“And that’s when you ran into us?” Zane asked.
Rebecca shook her head. “No, sorry… that came later. When I reached the edge of the clearing, I found a path. It’s like that voice had led me to it. So I ran down it as fast as I could because I knew it wouldn’t be long before they came after me.
“Several minutes later, I came to an opening in the woods, and there in front of me was this huge building.”
Katiya and Max visibly stiffened.
“A building?” Brett asked.
Rebecca nodded. “Yes. Not a modern building though. It was an ancient one like you’d see in Greece or something.”
Katiya’s eyes narrowed. “So, you’re saying this building is right down the slope from where we are now?”
Rebecca nodded and pointed down the hill and to the right. “Something about the place scared me, but at the same time, I heard that voice again, telling me to hide there.” She took another swig of water then continued. “There were these big steps leading up the front, so I ran up to the top and entered. I knew those creatures would be there soon, so I started frantically looking for a place to hide. Eventually I found some steps leading to a basement, and as I went down, I noticed these large cracks in the stone walls, so I squeezed into one and backed up as far as I could go.”
“Did the beings eventually come?” Brett asked.
“They came so fast it scared me. About a minute or two after I settled in, I could hear those clicking sounds, and I knew they were in the main room right above me. One eventually came down the stairs, walking right past the very place where I was hidden. I could see his shadow darken the opening for a second as he crept by. A minute or two later he came back up, apparently satisfied that I wasn’t down there.”
“So one of them walked right past you?” Amanda asked. “You were being protected.”
Katiya looked at Zane. “It may be that the use of technology has dulled their senses over millions of years.”
“Maybe,” Zane said. “Although the large eyes might be highly developed, almost like some of those animals that live in caverns.”
“I think it’s to overcompensate for a poor sense of smell and poor sense of hearing.”
“And yet they didn’t notice me in that crevice,” Rebecca pointed out.
“What happened next?” Katiya asked.
“I waited for a few minutes before I moved even an inch. Then, when I went to the opening, I listened for another few minutes before going back up the stairs. I didn’t see or hear anything in the building, so I ran down the steps and out into the jungle. Eventually I found myself going up a hill.”
Katiya nodded. “And that’s when you ran into us.”
Rebecca fixed her gaze on Zane. “What about you? I’ve told you my entire story, and I don’t even know who you are.” She moved her eyes to Katiya. “Fair is fair.”
Zane looked at Katiya first, then Brett. Exhaling audibly, he turned to Rebecca. “We’re here to investigate a sound.”
“A sound?” Rebecca asked.
“Yes, a sound,” Zane said. “One that was picked up by the United States government some time back. They weren’t able to classify it and believed it might somehow be related to extraterrestrials.”
“Do you think it has something to do with what happened to me?”
Zane nodded. “After listening to your story… it’s certainly possible.”
“So you work for the government?” she asked.
After a short pause, Zane said, “We all come from different fields and work for different people, but yes, the government asked us to come here to look into the matter.”
Rebecca turned and looked down into the valley. “This all seems so surreal.”
“You got that right,” Brett said.
There was a long moment of silence. Finally, Zane grabbed the girl’s arm. “Rebecca, you told us about an airstrip and an old building. Can you point to where those are?”
“They’re both at the bottom of the valley. The clearing and the craft were over that way,” she said, pointing toward the left. Then she gestured to the right. “But the temple was more that way.”
“How far was it from one to the other?” Zane asked.
Rebecca shrugged. “Hard to say.” Suddenly she looked back at him. “What a minute… you aren’t going down there, are you?”
“Don’t worry,” Zane said. “I’m going to leave a couple of our people with you.”
“No! I don’t want to be left alone again.”
“You will have someone here with you. I’m afraid we have to finish what we came here to do. We have to find out what’s going on.”
Rebecca sat up straight. “Then I want to go with you.”
“I really don’t think—”
“No, I have to go.” Her eyes flitted around from one person to the next. “I think we all know this is no coincidence. We were brought together for a reason. If I’m with you, then I can do a lot more than just point. I can take you exactly where you want to go.”
Zane slowly lifted his radio. “How are we looking on the perimeter?”
“All clear, sir.” It was Bennett. “No sign of hostiles. A few animals, but that’s about it.”
“Same here,” said Tocchet. “All clear on my side.”
As Zane lowered the radio, Katiya said, “I think we’ll all be safer if we stick together.”
Zane exhaled audibly then nodded in agreement. “I think you’re probably right.”
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Colonel Zheng Lee could see all the way to the valley floor from his position atop the flat boulder. The Americans had occupied this very spot just twenty minutes earlier, and Zheng could still smell their lingering scent.
Thankfully the mole had been able to send out a message earlier, warning them of the carnivorous plant that guarded the ravine. A few well-placed bombs and a bevy of grenades had cleared a path to the entrance, allowing them to march through. Zheng had lost two men to the plant, but that was the cost of war. He still had a dozen soldiers left, more than enough to finish the job.
Zheng lifted a pair of thermal imaging binoculars and trained them on the slope below. He was still unable to pick up any heat signatures. He lowered the glasses and kicked First Lieutenant Shi, who was lying prone next to him. “What do you see?”
Shi looked up from his high-powered scope. “They’re almost at the valley floor.”
“Excellent,” Zheng said. That’s obviously been their destination all along.
Suddenly Shi muttered an oath.
Zheng’s head swiveled toward him. “What?”
“They just… disappeared.”
The giant Ho, who was sitting on Zheng’s right, grunted his disapproval.
Zheng kicked Shi again. “What do you mean they disappeared? People don’t just disappear.”
“It’s difficult to tell from this distance. Something must be blocking my view.”
Zheng wasn’t overly concerned, at least not yet. So far, following the Americans had been child’s play. After exiting the mountain tunnel, Zheng’s men had donned special suits that prevented the release of body heat, allowing them to approach to within a hundred meters without being detected by thermal imaging equipment. Just an hour earlier, Zheng had watched as two American soldiers stared right at him, completely oblivious to his presence.
But what if the Americans had just put on their own suits? Maybe they were using them to set up a trap? After all, most countries had this technology. After considering the possibility for a moment, Zheng quickly dismissed it. Their mole would have told them of such a plan, assuming he hadn’t been playing them the entire time.