Chapter 51

Emily and Heather slowed their horses as they came around the ridge and into sight of the slope bearing the entrance to the hole. Even in the cold of the night, the horses were lathered and tired.

“Let’s take a three-minute break,” Heather said. “But no more: we don’t want the horses cooling off too much. Then we’ll head to the rendezvous point.”

Emily gratefully agreed. Her mare might be tired, but she was exhausted. They’d entered the reservation grounds several miles further east than the last time. That plus the gallop—on bareback—had left her legs wobbly and weak.

Moments later, Emily stood beside the mare, holding the rope around her neck, watching as Heather led her horse up the slope to the cover. “It’s still in place,” she called down to Emily. “Doesn’t look like it’s been disturbed since we were here last.”

Emily’s horse suddenly threw back its head, trying to turn in the direction from which they’d just come. Emily held the rope tight in both hands, but was nearly tugged off her feet.

Now Emily heard it too: the growl of an engine. No, more than one engine.

Emily looked up at Heather, who was already trotting down the slope with her stallion. Heather drew close to where Emily was struggling to calm the mare, threw her rope across her shoulder, and leaned down to give Emily a leg up. The skittish mare kept backing away. Emily wrapped her fingers tight in its mane, settled her boot onto Heather’s clasped fingers, and bounced up and across its moving back.

The vehicles were drawing closer.

Heather twined her fingers in the stallion’s mane and jumped, hauling herself up as she threw a leg over its back. She straightened, and the rope slid off her shoulder and to the dusty earth.

Heather glanced to the ground where it lay, then at Emily. Emily shook her head.

Without another word, they both kicked their mounts, turning the animals’ heads west and away from the sound of the approaching cars.

The lead car of Adam’s caravan rounded the ridge and came to a halt below the door to the pit. The SUVs and vans drew up in a line, backing and maneuvering until they were each parked roughly side by side, half with their headlights on the slope, half with their rear bumpers in that direction. Then the team began piling out, pulling on Demron suits and masks.

Adam had no need for a suit just yet. He was already wearing his HEPA mask, but would not be entering the pit until later. He looked around the empty site. Perhaps they’d beaten the riders there. Or maybe the riders had abandoned coming there after the guard saw them. Either way, he was at least sure they couldn’t have gotten into the pit and back out again before Adam arrived.

It didn’t matter. The priority now was to determine what debris had been taken by Hart’s people, then empty the pit.

One of the suited guards approached. “Sir, I found this.” He held out a circle of rope.

Adam took it in his hand. It was probably below forty degrees out here tonight, but the rope was still warm in his hands.

“Emerson,” he called to the security chief. The man came close. Adam thrust the magnetic key into his hand. “Have Greg start setting up the C-4 explosives while the team empties the pit,” he said rapidly. “As they remove the debris, be sure they keep it grouped in the vans like it is down below so I can inventory it. And I’ll need your car keys. Plus two sets of cuffs from the group.”

The chief nodded, then retrieved the cuffs and handed them to Adam, along with the SUV keys.

Moments later, Adam was driving west, his lights on high—moving fast over the rough terrain, but not so fast as to miss the unmistakable tracks of hoofprints on the dry desert soil.

Emily and Heather rode side by side, trying to maintain a good pace without overtaxing the tired animals. They were less than a mile from the hole now, Emily estimated—and based on the map she’d seen earlier, still four or five miles to the egress point.

They’d heard the sound of cars drawing close as they galloped from the site of the hole. Then, to Emily’s relief, the engine noises had stopped. At that, she’d followed Heather’s lead and pulled back from the dangerous nighttime gallop into a fast walk.

Now Heather tugged on her horse’s mane and urged it to stop. Emily did the same as her companion raised a finger to her lips.

It took a second before Emily heard it too. An engine sound again. Only one this time, but coming their way.

They each gave their horses a hard kick, driving them forward again into the blackness. Emily held onto the mane tightly as her horse lunged forward, striving wearily to satisfy its rider and keep pace with Heather’s stronger stallion ahead.

Another half mile passed as the engine noise grew gradually closer. Heather was still visible a short distance ahead—though she was slowly pulling away. Even in the diffuse moonlight, Emily could see the young woman’s head shifting back and forth; searching, she guessed, for harder terrain where the hoof marks might be invisible in the soil.

The mare faltered under Emily, pitching suddenly forward and nearly driving her over its head. It righted itself, trying to stumble back into a stride just as a light flashed across the terrain, throwing the mare’s dark outline out in front.

The horse cut to the right, alarmed at its sudden shadow. Emily’s fingers were yanked from its mane and she rolled off its back into the darkness.

Her shoulder hit the ground, sending flashes of pain through her torso. She rolled twice and lay still, gasping for breath as sounds of the mare’s hoofbeats disappeared into the night.

Still catching her breath, Emily tried to sit up, but a shot of pain in her right shoulder drew a cry of agony from her lips. The engine was drawing closer now. Panic filling her head, she rolled away from the injured shoulder, scanning the ground for anywhere to hide. There was a boulder a few yards away. She tried to raise herself with her good arm.

The engine noise was roaring as it drew up within a yard from Emily’s body. She tried once more to rise.

The light was all around her as Emily dropped with a final cry of pain back onto the desert floor.