Of Blood and Ashes by Kyoko M

Author:Kyoko M [M, Kyoko]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781983508608
Google: VnKwtgEACAAJ
Amazon: B07CKTPBJB
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2018-01-01T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

CRUCIBLE

Kamala’s hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

Absently, she wiped at her mouth again; the taste of vomit still lingered. She probably needed to rinse it out with water from the flask clipped to her belt, but she couldn’t summon the will to care about it in the wake of watching a man’s skull explode before her eyes. She couldn’t stop seeing the meaty void where his features had been. Nor could she stop wondering if she would have been able to stop Fry from pulling the trigger if she had been fast enough. Would it have made a difference? Would the man still be alive? What was his name? Did he have family? Was he a father?

“The cavern up ahead is showing a heat signature,” Fry said quietly. “Not moving. Looks to be about a twenty-foot drop. Get your head on straight and follow me.”

Kamala’s bloodshot, tear-stained eyes shot to his back. Before, the cold cave air had gotten to her and made her feel numb. A hot flash of anger spilled through her small form. He had the gall to snap at her to get her head on straight after witnessing a CIA agent blow a man’s brains to spaghetti? In spite of all that she had been experiencing in the last several moments, something solid in her gut clicked into place. She had made a decision, although the choice hadn’t presented itself yet.

Kamala wiped her cool, wet cheeks clean and spat to one side, ridding herself of the foul taste on her tongue and gripped her cold gun. She made sure her steps were light as they approached the open archway of the cavern. Strangely, the tightness in her gut hadn’t worsened simply because she had seen the chalk marks Jack made. He’d definitely been this way. She focused intensely on the thought that he was still alive in the cave system somewhere. He was too damned stubborn to die. He had to still be here. He had no other choice. He’d never leave her to raise their little one alone.

Fry and Kamala sank into crouches and then peeked over the edge of the outcropping.

“Ah,” Fry said. “Well, there you go. I can scratch ‘see a mound of dragon shit the size of Shaquille O’Neal’ off the Bucket List.”

“Can we make that jump?”

“Theoretically, yes. However, it’s a bad idea. Land wrong and you’ll break your legs.”

“Look!” she pointed.

He followed her finger to see several dark, damp footprints in the cave floor leading away from the droppings. “You gotta be shitting me.”

He paused. “Pun very much intended. Looks like your baby daddy’s still alive or at least he was recently.”

Kamala aimed her infrared scanner towards the footprints. “There’s still some heat signature in them. He can’t be that far ahead of us.”

“Which means the dragon isn’t either.” Fry checked the diagram of the cave system on his phone again. “Alright, since we’re not making that jump, we have to double back and find the tunnel that’ll lead us down there. Any sign of her?”

“Not in the nearby tunnels, no.

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