Daughter of Destiny (18 page)

“Anything yet?” Jake called, his voice scratchy because the radio signals were weak.

“No, not yet. There's a hell of an updraft of wind down here. I'm almost cold.” She gave a strained laugh. “The cave walls are narrowing, from what I can see, Jake. They have all kinds of spikes and nobs sticking out from them.”

“Those points are called stalagmites and stalactites
formed when this cave was wet a long time ago,” he said. “You got enough room to maneuver or are you brushing the sides?”

“No, plenty of room. At least six feet on either side. How about you? How's that weather stacking up around you?” She heard him grunt and then laugh.

“Let's just say I'd rather be
in
the cave at this point. Sand's starting to fly thick and fast around here.”

“Bad?” She twisted to look down.

“Not yet. It's a nasty storm, though.”

“Then the sooner I can get to the floor and get out of here, the better for you. You're standing outside the cave.”

“Don't worry, I got my goggles on and my kerchief wrapped around the lower half of my face. I'm breathing just fine, thank you very much.”

Some of her worry for Jake dissolved. “I like your drop-dead sense of humor, Carter. You're such an optimist.”

“What's the other choice, Ms. Alseoun?”

Chuckling, Kai turned and leaned out, her hand wrapped tightly around the rope. She aimed her headlamp downward.

“Jake! I see the floor!”

“How far?”

“Maybe seven feet…” She swung her head in a slow arc, the weak light barely penetrating the sand drifting down around her from the turbulent storm above. “I see—oh God…Jake, I see a body….” She squinted hard to see the darkened form.

“Human? Animal?”

Hearing the dread in his voice, Kai rasped, “Human. And dead. The poor bastard fell and landed on a stalagmite.
He was impaled on it through the center of his body.” Gulping, she saw the man's shrunken form, the leather bomber jacket he was wearing, the denim jeans looking as if the cotton fiber had been partially eaten away by bugs. “He looks like an Egyptian mummy—all dried out.” He'd landed on his back, arms and legs splayed outward in death. Kai could barely see his face in the grayness. It was shrunken, the skin pulled tautly against the bones, mouth open in a grotesque scream that she realized no one but the denizens of this cave had heard.

“In this hot, dry climate that's about all you could expect. Do you see anything around him?”

The ropes brought her closer and closer to the bottom. “The floor has all kinds of spikes rising up from it, large and small. Like lots of needles. Not something you'd want to fall on….”

“Yeah, stalagmites. And the dude? Where is he in relationship to you?”

“To my left. He's suspended about six feet above the floor.” Her heart was pumping hard. Anxiously, Kai looked around. The light from her headlamp was minimal in the pitch blackness that surrounded her. Pink and red spikes of calcified minerals thrust up like dozens of fine, thin needles of varying heights. Every time the light from her lamp swept an area, it illuminated that spot briefly and created shadows.

“Stop belay!” Kai called. Her booted feet landed on the cave floor, spikes crunching noisily beneath the soles. She remained in the harness and carefully surveyed her surroundings. A cooling breeze continued to move past her. It was impossible to see more than six feet in any direction.

“Jake, I'm down and standing on the floor. I'm going to remain in the harness. I can't see very far, but I'm going to walk slowly and carefully toward the body. If he had the crystal mask in a pouch, it's probably going to be somewhere around him.”

“Okay, test
every
step you take, Kai. Don't assume that floor is solid. Please…”

Kai could hear the frantic concern in Jake's voice. A warmth stole into her heart. “I'm following your orders to the letter,” she promised.

There were plenty of bugs on the floor that scurried in every direction as her boots crunched the stalagmites. She saw scattered remains of a number of animals and human skeletons, the bones bleached or crumbling into powder from old age. Kai headed straight toward the body. She would have to create a search pattern around it in order to locate the pouch—if there was a pouch. Every time she thrust out the toe of her boot she automatically set all her weight on her heel in case the ground before her cracked and fell away. That way, she had a chance of falling backward, not forward.

“Anything?”

Jake's voice was muffled. Kai halted and looked upward. Far above she could see a faint light. “No…not yet. You sound awful. What's going on up there?”

“The full brunt of the sandstorm just hit—winds clocking around sixty or seventy miles an hour….”

Frowning, Kai shook her head. “Is anything left standing?”

She heard him chuckle. “I'm clinging to this gum tree for dear life right now. There's an initial wind gust from
the rolling cloud carrying the sand. It'll last anywhere between five to fifteen minutes. After that, the wind slows down a little. I'm crouched between the gums, trying to protect my head from the flying sand. It gets into every nook and cranny of your body.”

“Makes me glad I'm down here,” she remarked dryly.

“Trust me, I'd join you if I could.”

“I believe you,” Kai said softly. “I couldn't ask for a better partner.”

“Aww, you're only saying that because I'm the one who's going to winch you up and out of that place.”

Laughing, Kai felt her heart burst with an incredible joy. “Carter, what did I
ever
do when you weren't in my life? You always make me feel better, even if I'm in deep shit.”

His laughter lifted her. Happiness threaded through Kai as she continued toward the large spire.

“Misery loves company.”

“Ain't that the truth. Wait…Jake! I see something….” Kai's breath hitched. Her eyes rounded. There on the floor, about five feet away from the spire the dead man was impaled on, Kai glimpsed two objects: a wallet and a dark brown leather pouch.

“What? What is it?”

Hearing Jake's concern, Kai said, “Jake, I think it's the pouch! And a wallet! Hold on…it's just a few feet away….”

“Take your
time,
Kai. Don't rush!”

“I hear you….” She carefully detoured to the right. As she focused her headlamp on the pouch, she could see that the thick yellow rawhide drawstrings were still knotted
around the top of it. Heart hammering, she crouched down and reached for it. Was the crystal mask in there? Was it?

Her fingers slid across the rough leather. As she curved them around the dusty exterior, she could feel a solid object within it. Not recalling if she'd ever seen the mask, she wasn't exactly sure what it looked like. She undid the knots at the top of the pouch and, with a tug, opened it. Breath suspended, Kai stared at the pouch. There was no way in hell she was sticking her fingers into the bag. For all she knew, there could be a deadly scorpion or centipede making its home in there. Instead, she aimed her headlamp into the opening.

“Oh!” she whispered. There, gleaming in the light, was the smooth edge of a crystal object. Carefully investigating the inside of the pouch, she found no insects. Reassured, Kai stuck her fingers into it. With great care, she gripped the crystal with her thumb and fingers and drew it out. The light glanced off it, as if sunlight were striking it.

“Jake…I found it! It's the mask. It's so beautiful….” she said in a hushed, reverent tone. As she held it, her fingers began to tingle. The mask had been fashioned to fit over the upper half of the face; it was perhaps four inches wide and curved so that the holes would fit over a human's eyes. Turning it, Kai saw the lightning bolt that had been carved diagonally across it.

Slowly getting to her feet, she couldn't take her eyes off the precious, sacred totem.

“You got it? Is it in one piece?”

“Yes, it is. I don't know how, but it is….” Her voice was filled with wonder. An incredible warmth spread through
her fingers and up her arm to her fast-beating heart. A sense of incredible peace filled Kai as she stood there looking down at the heritage of the Paint Clan.
Her
clan. A sense of victory, of satisfaction at doing something good for once, filled her. Kai used her fingers to wipe away the dust that had settled upon the sparkling mask. It was hauntingly beautiful. Someone had fashioned this mask by hand thousands of years ago. And whoever it was, man or woman, had done an incredible job. The mask probably weighed close to three pounds; it was no lightweight. Holes at each side were obviously for leather thongs, so that a medicine person could wear it over his or her face during ceremony.

“It's in perfect condition, Jake!” A thrill ran through Kai. She turned and gently slipped the mask back inside its leather case. “I'm putting it back in the pouch and then sliding it into my vest. Now for the wallet.” She leaned over and picked up the dusty black leather wallet. Tucking it into her vest, she took one more look around. All she saw were the grayish bones lying like a disturbed graveyard on the floor. “I'll be ready in just a minute. I want to take a drink of water before I get hauled out of this place.”

“Sounds good to me. I can hardly wait to see it—and you.”

Chuckling, Kai carefully tucked the mask inside her canvas vest. It rested perfectly over her left breast beneath the thick, protective material. And it was out of the way of the ropes.

“Who do you want to see first?” she teased, pulling a water bottle from her belt and uncapping it.

“Who do you think?” Jake chuckled, his voice muffled but joyful.

Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, Kai grinned up at the light far above her. “I don't know. This crystal mask is really a knockout, dude. Priceless. Sacred. And that wallet, who knows if there's money in it?”

“You're what I want, Kai.”

More warmth poured through her heart. Hooking the bottle back onto her belt, she called, “Belay on….”

J
ake was never so glad to see Kai as now. Once she crawled away from the ledge, he ran into the cave to help her to her feet. The air inside the cave was dusty, but a helluva lot more breathable than that outside. Kai's hair was in disarray, and a light coating of dust covered her from head to toe. She coughed violently a few times and sat up as he trotted toward her.

She had the biggest grin on her face as she took the pouch from her vest. “We got it!”

Jake pulled off his bandanna and knelt down in front of her. Wiping the sweat off his brow with the back of his arm, he grinned and took her proffered gift. Their fingers touched, and a powerful sensation of love ripped through him as he met and held her intense blue gaze, which mirrored his joy.

“Yeah, we did it,” he murmured. “Let me see this mask….” He carefully removed it from the pouch.

Kai pulled the water bottle from her belt again and chugged down the rest of the contents in a few gulps. Wip
ing her mouth, she looked outside the cave. There was nothing but darkness, the wind wailing and screaming so loudly it shocked her. Rocket and Booster were well inside the cave, quietly chewing their cuds and acting as if nothing was wrong. Swinging her gaze back to Jake, she saw he was covered with red sand. His face was grimy with sweat and dirt.

“You need a bath,” she chortled, watching his face light up as he removed the crystal mask from the pouch.

Grinning, Jake nodded. His eyes, however, never left the mask in his hands. “This, is beautiful…. And it's just like I remember. It's real, Kai…You did it….” Looking up at her, he saw the crazy smile on her lips.

“No,
we
did it, Jake. We're a good team.” She drank deeply from the second bottle of water, then stopped and offered the rest to him.

“Thanks,” he murmured, taking the bottle. “I didn't have much time out there to drink in that sandstorm.” He put the bottle to his lips and finished off the contents in a hurry.

Kai sat resting on her heels, her hands on her thighs. Watching Jake's Adam's apple bob up and down with each gulp, she was once again reminded of his maleness. Something warm and good stirred deep within her body, a yearning for him—in all ways. Taken by surprise, she avoided his hooded eyes after he'd put the bottle aside. Did Jake feel it, too, when their fingers met? That feeling, crazy as it was, of goodness? Hope for the future? She hadn't been very optimistic lately.

“Well,” she said, pointing to the mask, “what do you
think? The real McCoy, right? You're the one who's seen it before—or at least remembers it.”

Cradling the mask gently in his hands, Jake nodded. “Yeah, it's real, Kai. I know this is going to make the elders back at the res
very
happy. Not to mention every member of the Paint Clan.”

Frowning, she ran her fingers over her hair and felt the grit on her scalp. “We have to get home first. What about this storm? How long do you think it will last?”

Shrugging, Jake replaced the mask in the pouch and gave it back to her. “Could be hours. I don't really know. Cold fronts create these storms, and if it's a major one, the storm could go on for the rest of the day before it loses power.” Wiping his face with his fingers and feeling the grit on his flesh, he turned and looked out the cave mouth. “Seems to be lightening up a little, however. Maybe, if we're lucky, it will run out of steam in another hour and we can head home to Yulara today.”

“Let's see who this wallet belongs to,” Kai murmured, withdrawing it from her vest and opening it up. “Hmm…Giles Rowland…”

“The guy skewered on the point down there?” Jake asked, looking at the wallet in her hand. She pulled out several pieces of identification. There was a huge amount of bills in it as well.

“Yeah, the wallet was right next to the pouch. It probably was in his back pocket when he hit that point…” Kai narrowed her gaze on the credit card. “Look at this—Marston Enterprises.” She looked over at Jake. “Robert Marston?”

“I'd bet on it. Looks like Rowland had his boss's credit card and the stolen totem.”

Nodding, Kai looked at a white business card. “Here it is—Robert Marston. His Hong Kong address. And phone number. The works.” She handed it to Jake.

“That pretty much implicates Marston to this theft. Chances are he was the one who hired Giles here, and two other dudes who have the other two totems.”

“Well, we know where Giles ended up,” Kai murmured, looking back at the darkened lip.

“Got what he deserved,” Jake said in a growl. “Here's another pieces of evidence—A business card for antiques down in Lima, Peru.” He saw Kai's eyes go wide with surprise. His mouth twitched. “Your dream showed another totem going to Peru.” He waved the card toward her. “And here's your double check. You're on a roll, Kai.”

Hearing the pride in his voice, she managed a slight smile and studied the card in disbelief. “This is just amazing, dude.”

“Yeah, I know. When you're in the flow, as my mom would say, synchronicities and double checks abound right, left and center.” Jake pulled out the wad of U.S. dollars. “Must be at least ten grand here by my estimate,” he said, fingering through the one-thousand-dollar notes.

“Marston probably gave him the credit card and cash to make sure he'd get to Hong Kong to deliver this to him.”

“Yeah,” Jake said dryly, “but Giles had other plans for that mask and himself. He was on the lam until he screwed up thinking this cave was a great place to hide his asset. The only mistake he made was not realizing the floor didn't go all the way to the wall back there…pity.”

Kai couldn't disagree. “Once we get mounted up and out of here we need to call Mike and tell him what we've found.”

“Right on. Pieces of a puzzle is what we're finding.”

Looking at her watch, Kai realized that barely an hour had passed since they'd arrived. “Seemed like I was down in that cave a lot longer than this indicates,” she muttered, pointing to the watch on her wrist.

“When you're in a cave, time stops existing,” he told her, getting to his feet. Holding out his hand to her, he said, “Come on, let's dig into our supplies on the camels and try and clean up a little.”

Without hesitating, Kai took Jake's hand. How good it felt to wrap her fingers around his, dirty and gritty as they were. She felt his strength and saw the tenderness burn in his eyes as she rose to her feet. Releasing her, Jake helped her climb out of the harness. Her hand tingled as she helped him roll up the nylon ropes. Hefting one of the rolls over her shoulder, she walked through the cave with him to the camels, who lifted their heads and watched them with interest.

“You grab some water and a washcloth? I'll put these ropes into Rocket's supply pack.”

“Right.” Kai went over to Booster and patted his fuzzy head. The camel's ears moved back and forth, his huge brown eyes adoring as he gazed up at her. As Kai opened one of the saddlebags she heard the howl of the wind begin to abate. Looking out the cave entrance, she gasped. “Wow! Look, Jake!”

He turned. “Good news. Looks like the worst of the sandstorm is over. Why…I even see some patches of blue sky up there….”

Laughing, Kai quickly pulled a gallon of fresh water from the bag and placed it on the ground. “That means we can leave real soon.”

“Yeah.” Jake grunted, strapping the buckle shut on the canvas container. “I'd like to get out of this canyon before nightfall. If any of Marston's guys come flying around looking for us, we'll be long gone.”

“I seriously doubt those boys would be flying in this, wouldn't you?”

Jake turned and walked over to where Kai was squatting. “They can't fly in it. That sand would pit the blades of their helo so fast they'd fall out of the sky. Besides, those kinds of copters don't have the instruments to fly in a sandstorm.” He knelt down next to the wide metal bowl Kai had filled with water. She was already scrubbing her face and arms to get rid of the sand.

“Then, assuming they are still hunting us, we'd be wise to leave here and ride until dark. They won't be in the sky until tomorrow morning at dawn at the earliest.”

Jake took the washcloth. The wetness felt good against his face, which smarted and burned from being pelted with sand. No fool stayed out in a sandstorm, but Kai had needed his help with those ropes.

“Right,” he murmured. The coolness made his skin feel better. Kai was drying her face and arms. She looked beautiful to him. “We need to take a different route back. Throw them off our track. We'll figure out another way to Uluru. Go a direction they aren't expecting.”

Kai handed him the towel. “You think they'll try to find us?”

“I think we'd better assume they will, don't you?”

Grimly, Kai stood up. Resting her hands on her hips, she saw that the sky was becoming more blue by the minute. The trees were barely moving now, the shrieking wind a mere inconstant breeze. “Yeah, we'd better.”

“Just keep that elephant gun handy,” Jake warned her. Standing, he tossed her the towel and took the bowl of dirty water outside, emptying it on the roots of one of the gum trees that had held the ropes.

Forewarned was forearmed. Kai saw the grim look on Jake's reddened features. She took the headlamp and stuffed it in her pack. “Do you think I should carry the mask on me? Or should I put it in the pack here?”

His mouth twitched. “I don't know. Do what you feel?”

Following her intuition, Kai gently eased the mask back into her vest. It fit beautifully, and she felt better that it was on her person.

“Okay, let's mount up and get out of here,” Jake told her, throwing his leg over Rocket's back.

 

Turning Booster around, Kai followed Jake and Rocket out of the cave. The path was now covered with an inch or two of red sand that the storm had carried in. It didn't matter; there was only one way in and out of the box canyon.

Shutting her eyes, Kai tried to deal with an unexpected and overwhelming emotion that surged within her now that her quest was half done and she had time to think. Ooranye reminded her strongly of Grams in so many ways. Their skin color might be different, but their hearts and minds were similar. Did all medicine women grow into this
kind of loving being? What had gone wrong with her mother, then? How could she have made such a bad choice in husbands? Why would she cut her life and possibilities short by staying with a man like Kai's father? The questions pummeled her, soothed only by the gentle swaying, the soft whoosh of Booster's padded feet as they met the desert floor.

Once out of the canyon and into the open desert again, Jake rode up alongside Kai, the camels moving in sync with one another, almost as if they were in a military drill. Jake momentarily absorbed Kai's profile. She wore her nylon baseball cap with the neck flaps to protect her from the blazing sun, her long-sleeved cotton shirt, a pale peach cotton camisole beneath it, along with her Rail Riders and dusty boots.

Jake had wanted to tell her how much he liked sharing the hut with her yesterday afternoon, when she'd combed out her long, silky hair, which reminded him of ebony shimmering between her fingers. Watching her twist the gleaming strands into one long braid between her shoulder blades was a secret pleasure he always looked forward to. Swallowing hard, Jake kept all his revelations to himself. Would there come a day when he could share such observations with her?

“Hell of an adventure we're on,” he murmured sympathetically to her. Their legs touched from time to time as the camels swayed in unison.

Shrugging, Kai twisted her shoulders to try to get rid of the grief she felt over leaving Ooranye. “Yeah…unexpected. I'm feeling really emotional about leaving Ooranye and the people of Kalduke.”

“I didn't know what to expect from this mission, either. I wish we had time to go back and tell her we found the mask. Goodbyes are always hard.”

Kai gave Jake a sideward glance and saw the sadness in his shadowed face. “Did Ooranye remind you of your mother?”

One corner of his mouth lifted. Jake pulled the bill of his baseball cap over his eyes. “Yes, in some ways.”

“I was wondering to myself if all medicine people are like Ooranye.”

“My mother was like her, but not all are,” Jake cautioned. “I've seen some selfish, greedy ones whose main interest is in stalking power. All of them men,” he said almost apologetically. “When people connect with the power of Mother Earth—” he gestured toward the sky, now a pale blue above them “—the universal energy is a heady trip for them. As Ooranye said, the energy is neutral. What it becomes is dictated by what lies in a person's heart.”

“Well,” Kai whispered, blinking rapidly, surprised at the tears that came, “your mother, Grams and Ooranye all have hearts as wide and flowing as this endless desert we're on.” Kai gestured gracefully toward the horizon. A flock of green-and-yellow parakeets flew over them, heading, Kai was sure, to the rock hole oasis at Kalduke for their fill of water.