Page 21 of The Hyena’s Guardian

Thunder rolled across the mountains again, low enough that Matt could feel the vibration through the soles of his boots.

Matt dragged his eyes away from the claw marks and realized everyone nearby had gone quiet too. Not frozen exactly. Focused. Several operatives near the perimeter had subtly shifted position toward the excavation entrance without seeming consciously aware of doing it, their attention narrowing toward the darkness below the monastery with the same uneasy instinct pulling at him.

Rain hammered against the ruined stone around them while floodlights buzzed softly through the storm.

Then, somewhere beneath the mountain, something answered. The sound barely registered at first.

A low metallic groan drifted upward from the excavation shaft, deep enough that Matt initially mistook it for shifting machinery somewhere underground. But the noise continued a second too long for that explanation to feel convincing. Stone scraped against stone far below them with a slow grinding weight that seemed to vibrate through the courtyard itself.

Every predator in the landing zone reacted at once as weapons lifted across the courtyard.

Several operatives turned sharply toward the entrance while the wolves near the perimeter bared teeth almost unconsciously beneath the rain.

Commander Vale stepped toward the excavation perimeter without raising her voice. “Report.”

One of the ground operatives near the floodlights pressed a hand against the headset covering one ear while static crackled faintly through the surrounding comms. “Movement sensors just triggered below level three.”

Matt's gaze sharpened with concern. “I thought nobody was down there.”

“Nobody should be,” the operative answered.

That somehow made the situation worse.

Another deep groan echoed upward through the mountain beneath their feet, followed this time by a distant sound Matt could not fully identify. The noise carried through the excavation shaft distorted by distance and stone, low and uneven enough that his brain struggled briefly to place it.

Then cold understanding tightened beneath his ribs.

Heavy, slow breathing drifted up from somewhere deep beneath the monastery.

Matt’s pulse jumped. Around him, the storm suddenly seemed quieter than the excavation entrance.

Baptiste moved beside him without taking his eyes off the darkness below. “You hear it too.”

Matt nodded once. The breathing continued for several seconds before fading again into silence deep underground. Nobody spoke afterward. Nobody looked away from the entrance either.

Rainwater streamed down the carved claw marks surrounding the exposed descent while thunder rolled somewhere high above the mountains. The floodlights illuminating the upper excavation site suddenly looked very small compared to the darkness beneath them.

Matt swallowed once before speaking. “So,” he said, unable to fully keep the tension out of his voice, “I’m assuming that’s not normal monastery behavior.”

***

Rain continued hammering the monastery courtyard while the landing zone settled into a tense, controlled silence. Nobody moved toward the excavation entrance anymore. Even the ground crews unloading equipment from the transport aircraft kept their distance from the exposed descent beneath the ruins, working quickly beneath the floodlights before retreating back toward the perimeter tents.

People who worked dangerous jobs learned how to hide fear from other people. What they never learned was how to hide instinct. Instinct always showed itself somewhere eventually: hesitation, posture, where somebody’s eyes drifted when they thought nobody was paying attention.

Every operative in the courtyard kept watching the excavation entrance.

Commander Vale studied the darkness below for several long seconds before finally speaking into the comm unit attached near her collar. “Status update from command post.”

Static crackled briefly through the rain before a woman’s voice answered through the comms. “No visual movement on upper excavation feeds. Lower cameras remain offline.”

“Still?”

“We lost them approximately twenty-three hours ago.”

Matt's eyes narrowed. “You’re telling me nobody’s had eyes below level three for almost a full day?”

“No functional cameras,” Keene corrected calmly beside him. “That is not the same thing.”