Page 13 of Shadow of Death
They had arrived back at the entrance to the water and the caves. Lights had been strung up to illuminate the forensic vehicles and the area.
Stepping out of the SUV, Amy quickly saw the ranger Sam Harrison was still there. He leaned against his car, watching and waiting.
“Sam!” Amy said, hurrying over to him.
“Hey. How is Carey?”
“She’s going to be all right. She was worried about a friend who came with her, and Andy Mason is finding out what he can. No one stumbled on more bodies, right?”
“No more bodies,” Sam assured her. “Not—yet.”
“Let’s hope not ever,” Amy murmured. “Have you seen Hunter?”
“Not since... Not for several hours, no. Have you called him?”
For a minute, Amy felt a chill of panic settle over her.
Why would Hunter just disappear? He wouldn’t, not unless something had happened to him!
No! She couldn’t think that way. Hunter was an excellent agent and incredibly competent.
Nothing had happened to him!
One of the women working forensics who had been walking by must have heard them. She stopped and said, “Special Agent Forrest was working the caves a while back. I talked to him from the pit. He was moving deeper in, saying something about simple physical logistics. I haven’t seen him since.”
“Thank you,” Amy told her. “Okay. Well, Sam, should I swim or can you get a boat to take me over?”
“A boat—even I would freeze my butt off at this time of night!” Sam said. “But going over there right now might not be a great idea. They want everyone pulling out in the next thirty minutes. It will be full-on dark with only a sliver of a moon, and the temperature will drop like a brick.”
“Yep, I get it. But I’m going over there,” Amy said. “You going to help me or not?”
He looked at her, shook his head, and murmured, “You are one determined woman, Special Agent Larson. But—you bet. I’ll grab a boat and we’ll go on over together.”
3
The caves went on, twisting and turning, deep into the cliffs rising above them and the freshwater lake and springs encircling the cliffs and running through them at various places.
It was easy enough to recognize the areas where rangers might bring guests on tours to display the natural wonders of the state.
It was also easy to recognize where it would be dangerous to bring groups of people, areas where the rock hung low and winding paths were narrow and small.
There were also areas where there were more deep trenches of mud created naturally by the flow of water and the irregular height of the caverns and natural “alleyways” throughout.
Hunter hadn’t begun to imagine the scope of the area when he had begun his search. Nor could he tell if any of the other pits might contain human bodies.
He’d paused at one point to call Amy and find out if she had discovered anything helpful from Carey Allen, but the caves apparently repelled satellite communication. But there was another way out—he had convinced himself that was true—and logic supported his supposition. In a maze like this, there had to be another opening. Perhaps several. Somewhere else, at least, where the force of the water had to have worn away more of the rock.
He knew he’d been searching for a long time and was about to call it quits and head back out the way he had come when a turn he hadn’t expected showed him a long opening that led back toward the mud pit where Carey Allen and the others had lain. It ran almost parallel to the route he had just taken.
But if he turned the other way...
It had grown dark. Police lights had filtered through enough to let him search with the aid of his trusty penlight. But now he frowned because he couldn’t see the origin of the trail clearly. He hurried in that direction.
There was an opening, low to the ground. He hunched down to look through it and saw a narrow crevice led to another cavern—and that cavern had an entry at the other end. Snaking his way through, he hurried to the entry. It was broad and easily accessible but was covered by a rock protruding just feet from the entry. After sloshing his way through a foot of cold water to the rock, he discovered a swath of overgrown land was not more than five feet behind it. He heard the blaring sound of a truck’s horn and knew a road couldn’t be far beyond.
He stared at the night and felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. Glancing at it quickly, he saw Amy was calling him.
“Amy, I found it,” he said.
