray had come to save us. At the sound of her voice, Bear made a dash for the ridge. He raced up the ledge as Murray tried to navigate the guano-covered floor without slipping.

“He’s getting away!” Joe shouted, crawling in front of the boulder, out of Bear’s line of sight.

Caught up in the fray, I grabbed a sharp stone from behind the column and lobbed it toward the ridge, but it fell short. Bear brought up the gun and I ducked back behind the stalagmite as another bullet whizzed by, but my distraction had some effect, allowing Murray to make the last leap to dry stone. She raised her gun, drawing a bead on Bear.

Standoff, a tableau of hesitation. The silence grew thick as the seconds stretched out, ticking away.

“Drop your weapon while you have the chance,” Mur’s voice echoed eerily in the chamber. “You either drop it now, or I swear, Ian, I’ll shoot you, and I shoot to kill!”

At that moment, a movement from the back of the ridge caught my eye. I was pretty sure Murray noticed it, too, but she kept her attention trained on Bear. A low growl rolled out from the shadows, followed by the sound of shuffling as two glowing, topaz eyes sparkled through the murky light. The Klakatat Monster. The lore-keeper.

“Who’s there? Who is it?” Bear whirled, looking frantically from side to side. He dropped his gun and it clattered over the side of the ledge.

The lore-keeper grunted and I found myself sucked into a vortex that swept through the cavern; a kaleidoscope of earth and water-mana deep from within the land itself, as ancient as we were young, as wise as we were foolish. Standing here in our presence was the very heart of Klickavail Mountain.

Images filled my mind, and I watched as time rolled backward, past the ice ages marching across the continent, back to the formation of the Cascades, when they still played as children in their volcanic infancy.

On and on the images flickered… back to before the ascendance of mankind when we first stood erect and looked around, claiming the land for our own; back to the rise of mammals as wit and cunning took precedence over size and ferocity; back to the reign of the dinosaurs who swept through prehistory on their way to a dust-clouded oblivion. The lore-keeper had been witness to it all and, for one brief instant, he granted me a glimpse into living history.

I took a hesitant step forward as he stared down at me from the shadows, with wizened and gentle eyes. Towering, covered with downy gray fur, he was not human and yet his humanity resounded like a crystal bell singing across a snow-covered plain. He grunted softly and a wave of gratitude settled around my shoulders. Tears sprang to my eyes; I wanted to run and throw myself in his arms, to rest in a dreaming slumber so deep that I might never awake. But then he withdrew his energy and gently backed away. Silently, he disappeared into the darkness along the ridge.

A low rumble shook the cavern, startling me out of my reverie. Bear screamed and flailed wildly as he tried to steady himself. The ground rolled beneath our feet again, and he lost his balance and tumbled down the path to land at Murray’s feet. She scrambled forward, handcuffing him before he could regain his senses. When he was restrained, she read him his rights.

Joe leaned against the boulder, his face a mask of amazement. Still in a daze, I handed him my walking stick to lean on, then hurried to Murray’s side.

Bear stared up at us, his eyes wide. “What was that? Was it a cave-in?” he asked, acting as if he didn’t know what had just happened.

“Nope, but trust me, you’re going to wish it was by the time the courts get through with you.” Mur roughly yanked him to his feet and then she turned to me. “He shot Deacon,” she said.

“What?” Oh man, not Deacon! He was a good guy, with a wife and two kids and a little house.

“It’s just a surface wound, but not for lack of trying.” Mur sucked in a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “Ian—Bear—here managed to jump him and grab his gun, but apparently, you’re not a very good shot, are you? You only grazed Deacon’s shoulder and Deac was smart enough to play dead until you were gone.” She turned to me. “I helped Deacon back through the tunnels and up the ladder. That’s why I was gone so long.”

“You’re sure he’ll be okay?” I glared at Bear. Too bad there were laws against smacking prisoners upside the head for things like this.

“Yeah. I told him to radio for backup and an ambulance. He’ll be fine once we get him patched up at the hospital. So…” Murray nodded up at the ridge, her voice softening. “We really saw it.”

I inhaled sharply. “Oh Mur, it’s so much more than we ever thought. We can’t say anything to anybody. We can’t let people know it really exists.”

“I’m game for that,” Joe broke in, hobbling up to where we were standing. “I still can’t believe my eyes. It was beautiful.” He sounded like a child who had just seen a faerie on Midsummer’s Eve and I knew that he’d caught some glimpse of the wonder that the creature had shown me. The three of us stared at the ridge, pondering the secrets hidden within the depths of the world.

Murray rubbed her forehead. “I just hope the scientists and good ol’ boys of the world never find it.”

Bear grunted. “What are you three talking about? I didn’t see nothing.”

I stared at the man who had tried to shoot me. Perhaps he’d been so head-blind that he hadn’t been able to sense the creature. Or maybe his fear had blinded him. Or maybe he just couldn’t believe in something so incredible, even when it was standing right in front of him. Whatever the reason, it was for the best. “Nothing, Bear. Never mind.”

Joe pointed to Bear. “So who the hell is he?”

Murray scratched her head. “An ex-con. Name’s Ian Hannigan. Ian, we know you killed Scar—we know you and he were in on several robberies back in Michigan together. Why’d you do it? Was it because of the Tempah City Credit Union job?”

“Yeah,” Bear grumbled. “He got away with the money. I got caught. He promised to put it away, to wait until I was out of jail. I agreed to take the heat and he was supposed to save me seventy percent of the cash. I figured, what did I have to lose? If I ratted him out, I’d still have to do the time. If I kept my mouth shut, I’d at least have money waiting for me when I got out.

“But it didn’t work that way, did it?” Murray said.

He shook his head. “A few months later, he up and took off with everything. When I found out, I decided to keep quiet, to be a model prisoner so I could appeal for an early release. I kept in touch with our buddies, they told me whenever they saw him on the road. When I got released early for good behavior, I just had to pick up the trail.”

She sighed. “Sounds like the old saying is right. There is no honor among thieves. I’ll bet he was surprised when you showed up, Ian.”

He almost smiled. “Damned straight he was surprised. Tried to tell me that he’d spent all the money. I figured he was lying, so I lured him out to the caves and conned him into admitting there was still about a hundred grand left.”

“And that’s when you killed him?”

Bear paused, he stared at the ground for a moment before speaking. “He backed out of our deal. He lied to me and left me to rot in that prison. We were supposed to stand up for each other, to hold to our code, but he…”

I thought I could hear a tinge of regret in his voice, but then it vanished.

After a moment, he said, “I dragged his body down to the lake so nobody would make the connection. The boys over there in the enclave had been talking about some weird shit going on in the woods. It gave me an idea. I tried to make it look like Scar might have been killed by a cougar or a bear or something like that. When people started talking about all that monster crap, it bought me a few more days to look for the rest of the money.”

“What about Clyde?” Murray asked. “Save yourself a lot of trouble and cooperate.”

Ian gave her a long look. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Murray cleared her throat. Her voice impassive, she said, “You know, Ian, we’re going to get you one way or another. It’s only a matter of time. We do have the death penalty in this state. If you cooperate, you might just be able to walk out of this mess alive. If you don’t, well… who knows?”

She gave him a cold smile. “And you might think about this little fact: A number of the boys out there in the enclave end up in jail every so often. It’s easy for us to find a reason to arrest one of the guys. And wouldn’t it be a pity if that biker were to be put in your cell, knowing who you are, and what you did? The boys have their own honor code, you know.”

I stared at her, glad she was on my side. Ian’s eyes flickered and, for the first time, I saw fear wash across the big man’s face. Murray was playing good cop-bad cop all by herself.

“However, if you cooperate, well, I can probably arrange for you to be held in a private cell, away from Clyde and Scar’s friends.” She let her words drift off.

He sank to the floor of the cavern and hung his head. Nobody said anything for a moment. The silence was so thick we could hear the occasional squeak from the bats, and the continual splash as the water dripped through the ceiling shaft and fell into the pool below.

Finally, he cleared his throat. “All right, just don’t let those guys get me. I know all about the honor code.”

“Did you kill Clyde?”

Ian huffed, but finally broke. “Yeah. Dude saw me going through Scar’s trailer. He managed to find out who I was, and when I was getting ready to take off, he confronted me and demanded a share of the loot—it was hidden in that old mining shack in the meadow. I didn’t have a choice. I told him sure, that I had the money in the caves. That got him down here.”

I was beginning to get the picture. “And George saw what happened?”

He nodded. “It seemed perfect—an easy frame up. I found Clyde’s roofies and decided to make it look like the kid OD’d. I figured I could confuse matters enough to buy myself more time. Maybe make it to Mexico. With Clyde dead, I was the only one left who knew that Scar had all that money. I caught the kid in the caves here, watching me. Didn’t take much to run him down and force a handful of roofies down his throat. The pipsqueak can’t fight worth a damn.”

Murray was scribbling down notes as fast as she could write. “Go on.”

“Once the kid was out of it, I got him started on the whiskey. He was so high that he didn’t have a clue. I thought for sure he’d die, that it would look like a drug deal gone bad.”

“But he didn’t.”

“No. And then you were all were in the meadow. When I heard you arrested him for the murder, I decided I still had a chance. Figured I’d just lie low for a couple days, then pack up and take off. I’d pick up new wheels in the city, and take off for Mexico. I was getting ready to head out this morning when she,” he pointed at me, “and her friend decided to nose around out here.”

A thought struck me. “When Cathy and I were outside the cave, were you making noises in the bushes to scare us?”

Ian gave me a strange look. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I heard somebody scream when I was in my hideout.”

So it had been the monster outside the cave. Or perhaps a cougar. I doubted that we’d ever sort out some of the things that had happened.

“I guess that’s it, then,” Murray said. She pulled him to his feet. “Come on, time to get you up to the squad car.”

“Remember your promise.” His voice quivered.

Mur snorted. “Yeah, I remember. Now shut up and get a move on.” She motioned to me. “Wait here, Em, and I’ll be back to give you a hand with Joe.”

She left us a spare flashlight. When we were alone, I walked over to where Joe was resting. “Joe, you haven’t said much.”

He thought for a moment, then nodded. “What can I say? My world has been turned upside down. We almost got killed, but that seems a moot point compared to everything else. The things I saw when the Klakatat Monster touched my mind—Em—they made me want to cry. I saw things no living person has seen.”

Taking my face in his hands, he searched my eyes. “Honey, is this what you live with all the time? How can you handle the intensity of it? How can you face your daily routine after you’ve touched this kind of energy? How can anything you do measure up to what you must feel and sense? How can I matter to you when you’ve met a creature like that? When you’ve seen the wonders of this world that most of us don’t even know exists?”

I bit my lip. He was struggling with what I’d had to deal with all my life. “You nit! I can’t kiss the Klakatat Monster, and it can’t hold me when I’m crying, or rub my back when I’m tense, or make love to me. And look at what we’ve shared here today—so few couples ever get to share anything like this. So don’t ever dismiss what we have together. Remember babe—love is powerful magic.”

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I guess you’re right. I just don’t know how you manage to juggle both worlds all the time like you do.”

I strove to explain what my Nanna had taught me. “Joe, life is a composite of the incredible and the boring, of the primal and the routine, of the ecstatic and the traumatic, and all that exists in-between. Nanna taught me to value everything that happens to me. Every experience—be it mundane or magical—has something to teach me. And if life were a constant barrage of wild roller coaster rides, I’d burn out faster than a birthday cake candle.”

He gave me a thin smile that broadened out until he was laughing. “Okay, okay… you made your point. I’ll let it go, and let it be what it was.”

“And you’re thankful you were a part of it?” I said, unable to stop myself.

He grimaced. “Well, I’d have been happier if that creep hadn’t started taking potshots at us, but, yeah, I’m glad I was here. I think I understand your world a lot more now. And even though my ankle’s banged up, we’re alive, we saw something pretty darn incredible, and justice has been served. I guess it can’t get much better than that.” He held out his arm and I slid into the comforting warmth of his embrace. I leaned my head against his shoulder for a moment, and we sat silently, basking in the warmth that flowed between us.

When Murray returned, she had Sandy and Greg with her. The two men formed a chair with their arms and carried Joe out of the cavern.

Murray and I hung behind. I looked up at the ridge. “Mur, I want to go up there for a moment.”

“I dunno, Em. This cave is really unstable.”

I closed my eyes and reached out. No menace, no threat. Just that ancient and wondrous energy that lingered behind.

“It’s all right. I’ll be down in a moment.” I carefully edged my way up the path, holding close to the cavern wall as I navigated the steep embankment. When I reached the top, I saw a tunnel leading into a dark passage. I stood at the entrance for a moment, wanting desperately to throw caution to the wind. Hesitating, I stepped forward, but a shimmer of ebony blocked my way.

“Go no farther,” the Warrior said.

I pulled back. “The intruder is gone.”

It nodded, slowly. “And now the lore-keeper may once again sleep and dream and remember.”

As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw the skull once more—the astral embodiment of the lore-keeper. It hovered just behind the Warrior, staring at me with a sagacity far beyond any mortal’s grasp. Salt grazed my lips and I realized I was crying. Murray was right, if they ever caught this creature, they’d dissect him, tear him apart, shoot him down like a rabid dog and the world would lose a wealth of knowledge and compassion. We simply weren’t ready to accept creatures out of legend and lore. Not while fear still ruled the world.

Taking a deep breath, I wiped my eyes and nodded. “Thank you.”

And then, the shadow was gone. The cave began to shake and Murray rushed up the ledge and grabbed my wrist.

“The cave’s gonna go! We have to get out of here!” She dragged me down the precarious slope at a mad dash. We hip-hopped through the bat-poop soup as the bats went winging overhead, gliding out of the ceiling shaft. Rocks and pebbles began to shower down as we reached the entrance to the main tunnel. As we exited the chamber, a loud roar filled the air and the ceiling began to crumble.

We raced down the passage, slowing only to skirt the sinkhole. By the time we reached Bear’s hideout, the whole complex was rocking like a boat in a tempest. Murray pushed me up the ladder, hot on my heels, and we scrambled out of the chute and raced down the mountain to the squad cars below.

As we reached the bottom, she turned to me and said, “Em, our secret…” she paused. “His secret… is safe. We’ll never tell anybody.”

I turned for one last look. From where we stood, the quaking had stopped, but I knew that the cave was sealed. The Klakatat Monster would go back to sleep. How many eons would pass before it woke once more? I doubted that we would ever know.