“We need to talk more about the creatures,” Reid said. “Can they be killed?”
Jen took another shuddering breath, sipped more of the drink Sol had made. A little color returned to her cheeks. “I can’t say for sure. We only had one member of the crew who was armed. After the first attack, he hung back and tried to hold them in hopes that we could escape. We heard lots of gunfire, and finally screaming. Then nothing.”
“Did you get even a glimpse of these things?” Aston asked.
“Just a few flickers of movement in the flashes of our lights. It was mayhem. They were dark, shiny, no fur or feathers. What I saw looked almost like armor.”
Aston nodded, brow creased in thought.
Sol gestured for the team to move back. “We need to let her rest, regain her strength.”
“I’ll secure this area for now,” Reid said, and hurried away, barking orders to Tate and Gates, who had returned from checking the other tunnel.
As the others moved, Aston grabbed Sol’s sleeve and dragged him to one side. Slater went with them as Aston said, “How about you tell us exactly what the fuck is going on here?”
Sol’s face darkened. “You need to calm down, Aston.”
“Oh, I haven’t even started to get angry yet, mate. Why the hell weren’t we told about a previous team? A team that went missing!”
“We thought they’d simply got lost. We hoped to find them. We didn’t know anyone was attacked or killed.”
“That’s bullshit!” Aston pushed Sol back against the wall of the cavern. Slater was impressed with his fury, especially as Sol was close to double Sam’s size. “You must have known there were exotic creatures here, else you wouldn’t have included me on the team.”
“Not true! We didn’t know anything for sure. Including you was a matter of covering all possible bases.”
“SynGreene had an obligation to tell us about the previous team,” Slater said, enjoying the fact that Aston was putting Griffin on the spot. “They should have warned us of the potential danger.”
Sol shrugged. “Maybe that’s true. But it makes no difference to our current situation.”
“That’s not good enough!” Aston yelled.
Sol sneered, grabbed him by the front of his sweater. Aston’s face twisted in outrage. He reacted immediately, turning and ducking his body to hip toss the large man, planting Sol heavily on his back on the hard ground. Sol barked a noise of surprise as much as pain as the air rushed from his lungs. Aston leaned down, one fist balled up ready to slam into Sol’s face, but Reid was suddenly there. He grabbed Aston and dragged him away before he could pummel Griffin.
“I get that you’re pissed off,” the big security guard said. “But this isn’t going to help.”
“Really?” Aston spat. “It’s helping me feel a lot better!”
Reid grinned in spite of himself. “I don’t doubt it. But save it for later.”
Sol sat up against the cave wall, dragging air back into his lungs. He looked like he wanted to kill Aston. Slater couldn’t entirely blame the man. She felt like planting a boot in Aston’s face herself. After a moment, Sol’s expression smoothed, and he let out a deep breath.
“Listen,” Sol said, voice tight with pain. “I understand this is a tense situation. It is for all of us. But we’re a team. We’re all going to have to work together if we want to get out of here safely. Let Reid and his team stand watch until Jen is strong enough to move, then we all get back topside together, okay? We’ve found the crystals, we know better what’s happening. We’ll come back better prepared, with an army if necessary.”
“We could leave you here with Jen and get out now,” Aston said.
“You could, but I think it’s best if we all travel together and with an armed escort, no?”
Aston ground his teeth, but Slater saw the sense in what Sol suggested. “He’s right, Sam,” she said. “We need to stay together. Let’s wait until Jen can travel.”
“And how long might that be?” Dig asked. The archeologist’s face was pale, his eyes a little wild.
Sol shook his head, standing up again, albeit a little shakily. “Let’s all eat, get some proper food into Ms. Galicia. We’ll rest up here for a few hours. I hate the delay but we’ve been at work all day. Maybe after some food and a little sleep, we’ll be in a better position to get back. We’ve come a long way, we’ll need our strength and our focus to get back safely.”
“What if Jen is still too weak to walk?” Syed asked.
“We’ll carry her if we have to,” Sol said resignedly. “Regardless, eat, rest. Try to sleep. Okay?”
“Hey, where’s Larsens?” Dig said, looking around the cavern.
Silence fell as everyone stopped, looking about themselves. Slater’s nerves wound another notch tighter. First Jeff, and now Larsen. How did these people vanish without anyone noticing?
“Dammit,” Sol barked. “We need his confirmation that these crystals are what we’re looking for down here.”
Aston rounded on Griffin and Slater was certain he was about to lay into the man again. “You’re really concerned about that right now?” Aston said. “Everything that’s happening here, and you’re still thinking of the damned crystals?”
“We’ve lost two men now,” Sol spat back. “I don’t want it all to be for nothing!”
“You need to straighten up your damned priorities, mate!”
Reid stepped in again. “All right, everyone calm down. Maybe he ran when we found more bodies. He could be back at base camp already.”
“Hardly,” Aston said. “It’s a bloody long way back.”
“Maybe. But we can’t afford to split up and look for him. We need to stay together.” Reid shook his head at Sol in disgust. “If we find him on the way back, you can ask him about your precious crystals then.”
“I talked to him,” Syed said. “He said the crystals here were bursting with energy. I think he was pretty certain this stuff is the greenium.”
Sol sighed. “Well, at least we have that. When we get out of here, we tell SynGreene we’ve found what they wanted. This won’t have all been in vain.”
“For what it’s worth,” Aston said, almost reluctantly, “there’s a hell of a lot else besides the greenium that’s worth investigating down here. But we should concentrate on getting out alive and worry about all that later.”
Sol lifted his hands in silent agreement, conceding the point.
Slater fumed. She saw the light of satisfaction in the man’s eyes. She couldn’t help thinking he would sacrifice all of them if necessary. She wondered how he thought he might survive without them. Was there even more he knew that he wasn’t letting on?
“Maybe whatever got Jen’s team got Larsen too,” Dig said. His voice trembled with ill-concealed fear. He turned to Slater. “And maybe your cameraman as well.”
Sol stepped forward, catching Dig’s attention. “Do me a favor. Collect some samples of the crystals from here, okay? In case we don’t find Larsen.”
Dig’s eyebrows rose. “Seriously?”
“Sure. Make yourself useful, then eat and rest. Okay?”
Dig shrugged and turned away, rummaging in one of the bags for sample jars.