Burial Ground

VII

12:46 p.m.

The sound of a roaring river had just reached Colton's ears when a hand closed over his elbow and spun him around.

He drew his pistol and shoved it into his assailant's gut.

"I need to talk to you," Merritt said without even glancing at the weapon. He looked over Colton's shoulder toward Leo. "You too."

"We don't have time for this," Colton said.

"Make the time."

Colton stared down the pilot for a long moment before holstering his gun.

"Everyone take a break," he called. Then more quietly to Merritt, "You have five minutes."

He jerked his arm out of the pilot's grasp and walked away from the path until he was under the wide branches of a tree that appeared to have its entire system of roots aboveground. Leo and Merritt were standing right behind him when he turned around.

"This had better be good," he said.

Merritt stared at each of them in turn before speaking.

"What's really going on here?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Colton said.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. You two are hiding something. What are we going to find when we reach our destination?"

"You know everything that we do," Leo said.

"You're lying," Merritt said. "You two have increasingly distanced yourself from the rest of us over the last couple of days. You spend all of your time off on your own, talking in whispers so that none of the rest of us can hear you. You're obviously keeping something from us, and you're going to tell me what it is. Right now."

"You're in no position to make demands," Colton said. He strode up to Merritt and got right in his face. "Isn't that right, deserter?"

Merritt didn't rise to the bait.

"Why did you originally dispatch Hunter's expedition?" He was speaking to Leo, but his eyes never left Colton's. "What were you hoping to find?"

"The ruins," Leo said. "And a small fortune in artifacts, of course."

"I don't believe you."

"No one cares what you believe," Colton said.

"What about the other men from the party? Neither of you seem especially concerned about finding them. I can't remember hearing you mention them recently at all. In fact, you've never once said their names."

"They're dead. You know that as well as I do."

"Then all of this talk about rescuing them was crap?"

"We don't actually know that they aren't still alive," Leo interjected.

"So, if you're right and they're all dead, what the hell do you think killed them? And why are we in such a hurry to find out?"

It took all of Colton's effort to keep from breaking Merritt's jaw.

"Can't you feel it?" Merritt whispered.

"Feel what?" Colton asked.

"The silence. You served in the field. You know what I mean. The calm before the storm. Everything's too quiet. Where are all of the animals, huh? I haven't seen any since yesterday morning, so what cut this path? We're the only ones in this area of the jungle. If we were in hostile territory, you know damn well what this would feel like. An ambush."

"Your five minutes are up."

"When I find out what you're hiding, you're going to wish you had told me when you had the chance."

And with that, Merritt stepped out from under the canopy and into the rain.

"We never should have brought him," Colton said. "He's become a liability."