Rattled (29 page)

Drew looked at Erin, leaning against a tree and watching with half-closed eyes. Damn, she had spirit, but she looked exhausted. “Food and a nap,” Drew declared. “Camie and I will take care of the snakes while you rest. I gave in about staying, so do this for me.”

“I can live with that.”

Drew hated to leave Erin behind with the thugs, especially asleep, but he didn’t see a better alternative. She wouldn’t be truly safe until they were back in town with these guys behind bars. Maybe not even then, since they didn’t know who else might be after the treasure. The best way to protect her was to find the treasure and finish this.

Camie fixed a quick hot meal while Erin changed into her own clothes. After eating, they emptied the tub that held sleeping bags and laid one out for Erin in the trees away from the men. Drew leaned over her and brushed the hair off her forehead. “Will you be all right here alone with them?”

She nodded, her eyelids already drooping. “You two be careful. I’d rather be with these snakes than the ones you’re going to tackle.”

He kissed her gently. “I think your friend is crazy, but she seems to know what she’s doing. We’ll take care of it.”

Erin was already breathing heavily as Drew and Camie started out of the clearing, each holding one end of the rubber tub. Camie paused to grab a four-foot-long branch that had fallen from one of the juniper trees. “Snake poker,” she explained.

They started across the plateau toward the canyon. Drew couldn’t help glancing back several times, though he couldn’t see much of Erin or the men through the trees. It felt wrong to walk away and leave her there, even if he knew she’d be better off for the rest. It was unsettling to worry about someone that much. He wasn’t sure he liked it.

Camie broke the silence when they were halfway to the side canyon. “So what are your intentions toward Erin?”

Drew stumbled. Intentions? What the hell did that mean? He didn’t have any
intentions
.

Camie laughed. “You should see your face! Don’t worry, I’m not asking if you’re intending to marry her, and I’d be worried about both of you if you were thinking that way already.” Her tone grew more serious. “But Erin is a sweetie, and I don’t want to see her hurt. I want to know if you’re a player.”

“I’m not a player,” Drew snapped. He wasn’t, was he? He had a strict rule about only dating one woman at a time. Well, maybe not when it was just a casual date or two, but certainly if he was sleeping with somebody, if it was as serious as this—

Drew stopped walking.

Camie took another step before she noticed. “What? You walk into a cactus or something?” She moved forward to see around the rubber tub.

Drew shook his head, his mind elsewhere. Had he ever been as serious as this? Erin intrigued him. She was beautiful, smart, spirited. Frankly, probably way too good for a guy like him. But that didn’t mean....

What the hell did it mean?

He shook his head again. Camie was right, it was too soon to be thinking about big commitments. They had time to see where it would all lead. Especially if he signed that long-term contract with the college. He took a deep breath. He didn’t usually sign contracts for more than a few months, not since he got out of the military. This one would be two years, with an option for renewal. Why did that suddenly sound like a good idea?

Camie was peering into his face. “You all right, soldier? You look like you’ve taken a direct hit.”

“I’ve been hit by something,” Drew muttered. Time enough later to figure out exactly what that was. “Look, could we not talk about this now?”

“Whatever you say.” But Camie’s grin gave Drew the uncomfortable feeling that she saw more than he’d like.

They made their way down the side canyon and around to the rattlesnake nest. Drew tried to focus on the task at hand. He didn’t need to be distracted while facing rattlesnakes.

Camie propped her stick against the cliff and pulled the lid off the tub. “Now we just lay this on its side in front of them.”

“Oh, is that all?”

“Come on, tough guy, get some balls. They’re just a few little snakes.”

Drew considered pointing out that a dozen would be more accurate than a few, and though they weren’t large, young ones were actually more dangerous, because they didn’t know how to control their venom yet. They’d release it all in one bite, packing a bigger punch than an adult rattler. But he had a feeling Camie knew that very well and was just baiting him.

“My balls are fine, thank you very much.” He tried to think of a snappy follow-up but failed.

The snakes lay piled together in a mass, looking like a tangled garden hose with too many heads. They stayed quiet until Camie and Drew set the tub down in front of the nest and pushed it forward. A few snakes started to move and one shook its rattle. The sound made the hair stand up on the back of Drew’s neck.

“Now we stir them up,” Camie said.

Drew stepped back. “Be my guest.” To hell with chivalry. This was her plan.

Camie grabbed the stick. It was a few inches thick, weathered gray and dry, obviously dead before the storm had knocked it off. She held one end, stuck the other end among the rattlers, and stirred. Almost despite himself, Drew leaned forward to see better. A couple of the snakes headed for the tub right away. Some just curled up tighter. The one that had been rattling coiled into an attack pose and shook its tail harder.

“They sense heat,” Camie said. “That’s why they’re not bothering to attack the stick.” She made a sweeping motion with the stick and nudged a few more rattlers into the tub. Drew could hear them moving around, slithering against the smooth rubber sides. The hair on the back of his neck felt like it wanted to jump off and flee.

He saw a slim band of patterned green and brown slither around the edge of the tub and jumped back. “One’s getting away!”

“Well, poke it back in there.”

“I’ll leave that to the woman with the stick.”

Camie chuckled and moved around the tub to prod the escaping snake back. Drew was grateful that Erin couldn’t see this—mainly because Drew had a feeling he looked like a coward next to Camie. He was starting to see what Erin meant about Camie intimidating men. She had more nerve than a whole platoon. It wasn’t that Drew was afraid of rattlesnakes in particular. But growing up on a ranch, you never knew when you might find one snoozing on a hay bale. That dry, rustling sound sent his senses on high alert faster than an air raid siren.

After a little more poking and prodding, Camie said, “I think that’s all of them.”

“How about you be sure that’s all of them?”

“Can’t tell for sure until we move the tub and check under it. I’m going to slide the lid on now. Keep your feet back as we turn over the tub.”

“Right.”

Camie slowly slid the top down over the tub and nestled it in place. Then they each leaned forward from the sides and grabbed the handles. Camie counted, “One, two, three,” and they turned the tub right side up. Drew could feel the mass of snakes slide down the side and thump onto the bottom. Their muted rattling didn’t last long before they settled down.

Camie used the stick to poke around the nest. “Looks like we got them all.” She dragged the tub farther away from the nest. “Let’s head back up and get Erin, our caving gear, and the folding shovel.”

Drew blew out a long breath. Sweat trickled between his shoulder blades. He tried to tell himself it was warming up again after the storm.

Camie patted Drew’s arm. “You did very well.”

“Just tell me one thing,” Drew said. “You don’t drag Erin into stuff like this every day, do you?”

“Of course not.”

“Good.”

Camie winked. “I give her every other Tuesday off.”

Several hours later, Erin stood in the canyon while Drew finished digging out the hole behind the snake nest. After her long nap, another meal, and a large dose of anti-inflammatory painkillers, she felt surprisingly good. Her muscles ached—all of them—but not much worse than after the first day of the ski season when she hadn’t been in training. She’d probably feel even worse the next day, so she might as well keep going while she could still move. She rolled her shoulders to loosen them and shot a glance at the rubber tub sitting against the canyon wall 10 feet away. She wished they’d drag it farther away, but she felt silly asking and she wasn’t about to touch it herself.

Camie held out a hard plastic helmet in baby blue. “Here you go.” She had hand-painted her own with flames. Being excessively prepared, she’d even brought backup gear which they could loan to Drew. His helmet was a scuffed and ugly olive, maybe too snug, but serviceable. “You know how to put on the harness?” Camie asked.

Erin nodded and took it. “I wish we’d had the chance to go practice caving.”

“You won’t have any trouble. You know how to use the equipment from the climbing we’ve done. This will be easier, most of the time. If we have any large drops, you’ll have to let yourself down, just like we practiced rappelling off the cliff. If we get to something too steep to climb easily you’ll use the ascender. We’ll set that up if the time comes.”

“Right.” Erin hoped she wasn’t claustrophobic. She didn’t think so but she’d never done anything like this before. From their rock climbing, she felt relatively comfortable in the harness and trusted the ropes to hold her. She just hadn’t done it in the dark, in confined spaces.

Drew put down the shovel and wiped his forehead, then shrugged into a flannel shirt. The sun had already dropped behind the distant mountains, leaving them in chilly shade. He crouched in front of the waist-high opening and shone a flashlight inside. “We’ll have to crawl. I can’t see very far. Why don’t we check it out first before we deal with all that gear?”

“The Finder showed a big drop not too far in,” Camie said. “We might as well be prepared.”

“All right, then help me out here.” Drew stood and held up his loaner harness, a baffling conglomerate of thick webbing loops and strands, with several buckles. “This thing must be older than I am.”

“Pretty close,” Camie said, “but I checked it for fraying or weakness. And it’s one-size-fits-all, which is your good luck.” Camie took it from him and wrapped it around his waist. “This buckle goes in front. We always double back like this so there’s no chance of it slipping out. Now we fasten the leg loops.” She crouched and reached between Drew’s legs. He jumped as she grabbed the harness hanging down behind him and pulled it through. “Here are the leg loop buckles.” She started fastening one, still crouched with her face a foot from his crotch.

Drew shot Erin a nervous glance. “Um, I can probably handle it myself.”

“Hey, some men would pay good money for this.”

Erin busied herself with her own harness to hide her laughter. She and Camie had modern harnesses with padded, permanent leg loops, designed so you could step into them, fasten the waist belt, and be done. They finished gearing up with gloves, headlamps, and small backpacks to carry water, snacks, first aid supplies, and extra jackets. Camie had a climbing rope strapped to her backpack.

“Everyone ready?” Camie asked.

Erin and Drew nodded. Tiger was standing at the tunnel entrance, staring into the darkness, his tail lashing. Camie bent and ran a hand over his back and static electricity sparks crackled in the fading light.

“I don’t know why I even bother to ask,” Drew said, “but are you really taking the cat into the cave?”

“He’ll get in trouble if I don’t keep an eye on him. Besides, he could be useful.”

“Right.” Drew stretched out the word.

“He’ll let us know if there are any more snakes, for one thing,” Camie said. She dropped to her knees at the tunnel entrance and ran her hand over chisel marks on the wall. “This entrance has been worked. But up ahead it looks natural.”

“So people have been here.” Erin felt her heart beat faster. “They must have found a natural opening in the rock and expanded it for access.” It was exactly what she might expect to find at the entrance to the lost treasure cave. She told herself not to hope too much, not to get caught up in expectations. But she couldn’t resist a quick, triumphant smile back at Drew before adjusting her headlamp and following Camie and Tiger, with Drew coming behind.

Water dripped down the rock walls and soaked the muddy sand beneath them. The air seemed cooler than outside. Erin wished Camie hadn’t mentioned more snakes. She’d never had anything against them before, but the memory of that rattler coming at her made her chest hurt. She forced herself to breathe and concentrated on the hard ground under her gloved hands. She tried not to think about the tons of rock overhead.

She couldn’t see any of the tunnel ahead. The light from her headlamp lit up Camie’s backside and Tiger’s twitching tail. Erin realized what Drew’s view must be. Too bad she was wearing Camie’s spare water-resistant jumpsuit over her flattering jeans. Silly to think about it, but better than focusing on the dangers of snakes, rock falls, and mysterious monsters in the dark.

Once they got past the sandy opening, the ground was packed dirt with patches of hard, exposed rock. A chill seeped through Erin’s gloves and the knees of her jeans. She had to carefully lift and place her right hand so as not to jar her broken finger. The only sound was the loud echo of their mingled breathing. Was it her imagination or was the tunnel getting smaller?