Shadow Cave (18 page)

“
Oh
,
a little,
”
I coughed.
“
It
’
s a whole different world.
”
I smiled wistfully.
“
Literally.
”

“
You
’
re serious, aren
’
t you?
”

I nodded.
“
Yes, I come from a very different place; possibly a different time, too.
I
’
m still not sure about a lot of this.
”

“
You mean time travel?
Or space travel?
”
Faith laughed a little
, until
she glanced down at the collection of foreign objects between us.

“
I
’
m not from outer space
,
”
I assured her.
“
I
’
m just like you.
I think.
”
I frowned and then shook my head, trying to focus.
“
Anyways, back home I am a scientist.
I am a botanist, to be exact.
I work with a lot of different plants.
Right now, I work for a large drug company.
Research and manufacturing.
”
I sipped my coffee and idly selected a cookie from the tray.

“
I have a brother named Mike.
He
’
s an archaeologist.
He works for a museum now.
But several years ago he worked in the field most of the time.
He went to Africa about five years ago.
He was there on a dig and he found this.
”
I picked up the key that I had hastily managed to pull out of the
‘
lock
’
back in the cave.

Faith took the half circle into her palm and gasped.

“
It can
’
t
be.
Where exactly did you say your brother found this?
”

“
Africa.
It was buried.
It
’
s believed to be almost five hundred years old.
Why?
What
’
s wrong?
”
Besides everything, I corrected. Leaning over, I tried to see if there was something I had missed.

“
It bears the symbol of Terlain.
”

When I continued to stare at her in silence, she elaborated.
“
This land where we are.
”

I munched absently on another cookie and considered that bit of information.

“
I wish I knew more of the history surrounding the key.
I have some documentation, but I left it back home.
Rather, I left it in Africa.
I buried it.
I hope it
’
s still there.
”

“
Where else would it go?
”
Faith chose a muffin from the tray.

“
I was followed.
I don
’
t know how closely they were trailing me.
”
That still bothered me.
It was unnerving to have cheated death yet again, when two weeks ago I had been craving excitement, change, and freedom.
I realized humorlessly that the events of the past week had been all of those things
, and
so far from what I
’
d had in mind that I was still reeling.
But the worst part about that night in the cave was that I did not know I was followed.
The only light in the cave had been my own.
The only sound I
’
d heard had come from me.
To my way of thinking, that left two options.
The men knew the area or they were professionals.

“
This all started a little over a week ago
—
for me at least
,
”
I told Faith.
“
My brother
’
s involvement began several months before that, from what I can tell.
He showed up at my place one night to tell me he was leaving on assignment and would be gone for a while.
”

“
Did he say where he was going?
”

“
No
, and
I didn
’
t ask.
It
’
s not unusual really.
Dig site locations are often kept secret.
It helps to keep the site secure and it protects the finds.
Something was off with my brother.
I did not think about it at the time
, but
looking back I remember that he was looking over his shoulder a lot that night.
He seemed nervous.
My brother is incredibly dedicated to his field
,
a
nd it had been several years since he had been on a dig.
At the time it made sense that he would be a little anxious.
But now I know that something was very wrong that night.
”

I paused to top off my mug before continuing.

“
Life was business as usual until I got
‘
the summons.
’
My boss
....
”
Boy,
did that leave a bad taste in my mouth, even though it wasn
’
t technically true.
“
My boss called me in the middle of the night last week and requested my presence at a meeting scheduled that morning.
There were several men there by the time I showed up.
He gave me a box of notebooks that belong to my brother.
He told me that Mike had received funding from the company for a dig around the same time that he disappeared.
”

“
A drug company funded an archaeological dig?
”

“
That
’
s what I thought too
,
”
I nodded grimly.
“
Apparently the dig was…controversial
,
and Mike was unable or unwilling to seek funding elsewhere.
”

“
Ok
ay
.
”

“
So Mike took the money and disappeared.
When my boss and his crew began to search for him, they realized that the site my brother was supposed to exhume did not exist.
They searched his apartment and found the notebooks.
”

“
Well, what was in them?
”
Faith asked with rapt attention.

“
It was a story; a legend about this place.
”

Faiths mouth had formed a small
‘
o
’
.

“
It told of a war torn land, mostly…
.
”
For some reason, I hesitated to go into detail about what I had read.

“
That much is true, I guess
,
”
she
admitted.

“
The back cover of one of the books contained a message from my brother.
It was a reference to me
:
an old childhood nickname.
And he
made reference to a game we played one summer.
But that
’
s not important
,
”
I lied.
“
At any rate, that
’
s how I was brought into the situation.
”

“
They wanted to find out what you knew.
”

“
That too...
but
Mike wrote the notebooks in code.
”
That fact still brought a smug smile to my lips.

“
What sort of code?
”

I snorted and grabbed a pen and one of my maps.
“
Here, I will show you.
”

“
An entire roomful of grown men failed to crack that code?
”

I threw my hands up in mock exasperation.
“
See? That was my thought exactly.
So
,
I spent a few days going through the books, and then I searched his apartment.
There was not much there to find.
But I searched his computer and found a file that had several important documents supporting the legend he talked about in the notebooks.
There were maps, old drawings, things like that
,
and a letter from Mike.
He said that he had gone to find this place
,
and
for me
to destroy the key if he did not return in five months
’
time.
”

I blinked back tears and gulped the last of my coffee.
Faith said nothing.

“
Well, he also said that I should dig up a spot in my backyard
,
”
I remembered.

“
Huh?
”

“
He gathered some dirt on John, my boss, before he disappeared.
He buried it in my yard.
In his letter, Mike said that the documents he buried would be enough to ensure my safety
from
John and his men.
The only trouble was by that time there were men in my house waiting for me to come home.
I think they had my brother
’
s apartment bugged.
The men were waiting for me at my house the night I went to Mike
’
s apartment.
”

“
What did you do?
”

“
I saw one of the men through the curtain when I drove down my street.
I went to a hotel that night.
”

“
So you could not get to the documents.
”
Faith sounded disappointed.

“
No, I went back and got them
,
”
I assured her.

“
You went back there?
”
Faith shrieked.
She promptly clapped a hand over her mouth, mindful of Bill sleeping on the other side of the house.

“
Believe me, I almost wish I had not gone back.
I could see them in the kitchen when I walked into the back yard.
I was fast, but the first man came out of nowhere.
I was about to leave and suddenly there he was.
”

“
Oh my, what did you do?
”

“
I hit him with my shovel.
”

“
Did you…
?
”
Faith stammered, leaving the unanswered question hanging in the air between us.
It was ok
ay
.
I knew what she was trying to ask.

“
Did I kill him?
Not that I know of.
The second man that came out of the house should recover nicely
too
.
He had his gun pointed at me.
I guess I was a faster shot.
”

“
Why didn
’
t you just shoot the first one?
”

I raised a brow at her.

“
Not that you should have shot him.
Not if you didn
’
t have to
,
”
she
blurted, clearly out of her element.

“
It
’
s ok
ay
.
When the first one came after me, all I had was the shovel.
I knocked his gun out of his hand when I hit him.
That
’
s what I used to shoot the second guy.
”

“
Wow
,
”
Faith said as she started to methodically shred the muffin in front of her.