“Please, just wait before you start shooting.” Shannon started toward the nearest line of stones. If Lurene wanted to shoot, Shannon probably couldn’t stop her, so she’d get closer, get a glimpse before she died. “I’d given up on my father. But maybe I was too quick. Maybe it’s up here after all.”
Striding forward, Shannon knew they’d found it. A city, at the very bottom of the earth. The stones, though crumbled, were clearly in a rectangle about the length and width of a modest home. There was even a spot with no stones where a door could have been.
“Is it ancient though?” Shannon asked herself. “Could there have been others here, Hozho’s people, the Supai or Havasupai? Hozho had called them both.”
“What are you talking about?” Lurene came up beside her, but Lurene was looking at the stone foundation, too.
“Hunt around. Maybe there’s gold, Lurene. I promise you I’ll let you have it. I just want to live to write about this. The gold is yours. We’ll help you get out of here and find a safe place.” Shannon couldn’t really make that promise for Gabe or any of the others. But maybe Lurene, if she got a gold cup or plate, would see the sense of not having a murder charge against her. And maybe she’d realize getting out of this place was a big task for one woman alone. Maybe survival, with or without gold, would triumph over whatever demons tormented her.
Shannon stood and paced the length of the house. Around twenty feet long and half as wide. Looking off across the flat land, dotted with widely scattered scrub brush, Shannon saw another one. She rushed toward it, thinking to find a village. Before she’d gone past the next foundation, she saw a piece of curved rock that didn’t look natural. Dropping to her knees, she saw a pattern on the rock, and carefully she brushed at it and uncovered a broken bowl. “Lurene, look at this! They did leave things behind.”
Coming up beside Shannon, Lurene crouched beside her. “That’s not gold.”
Smiling despite the situation, Shannon said, “We’ve only been here a few minutes, and we’ve already found signs of houses and proof that they worked in pottery. They could have metal here, too. And these houses, they aren’t like the hogans back at the Kinlichee settlement. These aren’t Indian buildings. Well, I mean, they could be, but I think they’re more similar to the cabins built by nonnative people. Like maybe, just maybe, a group of travelers from far away.”
“The city of gold?” Lurene asked in wonder.
Looking at Lurene and seeing a decent bit of rationality, Shannon said, “It stands to reason that there was never a whole city built of gold. That’s the kind of legend that grows and grows. But gold artifacts. Plates and chalices. Statues, jewelry, crosses, and other sacred objects. Those might be here. And if someone came all the way down here to hide, where else would they go? Where else would be safer than this?”
“It is surely the ends of the earth.” Lurene reached for the pottery shard.
Shannon had to resist the urge to protect the precious artifact from Lurene, but Shannon let her take it. The woman was calmer, but it wouldn’t take much to set her off in a rage.
Lurene stared at the broken bowl. It had a reddish color to it, with badly faded black stripes that were the attempt someone made to add a pretty touch to an everyday object. “Okay.” Lurene’s eyes slid back from the edge of madness, and she looked determined but rational. “Let’s search some more. Let’s see if there’s any gold.”
Shannon caught Lurene’s arm, gently. She didn’t want the woman to think it was an attack, but she needed her full attention. “I don’t know what kind of life you had back in St. Louis. You’ve said enough for me to know it was bad, a life you hated and will go to any lengths never to return to, but what we’ve found here is important.”
Lurene looked away from Shannon at the lines of stone, and Shannon saw skepticism.
“It is. This is an expedition if you’ll remember. I started this to follow my father’s maps and find his treasure.”
“Treasure.” Lurene looked at the pottery and made a sound of disgust and shoved the bowl back at Shannon.
Fumbling to hang on to the precious object, Shannon managed to get the bowl cradled in her hands without dropping or breaking it. “Yes, treasure. You were part of a scientific expedition that took us to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. You’ve done a lot of hard work to get here hoping to find vast wealth, but if you’ll only see, this is a kind of wealth.” Shannon held out the bowl.
“And I can let you help me get the story told about what we found. I can help you find honest work you’ll like. I’m willing to help you find a better life. Please, the real treasure we’ve been searching for is knowledge, and you’ve got as much of it about this place as I do. You’re a witness to a huge discovery. What you’ve seen and learned has value. Give a different life a chance, please.”
“No, if I go back, I’m trapped.”
“Then we won’t go back. I can help you start a new life somewhere else. Anywhere else. No one needs to know how you’ve lived, what you got trapped into as a child. You can remake yourself. You can start a life that you’re proud of, a life of honor and dignity. I swear I’ll help you.” Shannon wanted to tell Lurene that God would help her, too. But she hesitated. It would be too much. If the woman would just agree to try an honest life, begin making money, find a home where she was safe, then the Lord could come next.
Then Shannon knew she was doing it again. Making the same mistake she’d made before about treasure and streets of gold. She was thinking of Lurene laying up treasures on earth, as if that was the first step. But it wasn’t. God was first. That’s the only way for Lurene to truly change. “Lurene, you need to put your trust in God.”
A scowl turned the corners of Lurene’s lips down. “Why did I know you’d start preaching at me?”
“I’m not preaching, Lurene. I’m telling you what I’ve learned. I’ve spent the last two years of my life pursuing this treasure.” Shannon swept her hand over the grassy flat. “I’ve ignored everything else in life. I’ve endangered good people.”
She thought of the news that all of Lurene’s companions were dead. “My actions led to the death of your friends.”
“They aren’t my friends,” Lurene sneered.
Shannon wasn’t sure if the lack of compassion in Lurene’s attitude was good or bad. She wasn’t grieving, but it was so cold, so heartless. Could someone as lost as Lurene find her way back to God and a decent life?
Of course, yes, but Shannon was sowing seeds on a soul as hard and stony as this canyon. “It’s all been because of my obsession with finding a treasure here on earth, and I didn’t even need the money.”
Gabe had said it was for pride. He’d been right. Pride and a need to prove her father had loved something worthy.
“You might not need the money, but I do.” Lurene rose to her feet and, her face a bitter mask, turned away.
“If there’s gold here, you can have it. If there’s not, team up with me and let’s both of us find a better life, a life where we search for real treasure, the kind of life that leads to walking with Jesus in heaven.”
Lurene turned back. She was listening, considering, but her doubts were plain.
“Just think about what I’ve said, please.” Shannon got a quiet sense that if she pushed Lurene right now, she’d lose her forever. “Let’s search this place.”
Reluctantly, Lurene nodded.
Shannon turned back to the stone foundation before her. She dropped to her hands and knees inside the rectangle. There was no more pottery to be found there, so she began searching outside.
Lurene had gone to another spot, another home, and was searching just as diligently.
An area turned up shards. Digging with her bare hands as the sun pounded down on her back, Shannon wondered if she’d stumbled on a trash dump. She carefully laid the shards in a row.
Wiping away the sweat that poured off her forehead, she decided to take the bits of pottery back to St. Louis. In her imagination, she saw herself presen
ting them to the college professors who had mocked her father. She’d force them to see Professor Delmer Dysart as the visionary genius he was.
After all the searching, she admitted there was no gold. There never had been. This might not have been an Indian village. There may have been white settlers here at one time, even some of Coronado’s explorers. But more likely hunters or trappers. They were a bold bunch.
A small squeak drew her attention to Lurene who had moved from one sight to the next, not poring over them like Shannon, lingering over shards of pottery.
Silently, Shannon prayed that Lurene would catch the pleasure of searching for history rather than gold. “Did you find something?”
“Look!” Lurene held up an object crusted with dirt, working over it, cleaning it with her bare hands. Her excitement was clear. Dirt and sweat streaked Lurene’s face; her fingernails were caked with dirt. Her riding skirt had grass stains on the knees. She was a terrible mess, but the smile on her face gave Shannon hope.
Then the object caught a ray of the relentless sunlight. Shannon stood slowly, her eyes drawn to the object. As Lurene’s hands worked over the dirty thing, Shannon saw a chain hanging from it.
Shannon walked toward Lurene. The world receded as Shannon approached. The gusting wind that cooled her sweat-soaked gingham blouse was the only sound in the world. The blazing sun’s burning power gleamed off what looked, as Shannon approached, like a—a—”Is that a cross?”
Lurene jumped when Shannon got close.
“Stay back!” She’d forgotten the world just like Shannon had. Lurene whirled and stepped away, the object clutched to her chest.
“It’s a cross. I see letters on it. Is it Spanish? No, Latin.” Letters etched in a cross that looked like… solid gold? Shannon didn’t care about the gold. Sunlight glinted rays of color off gemstones embedded in the necklace. “This is it. This is really it. Proof that they were here, the Spanish bishops.”
“Stay back!” Lurene drew her gun. Shannon looked up to meet Lurene’s eyes. Lurene looked crazed and frantic as she backed away.
So completely had Shannon been fixated on that golden cross, she hadn’t seen Lurene.
“This is mine.”
And hadn’t Shannon promised just that? Hadn’t she given blithe permission to Lurene to keep any gold?
But now, Shannon saw the real thing and she wanted it. She wanted her hands on it. She wanted to feel the weight and study the jewels. And it should have been for the historical value, but it wasn’t. It was greed. She was no better than Lurene. But this expedition was hers. Artifacts found on it were hers. Wealth and fame to be gained from it were hers.
“Come back here with that.” Shannon was only distantly aware of the gun as she stalked toward Lurene and Lurene backed away. Shannon’s eyes were locked on that cross. It was bigger than Lurene’s hand, probably six inches tall and three or four wide. A golden chain spilled down between Lurene’s fingers.
The gun cocked and lifted.
Shannon advanced, her desire for that gold stronger than her survival instincts.
Another gun cracked behind her.
She tore her eyes away from the cross and saw Gabe. He was most of the way across the butte. He must have climbed up the opposite side.
“Get back here, Shannon. She can’t take us all.”
Shannon looked again. On the flat mesa she saw Gabe standing erect, but Bucky’s head appeared over the edge of the butte, and he rolled and scrambled to the nearest of the scattered rock foundations. They’d all be here soon.
Shannon hadn’t even noticed Gabe climbing because she and Lurene could see nothing but gold. Gabe strode toward them, still out of range but closing the distance fast.
“Get away from her,” Gabe shouted.
“I have to get that gold, Gabe. It’s what I’ve been searching for all this time.”
“No, you know gold isn’t the answer to anything. I thought you said you’d finally figured out where your true treasure lies.” Gabe’s eyes were steady. Sensible. And they were only for her. She tried. She fought all the uglier impulses that were tearing at her and tried to focus on what was really important. Life, friends, love, God. But the gold was like a siren song calling to her.
Bucky rose to his feet and started forward as another head appeared. Tyra.
Bucky looked past Shannon.
Shannon whirled around and saw Lurene racing for the brink of the butte. “Stop her!”
Shannon’s grasp on reason returned as she realized the risk Lurene was taking. “No, stop! You’ll fall.”
Lurene reached the edge, near the crevasse they’d climbed up. Shannon remembered that stretch of sheer rock. Lurene didn’t even look before she leaped.
“No!” Shannon raced after Lurene and skidded on her stomach, still in control enough not to jump over.
Lurene dangled by one hand five feet below, clinging to a scrub pine that grew on the steep incline.
Shannon saw the cross dangling from its chain on the same bush, but farther out. Lurene must have dropped it when she fell, but the cross had snagged and now hung there just beyond Lurene’s reach. The cross wasn’t important, not as important as a human life. “Grab my hand!”
“It’s mine.” Lurene didn’t even look at Shannon. She reached for the cross, her voice cracking with anguish. “It will save me.”
A root popped as the pine that held Lurene gave and then stopped. Rocks and dirt sifted loose with a clatter. Pebbles bounced down, down, down, and Shannon saw a handful of them bounce off the edges of the cave far below.
“No, Lurene. Look at me,” Shannon shouted, demanding that Lurene turn her eyes back upward. “That necklace will not save you. Gold can’t save anyone. Take my hand.” A whoosh of liquid drew Shannon’s eyes to the bottom of the butte again, and she saw the water pouring into the pit that had almost swallowed her whole only a short while before. That pit was right below them. With horror, Shannon remembered the sound of the water flowing into it as if it fell forever.
“Lurene, a fall from this height might be fatal, but survival is at least possible. But that hole in the ground is right below you. You’ll never live through that fall. No golden necklace will help you if you’re dead.” Hadn’t Shannon survived a fall from a cave? Nowhere near this far, but she’d slid more than fell, and she’d lived.
Shannon’s stomach twisted to think of Lurene falling into that chasm. In this dangerous, wickedly beautiful land, Lurene might fall forever, for all eternity.
“Look at me, Lurene.” Shannon scooted out farther, reaching. “Forget the gold. It’s not worth your life. There’s a pit down there. Remember that? If you fall into it, you’ll die.”
Lurene looked up at Shannon then back at the gold. Its chain tangled in the branch, the cross hanging down. Her hand reached, clawed for wealth. She inched farther out on the tree, and it curved down—the cross slipped farther yet. The chain clinked and slid until only one link hung from a narrow branch on the tree. “I can get it. I can reach it.”
“No!” Shannon screamed, reaching down, down, down, scooting farther out until she was bracing her stomach—her tough belly—on the rim of the butte. “No, look at me.”
The tree root gave another inch. Lurene jerked lower, and fear must have penetrated her obsession because she looked back at Shannon and, in an instant of clear thinking, turned her attention to survival. She reached up, her eyes now awash in fear but rational. Their fingertips touched. Shannon scooted forward again, too far out, but she had to risk it. She clasped Lurene’s hand. Lurene looked at the pine tree, now hanging by only a few strong roots. Their grip held.
Then, as if she heard the song, Lurene looked back at the gold. “I can get it.”
“You can’t. You’ll fall. The roots are giving way.” The call of wealth was louder. Lurene released Shannon’s hand, and holding with one hand to the tree, she threw herself wildly toward the cross.
“Lurene, no!” Shannon made a desperate lunge for Lurene.
Twenty~Four
Screams fell away. The dull thud of a body striking stone became more distant and more awful.
“Shannon, no!” Gabe landed on the edge of the bluff and looked over the edge to see Shannon below him, dangling from a fragile, gnarled pine tree.
Lurene was far below, her plunging body landed with a horrible bone-crushing thud against a rocky cave opening. Her body bounced. He heard the ugly crack of her skull on stone. Then Lurene vanished into the depths of that gaping black maw.
Sickened, Gabe said, “Grab my hand, Shannon.”
Pebbles popped as the pine tree pulled away from the cliff, dropping Shannon beyond Gabe’s reach. Her strong arm clung to the branch. Her other arm was free; her sling hung around her neck. But she was still injured.
He’d thought it was her screaming, her falling. Gabe had felt as if his heart were torn from his chest and cast into the depths with her in those seconds. Gabe reached for the rope he’d hung from his belt after he’d lassoed Shannon last time.
Her shoulder? He hated this, but he was going to hurt her again. If only he could somehow get it around her tough little belly.
He opened a noose and dropped it down. “Thread your left arm through this then poke your head through.”
“You’ve been on the verge of hanging me ever since we met.” Shannon fumbled with the noose. Gabe saw her pain as she worked it over her arm.
The root gave again, and Shannon shrieked.
“Hurry.”
She poked her head through the noose, and it looked for all the world like a hanging.
Gabe tightened the knot, not liking a bit the way it looked. It wasn’t as good a hold as he needed at all, but he saw no way to make it better. “That tree won’t hold much longer.”
She looked up. “Ready.”
Gabe was sickened to think of her dangling from the poorly placed noose. Worse yet, of her body slipping through it while he stayed safely above and watched her plummet into that pit, falling, dying. Fighting the collywobbles, he eased her weight off the pine tree a bit at a time to see how the knot held.
Deep Trouble Page 28