Electra

Chapter 13

Bones shook his head, his expression one of disgust. “We really screwed that up.”

Maddock moved to the crate and put the lid back on. “It could be worse. We still have the film. And at least it looks like he’s keeping what he saw to himself. Hopefully we can get the other crate tomorrow and then get the heck outta here before we have to deal with him again.”

Bones went to the crate and helped Maddock pat it firmly into place. “Getting access to that crate alone won’t be easy. The whole team is diving on it first thing in the morning. Speaking of…” He glanced at his dive watch. “We should really get some sleep.”

“Where should we hide this crate? Taking it back to camp is not an option, nor is putting it back in the water, like Taylor said.”

Bones looked around the beach, up to the island’s interior. “We could bury it. As long as we can remember where it is.”

“Let’s find a spot, up off the beach.” They walked up to the edge of the water. Looking around, Maddock spotted a clump of flowering shrubs not far away.

“How about right there?”

“Let’s try it.” Maddock started digging while Bones brought the wheelbarrow over with the crate. They had only their dive knives to dig with, but it was sandy soil and within a few minutes they had scooped out a pit of adequate size. They slid the box in the hole, filled it back in, smoothed the surface, and covered it with vegetation so that the worked earth wasn’t readily visible. They both took a look around when the job was done, making sure no one, including Taylor, was watching, though Maddock suspected that he might be.

“That’ll have to do. Let’s get back to camp.” Maddock went to the wheelbarrow, but then stopped short of picking it up.

“What’s wrong?”

He was staring up into the island, away from the path that followed the beach in an arc to camp. “Maybe we should cut straight through there to camp, instead of following the path around.”

Bones looked toward where he pointed. “Through the jungle?”

“Yeah. It’s not all that thick, not like the Amazon or something like that. If we can get through it the camp is just straight across instead of all the way around, and there’s less chance of somebody seeing us coming back.”

“Hmmm, a little nature walk to get to my sleeping bag sooner? You make a good case, Maddock. But pushing that damn thing through the jungle?” He pointed to the wheelbarrow full of dive gear. Maddock frowned at it.

“It’s pretty flat in there,” he said, shining his light into the trees. “We can’t just leave it here or they’ll know something was going on. We need to drop it back off in the dive tent before we hit the sack.”

“You push first, then.”

Maddock got behind the wheelbarrow and Bones led the way into a copse of trees not far from the beach. Maddock knew that the atoll was actually comprised of several small islands very close together, and he recalled from the aerial view he had on the way in that this was not one of the thin strips of land, but the wide, triangular piece at one of the atoll’s ends. At first it was easy going, with lots of space between each tree, but as they penetrated deeper into the island, the jungle truly began to live up to the name, complete with hanging vines and thick roots that they had to negotiate carefully with the wheelbarrow. It was also dark in here, the moonlight not penetrating through the canopy, so they switched on their dive lights.

Maddock checked the compass on his wrist since they were walking through a wilderness area without so much as a path. “Doesn’t look like anyone from the team ever comes in here.”

“It’s nice and all,” Bones said, stabbing his light beam into the darkness ahead, “but I can see why.” All around, the hum of millions of unseen insects, birds and other animals vibrated the air, which was noticeably warmer and more humid than out on the beach. Bones slapped his arm and muttered something about mosquito repellent.

They came to an area where forward progress was no longer possible due to a pile of collapsed trees. They had to skirt around it, lifting the wheelbarrow over fallen debris as they went. When they got back on course on the other side of the tree pile, Bones pointed toward a rocky outcropping set into a small rise overgrown with vegetation. He turned his flashlight on it.

“What?” Maddock set down the wheelbarrow to look.

“Is it just me, or is there an opening in those rocks there?”

“I don’t know. Does it matter?” Maddock wiped the sweat from his forehead and checked his watch. “Maybe this shortcut wasn’t such a bright idea after all.”

“Well, now that we’re here, let me take a look.” Bones walked over to the rocks. He climbed up on a couple of them and directed his light beam into the dark opening. Maddock groaned when he saw Bones waving an arm, telling him to come over.

“What for?”

“This goes back a ways. I think we should check it out.”

“I thought you couldn’t wait to get to sleep.” Maddock reluctantly brought the wheelbarrow over to the base of the clump of boulders.

“It’s a cave!”

Apparently that was all the reason Bones needed, because as Maddock watched, the big Cherokee ducked beneath an overhang of rock and disappeared into the shadowy fissure.