One
The Grand Canyon hadn’t had an earthquake in more than thirty years, and yet it just had to choose the last day of June to wake up and say hello.Just seven days after the gold discovery went viral, turning the canyon into a treasure-hunting free-for-all with two chests still hidden somewhere in the national park.
So, great timing.
Noah Wilde yanked his ranger cap lower as his boots crunched over sunbaked gravel.He approached the Tapeats Cave system with practiced steps, though his shoulders were tighter than usual.The passage wound under the Colorado Plateau for more than a mile, a labyrinth he’d explored dozens of times.
Back before the earthquake.Back when it was safe.However, even then it had been off-limits to the public.
The canyon’s cliffs loomed above with layer upon layer of ancient rock striped in rust and amber and bone white.Brittle brush and stunted junipers clung to the rocks, and heat radiated from the stone.
The quake hadn’t been much—just 4.2 magnitude.But call after call kept flooding in about blocked trails, landslides, and cave-ins.The cave-ins shouldn’t be a problem, since all caves in the national park were off-limits, but since when did anyone follow the rules anymore?Not since the gold frenzy hit.
The discovery of a gold stash left by none other than Teddy Roosevelt’s great-grandson as a publicity stunt had encouraged more exploring in the parks and boosted tourism.Rumor had it that the canyon hid two more chests, each reportedly containing twenty gold bars.
Hence people were going to die.
The South Rim SAR team was already tied up at the Cave of the Domes, which meant this rescue fell to him.
Bringing Liam and Teague was a no-brainer.But Meg?—
He cast a glance at her with her dark ponytail swinging in the harsh sunlight and her medic vest a vibrant splash of orange against the canyon’s muted palette.Even approaching a potentially deadly situation, she moved with that easy confidence he both admired and worried about.She was the last person he wanted here.Not because she wasn’t competent.She was the best doctor he’d ever worked with.But she’d become too important.
He’d been trying to keep his distance since he kissed her two weeks ago.Fat lot of good that was doing.Here she was, ten feet away, and he couldn’t look at her without the ground shifting beneath him—and not from aftershocks.
Focus.
He forced his gaze back to the path.
“Over here!”A young man—maybe twenty, college-aged, with a backward baseball cap—waved his hands above his head.“She’s in here.”
Noah closed the distance in long strides and stopped cold.
As of yesterday, the cave entrance had been twenty feet tall and thirty feet wide.Now?It was a jagged crack in the sandstone, with the opening just wider than his shoulders and sharp-edged boulders scattered like broken teeth.
Bad.This was very bad.
He turned to the kid.Dust covered his face and he was streaked with sweat.
“You the one who called this in?”Noah uncapped a water bottle from his belt and passed it over.“What’s your name?”
“Eddie.”The kid wiped his face with a shaking hand.“My friends are in there.”
Noah motioned for him to sit on a nearby rock.“Is the main cavern still intact?”
Eddie dropped onto the stone.“A few rocks fell from the ceiling, but it didn’t collapse like that.”He motioned to the cave’s entrance.“There was an aftershock and…”
Right.Who knew what he’d find now?
“What were you guys doing in the caves?”Noah kept his voice level.“You know they’re off-limits.”
Eddie stared off into the distance, then met his gaze.“My friend Jeremy figured some of the Roosevelt gold had to be in there.”
Noah scraped his hand down his face.This gold would be the death of him.Maybe not the gold itself, but the reckless fools chasing it into one deathtrap after another.
He’d deal with that later.
“How many are still in there?”
