Cassie could hear Leroy stand and dust off his jacket. “Well, good. Don’t wanna risk firin’ another bullet to finish the job. We made enough of a ruckus already.”
Cassie felt a blind urge to launch herself at Hunt’s throat, but she reined herself in. If Griffin really was dead, then she couldn’t help him by revealing her presence now. In fact, all chance of recovering the rest of the relics in secrecy would be lost. The entire Arkana organization would be put at risk of discovery and attack. So many other lives hung in the balance besides her friend’s. She blinked back tears at the thought that Griffin might really be gone. All she could do was wait helplessly and hope it wasn’t true.
For a second, Cassie saw the beam of a flashlight shining on the wall opposite her hiding place. The beam found its way to Griffin’s face.
“Lord help us!” Daniel yelped. “It’s one of the Fallen from Karfi!”
There was a pause while Hunt studied his victim. “You are plumb loco, boy, if you think that guy looks anything like them dead folks from Karfi. Besides which, they’re already dead! Looks like a bum to me. Maybe some cave squatter.”
“I tell you it’s one of the Fallen!” The scion persisted. “I’m going to check his wallet to see if he has any identification.”
The number of shouting voices outside was growing. It now sounded as if an entire mob was attempting to storm the mountain top.
Cassie heard Hunt hoist Daniel to his feet and shove him toward the entrance. “Ain’t no time to play detective. The last thing we need is somebody catchin’ us in here with a dead body. We still got a chance to get shed of this ‘cause of the fog. Now you do like I tell you! Grab that doodad and let’s haul ass.”
Cassie remained frozen in place until the enemy had retreated. The Spanish voices were getting much closer. Somebody must be coming up the mountain to help. She squirmed out of the rock crevice and rushed to kneel beside her fallen teammate.
At that moment another scraping noise caught her attention coming from the cave entrance. Cassie feared the two thieves had returned until she caught sight of Erik. He was limping and out of breath.
“Where the hell were you?” Cassie challenged.
Erik dropped to the ground beside her, not even asking what had happened to Griffin. He set down his flashlight, rummaged through his backpack for bandages and mechanically began applying first aid measures to stop the bleeding. “I was on the other side of the summit when I heard the gunshot. From where I was standing, it sounded more like a canon. I started back here at a run which turned out to be a really bad idea since I couldn’t see the trail through the fog. I hit a sink hole and wrenched my ankle, probably tore a ligament since it hurts like hell. I crawled to a rock outcropping just above the cave entrance in time to see Leroy and Daniel making their getaway. They disappeared into the fog so fast I couldn’t tell which trail they took.”
Erik wrapped up his jacket and wedged it under Griffin’s head. “How’s his heart rate?”
Cassie reached for Griffin’s wrist. She’d deliberately postponed the inevitable moment when she would know for sure. A pulse was still faintly detectable. She dashed away tears of relief. “He isn’t dead. Daniel was wrong.”
Erik shook his head worriedly. “He’s losing blood fast. If somebody doesn’t help us get him to a hospital, he won’t be alive for long.”
Chapter 44 – Hard Time
Cassie sat on the edge of her cot, head sunk into her hands. This was a nightmare. It had to be. Nothing as bizarre as this could be real. She looked up at the cinderblock walls of her cell. It was impossible. Twelve hours ago, she and Griffin had just finished placing the false relic into the ground, and a few minutes after that all hell broke loose.
She replayed the sequence of events in surreal slow motion. Griffin rushing to tackle Leroy Hunt. The sound of a gunshot. Blood staining the floor of the cavern. Voices bouncing off the limestone walls as bodies filled the entrance to the cave. Everyone speaking at once in Basque and Spanish, asking for explanations.
What had happened to Iker? She watched in numb horror as people swarmed around Griffin, trying to see whether he was still breathing. She heard Erik’s voice communicating in broken Spanish with the policeman who’d started asking him questions. Two medics placed Griffin’s motionless body on a stretcher. One of them had a stethoscope and was able to find a feeble heartbeat. Aside from a nasty bump on the back of his head which had knocked him unconscious, he’d been shot in the abdomen. They didn’t know if there had been organ damage. Nobody was certain if he’d still be alive by the time they got him to the hospital. Cassie made a move to follow the stretcher out of the cave but was stopped by a policeman blocking the entrance.
“You come with us,” he said.
She and Erik were led away in one direction and Griffin’s body in another. She looked over her shoulder as his stretcher melted into the fog. Then the long walk down the misty mountain, Erik limping in pain all the way, followed by an equally long ride in a police car. Two cops grimly silent in the front seat and she and Erik in the back. They ended up at a Basque police station in Durango. Ertzaintza—the People’s Guard—they were called. Her cell phone had been confiscated. Erik’s too. This wasn’t the USA. No rule about a single phone call. They wouldn’t be able to reach Faye or Maddie to tell them what had happened. When she demanded to
