Everyone seemed to hold their breath as they listened for a response that never came. “Try it again,” Jean-René whispered. Joshua had to find another branch. He’d cracked the first one and it fell apart in his hand. The second gave off a deep, almost musical resonance. Only seconds later, a similar crack echoed from the distant woods. Joshua’s eyes lit up and his good-natured smile glowed in the night vision camera.
“It came from that way.” Jean-René pointed, and they took off down a narrow trail into the valley on the other side of the mountain. Their enthusiasm increased as a distant howl echoed in the woods. Jean-René didn’t hesitate but whooped back in a similar tone.
“Did you hear that?” Bahati’s voice squawked over the radio.
“We’re on it,” Joshua responded.
“We’re headed that way too.”
Chapter 33
It was a mad dash through the woods, breaking branches and thundering feet in the underbrush. When Jean-René skidded into the clearing, the teams converged on nothing more than a grassy meadow, heavy with fog as the morning sun cracked over the top of the volcano.
“Tabernaque!” Jean-René wanted to pitch his camera into the mist. He resisted the urge. He set it down with more force than he’d intended. “Merde!”
“You didn’t see it?” Bahati panted, nearly doubled over with the exertion of her own chase.
“Did you?”
“We thought we were right on its tail.” She stood with her hands on her hips, catching her breath.
“What was that?” Joshua asked.
“I never got a good look at it,” Pauline said. “But it sounded big! Huge!”
“But you didn’t see it?” Jean-René asked.
“Just in shadows. It moved so fast.” Joshua sat down on a stump, wiping his brow with a bandana. “We’re just chasing ghosts out here. Let’s go back to camp. I’m hungry.”
Jean-René nodded. “I bet Rowan and Lauren will have breakfast ready.”
* * *
When they arrived back at camp, the fire had gone cold, and there was no sign of breakfast, much less Lauren and Rowan. A broad grin spread over Jean-René’s face. “That dog!”
“What?” Bahati paused. “Where are they?”
“He said he’d talk to her,” Joshua said. “They should have been back by now.”
“Oh, I’m sure he’s giving her a good talking to,” Jean-René said. He had a glimmer in his golden eyes and a strongly implied innuendo in his voice.
Bahati shook her head. “Whatever!”
“Come on, I’ll cook breakfast,” Pauline said. “If they need time to talk, or whatever, they can have it. We’re not likely to see any more of our fuzzy friend now that the sun is up.”
* * *
“Lauren?” Rowan ran to catch up to her. When he caught her arm, she turned and buried her face into the middle of his chest. He was helpless to do anything more than wrap his arms around her. “Are you okay?”
“You and Jean-René think I’m crazy.”
“Nobody said that.”
“You don’t have to,” she sniffed, pulling away. “It’s written on both of your faces.”
“Lauren,” he caught her hand, and pulled her back into him. “Nobody thinks you’re crazy.”
“But ...” she started to protest.
“Look. We all know something happened to you. I can’t explain it, but I will admit that it frightens me. All this talk about the rabbit and Tsul’Kalu ... it’s not like you. You and I both know that. We’re worried about you. That’s all.”
Lauren looked down, carefully guarding her feelings. “I have lived my whole life being the odd one. When my brother went into engineering, he was seen as bright and brainy. When I went into biological anthropology I was seen as a nerd. I was told women couldn’t do science. They said I should just get my teaching certificate and teach high school biology.”
“Look, you’re a fantastic scientist. You’ve never needed to prove that to anyone. Least of all me. I know you think you have to prove something, but you don’t.”
“I may not have to prove it to you, but I saw the tabloids in the airport in San Diego. I know what they’re saying about me ... about our whole team, and I won’t have it.”
“It’s not your job to protect everyone’s credibility.” Rowan softened his tone, hoping to soothe her. “We didn’t need to come back here for you to prove anything. You know that, right?” Rowan knew he’d made a mistake the minute the words came out of his mouth. Fire flashed in her eyes and her jaw clenched.
“You know we had to come back,” she snapped. “And you know why.”
“But at what risk?” He started, but her eyes flashed in the darkness. “Lauren.” He started to rephrase his argument, but she flipped around so fast her braid whipped, smacking him in the face as she stomped off.
Standing in the aftermath of his mistake, Rowan put a hand on his hip and pursed his lips. He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. He rubbed his face and shook his head. “Lauren,” he called after her. She didn’t answer. The crunching of the rocks and dirt beneath her boots told him she hadn’t even slowed down. He took another moment longer to regain his composure, then set off after her.
* * *
The terrain grew more uneven as they got closer to base camp. The trail narrowed. He could hear her moving ahead of him, but she still wasn’t answering him, and her pace hadn’t slowed. “Lauren, please.” He heard her come to a skidding stop on the rough terrain, less than a dozen paces behind her. The sliver of sunrise through the trees was just enough to illuminate her features as she froze. She turned towards the clearing. The look on her face told him she’d seen something. He crossed the distance between them before she moved. He came up behind her. A dark shadow melted into the dense vegetation up on the ridge and Rowan was certain he’d seen the flash of eye-shine for a split second. “Did you see that?” Rowan nudged her.
“I did,” she said. Her voice was a haunting whisper.
“Was that your Tsul’Kalu?”
“No,” she said. “But maybe one of his friends ...”
“Well come on,” Rowan pressed past her and started up the hillside. “Let’s go find it.”
* * *
They followed the lumbering noises through the woods at a quick pace. Lauren made better progress than Rowan. He was breathless and bathed in sweat. I’m too old for this, he thought. There was the sound of a sudden scuffle and Rowan saw a flash off the reflector on Lauren’s jacket as she tumbled to the ground. It startled him. He couldn’t see her pick herself up.
Frantic, he skidded down the rocky hillside. He wove through the saplings that separated them. When he got to the spot where she’d fallen, or where he’d thought she’d fallen, she wasn’t there. “Lauren?” He raised his voice, calling out her name again. She’d been right there! He never saw the fist coming at him.
It caught him square in the throat. He stumbled back, turning as he fell to his hands and knees. He gasped. He couldn’t breathe. A boot caught him in the ribs. Any air he had left in him, was knocked out. Ribs shattered on impact. Jagged bone grated against his lung. He landed flat on his back, looking up at the face of the man that had kicked him. Beside him appeared the face of none other than Bigfoot himself. “Son of a...!” He heard Lauren swear. The world spun and he lost his grip on consciousness, peering into the eyes of Bigfoot.
Chapter 34
“Damn you!” Lauren snarled, falling back against the tree where she was tossed. Her head struck the trunk. The echo of it rang in her ears. “I said leave him alone!”
Bigfoot pulled off his mask. He turned around and roared at her. The man’s face had been painted around the eyes to help conceal the fact that it was a mask. It gave him a menacing look. The fact that the guy was as big as a mountain didn’t hurt anything either. “You bit me!” The Bigfoot protested, holding his arm. She had, too — as hard as she could. Blood welled up under the marks left behind by her teeth. “You’re always m
ean to me. I don’t like you.” He moved to strike her, but he didn’t.
“You!” Suddenly, everything came flooding back to her. She’d run into these two before. It hadn’t been Bigfoot that captured her. It had been this ... this ... hoax-monger in a monkey suit. Jess’ voice reverberated in her ringing ears.
“Shut up, Billy!” The other man snarled at the fake Bigfoot.
The giant seemed to cower. “Sorry, Mitch. Ain’t it bad enough I already got a cut on my hand from that metal at the campsite? I don’t need her biting me too.”
“You obviously didn’t learn your lesson last time. She already kicked you in the gonads,” Mitch said.
“I’ll teach her another lesson if she bites me again.” Billy drew back his fist to strike her again. He didn’t. Lauren set her jaw and stared him down defiantly. She realized he was pouting more than anything.
“We’ll just have to teach her a better lesson this time, Billy,” Mitch said.
“What are we going to do?” Billy’s eyes widened. He lowered his hand and stepped away from her.
“We’ll take ’em down the lava tube. We’ll take em so deep they’ll never find their way out. We’ll leave ’em there.”
Billy shrugged. He put his mask on. He collected the unconscious Rowan and slung him over his shoulder with little effort. Rowan moaned.
“You’re hurting him!” Lauren sneered.
“Look at how strong I am.” He gloated to Lauren. “I’m stronger when I’m Bigfoot. I’m like Superman or something.” He growled. “I can do a lot of things. I can pick up heavy stuff better. I can run faster. I can climb trees better. I can do everything better.”
“Zip it already, dork.” Mitch snapped angrily. He came over and stood in front of Lauren. She refused to stand. “You gonna walk, or do I have to carry you?” He asked. When she refused to follow his order to stand, he threw his hands down. “Fine.” He reached down to pick her up by her shoulders. He hadn’t expected her reaction. She came up fighting. He’d left himself exposed. She took advantage of the situation to ram her knee into his groin, then bust him over the head with her bound hands. When he buckled, she kicked him in the face. He fell to his knees.
She ran over and kicked the Bigfoot in the back of the knee. He roared as he fell hard, dropping Rowan, who howled in pain as his ribs shifted. Jagged bone grated against tender flesh. She shoved the giant down and pinned him to the ground, catching him in a sleeper hold. Lauren knew she couldn’t defeat a brute his size in a battle of strength. If she could take him out before he could get back on his feet, then she had him.
Lauren never saw it coming. A fist caught her across the side of the face. Her grip loosened as she slumped. Stars danced in her eyes. Mitch stood, still buckled over. His eye was starting to swell shut. He’d sucker punched her just the same. The darkness came for her. The last thing she remembered was seeing him draw back his fist to strike again.
* * *
When she came to, it was in complete darkness. She could hear a deep voice groaning beside her. “Rowan?” She roused fully. She reached for him. She found him in the dark. He yelped when her hand found him. “Rowan, are you okay?”
“What the hell? I thought I saw Bigfoot.” He groaned. “What the hell hit me?”
“That was Bigfoot’s buddy, Mitch,” she said, pushing herself up to seated, realizing her hands were still bound. “You’re wheezing.”
“I can’t ... catch my ... breath.”
“Think your ribs may be broken?”
“Oh, I’m sure of it,” he groaned. “I’ve got to sit up.”
“Let me help you,” Lauren said.
“Where ... are we?” He asked. She caught his arm, trying to help him sit up. He sucked in his breath as she helped him “Ow...ow...” He wheezed as he leaned back against Lauren’s chest.
“I don’t know. A cave?” Lauren said, resting her head on his shoulder. “Are your hands tied?”
“Yeah,” he said. “My feet too. You?”
“Yes,” she said. “But I have an ace in my sleeve.”
“You do?”
“A Swiss Army knife in my pocket, actually,” she said, getting a hand into the side pocket on her cargo pants. “Idiots made the mistake of binding my hands in front of me, instead of behind my back.” A moment later, her hands were free; then her feet. “We have to get you out of here. You need a doctor.” She took the knife and carefully cut him loose.
“Where’d the Bigfoot go?” He gasped.
“You mean the hoax-monger in a monkey suit? Billy is what the other one called him.”
“Oh.” He groaned. “Just a couple of guys?”
“Yeah.” Lauren said, disappointed by that fact.
“Where’d they go?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I got sucker-punched too.” Her face was throbbing. It was everything she could do to keep it together. Right now, getting Rowan out of here before his condition deteriorated was her only priority. If he did have broken ribs, the wheezing suggested a lung might be punctured. She didn’t have to be a trained medic to know wheezing like that wasn’t a good sign. She desperately hoped he wouldn’t succumb to a tension pneumothorax. She’d taken a human anatomy class in college and had to dissect a human cadaver. Their subject, a vagrant who’d been struck by a car, had died of one. She cringed remembering the look of the dead flesh and the trauma she witnessed.
“Got a flashlight too?” Rowan asked.
“I wish. We’ve got to get you up. Can you?” She got to her feet. It was an effort to get him to stand. He growled at her, clutching his injured side with the other arm. “Watch your head. There’s not a lot of clearance.”
Had he been able to stand to his full height, he might have whacked his head on the cave ceiling. Instead, he leaned heavily on her. He doubled over painfully as he shuffled.
Lauren put out a hand to feel the cave wall, so she didn’t hit her head or Rowan’s. They worked their way along the narrow passageway, but within a few yards, he was gasping for breath.
Lauren paused. “Take a minute.”
“Yeah,” Rowan panted, but dropped to one knee. “You may have ... to go without me. Get help.”
“I am not leaving you, Rowan.” Lauren was firm in her resolve on this matter. “If we’re down in one of those lava tubes I may never find my way out. Even if I do, I may never find my way back.”
He couldn’t argue with that logic. “Okay ... okay ...” he said trying to keep his breathing slow and shallow. “Go slow ...” he willed himself back onto his feet.
Chapter 35
“We have no choice,” Pauline said, “If we’re going to rendezvous with the helicopter so Bahati can get the samples to the lab, we have to leave now.”
“I’ll go with you,” Morrison said. “Pauline and I should be back before dark.”
Jean-René had been pacing for hours, sitting down occasionally only to pop right back up again. His eyes returned to the mountaintop every time he paused. “Go, then. We’ll start the search for Lauren and Rowan. They should have been back by now.”
“I agree,” Miller said. “I’m assuming they’re skilled and trained in wilderness navigation and survival?”
“Lauren lived in Yellowstone studying wolves. Rowan is former military,” Jean-René said. “They both know what they’re doing. This is why I am worried. They are not lost. If they haven’t come back by now, it is because something is wrong.”
“We can have the chopper do a fly-over before it leaves,” Joshua said.
“Good idea.”
“We’ll start where we saw them last, and work our way up to the river,” Jean-René said, gathering up everything he might need in his pack.
* * *
“Dammit,” Lauren swore. She stood for a moment, trying to still her thundering heart. She hated tight spaces, and the darkness made it worse. A rock fall in front of them completely blocked the path. “We have to turn back.”
Rowan nodded, but it was everything he co
uld do to focus on his breathing, and she didn’t expect an answer anyway.
“Do you remember the pyramid in Egypt?” She talked to calm him as much as to calm herself. “The guide told us the secrets of the maze?”
“Always keep ... your right hand ... on the wall,” Rowan gasped softly.
“It doesn’t work,” she said. “I’ve been doing that since we started moving.”
“Too bad ...” he said. “Worked in Egypt.”
“Ow! Dammit!” She gasped when she struck her knee on an outcropping of volcanic rock.
“You have a way of finding the jerks and ticking them off.” Rowan chuckled. “I thought ...” he stifled a laugh. “I thought you ... were ... gonna ... punch him. Just like I thought you were going to punch the escort in Peru.”
“Don’t think I didn’t want to,” she smiled. “You should have seen what I did to Mitch.”
“Who’s that?”
Lauren had already told him the names of their attackers. She thought it odd he’d already forgotten. “Here, you need a break,” she said, feeling for a spot, helping him sit against the wall of the lava tube. She knew better than to lay him down. She had to get him out of here. It concerned her that she couldn’t see him. She suspected his color was poor. He felt clammy when she ran a hand over his brow. “I want you to stay right here,” she said. “I’m going to scout ahead just a little and see if I can’t find a turn we missed somewhere.”
“Just keep ... talking ... to me.”
“I will,” she said, patting his shoulder, finding his cheek with her hand, noting he’d broken out into a cold sweat. “Just stay with me, promise?”
“Promise.”
“So, if we’re thinking of a fall wedding ...” she began. Lauren felt her way along the lava tube. “I was thinking maybe an outdoor wedding. I think it would be pretty to be married under the aspen trees. Remember that little place outside of Estes Park?”
“Where you ... fell in the ... river?”
“You’re never going to let me live that one down. Are you?”
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