Stepping just inside the smaller barn, he found Cole’s two horses but no paint. Once again, the feeling that something wasn’t right gnawed at him. Stepping back outside, he stared at the ground. He was better at tracking a fire than a person, but it couldn’t hurt to try.
There were horse prints over tire tracks and they led toward the desert. Untying Black Jack, he followed the tracks. As he spotted a narrow trail, he noticed dog tracks as well. Had a rabid coyote been out here? As far as he knew, Cole had no dogs on his ranch, but he couldn’t be sure.
He continued down the path. The tracks could have been made days ago, but he had nothing else to go on, except the feeling in his gut that it was important he find Riley, preferably before Wyatt arrived.
When the tracks veered from the path where fainter tracks could be seen continuing, he mounted Black Jack. “Let’s take a walk.” From on top of the horse, he could see the tracks clearly in the dust that coated the ground. He was lucky the wind hadn’t wiped the tracks away.
The image of the dust devil he’d seen when he arrived bowled through his mind. What if that hadn’t been a dust devil?
Riley forced herself to walk the fifteen feet that separated Domino from the entrance to the mine. It was like a black hole to hell. She stood before the opening no more than ten feet wide and seven feet tall. Miniscule compared to the cave she’d run into outside Chora in Afghanistan.
“Nope, not going there.” She shook her head. She wasn’t going into the mine either. She needed something to lure Dog out. Something more exciting than the damned rabbit. Food would be—she reached her hand into her back pocket and pulled out the baggy with lunchmeat. Score!
“Come here, Dog!” She opened the bag. “You want some more meat?”
No sound emerged from inside.
She tried again. “Come on, Dog. Aren’t you hungry?” She tried to make her voice sound enticing, but being so close to the entrance had her throat too tight.Come on, puppy. Don’t make me go in there.
Maybe she should go back to the ranch and see if Garrett would help. He should still be unloading horses.
At the sound of a yelp, she started, her heart moving into her throat. That didn’t sound good. A rabbit couldn’t hurt a dog. Did he misstep and even now was standing in the dark with one paw lifted? Or had a piece of the old shaft hit him and pinned him and that’s why he wasn’t coming out?
Even as the image of Dog lying unable to get up materialized in her mind, her decision was made.
Walking back to Domino, she grabbed the water bottle she’d dropped in the saddle bags and the towel she always brought with her. Then she checked her pockets as usual, stuffing the baggy back in her back pocket. “Wait for me, Domino. I’ll be right back.”
Returning to the mine entrance, she tried one more time. “Dog. Come here, Dog.” Her voice barely made it past her lips.
Embrace your fear. Let it make you stronger, more in tune with your surroundings.
Her father’s voice as he coached her while rock climbing when she was still a teen reverberated through her mind. If it could keep her alive in Afghanistan, it could keep her alive retrieving a mutt from an old copper mine.
Throwing the towel around her neck, she turned on the flashlight of her cell phone and stepped inside.
Just moving out of the sun had the air feeling cooler. As she stared at the blackness beyond the light, her throat completely closed, making it hard to breathe. She was Army dammit. As her father always said,act like it.
The ground was littered with both manmade and natural debris. Stepping over two of the old beams that used to support the opening, she moved her light over the wall and up. The header beam was missing, too. Nothing held the ceiling in place anymore. A chill ran through her, causing the sweat beneath her breasts and arms to feel downright cold.
The walls and ceiling were brown just like the dirt on the desert floor. Dirt that could be whisked away by a breeze. She swallowed hard, trying to free her throat to speak. She called out again. “Dog, where are you?”
A skittering sounded on her right, and she swung the light to the wall in time to see dirt settling on the ground. Great. Just great.
She remained where she was, listening, still close enough to the entrance to escape if the walls crumbled. But staying there wouldn’t find Dog. “Come on Dog. Don’t make me come after you.” She kept her words quiet, pleased to hear no crumbling dirt.
Focusing the light ahead of her, she peered down the tunnel. The steel rails were still intact, though the wood supports were barely discernable, either covered in dirt or disintegrated. Based on how the Arizona heat dry-rotted the sturdiest items, she’d lay her money on disintegrated.
Standing where she was certainly wasn’t going to solve anything, except to make it harder to move. Every one of her muscles felt tight enough to snap. Taking a deep breath, she counted to ten. On her exhale, she moved forward, staying between the rails, not willing to move anything.
Find Dog.
Dog needed help.
Dog couldn’t find his way out.
She kept her focus on her mission, ignoring herself. That had always worked well. Retrieve dog and return to camp. Just the two of them.There was no one else. No one left. All shot. She had to make it back.
The brown earth without supports changed to brown earth with squared-off supports and then to a more narrow passage of hard rock in a mixture of grays that that curved to a peak not far above her head. She continued forward stepping carefully, listening intently.
