The 39 Clues: Unstoppable: Nowhere to Run (18 page)

Amy dreamed of Aphrodite and Athena, and of Olivia, snipping herbs, steeping them in spring water. Bathing her forehead. Placing a cool hand over her lips. The hand was . . . bigger and rougher than she expected.

Amy opened her eyes. Jake had his hand over her mouth.

“Something’s going on,” he whispered.

She struggled to rise. “What?”

“I heard noises. There are lights on the trail below. I think we’ve been found.”

“What? Where are Sadik and the guides?”

“They took off,” Dan said, coming up. “We have to hide. It’s the guys that attacked us in New York and London. Six of them. I saw them through the infrared binoculars.”

“But where will we go?” Amy asked.

“Only one direction,” Hamilton said. “Up.”

They quickly rolled up their bags. Amy felt as though she was moving through water. It was like a nightmare, except she was completely awake. She pulled on her fleece and her shoes and quickly followed Dan, Jake, Hamilton, and Ian as they made their way as quietly as they could up the path.

The path narrowed as they twisted and turned. The lights behind them moved relentlessly forward. Their breath clouded in the frosty air.

“They’re moving fast,” Dan said. “We could get trapped on the summit. I can see the headline now. CAHILL KIDS LOSE ALTITUDE FAST.” She could hear the fear underneath the joking tone.

Hamilton looked up at the cliff face rising above them. “Think we can get up to those caves?”

“In the dark?” Dan looked up.

Suddenly, a bullet thudded into the dirt only inches from them. They all dove for the dirt and hugged it.

“Um, I can do it,” Dan said. “For sure.”

“They must have infrared scopes on the rifles,” Hamilton said, training his binoculars down the mountain.

Another bullet thudded into a boulder nearby.

Hamilton fishtailed on his belly, crawling away. “Follow me!”

He brought them to safety behind a stand of boulders by the cliff as another bullet, then another, pinged into the dirt.

Hamilton looked up at the cliff. “Look, I think they’re at the very end of their range. See the pattern of the bullets? They can’t quite reach the cliff, I’m guessing.”

“You’re
guessing
?” Ian asked.

“They’ll be in range soon, though. Our only chance is to scale that cliff now.”

“And then what?” Jake asked.

“Hide in the caves. Hope help arrives.”

“We’re in the middle of nowhere!” Ian protested.

With another spray of rifle fire, they exchanged glances.

“Hamilton is right,” Amy said. “We have to take our chances and climb.”

“The cave openings are small,” Jake said. “Let’s stay as close together as we can, but there won’t be a cave to fit all of us.”

Amy pressed a hand to her head.

“Amy?” Jake looked at her, worried. “Are you okay?”

“Stop asking me that,” she said sharply. “Of course I am.” Her head ached, but she had bigger problems. She rose and faced the cliff. It was hard to concentrate. She felt dizzy, and she wasn’t sure she could scale the cliff.

Behind her another bullet slammed into a rock.

I can scale the cliff.

She launched herself up and began to climb. Now that she was up close, she could see the rock was porous and offered handholds and footholds. There was just enough light from the half moon and sky full of stars to see, if she was careful. She forced herself to concentrate.
Think, Amy.

She could see down the slope to the lights moving steadily upward. Dan was right behind her, Ian and Jake below him, and Hamilton was scaling the wall next to her, the fastest of all of them.

Suddenly, a bullet slammed into the rock. Shards went flying.

“We’re in range!” Hamilton shouted. “Hurry!”

She could see a cave opening a few feet above her. It was just big enough for her to climb into. “Dan!” she called. “Here!”

She swung inside just as another round of gunfire exploded on the cliff face. “DAN!”

She saw his white face only a few feet away. He was safely tucked into a cave. Hamilton was just above. Jake and Ian had found a cave big enough for both of them.

The cliff shone in the moonlight, serene. She texted the others.

One by one the reports arrived. Everyone was safe.

Amy settled herself in and faced out, watching the lights advance.

As the night wore on, the cold settled into Amy’s bones. Sweat had dried on her skin, making her shiver. Her skin felt hot. She knew she was feverish.

Through bleary eyes she watched as the men slowly, inexorably made their way up the mountain. They set up camp below the cliffs. They methodically set out sleeping bags and sat around a small fire. One of the men sat with a rifle across his knees, facing the cliffs. Once in a while he’d spray the cliff face, just for fun.

Her phone vibrated. She peeked at it. It was from Jake to all of them.

The men were waiting for daylight, Amy thought, resting her head against the stone. She licked her lips thirstily. How she wished she’d had a chance to bring water along. She rested her hot forehead against the cool stone of the cave wall.

Hamilton would put up a good fight. So would Jake. So would all of them. But she’d seen these guys in action. They had a Tomas boost, and it made them close to indestructible. She didn’t think it would be a fight the Cahills could win.

She had brought them all here to this mountain. She had to get them out.

They were all separated by yards of cliff. If they ventured out, it would be easy to pick them off. Make it look like an accident somehow, the Cahill kids recklessly seeking thrills on a mountain and falling to their deaths with their friends.

She could see the headlines. She pressed her hands hard against her eyes. The pale moon reverberated in blackness behind her closed lids, light bleeding and bouncing . . . like fireworks in the fog, Amy thought, and wondered if she was delirious.

Then she heard a low, intense sound. Somewhere between a growl and a purr. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Fear caused her entire body to clench. Ears straining, she listened.

The growl came again.

It was behind her.

Amy flattened herself against the cave wall. She breathed in and out, trying to calm herself. She tried to think through the panic.

She couldn’t leave the cave. The lookout would see her.

She couldn’t sit here all night, waiting for the leopard to attack her, either.

It might not be a leopard. It could be . . . something not quite so lethal. Other animals growled like that, didn’t they?
A lynx, a jackal
, Sadik had said.

Amy slipped the pistol with the paralyzing dart from her waistband.

Her eyes were accustomed to the darkness now. She moved carefully toward the rear of the cave. After a while, the ground slanted upward. The air felt close and smelled damp. She heard something . . . a
drip, drip, drip
. As she moved forward, she realized her feet were wet.

There was a stream in the cave. So that must come from somewhere. The ground was sloping more sharply upward now, and she struggled not to slip as she climbed. She kept walking, following the noise of the low, rattling sound.

Her nostrils twitched. Fresh air. She could smell it. There was another opening in the cave!

Amy soon began to see the faintest of light ahead. She had to drop to her knees, but she crawled out of the cave, right onto the summit of the mountain. The faint light was cast by the countless stars.

She heard the purring growl again. She froze. She could just make out a pile of boulders about twenty feet ahead. She gripped the dart pistol.

Suddenly, out of the darkness she saw a pair of gleaming green eyes. The shock of the sight and her shaking hands caused her to drop the pistol. She heard it skitter away, fall down the slippery shale, out into the darkness.

Terror paralyzed her. She had nowhere to go.

The growl came again, freezing her blood.

The green eyes reminded her of something. Her dream. Olivia had those eyes, green and clear. . . .

She thought at that moment of her ancestor. She thought of the courage and persistence she’d glimpsed in the pages of that journal. Of Madeleine, who had begun the Madrigals, who had also never given up.

And Grace. She thought of Grace. Her grandmother would stand, just as she was, facing that animal presence, and she wouldn’t flinch.

She stared into the darkness where she knew the other presence was. The terror left her and she felt a sort of communion with the life that was standing only yards away under the trees, hunted, the last of its breed.

I need something from you. I won’t harm you. But if you give me this gift, it will save my people, just as you would have wanted to save your own.

The darkness was beginning to lift. She could make out the edges of things. The tree trunks, the rocks, the leaves.

As the light grew and brightened, she looked behind to see that she was standing in front of a broad vista. Far below she could see men hurrying up the trail. They wore uniforms. So the guides had left them, but they had gone for help.

The men below were quickly assembling their gear. They were retreating.

Dan and the others were safe.

She turned back to where the leopard had been. Nothing was there. The light touched a flat rock and something gleamed. She walked forward.

Six whiskers.

She crouched. Were they real? She touched them with her finger. A substance clung to one of them, something caramel colored, a pretty shard of stone, and she brushed it away.

She turned as she heard the noise of tumbling shale. Suddenly, one of the thugs vaulted over the lip of the cliff. It was the short, powerfully built one with the blond buzz cut. He used the momentum of his leap to keep going, charging toward her.

Panic shot through Amy. She tried a flying kick. Her leg felt like lead. It glanced off his hard body as he took the last step toward her. He wrapped his meaty hands around her neck and squeezed. She could smell his sweat and see the determination in his gaze. But his eyes looked so dead. . . .

Black spots swam in front of her eyes. Her knees buckled.

The grimace of satisfaction on his face turned to an O of surprise. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell heavily to the ground.

Jake stood behind him, a paralyzer gun in his hand.

He dashed toward her. “Are you okay?”

Amy fell to her knees, gasping, and he crouched by her.

“Okay,” she croaked. “Thanks.”

His fingers touched her neck gently. “You’ll have a bruise.”

“Doesn’t matter.” She struggled to her feet.

“Amy, no! Wait . . .”

“I have . . . to show you.” She stumbled toward the rock. “The leopard was here. She left me these.” Amy held out the whiskers.

Jake walked over to the rock. “That’s impossible.”

“But the impossible can be possible.” She weaved and fell against him. He caught her.

“I’m so dizzy. . . .” she said. She was happy to lean against him now.

“I think you have altitude sickness,” Jake said. “I’m serious, Amy. We need to get you down the mountain.”

“I saw her, Jake! I saw her eyes. . . .”

As the light grew, the confusion in her head was beginning to clear. “Over there,” she said. She tried to judge the exact spot where she’d seen the leopard’s green glowing eyes.

She walked past Jake, searching the ground. It was all rock and shale.

Except for one clear patch of dirt. She crouched down to examine it. It wasn’t the impression of a leopard’s paw. It was a boot.

Sneak Peek

Amy and Dan have found one of the lost ingredients, but will it be enough to stop Pierce? Find out in
Unstoppable: Breakaway
by Jeff Hirsh, available February 2014. Turn the page for a top-secret sneak peek—for Cahill eyes only!