Jock sighed. He stared at the ingot of gold, a compact brick. It had Japanese symbols on it, maybe Chinese, Kanani wasn’t sure from here. He lowered the gold bar, his teeth recovering from their sham gilding. He lowered his flashlight, stepped backward, and without looking tossed the gold bar behind him, back through the opening where it landed with a tumbling thud, like a tree falling in a forest that no one ever hears.

45.

Wendell Lett had been returned to the world and felt it. He felt every ache, breeze, smell, pain, light, but his stamina and energy surprised him. As a GI, he’d slogged, starved, and battered for days, and it was apparently like riding a bicycle. He, Kanani, and Jock marched along a lava tube tunnel. They passed the last dim light bulb, and full darkness loomed ahead.

Jock already had his flashlight on. He aimed it with both hands like a gun, sweeping the beam back and forth before them. Lett and Kanani walked along either side of him, patting his shoulders for encouragement.

The lava tube was sloping upward, toward the surface.

Lett assumed Kanani would grow worried and angry after what she’d just turned her back on, but she was smiling now, lighter on her toes. “Morning’s coming soon,” she told them.

The lave tube widened into a cave. Kanani reminded them that their location was up mountain and well outside the underground complex. Selfer might’ve been the only one who knew about it apart from a few others, none of whom appeared to be at The Preserve anymore—not alive, anyway. Lansdale remained the only wild card. “The fugging Joker,” Jock called him. They grew quiet and eased their steps, careful not to turn any rocks with their soles.

Darkness hit them. Jock’s flashlight had gone out. He gasped, froze. He kept clicking and clicking the switch. He started hyperventilating, lowering down, crouching. Lett’s lungs tightened, too, and he squatted with Jock, taking deep breaths, one arm around his back. Jock banged the flashlight with his hand. He moaned and patted his pockets.

Light came. A flame flickered. Kanani stood before them holding up her lighter, all of it gold, etched with Chinese characters and that angry dragon spitting fire.

Jock sighed with relief. He slapped Lett on the shoulder.

The cave ended at a concrete wall, with a rolling metal door big enough to fit a light truck. Next to that was a standard door. It had a peephole, covered with a metal disc. Kanani held up her flame. Jock swung the disc with a finger and put an eye to the peephole. He jerked back.

“What?”

“Nothing. That’s the problem. It’s all dark. Just like this damn cave.”

“It’s not daylight yet, that’s all,” Kanani said. “The opening must be yards away.”