She headed inside.
I’m just being paranoid... and I’ve not even partaken of the wares I just bought.
As she headed across the lobby, the waitress from earlier gave her an inquiring look. Naomi answered with a thumb’s up, then hurried to the stairs and climbed to the second floor. She crossed to her room, unlocked it, and ducked inside.
Tag coughed, then croaked to her. “How was—”
“Got everything,” she gasped out, relieved to be back.
She paused at the closed door, resting her forehead against it. She flipped the deadbolt. As an extra measure, she fumbled the privacy chain across the frame. She trembled there, her heart pounding, not fully trusting that she hadn’t exposed herself. She pictured the flash of the brake lights, the faces staring toward her.
From here on out, she decided to proceed with more caution and adhere to the wisdom she had once read:
Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.
43
5:33 p.m.
Sharyn slogged through the snow. At this elevation, the depth remained manageable, only reaching her ankles. But that would change. Flurries and spats of heavier snow battled them. And the heart of the storm had yet to reach the mountain.
As the group climbed out of a rocky bowl, they walked in a hunched line. Higher up, the clifftops and summit of Monte Antelao carried heavy cornices of snow, which the winds had blown into huge flumes.
She prayed they were close to their destination, especially as the sun was only a cloaked glimmer to the west. The sky above had become a gray blanket that darkened to an ominous black off to the east. By now, her face and feet had gone numb. The scarf over her lips had frozen at its edges.
Russo called back and pointed her flashlight. “There’s a plateau ahead. Once there, we must find a place to shelter for the night.”
They were all too exhausted to respond. They simply followed her. The only one who seemed unbothered by the weather and exertion was Katch. The large lynx kept an easy pace with Russo. A layer of powder coated his spotted fur, offering perfect camouflage for this environment.
The steep slope finally evened out into a wide shelf, as large as a football field. As they trekked onto it, the winds struck harder. But those same gusts had cleared the rock of most of the snow, which swirled in icy devils around them.
Ahead, a sheer wall of icy rock climbed into the clouds. Sharyn searched its face as far as the gloom permitted. She spotted no breaks in the cliff, no shadows that might hide a cave entrance.
“What now?” Archie grumbled.
Russo waved them into a cluster. “We’ve reached the circle you marked on your map. Like I warned, there’s nothing here.”
“We can’t say that with certainty,” Laurent warned, his breath steaming through his frosted scarf. “It’s gotten too dark. We’ll find a place to camp and search at daybreak, after the storm clears.”
“Where do we go?” Duncan asked.
Sharyn looked to Russo. “What about that World War II bunker you mentioned? Is it close?”
The woman pointed to the right. “A path hugs the cliffs over there. The last approach is narrow with a steep drop, but it’s the only way to reach the Castello. And like I told you, it was gated and chained years ago.”
“I have a bolt cutter in my pack,” Laurent said. “Will that get us inside?”
Russo shrugged, plainly noncommittal.
Laurent shared a weighted look with the others.
Back at the Barbier château, Archie had told them about his bike trip through the Dolomites and the number of caves and World War II bunkers that riddled the peaks. Knowing such places might have to be searched, Laurent had come prepared. He also carried an ax slung atop his pack, ready to do some breaking and entering if need be.
During the long climb, the group had discussed—out of earshot of Russo—the possibility that the Castello could be blocking the lost cavern system.Like a thumb in the dike, as Archie had put it. If Russo was correct about nothing else being up here, the bunker seemed like a good place to begin their search.
And if nothing else, it’ll get us out of the weather for the night.
“Take us there,” Laurent ordered.
