“I can’t believe Dupree took off like that.”
“It’s weird.” Sam sighed. “Maybe we should try the left because he said he was going in a direction that the public doesn’t usually have access to, right?”
“You know more than me.”
He took the lead. “Let’s go this way for a little while, and if we don’t bump into them, then we’ll come back. We know the way out is that way.” He pointed in the direction we’d just come.
“Okay. If you’re sure?”
“I’m not sure, but it’s better than sitting here and doing nothing. Think of it as an adventure.”
“Small spaces aren’t exactly my idea of fun.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t lose you. We’ll stick together, okay?”
“Okay.” I followed him. We didn’t get far before we had to crouch and then crawl on our hands and knees again. The uneven ground dug into my skin, leaving a painful small gash on my hand when it landed palm down on a jagged rock. Cold and fear mingled together, causing my breathing to become shallow and labored. The ceiling dripped in a strange rhythm. Drops of fresh water splattered on the back of my neck.
We came to a dead end. I heard Sam swear under his breath. “Nope. We have to turn around.”
“Onward,” I said with a smile. Gam always says that your body can feel your smile. I willed my body to feel the intensity of my fake grin versus the impending sense of doom looming over me. We made our way back to where we started, and Sam stood up and stretched. My knees ached and blood trickled from my hand.
“Did you get hurt?” Sam reached for my hand.
I wiped the blood on my pants. “It’s nothing.”
“Should we just go back?”
As much as I wanted to say yes, I shook my head. “No. We’re already here. We might as well finish this.”
“Finish it?” Sam sounded confused.
“Uh, I mean, finish my story. I need to take photos and stuff, you know?”
He nodded. “As long as you’re sure you’re okay.”
“I’m cool.” I pointed toward the tunnel we hadn’t explored yet. “Should we go that way?”
Sam stuck his flashlight in his backpack and headed into the darkness. Not only did the cave feel like midnight, but it was silent, except for the sound of Sam’s and my breathing and an occasional drip of water. The silence was sinister and made me feel even more closed in.
We pushed on. Sam stopped twice when we came to forks in the cave. Each time we veered right. “I learned from Professor LeAnna to always veer the same way. That way you won’t get lost on the way out.”
He sounded like he knew what he was talking about, but the deeper we traveled, the more worried I became. What if we couldn’t find our way out? What if there was an earthquake and the cave came crashing down on us? Have I mentioned that my creative brain tends to spiral into negative thoughts if it isn’t focused on a more productive outlet?
Arriving at another solid wall Sam swore again and pounded the rock with his hand.
“Are we lost?”
He turned on his flashlight and shined it in a circle around us. I noticed his headlamp was beginning to flicker. Great. That would be just my luck. Imagine if we lost our light sources. How in the world would we find our way back?
“No. I know how to get back, but I thought I saw light through that crack.” He focused his flashlight on a two-inch gap in the rock formation. “Look right there. Do you see it?”
“I don’t see anything.”
“This might help.” He clicked off the flashlight. Sure enough there was faint light seeping through the crack.
“Do you think that’s them?” I asked.
“It has to be. No one else is allowed this deep.” He sighed. “The question is, How do we get there?”
“We have to go back the way we came. Maybe we take one of the offshoots to the left that we passed?”
“Yeah. Probably. But Meg, remember we came in and went right and then right again. If we take a left, I don’t want to get us turned around. I’m breaking every rule that Professor LeAnna drilled into us.”
“These are special circumstances. Let’s backtrack and take a left. If that’s another dead end. Then we’ll come out take a right and repeat the same steps.” I was proud of how calm I sounded.
Sam squared his shoulder. “Deal.”
We traced our steps back to the first fork and took an even narrower tunnel to the left. I could feel my pulse pounding in my head as I tried not to freak out. That path led to another wall of rocks, so we meticulously repeated the process making sure that we knew how many turns we had taken each time. The second tunnel was wider, and as soon as we entered it we could see the glow of a soft light in the distance.
“This is it!” Sam shouted.
We hurried toward the light. To both of our surprise, when we made it to the source of the warm halo we found Harley bent over and digging through a pile of rocks. When Sam called hello, Harley jumped and dropped one of the rocks on his boot.
“What are you doing here?” he grumbled.
“We’re lost,” Sam said, catching my eye. “What are you doing?”
Harley shook his foot free from the rock. “Yeah, me too. Got lost and was looking for a way out.” He kicked the pile of rocks as if trying to hide something.
I could tell that Sam was thinking the same thing that I was. There was no way that Harley was lost. The question was, What was he doing deep within the lava tube alone?
Chapter 21
Harley quickly kicked more rocks around the spot that he’d been digging, then he blocked it with his body. “Have you seen the others?”
Sam put his finger to his lips. “Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Harley barked.
Holding up his index finger, Sam motioned for him to be quiet.
The sound of voices echoed in the tube. It was impossible to tell if they were close or really far away.
“That!” Sam looked at me.
“I heard it too.”
“I didn’t hear nothing,” Harley replied as his stuck his finger in his ear. “My ears are shot though. Years of working in the factory. The wife wants me to get hearing aids, but what good are those going to do me?”
Sam held out his hands again. “Wait, shhh.”
The three of us stood completely still as the sound of voices bounced off the walls. “Hello!”
“Hello!” Sam shouted back.
We waited for a minute and then the voice called out in response again.
A sense of relief washed over me. Thank goodness. At the same moment my head lamp blinked twice and went out for good. I fumbled for my flashlight, which I had tucked in my back pocket. Only it wasn’t there. It must have fallen out somewhere.
“I don’t have any light,” I said to Sam.
He clicked his headlamp off. “Mine is going too.”
Harley pulled a huge heavy-duty flashlight from his jeans. “Stick with me, kid. I’ve got enough battery juice to last for hours.”
The sound of the voices came closer and closer until we finally saw lights flashing at the far end of the tunnel. They reminded me of fireflies in a mason jar.
Dupree lead the pack to us. “Where have you been? We’ve been looking everywhere for you guys. I told you to stick together.”
“You took off,” I said. “We couldn’t keep up, and the next thing we knew everyone was gone.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Dupree waved us forward. “Let’s go. I’ve got to get you back to the top. I have a private tour soon.”
“But what about the rest of our tour? I didn’t even get a chance to take any photos or see some of the rock formations that Professor LeAnna has been studying.”
“Sorry. You’re on your own.” Dupree turned and started on his way.
I was fuming. It wasn’t my fault that we got lost. It was his, but there was no stopping him. Harley yanked my arm. “Come on, kid.” I let him drag me
out of the alcove and back into the main section of the lava tube. Dupree continued at a breakneck pace. My legs burned as I put every ounce of effort that I could into crawling over the cave floor.
“Why is he going so fast?” I huffed.
Harley let out a snarl. “He’s up to no good, that one.”
“What do you mean?” We came to the first section, and I could see that the ceiling began to rise a few feet ahead.
“He’s trouble,” Harley repeated.
I wondered what Harley meant by that. Was he referring to the fact that Dupree didn’t like him and didn’t want him and his hunting buddies on the Forest Service land? What was Harley doing by himself? He looked like he had been searching for something. Or worse, burying something?
I don’t know what came over me. Maybe it was that I could see light ahead and knew that we would be back to the stairs soon. Perhaps the thought of the sun and the security of the forest floor gave me a confidence boost. Or maybe I was delirious from the stress of being trapped hundreds of feet underground. Either way, I found myself asking, “Were you looking for something?”
“Huh?” Harley spoke in grunts more than words.
“Were you looking for something in the cave?”
He kept moving forward. “Yeah.”
“What?”
“You’re something, aren’t you, kid?”
“I just wondered what you were looking for. Maybe it’s something I can include in my feature.”
“You can’t include this in your feature, kid.”
“What?”
“Dupree.”
Now it was my turn to speak in one-word grunts. “Dupree?”
He gave me an odd laugh. “You asked what I was looking for. I told you, Dupree.”
“You were looking for Dupree?”
“Like I said, he’s up to no good.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You don’t need to.” He stopped and shined his light on the first step. “Go first, kid.”
I wanted to ask him more questions, but I knew that I had to concentrate on climbing back up the steps, and I didn’t get the sense that Harley had any intention of telling me much more. Why would he be looking for Dupree? Had Dupree taken off and deserted the entire group? But when he found us, Professor Leanna and the congressman were with him. Could Harley be lying? It was obvious that they didn’t like each other. Harley could be throwing suspicion at Dupree to hide what he was really doing. Like gathering rock samples. What was he digging for?
My brain hurt as I tried to sort through everything that happened. With each step I took, the light from above grew stronger. I was bummed that I hadn’t gotten much for my feature, but I was thrilled to see the sun again.
I saw even more than the sun when I planted my foot on the last wobbly step, exited the cave, and ran smack into Greg.
Chapter 22
“Greg, you’re here?” I couldn’t hide my shock. I knew that he said he was coming, but I didn’t anticipate that he would find me in the lava tube. I wiped sweat from my brow and blood from the palm of my hand.
“I am.” He scowled and folded his chiseled arms across his equally muscular chest. “I told you I was coming.”
Uh-oh. This couldn’t be good. He did not look thrilled to see me. But for the first time in a long time, I didn’t care. I was glad to see him. I was ready to do this. I had to do this. Was he here because I told him about Sherriff Daniels and he was genuinely concerned, or was he here to make sure that this was as far as my search for answers would go? I was done playing games and feeling silly whenever Greg was around. It was time to figure out what he knew and whether he really had my back once and for all.
“Good to see you.” I meant it.
Greg nodded a hello to Harley and motioned to the parking lot. “We have work to do. Are you ready to go?”
I gulped. “Yeah. You bet.”
He strolled to his car with me tagging behind. Was he furious? Was he worried? He was impossible to read. When we made it our cars he turned to me. “There’s a pub not far from here. Follow me and we’ll grab some lunch.”
Without giving me a chance to respond, he hopped into his convertible. I remember the first time he gave me a ride in the car. I’d had a bit of a run-in with a cougar and nasty storm cloud on Table Mountain, and Greg drove me home. My nerves registered at an all-time high that afternoon. Greg had flown around curves and paid no attention to the road. He’d blasted rock music and made my heart flip. Let’s just say that I had a tiny crush on him when I first started working at Northwest Extreme. Those days were behind me. It was time for me to act like the serious journalist I wanted to be.
Unfortunately, Greg hadn’t exaggerated that the pub was only a few minutes away. The short drive didn’t give me enough time to craft a thoughtful response. Greg waited for me while I grabbed my bag. He had a file folder tucked under his arm. I wondered if he had signed the deal with Hoshino. Maybe I should take Matt up on the offer to talk his HR contact at Blazen.
Inside, the pub was nearly deserted. Two older men sat at the bar, and a family with three small children had taken over one of the booths. I got the impression that this was a local hangout spot. There weren’t any other tourists around.
“Let’s go back there.” Greg pointed to a table in the very back corner.
Was he worried that I was going to cry when he broke the news that he had sold and I was officially out of a job? Or was he really here to finally give me answers? I tried to keep my composure, but the minute we sat down I began babbling. “I know I kind of went off script, but I didn’t have another choice and I’m not going to apologize for it.”
Greg reached into his backpack, then placed a file folder on the table and raised his eyebrow. “What are you talking about, Meg?”
“I mean Kira, the ranger who was killed. Is that why you’re here?”
“You know why I’m here.” His voice was firm and sounded resigned.
My stomach sunk. He had sold Northwest Extreme.
“Don’t look so dejected. I should have done this a long time ago. This is my fault.”
I bit my bottom lip, trying to fight back tears, and nodded. I was surprised by my reaction. I hadn’t realized how attached I’d grown to the magazine and the entire team.
He tapped his fingers on the file folder. A waitress came to take our order before he could open it. The anticipation was too much. My heel bounced on the floor. I kept running my finger over the cut on my hand. When the waitress asked what I wanted, I could barely mumble a cohesive sentence.
“Are you okay, Meg?” Greg asked after the waitress left.
“I just want you to get this over with. The anticipation is killing me.” The table shook slightly in response to my bouncing foot. I wanted to cut to the chase and force him to tell me what he knew about the sheriff and Pops, but first I had to know if he was selling.
Greg frowned. “I’m sorry. I don’t know whether I made the right choice.”
“Just say it. I know this is the end.”
“The end?” Greg wrinkled his nose. “What are you talking about? That sounds extremely dire.”
“You’re selling, aren’t you? This is the end of the line for Northwest Extreme.”
Greg threw his head back and laughed. “Meg, you slay me sometimes. How many times have we had this conversation?”
“Huh?”
“This.” He waved his hand back and forth between us. “I swear at least twenty times. I’ve told you over and over how much I appreciate the energy and commitment you’ve brought to the magazine, and if I do decide to sell—which I haven’t yet—your job is safe.”
“You’re not selling?’
“No, well, I don’t know.” He shook his head and let out an exasperated sigh. “Twenty-somethings. Sometimes I think the gap between our generations is as wide as the Grand Canyon.”
“You haven’t sold it yet?” I repeated.
“No.” Greg scratched a nasty bug bite
on his forearm. “Which means that you better have a story for me. How’s your article coming together? And I want a full report on what happened to the forest ranger. Don’t try to tell me you haven’t been involved. I know you too well, Meg.”
“Right.” I launched into an explanation of where things stood with my feature. “I don’t like Congressman Riley. He’s way too slick, and I know Kira—the forest ranger who was killed—didn’t like him either. None of the Forest Service staff do, but he seems to be going out of his way to schmooze them.”
“He’s a politician, Meg.” Greg picked at the bite, which was the size of a quarter and matched the color of the burning lava rocks outside. “That’s what politicians do. They schmooze. It’s in his best interest to try to garner support for the bill from the Forest Service.”
“I know, but I don’t trust him. I can’t figure out his relationship with Harley either, and which one of them is actually pushing the legislation.” I tapped his arm. “What did you get bit by? That looks wicked.”
Greg glanced at the welt on his forearm. “Spider. Climbing Smith Rock. It’s nothing.”
Gam would disagree. If she were here she would have placed her hand over the bite and sent Greg a “zap” of Reiki. I thought about giving it a try, but who was I kidding? I was barely functioning. I wasn’t in any position to try to heal someone else.
“It sounds like you have all of the elements necessary for a serious piece on land rights,” Greg commented as our food arrived in record time. “Fast service,” Greg said to the waitress, who flipped her hair over her shoulder as she handed him a field green salad with blackened salmon.
I nodded, thankful that the lightning-fast delivery of our lunch would give me a moment to think about how to approach bringing up the topic of Pops. The waitress kept her flirty eyes on Greg as she nearly spilled my bowl of butternut squash soup on me.
“Dig in,” Greg said as the waitress walked off apparently irritated that he had ignored her overt attempts to get his attention.
I stirred my soup, allowing the olive oil that had been drizzled on top of the beautifully golden and creamy soup to mix in. “So there’s a chance you’re not going to sell?” I knew I was stalling, but I had to be strategic in how I steered the conversation to Pops.
In Cave Danger Page 15