It took a couple of minutes, but I regained my composure. My pants had landed a couple of feet away, half in the stream, half on the bank. One leg was darker than the other, completely soaked through by the water. I checked them for biting insects before sitting down on a rock and pulling them on. I soaked my burning feet in the stream and was relishing in the relief it provided when something metallic caught my eye. Something shiny was in the water below the surface. It flashed and twinkled as it reflected the waning twilight of the forest.
I reached down and plucked a small pea-sized pebble from a rocky ledge in the stream. Its yellow color was unmistakable. Gold. Was that what the soldiers had been looking for? The idol might not be the only thing General Bardales was after.
I pocketed the tiny pebble and found another smaller speck a few feet upstream. Looking around, I noticed there were specks scattered throughout the rocks in the streambed. Many were visible with the naked eye, others were so small I only noticed them when I grabbed a handful of sand. For a moment I forgot all about Adrian Pruitt, Jaye Mercury, and the idol. There was a veritable fortune here for the taking. And here you are without GPS or even a map, you idiot, I thought to myself. I had only expected to meet with Miles Blatt and had ignored the motto of the Boy Scouts; be prepared. Any gear worth having was on Paramour, where it did me no good.
I pocketed a few more decent sized gold chips from the stream before I turned my attention back to tracking Jaye Mercury. At least if she beats me to the idol this trip won't be a complete bust, I thought with a smile. I kicked myself one last time for not bringing any gear and forced myself from the bubbling waters. Jaye would have a significant lead by now, but the string of neatly cut plants was easy enough to follow. They marked her path as clearly as any trail marker. It led away from the stream and, as always, continued up the mountain.
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Finally, the terrain and jungle growth thinned out and became easier to navigate. Thick underbrush gave way to wiry grass and weatherworn rocks. The trees grew farther and farther apart, and I could spot Jaye from a greater distance than I had down in the more tropical part of the forest. I crouched behind a tree while I watched her standing on a rock ledge butting up to a cliff. At her feet was a stream. I realized it was most likely the same one I had drank from earlier before the ants attacked. It spilled over the rock and tumbled into a shallow gully, winding its way down the mountain to the sea. Jaye checked her compass and then consulted her paperwork. After a quick look around, she crossed the stream and moved toward the cliff wall, disappearing from my view.
I waited a moment, but she did not reappear. The plant cover was not as thick as at the lower altitudes, and I had to take great care as I moved from tree to tree approaching the ledge. When I climbed high enough to peer over the edge, I found it completely empty. Nothing but grass and rock in a flat plateau running all the way to the cliff face. Where did she go?
There was no place to hide. Shoots of interspersed weeds broke through the large flat rock. I could see no other discernable features. She couldn't have gone up the cliff, and the stone wall was much too large and exposed to have gone around without being seen. Then, folded in a crease in the cliff face, I saw it. A small opening in the rock, a cave.
That had to be where she went. There was no other explanation. The cave's opening was little more than a black fissure in the rock, a great unknown hole. Following her in was an enormous risk. Unable to see anything more than a couple of feet inside meant anything could be in there. Jaye herself could be waiting to ambush me. It was impossible for me to know; the darkness created a perfect blind. But I saw no other alternatives. It would be night soon, and I had to follow her if I wanted any chance at getting paid. Still, I paused, uncertainty holding me back.
It looked regular enough, but somehow felt wrong. An aura of danger seemed to ooze like black ichor from the opening. The feeling was strong enough it made me hesitate. It's only your mind playing tricks on you, Chase. It's just a cave, nothing more. You've been in plenty of caves, this one is no different, I told myself.
Pancho's warning of a curse popped into my mind, but I pushed the thoughts back. I wasn't some superstitious sailor, afraid of the unknown. I didn't know what to expect, but I knew I was going to lose my quarry if I didn't get moving.
I inched up to the entrance, gathered my nerves, and stepped into the darkness.
CHAPTER NINE
The cool blackness enveloped me as soon as I stepped through the opening. The temperatures dropped several degrees while the humidity defied the impossible and increased. It was almost like walking through thick cold fog.
My eyes strained against the dark, their cones and receptors searching for any hint of light. I stepped slowly, always keeping my right hand on the cave's wall. Following one wall was something I had learned in
