“Okay,” Amethyst said. “Same formation as before. Diamond and I will continue with taking point. Tony and Clark, I’d like you in the middle. Ruby and Onyx will bring up the rear. Let’s stay grouped together. No more than ten feet between us. We move quickly, but quietly. Diamond has the GPS. We follow his lead. No needless chatter until we reach our destination.”
“And what is our destination?” Clark asked.
“We’re going inside Mount Rigiri,” Amethyst answered. “There is a subterranean network of tunnels that run beneath the island—both manmade and natural. We’ll access those and they should lead us where we want to go.”
Tony frowned. “Your GPS gonna work underground?”
“It’s a very strong satellite,” Diamond explained.
Tony had his doubts, but he kept them to himself. A moment later, he wondered if Diamond could read minds as well, because the older man pulled a satellite phone out of his pocket, dialed a number, and listened. After a minute, he pressed another button, returned the phone to his pocket, and then nodded at Amethyst.
“Are we still a go?” Amethyst asked.
“We are.”
“So this is what you people do?” Clark asked. “Go from location to location and save the world from supernatural threats?”
“Something like that,” Amethyst said. “It’s a bit more complex, but you’ve got the basics. No more talking, now. Let’s proceed.”
He and Diamond plunged into the jungle. Tony and Clark followed. Tony caught a whiff of smoke on the wind, and wondered if the fires were spreading. As the thick vegetation closed behind him, he remembered that wildfires were the least of their worries. The jungle was filled with a singular sound.
CLICK-CLICK! CLICK-CLICK! CLICK-CLICK!
A dog-sized Clicker burst from the foliage and charged. Tony snapped his weapon off and fired a controlled burst. The creature flipped over and quivered. Then it lay still.
“Nice shot,” Clark said, clearly impressed.
“I never miss.”
“Let’s hope not.”
The sounds in the jungle increased.
CLICK-CLICK! CLICK-CLICK! CLICK-CLICK!
“All things considered,” Tony whispered as they crept forward again, “I’d rather be in Vegas right now.”
FOURTEEN
The sounds of pursuit grew louder as Jennifer, Wade, Susan and Ed raced after Keoni and Josel. Their trek took them steadily downward, and at times the tunnel floor resembled a slide running at an almost vertical angle. Each of them slipped several times, and Ed suffered a bad gash on his knee. He pleaded with Josel to stop so that he could bind the wound, but if the native guide heard the injured doctor, he gave no indication. Instead, he just went faster, seemingly heedless of the peril—or perhaps heeding the deadlier peril behind them.
Soon, Ed’s lighter became too hot for him to hold. Cursing, he snuffed it out, stuck the lighter in his pocket and sucked his burned fingers. He mumbled an apology to the group and then did a little dance as the heated metal burned his thigh through the material of his pants. Jennifer barely noticed. Her headache had grown steadily worse, but it was still manageable. She had the distinct impression that the darkness was moving—an amorphous, intelligent thing. It was almost as if the blackness had been just waiting for the light to go out, and now that it had, the darkness was swooping in to engulf them in its folds.
Stop it, she silently scolded herself. That isn’t helping. You got on Susan earlier for freaking out. You don’t get to do it, too.
“How much farther?” The gloom distorted Wade’s voice, making him sound farther away than he was. Jennifer wondered if it could be having the opposite effect on the sounds of their pursuers—making them sound closer than they really were.
“I’m wondering that myself,” Keoni said. “Josel, are you sure you know where we’re going?”
“Yes, yes. Not much farther now. Not much farther at all. We must hurry.”
Jennifer noticed a strange, quavering lilt in the guide’s tone. Was it his accent? Perhaps the tunnel walls were simply distorting his voice? Or was it something else?
He’s scared, she reminded herself. We’re all scared. Of course he has a tremor in his voice. We probably all do.
Something hissed behind them. Jennifer and the others glanced over their shoulders and saw a pair of yellow eyes glaring at them in the darkness.
“They’re gaining on us,” Wade said.
“Yes.” Josel’s voice was insistent now. “As I said, we must hurry. Soon, we will—”
A roar echoed down the tunnel. It was joined by another, and another, until there was a full chorus.