by Valerie Parv
He forced the cold, steely sense of purpose that had served him through countless undercover investigations to take over from hot-blooded anger, making him clear-headed enough to function. Later would be soon enough to plan Horvath’s retribution. Right now, Ryan’s task was to keep the chopper in sight and be ready to back Judy up when the time came.
The opportunity arose sooner than he expected. Seeing the chopper tilt drunkenly, his hands tightened on the wheel. What the devil was she doing? His question was answered when Horvath slid out the cockpit opening, scrabbling desperately for any handhold. He finally hooked an arm around the skid. A gun dangled from his bandaged hand and his legs pumped air.
Ryan floored the accelerator and closed the distance between them, praying Judy would stay low in spite of the danger. Just a few more minutes, he implored her silently. Then he was under the chopper as it bucked and swayed, unbalanced by Horvath’s weight.
The dangling gun was Ryan’s target. He jammed the accelerator until he was underneath Horvath. Like a movie stuntman, he swung himself out through the door and put everything he had into a vertical leap, grabbing for the gun. As he’d hoped, the move dislodged Horvath’s precarious hold on the skid and the two men plunged into the spinifex grass which cushioned the fall. Ryan heard his car bump up against a tree, the engine snorting steam.
Tucking and rolling, Ryan came up swinging, his doubled fist connecting with Horvath’s nose before the other man had regained his feet. Blood spurted and Horvath screamed, but he had the strength of desperation. He rolled away from Ryan, groping for the dropped gun. Unable to find the weapon, he clutched a thick branch of fallen timber. Brandishing the branch like a club, he forced Ryan to duck and weave to stay out of reach.
Even unarmed, Ryan knew he had several advantages. He was fitter and stronger. Max was fighting for a fortune. Ryan was fighting for something infinitely more precious—his future with Judy. Defeat wasn’t on his agenda. With a raised forearm, he deflected the branch before it crashed down on him and grabbed the end, pulling Horvath off balance. Then it was Ryan’s turn to swing the club and Horvath went down for the count.
Panting, Ryan stood over the prone form; Horvath didn’t stir. Pity. Ryan had just started to enjoy repaying him for all the misery he’d caused Judy and her father.
The chopper roared overhead, stirring up leaves and dust as Judy brought it in to land. Crouching to avoid the rotors, she hurried to Ryan, a wrench clutched in one hand. He looked at it wryly. “For me? You shouldn’t have.”
She looked down at Horvath and shifted the makeshift weapon to her left hand, then touched Ryan’s forehead. “What’s this?”
He hadn’t been aware of the cut above his eye. “It’s called blood.”
She grimaced. “Will I ever be able to stop patching you up?”
“Only if you stick with me and keep me out of trouble.”
Distress flared on her face, quickly masked. “I thought he was going to kill you.”
Seeing the look, his heart sang. She wasn’t as immune to him as she pretended. “Never occurred to you I might come out on top?”
She grinned, as much with relief as humor. “You did last night.”
The throbbing from the cut as he swabbed it with a handkerchief competed with a more elemental throb, making him want to take her in his arms there and then. Hardly good tactics under the circumstances. The wanting didn’t lessen. “Was Horvath headed for the gorge?”
“He heard Sunny mention the map and ordered me to help him find it.”
Thunderclouds were gathering in the east. “Then maybe we should, while we still have the chance.”
Her gaze shifted to the unconscious man. “What about him?”
“I have handcuffs in my working kit. We’ll restrain him and leave him here. I’ll call Tony Honda to come get him.”
She glanced toward the stalled vehicle. “Did you aim for the tree, or was it good luck?”
He gave her a pained look. “I aimed, of course.”
The cuffs were old and rusty but did the job of securing Horvath, who hadn’t regained consciousness. Ryan bundled the prisoner into the back seat of his car and slammed the door, wishing it were the door to a jail cell. A cursory hunt revealed no sign of the lost gun, and with the storm threatening, Ryan didn’t want to take any more time to look. If they were to have any chance of finding the mine, it was now or never.
This time, they were both securely strapped in when she lifted off toward Cotton Tree Gorge. “Max has flipped,” Judy said. “He was never that emotionally stable, but he’s finally cracked under the pressure.”
Ryan set his jaw. “Did he hurt you?”
“He couldn’t afford to while he needed my help.”
Thinking of the way she’d handled the helicopter, Ryan nodded. “I should have finished him once and for all.”
“You don’t mean that,” she said, afraid that he did. “Handing him over to the police is the right thing to do.”
“It’s better than he deserves. He took you way from me at gunpoint. I can’t forgive that.”
The stormy crosswinds demanded concentration, but she glanced at him. “This is why marriage between us won’t work. You’d want to wrap me in cotton wool, and I’d be worried sick about you.”
“You would?” He sounded almost pleased.
“Speaking hypothetically.”
She set them down as close as she safely could to the entrance to the hidden valley. When she pulled out the chopper’s first-aid kit and fussed over the cut on his forehead, Ryan fumed with impatience. “We don’t have time for this.”
“Conditions will be rough in there after last night. You won’t be much use if you can’t see where you’re going.”
“I knew it, you do care.”
None too gently, she slapped a dressing over the cut. “I don’t want the hassle of rescuing you from a flooded river cave.”
He grabbed her hand before she pulled it away and pressed his lips to her fingers, sending a jolt of sensation along her arm. “I love it when you fuss. We’re made for each other.”
She tossed the kit back into the helicopter. “Next time, remind me to let you bleed to death.”
The rope ladder was still in place and Ryan led the way down. Following him, Judy was shocked by how high the water had risen during last night’s storm. What had been a placid pool at their feet was now a foaming lake almost lapping the bottom of the ladder. The log bridge was still in place but rocked alarmingly as she clambered on to it, steadied by his outstretched hand.
In the main cavern, she noticed how much closer they were to the ancient rock paintings. During the night the trickling creek had swollen with the rain and was now a fast-moving band of brown water filling the cavern floor, forcing them to travel higher up the rocky sides.
At least it wasn’t dark. Early morning light angled through the roof of ferns meeting overhead, making it easy to spot the outcrop where Sunny had taken refuge. Reaching it was another matter. At this height, the rock walls were steep and slippery. Twice she almost lost her footing, but both times Ryan’s hand closed around her elbow, his strength supporting her. Better not get too dependent on the feeling, she cautioned herself. In spite of his certainty, they were not made for each other. She wouldn’t allow it.
The fear that had gripped her when he leaped from his moving car and tackled Max haunted her as they climbed. Marrying Ryan would mean accepting a lifetime of such worry over his safety. Better to walk away now than subject herself to that.
The decision didn’t make her feel better. Even the possibility that they were on the verge of finding the legendary mine wasn’t as much consolation as it should have been. Focus on the climb, she ordered herself. He couldn’t make her marry him. The thought nagged that he might not have to.
Reaching the ledge was another distraction when the limited space forced her to crouch close to Ryan to examine the diagram chiseled in the sandstone. As she fitted herself into the curve of his body, he
r stomach pressing against his back, she felt the now-familiar flare of need and desire. She pushed it away. “The words don’t make any sense.”
“That’s because they’re in Latvian, my grandmother’s language.”
“Lizina Smith was Latvian?”
He nodded. “Her real name was Sviklies. She changed it to Smith after she emigrated to Australia. My father taught me some of her language as a child after learning it from the relatives who cared for him when his mother died.”
“In her turn, Lizina must have taught Jack just enough to make the map.” Judy couldn’t help smiling. “He made sure whoever found it would have to share the information with her. Even if Max had gotten this far, the map wouldn’t have helped him. I can’t read it and I’ll bet he couldn’t either,” she said.
“I won’t have to, because Smith is going to translate for me.”
She jerked around, instinctively clasping Ryan as Max reared up on the ledge. He looked much the worse for wear and his eyes shone with a mad light. But the gun he held on them was too steady to be ignored. With the increasing sunlight to guide him, Max must have found the gun that Judy and Ryan had failed to locate in the darkness.
“How in blazes did you get away?” Ryan demanded.
“When I practiced law in Perth, not all my clients were on the side of good. One in particular taught me a few party tricks, like how to use a belt buckle to jimmy an old-style pair of handcuffs.”
“Remind me to update my kit as soon as we get out of here,” Ryan said dryly.
“I wouldn’t make too many plans yet, although you’ll be glad to know your car is still drivable. Faster than it looks, too.”
She needed no translation for Ryan’s response. It was earthy and crude, but she wholeheartedly agreed, heartily wishing Max would take the advice. Instead he held the gun to her head. “Translate the map, please, Smith.”
After everything they’d endured to get this far, she couldn’t believe Max was going to win. She opened her mouth to protest, but Ryan shot her a look that told her he was up to something. She subsided into silence, trusting him.
“According to this, there’s a fold in the rock a dozen feet to my right,” Ryan said, his finger tracing the outlines carved in the rock. “Beyond the fold are two concealed caves. The second leads to the diamonds.” He uncoiled from the ledge. “Be my guest.”
Horvath gestured with the gun. “You first, then her. I’ll follow.”
Ryan shrugged. “Your call.”
Edging around the fold, she was amazed to find herself in a concealed cleft floored by moss and ferns, the steep sides soaring to a tiny patch of sunlight high overhead where part of the roof had fallen in ages before. A narrow column of calcified rock was all that held up the remaining roof. Two dark half-moons in one wall had to be the cave openings indicated on the map. Below them, the raging river rushed past, the water level higher now than when they had scaled the rope ladder.
Almost at Ryan’s feet, a stone the size of a pea glittered and she picked it up. Instantly, Max snatched it out of her hand. “This looks genuine.”
“Dear heaven, we’ve found the mine,” she whispered, unable to believe they were really in the place where Jack Logan had discovered a fortune and lost his life. She shivered at the prospect that they might soon join him. Horvath wasn’t going to let them go now he’d reached his goal. Whatever Ryan had in mind, he would have to act soon.
Max waved the gun. “Back away, both of you. Judy, up against the column. Smith, arms around her waist.”
Horvath pulled out the pair of handcuffs. Judy pressed gingerly against the brittle column. Ryan stood behind her, placing his hands around her on either side of the column. Horvath snapped the cuffs around Ryan’s wrists on the far side of the column. Even without restraints on her own wrists, they were both effectively trapped. Any sudden move could shatter the filament of rock and bring the roof down on their heads. She held herself still in Ryan’s arms.
“Cozy, a real Romeo and Juliet ending,” Horvath sneered. “Too bad your belt buckle is out of reach, Smith.” Setting the gun down well away from them, he stooped to enter the second cave.
“You might want to think this over,” Ryan suggested, sounding remarkably calm considering the danger.
Horvath looked back. “Because this is the mine, or because it isn’t? How about if I try the first opening instead?”
“I wouldn’t.”
“That’s the real mine, isn’t it? What’s in the other? A hundred-foot drop to my death? Nice try, Smith.”
He ducked into the opening and Ryan murmured in her ear, “Whatever happens, don’t make any sudden moves or we’re both dead.”
In spite of his warning, she almost pulled back in shock at the sound of an anguished scream, then a brief struggle. Only Ryan bracing her kept her from wrenching the column holding up the cave roof. Then Max backed out of the opening performing a bizarre dance. A dance of death, she understood, seeing the huge, golden-tinged head and shining coils enmeshing him. The snake was as thick as her arm and perhaps ten feet long, its fangs embedded in Max’s wrist, right on the pulse point.
Like a stone, he toppled backward into the raging river, the King Brown snake, deadliest of its kind, falling with him. The river’s roar drowned out the splash, the current washing Max and his killer from sight.
Shuddering, she closed her eyes. “You knew, didn’t you?”
His chin rested on top of her head. “Jack’s map showed the snake cave. Obviously not the same snake, but it must be a favorite nesting place. I tried to warn Horvath.”
“He was too fixated on the diamonds to listen. Do you think a King Brown killed Jack Logan?”
“No. He was too aware the snake was there. I think he became trapped on the outcrop when the cavern flooded. We know his canoe washed up on the floating island just beyond the entrance to this valley, so he would have had no way out. Jack must have known he wouldn’t make it, and decided to carve the map for his Lizina to find when the floodwaters receded.”
“Horvath’s body will probably wash up on the island, too,” she said.
“If the crocodiles don’t get him first, Tony Honda’s people will recover the body.” His tone told her he was glad they didn’t have that responsibility. “You and I have pressing problems of our own.”
Pressing was putting it mildly. Having her so closely aligned with him was taxing his control to the limit, and they didn’t need the fit to get any tighter. “Are you getting wet?” he asked on a hunch.
“Can you keep your mind on our problem?”
“I am. Is your shirt getting soaked?”
“Now you mention it, yes. Rainwater’s seeping down the column from above.”
He’d felt it, too. “Are you slick enough to wriggle out without pulling on the column.”
“Just as well nobody else can hear that. You’d get arrested,” she said. But she sucked in her breath, held it and began to move carefully. As he’d anticipated, the rain coating the column eased her way.
In a sort of vertical limbo dance, she slid down his body inch by painful inch, her leg and back muscles protesting, until she was low enough to duck under his imprisoned arms without putting any pressure on the cuffs threatening to saw through the column.
When she stood up, she was shaking but free.
He also released the breath he’d been holding. “Keys to the cuffs are in my pocket.” His nod indicated which one.
She unlocked the handcuffs, returning the key to him. He pocketed the items then said, “I’m going to check out the second opening.” Skirting the delicate column, he ducked low to explore the side cavern. “You might not want to look,” he said from inside.
A shiver claimed her. “Is it Jack?”
“It’s Jack.” Ryan backed out and stood up. In his hand was a pouch made of kangaroo leather. He cupped her hand and spilled the contents into it.
In the light from overhead, the gems sparkled like stars. “Good grief, there must be
a fortune here.”
“There’s an even bigger fortune inside. Jack’s remains are lying beside a massive kimberlite pipe. I’m no geologist, but I’d say he enlarged a natural opening and tunneled straight into diamond-bearing rock, what the experts call blue ground. He must have found alluvial diamond deposits in Bowen Creek and backtracked here until he tapped into a fortune.”
“All he wanted was to share his find with his beloved Lizina,” she said, thinking of the title deed and the map directions in Latvian. Jack’s love for Lizina had shone through his every action including deeding the gorge to her, and carving the map in her native language. Yet Jack had died before he could claim his bride.
Life was precarious, nowhere more so than in the outback. Was Judy foolish to deny herself Ryan’s love because it would make demands or could be snatched away at any time? The same could be said of any life anywhere. She imagined Lizina Smith turning Jack down on such meaningless grounds. Or her mother refusing Des’s love because it might end someday. All life, all love ended. Was that any reason never to let love begin?
The pain she felt at a life without Ryan told Judy more surely than anything else that losing him would be far worse than any demands marriage could impose.
“Yes,” she said out loud.
Looking at her intently Ryan raised an eyebrow. “Yes, what?”
She lifted her chin. “Yes, I’ll marry you, if you still want me to.”
With a groan of frustration, he wrapped his arms around her. “I’ve always wanted you. You must know by now, I love you, but I was starting to think it might not be enough.”
“It’s more than enough. I just couldn’t see it.”
He seemed to be holding his breath. “And now?”
“I’ve learned from Great-grandpa Jack and his Lizina that it’s up to me what I put into a relationship, and what I get out of it. I’m an idiot for being afraid.”
“Does it help if I admit to being less than confident myself?” he asked.