Uncharted (36 page)
Nothing about the situation was fair. Susan hadn’t wanted to come on this trip, and Karyn should have stayed in New York to take care of her daughter. Mark was always talking about his car dealerships, so why hadn’t he stayed home to run them?
By rights Lisa and Kevin should be the only people on this island. If she had him to herself, she could show him how much she loved him . . . and prove that she had become a tremendously capable woman.
She picked up another piece of seaweed, plucked a stray bit of cellophane from it, and draped it over her shoulder.
Karyn and Susan were selfish monsters, and Mark was an egotistical creep. She and Kevin had always been destined to land on this island; they deserved to survive.
When this was all over and they had gone home, Kevin would come to his senses. He’d think back to this adventure and realize how little Karyn had contributed and how useless Susan had been in a crisis. He’d remember Lisa collecting the seaweed, weaving the ropes, and watching the horizon to spot the first sign of whatever would prove to be their salvation.
Still shaken by what she’d seen in the cavern, Karyn stumbled out of the skull and leaned against the rough rocks outside. Kevin, Mark, and Susan were rushing toward her, their hands raised to shelter their faces against a rising wind.
Kevin looked up and saw her. “K.” His voice was heavy with relief. “I was about to go look for you.”
She managed a weak smile. “I’m glad you didn’t.”
“We’re exhausted,” Mark said. “Kevin and I cut four bamboo canes, but we gotta get some rest. And the wind’s picking up.”
Karyn stepped to the side, halfheartedly blocking the entrance. “You’re not coming in here, are you?”
Mark’s brows rose almost to his drooping bangs. “Where else are we supposed to go? The sand and wind will rip the skin off our bodies if we stay out here.”
“But—”
“No time for buts.” Kevin gripped her arm and pulled her into the skull’s open mouth. “Nothing could be as bad as staying outside in a gale.”
They stepped into the front chamber, stamping their feet as if they’d come in from a rainstorm. Karyn looked past them to see whitecaps rising in the claws of the wind.
“Come on,” she said, leading them toward shelter. “I think the tide’s coming in.”
They walked through the front cavern and the tunnel until they reached the first cave. Karyn hesitated at the threshold, afraid she’d see another of her memories playing in living color. But the cavern was empty, the only sound the hooting of the wind through the opening above their heads.
Mark strolled in and stretched out on the sand. “This island is a freakin’ mess,” he said, propping himself on an elbow. “I’d bet a thousand bucks it’s not even on a map. This place must be America’s dirty little secret.”
Karyn sank to an empty space between Susan and Kevin. “What do you mean?”
A lethal calmness filled Mark’s eyes. “This place
has
to be a test range. Nothing in this place is right; everything’s been altered somehow. What could do that? Chemicals. Biological agents. John told us they use some of these islands for testing bombs; I’m betting they use
this
one for testing weapons they’re not supposed to be making.”
Kevin shook his head. “How could they get away with that? There are too many other islands out here, too many people. Someone would notice.”
“Not if they understand the risk of blowing the whistle. People who know about this place aren’t going to say anything to anyone. Face it, gang—we’re trespassing on an island that doesn’t officially exist. I don’t think anybody’s going to come for us, so we have to get the raft built. And when we get back, I think we’d better keep our mouths shut about anything we’ve seen here.”
Karyn glanced from Mark to Kevin. “You guys are scaring me. If this place doesn’t exist, how are we going to be rescued?” Her eyes trained on Mark. “You said we could draw someone’s attention with the fire—”
“And we might,” he answered. “But what if we draw the attention of the navy? You think
they’re
going to swing by and rescue us? No way. We’re going to have to get out into the ocean currents and get picked up by a passing ship.”
Karyn’s mind vibrated with a thousand thoughts, none of which were pleasant. “How are we supposed to get into the currents? Even if we build the raft, we have no paddles, no wood.”
“We’ll find something.” Mark steepled his fingers. “If we have to use our hands, we will. But we can’t afford to sit around and wait for the cavalry to come. I’m pretty sure they’re not going to show.”
Susan shivered in a sudden draft. “I hate this place. I
really
hate these caves. They’re like . . . mirrors.”
Karyn stiffened. Though Susan had always loved to complain about mirrors—some made her look too heavy, others, too thin—no one seemed surprised by her comment. Why not? Had the others seen strange things too?
She gave Kevin a distracted glance and tried to smile. “I don’t like the caves, either. I was wandering down the passageway before you all came in. I—I saw something. It couldn’t have been real, but it sure
felt
real.”
Behind the veil, Susan’s eyes flew up at her like a pair of blue jays scared out of hiding. “You too?”
Karyn nodded. “It was like—”
“A movie,” Kevin said, “but like no movie you’ve ever seen at the theater. More like your worst nightmare.”
Karyn stared as awareness thickened between them. So Kevin had seen something too. So had Susan and Mark, or they’d be asking questions.
Mark broke the heavy silence. “If we all saw hallucinations in these caves, you’ve proved my point. There’s some compound on this island, something that plays with our minds and causes delusions. It’s probably a kind of biological agent.”
“But we haven’t eaten anything,” Kevin pointed out. “And we still haven’t found water—”
“We’re breathing the air, and air is another form of water,” Mark said. “Some government genius has obviously created a substance that can permeate our skin and affect our nerve endings. They may even be controlling our thoughts.”
Kevin snorted in derision. “How is that possible? No one knows we’re here.”
Mark pulled back his shoulders. “Look, I don’t know
how
they do things, but I do know there’s more to this place than meets the eye. We’ll probably suffer the effects as long as we stay on the island, so we have to get off before we can no longer function.”
“What if we can’t?” Karyn was dismayed to hear a note of hysteria in her voice. “What if we’re stuck here? What if no one will come near this place because the locals know it’s dangerous? What if this drug or whatever gets into our brains and we lose our grip on reality? I’m already . . . well, I’m seeing things. Odd things.”
Mark grunted. “We’ll make it off the island. If we don’t, well, we’ll probably die of dehydration before we go crazy.”
Karyn pointed toward Mark as a sudden thought struck. “Oh—I’ve thought of a way to get water, but I need a pot. Actually, anything we can use to boil water will work.”
He laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind, but I’m concentrating on the raft. You girls can look for pots and pans.”
How could Mark be flippant at a time like this? Despair tore at Karyn’s heart as she pressed her hand to her mouth and pondered the unthinkable. If Mark was right, the world was a more sinister place than she had imagined. If they did make it back to civilization, how long would they suffer the effects of this place?
Yet if Mark was wrong, far more mysterious forces than the U.S. government were at work on this island—
She lifted her head. “Where,” she asked, looking around, “is Lisa?”
Tucked behind a boulder, Lisa kept her head down and wrapped a string of rancid seaweed around her neck, trying to protect her exposed skin from the bawling winds. Either the gusts had come from out of nowhere, or she’d been too engrossed in her thoughts to notice; in any case, she hadn’t intended to get caught so far from the cave. The boulder wasn’t the best protection, but at least it offered shelter from the rain of sharp sand blowing in from the beach.
She leaned against the rock and closed her eyes, trying not to think about the others. Had they huddled in the cavern? Was Karyn with Kevin? If they were together, were they sharing sweet confidences or snapping at each other’s throats?
She gritted her teeth and pounded the rock, frustrated by her inability to move freely. If she were with the group, she could drop a question into the conversation—perhaps an innocent query about Sarah. Who was she with? What must she be thinking?
Since both Kevin and Karyn were worried about their daughter, it wouldn’t take much to prick their wounded hearts. In a matter of minutes, Kevin would be snarling that Karyn had been stupid to leave Sarah with a friend. And Karyn would be screaming that he should have thought more about his daughter when he agreed to the divorce.
It would be so easy to manipulate them. Child’s play, really.
As the wind moaned and whistled at the aperture high in the cave, Karyn stood and stretched to ease the cramping in her legs. Susan had retreated farther into the shadows of the large cave, while Mark had propped himself by the opening, partially blocking the passageway with his legs.
Kevin opened his eyes when Karyn’s knees snapped in midstretch. “Can’t you sleep?”
She pressed her hands to the small of her back. “Can you?”
“Haven’t been able to since we landed.”
She wrapped her arms around herself and nodded toward the tunnel. “Do you think Lisa is somewhere back there?”
Kevin’s gaze drifted to the passageway. “Why would she go back there? One trip through those rocks was enough for me.”
Karyn shivered, remembering what she’d seen. “But it’s not real, right? We’re hallucinating.”
“Maybe.” Kevin’s lips curved in a half smile. “Why the sudden interest in Lisa? Got some hot gossip or something?”
She laughed, suddenly grateful for the relaxed familiarity between them. “Yeah, I promised to meet her by the water fountain. I thought I saw one around the second turn.”
He shrugged as he stood. “I think you’re crazy, but I wouldn’t mind stretching my legs. Come on, I’ll keep you company while you two girl-talk.”
“I just need to tell her something,” she said firmly. “I want her to be on the lookout for a pot.”
Mark greeted them with a brief grunt as they approached the passageway. “You guys going into the tunnels?”
Kevin placed his hand in the small of Karyn’s back. “We’re looking for privacy.”
“Really?” Mark’s brows waggled. “I thought it was all over between you two—”
“He’s kidding.” Karyn stepped over Mark’s outstretched legs. “I’m looking for Lisa. Kevin’s coming to make sure I don’t get freaked out by the boogeyman.”
“Careful.” Mark shifted his position, allowing Kevin to pass. “Remember—whatever you see, it’s not real.”
Kevin waved away the warning. “We’ll remember.”
Comforted by the sounds of Kevin’s shuffling steps, Karyn took the point position as they explored the passageway. When she reached the fork in the tunnel, she went left instead of right, not willing to even accidentally encounter the awful theater her mind had reproduced behind the rocks.
Behind her, Kevin whistled, “She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain” between his teeth.
“Good grief.” She tossed a disdainful glance over her shoulder. “Can’t you think of something more appropriate?”
“Like what? ‘I’d Love to Go Spelunking with You?’”
“That’s not a song.”
“How do you know?”
“I know.”
“You can’t know everything. Nobody can know
everything
, not even a famous New York actress.”
She sighed. “Grow up, will you?”
A sudden chill climbed the rack of her spine when they approached a vertical fissure in the rocks. It looked a lot like the crevice she had visited earlier, but this time she heard something unexpected. “Listen—hear that?”
“Hmm?”
“Sounds like running water.” She paused before the narrow cavity, then gripped his arm. “I think it
is
water! Come here and tell me if you hear the same thing.”