Page 46 of When the Silence Breaks

Wrong again. “You were hoping for a big box filled with gold trinkets?”

“Of course not.”

“Then I wouldn’t saynothing. There’s evidence someone was here, but we’re talking decades ago.” Ryder moved to a pile of rocks—likely created by a human—near the north wall and knelt on one knee, shining his light. “My guess is animals have lived here since then, bears have hibernated here too.” He moved a few stones. The glint of metal caught his eye. He found the edge of a rusted tin. Bingo. Somethinghadbeen here. His pulse jumped. “Look at this.”

She stepped closer and crouched. “So someone was here and left stuff behind. Doesn’t mean it was my grandfather.”

“I think itcould, honestly.” He brushed away the debriswith the corner of his sleeve. “I’m not an archaeologist, so it’s not like I have the right tools to excavate. I think we could find a few things buried here, though maybe I shouldn’t mess with it.”

“I didn’t come up here for nothing.”

He tugged out his collapsible camping trowel and started shoveling the top layer of windblown debris, expecting to hit rock sooner than later.

The thin layer of dirt and debris removed, he lifted a flattened military-issue ration tin. Dented and rusted but intact. He gently cracked it open and found desiccated crackers all turned to dust.

“And what’s this?” She tugged out a canvas-wrapped bundle cinched with twine.

He could hear the hope in her question. She unfolded the canvas to find several items—a miniature broken compass and a worn dog-tag chain—but no tag. Beneath the canvas was a small notebook.

“Oh...” Sarah carefully lifted it. “It looks like it was water damaged.” The brittle pages fell to pieces. “I wish you were an archaeologist. Then we could have done this the right way.” She stared at him, unshed tears in her eyes.

He hadn’t seen tears from her before.

He noticed something else in the canvas. It looked familiar, and he tugged it out. After he wiped off the grime, his breath caught.

“What is that?” Sarah asked.

Disturbing. That’s what.

He rocked back and sat on his haunches.

“Ryder? Clearly, you think that means something. Let me see.” She reached for it, and he wanted to keep it to himself while he studied it.

Unfair. Ridiculous. “Here.” He handed it over. If this had at one time been her grandfather’s camp, this belonged to her.

“Are you sure?” She smirked and slowly took the half of the military challenge coin he offered.

Ryder stood and paced the cave. What did it mean? He couldn’t wrap his mind around it.

“Is that it?” she asked. “Could there be more if we keep searching?”

“Could be more. But I doubt anything is deliberately buried deep. This cave is mostly rock.”

“We could just stay here,” she said. “You’ve got your pack. We can camp here and keep digging.”

“Is that what you want to do?”

“I mean, why do we need to rush?”

Sarah wanted to take her time here, and he couldn’t blame her. “If we’re leaving, we need to do it now to get back to base camp.”

“Because of the weather?” she asked.

“That, and it’s going to get dark soon.”

Sarah stood and dusted the dirt from her hands. She approached. Pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. “What’s really bothering you?”

The earth trembled enough this time he took notice. Looked at the thousands of tons of rocks above them.