Hunter's Pride by Lindsay McKenna

Author:Lindsay McKenna [McKenna, Lindsay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary, Fiction, Romance, General
ISBN: 9780373242740
Publisher: Silhouette Books
Published: 1998-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Dev cursed richly. The tropical storm, which would come in bands of pouring rain, struck just as he shoved off from the lip of the ledge. Below him, Kulani struggled through bushes that grew out of the lava wall and ranged from three to ten feet wide. Because of the large sizes, some could not be avoided. He heard Kulani pounding a piton into the wall and knew she would then place a carabiner on it and slide the line through it. After carefully lowering herself another hundred feet, she would place the next piton and begin the process all over again. In this way, they would inch down the wall. As Dev descended, he found out quickly how important the bushes were as handholds when there were none to be found on the slick, moldy walls of the canyon. Dev knew hammering pitons in the growing darkness was challenging. The night-vision goggles helped tremendously. One miss and Kulani’s hand would be injured. It would require her complete concentration to place each wedge safely into the rock. But the brunt of this work rested on Kulani, who was suspended a hundred feet below him, leading the way. He had the easy part—just following the line down the cliff that she was putting in place with the pitons and carabiners.

Minutes after the storm struck, the rain slashed almost horizontally at Dev. The darkness was complete now. They did not dare use any form of light to make it easier to see where their next handhold might be. Everything must be done by touch and night goggles. His senses became quickly oriented by his grasping, searching hands. The rain was cold and jarring. The sleek black nylon uniform he wore repelled a lot of the water, but not all of it. All too soon, Dev felt raw moisture seeping in above his turtleneck, chilling his skin.

Wind came in breath-stealing gusts, howling up the long, narrow canyon and sounding like a banshee wailing out her grief. The gusts pounded him savagely, like a giant’s fists pummeling his suspended body. He was repeatedly swung this way and that by the brutal wind, batted around like a rag doll at the whim of the weather. Worse, the rain made his fingers slick and it became difficult to hunt for the next stabilizing piton and carabiner that Kulani had placed earlier.

As he ran his line through the next carabiner and continued to descend, he had to pull his line above him through the one overhead. Because the line was wet, it would drop heavily toward him. Then the wind would rip it out of his hands, and it took precious minutes to gather it all back up in a coil so that he could hang it on one of the snaps from his belt to use later. The whole process was painstakingly slow.

They each wore a headset with battery power packs snugly fitted into their belts so they could communicate when necessary. Grunting, Dev twisted around.

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