Freefall (12 page)

Watching Cameron’s back as he forced a path across the steep incline, Jade tried to shake off what she’d seen in his face. She didn’t want to think of him as a man, didn’t want him seeing something in her he couldn’t have. They had climbed out of the water when it turned into a frothy rapid, but she still felt it swirling and pulling. In the same way, the tug of that momentary connection would not wear off.

Cameron’s cynicism and distrust had been annoying, but kept her from any interest that could prove unfortunate. Out here, working together, they were forging something in spite of his doubt. Friendship, she told herself, because the person they were going to find might already have her heart.

A noise penetrated her thoughts, something that had been there for a while but now rose above the bird and insect calls, the wind, and their own breathing. A roar and pounding that echoed inside her like doom. Perched at an angle on the steep incline, Cameron pulled himself around a promontory and stopped. She ran into his back. Without turning, he steadied her.

She pressed around and stared at the force before her with waves of recollection as Cameron closed his arm around her waist. “This is it,” she gasped, as memory almost took her legs. “I went over those falls.”

He assessed the white column in silence, the black rock that formed its backdrop, the sheer walls of the basin enclosing it. “These falls are not accessible to tourists. There’s no trail.”

“Up above.” She clutched his arm. “We—”

“Jade. You’re tearing the tendons from my bone.”

She let go of his arm and stared. Weren’t they in this together? He had pushed and pushed. They’d expended serious energy. Now that she remembered, he just stood there frowning? “This is it; I know it.”

He said nothing.

“You don’t believe me.” She pushed away, scrambled down the stony slope and splashed into the pool.

“Jade!”

She ignored him. Her companion was here somewhere. “Hey! Hello! Where are you!” Why didn’t she have a name to call? She’d thought everything would come back. Most of all the person she was there to find. Why couldn’t she remember?

Cameron removed his pack and wedged it onto the basin wall, furious. She could have broken something, crashing into the pool that way. Lava basins were treacherous. He lowered himself behind her. “Jade.”

She didn’t answer, just moved farther into the churning pool, searching the narrow shore at the foot of the basin where someone might conceivably have lain injured—or dead.
If
she’d gone over these falls, she was lucky to be alive.
If
she had a companion, he might not be. He didn’t want her to find a corpse, bloated and fetid after this many days in the elements. But she wouldn’t stop or listen.

“Jade.” He caught hold of her.

She scathed him with a look that made him let go, then turned and hollered, “Hello!” Her voice rasped, thick with need, but only the echo mocked a response.

She hadn’t called out a name. Either she didn’t remember as completely as she wanted him to believe, or the whole thing was one impossible ploy. But what would she gain? Why pretend someone else was involved?

He pushed through the troubled water. The day had alternated clear and stormy, but now thick gray clouds closed in. The wind sent spray into his face from the falls, and a fresh rain began. He swam after her, calling, “Jade, wait.”

She turned on him. “Why are you even here?” Great question. “Get up on the bank. Let’s talk.”

“No.” She moved closer to the falls, her gaze scouring the igneous bowl.

He’d seen death, and this one could be bad. She’d have no idea. He caught up and hooked her waist with his arm. She fought, but he hauled her up the narrow bank and sat her down. “Just hold on a minute, okay?”

She gulped back her anger and surprise.

“Look around you.” He circled the basin with his arm. “Do you see any way someone could last in here five days?”

Her breath came hard and sharp. She frowned at the steep, unyielding walls, the churning water, the bare, thin strip of ground around the pool. In spite of his skepticism, he’d wanted to find something to justify her hope. But while she seemed to have some kind of supernatural protection, there was no evidence her companion did. Unless he’d been carried out like her through the rapids, he’d most likely been dashed to his death beneath the pounding water.

The only other possibility was that he’d been the reason Jade went over the falls. Cameron looked up the unforgiving column of water to the edge of land. “Jade, think. Did you see anyone in here with you?”

She searched the basin, falls, and pool with pain in her eyes. “I wasn’t looking. I must have hit my head when I fell. I did. I know it now.”

“Stop.”

“What?”

“Making your case. I believe you.”

Her lips parted. “You do?”

He’d said it without thinking, some instinct speaking for him. “Yes. But you have to face the facts.” He swallowed. “If he’s here, he hasn’t made it.”

Her chest rose and fell with abbreviated breaths. Tears filled her eyes. What had he expected? Another lesson on the universe of possibilities? He didn’t want to be the one to tear her illusions apart, but now was the time for reality. “I want you to sit here while I go back to my pack.”

“Why?”

“To get my flashlight. It’s waterproof.”

Her gaze jerked to the pool. “You think he’s in there.”

“I don’t know.”

She started to cry.

“Stay here and let me do this.”

She dropped her face into her hands. It was the best he’d get, so he left her there and made his way back to his pack. He took out the light they’d used the night before, checked that it worked. The thought of a corpse in the pool made diving in unpleasant, but how else would they know?

With a glance to make sure she’d stayed put, he got a good breath and went under. The light illuminated the foggy surface that cleared and darkened as the water stilled deeper down. He shined it over branches and rocks and even a cow skull that must have been carried over the falls. But no body. Yet. He surged to the surface for air, treaded, and went back down, moving around the perimeter, then the deeper center, using what he knew from years of skin diving to clear his ears and gauge his breath.

She stood in the water up to her knees when he surfaced next. “Anything?”

He held out a handful of netting that he’d grabbed because it looked like the pockets on her hydration pack. If the guy’s pack had been torn apart …

With a cry she splashed over and took it. She pressed the scrap to her chest, obviously realizing what he had. Fighting tears, she fingered it, then gasped, working it around in her hands. “Wait. It’s tied together. Like a net.” Hope sprang fresh in her face. “He’s here.”

“Jade …”

“Look. The pieces are tied.”

Cameron looked from the net to the steep walls of the enclosure, the pool and the falls. Lava basins frequently had caves and air pockets. He’d been looking for a body, but now … He rubbed the water from his beard. “I’ll try again. I haven’t searched the falls.”

“Is that possible?” She clutched the net to her chest.

“I’ll have to go deep, get under if I can. Will it do any good to tell you to wait?”

She swallowed hard and nodded. “They’re too strong for me.” As he started to dive, she caught his arm. “Be careful. And hurry.”

“I can hold my breath a long time, so don’t panic.”

She nodded.

Gripping the light, he dove down near enough to feel the push of the falls. The rocks beneath were bad. No one driven down would surface unscathed. Was that where she’d hit her head hard enough to cause amnesia, yet still walked away? Her light weight might have been a factor. That or what portion of the falls carried her over; anything. But he pictured her throwing off the centipede and wondered again what kind of protection she had.

Pressure built in his ears. The percussion of the falls pounded his chest. He ran the light over the floor, the walls, the—

Cave. No way to tell if it extended above water. Not without going in. Could he make it through the falls without getting crushed? He went deeper, his lungs urging him up for air. With his chest almost brushing the rocky bottom, he caught sight of a lava tube under one side of the cave wall. If it was open at the far end, he might get inside without fighting the falls. But not without air.

He pulled to the surface, emptying his lungs as he went. He broke the surface, sucked air.

Jade grabbed his arm, barely holding her own in the turbulence. “What did you find?”

Not
was there something
, but what? Her expectancy shook him. How could she know he’d seen anything?

“I’m not sure. I’m going to look again.” He hollered, “Stay here.” Then down he plunged with purpose, heading straight for the lava tube. Just wide enough to pull through, it blocked the pounding force of the falls, though the water still surged and tugged. But then he was through and kicking for the surface. If the cave didn’t clear the surface of the pool, he’d have to retrace it all in the same breath. His lungs burned already. Thrusting with his arms and legs, he propelled himself up, shining the light to keep from smacking his head on the roof.

His face broke the surface under the low dome of the cave. Breathing hard, light raised, he turned a slow circle, saw the ledge along one wall, and the man lying there.

ELEVEN

Waiting for Cameron to surface, Jade tried
with everything in her to remember what had happened. Had someone else gone over the falls? Why would she leave, why let the water carry her out if she’d known? She looked up and imagined her plunge over the powerful falls. She didn’t really remember, but it explained the feeling of falling.

If she’d hit her head, concussed, lost sight of who she was and whom she was with … Even now she fought the pull toward the rapids where the pool drained. The swift water had swept her along until she’d pulled herself ashore. By then how disoriented had she been? She had trekked to Nica’s without knowing she’d left someone behind. But if they were too late, how would she ever forgive herself?

She took a breath and dove under the water, whipped white with the action of the falls. She remembered its nightmare strength. Here was her assailant. No person, as the cop had assumed, but the raw power of nature and her own human error.

She pulled deeper, but there was no sign of Cameron or his light. Where had he gone? What if he’d been trapped, crushed, knocked unconscious? Lungs burning, she surfaced. He’d said not to panic, but this was too long. He couldn’t hold his breath so long. She dove under again, saw his light shining up from the bottom and met him halfway. They pulled to the surface together.

He grabbed hold and gasped, “I found him. He’s alive.”

Exhilaration seized her. “Where? How?”

“There’s a cave.”

“A cave! Show me. Take me to him.”

“I don’t know if you can make it.” He started swimming toward the side.

What?
“Cameron. Wait.” She had to see, had to reach her companion, but Cameron climbed out onto the shore.

“Cameron!” She splashed up with him. “You can’t—”

He raised a hand. “Hold on a minute.” He bent tight at the waist, wrapping his arms around the backs of his thighs, then down to grab his ankles. He’d either strained something or was cramping. The moments it took for him to get his breath nearly drove her wild.

At last he straightened. “The only way in is through a lava tube almost under the falls. It’s tight and deep.”

“But you got through and he’s there. Is he all right? Is he injured?”

“He’s unconscious. Feverish. His legs are beat up. Pulse is thready.” He rubbed his hand over his mouth and beard. “I don’t know how much time we have.”

Her heart pounded. “Can we get him out?”

“Not without air tanks and stretcher.” His gaze circled the basin. “I need to climb up to get a signal.”

“We can’t leave him.”

He chewed his lip, causing the narrow line of beard to jut out beneath. “How long can you hold your breath?”

“Long enough.”

“It’s more than twenty feet deep, at least twelve along the lava tube, then up. No room for error.”

She straightened. “I’ll do it.”

“If you get caught under the falls, there’s not much I can do.”

Caught under the falls. Tumbling, flailing. She turned back to the treacherous white column and felt its brutality. She shrank inside, but this wasn’t the time to quit. “I beat it before.”

He forked his fingers into his hair. “Okay. We’ll dive down together to the tube. If you think you can go on, take the light and get through as fast as you can. If you have to turn back, do it.”

She nodded. But she wouldn’t. She was going to get through to the person she’d left behind. Whatever it took.

If he was paying attention to his gut, he’d have convinced her to wait until he called for emergency rescue operations. But if the guy in the cave died before help came, it would be worse for Jade than finding him dead already. He had to give her this time. He only hoped she could handle it.

Holding the light between them, they dove. Down, down to the long, jagged gap in the lava rock. No time to question, to doubt. At the opening, she took the light and entered the tube, kicking and pulling herself inside. He waited in case she had to back out, then went through himself, surfacing right behind her. She sputtered and choked, then turned toward the ledge where her companion lay.

With a cry, she swam to him, pulled up on her elbows, and caught hold of his hand. Cameron joined her, grabbing on to the ledge as she started to cry. The gray-haired man made no response, just drew thin, reedy breaths. Jade’s reaction was hard to decipher.

He had to get out and make the call, but he wanted answers first. “Who is he?”

She clutched his hand and shook her head. “I don’t know.”

Anger surged. How could she not know? The man was lying right there. Cameron let go of the ledge. “I’m going for help. Don’t come out without me.”

She nodded, already pulling the hose from her slim hydration pack toward the injured man’s mouth. Cameron swam out, climbed to his pack and pulled out his cell phone. He started for higher ground. Only after his muscles burned and his chest heaved and sweat ran down his sides from climbing, did he let himself ponder the fact that the man had to be twice Jade’s age.