his way through an initial attack of panic. He was convinced that the lights had nothing to do with him. What he couldn't understand was why the hell they didn't finish up whatever it was they were doing and go away. The little Indian slut was still missing, but he was beginning to think that maybe she hadn't made it out of the cave after all.
He couldn't believe he had screwed up that badly, but there was no one to blame but himself. He had counted too heavily on the drugs to control Quentin. He had kept the Bronco's ignition key in his pocket, but Quentin must have had a spare. He had raced out of the cave in a rage when he heard the Bronco start up without taking the precaution of securing the girl first. When he first discovered that Lani was missing, he had figured she had simply followed his own path up and over the landslide debris in the smaller cavern and out to the steep surface of the mountain.
Now, though, he wondered if that was true. Had she gone that way, she, too, would have seen the lights. If she had gone straight there, hoping to be rescued, wouldn't her appearance have provoked an almost instantaneous reaction? By now the mountainside would have been crawling with cops ready to use Mitch Johnson for some high- tech nighttime target practice. No doubt a bunch of eager-beaver searchers would have combed every inch of the surrounding terrain. One of them was bound to have stumbled across the crumpled hulk of Quentin Walker's Bronco.
No, as the still night slid into early morning, as the sky brightened in the east, and as the flashing red lights stayed right where they were, Mitch grew more and more convinced that Lani Walker was still somewhere inside the cave and probably freezing her cute little tush off as well.
He had already decided on a backup plan of action. All he had to do was make it to the Bounder. Even with his knee acting up again, he could walk that far. Then, if he drove into town, hooked on to the Subaru, he could drive off into the sunset and no one would be the wiser. He understood, however, that a plan like that would work only so long as Lani Walker wasn't alive to point an accusing finger in his direction.
Which meant that, inside the cave or out of it, Mitch Johnson had to find her first.
Had time not been an issue, he could simply have settled into the passage and waited. Eventually Lani would be faced with two simple courses of action: she would either have to come out or starve to death.
Mitch's real difficulty lay in the fact that time was an issue. By now the Walkers knew something was up and had probably called for reinforcements. And so, after checking the flashing lights one last time, Mitch Johnson turned back into the first passageway. He did so with only one purpose in mind-to find Lani Walker and kill her.
Somewhere over southeastern Colorado, Davy Ladd finally did fall asleep. The next panic attack hit while the Boeing 737 was cruising over central New Mexico. An observant flight attendant realized something was wrong and quickly moved the little old lady out of the way to an empty seat several rows forward.
As the dream started, it was similar to the others. The evil Ohb was there once again, armed with a knife, and chasing Lani and Davy through miles of mazelike tunnels. Once again he was awakened, gasping and sweating, by Lani's chilling scream.
'Something's happening,' David said when he could finally speak again as he sat mopping rivulets of sweat off his face with a fistful of napkins the flight attendant had provided.
'What do you mean?' Candace asked.
'Something's happening, and it's happening now,' Davy declared.
'How do you know that?'
'I don't know how I know, I just do.'
Candace reached in her purse, pulled out a credit card, and removed the air-to-ground phone from its holder in the seat ahead of them. 'Call,' she said, running the magnetic strip through the slot to activate the phone. 'Call and find out.'
'Hello?' Diana answered. Her voice wasn't as strong or as clear as it usually was on the phone. Whether that stemmed from nerves or weariness, Davy couldn't tell. 'Mom? It's Davy.'
'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
