Claimed (The Flash Gold Chronicles, #4) by Lindsay Buroker Read Free Book Online

would bite her.”
    “Not everyone is as suitably impressed by your contraptions as I am. I thought that’s why you kept me around.”
    “It is. But if she wasn’t impressed by it, why would she have wanted a ride?”
    “I did wonder about her story myself,” Cedar said. “But her knowledge of the boots...”
    Kali nodded. “It does seem she’s seen Cudgel out here.”
    “So far, the ground backs up her claims too.” Cedar outlined the deep print of a boot’s toe with his finger. “This person climbed up. I haven’t looked far to either side yet—” he gestured to the ferns and brambles lining the base of the cliff to the east and west of the pool, “—but I don’t see any broken branches or trampled foliage that would imply people went in those directions.”
    “In other words, you’re volunteering to climb up first?” Kali asked.
    “I’m... not quite sure that’s what my words meant, but I will.”
    “Because it’s brave and proper for the man to check for danger before bringing up a woman? Or because you’ll want me to figure out a way to rescue you if you get into trouble?”
    “I’m certain I won’t need rescuing from a twenty-foot climb.”
    “I’ll get my tools out just in case.”
    Cedar grunted. He thought about removing his pack and leaving it on the ground, but he had a bundle of rope and his weapons tied to it, and he might need both items if there was indeed a cave and if it happened to be currently occupied.
    He studied the climb for a moment, choosing a route with a narrow crevice and a couple of footholds, then started up. Thanks to the moss and the water dribbling down the rocks, the going was slick, but he forged his way upward without trouble. Coming back down with someone chasing him would prove treacherous; a point he kept in mind.
    About five feet below the opening Mary had indicated, a rust-colored stain on the rock made Cedar pause. He’d moved to the side of the rivulets of water, and the stone was dry here, a dirty gray granite. He scraped at the stain. Blood. It wasn’t fresh, but it hadn’t been more than few days since the last rain, so it couldn’t have been there indefinitely, either.
    With his hands firmly planted, Cedar shifted so he could gaze out behind him. Someone might have cut themselves on the rocks, but he also wondered if he might be vulnerable to snipers at this height. He hadn’t climbed above the trees, though, and didn’t see any high points where someone might stand to target this spot.
    “Problem?” Kali asked. She spoke softly, perhaps not wanting to alert anyone who might be inside.
    Given that they had chugged right up to the base of the cliff in the SAB, it was probably too late for silence. Cedar wished their guide had alerted them earlier that they were approaching the spot so they could have stopped a ways back.
    “We’ll see,” he said and returned to the climb.
    He lifted a leg to a slender ledge and pulled himself up to the bottom of the crack. When he peered inside, he didn’t see much, as little light filtered into the dark spot. Not far back, a rock wall dropped away, descending into darkness. He had the sense it was more of a pit than a cave, but perhaps it leveled out somewhere below and extended deeper into the hillside. At least the entrance hole was larger than it had appeared from below and wide enough for a man to crawl through.
    Again aware that someone inside would have heard their approach, he turned his ear toward the cave to listen before revealing any more of his body. The trickle of water was all that he heard.
    “I’m going to check it out,” Cedar said.
    “Do you want me to come up?” Kali asked.
    “No, I’ll call if I find something you’d want to look at.”
    “Or if you need rescuing.”
    “Yes,” Cedar said dryly. “That too.”
    He crawled through the crack, slipping inside quickly so he wouldn’t be outlined in the opening. Just because he hadn’t heard anyone didn’t mean there