Kiss of the Bees

“Where are you?” she asked. “Still in the hotel?”

“No,” he answered. “We’re on a plane somewhere over New Mexico. Maybe even Arizona by now. What’s happening?”

“All hell has broken loose. There are investigators all over the house tearing the place apart. They’ve been here for hours and—” Diana stopped. “You’re flying?” she asked as what Davy had said finally penetrated.

“Yes.”

“And you’ll be here soon?”

“Yes. The plane should be on the ground in about half an hour. We’ll rent a car and—”

“Oh, Davy!” Diana whispered into the phone. “Thank you. I can’t believe it. This is an answer to a prayer. But don’t rent a car. Brian’s here with me right now. I’ll have him come to the airport and meet you at the gate. What flight?”

“America West, flight number one, from Chicago. And, Mom?” he added. “I’m not alone.”

“You’re not?”

“No. My fiancee is with me,” David Ladd said, reaching out and taking Candace’s hand. “Her name is Candace, Mom. You’re going to love her.”

The unrelenting cold of the larger cavern had crept into Lani’s body, bringing with it a strange lethargy that robbed her of purpose—of the will to fight as well as of the will to live. The first time Mitch had gone cursing through to the outside in search of her, she had tried leaving one hiding place in favor of a better one.

She had barely ventured beyond the sheltering cover of the stalagmite when she lost her footing and fell. She came to a stop with one leg hanging out over a void. Unable to tell how deep the hole was, she broke off a small splinter of icicle-shaped rock and dropped it over the edge. It fell for a long, long time before finally coming to rest.

Shaken, Lani had crawled back into her original hiding place and there she stayed. At first she tried to maintain her connection to Nana Dahd’s song, but gradually the cold robbed her of that as well. The words slipped away from her. She could no longer remember them. She had almost drifted off to sleep when Mitch Johnson returned to the cave once more.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” he called. “You can’t hide from me forever.”

The sound of Mitch Johnson’s voice jarred Lani to alert consciousness. She had hoped to convince him that she had left the cavern. Now, however, as the beam from his flashlight began flickering here and there across the far wall of the cavern, probing one shadowy hollow after another, she realized that wasn’t true. With the light moving ever closer, Mitch was searching for her—searching systematically. Fortunately for Lani, he had started on the far side of the cave, but gradually he was working his way closer. It was only a matter of time before the revealing light found its way into Lani’s shallow hiding place.

In this unequal contest where one opponent had light and the other did not, Lani knew there was no hope. And it wasn’t just the light either. He had other advantages as well—a gun for sure and probably even a knife. Once Mitch found her, it would all be over. There would be no further possibility of escape. If only there were some way . . .

No longer able to summon Nana Dahd’s war song, Lani shrank back against the wall, trying to make herself as small a target as possible. As she did so, she felt something brush against the back of her neck. A bat! It was all she could do to keep from screaming as the invisible wings ruffled her hair and fluttered across the skin of her cheek.

Possibly the bat was as startled by Lani’s presence as she was by the wings fluttering past her. Soaring on across the chamber, the disoriented creature must have swooped past the man as well.

“What the hell!” Mitch Johnson exclaimed while, at the same time, the flashlight fell to the rocky floor, rolled, flickered briefly, and then went out.

“Damn it anyway!” Mitch bellowed. “Where the hell did it go?”

Lani Walker closed her eyes in prayer, although the darkness both inside and outside her head remained the same.

“Thank you, little Nanakumal,” she said silently to the bat, wishing that she, like the Mualig Siakam of old, could speak I’itoi’s language well enough so the animal could understand her. “Thank you for stealing the evil Ohb’s light.”

With her heart pounding gratefully in her chest, she waited to see if Mitch Johnson was carrying a spare flashlight. She could hear him scuttling around in the dark. And then, just when she was beginning to think she was safe, she heard a distinctive scraping. Suddenly a match flared.

Mitch’s fall had taken him several yards from where he had been before. The flame of the match flickered in a part of the cave where Lani hadn’t expected to see it. Not only that, in her eagerness to return to her hiding place, she had gone too far. Instead of being completely sheltered by the stalagmite, she had moved a few critical inches to the other side.

“Why, there you are, little darling,” he said. “Come to Daddy.”

And then the match went out.

Brian was waiting at the gate when Candace and Davy finally stepped off the plane. He grinned when he saw Davy. “You guys must have been at the very back of the bus.”

“Close,” Davy said. “Candace, this is Brian Fellows, my best friend. Brian, this is Candace Waverly. We’re engaged.”

Suppressing a blink of surprise, Brian nodded again, taking charge of one of Candace’s bags while she carried the other. “Your mother mentioned something to that effect, but things are so chaotic right now, I’m not sure the information’s really penetrated.”

“What’s going on?”

“It’s a very long story,” Brian said. “And if you don’t mind, I think I’ll wait until we’re in the car before I tell it to you.”