“Hey, Joe,” Zahra said with a phony grin. “I see you’ve brought some friends to help us out, huh?”
She kept her hands down near her hips — down near her holstered gun. Zahra was a quick draw, but she doubted she’d be able to get a shot off without taking three rounds in the chest or back first.
“Drop your weapon, Ms. Kane!” Joe shouted. “As you can see, we—”
“Have the higher ground,” Zahra finished, pulling out the best Obi-Wan she had. She grinned ear to ear, except the interruption earned her nothing more than a look of confusion.
Zahra threw her hands up in frustration and let them flop back to her sides. “Oh, come on! You don’t know that?” She sighed. “Never mind… Continue.”
“I was about to say that we have you surrounded.” Joe’s eyes hardened. “And I think you should start to take your situation more seriously.”
Zahra was taking the situation seriously, though; keeping her opponent off-center couldn’t hurt. She didn’t budge an inch. She stood as still as a statue and waited. Before she gave herself up, she wanted to know why he had done what he did.
“Drop your—”
“No,” Zahra said, interrupting him.
“No?” Joe asked. “I don’t think you’re in a position to argue.”
Zahra shrugged. “That depends on what you need. And since you haven’t killed me yet, I figure you’re here for something other than my death.”
“See,” Joe said, speaking to his men, “I told you this one was smart.” He turned his attention back to his trapped quarry. “You are correct, Ms. Kane. We are here for a sizeable increase in payment.”
Zahra reckoned as much. It was easy to see that Joe wasn’t just a guide. He was also a mercenary.
“And if I refuse your offer?”
She knew what would happen, but Zahra needed to keep the man talking while she thought of a way out. Her eyes found the pool. It was only ten feet in front of her and looked fairly deep. If she could make it beneath its surface, she’d be safe from gunfire.
Zahra was up Shit’s Creek right now.
She didn’t listen to Joe’s reply. She was too locked on to not dying. The only other option was the river heading out into the unknown, though she would still run into the problem of oxygen. And once she surfaced, she’d be turned to Swiss cheese.
“Is this why you brought me here?” she asked. “Is this even the real Dead Horse Camp?”
Joe didn’t answer right away, but when he did, she was honestly shocked by what he said. “Yes, it is, but you would never have survived its entry point.”
Zahra stood still, using her eyes to survey her surroundings once again. She didn’t understand what he meant. Why wouldn’t she have survived entering Fawcett’s camp? Also, entrances led to places. There was no doorway here.
Once more, her eyes found the plunge pool.
“Hmmm… It can’t be,” she said, staring.
“What?” Joe shouted.
Zahra didn’t return her attention to her former guide. She decided on a course of action and acted on it. “Sorry, Joe, but you can stick your offer up your ass.”
She took off at a dead sprint, leaving the backpack containing most of her supplies. Her target was the plunge pool. Zahra leaped into the air, feeling a painful heat radiate from her left arm. Zahra pushed the discomfort aside and ducked her head, piercing the water’s surface like an aerodynamic dolphin, all while realizing what had happened.
Zahra had been shot.
The water was cooler than she thought it would be, which was great! But it was also shocking. Her body reacted by letting out a portion of her valuable held air. As soon as she entered, Zahra kicked for the bottom. Each time she reached forward and stroked for the bottom, she felt an agonizing pinch in her arm.
The submerged world was deafening. The waterfall’s torrent was intense, threatening to pull her closer to the rear, directly under the falls. If that happened, Zahra would be trapped in an undertow-like current and never escape. But as hard as she tried to avoid its liquid tractor beam, the more it latched onto her, and before she knew it, Zahra was yanked back.
Interestingly, she didn’t find the rocky bottom. Zahra was slurped into an opening in the plunge pool floor. The tunnel reminded her of a more violent tube slide at a water park. Zahra collided multiple times with the sides, feeling a jagged rock jab her in between the ribs in her back. She nearly lost the rest of her air in the process. A strong swimmer, Zahra had zero control of her direction. At this moment, Mother Nature was at the wheel.
Zahra’s lungs were about to explode. She couldn’t hold her breath any longer. A burst of bubbles exploded from her mouth, and her body instinctively tried to breathe in. It worked, but instead of taking in a lungful of oxygen, she took in water.
