Burial Ground by Michael McBride

Author:Michael McBride
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: +AA, +IPAD, Adventure, +UNCHECKED
Publisher: Michael McBride
Published: 2011-11-09T06:48:35+00:00

VIII

1:02 p.m.

Leo's heart pounded so hard it felt as though it might break through his chest. Sure, a good measure of it was due to his age and the exertion at the high altitude, but the better part of it was anticipation of what was to come. They were so close now. The stream they now crossed on a series of staggered boulders wasn't on their LandSat map; however, by extrapolating its course farther to the southwest, it appeared as a hazy indentation beside one of the sections of data loss at the edge. Somewhere on the face of the mountain that reared up into the clouds directly in front of him was the point where the satellite magnetometer indicated the presence of an enormous vein of gold ore.

Soon, God willing, he would learn the truth about his son's death.

He needed to know. The uncertainty was a cancer eating him alive from the inside out.

With each step, they drew nearer a fortune in gold, and yet all he could focus on was what it had cost him. He remembered reading the parable of Midas to a four year-old Hunter in a candlelit tent in Honduras. Never in a million years would he have thought it would prove prophetic.

Colton had been unusually quiet all morning. At first, Leo had assumed that it was the cowardly desertion of one of his men that had him in a dour mood, but they had worked together long enough for him to know better. He had never seen Colton like this. There was definitely something of a much direr nature consuming him.

He hopped from one slick rock to another. The rain bludgeoned him, attempting to drive him down into the racing stream and over the edge. Beyond the cliff to his right, he could see only clouds through the rain. The rumble of the falls echoed like a stadium filled with angry spectators shouting for blood. He slipped on the wet boulder and thrust his foot down into the cold water, but managed to scrabble back on top of it and lunge to the next.

When he reached the far bank, he doubled over, hands on his knees, and attempted to catch his breath while the others crossed the rapids. Colton paced beside him, unfazed by the effort. When Leo looked up, their eyes met momentarily before Colton averted his stare.

With a great sigh, Leo stretched his back and turned toward the jungle that covered the steep hillside to the west. A wall of greenery swallowed the thin path and reached upward into the ceiling of churning clouds.

He glanced over his shoulder at Colton.

"Walk with me."

Colton fell hesitantly into measured stride beside him as they scaled the sloppy bank and stepped under the protective canopy, out of the worst of the rain. Vines sagged across the trail and branches grabbed at them from either side, but they were able to duck and sidle their way through. Once Leo was confident they were out of earshot and that the crunching sounds of their passage would mask their words, he finally spoke.

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