Trove (The Katie Walsh Mysteries) (38 page)

He came over and placed his hand on her back, bending over her. “What’s wrong?”

She knew she couldn’t outrun him, but maybe she could outsmart him. “Air…” She gasped, “I need fresh air… there’s something here… my lungs are burning.”

He picked her up and headed upward a few feet where they emerged into a cavern lit by glowing multi-colored crystals embedded in the ceiling and walls. At the far end, about thirty feet away, she could see daylight.

“Air…
please
,” she pleaded.

He rushed toward the opening and set her down. “Can you climb through the opening?”

She tipped her head back. Daylight was about five feet above. She’d have to climb over the rubble strewn haphazardly in front of her. She nodded and reached forward, grasping at anything to support her weight as she headed upward. He followed close behind. How was she going to get away? Maybe she could find a place to hide among the outcroppings or maybe she should just continue her charade and play sick. At least he wouldn’t keep pestering her for answers and maybe someone might be nearby, a hiker or group of hikers. Or maybe, by some miracle, Alec would be there.
Except he doesn’t know where I am. I’m such an idiot. How the hell can I expect to get away from Josh?

The climb up was easier than she anticipated. She stepped out into the sunshine, her breathing almost normal. She gulped in several deep batches of the fresh cool air. She scanned her surroundings, noting what appeared to be a trail. She turned back and saw Josh struggling to emerge from the small entrance. For the first time in her life, she was happy that she was so petite. She ran over to the path and headed down, quickly picking up speed thanks to gravity.

She could see that the trail was relatively clear of debris as she raced down the trail, hoping she’d run into someone hiking the mountain on such a clear day. She cringed when she heard Josh calling her. He wasn’t that far behind, thanks to his long stride. She didn’t answer, but instead increased her speed, hoping her momentum would increase the distance between them.

She rounded the next curve, reaching out her hand to tighten her turn and keep her speed somewhat under control. She leaned her weight onto a rock outcropping, intending to pivot around it and maintain her pace. The rock wavered and then collapsed under her hand, sending her crashing down, her back to the ground, the momentum sending her body skidding. Her arms
flailed as she desperately sought anything to stop her out-of-control slide.

Her ordeal unraveled in slow motion. It was as if she’d stepped outside her body and was watching the events unfold and impact someone else. Her body was accelerating downward at an alarming speed and would soon be at the edge of the trail. She was helpless to stop it now. The momentum would surely send her careening off the edge and onto the rock sentinels that peppered the mountain. As she braced for the inevitable, she tried to relax her body as much as possible. For some odd reason she thought of drunk drivers walking away from horrific crashes because they’d been so loose that any injuries tended to be superficial. She tried, first fighting the terror rising in her throat, then the tightening of her body. She needed to relax.

She felt the rubble under her hands vanish and the fear rose and overwhelmed her. She was going over head first. There was nothing to stop her. She tensed as her head reached the edge and she glimpsed the sharp upright rocks below. As her body flew into space she screamed, “
Noooooooo
…”

****

The blood-
curdling scream echoed off the mountain. “
What the hell was that?
” Laura managed to squeak out. “It sounded like someone being murdered.” She crossed her arms and rubbed them, trying to erase goose bumps.

A torrent of rocks and rubble rained down on them. They stepped back and cast their eyes upward, trying to see what caused the debris shower. At first, nothing was obvious and then they watched in horror.

“
Oh, my God
,” Laura screamed, “someone’s fallen off the mountain.”

Willie raced back to the car and grabbed his bag. He ripped the binoculars free, stepped back, and propped his elbows on the roof of the SUV. He focused on the area where the body
went off the edge and followed what he thought would be the trajectory. He moved the binoculars back and forth in a methodical motion, covering every inch, but he didn’t see a body.

“Do you see anything, anyone?” Robert asked.

Willie shook his head. “Nope. It’s like they vanished.” He swept the glasses upwards just in case his estimation of the launching point was off. He locked onto a man rushing down what Willie figured was the upper part of the trail. “There’s a guy up there.”

“Where?”

“Above where the body went off, at the two o’clock position.”

Robert craned his neck and glimpsed the man as he continued his rapid descent. He glanced around looking for Alec. “Where’s Alec?”

“He’s headed up the trail,” Laura answered.

“Son of a bitch,” Willie swore. “I told ya guys no heroics. We don’t know what we’re up against.” He threw his backpack over his shoulders and headed out after Alec. “Stay here,” he barked at Robert and Laura as he jogged up the trail. “There’s only one of me and I can’t go after all of ya.”

****

Thump!
Katie crashed to the ground, landing on her side, her left arm cushioning her fall. She didn’t move. The only signs of life were her racing heart and erratic breathing.
Concentrate. Control your breath. Slow your heart. You’ve survived the fall,
she told herself. Gingerly she rolled her weight off her left arm and then lay on her back, staring up at the azure blue sky. There was pain but nothing to indicate anything was broken. She reached her right arm over her chest and ran her fingers gingerly over her left arm. “Ow,” she moaned then bit her lip and inhaled sharply when her hand touched her left elbow. The pain was throbbing but seemed to be centered only around her elbow. Near as she could tell she’d suffered no breaks. She inhaled again, trying to counteract the pain.

She raised her right hand and carefully swept it across her face. Other than the scrapes she could feel with her hand, there didn’t seem to be any cuts or gashes. She held her hand up and opened her eyes. There was minimal blood, confirming her findings.

In her peripheral vision, she glimpsed rock outcroppings. “Where the hell am I?” She placed her right hand at her side, palms down, and slid it down and then outwards, searching for the edge… the edge of what? She raised her uninjured arm over her head and then moved her arm and legs in a snow angel motion. She appeared to be on solid, flat ground. Surely she hadn’t fallen to the valley floor. That was hundreds of yards straight down. She gulped as she realized how lucky she was. If she’d fallen down the mountainside, she most likely would be impaled on the pointed rocks that dotted the landscape.

Outcroppings loomed over her left side. She slightly rolled her body in that direction and saw that she was lying on a small, narrow plateau. She tried to raise her left arm. She cringed as the pain shot through her arm.

Katie twisted her body back and forth, inching closer to the rocks. When she felt that she’d moved at least two feet nearer, she rolled onto her stomach. Once she was convinced that she was, at least for the moment, on solid ground, she pushed her hand into the ground and sat back on her heels. She gasped and her heart raced as she saw how close she’d come to severely or even fatally injuring herself. She shifted her weight to her right side, pain now shooting from her left knee. She pushed her glasses back up her nose. “How incredible is it that my glasses survived unscathed. Thanks to whoever is watching over me. Mom, Dad, I pray it’s you,” she whispered as she blinked back unshed tears.

She jumped as a rock bounced off her shoulder. “Ouch,” she cried as she rubbed the spot.

“Katie? Katie? Are you there?”

She leaned on a boulder, trying to stand. She winced as her injured knee started to buckle under her weight. She rested her back against the boulder, raised her good hand over her eyes and looked up. “I’m here. I’ve hurt my knee and my elbow, but other than some cuts and scrapes, I think I’m all right.”

“Thank God you’re okay. Do you think you can climb back up?”

“I need help.”

“I’m coming down. Hang on.”

“Why would you help me after I ran away from you?” Katie asked as she braced herself and pushed off from the boulder, gingerly putting her weight on her left knee, which promptly bowed. She transferred the bulk of her weight to her other side and used her arms to support and balance her body as she slowly moved forward.

Josh called down to her. “I told you it was never my intention to keep you captive

forever, just until I could verify what you translated.”

“The runes, are they really here?”

He nodded. “Yes and you were right next to them before you got sick back there. They’re in the large cavern.”

“I need to see them. Will you help me up?”

“I can come down and help, but I don’t have any climbing gear. If you’re badly injured, I’m going to have to leave you and get help.”

“Let me see how far I can make it and then maybe you can help me the last bit, the ‘up and over the edge’ bit.” She scanned the terrain, trying to map out the best route. “How far do you think it is? I have a hard time judging distance accurately after ten feet.”

“Probably about twenty yards. I can guide you from up here. I’ll try to make it the most direct way, but it’s not going to be easy.”

“Believe me,
nothing
in my life has been easy, especially recently.”

“Katie, I’m sorry. I never meant for you to get hurt. I only wanted—”

What just happened? He was leaning over, talking to her and then he’d vanished. She covered her head with her right arm as rocks began to pelt her. What the hell is going on? “Josh?
Josh
?” she screamed.

She started to scramble faster up through the rocks. What the hell happened? One minute he was guiding her up and the next she heard the sickening sound of flesh hitting flesh followed by grunts and thuds. She froze in place, trying to figure out what was going on. She bit her lip in an effort to stop herself from alerting whoever was up there with Josh.

“You… you son of a… bitch, where is she?” The voice spat out between gasps of air. The sound of a heavy smack was the only reply. She crouched down and tried to flatten herself into the rocks, attempting to hide herself out of sight from above. More rocks flew down and pelted her.

“Katie? Katie?” a male voice called out, echoing off the rocks.

She held her breath. There was something familiar about the voice, but she couldn’t quite place it as it ricocheted off the stone pillars surrounding her.

“Answer me, Katie. N
ow
. KitKat, so help me… just talk to me.”

Her heart leapt. It was Alec. He was the one smacking Josh around. He was searching for her. After the way she’d treated him, he still came after her.

“Here. I’m here, Alec,” she yelled as she raised her arm and waved it above her head.

“
My God
,” he yelled, “
that was you I saw falling?
”

“I’m okay. A few scrapes—”

“
A few scrapes, my ass
. You’ve got a gash on the side of your head.”

She brushed her hand over the back of her head and felt something sticky. She brought her hand in front of her face and saw the blood, smelled the blood.

“Are you bleeding anywhere else?”

“I didn’t know I was bleeding.”

“Don’t pull the tough guy act with me, Katie.”

“I’m not. I really don’t know if I’m bleeding.” She started to pull herself upright and began climbing again.

“Stay there. We’re coming to get you.”

“That’s ridiculous. You just beat the crap out of him. And now you expect me to trust you and Josh to get me up there.”

“I think that cut has affected your brain. Willie and I are coming to get you. Hang tight.”

“Willie? Willie Jones? What… how…”

“Just relax, Katie. We’ll have ya topside in no time.” Willie beamed from above.

“Willie,” she sighed, “my hero.”

“
Hey!
What about me?” Alec glared down, his hands planted on his hips.

“If it wasn’t for ya, Mac, she wouldn’t be in this mess,” Willie snarled.

Katie didn’t like the feeling she was getting from those two. The tension was palpable. She quickly added, “I so wanted it to be you who rescued me, Alec. Thanks.”

He dropped his hands to his side. “Okay, let’s get you up here on solid ground and then down to the SUV.”

She saw him turn his head away and murmur something.

“Seems like we’ve got a few extra hands to help,” he called down.

“Katie,” Laura squealed. “Are you all right?”

Katie smiled, happy to be surrounded by her friends, her family. “Who exactly is up there?”