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“We have no choice,” Pauline said, “If we’re going to rendezvous with the helicopter so Bahati can get the samples to the lab, we have to leave now.”
“I’ll go with you,” Morrison said. “Pauline and I should be back before dark.”
Jean-René had been pacing for hours, sitting down occasionally only to pop right back up again. His eyes returned to the mountaintop every time he paused. “Go, then. We’ll start the search for Lauren and Rowan. They should have been back by now.”
“I agree,” Miller said. “I’m assuming they’re skilled and trained in wilderness navigation and survival?”
“Lauren lived in Yellowstone studying wolves. Rowan is former military,” Jean-René said. “They both know what they’re doing. This is why I am worried. They are not lost. If they haven’t come back by now, it is because something is wrong.”
“We can have the chopper do a fly-over before it leaves,” Joshua said.
“Good idea.”
“We’ll start where we saw them last, and work our way up to the river,” Jean-René said, gathering up everything he might need in his pack.
* * *
“Dammit,” Lauren swore. She stood for a moment, trying to still her thundering heart. She hated tight spaces, and the darkness made it worse. A rock fall in front of them completely blocked the path. “We have to turn back.”
Rowan nodded, but it was everything he could do to focus on his breathing, and she didn’t expect an answer anyway.
“Do you remember the pyramid in Egypt?” She talked to calm him as much as to calm herself. “The guide told us the secrets of the maze?”
“Always keep ... your right hand ... on the wall,” Rowan gasped softly.
“It doesn’t work,” she said. “I’ve been doing that since we started moving.”
“Too bad ...” he said. “Worked in Egypt.”
“Ow! Dammit!” She gasped when she struck her knee on an outcropping of volcanic rock.
“You have a way of finding the jerks and ticking them off.” Rowan chuckled. “I thought ...” he stifled a laugh. “I thought you ... were ... gonna ... punch him. Just like I thought you were going to punch the escort in Peru.”
“Don’t think I didn’t want to,” she smiled. “You should have seen what I did to Mitch.”
“Who’s that?”
Lauren had already told him the names of their attackers. She thought it odd he’d already forgotten. “Here, you need a break,” she said, feeling for a spot, helping him sit against the wall of the lava tube. She knew better than to lay him down. She had to get him out of here. It concerned her that she couldn’t see him. She suspected his color was poor. He felt clammy when she ran a hand over his brow. “I want you to stay right here,” she said. “I’m going to scout ahead just a little and see if I can’t find a turn we missed somewhere.”
“Just keep ... talking ... to me.”
“I will,” she said, patting his shoulder, finding his cheek with her hand, noting he’d broken out into a cold sweat. “Just stay with me, promise?”
“Promise.”
“So, if we’re thinking of a fall wedding ...” she began. Lauren felt her way along the lava tube. “I was thinking maybe an outdoor wedding. I think it would be pretty to be married under the aspen trees. Remember that little place outside of Estes Park?”
“Where you ... fell in the ... river?”
“You’re never going to let me live that one down. Are you?”
“No.” She could hear his wheezing in the silent darkness.
“I’m lucky I didn’t get washed downstream and drowned,” she muttered under her breath. “You saved me on that one.”
“Saved you ... plenty ...”
She smiled to herself; it was true. He had saved her plenty. From the day they met when he tended her broken leg, to the time her climbing harness failed and she nearly fell 300 feet over a cliff in the Colombian rainforest. He was always there for her. He even nursed her back to health after her recent injuries and illnesses, while she’d been so ungrateful. She owed him her life more times than she could count. She couldn’t bear to think about that right now. She was certain she’d start bawling if she kept on this current train of thought.
“Hey, did you ever hear back from the lab on those samples from Peru?” she had to raise her voice a little as she moved farther and farther down the passageway. “Rowan?” he didn’t answer. She stopped. Her attention was suddenly drawn to a change in the texture of the cave wall. It was no longer cold hard rock. It was warm ... soft ... fur.
She took a startled step back. A deep growl rumbled beneath her hand. She saw a glimmer of light and realized it was eye shine high above her. “Tsul’Kalu?” she gasped. She took another step back, intent to turn and run, but fell, landing hard, knocking the wind out of her.
The beast grunted. Hands reached down and grasped her. It lifted her effortlessly off her feet. Her heart raced as she recoiled. She could smell the fetid breath of the monster. It blew her bangs away from her face as it growled. It was more than her brain could handle. She felt her blood draining from her head. Her hands turned cold. Dots danced in her eyes “Ani ... yvn wi ya ... aya tsa-la-gi,” She gasped before the world around her was lost to oblivion.