Rattled (22 page)

“No. Funny to think there might be people nearby.”

Camie shrugged. “Depends on your definition of near. Could be miles to the ranch house, if they just use this as grazing land.”

They went over a mound that dropped away quickly into a shallow side canyon. “Interesting formation,” Camie said. “Maybe we should head along this side canyon first. Given the desert varnish at the rim, I’d guess it’s not a new formation, and a side canyon could easily turn into a cave.”

“Given the what?”

“Desert varnish is that dark coating on the exposed surface of the rocks. It takes hundreds of years to build up. The varnish tells us this land hasn’t changed much in recent centuries.”

They found nothing at the end of the side canyon, so they walked back toward the main canyon with The Finder on. They’d been working only a few minutes when the readout on The Finder changed. “Will you look at that!” Camie exclaimed. “If that’s not empty space underground then—well, then my invention is completely wonky and probably useless. But I’d say we’ve found ourselves a cave.”

They grinned at each other. “It might not be the right one,” Erin whispered. “It might—”

Camie cut her off. “There’s one way to find out. If it’s not the treasure cave, we’ll keep looking.” They left The Finder at the top of the rise and scrambled down the slope. Twenty feet down they found a rectangular opening cut in the rock, maybe four feet high and three feet wide.

“It looks like an old mine entrance,” Erin said. “That’s not what I was expecting.”

Camie’s smile didn’t falter. “Whatever it is, it means The Finder is working.” She punched her fists into the air. “It works! I did it!” She threw an arm around Erin and squeezed. “Let’s check it out.”

They ducked into the entrance and paused, blinking to let their eyes adjust. “I don’t feel cool air coming out,” Camie said. “That suggests it doesn’t go deep.”

“I can’t see the end, though. Of course, I can hardly see anything. I’ll get my flashlight.” Erin fished it out of her backpack. The bright beam cut through the darkness, playing off dark, rough-cut walls and a dirt floor scattered with small rocks. She moved forward, hunched over and watching her steps carefully.

About 15 feet in, the ceiling dropped even lower. Erin eased down to her knees and Camie came up beside her. Erin could hear their breathing over the faint distant call of a bird outside. She aimed the light down the tunnel. It shone on a solid rock wall about 10 feet ahead.

Erin sank back to sit on her heels and groaned as disappointment speared through her. She had been trying not to get her hopes up too much, but obviously she had failed.

“Just some miner’s claim,” Camie said. “I wonder what he was looking for and if he found it.” She took the flashlight from Erin and played it over the walls. “There’s a vein of what looks like crystal. You probably wouldn’t find gold or silver here, but they mined a lot of other things over the years.”

“Right, perlite and—I can never remember that other one, the fuzzy rock, like a black velvet painting.”

Camie gave her a look and Erin shrugged. “I’m a history professor, not a geologist. I only know that much from hiking near old mines outside of town.” Erin got to her feet, though she still had to bend over under the low ceiling. “We’re wasting our cool morning. Let’s get back to work.”

She took a step forward and paused as she heard a sound, a crack followed by a series of faint thuds and a kind of hiss. Her skin prickled and her breath caught in her throat. The sound hadn’t been like the rattlesnakes’ warning, she told herself. Hardly at all. A rock rolling downhill, maybe? She glanced up at the ceiling, reminding herself that this shaft had probably been there for over a century and was perfectly solid. And while New Mexico had frequent earthquakes, they were rarely strong enough to notice. If a rock fell downhill outside, it was just random chance, or it had been dislodged by some animal.

“Everything okay?” Camie asked.

“I just heard something. A rock falling, maybe, but then there was this other sound, like a hiss.”

“Probably Tiger on the hunt.”

“Of course! He wanders off and I forget about him.” She moved forward, scolding herself for getting nervous, just because she was a few feet underground. She wasn’t used to caves or mineshafts, that was all. She slipped the flashlight into her backpack once the bright outside light lit their way. She tried not to think about the work still ahead.

Erin stepped out of the shaft and straightened, blinking against the bright light and fumbling for the sunglasses she’d hooked in the front of her shirt. Camie stepped out beside her.

A dark shape moved in from the side. Hands grabbed Erin’s arms. The fingers dug in painfully and almost lifted her off the ground.

Erin screamed and tried to twist away. When she turned her head she saw Camie grappling with another man. The big man from the black SUV.

Erin’s attacker jerked her around so she was facing away from him. His arms banded tightly around her, pinning her arms to her sides. His breath rasped hot against her ear.

Sunlight blinded her. Her feet came off the ground and dangled uselessly. The world seemed to swim around her, flashing sunlight and blurred shadows. These were the men who had run her off the road, nearly killed her. That memory tangled with the present and sent panic screaming through her.

She tried to squirm, tried to remember how to fight. But her vision grayed and she choked for breath as a cold ball of terror lodged in her chest. She went limp, her head lolling back on her attacker’s shoulder. She struggled to stay conscious as her body demanded the escape of blacking out.

He shoved her against the hard rock of the cliff next to the mine opening. The man pulled her arms behind her and held her wrists. Erin’s legs still felt numb and she would have slumped to the ground if it weren’t for the cliff and the man holding her. She heard Camie swear, a grunt, the clatter of rocks skidding downhill. Those sounds of struggle faded. Erin saw Camie shoved against the wall on the other side of the opening. Their eyes met, then tears blurred Erin’s vision.

They’d found her. Erin and Camie were miles from anyone else, without weapons, powerless. Erin closed her eyes but the tears seeped out.

The man holding Erin spoke behind her. “So you led us to the treasure after all. See what happens to naughty girls who don’t like to share?”

She hadn’t gotten a good look at him, but she recognized his voice. The man who had come to her house. She closed her eyes to block out the memory, but she couldn’t stop shaking. Jagged edges of rock pressed into her skin with every tremble. The shaded rock felt cool against her face. She tried to focus on that. If she could just focus on the cool pressure on her cheek, the grit prickling her skin, she wouldn’t faint. She couldn’t bear the thought of being unconscious, even more helpless.

She had to stay alert, ready. She had to be strong. She reminded herself that she had gotten rid of the man once before.

That didn’t help now.

She dragged air into her lungs, forced it out again. It took all her strength just to breathe. He yanked her away from the wall, pushed her head down, and shoved her into the opening. Camie stumbled in beside her. Erin caught sight of her fierce scowl under the tumbled blonde curls before the darkness masked her expression.

“Show us what you found,” the smaller man said. The big man hadn’t spoken yet, but he gripped Camie’s wrists in one hand, his other pushing down on her back to keep her bent over. His bulk filled the narrow opening.

The air now seemed hot and heavy in the mineshaft. Erin’s head spun and she put a hand on the wall to steady herself. Where was Drew? He’d only just left them. Maybe he’d seen something, sensed something wrong, and come back. He’d fought both men before and won.

She listened desperately for the sound of a helicopter. She heard nothing but their own breathing. She remembered how fast the helicopter moved and knew Drew could be all the way to Silver Valley by now.

“Christ, it’s dark in here. Get a light,” the man behind her snapped.

Erin looked back, not sure if he was talking to her or his companion. “Hurry up,” he said, tugging at her backpack. She slipped it off and crouched, digging for the flashlight.

“It’s too crowded in here,” the man said. He jerked his head toward the other guy. “You stay at the door.” The big man backed up. Camie put a hand on Erin’s shoulder and squeezed.

Erin found the flashlight. She considered shining it in the man’s eyes. Would it stun him for a moment, so they could get away? But they’d have to knock down the smaller man, crawl over him in the narrow tunnel, and still get past the big guy. It seemed hopeless, so rather than making him mad, Erin handed over the flashlight. She ducked her head away as he shone the light down the tunnel.

“Come on, move it. Let’s see this treasure.”

He thought they’d found the treasure cave. What would he do when he saw he was wrong? Should they say something?

Why bother. He wouldn’t believe them until he saw it for himself.

Camie dropped to her hands and knees to enter the smaller part of the tunnel. Erin went in beside her. Camie whispered, “Just be ready.”

For what? Did Camie have a plan, or did she mean just be prepared for any opportunity? Either way, she had to be ready. Ready to run or to fight. Erin took deep, slow breaths and tried to steady herself. She tried to remember the self-defense class she’d had in college, dredging up the memory of that long-ago afternoon. Eyes, throat, groin, and instep. Those were the sensitive parts. Gouge the eyes, punch the throat, knee the groin, stomp the instep. Easy enough in theory. Now she had to be ready to do it in real life.

“Wait a minute,” the man said. “What the hell is this?” His light bounced around the end of the tunnel.

“Now you have to dig,” Camie said. “You didn’t think it would just be lying here on the surface, did you?”

The man swore and played the light around until he’d examined every inch of the tunnel. “Okay, outside.” He backed up, keeping the light on them. Erin turned her head away from the glare, then realized that staring at the flashlight would help her eyes adjust more quickly to the sunlight outside. Those moments could be valuable. She guided herself with a hand on the wall and looked into the light. Her breathing seemed to echo in her head and her limbs still felt oddly numb. She forced herself to breathe deeply, trying to feed oxygen into her body. A mantra went through her mind: Be ready, be ready.

Camie’s hand brushed Erin’s elbow. They stepped out of the tunnel together and Erin straightened. The smaller man was looking around, frowning, his attention clearly elsewhere. He didn’t think they were a threat anymore, Erin realized. That could give them an advantage.

The big man reached for Camie’s arm. Erin saw Camie tense while still half crouched. She rose and kicked, her foot plowing into the big man’s crotch. His breath whooshed out and he bent over.

Before Erin could even react, Camie spun and kicked at the other man. This time she connected with his stomach. He stumbled back, flailing his arms for balance as he slid a few feet down the slope.

The big man had already recovered and he grabbed Camie from behind, lifting her off the ground. Erin snatched at a fist-sized rock. She cried out when her finger brace smacked against it, shooting pain up her arm. She shifted the rock to her other hand and hefted it awkwardly. She couldn’t get a clear shot at the big man with Camie wriggling and kicking between them.

The other man had gone down on one knee, but he was rising again, swearing and threatening. Erin threw the rock. The man ducked and it grazed his shoulder. He kept coming.

An orange blur leaped from the rise above the mineshaft opening. Tiger landed on the big man’s head, clawing and spitting. Camie twisted out of his grasp. She sprinted away and barreled into the smaller man, knocking him onto his back. By the time he landed, Camie was swinging around, clenched fists raised.

The big man grabbed Tiger and swung his arm. Tiger smashed against the cliff and fell in a heap.

Erin’s knees went weak and Camie gave a shrill cry of outrage. She jumped at the big man. He staggered back a couple of feet but kept his balance and wrapped his arms around her as she kicked, punched, and butted her head at him.

The smaller man was back on his feet, crouched low and rushing toward Erin. She jerked away, stumbled along the slope, and then scrambled up over the steep rise on wobbly legs. A rock rolled under her foot and sent her down to her hands and one knee. Pain shot through her knee, scorched the heels of her hands, still tender from the bike accident, and lanced through her broken finger.

The man behind her grunted. She hoped that the rolling rock had gotten him someplace sensitive. She felt his hand graze her ankle, but she yanked her foot away and pushed up and ahead.

Erin’s chest burned as she gasped for air. She had to keep moving. She hated to separate from Camie, but Erin didn’t think she could win a fight. If she could at least draw this man away, she’d give Camie a better chance. Camie knew how to fight. If she could somehow knock the big man unconscious, then they could work together against the second man. But it wouldn’t help either of them for Erin to be overpowered. She couldn’t forget that Drew had mentioned a knife. If the man subdued Erin and held a knife to her throat, Camie would have to back off.