She was already walking quickly into the forest. Was Jessie somewhere out there watching from the shadows of those surrounding trees? Or maybe in the heavy patch of heather on that far hill? Possibly. But now definitely wasn’t the time to reach out to her. She should keep Cambry as far away from Jessie as possible. “It’s not a waste of time if you get paid for your effort,” she said shortly. “You’ll get the information you wanted from me when you drop me off back at the airfield. I’ll tell you if I need you to stop or pause at any point before that.”
Cambry’s lips curled. “How certain and cool you are. Not the least nervous about poking your nose where you might stirup something . . . deadly.” His gaze was searching her expression for some sign of weakness. “Didn’t it occur to you that we might not be alone out here? I told you that Vlad Korkil’s men have been seen in these hills. Don’t you think they might want to question you about our friend Lynch? That Korkil bastard can be very ugly, and he’s already sent two of his men to try to get you.” He jerked his head toward the shadowy forest now only a few feet away. “Perhaps he’s out there waiting for his chance to snatch you away. Can’t youfeelhim, Kendra?”
What a complete son of a bitch. She knew he only wanted to make her uneasy, and there was no way she’d let him get away with it. She stared him directly in the eyes. “Not even a trace.” She reached into her jacket pocket, pulled out her .38 revolver, and showed it to him. “I’m usually prepared. I can take care of myself, and I’m sure that he’d prefer to attack a tough Justice agent like you if given the choice. Having you here makes me feel so safe.” She gestured again at the forest as she slid the gun back in her pocket. “Now, if you’ll just go ahead of me down this path . . .”
He shrugged. “I’ll play your game for a little while. But I’ve no intention of tracking through all this brush when I’ve done it before. I’ll just find a spot, open my thermos of coffee, and watch you strike out on your own. If you have any questions, save them for when you finish.”
“That’s not exactly wholehearted cooperation,” she said sarcastically.
“It’s all you’re going to get,” Cambry said. “But if Korkil’s team suddenly sweeps down, I might decide to come rescue you.” He smiled slyly. “Or I might not.”
“I’d rather rely on myself.” She was entering the forest now, and she supposed it was just as well that Cambry wasn’t going to help her any more than he absolutely had to. She doubted if his reluctant assistance would have been anything but a token anyway. She would just handle this on her own.
Okay. Lynch had told Cambry he was here for a meeting. Use what she knew of Lynch to determine the site he’d choose for that meeting. Looking around, there appeared to be a few likely options for a meeting that would involve conversation or perhaps even an exchange of documents. She could hear a waterfall in the west, which was a possibility. This forest she was trekking through right now wouldn’t be likely, since there were no specific landmarks that would allow the meeting spot to be easily communicated. But what about that next hillside ahead? Her gaze flew to the hill, a mile or so distant. Maybe. Even though it was rough country and she could see huge boulders and deep heather and vines climbing over the trees, something about it was pulling her toward it. Strange. Because it wasn’t the least bit civilized or inviting. Yet she thought she could see something that might also appeal to Lynch. He’d welcome that very wildness, which may have drawn him as much as it had her.
Decision made. She’d do a minor search here in this pine forest—which she was sure would yield nothing—and then head for those hills that seemed to be calling her. The initial failure here would please Cambry if he could see that he was right about her failing to discover anything after his own failure to track Lynch. It might get him off her back for the rest of the time she was up here hunting. If he wasn’t going to help, she didn’t need him getting in her way.
She moved to where Cambry could see her from where hewas sitting on the ground beside the helicopter with his coffee and began to make her very noisy way through the brush muttering an occasional curse for additional effect.
She heard him chuckle, but that was no problem. The more humiliated he thought she was going to be, the better. She’d give it another forty-five minutes here and then she’d still have most of the afternoon to explore that other hillside site. She only hoped she’d find something more promising there.
CHAPTER
7
After two hours spent tracking through just the first few miles of hill country, Kendra realizedpromisingwasn’t definitely the right word for the area. It was rough and craggy; she’d had to fight through the vines clinging to the huge boulders, and she’d fallen several times in the ruts around the banks of heather. No sign of animal or human habitation.
Cambry had followed her up to the first hill then given up in disgust and gone back down to the helicopter. She might have been discouraged enough to have given up and tried the creek site instead—except that as Cambry was leaving, she caught a glimpse of a deep break in the cliff wall that might be a cave. It was half hidden by a huge boulder, but it stopped her in her tracks. Caves. Lynch had always been fascinated by caves. She wasn’t gullible enough to believe this was some kind of sign, but he might have been curious to explore that area if he’d caught sight of that cave.
It wouldn’t hurt to check it out . . .
It didn’t hurt, but it turned out to be extremely difficult to work her way around four equally huge boulders to reach the front of the gaping cave opening. But she finally made it with only a few minor scrapes and bruises on her arms.
She drew a deep breath as she squeezed past the last barrier boulder and almost fell on the ground in front of the cave opening. Then she sat up and looked around. The dark opening facing her was definitely a cave, but it was a very shallow one. Probably not worth all the effort she had made to come here. She reached into her pocket for her phone and lit the flashlight. She shone the beam into the darkness of the cave. Yes, very shallow. No sign of habitation. It probably was a waste of time just as—
“Shit!”
Footprints!
Not in the cave. On the earth near where she was sitting. The dirt was still faintly damp and the impression was unmistakable. The print of a large man wearing walking shoes. Probably size eleven or twelve. Lynch wore a size eleven.
She was starting to shake. Was it Lynch who had been here? She had to be sure. She got to her knees and crawled into the cave, shining the beam all around the surfaces. Clean. She crawled out again. The footprint was definitely clear here. It was deep; perhaps he’d been bearing all his weight on one foot to climb out from behind the other boulders as she had done. Why? Had he been a prisoner? But whoever had captured him must have not known how easy it would be for him to escape. It would have been child’s play for Lynch after his varied career.
Stop guessing. Just be glad he was probably well and free. Now she had to find out what had happened after he’d left that footprint. And where he’d gone after he’d climbed over that boulder leaving the cave. She’d only searched a small fraction of these hills so far; he must have left some clue.
She hoped. Oh, Lord, how she was hoping.
She’d searched that cave already and found nothing. She crawled back and made another search.
No, still nothing.
She crushed down the disappointment. She couldn’t give up. She hadn’t searched the stretch of land before the entrance of the cave where she’d located the footprint. He might have left something for her to find there since he’d been so careful to leave that cave in an almost sterile state. So she’d search the entire area before she gave up on the cave. Behind every single rock. Inside every nook and cranny . . .
And that’s what she did. But she still almost missed the small, muddy leather-wrapped package lodged behind a loose stone near the lower boulders that bordered the cave. The package had obviously been mud-smeared to blend with the boulders, but when she wiped the area clean it revealed a sleek six-by-eight-inch package. Inside was a rock with indentations that obviously had nothing to do with the surrounding boulders. Carvings? Or numbers? She couldn’t decide.
But what did it have to do with Lynch? She got down from the boulder and leaned against the cave wall as she tried to carefully loosen the muddy container to better examine the contents. She finally was able to peel all the mud off the package, but it only revealed another soft leather sleeve that contained an object that felt hard to the touch.
Steel-hard.
