On the Hunt - Page 56

She pulled a whistle from a chain around her neck and shook the water from it. She blew three short blasts and waited for a few seconds.

Harlan shook his head. “If you want to point me in the right direction, you can just go back to him and wait. It probably wasn’t a good idea to bring him out here if it was going to be such a—”

Suddenly the water churned, and then Mack leaped up onto the rocks beside them. He shook himself, spraying Harlan with water.

Kira laughed. “Serves you right for doubting him! I told you Mack has been in caves before. This one is just… different.”

Harlan wiped the fresh spray of water from his face. “You’re right. I should have known better. There was no way he’d let you go anywhere without him.” He bent over to pet the dog’s head. “Welcome, Mack.”

Mack shook himself again.

Kira pulled a flashlight from her pocket and aimed the beam toward the back of the cavern. “We’re almost there. This way.”

They walked through what was quickly revealed to be a system of caves, some bone-dry, others centered by massive pools of water.

As they stepped around one such pool, Mack darted in front of them and growled.

He was making a sound Kira hadn’t heard from him before. “What is it, boy?”

Mack turned toward her and slightly whimpered. Kira stroked his ears.

“Is he okay?” Harlan asked.

“I think so. He’s just… unsettled.” Kira shone her flashlight around the cavern. “But I don’t like it. Mack is never skittish without a good reason.”

Something moved in the water.

“See that?” Harlan spun around with his flashlight.

Something else appeared from the water and slithered into the shadows. Mack barked again.

Something hissed behind them. Then to the right. And the left. “What in the hell…” Harlan whispered.

Kira gasped. “Hell’s bells! Prehistoric sea snakes?”

“You’re joking.”

“I wish I was. Get a better look, and you’ll see. Though I’ve only seen them on TV and photographs in textbooks. But I swear that was a close cousin to Titanoboa cerrejonensis.”

“No way. Those things were forty feet long. They could eat small whales. Besides, they’ve been extinct for tens of millions of years.”

“Okay, so maybe these are younger and smaller cousins.”

A huge snake leaped from the water of one of the dark pools near the rocks that led toward the sharp outcropping of orange coral. It missed Harlan by only a few inches! Then it slithered away and disappeared into another pool several yards away.

“Holy shit,” Harlan said. “That was at least fifteen feet long. You could be right. At the Smithsonian, I saw the fossilized remains of one that had been discovered in a mine in Colombia. That was a pretty damn close resemblance.”

“Did you take a look at its head?”

“I couldn’t miss it. It almost swallowed my face.”

She nodded. “I didn’t see them the last time I was here. But the time before, when I brought up the treasure, I thought I was aware of something… strange in the water. They’ve probably been hiding in these caves for an eternity. If we could bring one back, that would be the true treasure.”

He shook his head. “I’ll settle for the gold and jewels, thanks. What do you say we scoop ’em up and get the hell out of here?”

She was already moving quickly. “Hurry. Those jewels should be in the very next cavern.”

“If a prehistoric sea snake hasn’t swallowed them yet.”