“Understood. If it will make you feel any better—”
A loud snap caused Zane to stop midsentence. It seemed to come from his left this time. He frowned. Lowering to one knee, he scanned that section of the jungle. The sun was lower now, making it difficult to see through the tangle of foliage.
“Watson?”
“Ross, let me get back to you.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Yes. Just need to check something out.”
Without waiting for a response, he ended the call. Looking at the trail ahead, he realized he could no longer see any of the others.
Another shuffling sound caused him to swivel back to the left. Shadows moved, morphing into odd shapes. After tucking his phone away, Zane slowly lifted the Glock and slid his finger over the trigger. He focused on a thick line of bushes with thick flat fronds. Both noises seemed to have come from somewhere in that vicinity.
One of the vines suddenly jiggled slightly. His eyes narrowed. Had it really moved, or were the late afternoon shadows playing tricks on him?
“Zane!” someone shouted from the trail ahead.
Zane ignored the shout and remained still. A minute passed without any further sounds.
“Zane!”
Amanda.
“I’ll be right there!” he shouted back.
As he rose, Zane thought he saw a shadow slip back into the dark recess of the jungle.
“Who are you?” he whispered.
Holstering his weapon, he took off down the trail.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“Zane, is that you?”
Zane looked up as he came around a bend in the trail. Amanda was standing just ahead, barely visible in the dim light. He slowed as he neared her. “Sorry, I was talking to Ross on the sat link and fell behind.”
“Just glad you’re okay,” Amanda said, giving him a funny look. “Anyway, we found the rim.”
Zane looked past her and saw that the others were gathered about two hundred yards down the trail. “Is there a way down?”
“We can’t tell.” She gestured for him to follow her. “You’ll see what I mean when we get there.”
They arrived at the rim a minute later. The group parted so that Zane could step through and see what was beyond. Jorge, Tocchet, and Osak were kneeling on a rock ledge. Jorge turned upon hearing his approach. He removed a cigar from his mouth and waved him over.
“What do we have?” Zane asked.
“Hard to say,” Jorge said.
Zane stepped up to the edge. He immediately saw what the Brazilian meant. Clouds of thick fog billowed up toward them, and visibility was no more than ten feet.
Tocchet looked up at him. “If we go down tonight, we’re going to have to go down blind.”
Bennett turned on a flashlight and directed the beam down into the crater.
“It’s like the beams of a headlight,” Jorge said. “Best to simply use our eyes.”
The soldier nodded and turned it off.
“Welcome to the haunted forest,” Tocchet said. He picked up a rock and launched it out into the fog. About two seconds later, they heard a knock as it hit the side of a tree trunk. A second after that, a thud followed as it hit the ground.
“Well, I’d say we’ve got a pretty good climb down,” Zane said.
Bennett pointed at the portion of the crater wall they could see. “Fortunately, it runs down at an angle. Should be relatively easy to rappel down as long as there aren’t any surprises.”
“Are we going down tonight?” Tocchet asked.
“I think we need to make sure this is the best spot.” Zane got Max’s attention then nodded at Osak. “Ask him if he knows of a better way down.”
Max posed the question to the boy, who replied without hesitation. “He says that it’s the same for the next several miles. He says there is a place where you can simply walk down, but it’s about a two-day march from here.”
“We don’t have that much time,” Zane said.
Osak spoke again, gesturing toward the fog.
“He says we can go down now, but we must stop when we get there.”
Zane frowned. “Why’s that?”
Seconds later, Max translated the boy’s answer. “He said to approach the mountain at night would be certain death.”
“Okay, everybody, listen up,” Zane said, holding up a rope. One end was tied to a nearby tree, and the other end disappeared into the fog. He’d tied knots along it at three-foot intervals. “Sergeant Bennett is going down first. He’ll clear the landing area, then the rest of us will go down one by one. I’ll bring up the rear.”
“What if we slip?” Amanda asked.
“Don’t.”
“Then we’ll have one less mouth to feed,” Tocchet said with a chuckle.
“Isn’t there going to be a safety line?”
Zane gestured toward Artur, who was standing at the tree. “We’re taking care of that right now. That safety will go around your waist.
“As we’ve already pointed out, the slope doesn’t appear to be too steep. We’re not talking a ninety-degree drop here. Bennett will give us a report when he gets to the bottom, but my guess is that you’re simply going to be able to walk backwards most of the way down.”
Max shook his head and mumbled something to Katiya.
“Do you at least have a guess as to how far down it is?” Katiya asked.
“It took the rock a couple of seconds to reach the bottom,” Zane said. “I’m no physicist, but we’re probably looking at a hundred feet, maybe more.”
“Those trees must be massive, then.” Brett pointed to the canopy of green that mushroomed out of the crater. Wisps of fog tangled around the crowns of the trees like gray snakes. “If your calculation is correct, then they’re well over two hundred feet.”
Zane nodded. “We’re about to enter a different kind of place. My guess is that everything is going to be bigger and wilder down there. And I mean everything.”
“Sorry to be the one wimp in the group, but I wish we would set up camp and go down in the morning,” Amanda said.
Ordinarily Zane would’ve agreed with her. All things being equal, you’d want to descend into a crater during daylight hours. But all things weren’t equal. They were being followed, and getting down tonight might allow them to put some distance between them and whoever or whatever was on their tail. But for now, he needed to focus on the practical reasons for going down right away.
“We still have some light now, and who’s to say there won’t be clouds and fog in the morning? On top of that, I have to be mindful of our supplies. I want us to be well on our way to that mountain by the time the sun comes up tomorrow morning.”
Amanda looked at him but remained silent.
“Look,” Zane continued, “if Sergeant Bennett finds it’s too dangerous tonight, then we’ll make camp here and get started in the morning. If necessary, we can even send a few people out along the rim to see if there’s a better way down. But since there’s still some light left, we need to at least make the attempt now.”
“He’s right,” Jorge said. “We absolutely need to get down tonight if we can.”
Amanda shrugged. “Okay. I’m game if everyone else is.”
Zane surveyed the others. They probably weren’t excited about descending through a blanket of fog, but for the most part, they appeared to be willing. “If there are no further questions then, let’s get started. We only have another hour or so of light left, if that.”
As everyone gathered their things, Zane noticed that Artur had just finished tying off the safety line. He gave the other end to Bennett, who looped it around his waist and tied it off. Each line was thin, but Zane knew they would hold, even under stress.
“You seem awfully determined to go down tonight,” someone whispered at Zane’s ear.