“Yes,” the other man hissed. He looked around the living room. “I will stay here. You take Peterbalm and keep going down his list—in case I’m wrong.”
“You think it’s wise to split up?” Brown asked.
Smith glared at him. “I don’t like it. But I see no other option. If you have no success, come back.” He looked at his watch. “In two hours.”
His companions nodded.
Smith looked at Peterbalm. “Bind him up and put him in the trunk of his car. Then use his car to go to the other places.”
Brown went back to their rental car for duct tape. After they’d tied up the importer, Jones drove the car up the driveway and close to the house so they could transfer him to the trunk without anyone seeing.
The two men drove off, and Smith put on a pair of gloves before wandering around the house, picking up objects. It still amazed him how these Americans lived. They had a lifestyle that a king would envy in any other part of the world. But they were squandering global resources with their big cars and their central air conditioning and all the other indulgences they loved.
oOo
Luke felt a shiver go through Olivia’s body and wished he hadn’t felt compelled to talk about death.
What the hell was wrong with him?
Stupid question. The warning had come from the warrior. They were coexisting pretty well at the moment. The guy had allowed Luke to be in charge of the conversation when they’d been drinking the hot chocolate—with some interjections here and there.
Still, Luke knew he wasn’t the one who had taken them back to this place and time.
Is this a real place? he asked inside his head.
Not exactly.
You mean, we couldn’t live here permanently?
You would not want to.
Thanks. How long can we stay?
A few hours.
Luke looked around.
It’s the same cave.
But you haven’t been to the interior. He reached for Olivia’s hand and knitted his fingers with hers.
“Come with me. We’re going farther in.”
Zabastian led her through an opening in the back of the cave that Luke would have sworn wasn’t there the first time they were here. They walked down a passageway where torches fixed to the walls provided flickering light.
He could feel the atmosphere getting warm and steamy, and he found out why when they stepped into another large room. In the center was a hot spring, gushing out of the rocks and into a pool, then running down a channel that led into an underground passage.
Beside him, Olivia looked around in wonder.
“Was this here before?”
“I don’t think so,” Luke answered.
“Then how . . . “
”I think this cave comes from Zabastian’s imagination—or maybe it’s a collection of memories.”
She made a frustrated sound. “I get the feeling you don’t know for sure.”