Uncharted by Adriana Anders
Chapter 6
The dog jumped into the hole and the man shoved his pack inside, followed by Leo’s.
More aggressive pounding on the door made her jump and, though it hurt to bend and crawl, that was exactly what she did, cursing under her breath as she went.
“Go. Go.” There was no arguing with the urgency in his voice. “The passage is flat, then it dips. Push the bags ahead, if you can. Be right behind you.”
As fast as she could, she slithered through the stone crawlspace, shoving at the packs. She wouldn’t let herself imagine what kinds of creatures lived in the cave beneath the cabin.
After what felt like an eternity of crawling, one of the packs tipped over the edge ahead of her and fell to land somewhere below. She pushed the other down, almost entirely blind now. One outstretched hand encountered nothing but cold air.
A glance back showed only the smallest hint of light seeping down from above. What was he up to? Was he coming or had this been some creepy ruse to get her under his house? Crap. She could be trapped here.
“Hey! Are you—”
“Go!”
He doesn’t want to kill me. He doesn’t want to wear my skin.Bolder now, she waved her arm out and down, expecting a sharp drop. Instead, she slapped canvas a foot or so down—his backpack. She shimmied to the edge. Impossible to tell how big the space was, but it felt cramped and damp.
Sounds came from behind—banging, more fuel splashing. It stank even this far. The place would go up in seconds.
“Keep going! Don’t stop!” He didn’t bother whispering now, as if the urgency had amped up. As if he were barely holding the enemy back, waiting for her to advance before he could leave.
Faster than she’d meant to, she pulled forward until she dropped onto the pack, glad for the cushioning, though the fall sent a wave of nausea through her. She barely held in a shriek when something cold and wet touched her cheek.
It was the dog. Just the dog. “Geez, you scared me.”
For a precious second or two, she let herself sink to the cold, damp earth, leaned against the animal’s soft fur, and breathed, willing her head to clear. Up was down in this darkness. Down was up. Were her eyes even open?
The sounds behind her were muffled by distance and, she figured, tons of rock. Were they battering through the door? Had they made it in? She scrabbled for something to guide her, connected with rough stone, and pushed slowly to standing.
“Grab your pack and go! Far as you can get!” he ordered, his voice low and terse, closer now. She’d made it maybe a dozen stumbling steps when a red light infused the cave. She turned in time to see what looked like a handful of flares disappear before something slammed shut, leaving them in the dark. Then, judging from the quick, frantic sound of fabric scuffing against the ground, she guessed that he was army-crawling through that tight tunnel—fast.
Carefully, hand to the stone wall, rough even with gloves on, she felt her way forward. Something crashed so hard it resonated through her feet. The front door? Were they in?
Time’s up.
Light suddenly blinded her. She raised her hand to shield her eyes. After a few dull seconds, she realized that the man was moving toward her, wearing a forehead lamp.
“Run.” He hefted his bag. “Now.”
She moved, pushing her body as fast as it would go, and focused on the narrow illumination he provided. After they’d advanced maybe ten, twenty, or infinity feet, something, he grabbed her hand. Though she didn’t like it, she didn’t pull away. He knew where they were going, clearly, while she was running half-blind into… What was this place?
The space felt huge, though she couldn’t see enough to tell how big. Was there an echo to their steps? The dog’s glowing body was the only thing to focus on in this black hole.
Suddenly, her view narrowed and the man’s hand loosened. “Duck,” he said before nudging her slightly ahead of him. “Once you’re out, crawl up the rocks, then through the opening at the top. Follow Bo. Keep moving.” He shoved a flashlight at her. “Don’t wait for me. Just go.”
Gritting her teeth, she ignored the inner voice screaming Don’t leave me here alone! and scrabbled up a pile of boulders to a tiny, dark opening, barely big enough to fit through. Every movement hurt her body, but she used it, focused beyond the pain, and stuffed herself into the hole, wondering what fresh trick this incredibly well-prepared stranger had up his sleeve.
***
He listened to the far-off thump of metal to wood, satisfied that they’d finally breached the cabin. They’d be fighting the flames right about now. Good. He crossed the cave, focused on the headlamp’s glow, and climbed. If they made it down here, then he didn’t deserve to survive their attack anyway.
As if merit had anything to do with life or death. He knew for a fact that it didn’t.
No more death, he’d promised himself. Of course, that was a lot easier to uphold when you didn’t have a team hunting you down. He didn’t want them to die, dammit, even if they’d picked the wrong side. Most of them were probably contractors, here doing a job. Just like he’d been when this whole thing started.
And what about the woman, Leo? Just another contractor, doing her job? Something inside him panged at the idea of her dying, even though he truly didn’t know her at all. He wanted her to be on the right side. On his side.
At the top, he peered through the hole to see her at the end of the low passage with one hand gripping the flashlight, the other sunk into the fur on Bo’s back.
“Good girl,” he whispered, and Bo’s tail thumped once in response.
After crawling through, he turned and worked to roll a few large stones across the opening. It wasn’t a perfect fit, but if those assholes somehow managed to survive and then find their way through his first couple of blockades, this would hide their tracks for a while at least. “Gonna be harder from here on out,” he said. “Single file for now.” He emerged, pointing at the next section they’d have to maneuver.
Muttering something under her breath, she turned and followed Bo over more massive stones.
The woman had grit. Which was fortunate, because at some point, things were sure to go from dangerous to worse.
If only he knew who the hell she was.
***
The explosion made Leo drop the flashlight, hunker hard into the rock she was perched on, and cover her head.
For a few eternal heartbeats, she stayed suspended, every nerve in her body expectantly awaiting the searing burn of carbonization or the bone-breaking collapse of stone.
It didn’t come.
Aside from the dull blast and the brief shuddering of the boulder beneath her, a sprinkling of dust was the only indication that the ceiling could possibly collapse. After a few more seconds, she caught her breath, pushed herself to sitting, and turned to catch a grimace on the man’s shadowed face.
“You actually blew the place up.”
“I did.”
“That’s…” She snapped her mouth shut.
“Cold?” His dismissive huff expressed more than words. It told her exactly what he thought of the people chasing them. And wasn’t he right after all? If this group was anything like the others she’d encountered, they’d stop at nothing to get what they wanted.
“Well executed.”
“You think?” He sucked in a deep, audible breath. “Well, we’re not out yet.”
She peered around, blind until the dog shot ahead, blazing a pale trail through the murkiness. With her first step, she banged her shin into a rock and swore.
“Here.” The man put his gloved hand out, palm up. “Take it.”
She paused, staring for a few seconds before letting her eyes rise to meet his in the dark. “Okay,” she said, surprised at how certain her own voice sounded. Then again, she had no other choice.
***
Ash watched from the shadows as what had once been a homey, rustic wooden cabin lit up the night like a torch. Mystery solved.
Well, part of it. He knew now why the giant had led them to his home.
To blow us all straight to hell.
An excellent play. Ash had caught the scent of an accelerant the moment the cabin’s front door had swung open. Most of the others hadn’t been so lucky.
Guilt scratched at him. His warning shout had come too late.
Then again, these operatives should have known better. A man like their team leader, Deegan, who according to Ash’s intel had led missions in hot spots around the world, should have known better. He should have protected his people, taken the time to scout out the situation rather than blundering in like that and risking lives.
Ash looked around, glad that he didn’t have to answer to that man.
In the meantime, their quarry had just grown more interesting.
The wind shifted, bringing with it the scent of an approaching storm.
Not a good start to the mission. They’d just arrived and most of the Titan Security team were either injured, dead, or dying. The real bugger was that as of this moment, rescue was impossible. Too dark and, with the imminent weather change, too dangerous.
Ash made his slow, careful way around the perimeter, following the paw prints he’d first spotted near to the crash site. The canine, he reckoned, would be what gave his quarry away. Eventually.
He sighed, regretting the devastation, not just to human lives and nature, but to what had been a lovely little home in the wild. This place—the cabin, the scenery, the absolute isolation—spoke to him. He felt something like kinship for the man. And respect.
But he had a job to do.
He catalogued each and every paw and boot print as he returned to the front and approached the team leader. “Deegan,” he said, with a hint of petty satisfaction at the big, square-jawed American’s startled response.
“Shit, man. How’d you get there?”
“Walked,” Ash replied, not showing a hint of humor.
A snowflake curled to the ground between them.
“Lost four good people tonight.” Deegan couldn’t, for the life of him, speak quietly. Even his whisper boomed. “Now you’re a fuckin’ comedi—”
“Target’s gone.”
“Yeah, I know they’re—” Deegan’s hand dropped from where he worked a gloved palm over his shaven skull. “You saying they survived this?”
“You won’t find their remains in there.” Ash put out a hand, watching as a few more flakes settled on the worn leather of his glove only to disappear, as fleeting as life itself. “It was a trap.”
“No shit, Sherlock.”
Ash blew the remaining tiny, playful crystals from his hand, then focused back on the flames. A spot of cheer in this colorless setting. “They’re in the mountain.”
Deegan blinked and slowly turned to take in the ridge rising behind them. “How the hell’d they get in there?” he asked, doubt lacing every word.
“You ever hear of the troglodytes?”
The narrow-eyed look Deegan threw Ash’s way told him he wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of an onsite history lesson.
“Cave dwellers, Deegan. In parts of France, even today, you’ll find homes carved from—” He broke into a smirk, leaned forward and gave the man a light smack to the shoulder, like a cat taunting a big, angry dog. “Don’t worry. I’m not about to actually give you a history lesson. Taking the piss, mate. No time to chat.” With a wink, he hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “While you care for your wounded, I shall find an alternate way in.” He considered the numerous ins and outs of the rock face, every one of which could be an entrance—or merely an indentation. “If I play my cards right, I’ll trap them inside and let you lot get home to your families.”