The survivor, p.20
The Survivor, page 20
“And rockslides?” Kagan asked. “That was why you were worried that the unicorns were going to have to contend with that problem?”
“Yes. The rockslides will constantly get worse.” She looked back at Cade. “That’s why I couldn’t leave them here even if there wasn’t a threat from Nadim. It was safe when Silvana brought those unicorns here, but it’s not safe now. So it’s over to you, Cade.”
“I’ll accept it.”
“But you can see why Silvana couldn’t accept it, because she couldn’t imagine that we’d destroy it.” Maya smiled sadly. “We even have to disturb that burial place she worked so hard to create for herself. If we don’t move that sarcophagus and get it out of there to somewhere safe, we run the risk of an avalanche doing so for us. Those experts said the area around Zokara Mountain would be particularly vulnerable to damage from avalanches.”
“She’d probably prefer that to being taken back as prisoner of those Roman soldiers,” Riley said. “She went through quite a bit to avoid that happening.” She suddenly smiled. “But she succeeded and that’s one thing we won’t have to worry about. Though I don’t know how the hell we’re going to keep her body preserved until we can get it to a lab that will tell us what we should be doing. I don’t even know what we’re going to find when we examine the body. It’s all very well for Silvana to tell her servants and relatives that she was sure she’d found a drug that would keep her frozen forever in time—but how could she be sure? How could she know how long it would last? We’re talking about nearly two thousand years. In that age a hundred years might seem forever.” She frowned. “I think I should call Eve and ask a few questions…”
“More than a few,” Cade murmured.
“One more thing,” Maya said. She picked up a soft leather pouch and reached inside to produce an ornate gold and bejeweled key.
Cade’s eyes widened. “Is that—?”
“It’s the key to Silvana’s tomb. The same one her followers used in the last moments of her life.” Maya handed it to him as she got to her feet. “It’s all in your hands now. The only thing I’m asking is that you make it soon. Nadim sounded both hungry and vicious when I talked to him last night. I can’t stand the thought of him near Bailey.” She turned and left the fire. “Good night.”
Kagan caught up with her. “You’re going through a bad time,” he said quietly. “It will get better, but not for a while. You love this island and the mountains, and it came as a shock when you found out how it was being destroyed by idiots who don’t care. I grew up loving the mountains probably even more than you do, but I could see the destruction happening all around me from the time I was a small child. All that beauty… I couldn’t understand it. Sometimes the pain was almost unbearable. It only helped when I decided I just had to find a way to do whatever I could to survive until I found the people smart and willing enough to help me start repairing what had been destroyed.”
“I don’t need a pep talk, Kagan,” she said jerkily.
“No, because you’re instinctively doing what I’m doing. You found Cade and your friend Riley, and they’re people who reach out and bandage and then repair. I just thought you might like to know you’re not alone.” He smiled. “Good night, Maya. See you in the morning.”
Before she could reply, he was gone.
“A forever-in-time drug,” Eve repeated skeptically. “Not impossible, but not likely, Riley.” She hesitated. “But it is intriguing… and even more so since your Silvana swore that she found one. I’ve begun to have faith in Silvana.”
“So have I,” Riley said. “But like you, I have to consider that it was another age, and it sounds more like magic than science. I thought that I’d check and see if you’d ever heard anything like that.”
“No, but I’m a forensic sculptor and that’s not my field of expertise. Had anyone else at that meeting heard about a drug like that?”
“Not really. Kagan made some vague reference to Chile.”
“That’s a long way from the Himalayas. Still, you might follow up. In the meantime I’ll be glad to do some research and see what I come up with.”
“Don’t do it. I don’t want to be a bother. I just thought you might know—”
“Hush. I wouldn’t offer if I didn’t want to do it. It’s not as if I’m too busy right now. Joe is back from Scotland and I’m only doing my forensic work.”
“Which is always substantial,” Riley said with a smile. “I’m not going to back you into a corner, Eve.”
“I wouldn’t let you,” Eve said. “You’ve just given me an interesting puzzle to solve and I’m going to do it. It’s rather fascinating. I had to turn you down when you and Cade took off for the island, but there’s no reason why I can’t dip my toe in this little problem.”
“I very carefully didn’t invite you,” Riley said. “I felt guilty enough. Keep your toes out of this, Eve.”
“As soon as I finish checking it out.” She changed the subject. “How are you and Cade getting along?”
“Ups and downs. As he recently said, we’re learning a lot about each other right now.” She chuckled. “But we haven’t been able to reach the stratosphere you and Joe seem to manage.”
“It took us a long time, and we’re still learning. For instance, Joe has been very quiet since he came back home. I don’t know why yet.” She looked up as Joe came back onto the porch. “But I think I’ll find out. I’ll call you back when I find out something about your forever drug.” She pressed DISCONNECT.
“Riley has a problem?” Joe dropped down on the swing beside her. “You were on the phone a long time.”
“You could say she has a problem. It’s more like a challenge.” She laid her head on his shoulder. “But she’ll work through it. She always does.”
“But it wouldn’t hurt if you decided to throw a little help her way?”
“I’ve been thinking about it. But not unless I can work around any problems it might cause here. We’re still working on the boathouse.”
“The boathouse?” He looked down at her and started to laugh. “What the hell are you talking about? You’re prioritizing your efforts of choosing paint and hiring carpenters over doing work that no one else can do half as well as you?”
She frowned. “It’s not as if we’re talking about the forensic work I do for law enforcement. This is something completely different.”
He reached out and cupped her face in his two hands. “Yes, it is,” he said. “And I’ve been thinking long and hard about how different. Lately, you’re trying to be everything to everyone. You’re mother and best friend to our kids. You’ve created a home for all of us. You’re doing your duty to give forensic services to half the police departments in the country. Now you’re trying to rebuild our boathouse?” He brushed a kiss on her lips. “And one other thing I didn’t mention, you’re being my love and my life. Which I absolutely refuse to give up.”
She gave a mock growl. “You’d better not.”
“No problem. But we might have to do some schedule changing to accommodate something new I’ve noticed on the horizon.”
“And what’s that?”
“The fact that you’re changing and growing as a person and professional.” He saw her start to frown and he added quickly, “Oh, it’s not as if you’ve ever stood still in that category. Maybe it’s because life has been zooming and changing around us lately that you’ve been zooming and changing, too, just to keep up. You’re not satisfied with yourself, and you’ve been trying new things, reaching out, seeing how far you could push the envelope.” He added quietly, “And you’ve been pushing it one hell of a distance. For the past few years you’ve been amazing. You helped with the creation of that bullet cure that could be a universal lifesaver, you did the extraordinary work on Helen of Troy, and you jumped in when Riley said she might need your help with Palandan Island and saved her life. You could have said no, but you didn’t. Because you wanted to stretch the boundaries you’d drawn for yourself. You knew it was time you took another giant step forward.”
“You sound as if I was negotiating a moon landing. I was just doing my job, Joe.”
“No, you were innovating and planning and doing what you were meant to do to reach your potential.” He gazed down into her eyes. “But you’ve been drawing back lately and letting other things get in the way. I want to keep you safe, but I’m not going to let you smother that growth. It’s wonderful and should be nurtured. We’ll just find a way to work around it. Okay?”
He was the one who was wonderful. She had to clear her throat. “Very much okay,” she said huskily. “But there’s no reason I can’t do it all if I figure out—”
“There you go again.” He laughed. “Did I leave out the word together? Insert it and we’ll start from there.”
“We always start from there.” She cuddled closer to him.
“But I believe you’ve talked me into trying for another moon landing if they manage to get Silvana down from that mountain to a place where I can work on her. It can’t be on that island with Nadim hovering like a vulture.” She could feel the excitement begin at just the thought. “But there will be a lot of prep work to do. Maybe I’ll let you dip your toes into Riley’s problem, too.”
“Please don’t. It sounds very uncomfortable and terribly soggy.”
“No, it’s only research and you’re always great at that.”
“You realize praise will get you anywhere with me.” He sighed. “Where should I begin?”
“I’ll have to call Riley back, but I think you should begin with Chile…”
Two hours later Riley received the call from Eve.
“I know it’s the middle of the night there,” Eve said when Riley picked up. “That’s too bad. It’s your fault for stirring things up here. I have to get things settled or I won’t be able to go back to sleep.”
“What’s wrong?” Riley sat up as she saw Cade throw aside his covers and get to his knees. “Is your security still okay at the Lake Cottage?”
“It’s fine. I’m always stumbling over one of the guards when I go outside. But that’s another thing. We’re probably going to need more sentries.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Why would that be—”
“Because Joe says I need to make another moon landing and it might as well be getting Silvana off that island if we can do it. But we both know how difficult that might be, so we should try to do it as soon as possible.”
“Agreed.” Then she caught up with that first sentence. “Moon landing?”
“Never mind. You’d have to be here. But the important thing is that you need to make both the extraction and her new storage arrangement happen right away. I can’t help you with the extraction, but I’ll arrange for the temporary lab in this area where I can examine and perhaps even work on her. Cade will have to arrange security and take care of furnishing the medical expertise we might need. He’ll need more—”
“I’m here,” Cade broke in. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Of course you are,” Eve said. “Well, get to work. Riley, I’m worried about that drug we may have to deal with. We don’t know what we’re facing. We don’t even know if it worked for a short time or long time. Or if we’ll have to face the fact that without Egyptian or Roman embalming, we’ll be left with nothing at all in that coffin. Did you talk to Kagan about Chile yet?”
“That was two hours ago.”
“And I’ve been lying here thinking about that blank wall I’m facing. Why don’t you go and find out if he can help me?”
“I’ll be on my way as soon as I hang up.” She paused. “Eve, you don’t have to do this.”
“It seems I do,” Eve said. “It has something to do with growth and potential and innovation. Since it has nothing to do with you, don’t argue with me. Just get me the information I need and go get Silvana on a plane in the best possible shape you can manage. I’ll get back to you if I think of anything else.”
“We’re sure you will,” Cade said. “It will be as you command.”
But Eve had already hung up.
“She would have been a wonderful emperor.” Cade was starting to dress. “Or maybe a caretaker. Well, we have our orders. We should be ready to go after Silvana as soon as we can. It’s just as well since we’ll have Joe, Eve, and security on the other end. I’ll go to base camp and make arrangements for a troop to accompany us to that waterfall and tell Kirby to get a refrigeration unit put on the plane right away.” He glanced at her. “I could stop at Kagan’s tent on my way and tell him about Eve’s call. That might have been just a casual remark he made about Chile. Kagan has been all over the world and he has hundreds of stories about every place he’s been.”
“Maybe one of those stories will tell us what we want to know,” Riley said. “I promised Eve I’d go talk to him right away. I have to keep my word. I’ll go get Maya and take her with me to see Kagan. She knows more than any of us about what Silvana did that day.” She was throwing on her clothes. “Besides, Maya and Kagan have a right to know about any change of plans even if they’re staying here with the herd and not directly involved in them.”
“I wasn’t trying to keep anything from them,” Cade said. “It was only a question of priority.”
“I know that.” She was on her way out the door, but turned and gave him a quick, hard kiss. “But after tonight I suddenly realize how alone Maya must be feeling now. You’ve heard how I grew up in the jungles trailing after my father. I was alone then, too, but it didn’t bother me. There was always something to see, somewhere to go. And one of the things I saw was Maya’s island, and it was so beautiful with all those apple orchards and the towering mountains in the distance and the legends she told me. I laughed and told her it must be like living in Eden. But that was her home and her history in a way I could never know.” She could feel her throat tighten painfully as she remembered Maya’s expression tonight. “But Eden is going away and she doesn’t know how she’s going to stop it. I don’t know how any of us are going to stop it. The only thing I’m sure about is that we’re not going to leave Maya out of a single minute of anything we do that might make a difference to her. Got it?”
“Without a doubt,” he said gently. “I knew that would be the direction you’d be going. Anything else?”
“And Kagan is part of the team now, too. I don’t want anyone to be alone. We’re all in this together. I don’t want to leave anyone out.” She called back over her shoulder, “I’ll call you after we talk to Kagan.”
“Before you drop in, I suggest you call him, too,” Cade said as he turned away. “It might save you some time. If I remember correctly, he usually sleeps nude.”
“I’m glad you gave me a call,” Kagan said as he opened the flap to let Maya and Riley into his tent. “It gave me time to make coffee.”
“Really?” Riley said. “Cade said it would give you time so that you wouldn’t be totally naked.”
“That, too.” He grinned. “It was like Cade to try to lighten the situation when I was trying to be cool and debonair. He has a habit of doing that.”
“Because you know each other so well,” Maya said. “And I notice you’ve no problem handling anything he dishes out.” She took the cup of coffee he handed her. “And if we show up in your tent in the middle of the night, we deserve whatever we get. Riley did explain that Eve Duncan has agreed to help with doing the follow-up on Silvana. She’s so good that we can’t afford to let her get away, but she’s concerned about the preservation procedure.”
He nodded. “I’ve heard of her.” He shrugged. “And she has a right to be concerned. But there’s a chance that the drug could work. It depends on how much faith you have in Silvana and her ability to dig out talent from everyone around her. She said she found someone who could give her what she needed. Do we believe her?”
“I want to believe her,” Riley said. “But Eve sent me to you. It’s such a bizarre drug that even Cade thought you were kidding when you were talking about possibilities. Were you?”
“I was just telling him he shouldn’t reject anything without exploring it.” He handed Riley her coffee.
“And where would he explore it?” Maya asked. “Chile?”
“It’s not as if I’ve ever heard about this forever drug,” Kagan said. “It just reminded me of a climb I took in the Andes several years ago. I ran across a village priest who wasn’t much of a climber, but he was a hell of a good storyteller. He told me about some Incan children who had been sacrificed maybe seven hundred years ago to the Sun God. Tragic story but according to this priest, the children weren’t sad at the time. They were treated royally during the year before the sacrifice, and they weren’t afraid when the time came. The priests fed them coca beans and an exotic drink that was almost surely a potent drug or narcotic. The children went to sleep and that was the end of their story.” He smiled. “Except that the priests wrapped them in fine wool and kept them in a special altar room in the temple in the mountains and in time forgot about them. They were discovered by university students on a field trip, who found the three children were perfectly preserved and looked exactly the way they had when they were sacrificed seven hundred years before.”
“Interesting story,” Maya said. “Is it going somewhere?”
“It did for me,” he said. “I was curious. On the way back from the climb, I stopped at Santiago and did some research. It wasn’t a fairy tale; the children were real, and the bodies were sent to a prestigious university in Nassau where they’re displayed by the science department several times a year.” He paused. “And the drug that was still found in their bodies was sent to a lab at Johns Hopkins, where it’s still being examined and tested. No results yet, but there’s always hope. They won’t give up.” He took a sip of his coffee. “Because that doesn’t happen when it’s a forever drug.”
