Mark of the Lion (40 page)

 

The witch man watched with his predator’s eyes. He saw the tall Maasai, Ruta, standing on one leg, storklike, with his left foot resting lightly on his right knee. The guard gripped a spear in his right hand. The others slept soundly thanks to the scented wood. The others, he didn’t need them now. He could finish them at his leisure, revenge and sport all in one. The witch padded softly around the guard’s right side and saw the Maasai pivot as his ears caught the stealthy sound. Then the witch whispered the guard’s name.

“Ruta.” The voice came out rasping, almost growling, as though a man were injured. “Ruta, help me,” the voice hissed in Maasai. The witch hoped to overcome the Maasai’s wariness and make him think that one of the two missing men had returned.

As he watched from behind his rocks, Ruta trotted lightly towards him, his gaze piercing the black night for a wounded man. The witch knew exactly when the Maasai first saw his eyes, which glowed with a predator’s night shine.

“Ruta,” he rasped once more. He saw the Maasai’s face writhe and contort in horror when the warrior realized that the sound came from the throat of a massive hyena. The witch didn’t allow his prey any more time and tore into Ruta’s throat before he cried out.

 

Jade woke an hour before sunrise to Harry’s deep, bellowing swear.

“What in blasted Hades? Ruta should have woken me hours ago. Where the devil is he?”

The torch had sputtered out long ago, and embers had replaced the bright fire at the entrance. Ruta certainly was derelict in his duties, and Harry got up to inform him of that fact. Jade went to the dying fire and stirred it back to life with some fresh twigs. Her head ached, and she felt drugged. An explosive gasp replaced Harry’s Maasai curses. Jade took up a fresh torch and ran to follow him. She caught up with him at a cluster of rocks thirty yards away.

“Stay back!” he ordered.

The others stood clumped back at the cave mouth. Jade hesitated for a second, then ignored his decree and stepped to his side. The torchlight provided a dim illumination, enough for Harry to identify the heap in front of him. As its flame danced, the flickering torchlight caught the trail of sticky red blood and gave the illusion that it still bubbled and flowed from the large gash in the warrior’s neck.

“His throat’s been ripped out,” she whispered in horror. “Lion?”

Harry shook his head. “Bite looks too small. Whatever it was had powerful jaws. Maybe hyena, but I’ve never heard of a hyena taking a full-grown man like this. Ruta was no fool.”

“Any sign of Roger yet?” she asked.

“Did you see him inside?” Harry snapped as an answer.

“What’s happened?” asked Avery as he came up behind them.

Jade and Harry turned to meet him. “Ruta’s dead,” Harry answered.

“Dead?” Avery looked over Jade’s shoulder and his face betrayed his battle with disbelief, or rather, with not wanting to believe the truth in front of his eyes. His square-cut jaw worked as though words tried to form until finally one word managed to squeak out. “How?”

“Some animal tore out his throat,” replied Harry loud enough for the others to hear.

Beverly shrieked, and Avery ran back to hold her. Madeline wept silently, and Pili stood next to her. Tentatively, his hand touched her shoulder. Madeline grabbed it and held it tightly.

“Roger’s not back yet either,” said Jade. Her stomach churned as several possibilities popped into her mind, and she fought down a rising taste of stomach acids. It wasn’t the sight of a man with half his neck missing, or even the staring eyes that disturbed her. She’d seen as much if not worse while moving wounded men in France. It was the thought of losing David’s brother so soon after finding him.
Where can Roger be?
That thought was replaced by another.
Is Memba Sasa still alive after all?

“Back to the cave with you and stay there,” ordered Harry. “It’ll be light in an hour. I’ll look for Roger, but I want the rest of you to be ready to leave. If necessary, I’ll stay behind with one of the cars and follow after I’ve found him.”

Jade refreshed the fire and took up a fresh brand. Then she went into the cave to retrieve her Winchester from where she’d slept. Only a dark blank wall met her. “Who moved my rifle?” she asked. “Pili, where did you put my rifle?”

“We did not bring the broken one, mistress. You kept the other beside you.”

“Well, it’s not here.” She held her torch out at arm’s length and made several sweeps of the floor with it. On her third pass, a horrid sound welled up from the ground below. The high-pitched, giddy laughter of a hyena echoed from beneath her feet and the surrounding walls. It rose and fell in its senseless babbling. The undulating laugh bounced off the hollow rock and added more voices till it grew to a lunatic chorus.

Jade dropped the torch and put her hands over her ears to shut out the hellish sounds. It didn’t stop. She ran past the others from the cave and down the trail to the motorcars. There she nearly collided with Harry as he stood staring at the Dodge. She followed his gaze and sank to her knees in shock. Something had ripped two of its tires to shreds.

DISBELIEF REPLACED THE SHOCK, WHICH IN turn gave way to anger. Jade scrambled to her feet and kicked the slashed tire savagely. “Blast it all to hell!” she shouted. Harry reached for her and dragged her back from the car. “Let go of me,” she yelled and dug her heels into the dirt.

“Easy there, Jade,” he said. She swung her right fist around in an attempt to hit him in the side. Harry stopped pulling, and she wrenched herself free and spun around to face him. Jade stood a yard away, feet apart, fists clenched at her side and black curls tousled, just as she had the night he pulled her from the scalding coffee. Her green eyes blazed. Harry couldn’t resist the smile of admiration. “Easy, Simba Jike,” he added. “I’m on your side, remember?”

“Are you?” she demanded.

Harry jerked his head back as if slapped. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that, right now, I don’t know who to trust. As far as I know, you’re the one hauling heroin from Mombasa.”

Harry opened his mouth to speak, then clamped his jaw shut. His face darkened with a flush of anger, and his broad chest rose and fell with the intake of a deep breath. “I’m not, and you’ll just have to trust me on that.” Seeing no change in her face, he added, “What else am I accused of?”

Jade debated whether or not to reveal her darkest thoughts, including her fear that Roger and Ruta had both been murdered. After all, Harry had brought them here to this site. And he wanted them to leave, which would make it much easier to explore the caves himself. “You saw the ring in Nairobi. I think you knew about the cave, or suspected its existence.”

“And if I did?” His voice growled, low and rumbling.

“All that time you spent out here with Gil for nothing, or so you thought. And now your partner is missing. Maybe you knew more about Gil than you’ve admitted.”

Harry took a menacing step towards her, but Jade held her ground. “You think I killed them? You think I hauled a hyena into the Norfolk and killed Gil? Just
what
the devil are you suggesting, Jade?”

“The devil is right, Mr. Hascombe. And I think there will be hell to pay before long.” She turned on her heel and strode towards the others, who waited halfway down the slope. Harry ran and caught up with her in two long strides. He grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him. Jade remembered she wasn’t wearing her hat.

“I’m not sure what rot is forming in that pretty little head of yours, Jade, but I had nothing to do with Gil’s death or Roger’s disappearance or even Ruta’s death, for that matter, and I can’t imagine why you’d think that.”

“Oh, can’t you?” Her face was only inches from his. She stared coolly up into his eyes. “You told me you were forming a partnership with Roger. If you’re his business partner, then maybe you can lay claim to part of his inheritance as a business debt owed to you.”

Harry released her suddenly. “We discussed it and yes, I pushed for it, but for Roger’s sake, not mine. And no, Roger hadn’t agreed to sign anything yet. He’s still his own man. There’s no way I could legally lay claim to whatever is waiting for him in London.”

“London, no,” Jade replied. “But what about whatever’s in that cave? Not to mention the fact that you’d have an open opportunity now to buy up Roger’s land. Maybe
you
started that anthrax rumor that nearly ruined him. Did you kill Kenton, too, before he could ruin you with a similar false anthrax scare?”

“You are insane! You know that? Insane!” Harry stormed off up the trail to the others.

She watched him go and suddenly felt tired, confused, and a little silly. Maybe he was right. Maybe she was crazy. Still, she couldn’t help feel that Harry was keeping secrets. He hadn’t denied her challenge that he suspected the cave’s existence from the beginning. She turned to rejoin the rest of the safari, what there was left of it, and arrived in time to hear Harry describe the slashed tires.

“But only the Dodge was slashed?” asked Avery. “Why would some beast do that, and why the devil would it do that to one car and not the other?”

“I can answer that,” said Jade. All eyes turned to her in expectation. Maddy especially gazed at her with the pleading look of someone begging to be rescued. Pili still stood next to her as though to protect her. “I left the rest of the antiwitch ointment in the Ford.”

“You don’t think this is a witch again?” asked Madeline. Her voice rose higher with a hint of hysteria. “I thought Memba Sasa was the witch and the elephant killed him.”

“He may not be dead after all,” said Jade.

“Memba Sasa a witch?” asked Harry. “When did you arrive at that wild conclusion?”

“Last evening, while you and Ruta were off searching for him.” Something in Jade’s tone suggested she questioned how well he had searched. Harry caught it, glared at her, and then looked away.

“Witch or no, we’re down to one vehicle with one man dead and two missing. Even supposing the tracker is dead,” Harry added hastily before anyone could voice their opinion, “Roger is still out there.
I’m
going to find him, and
you’re
going to wait
in
the cave behind the fire. If I’m not back by early afternoon, you
will
pack yourselves and your ammunition into the Ford and drive back to base camp. Follow the damned river, and you’ll get there.”

Various protests about them leaving without Harry came from Madeline and Beverly. Avery, whose main concern was seeing his wife and the other women back safely, nodded his agreement to the plan. Only Jade kept her opinion to herself. That fact didn’t escape Harry’s notice, and he turned towards her as though daring her to oppose him. Jade merely smiled sweetly.

“I’m going with you.” If he thought he could get them to leave so he could take whatever Gil had left in the cave for his sons, he had another thought coming to him.

Harry took a menacing step towards her. “No!” His voice was soft but firm. It expressed an absolute unwillingness to relent. Jade steeled herself to do verbal battle, but Avery intervened.

“I’ll go with him.”

“Avery, no,” pleaded Beverly. “Don’t leave me.”

Avery put his hand to her cheek and stroked it. “Now listen here, dearest. Mr. Forster wandered off alone and look where it got him. We can’t risk that happening to Harry as well. Two people are far safer than one, and,” he added with a nod to the cave, “four people in the cave with a good fire at the entrance should be very safe. Ruta died away from the fire.”

Beverly had far too much faith in her husband’s ability to doubt him, and too much classic British reserve to make a scene even if she did. She swiped her damp eyes with the back of her hand. “Of course, darling. You are absolutely in the right of it.”

Jade was less doubtful of Harry’s ability to face any dangers on his own. But she would question the veracity of any report on his solo search, so she also agreed. Avery would make a truthful witness and, at present, Harry could have no personal vendetta against him. Harry also couldn’t expect them to leave as long as Avery was with him or missing. “Don’t fret. We’re all armed.” Then she remembered her missing Winchester. She’d use Beverly’s Enfield if need be.

“Watch your back, Avery,” Jade whispered before the two men left. “I don’t trust Harry.”

Back at the cave she asked Beverly for her rifle. Pili raised his white tunic and exposed a large, mean-looking knife. “I am armed, Mistress Jade. I took this from Ruta’s body.”