Chapter 36
Not that it didn’t feel good … lord knew it did. But Lincoln couldn’t chase away a hollow feeling in his chest. He’d spilled his guts too soon. He’d freaked Zara out. This was why he kept his emotions to himself. Other people didn’t want to deal with that shit.
Except he was glad that he’d bared his soul to her. If he died tomorrow—if Tanaka’s people wanted to get rid of him, and succeeded—at least he would have said something real to someone who mattered.
Zara fell asleep in his arms. Maybe that meant something, maybe he hadn’t scared her off for good. Maybe they could continue as they had been, taking things one day at a time through this crazy adventure they were on.
But he knew in his heart that it wouldn’t be enough for him. He’d stay her friend, of course. He’d give her anything she needed; all she had to do was call. But he couldn’t pretend that he wasn’t madly in love with her.
That night, he dreamed that he was running across a field after a soccer ball, moving like a professional player even though he was a boy in the dream, as usual.
A crowd was cheering him on, not a crowd of people, but trees waving their branches at him.
He perceived them as longtime friends, the same beings that had kept him company as a lonely boy.
His foot made contact with the ball, and he kicked it so hard that he went airborne.
Cartwheeling through the air, he lost track of where the sky was, and what direction was down.
He didn’t know where he was going to end up, but he was rising and then falling and then—
A terrified shriek woke him up. He sat bolt upright and scrambled for his underwear. The light coming through the netting was a predawn shade of gray. He’d pulled on a hoodie and unzipped the tent before Zara, still half-asleep, had even said, “Wha…?”
He ran in the direction of the panicked yell, which had come from one of the other tents. Mathilda stood next to it. Her hair was pulled into a messy ponytail and she wore her boots and a long University of Hawaii hoodie.
“What’s the matter?” he called across the rocks.
“It’s Rory,” she gasped. “He’s gone. I thought he might be peeing, but look.” She held up one of his shoes, a low hiking boot. “He left his shoes behind. He’d never walk into the jungle barefoot. There’s centipedes out there!”
“Did you see anyone? Hear anyone?”
“No! Wait.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I thought it just was a dream, but I did hear something.”
Zara appeared, her shoes untied and her overshirt buttoned wrong. She put an arm around Mathilda’s shoulders. Lincoln signaled to her not to say anything while Mathilda was trying to remember her dream.
“I think someone was here. I heard rustling, but then Rory said, ‘Shh, everything’s okay,’ so I went back to sleep.”
Lincoln pulled out his phone, which got no service here, of course, and flicked on the flashlight. Aiming it at the ground, he saw a clear footprint in the dirt. Then a few more, a cluster of them.
“I’m no tracker, but it looks to me like someone was here. Rory must have gone with them, or was taken by them.”
“Taken,” Mathilda said instantly. “Or threatened so he’d go with them. Maybe they said they’d grab me too, or the whole crew, or something like that.”
Lincoln could imagine that. “But where did they go? I heard nothing. I doubt anyone else did either.”
The rest of the group had now gathered around them in various stages of half-dressed and sleepy.
“Maybe they hiked here like we did,” said Robert. “Could have followed our heat signatures if they have military tech.”
“Oh my God.” Mathilda was shaking like a palm frond.
Zara held her tighter, and on the other side, Sasha took her hand.
“Oh my God. We have to find him. We have to rescue him. Lincoln.” She turned wildly to him.
“Call up all your people. You still have people, right? Investigators, swat teams, you know, people with guns…”
“I have a security team, yes.” He wouldn’t use the term “swat team,” but he got her point. ”But I can’t call them without a connection. Did Rory bring the Wi-Fi unit?”
“No, he left all that stuff in a foot locker. The Wi-Fi, the laptop, all his notes. It’s in a safe place, locked up.”
Just then, a flash of reflected light on the surface of the ocean caught his attention. He squinted through the dim light. There was a boat out there, floating in place…lurking.
Of course. They were taking Rory to a boat.
His mind raced. If they leaned hard enough on Rory, they might find out about the Crystal Collective. If that happened, every single person in that forum would be at risk. Tanaka would hunt them down, one by one.
But Rory wasn’t on that boat yet.
He turned to Robert, who he deemed the most physically capable among this crew of nerdy scientists. Robert also would know the most about navigating these cliffs. “Can you get me down to the shore in one piece?”
“Yeah bruddah. You need the right shoes, either that or go barefoot.”
“Hiking boots okay?”
“Better off without. Too clumsy. It’ll be hard on your soles, but you’ll have better grip.”
Without hesitation, he toed off his boots, which he hadn’t bothered to lace up. “Then let’s do it.”
“Wait!” cried Zara. “What are you doing?”
“Rescuing Rory. He did the same for me enough times. All this is my fault. I’m not going to let him suffer for it.”
“But—” She looked around the group desperately. “Just you? Shouldn’t we all go? You don’t even have a gun. We should wait for your security team, hike back to camp and contact them—”
“No time. We can’t let Rory get on that boat. This is on me.” He handed her his boots. The ground under his feet was cool and slightly damp from the morning dew. He tried not to think about the centipedes. “And I don’t need a gun.”
“Why not? They’re probably armed to the teeth!”
“I’m not going for a shootout here. That would be idiotic. I have a plan. I promise.” He held her gaze. Her honey eyes swam with tears. He turned to Mathilda. “Do you trust me to handle this?”
Looking numb from fear, she nodded.
“Okay then. Let’s go, Robert.” Robert had already taken off his own boots. His brown feet were wide as a hobbit’s, and Lincoln guessed that his soles were much more callused than his own. He’d grown up on an island made from lava, while Lincoln was more used to grassy lawns.
Didn’t matter. He owed Rory this.
He wished he had time for more of a goodbye with Zara, but a sound from the shore sent adrenaline rocketing through him. He recognized it as an outboard motor. Were they deploying a Zodiac to pick up Rory from the shore? If so, he needed to get down there fast.
He shared a quick, burning glance with Zara. She’d have to fill in the blanks, but that wouldn’t be hard. He’d told her everything last night. Her silence had told him plenty too.
Then he followed Robert across the scrubby grass and over the cliff.