On the Hunt - Page 57
“No promises. And that’s not funny. I don’t like the way Mack’s tensing up. Watch where you step. And keep away from those dark, sluggish separate pools near the rocks. Those snakes seemed a little too fond of them. Maybe they think we’re invading their territory.”
“I only wish we’d brought cattle prods,” Harlan said grimly.
“In all this water? We’d probably have ended up electrocuting ourselves.”
Another snake slithered from the pool next to the path and came dangerously close to Mack. The dog yelped and quickly moved out of the way but stayed in front of Kira, protecting her. “Smart dog,” Kira murmured. “Stay close, Mack.” She started to run. “Come on!” Kira led Harlan and Mack to the next cavern, which was slightly elevated and completely dry. She stopped and glanced around. “We’re looking for a small white boulder. It’s lighter in color than the others, and it almost looks like a football.” She pointed behind Harlan. “There!”
As she had said, there was a white boulder that roughly approximated the shape and size of an American-style football. Kira and Harlan knelt beside it and worked together to roll it away.
Kira looked down into the rock-lined hole that was left behind. “It’s here!” She reached in and pulled out a white marble canister. She twisted off the cap, and Harlan aimed his flashlight inside to reveal that it was filled to the brim with a veritable rainbow of jewels, which reflected colored light all over the cavern.
“You weren’t kidding,” Harlan said. He reached inside and pulled out a string of diamonds. “These are incredible.”
“And they’re just the tip of the iceberg. But these will give you a hint of the quality we’re talking about.”
“I don’t have to be a jeweler to see that. Just amazing.”
Mack started barking again. He was looking back at the direction they had just come from.
“Oh, no,” Harlan said. “More sea snakes?”
Kira cocked her head. “Do you hear that? It sounds like—”
“—water,” he finished for her. He refastened the container’s top and joined her back at the entranceway. The chamber behind them was now flooded and filling up fast.
“We were just in here,” Kira said. “The tide isn’t supposed to come in for hours.”
“It isn’t the tide,” Harlan said. “It could be a thunderstorm miles from here. Underground streams could connect to this cave system and flood it in a matter of minutes. We need to get the hell out of here now.”
A huge sea snake slithered past them.
“Shit!” Harlan stuffed the container into his waterproof knapsack. “We have to go back through here. No choice.”
“Then let’s do it!” Kira waded into the submerged chamber. She looked down and saw that Mack was beside her, apparently just as leery of the snakes as she was. They moved to the next chamber, which was now completely underwater.
Harlan shook his head. “How long can you hold your breath?”
“Hopefully, as long as it takes for us to get back to our sleds.”
“Hopefully. Yeah, me too.”
They took a deep breath and dove underwater, using their flashlights to guide the way back. Nothing looked the way it had just minutes before, and Kira knew that one wrong turn could be fatal. Her lungs were already starting to ache, and she knew she probably hadn’t even made it halfway back yet.
Something moved up ahead. Could that be—?
A huge pair of jaws opened right in front of her face!
It was another sea snake, the biggest she’d seen.
Before she could even attempt to move away, the snake suddenly writhed back and forth and was hurled into the darkness.
Mack had grabbed this snake’s neck in his teeth and flung it away!
“Good boy. But no more heroics. Just keep close to me. Move fast.” She grabbed Mack’s leash and clipped it to his collar and then was pulling him through the water, using her own body as a barrier between him and any of those sluggish pools of water that might harbor danger, and hopefully keep him from trying to attack those blasted snakes. “Hurry, Mack. Don’t pay any attention to those weird critters. Just move!”
And they did move at top speed through the series of caverns until they reached the small beachhead where they’d left the sleds.
They were gone. Floated away, obviously. Shit.