Текст книги "Live to See Tomorrow "

Автор книги: Iris Johansen

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Текущая страница: 7 (всего у книги 22 страниц)

“God, no,” Cameron said violently.

“Then I have to admire your ability to handle him. He’d obviously do anything for you. When he was hovering so protectively over you just now, was he asking if I was a possible threat?”

“You caught that? Tashdon always regards it as his duty to make sure that he doesn’t deliver anyone who might be dangerous to me.” He shook his head. “Even though I ordered him to bring you.” His lips twisted bitterly. “Haven’t you heard? Nothing must happen to me.”

“Yes, I’ve heard,” Hu Chang said. “And I tend to agree. Of course, with the exception that will exist if I decide that you’re interfering with my retrieving Catherine.”

Cameron laughed and slapped him on the back. “Exception noted. Now tell me why you brought the boy.”

“He belongs to Catherine and, though extraordinary, he needs schooling in many areas. I thought this would be an excellent training ground.” He paused. “And why did you not try to stop me?”

“I was curious. I wanted to see her son.” His smile widened. “And I wanted to see her tear into you when she discovered you brought him. It will be interesting to see how you handle it.”

“Indeed it will,” he murmured. He gestured to Luke, who was now only a few yards away. “Luke, I would like to present my friend, Richard Cameron. He has just told me how amused he is going to be to see your mother’s reaction to my bringing you along.”

“That’s not kind,” Luke said. “I think everyone knows she’s going to be very angry.” He took the last few steps to stand before Cameron. “Hu Chang says that I should be polite to you. I can’t do that if you’re going to wish bad things to happen to him.”

“I was joking.” Cameron’s gaze was raking Luke’s face, his expression intent. “Though it will be something to see.”

Luke was silent. “I have trouble with jokes. Sometimes I can’t tell…” He looked at Hu Chang. “Hu Chang will tell you.”

“I don’t believe I’ll have to tell Cameron,” Hu Chang said. “I think he’s already understanding more about you than I want him to know. Back off, Cameron.”

“I’m out,” Cameron said. “It was the quickest way. Though it appears you’re the one who has done a little manipulating. You must think a good deal of him.” He smiled at Luke. “Politeness isn’t necessary between us. I have great respect and admiration for Hu Chang, and I’m looking forward to getting to know you. I think you’re going to be a great help.”

Luke looked at him for a long minute. “You’re not lying to me?”

Cameron shook his head. “Though you’ll never be certain until I prove myself to you, so I won’t try to persuade you.” He turned to Tashdon. “Get going. No electronic communication until you’re completely out of the area. Go back to Hong Kong and refuel and stand by for further orders.”

“Yes, Cameron. I’ll be ready.” Tashdon turned and strode swiftly back toward the helicopter.

“He acts as if you’re his boss,” Luke said as he gazed after the pilot. “Are you?”

“Not exactly. He works for hire, but he wants to please me. I can count on him to obey orders.” He met Luke’s eyes. “Can I count on you?”

Luke was silent. “Yes, if you don’t do anything that Hu Chang doesn’t like.”

“That’s not good enough.” He looked at Hu Chang. “We’ve already discussed possible differences of opinion and agreed there’s no problem. But I can’t take you with me unless you agree to belong to me even if it’s only for a short time. Will you do that?”

“Belong to you?” Luke frowned. “I don’t like the—”

“Agree, Luke,” Hu Chang said. “We need him, and it’s only until we get Catherine back.” He gazed at Cameron. “If it makes you feel better, Cameron told me the same thing several years ago, and I conceded my independence until I had what I wanted. It was not a totally unpleasant experience.”

“Not for me either,” Cameron said. “Luke?”

Luke slowly nodded. “Okay.”

“Good.” He turned away. “Now grab your gear and come along. We have a long hike up the mountain.”

“And where are we going?” Hu Chang asked.

“I have quarters I use occasionally on this side of the mountain where we can be comfortable until we’re ready to move. But we can’t do that yet. I have some research to do.” He smiled over his shoulder. “Catherine told me that I should find her a way to get off Daksha Mountain, and I have to obey.”

Hu Chang stiffened. “You’ve been in touch with her? I thought you were dealing through Erin Sullivan?”

“How could I resist? Catherine is a warrior. I feel a kinship for her. Erin is strong, but she endures and hesitates to attack. It’s her basic character, and I’ve had to make allowances all through these months.” He paused. “But now I have Catherine. Her basic instinct is to make a judgment, then attack. It will be much easier.”

“You have Catherine?” Luke repeated, puzzled. “Does that mean she said she’d belong to you, like you asked me to do?”

“No, not yet.” Cameron laughed. “I have that pleasure to look forward to.”

“I would not count on it,” Hu Chang said dryly.

“But I do count on it. I would not have thought you would agree, my friend. But in the past, you found I could supply you with something you wanted, and you chose to run the risk.” He started up the trail. “I just have to find the correct bargaining chip…”

It was two hours later that Hu Chang caught up with Cameron on the curve of the mountain trail. “How much longer?” he asked. “The boy is struggling.”

“I know,” Cameron said. “He’s very strong. But the altitude is a killer if you’re not accustomed to it.”

“And you haven’t stopped to let him rest.”

“Has he complained?”

“No.”

“Good. I didn’t think he would.”

“You could help him,” Hu Chang said. “You could ease it.”

“But I won’t.” Cameron turned and strode forward around the curve.

It was nearly an hour later that he stopped in front of a sod hut balanced on the edge of a cliff overlooking the valley. He stood waiting, watching as Hu Chang came up the trail. “The boy?”

“Five minutes behind me.”

“But you didn’t wait for him.”

“No, I knew what you were doing. It was a test, and I wouldn’t cheat Luke of his victory.”

“A test you would not have given him?”

“Perhaps, perhaps not. But Luke agreed, and I knew you were no easy taskmaster.”

“Any resentment?”

“No. Curiosity. Why did you wish to test him?”

“You brought him on a man’s job. I wanted to see if he could do it.”

“That’s not all.”

He was silent, watching as Luke came around the curve, staggering, catching himself, then trudging on. “No, I wanted to see if he was truly her son in spirit as well as body. When I saw that you had trusted him enough to have given him that magnificent gift, I thought he might be.”

“But you had to see for yourself.”

“You might have been blinded by your affection for his mother.”

“And why was it so important to you?”

“I have no idea.” He smiled brilliantly. “But it appears that it is.” He strode toward Luke, and called, “You did very well. I’ve known men who have grown up in these mountains who have had trouble on this trail.”

Luke stopped, weaving on his feet. His face was flushed, and his breathing was labored. “It … hurts. It was a … long way. I kept throwing up, and it hurt to breathe. At first, I thought I hated you.”

“But you changed your mind.”

“You were making it, Hu Chang was making it. Why should I hate you because I couldn’t?” He glared up at him. “So I forgot about hating you and just did it.”

“Very sensible of you.” Cameron’s voice was uncharacteristically gentle. “May I say that you have my admiration.” He held out his hand. “And I’d like to shake your hand. Would that be all right with you?”

Luke hesitated, then slowly took Cameron’s hand. “You’re not making fun of me?”

“Why should I do that?” He looked directly into Luke’s eyes. “You belong to me. Your pain is my pain. Your victory is my victory.” He shook his hand, then released it and put his arm around Luke’s shoulders and led him toward the sod hut. “I have great pride in you. Can’t you feel it?”

Luke nodded. “Yes, I think so. I feel … warm.”

Cameron’s eyes were twinkling. “And that’s a good thing in this frigid air. Soon you’ll be inside, and you’ll feel even warmer. You’ll notice that the altitude sickness is gone now.”

“Yes, why?”

“It happens that way sometimes. You’ll be a little tired, but that exhaustion will slip away like a thief in the night.” He opened the door of the hut. “And now you and Hu Chang can heat us something to eat while I stay out here and concentrate on finding a way for us to get to Catherine. Or better still, for Catherine to get to us.” He glanced at Hu Chang. “I was able to make considerable headway on the hike up here.”

“A contact?” Hu Chang asked.

“Yes, I had to sift through half a dozen false leads, but I came up with Sadiki, an Egyptian monk who visited this area thirty years ago. I believe he knows enough to help us.” He smiled again at Luke. “I think Sadiki is the one. Give me a little time, and I’ll be able to give Catherine a way out.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Luke said. He added thoughtfully, “But I think you do know what you’re doing. It’s like Hu Chang in the lab. I have no idea how he knows what to put into his potions, but I know they will do what he says they’ll do.”

Cameron’s lips twitched as he inclined his head. “I appreciate being compared to Hu Chang, but I’m no brilliant chemist. I’m only a poor soldier trying to do his job.”

“Come along, Luke.” Hu Chang drew Luke into the hut. “I fear my friend Cameron is choosing to be deceptively humble. I don’t want you exposed to such deceit.”

Cameron’s smile faded. “No deceit. Simplification, perhaps.” He turned and strode several yards away and sat down and leaned against a scraggly pine tree. “Take the boy inside. This shouldn’t take me more than forty or fifty minutes.”

But Luke was hanging back, staring at Cameron. “Why is he staying out in the cold? He’s just sitting there. He should come in where it’s warmer.”

“Don’t worry. He doesn’t feel the cold,” Hu Chang said. “He trained himself a long time ago not to let heat or cold bother him. I believe he has to remind himself that he can’t stay out in either too long.”

“Peculiar…”

“That he is, Luke.” His gaze narrowed on the boy’s face. “But you like him, don’t you? It’s impossible not to like Cameron when he exerts himself. In spite of how tough you had it today, he did make an effort with you.”

“Yes, I guess I do. I … liked it when he said he had pride in me. That made me feel … I liked it.”

Hu Chang had to pull the boy aside to close the door. He was still gazing at Cameron with that puzzled, bewildered, fascinated expression Hu Chang had seen on other people’s faces when confronted by Cameron. Hu Chang didn’t know how much of that fascination was engendered by Cameron’s charismatic personality or what seeds he had insinuated into the boy’s mind during that time when he had been face-to-face, talking to him. Something had definitely been going on in that moment.

“It’s all right to like Cameron, Luke. But one must always keep a sense of one’s own well-being when around him. Don’t try to please him too much.” His lips twisted. “Or you’ll end up like that pilot, Tashdon. Now, let’s find what rations are available and have them ready for Cameron when he comes back in.” He started toward the camp stove across the room. “And hope that he finds out something valuable from that monk, Sadiki…”

CHAPTER

7

“Catherine.”

She tensed.

“You’re not answering. I know you’re not asleep. Turnabout is fair play,” Cameron said. “I answered when you called me. Now I’m calling you.”

He was suddenly there before her. The same cozy room, the fireplace and deep leather chairs. He was standing in front of the fireplace, and he was just as riveting as she remembered.

“I thought you’d forgotten about us,” she said dryly. “It’s been hours since you did your precision hit, then took off.”

“You knew I didn’t forget,” he said softly. “That can’t happen any longer. Though I can see that you’ve been fighting accepting our very uneasy alliance.”

“I don’t like anything about it, but I particularly don’t like that you can ‘see’ anything in my mind. It’s an intrusion I won’t permit.”

“I can understand. We may come to an agreement later. But at the moment, I have to be close to you, know everything you’re seeing and feeling.”

“Not fair.”

“But efficient and necessary. You want off Kadmus’s mountain, and there’s no easy way. I have to make sure that I don’t have to step in too soon.”

“Too soon? Oh, yes, that’s right. Your job description doesn’t permit you risking your neck.”

“That’s right.” He grimaced. “And that’s been thrown at me a thousand times. Why does it bother me when you do it?”

“I have no idea.”

“Neither do I, but it makes me uneasy.” He added, “But we’ll drop it for the moment. It’s always a challenge talking to you, but I have to get on with extricating you from that cave. How strong is Erin?”

“I’d think you’d know. You’ve been such buddies.”

“I’m not leaving you to go to her and probe. It would be inefficient. Assess her for me.”

“I bound her dislocated shoulder and splinted her broken finger. She has other wounds that will give her pain but not impede her from normal activity.”

“What about abnormal activity?”

She tensed. “Is that the way it’s going to be?”

He nodded. “It will be a rough path out. Can she make it?”

She thought about it. “She can do it. Strength doesn’t always depend on the physical. She shouldn’t have been able to keep up with me when we were escaping the palace, but she did. I’ll help her, and she’ll do it. Tell me what we’re up against.”

“I’ve contacted Sadiki, an Egyptian monk who visited Tibet about thirty years ago. The palace was being used as a monastery at that time and he stayed with the monks for a year. He traveled the entire mountain when he was there, and in the end, he knew more about the mountain than the monks who lived here. The road that leads off the mountain runs along the edge where most of the habitats and village exist. There are three roads that branch off from the one you took, but they’ll be watched by Kadmus’s men.”

“You’re not being encouraging. What’s the alternative?”

“Go inland. From where you are, you can climb up to the top of the mountain. Kadmus wouldn’t expect you to take that route. Once you get to the top, you’ll find it strewn with huge boulders and crevices. Make your way north through them and in about a mile, you’ll see a path that winds around and down. It’s rough and narrow and slippery, and there are gaping crevasses that can send you hundreds of feet down.”

“Wonderful. And how far do we have to go?”

“All the way to the bottom, where it exits at a hot spring.”

“It goes clear to the bottom of the mountain? That far? But does it dead-end there at the spring? Or will it lead to a path that will connect to a road that will bypass any of Kadmus’s roadblocks?”

“It doesn’t exactly dead-end, but there isn’t any path to take you away from the hot springs.”

“That sounds like a dead end to me.”

“The hot springs are the way out. The primary pool flows down through several passages and eventually joins with another small hot spring in a valley in Milchang, the next mountain over. You could be picked up there and taken up to the hut.”

“What hut?”

“Just a place near where I can arrange to have a helicopter pick you up and flown out.” He smiled. “It’s icy cold up there and snows almost all the time, but you might welcome a little cold after the hot springs.”

“How hot are those springs?”

“They vary from being very hot to lukewarm. There’s an underground river that runs alongside the spring and occasionally feeds it. The river would be icy cold and would cool the springs at those points. But it could be scalding hot four feet away from where the river flows into the spring. You’ll have to stay close to the river side.”

“And hope that the river still feeds it the same way it did thirty years ago.”

“There is that. I did a geographic check, and the possibility is good that the conditions are the same.”

“That’s comforting. How deep is it?”

“Deep enough to swim in some areas. Wading depth in others.”

“It sounds like hell for Erin and bad for me. There’s no other way?”

“It’s the safest. Otherwise, you’ll run into Kadmus’s men.”

“And I won’t be stumbling over them around those springs? How do I know that Kadmus doesn’t use those springs for his private spa?”

“You wouldn’t stumble. And, according to reports, neither Kadmus nor any of the villagers ever go to the springs. I doubt if he even knows they exist. He just took over the mountain a couple years ago, and the villagers wouldn’t tell him about them. No one but the monks knew anything about the springs, and they were thrown out of their monastery by Kadmus.”

“It might be possible.” She thought about it. It was an unusual and probably dangerous solution to the dilemma. But possibly less than the one presented by hiding here or trying the mountain road. “Okay, it’s a go. We’ll be on our way as soon as it gets dark. Erin has had a sound sleep and she should be as good as she’ll ever be.”

“And what about you?”

“I slept a little. It’s all I’ll need. The adrenaline will carry me.” She paused. “Until I get to you on that other mountain. You may be able to judge how long it will take us, but I don’t have any idea. But when we make it, you’d better be there when we end this marathon swim.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll see that you’re met.”

“No, I want you there. You take the risk for once. After what Erin’s going to go through, she deserves to have a reward at the end. Though God knows I can’t see that you’re any prize.”

“But then you haven’t explored my many talents.”

“I’ve been exposed to one of them, and I can’t say that I appreciate it. Will you be there?”

“I’ll think about it. You’ll be met.” He added, “At any rate, I’ll be with you all the way. Sadiki has an excellent memory of that journey and was able to transfer that memory to me. I’ll try to guide you and save you a few falls.”

“You’re going to whisper in my ear?”

“That would be delightful, but I’ll stick to the present communication. Just don’t ignore me, Catherine. I’ll have the overview, and I’ll be right.”

She was silent. “I won’t ignore you.”

“What a concession.”

“It is a concession. I don’t like the idea of not having full control.” She gazed challengingly at him. “Like you, Cameron.” She waved her hand dismissingly. “So gather up your cozy fire and other paraphernalia and all that soothing mind crap and hit the road. I need to wake up Erin, check her over, and get her prepped for the trip.”

He chuckled. “I hear and obey. Anything else?”

“Yes, be there when we fight our way through this.”

“Possibly…”

The fire flared, then was gone.

The next moment, so was Cameron.

“Very theatrical,” she said sarcastically. “You can do better than that.”

“Definitely. I just didn’t want to dazzle you.”

“Out. I’ll accept your bullshit only when I’m on the road and at risk.”

“You would never have known I was still here if you hadn’t decided to insult me. Later…”

Was he gone?

She couldn’t worry about it. She had things to do. She sat up and wriggled out of the sleeping bag. The next moment, she was kneeling beside Erin. She shook her gently, “Hey, rise and shine.” She wrinkled her nose. “Though the shine part will be pretty difficult considering what I’m going to throw at you. But we’ll have to take what we get.”

Erin sat up and yawned. “What are you talking about, Catherine?” Her eyes suddenly widened with alarm. “Trouble?”

“Yes, though I guess it depends on what you call trouble. Your hero, Cameron, came calling. And I’d say he’s big-time trouble…”

*   *   *

“There’s moonlight,” Erin said quietly as she helped Catherine roll the huge boulder back to hide the opening of the cave. “Is that going to be bad or good for us?”

“It could work either way.” She smiled at Erin. “I’m going to consider it lucky. It will help us to find our way to that crevasse at the break in the boulders on the mountaintop. After that, it won’t matter. There won’t be moonlight once we start down into that darkness. Too bad. We need to see where we’re going. Cameron said that the winding path down to the hot springs is killer.”

“You brought your flashlight.” Erin frowned. “But not much else. You left the sleeping bags and everything that—”

“We can’t afford the extra weight. And it won’t do us any good once we reach the springs. We’d have to leave them there anyway.” Catherine carefully brushed their footprints away from the cave opening until they reached the stone path. “If everything goes wrong, we can try to make our way back to the cave.”

“You took your gun.”

“That’s not something I consider expendable. Besides, we have to take the road to make it to the crest of the mountain. I might have to use it if the road is patrolled.” She threw the branch away. “Though if given a preference, I’d prefer knife or hands. A gunshot would be heard all over this mountain and the next in this clear air.” She moved ahead of Erin on the trail. “I’m hoping they’d expect us to be going down, not up the mountain. I’ll keep the pace slow and steady on the trail, so that you can conserve your strength. After we reach the top, I can’t promise anything. No conversation until we reach the top.”

“Okay.” She was silent a moment. “But you don’t have to be so careful of me. I won’t hold you back.”

“I know you won’t.” She smiled faintly. “But I prefer you don’t kill yourself to keep from doing it. Now, hush.”

Silence.

The cold wind striking their faces.

The bright moonlight as icy as the snow on the ground.

Isolation.

Ten minutes.

Fifteen minutes.

Twenty minutes.

The wind was sharper, more merciless the higher they climbed.

Catherine could hear the sound of Erin’s breathing behind her.

Her own breathing was probably heavier and more labored, she thought. Erin was more accustomed to the altitude than she. But at least she wasn’t sick and dizzy as she had been the last time she’d been this high in the mountains. It would have been difficult to function. She would have done what was necessary, but it would have—

Laughter.

She stopped short, her gaze flying to the curve of the trail up ahead.

Conversation. Chinese. Vulgar. Obscene. Boasting.

It was either two of Kadmus’s soldiers or a phone conversation.

She listened. Only one voice.

A phone conversation. She hadn’t thought that Kadmus would allot more than one sentry for this stretch of road.

But the road was so narrow, they couldn’t go around him without being seen.

Erin had nudged closer to her.

Catherine shook her head and held up her hand to indicate she was to stay. Then she moved cautiously forward.

The conversation was continuing, and so was the laughter.

Keep on talking. What else is there to do on this barren mountainside to amuse yourself? Keep on talking …

She had reached the curve of the road and stopped, pressing back against the stone.

Don’t be facing this way.

Please, I need a break …

And she got it!

He was leaning back against the stone face of the mountain and facing the valley. Not as good as if he had his back to her, but she could work with it.

She took off her gloves and stuffed them in her pocket.

Hit him low, bring him down, use her hands on the carotid artery.

He laughed again.

Wait until he hung up. She didn’t want to alert whoever he was talking to in the compound.

He talked a few more minutes.

He hung up.

She moved!

He didn’t see her until she was almost on him. He grunted as he dropped the phone and tried to turn toward her and raise his AK-47. But she had already tackled him, and he was falling. She was astride him as he hit the ground.

Her hands tore open his coat and fastened on his throat.

His eyes were glaring up at her as his fist struck her cheek. “Zai—”

The curse was cut off. She had reached the carotid.

Five seconds later, he was dead.

She took a deep breath and sat back on her heels. Death was never easy, and she never got used to it. It didn’t matter if it was kill or be killed. It still sucked.

She got to her feet and ran back to Erin. “Come on, I need your help.”

“What happened? I didn’t hear—” Erin stopped as she saw the soldier huddled on the ground. “Dead?”

“Very.”

“Then I don’t see why you need me.”

“I want you to help me roll him off the mountain.”

“What?”

“I can’t leave him here, there’s no place to hide him. If someone checks up on him, then it will lead them to this post. If he’s just not here, then they’ll have to look for him. That will take time. We need time.” She was already struggling, tugging him toward the edge of the cliff. “Don’t help me with this. I don’t want your shoulder to go out again. When I get him in position, just help me roll him off the cliff…”

“What if someone sees him fall or maybe—”

“Don’t second-guess.” She tried to catch her breath. “I think that he should fall fairly straight down, there’s no slope or—Help me. Take his shoulders. I’ll do his lower body.”

“Right.” Erin was there pushing. A moment later the body slid silently over the side of the cliff.

She straightened. “What next?”

“We erase signs of struggle and his header over the cliff. Then we erase our own footprints. That’s all we can do without using up time we can’t afford. Come on, get busy.”

Five minutes later, they were moving up the trail again.

Erin shivered. “I’m still seeing that soldier tumble off the mountain. I was hoping that we wouldn’t be forced to do anything that violent.”

“And I was almost sure we’d be faced with something like it,” Catherine said. “We’ve been pretty lucky since we got away from Kadmus.”

“Yes.” She didn’t speak for a minute. “Do you think we’ll run into any other sentries on this road?”

“I doubt it. But I have to be prepared.” She said gently, “You’re doing great, Erin. I couldn’t have done without you back there.”

“Yes, you could.” She made a face. “It just would have taken you longer.” She looked up the road. “How far to the top?”

“I’d say another ten minutes. Any problem?”

“No.” She quickened her pace. “I’m fine. Let’s get up there. It’s always easier going downhill.”

*   *   *

The top of the mountain looked like a moon landscape. It was flat, not jagged, and the surface was covered with huge boulders, craters, and rocks.

“It seems our monk, Sadiki’s, memory didn’t fail him,” Catherine murmured. “But the way down might not be as easy as you hoped, Erin. It looks pretty rough to me.” She started over the rock-strewn surface. “Those big boulders, there should be twisting passages between them going down…”

“According to Sadiki.”

“And according to your friend, Cameron. Let’s see if he’s right.”

“Of course I’m right, Catherine.”

“You’re back. There’s no of course about it. It’s all hearsay.”

“But expertly-well-researched hearsay. And I’m not ‘back.’ I’ve been with you all along. It just wasn’t wise to interfere in the arena you obviously own. Besides, you resent my intrusion.”

She kept moving quickly toward the boulders. “Yes, I do. I don’t really know either your intentions or your parameters of power. You could be some nut one of those think tanks tossed out who decided to throw in with a group equally crazy.”

“That’s true. Move faster, Catherine. I’m figuring that you have perhaps forty minutes to get down to the hot springs before Kadmus’s soldiers start pouring up here.”

“I am moving fast.” But her pace instinctively became even faster. “And I was allowing thirty minutes.”

“But you did such a fine job of disposing of that sentry. It should allow you a little more time. You did everything right. I’m lost in admiration.” He paused. “The path should be right ahead, between those two boulders. I won’t communicate again other than to give you directions or information. You’re going to need to concentrate.”

“Good.”

She was entering the narrow darkness between the boulders. She could see nothing. But the twisting path was sloping downward she realized with relief.

“Catherine?” Erin was behind her, moving cautiously.

“I’m going to turn on my flashlight as soon as I’m sure that we’re below the surface and there aren’t any cracks between these boulders for light to escape. I hope you’re not claustrophobic. There’s barely room to move in this passageway.”

“No, but it’s hard to breathe, isn’t it?” She paused. “But Cameron was right, wasn’t he?”

“Yes, but we won’t know how right until we get down to those hot springs. As soon as we’re able to see better, we’ve got to put on more speed.”

Silence. “Is that what Cameron told you just now?”

She stiffened. “Erin?”

“He was with you, wasn’t he? You were so quiet, and I realized that Cameron was there.”

“Oh, no, not you, too. I’m having enough trouble dealing with Cameron and his so-called talents.”

“I don’t have any talents. But I’ve been so close to Cameron that it would be strange if I didn’t sense him near me. Only now he’s not as close since he’s with you.”

“And do you resent that?”

“No, why should I? Cameron always makes the right decisions.”

“I believe I’m beginning to feel ill.”

“May I help?” Erin asked, concerned.

“No, that was sarcasm.” Catherine turned on her flashlight. It did little good. Because of the twisting downhill narrowness she still couldn’t see more than a few feet ahead before the next turn. But at least, they weren’t in complete darkness. She would have to be cautious that there wasn’t a falloff beyond one of those turns.

“No time. Go for it. I’ll help you.”

Was that Cameron’s sense of urgency or her own?

Both.

But it was her instincts on which she had to rely. She was still far from the springs that could be their salvation. And who knew what hazards might stall their progress when they reached them?

And Kadmus could be hot on their trail.

Throw caution to the winds. Rely on luck, Sadiki, and yes, even Cameron.

“Stay close,” she tossed to Erin over her shoulder as she began to move at a half run through the passage. “We’re on our way.”

*   *   *

“They’re on the move,” Brasden’s eyes were bright with excitement. “We have a sentry reported missing north of the village.”

“Missing?” Kadmus said. “What the hell do you mean missing?”

Brasden shrugged. “What I said. Li Kim was on guard on the upper road, and we weren’t able to reach him by phone. I sent two men up to his post and he wasn’t there. No signs of struggle. He was just … missing. We’re searching for him now. And for Ling and Erin Sullivan. There has to be a connection. They were probably hiding up there near the top and decided it was time to make a break for it.”