There was only a deep black crevice under the slanted rock that led down into the ground.
Gabriel leaned closer, expecting to see the cat wedged down in there, staring back at him with terrified green eyes, but there was only darkness and a faint, warm breeze that smelled simultaneously of dust and mildew, salt and biological decay.
He reached down into the hole with his right arm until it was all the way inside and his shoulder was lodged in the opening.
And still couldn’t feel the bottom.
***
They had uprooted a six-foot aspen sapling, stripped the branches to the three-inch trunk, and now Cavenaugh knelt above the hole, prodding the darkness below. He had forced the tree all the way into the ground and had encountered no resistance. Gripping it in one hand, he added the length of his arm and thrust. He grunted and swept the trunk from side to side, but only succeeded in losing his grip. After a moment they heard the hollow clatter of wood striking the ground.
Cavenaugh leaned back and stared down the slope toward the spring with a look of confusion.
“That hole has to be at least fifteen feet deep,” he said. “And did you hear the sound it made? There has to be some sort of cavern directly under us.”
He gnawed his chapped lower lip, then brushed away a patch of snow until he found a rock about the size of his fist, and dropped it down into the crevice. It pinged off one of the slanted sides before ricocheting from the stone surface below. He grabbed another rock and did the same thing again, only this time, after striking the cavern floor, it hit something that sounded like metal.
Cavenaugh looked at the others where they huddled for warmth. The expression on his face had metamorphosed into excitement.
“There’s something in there,” he finally said. “And if someone could find a way to get a sizeable metal object in there, then we can get in there too.”
“We shouldn’t do anything until the police are able to get here,” Jess said. “The signal cut out, but I’m sure he said they could be here in under twenty-four hours.”
“What if Maura and Will are hurt? What if they need our help? Are you suggesting we should allow them to bleed to death while we wait?”
“There was so much blood—” Gabriel started.
“All the more reason to find them now. We can’t sit on our thumbs if there’s a chance we can help them.”
“They could be dead already.”
“Then whoever killed them probably already knows we’re here. How long until they come after us?”
The words chilled Gabriel on a level even the storm couldn’t. Until Cavenaugh had vocalized them, the concept had been an abstraction. He suddenly realized that someone could be watching them that very second, hiding in the branches of a tree, crouching behind a boulder, or simply standing there at the very edge of sight, cloaked in the blizzard. Jess was right. They needed to get the hell off that mountain, but would they be any more difficult to overcome on the steep descent through the dense forest and deep valleys? But at the same time, what if the others were lying somewhere in desperate need of help? And the most horrifying thought of all…
“The rifle,” he said. “Where’s Will’s rifle?”
“Jesus,” Kelsey whispered.
They were all exposed on the face of the peak and the range of the rifle exceeded the extent of their visibility through the storm.
Jess clicked on the emergency transceiver again, but there was still no hope of finding a functional channel.
With the click of a disengaging safety, Cavenaugh was on his feet, rifle at the ready.
“We need to seek cover,” he said. “Now.”
***
They stood in the cul-de-sac on the south end of the spring with the steep, bloodstained granite wall at their backs. The steam was a living cloud that seemed to move with their eyes, alternately concealing and revealing the snow-blanketed trees and the shadows wrapped around their trunks. They were sitting ducks.
“We should head back to the cabins,” Jess said. “Even if we can’t reach the highway in our cars, at least we’d be inside where we can defend ourselves.”
“We’d still be alone on the mountain,” Kelsey said. “If someone wanted to hurt us badly enough, they’d find a way.”
“You’re assuming we could even make it back to the cabins in this snow,” Gabriel said.
“What do you suggest then?” Jess asked. She was barely holding the panic at bay. “Should we just stay here and wait for whoever got to Maura and Will to come back for us?”
“Whoever did it is undoubtedly still here,” Cavenaugh said. He’d given his rifle to Kelsey, and was now crawling on the ground, sweeping the snow off the layer of ice. “I’d lay odds they knew exactly where we were staying and have been watching us the entire time. Probably the same thing that happened two years ago. They just waited until we split up and followed Will and Maura.”
“Will’s an experienced hunter,” Kelsey said. “He wasn’t the weakest link.” He looked pointedly at Gabriel and Jess.
“You keep saying ‘they.’ Do you really think there’s more than one of them?” Jess asked.
“I don’t see one person being able to overcome Will and Maura at the same time. Even Will by himself,” Cavenaugh said. He crawled closer to the edge of the water, still clearing away the accumulation. He paused and chiseled at the ice with his fingertips, then smoothed his palm across the surface. “I’ll bet they have us flanked right now.”
“Why do you think that? They could easily be miles away by now. For all we know they could have had a truck waiting down on the road and they could be anywhere.”
“These are the same people who killed our sisters, Jess. And probably Maura and Will as well. That’s nine people. Just that we know of. Why do you think they would run? They obviously have no qualms about killing, and they know these woods a hell of a lot better than any of us. Right now, they’re just playing with us, hunting us. They want us scared, and they want us to make the first move, to begin the chase. That’s the sport of it. And these aren’t the kind of people who are hoping to get a clean shot at three hundred yards. If that blood belongs to Maura and Will for sure, then these are men who thrill in working up close and personal. They enjoy the ritual of the kill, the feel of blood on their hands.”
“Or maybe they just feared we’d hear the report of a rifle,” Kelsey said.
“Possible, but I don’t think so. Those spatters indicate a startling level of savagery. No hesitation. No remorse. They’ve killed that way before.”
“So you’re saying we’re screwed regardless,” Gabriel said.
Cavenaugh looked up at him and flashed a crooked grin.
“That’s not what I’m saying at all.”
***
“Look here,” Cavenaugh said. He swiped away the wet snowfall that had accumulated on the ground in front of him in the last few minutes since he’d cleared it last. “The ice is uneven in spots. See? Some sections are elevated as though more water had been added on top of the frozen parts. Everywhere else, the ice is smooth and even. Why then should these sections be raised more than the rest?”
He looked up at them expectantly and waited for them to make the connection he apparently already had.
“We don’t have time to mess around,” Kelsey said. “They could be coming for us—”
“Bear with me,” Cavenaugh interrupted. “And if you look over here…”
He scooted closer to the edge of the water and brushed away more snow.
“Blood,” Gabriel said. It was barely discernible from the dark color of the rock under the frozen sheet, yet the way the droplets and smears were arranged, it was unmistakable.
