Page 14 of Hard to Kill

“The map you never shared with me?”

“That’s the one. According to that, it’ll take us at least another day of walking and crawling to reach our destination.” She took a drag of water from her canteen and offered it to him.

He accepted it and drank. “How much water do we have?”

“Not enough. I thought I’d be making this trek alone.”

He stood and shook the dust off his pants. “Then we’d better get going.” He offered Kellen his hand.

She recognized a peace offering when she saw one. She took it.

He easily pulled her to her feet. The man was in good shape, she knew that for sure after landing on him. He was powerful and capable. He was not the villain she had believed him to be, and they were about to spend a lot of time together in the long dark.

Hmm. Time to get moving. “This way.” She secured her flashlight to the bill of her cap, and together they edged along the rock shelf to a dark corner of the cave, which lead to an opening large enough to crawl through.

“Ladies first,” Slater said sarcastically.

“In case there’s a drop-off?”

“That. Or spiders.” His voice held a verbal shudder.

She grinned. “Be nice to the person with the flashlight, General.” On hands and knees, she entered the cramped tunnel.

He followed. “Wise words, though it’s your fault I don’t have one—I dropped it when you pushed me over the edge of a cliff.” A pause. “You saved my life, Captain.”

She answered promptly and lightly. “It’s a life worth saving, sir.”

“It’s a debt I’ll somehow repay.” He sounded far too sincere for comfort.

The darkness was fraught with more than the possibility of cave-ins and spiderwebs.

She crawled faster.

He easily kept up. “What did you mean when you said you thought I’d do away with you once you found the painting?”

“Oh. That. Yes.” Let him explain this. “You had said half the reward would go to Benjamin Roy. When I mentioned that to Major Aimes, he looked surprised. Baffled. He wasn’t exactly given to shows of emotion, so I did some research.”

“And?” General Slater sounded grim.

“Really, sir, you don’t know? Benjamin Roy was killed outside Kabul. By friendly fire.”

Kellen heard the general stop behind her. “That son of a bitch killed him, didn’t he?”

Kellen shook her head in the dark. “Or had him killed. But I have no proof. Since you became more and more standoffish and occasionally frightening, I believed you must have arranged the death. After all, with the proper arrangements, you were the one who stood to benefit.”

Slater sounded sad, like the weight of the world rested on his shoulders. “No, Captain, when last I saw him, Benjamin Roy was healthy and returning for a stint in the States.”

“I’m so sorry, sir.”

“Me, too. He was a good kid.” Slater sighed shakily.

Crawling on their knees and elbows for another twenty minutes brought them into a larger opening in the tunnel. Kellen slipped down the slope into a larger cavern, the general close behind. They stood and looked around.

Bats hung in the thousands from the ceiling.

“I guess we know why it’s so slick,” General Slater murmured.

Kellen looked at her grimy hands. He didn’t like spiders. She didn’t like bats, and she most definitely didn’t like bat poo. “There’s supposed to be an underground stream farther on.”

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