Page 19 of Wild Temple
I squeezed through the rock.
Brooke hesitated.
I got the impression she didn’t like tight spaces. In her current state, she didn’t have much tolerance for discomfort.
She sucked it up and followed anyway. After a few paces, the formation opened up again. This part of the passageway wasn’t nearly as claustrophobic. It was another 10 or 15 yards before the chasm narrowed further to a small tunnel.
I dropped to my knees and shined the flashlight into the abyss of the small cave that led underneath the river above.
I asked Brooke, “How do you feel about caves?”
10
By the look on her face, I got the impression that spelunking in a narrow, dark cave wasn't Brooke's first choice of activity. But she followed me anyway.
I crawled through the tight passage, the beam of my flashlight leading the way. The air was damp and wet. The cave meandered a bit, and the sound of rushing water echoed off the slick walls. After a short distance, the cave widened, and the air grew even more damp. A shaft of light penetrated the darkness.
The tunnel finally opened to an area where we could both stand. We were in a small cavern behind one of the waterfalls. The mist swirled the air, catching rays of light. A wall of water offered a distorted view into the basin.
The stone floor was slick as we approached the waterfall. Brooke took my arm to steady herself.
It was likely the kidnappers had taken Hannah through this route and escaped.
We turned around and went back the way we came, returning to the main trail. We picked up both backpacks and lugged them the long way around to the front of the waterfall.
The place was still empty and devoid of tourists.
I checked my cell phone but couldn't get a signal here.
We climbed up the steep steps back toward the parking lot. It certainly was a lot easier coming down than going up. My quads burned, and my heart pumped. I was out of breath by the time I made it back to the golden statue and the stone monkeys.
We reached the parking lot, and I checked my phone for cell reception again.
Still nothing.
Not a single bar of service out here.
It probably wouldn't have done much good to call the cops. It would take an hour to get here, and I didn't expect they would do much. We’d file a report when we got back to Jatala.
There were two mopeds in the parking lot, but the van was gone.
"Were they driving the van that was parked here earlier?" I asked.
Brooke nodded. "We met them in the parking lot. Bayu led us down to the waterfall, and we took the trail through the chasm.”
Her eyes filled again as she looked at Hannah’s scooter. A painful reminder that her friend was gone.
The kidnappers had likely injected her with ketamine or some other fast-acting sedative. It would cause rapid dissociation, impaired motor control, and altered perception. Hannah would have been disoriented within a minute or so. From there, they could have dragged her through the chasm, taken her through the cave that led back to the waterfall, and absconded with her up the steps to the parking lot. But those two little runts would have had a hell of a time with the steps. Carrying a sedated girl up the steep steps wouldn’t have been easy. Maybe they had help. Maybe someone else was waiting for them.
We hopped on our scooters, and Brooke followed me back to Jatala.
We drove to the local police station. The place buzzed with activity. Faded powder blue paint peeled from the concrete walls. Plastic chairs lined the waiting room, and the official seal was painted on the wall. Phones rang, and fingers typed on old computers. Shafts of light filtered through the blinds, and the smell of coffee drifted through the air.
Brooke gave the skinny little guy behind the desk all the details, but he didn't seem overly worked up about it. She gave him the men’s names and descriptions and recounted exactly what happened.
The officer made notes. Each time he read them back to her, he had some detail wrong. Brooke had to make corrections.
"We’ll look into it," the officer said, ready to move on to the next case.
