“What’s in there?”
“I didn’t go far.”
Rivera paused. Sam knew he was debating whether the Fargos had suddenly become extra baggage.
“But as far as I went, I got lost three times. In one of the side tunnels there’s a drop-off; beyond that, I saw something on the wall. A symbol of some kind.”
This did the trick. Rivera gestured for Sam to enter the tunnel. He stepped inside and hunch-walked until the walls and ceiling widened out. Rivera was a few steps behind.
“Which way?”
Sam feigned confusion for a few seconds, then headed right and followed the sloped floor’s dips and rises and turns until finally they emerged into the salt cavern.
“Are those waves?” Rivera asked, looking around.
“I think so. There’s probably a maze of sea caves down there.”
“And the walls? Crystallized salt?”
“Sea salt, blown up from the caves. Do you see the dark streaks?” Sam pointed the flashlight at the nearest wall. “Take a look.”
His gun fixed on Sam’s chest, Rivera sidestepped to the wall.
Sam said, “It’s some kind of mineral deposit. Emerald or jade.”
Nodding absently, Rivera followed the veins with his eyes as they spiraled up the wall and across the ceiling. “Where’s this side tunnel?”
Careful to keep the beam off the floor, Sam shined the flashlight across the cavern. He held his breath, half expecting Rivera to notice the cairns and their arrangement, but he didn’t.
“Go on.”
>
Sam started across the floor. Heart thudding in his chest, he tried to keep his pace steady, watching the placement of his feet as he stepped over holes or along their edges. As he crossed the cavern’s center point, there came a crackling sound, like pond ice giving way. Rivera cursed.
Sam turned around.
“Don’t shine that in my eyes, damn it!”
Rivera had stepped into one of the smaller holes and fallen through up to his crotch. He struggled to extricate himself, straining to get his free leg under his body. He tried twice more, then stopped.
“You’re going to come over here and help me up. If you—”
“I know,” Sam replied. “You’ll shoot me.”
Flashlight in his left hand, Sam strode forward. He flicked the beam into Rivera’s eyes, then down again. At the same time he stuffed his right hand into his pocket, grabbed a fistful of salt, and pulled it out again.
“Damn it!” Rivera growled. “Keep the light—”
“Sorry.”
“That’s close enough. Just give me your wrist. Don’t grab ahold of me.”
Sam extended his wrist. Rivera grabbed it and used Sam’s counterweight to pull himself free. Sam felt Rivera’s weight shift forward. He twirled the flashlight in his fingers, shining the beam directly into Rivera’s eyes.
“Sorry,” Sam said again.
Even as he said the words he was moving, sidestepping left, using Rivera’s momentary blindness to get the gun barrel off him. Sam swung his right hand forward as though throwing a baseball. The salt hit Rivera squarely in the eyes. Knowing what was coming, Sam dropped to his belly.