Loose ends

24.

It took Lieutenant Ramirez much longer than expected to find the uncharted cave, so that Morton was impatient and irritable by the time, several calls for directions later, that the overwrought air force pilot arrived at the entrance to the cave, flashlight in hand. With her wrists bound, Liz couldn't check what time it was, but she guessed that it had be to around three in the afternoon. Her stomach grumbled unhappily, reminding her that she hadn't eaten since breakfast. That's the least of my problems, she thought, wondering how long she could keep her captor thinking that she was an alien. Would her noisy stomach pangs give her away, or would Morton just assume that extraterrestrial humanoids got hungry, too? "What the hell took you so long?" Morton griped as Ramirez entered the cave, the beam of his flashlight darting over the rough, uneven stone floor. Tve been cooling my heels in this goddamn rockpile for hours!" the bad-tempered gunman complained.

"It's not my fault!" Ramirez insisted, looking much as Isabel and Max had described him, only a lot more agitated and disheveled. Sweat streaked his bronzed features and soaked through his blue, short-sleeved dress shirt. "This place isn't exactly on the map, you know. Besides, die roads around here are prowling with State Patrol cars. I got stopped and questioned-three times!- before I finally found a place where I could park my car and head into the hills."His flashlight searched the crevices of the secluded hideaway, quickly falling upon Liz's captive figure, duct tape and all. A tic in his cheek twitched alarmingly as he stared wide-eyed at Morton's prisoner. "Jesus Christ!" he exclaimed, going pale beneath his coppery tan. "It's true. You have snatched some girl!" He spun around, exposing Morton to the harsh white beam. "You kidnapped a teenager!"No," Morton rebutted, without a trace of remorse. "I captured an alien." He advanced on Ramirez, suddenly sounding suspicious. "Who told you I took the girl? The police? The news?"But Ramirez, shocked by Morton's insane explanation, wasn't listening to the gunman's questions. "An alien? Are you out of your frigging mind?" He swung the flashlight back toward Liz, confirming that she looked entirely human, then unleashed a flood of hysterical invective at Morton. "You maniac! You rabid psychotic! You've gone completely insane!"Squatting on the cold stone floor, several feet away, Liz saw a potential opportunity arising from the escalating conflict between the two men. This might be my chance to make a break for it, she realized, if Ramirez distracts Morton enough. Her gaze turned again toward the gaping darkness at the back of the cave, and her nerve faltered. Did she really want to run blindly into that unknown abyss? Ramirez shoved past Morton, the beam of his flashlight sweeping the cave. "Where is my money, you lunatic?" he demanded, the shadows under his ravenous eyes making him look like one of the living dead. "You promised me the rest of my money!" The shifting light revealed the open backpack, lying next to the locked attache case, and the frenzied lieutenant descended upon the canvas pack like a ravenous vulture, only to find it frustratingly empty. "Where is it?" he shouted at Morton, throwing the worthless pack to the cave floor. His cheek twitched spasmodically, like a severed frog's leg attached to a galvanic current. "Where is my money, you blackmailing son of a bitch!"The hefty killer stood his ground, one hand on the grip of the pistol stuck in his waistband. "Later," he barked. "Tell me more about those state troopers. How much do they know about the girl?"Good question, Uz thought, more than a little curious about that herself. She cautiously flexed her stiff leg muscles, restoring their circulation. Her whole body tensed, poised to run the minute Morton's full attention was elsewhere.

"Don't 'later' me!" Ramirez yelled, snapping completely. "I've had enough of this!" He kicked the leather briefcase with his foot, propelling it across the cave so that the case landed only inches away from Liz's bound wrists. "I want my money and 1 want it now!"Morton laughed contemptuously, shrugging his burly shoulders. "Sorry, sport. I haven't got it on me. Guess you're going to have to wait until you get me to Mexico."Damn you!" the maddened pilot swore, pushed too far.

With an inarticulate cry of rage, he charged at Morton, colliding with the stocky gunman head-on and knocking him back against a roughhewn limestone wall. "You monster! You've ruined my life!"Watching intently, Liz knew she would never have a better chance to get away. She sprang to her feet, fighting to keep her balance even though her arms were still bound behind her back. On an impulse, she bent quickly and half-kneeling, fumbled for and grabbed the handle of the attache case with both hands, lifting it off the floor as she dashed for the concealing darkness. The bottom of the case banged against the back of her legs as she ran, but Liz held onto the handle tightly, suddenly unwilling to let Morton, or anyone else, profit from the hijacked alien technology. These secrets belong to Max and the others, she thought with fierce determination, and to nobody else! The cave floor was bumpy and irregular beneath her sneakers, but Liz managed not to stumble or fall as the sty-gian depths enveloped her. What sparse daylight had penetrated the cave from outside swiftly evaporated, but, to her surprise, Liz discovered that she could still see dimly in the dark, winding corridors of the cavern. How? she wondered, marveling at the faint silver radiance lighting her way, then realized diat the unexpected glow was coming from die incandescent handprint on her stomach, exposed again now that her headlong flight had thrown open the flaps of her torn blouse. Thank you, Max! she thought, gasping at this unexpected stroke of luck. In a sense, his miraculous touch had once again come to her rescue! A shot rang out behind her, making her jump. She heard a cry of pain, then something metallic (die flashlight?) clattering onto the limestone floor, followed by the sound of a body hitting the ground. Liz prayed that Morton had somehow ended up at the business end of his own pistol, or that the lieutenant had been carrying a firearm as well, but those hopes were dashed when a familiar, bellicose voice registered her disappearance. "Damn!" Morton cursed loudly, his malevolent roar reverberating through the cramped underground tunnels. "Come back here, you alien witch!" he roared. "Come back right now, or you're as good as dead!"No way, liz thought. She'd rather take her chances with whatever pitfalls lay ahead, even if it meant getting hopelessly lost hundreds of feet beneath the surface. Just like Becky Thatcher in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, she thought, shuddering. Except that Joe Morton was more real, or better armed, than Injun Joe ever was.

Hearing loud, stampeding footsteps behind her, she plunged deeper into the lower reaches of the cavern, her eyes probing the darksome gloom even as she rushed down a sloping corridor, trusting in luck, fate, and die preternatural light of the silver handprint to keep her from running into a jagged rock formation-or tumbling into a bottomless chasm.

"You can't get away from me, you freak!" Morton shouted, sounding far too close behind her. "You're dead, you hear me? I shot you once and I'll shoot you again!"That's what I'm afraid of, Liz thought.