CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

September 29, 5:00 P.M.

Arizona

CASH DIDN’T HAVE the luxury of staying put, catching his breath, or lamenting all his aches and pains. By the time he flew out the cavern’s mouth, the gun shots had ceased, and none of his team greeted him, indicating they were in trouble and needed him. Visions of Olivia filled his mind, providing the motivation and strength to stagger to his feet, even though his ribs hurt so bad he feared he might black out from the agony.

Standing still until the earth beneath his boots quit spinning and objects no longer appeared suspended in mid-air and in duplicate, he then slipped over the edge of the arroyo and made his way toward camp. Obviously, whoever had tied Ian’s end of the rope to the mule had already paid them a visit. When he reached their gear, he scanned the area and located no mules. Their equipment lie broken and strewn on the ground, and all the water bottles were gone. A rock tumbled down the slope, and he swung around brandishing his knife, the only weapon he had left. He re-sheathed the blade as Olivia ran toward him and threw herself in his arms.

“He’s dead,” she sobbed.

Cash held her tight. Relief swept over him in a rush, allowing him to block his pain out of his mind. She appeared unharmed, but clearly something horrible had happened. The depth of his fear of losing her stunned him as he continued to hold her, thanking God for her safety. He had never been so terrified in his life as when he couldn’t find her.

“Who’s dead?” Cash asked as he eased Olivia back until he could see her face.

“Ian. We were watching the cavern opening and were ambushed from behind without any warning. Ian ordered me and Benny to return to camp and hide, and Pete to go for the mules, while he and Diane covered our retreat and your exit. Everyone followed his instructions, but when we reached the creek bed, the stock was gone. We hid behind a rock outcrop and Pete stood guard. The gunfire continued and when the barrage finally stopped, we edged back up the slope and witnessed unimaginable chaos. You flew out of the cavern at the end of a rope, panicked animals scattered in every direction, and Diane was screaming at us to stay down, and for Pete to get her a mule, but he couldn’t, because they were gone.”

“Where’s everyone now?”

“Diane, Benny, and Pete are trying to round up the mules. I went to Ian, hoping to help…” Olivia choked back the tears. “He’s gone. No pulse and blood everywhere. I came back here to wait as Diane told me to.”

Cash pulled Olivia closer. Death sucked. No matter how many times he witnessed the tragedy, it never got any easier, and for a sensitive woman like Olivia, losing someone so violently had to be unbearable. He shouldn’t have allowed her to accompany them. Benny insisted he needed her, and they would be safe since no one knew this country better than he did.

To find the cavern they needed Benny, but he shouldn’t have yielded to Benny and Diane’s insistence that Olivia join the expedition. Looking back, he had probably given in so easily because he wanted to be with her. Olivia’s calming influence on everyone, especially him, made him crave a normal life with someone to love. He dealt with death, terrorism, destruction, and evil on a daily basis, but when he was with her, the possibility that goodness still existed in the world—and in him—seemed real.

Cash pressed his lips to Olivia’s forehead and held her to his chest. After all the time on the trail, she still smelled like heaven and felt even better. He wanted to keep her this close forever, but duty called, and he needed to locate the rest of the team.

“Wait here, so Diane doesn’t worry if she comes looking for you. I think I retrieved the relic. I didn’t have a chance to verify the contents of the wrapped bundle before I heard gunfire, so I left the parcel just inside the cavern.”

He eased Olivia to the ground and leaned her back against a pack saddle. He hated leaving her and hoped the vacant look in her eyes wasn’t from shock. Needing to find Ian and verify Zara’s brother and henchman truly left the area forced him to walk away and trust her strength to maintain her composure.

Cash found Ian’s body before he reached the cave. By Ian’s position, he obviously tried to cover Cash’s unavoidable exit. Ian succeeded in preventing Cash from being shot as he bolted out of the tunnel, but the effort had cost him his life.

“This has to stop.” Cash cursed as he knelt down to check Ian’s pulse.

By the amount of blood soaking the British Agents clothes, he knew Olivia was correct, but he needed to verify Ian’s death for himself. Cash brushed a hand over Ian’s face and closed his eyelids. He liked the guy and would miss him. Ian was a good agent. Cash respected his skills and trusted him. He called few people a friend, but in the short time they had spent together, he considered Ian to be one.

Even though Ian had reminded Cash earlier that they all knew the risks and protecting them wasn’t his job, he felt responsible. Cash was in charge and they operated on his turf, but all he had done was lead his team from one dead end to another, keeping only steps ahead of a group of killers, until their luck finally ran out.

Cash was still kneeling next to Ian when Diane, Pete, and Benny approached. He stood and walked to the cave entrance without a word, not trusting his voice to expose the raw emotion churning inside him over Ian’s death. He crawled inside to where he had set the bundle down and found nothing. He wasn’t surprised. So far, the entire operation had been one disappointing screw-up after another.

“One more has slipped through our fingers. Any luck catching up with the mules?”

Diane shook her head, without looking up from Ian. “Our handguns were no match for their automatic weapons. It all happened so fast, we’re lucky we’re not all dead. I’m sure we would be if not for Ian.”

“Where’s Olivia?” Benny asked.

“Waiting where Diane told her to. She shouldn’t have been here,” Cash stated as he stooped to pick up his hat that had been ground into the dirt.

Benny shook his head. “Sorry. You warned me not to bring her. I didn’t think anyone would follow us out here, and I thought I might need her help figuring out the legend’s clues to the cave’s location. She possesses the unique cognitive ability to interpret literally, as well as figuratively, which increases the odds of understanding instructions buried in legends, but nothing is worth putting her in danger.”

Cash clapped Benny on the back, regretting he had said anything. Clearly Benny harbored enough guilt about insisting Olivia participate without Cash reminding him. And bottom line, the decision to let her come and responsibility for her safety fell squarely on his shoulders. As much as he wanted to blame Benny, he couldn’t.

“What do we do now?” Diane asked.

“Heck if I know,” Cash replied. “Our camp’s been ransacked and looted, and we’re so far from civilization, we’re a day’s hike from any cell reception at all. For now, we need to bury Ian, at least temporarily. We can’t leave him like this, and we can’t drag him back. Then I guess we try to walk out, even though they took all our water and supplies.”

“I have a better idea,” Pete interrupted. “I hid the computer to keep the sensitive components out of the sun before we hiked up to the cavern. If the equipment’s still where I stashed it, which I’ll bet it is, we can hook up the Sat Comm Link and transmit our coordinates to the CIA and they can send a helicopter for us.”

Maybe Ian was right. Pete did have his merits. But he would still argue to get Pete taken off the mission once they reached civilization. The operation had become far too hazardous for someone with his skill and experience, but the young scientist had earned his respect. He also planned to return Diane to her desk at Langley. If he had had any idea of the dangers associated with this assignment, he never would have insisted she be brought on board. The thought of losing her or her sister made him sick to his stomach, and today he came too close to both.