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  Robbie and Pediah grabbed Abby between them and hastened back up the stairs. Mochni and Alexia remained where they were.

  Noah had surreptitiously repositioned himself against a dark corner within the chamber and watched the creature’s tail and short arms lash and wail at the walls. The magnetic door Noah had so recently demagnetized had been ripped from its hinges and now dangled precariously. With its tail, the Kisgar whipped the door into the wall beside it and the structure began to crumble.

  Thomas, Mochni, and Alexia jumped out of the way and turned to follow the others up the stairs at a run. They looked up to see Abby, Pediah, and Robbie at the top waving at them.

  “Move, you fools!” shouted Abby, her body shaking.

  “It’s gonna blow!” roared Robbie. He’d noticed the depression in the Earth and watched as it fell in on itself.

  “Come on! Come on!” Pediah leapt down a few steps to hurry them along, then leapt back to the top to make room.

  Thomas, Mochni, and Alexia leapt to the landing and whirled to the sound of a resounding crash behind them. The place they’d occupied just a few moments before had now rent the space in two where the Kisgar’s head had first appeared.

  Thomas gripped the rail as a chasm took the place of solid ground. The width of it made him pale. He shook his head. “It’s too wide. We’ll never make it!” his heart sank at the thought that everything might end here.

  Alexia opened her mouth to encourage him and her heart caught in her throat as she saw the chasm grow wider and deeper. She shook her head at Thomas Knight’s questioning look. “I’m no spelunker or rock climber and I sure as hell don’t have the stride to cover – ”

  “I can.” Mochni interrupted jerking his head forward. “Come.” He reached for Thomas and Alexia. “We can…make it. Long legs.” He pointed down his legs to his toes. “I can jump far.”

  “With passengers?” asked Alexia. She blinked her eyes in disbelief and as she did so, Mochni caught her up in his arms. He grabbed Thomas and before they knew it, he had made the leap.

  The others watched, horrified, as he churned his legs in mid-air. He’d misjudged the distance. His heart caught in his throat as Robbie shouted. “Your injuries, Mochni! You’re…off balance. That’s wh– ”

  “Stop talking and help them!” demanded Abby, pounding on the railing.

  Pediah had seen the same room Noah had passed and was glad he’d taken the two seconds to grab equipment he carried with him like a security blanket. “Here! Grab this!” He shouted as he affixed a carabiner clip to a rope and lopped one end around the railing where they stood.

  “Where did you get – ?” Abby asked, flummoxed.

  “Does it matter? I got it.” He grinned at her and she flashed him a smile briefly before turning and offering an outstretched hand.

  “Grab the rope or me or Robbie. But, for the love of god, grab…something or someone!” she cried out as Mochni’s legs tread air and his passengers struggled not to flounder.

  Fourteen

  Judging the range, Thomas and Alexia reached out toward Pediah and Robbie who caught their hands. “Hang on, Mochni!” Thomas shouted as Mochni’s bulk tilted his leverage. “And don’t look down,” he cautioned. Mochni gripped the edge of the chasm as he struggled to hold on. He didn’t hear Thomas’s warning and turned to see the maw of the chasm now lead to the caverns below.

  “I will suffer the same fate of my parents, it seems,” he sighed. It seems great chasms were the fate of his family. He was strong, but he was hurt and his fingers slipped and grasped at the Earth above him as he hung suspended above the maw. “Goodbye, my friends,” he whispered. When his eyes shifted toward Robbie, he added, “Goodbye, my bleed brother.” One hand slipped and with his energy and strength sapped, he was waiting for his other hand to give when he felt two strong hands around his wrist.

  Robbie! Mochni, confident in his friend’s grip, began to swing himself against the chasm wall and on the third try, Thomas caught his other wrist as Pediah reached out with his own hands to pull the Woidnuk in to safety.

  “I would have told you to pull yourself up,” quipped Robbie. “But you’re not such a great listener as it turns out.” Robbie narrowed his eyes. “How many of us told you that chasm was too wide?” he asked with a grin. “Oh yeah, and Abby’s quick thinking with the rope? Yah, that helped, too.”

  Abby swatted at him as she unwound the thick rope from Mochni’s torso Pediah had swung around him at the last minute for leverage.

  Mochni grabbed Alexia and Thomas in a hug. “I…am…sorry.” He gasped between sobs. “I was to…save…you. Not hurt…you,” he choked.

  Thomas clapped him on the back. “You did save us.” He pointed down into the cavern. “We could be down there.” Thomas swept his gaze over the area to regain his bearings. “And if we don’t get out of here soon. We may find ourselves down there one way or another. What do you say we get out of here?”

  The others nodded and began assessing the area for an escape. They realized the stairs had led them not just to the caverns, but back into the manor.

  “What kind of magic is this?” Alexia asked, surprised to recognize their surroundings. She blinked in the bright cream and gold as her eyes adjusted from the darkened chambers.

  Robbie shrugged. “Does it matter?”

  “Point taken. Guess not.”

  CRASH! Thomas had picked up a chair and tossed it through a window. “Debate later, kids. Let’s get out of here!” He tossed the rope they’d disengaged from Mochni, out the window, and gestured for Abby to go first. “You first, Abs.”

  “Great! I haven’t done this kind of rappelling in years. Wish the circumstances were different, but…beggars can’t be choosers.” Her eyes sparkled.

  Thomas guffawed. “We’ve just escaped Noah and Ecknom’s Folly, which called forth the Kisgar. There are still mercenaries on our heels since we bested and kidnapped their captain and nearly fell…I don’t know how many feet…back into the caverns...” he paused for a breath. “And you seem positively giddy! What gives?”

  Abby’s Cheshire Cat grin was his only answer as she leapt to safety and pulled on the rope. Next to shimmy down the villa’s exterior wall was Alexia, then Robbie, Thomas, Pediah, and Mochni bringing up the rear.

  As they made their way to safety, they turned as one at a sound they almost didn’t recognize. Silence.

  “You don’t suppose…” ventured Robbie. “The Kisgar took out Noah, do you?” he asked, his eyes searching for an answer from his team members.

  Thomas Knight’s mouth twisted and he chortled a strangled response.

  “We would be so lucky.”

  Fifteen

  Noah had been enraptured as the Kisgar burst through the Earth between him and Thomas Knight. He’d delighted in slowly beating the drum to see what the lizard creature might do next and even as he watched the scene unfold, it felt more like being in a dream he couldn’t control than a real event. But as events progressed, he was brought out of his reverie by the shouts, cries, and crashes from above. He’d reigned chaos down on himself, and as he mentally ticked off the priceless items laying broken and scattered across his cold marble floor, he began to see things from a different angle.

  His heart raced as his ears tuned in to the devastation and realization of the enormous cost of the damage set in. Could there have been another way? he wondered. As possibilities began to formulate and gel, he recalled a sudden vision. Thomas Knight had leveled a rifle at him. Something in his chest fluttered as he it dawned him that for once he wasn’t the harbinger of death, he might have been a receiver. He’d never been that close to death and he shuddered at the thought.

  In a moment of lucidity, he realized what it meant that Thomas and his team had arrived before Ms. Welker. “Oh god,” Noah’s heart plummeted toward his gut. “Who killed her? Ramon? Or Knight?” he wondered out loud. “My money’s on Ramon…” he muttered. “Traitor. Bastard.” He spit the last out and peppered the air with cu
rses.

  “Alone. Again,” Noah looked down at his hands which now lay loosely in his lap. He’d slumped back into his chair, certain in his assumptions. He watched idly as rubble tumbled from above him down into the caverns below. The chasm the Woidnuk had misjudged had grown even wider. “Time to go,” he explained to the room as he hefted the drum back into its traveling bag. He patted the bag and whispered, “Those fools had to make an impossible leap. But I know a secret way…” Tucked into the concave smooth surface of the wall as yet untouched by the Kisgar destruction was a door. A pocket door which, when his palm pressed just to the right of it, slid open to reveal a long hallway.

  Still a little shaky from the last few hours, Noah stepped briskly down a long, steel hallway. He wondered idly if he should have extended the steel into the echo chamber, then cast the idea out, preferring the ancient mudbrick walls to the more modern shine. He grinned at the thought. “You can take the archeologist out of the dig, but you can’t take the dig out of the archeologist.”

  Noah Ashbridge was tired. His body was worn through, and he needed a rest. He’d contemplated just sitting down in the long hallway and waiting for everything and everyone to just disappear. But then he remembered who he was and he pressed on. He dragged himself to the end, arriving at last at a steel and glass door. Peering through the glass, he was thrilled to see his jeep ready and waiting. His own private garage. He breathed a sigh of relief and pushed open the door.

  “Sounds like I’m going to need a new safe house,” he mused as he slid behind the wheel. “But what to do about Ms. Welker? If she’s dead, it’s a moot point. But if she’s alive….” Noah shook his head. “I need her,” he said, confirming his suspicions of what that fluttering in his chest might be. “Besides, every king needs his queen, and I’ll need some play time as we wait for the governments to bend to our demands.” He roved his eyes around the garage. He was talking to himself, he realized, and hoped no else saw or heard him.

  He couldn’t stop looking up. The main floor of his house was now above his head and about a quarter mile behind him, but he could still hear the Kisgar rampage. Though he’d stopped beating on the drum, the creatures continued their destruction. They were out of his control. Well, this doesn’t bode well, does it? So, he reasoned, I can only control them if I’m playing the drum – something about the rhythm, he assumed. It must be.

  Noah felt the weight of the key in his hand and slid it into the ignition, one hand resting on the wheel. Where would he find a good safe house? Where was Ms. Welker? And how in the hell had Knight escaped? Well…he tilted his head at the last. The Kisgar was chasing them. Maybe they were out of his way permanently now. “Doubt it,” he muttered. “That guy turns up like a bad penny.” Noah frowned and turned the key, and the jeep roared to life.

  Thoughts raced through his mind as he searched in the glove compartment for his garage remote. Gotchya! He scanned the area with one hand on the wheel and the other with his thumb on the garage remote button.

  He couldn’t escape thoughts of Ms. Welker. She’d always had his back and had promised to always be by his side. Where was she now?

  Chapter Seventeen (Flashback)

  Noah Ashbridge opened a drawer on his gleaming mahogany desk and pulled out a fat white envelope. “So, we are agreed?” he’d asked the bulky Brazilian mercenary who thrust out a hand. Noah had taken it and the two had exchanged curt nods. As Ramon turned on his heel to leave, Ms. Welker opened the door, and the two passed while sizing each other up.

  When the door swung shut behind her, she cast a casual glance over her shoulder to make sure the Brazilian was out of earshot, then strode forward and placed her hands palm-down on his desk. “You’re absolutely sure…about him?” she asked, jerking her head at the door. “You don’t always play well with others and by the looks of him, he doesn’t either,” she cautioned.

  Noah reached across his desk, mirroring her hand placements. He leveled a steely gaze. “I know what I’m doing.”

  She arched an eyebrow. “Do you, Noah? Sometimes, I’m not so sure…” her voice trailed off as he raised an eyebrow and tilted his head.

  “Oh? How so?” he asked with an edge to his voice.

  “He’ll betray you the first chance he gets.” She’d reached out to put her hands over his and at her touch, Noah looked down and slid them from her grasp.

  “Ramon – that’s his name – would find it…” Noah cast his eyes upward and considered his next words carefully. “Let’s just say, bad for his health.”

  Ms. Welker quirked her mouth and Noah continued. “Look, he knows his reputation is on the line for this gambit. If he betrays or fails me and I…let the world, his world, know. Let’s just say I won’t have to do any of the dirty work,” he finished with a flourish.

  She brushed red-manicured nails through her short brunette bob haircut and frowned. “You’re playing a dangerous game, Noah,” she warned. “And somehow, I don’t think Ramon’s loyalties lie with anyone but himself, regardless of the people in his world. I just…have a feeling.”

  Noah smiled. “I know you’re worried about me. It is appreciated. But you have got to relax. I have considered every possibility and you’ve raised valid points. But I’ve run through my head, too, and from here, it’s all good.” His voiced deepened into an affected baritone and he spread his hands before him to underscore his statements.

  A pang of warning in his chest went unheeded. He and Ms. Welker had already worked out the details of what must be done, but it had been up to him to find the best person to carry it out. Almost as if searching for encouragement he was doing the right thing, he ran the plan by Ms. Welker once more. “Look, I don’t have nearly the manpower or firepower Ramon and his mercenaries would have. He’ll connect with Thomas Knight and infiltrate his dig. Then, through Ramon, all we have to do is wait for Knight to stumble upon grandfather’s journal.” Noah sucked in a breath. “And though I hate to admit it, he is good at what he does.” He shooed the compliment with hard shake of his head and went on. “But the best part…ah, that’s the pièce de résistance!” He touched his thumb, index, and middle finger tips together and raised them to his lips. “When, not if, all goes according to plan, I’ll earn back triple any expenses we’ve incurred on this particular mission.”

  Ms. Welker shook her hand and thrust her hand out palm-up. “That’s what I’m worried about,” she confessed. “That man’s only master is money. So, the second the money runs dry, he’ll cut and run.”

  Noah laughed. “I have no intention of staying in Death Valley that long.” He shook his head at how much she didn’t seem to understand though they’d worked on the plan together. “Besides, once we sell any findings – which will be worth their weight in gold, if grandfather’s stories are anything to go on – even the cost of maintaining the villa would be negligible at best.”

  Ms. Welker pinched her lips together and studied Noah’s gaze. It was unwavering. “I can’t put my finger on it, but I do not trust that man.” She twirled toward the door and pointed. “He’s…shifty.”

  Noah laughed. “And you’re not?” he asked incredulously.

  “That’s different. I have…” she frowned, searching for the right word. “Finesse.” He arched his eyebrows then and studied her carefully.

  She wore an oriental dress with a thin round collar accentuating her neck. The bodice itself was form-fitting and seemed to overlap slightly where the buttons were angled rather than straight down. Ms. Welker wasn’t in her usual cat burglar black pants and turtleneck.

  Why is she dressed differently today? There’s no meeting with external clients planned…oh. A lightbulb beamed and he wondered how best to handle the situation. What had his father explained? Not that it mattered. He’d do what he wanted. But sometimes, that old coot, Clark, had something worth paying attention to and this may be one of those times.

  Noah considered her as she scratched absently at a scuff in the gleaming desk with a red-tipped fingernail. Her
lips pouted as though she were thinking about what to say next.

  She is a trained assassin, you idiot, he chastised himself. Like Ramon, she is loyal only to herself. It’s why you’ve hired her, you fool. We are tools in each other’s trade. Nothing more.

  Ms. Welker looked up then, opened her mouth to say something, and a curious look passed over her face. She shook her head. Whatever she’d been about to say was replaced with her steely gaze. She was all business. Now.

  “I’ve been doing this along time, Noah.” She said slowly. “Why do you insist on ignoring my advice?” Though frustrated at his resoluteness in the matter of Ramon, she’d long since given up on making a show of it. Noah would do what Noah wanted to do. Just. Like. His father.

  He pursed his lips and tapped them lightly with his finger. “Listen,” he began at last. “I have faith that this project will work because I know I have your full support. You know I’d walk through fire for you and I know you’d do the same. Our end result is the same.” She looked at him quizzically.

  “I mean, we’re after the same thing,” he clarified.

  “Don’t be ridiculous. You know I’ll be the first to go. It’s my job to lay down my life for you.”

  Noah remained silent, though he flashed her a tight smile. There was nothing he wouldn’t do to get what he wanted.

  Ms. Welker sighed. “Very well,” she said with a flourish. “I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

  “All’s fair my sweet,” he cooed. “I won’t abandon you as long as you don’t abandon me.” He stuck out his hand. “Do we have a pact?”

  Taking his hand, she pumped it firmly once, and nodded.

  Sixteen

  Abby, Alexia, and Robbie along with Thomas, Pediah, and Mochni churned dust underfoot as they ran from Noah’s crumbling buildings. Their legs burned and their hearts raced; they were exhausted, but they couldn’t stop yet. Just make it around that last bend in the road and to safety. Their course had taken them down a hill and into open desert.