It was like a lost ecosystem—a lost world of sorts. CJ had read about things like this in books before featuring a caveman hero with powers over the continent of Antarctica. It also featured a really angry dinosaur species that was inbetween a Velociraptor and Tyrannosaurus Rex in size.

  Bloody hell…

  She knew it was most likely impossible that an actual dinosaur could’ve survived the years of turmoil following the mass extinction event that wiped them out, but something else sure could have. Maybe a marine reptile like a Plesiosaur or Mosasaur found this place and began evolving, forming usable legs instead of flippers.

  Get a grip woman, this isn’t Jurassic Park.

  “So…” she said, not having anything to add.

  “Admit it,” Fitz said, looking around, “this is friggin awesome!” Zeus glanced at him. “Besides all the death, I mean.”

  “Just do me a favor, Gray,” CJ asked, “Don’t start singing the theme song to Land of the Lost, okay?”

  “No problem,” he replied, immediately starting to whistle the tune. He quickly stopped at the part that went “on a routine expedition” as CJ stepped towards him fists balled and ready to start swinging.

  “Enough,” Logan calmly said. “Fitz…”

  “Yeah, boss?”

  “Shut it.”

  “Sure thing, boss.” Fitz then looked at CJ. “For the record… You’d make a pretty good Holly.”

  That got a smile out of CJ even though she did her best to hold it back. Even in the face of danger and in an unknown land, Fitz went out of his way to rub her raw. But his humor also lightened even the most dreadful of circumstances too.

  “Are those trees?” Kiani asked, kneeling near the edge of the cliff face.

  Logan joined her and knelt beside her taking in the view. He looked back and saw that they were actually at the top of a dried out ledge. “I think this was a waterfall,” he said, rubbing the smooth stone, putting the pieces together in his head.

  “Makes sense,” CJ said. “The passage we entered was obviously part of a water system with the way its surface was equally eroded.”

  “There’s still water in here too,” Zeus said, making his way around to the right of the Y-shaped precipice.

  “He’s right. It’s down below,” Kiani said, pointing directly beneath them.

  There was another opening about thirty feet under their feet that had a steady stream of water running out of it. It fell to the ground another twenty or so feet and then flowed down a slight grade to where it met the edges of another forest.

  “A jungle beneath the jungle,” Ares said, joining Zeus around the right-hand side of the cliff. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

  “Any record of something like this in your findings?” Logan asked Kiani, still kneeling next to her. “Anything at all?”

  She just silently shook her head in the negative.

  Logan puffed out a quick, nervous breath and stood, offering Kiani his hand. Unlike the incident at the chopper, she took his chivalrous gesture and stood. As Logan pulled, Kiani slipped on the slick stone and fell into him, catching Logan off guard. He stumbled back a little but held his footing, keeping her safely upright. Now, instead of simply helping her to her feet, Logan held Kiani tightly in his arms.

  A long second passed before Logan and Kiani realized they were being watched and quickly let go of one another. Then, like two embarrassed teenagers, they parted and headed around opposite sides of the cliff. Logan joined Zeus and Ares off to the right and Kiani went by herself off to the left.

  “We need to keep moving,” Logan said, keeping his eyes off everyone as he spoke. He knew at least CJ and Fitz would be eyeing him—especially CJ. She would undoubtedly be grinning ear-to-ear while Fitz would be making hubba-hubba eyebrow gestures.

  Finally, he stowed his discomfort and addressed his team.

  “Fitz,” he said, heading towards the left side of the cliff, “you come with Zeus and me.” He then pointed at CJ. “You go with Kiani, Ares, Apollo, and Poseidon.”

  “Logan…”

  He shook his head. “The ledge is narrower over here and we don’t need more people to watch than necessary. We meet at the end of this cavern.”

  “What if there is no end, mate?” Fitz asked.

  “Then we head back here and regroup. It’ll take twice as long if we all follow one path and then have to turn around and start again.”

  “While that’s good and all,” Zeus said, stepping in, “I think we need to rest first and reload. No sense walking into a taping of Barney and Friends with half a mag and a shortness of breath.”

  “He’s right, Logan,” Fitz said softly. “We need to check on everyone.”

  The emphasize on everyone got Logan’s attention. While CJ and Kiani were tough, they weren’t traditional soldiers. He’d doubted the two women would openly say a word, but between the glowing green blood and the bodies strung up on trees, the ladies looked pretty well shell-shocked. Death was a part of his world, not CJ’s. Kiani’s world, on the other hand, was still a mystery

  “Alright…” Logan said, “let’s have a sit.”

  Everyone found whatever passed for comfort at the mouth of the tunnel entrance and removed their packs. Zeus and Ares took watch, while Fitz and CJ chatted about things to do back in the Bullpen. Apollo and Poseidon took the opportunity to look over everyone’s weapons and see if there was any fine-tuning to be done. He couldn’t prove it, but Logan suspected the others busied themselves so he could be alone with Kiani.

  Sitting across from her, Logan offered her a Chewy granola bar from his gear. Kiani didn’t pack with them and he wasn’t sure what she brought for food. She smiled and took it, staying silent. He wasn’t sure if she was feeling as timid as he was or if she just had nothing to say. They’d obviously felt something between them, even if it was only a type of romantic infatuation with each other.

  “Tell me about yourself,” he finally said. “What was it like growing up here?”

  Her eyes found his and he saw something he hadn’t expected, fear. She was afraid of her past and he’d just asked her to open the wound and spill the beans to an absolute stranger.

  “I’m sorry… I didn’t—”

  She held up a hand. “No, it's fine, Logan. It’s just hard to explain is all.”

  “Why’s that?” he asked between chews, inhaling half of his own granola bar in one bite. Normally, painful childhoods weren’t hard to explain. Most of the time they were pretty straight forward issues but too painful to speak of.

  “I grew up in a small village in the south of the country and was very sick for much of it. I don’t even remember a lot of it, to be honest.”

  “That bad?”

  She nodded. “I had a rare form of illness—a virus. Missionaries eventually stumbled upon our people and gave us the gift of medicine.”

  “They cured you?”

  She nodded again. “The medicine they gave me cleared up the raging fever I had for what seemed like years. My mother said I’d come out of it every so often but afterward slip right back into it. It affected my memory mostly. My dreams were also…chaotic.”

  “What do you mean?” he asked, leaning forward.

  “I dreamt of death. Every night. It was like a blinding rage had consumed me from the day I was born. They were forced to strap me to my bed some nights for fear of being injured.”

  “You’d hurt yourself?”

  She shook her head and looked deeply into Logan’s eyes. “No, I would hurt them…”

  “That’s terrible—for a child nonetheless.”

  She shook her head again, trying desperately to ward off the tears forming. “I don’t talk about it often.” She wiped her eyes. “For obvious reasons.”

  “You don’t tell anyone?”

  “No.”

  “Why’d you tell me?”

  She met his gaze again. “You…seem different.”

  “Thanks?” he asked, not sure if was a compliment or not.

  The smile on her face said it was, though. “You see me as an equal and from what I know about you—your background, that’s saying something.” Logan didn’t know what to say so he stayed silent and let her continue. “Men in this part of the world don’t often see women in the same light. Some are even sold as slaves. It’s not always that way, but whether they are locals or more commonly brash tourists, I’m just looked at as a hired hand.”

  “To be honest…” Logan scooted closer to her and spoke low, “…and please don’t tell anyone this—especially Fitz or my sister…” She nodded. “When I saw you walk out of the airport lounge and head our way, I—”

  “Logan.”

  Logan’s tongue got caught in his throat. He looked up and saw everyone looking back down into the jungle below. They were standing there, weapons drawn, fingers hovering over their triggers.

  “What is it?” he asked, standing.

  Kiani popped to her feet and retrieved her gear, including her trusted shotgun. Logan quickly grabbed his SCAR and his pack and joined the rest of their team by the waterfall’s edge.

  “Movement,” Zeus replied.

  “Movement?”

  “Yep,” Ares added. “We were walking the cliffs, trying to sneak a peek under the jungle’s dress for anything interesting.”

  “And?” Kiani asked.

  “Just into the trees,” Ares replied. “Mostly shadows. But whatever is down there isn’t exactly a field mouse if you catch my drift.”

  Logan caught Ares’ drift alright. Whatever was down there was big enough to concern the Special Forces operator and it being here begged the question once again.

  “Nsanga?” he asked Kiani.

  She bit her lip but nodded, meeting Logan’s gaze. “What else could it be?”

  A scraping sound echoed around them, originating from inside the entry tunnel as something large and noisy came barreling through the cave entrance. Like frightened children, they scattered and bolted for different sides of the cliff-top paths. Logan and Kiani headed left, towards the narrower of the two paths, while the others, being closer to that side, went right.

  What emerged from the dark passage was unlike anything any of them had ever seen—unless you counted the Ru’kan and various Nach hybrids, of course.

  For the first time in what seemed like years, Fitz didn’t have a witty comment ready to go. All he could do was stare and backpedal away. “Good God.”

  11

  It just stood there, sizing up its prey—prey which had stupidly decided to trespass into its domain. Logan shook his head a little at the thought. The Ru’kan hunters drove them to this place once they realized that he and his team wouldn’t be going down quietly. They knew this creature would be coming back. Logan had to give the team and himself some credit, though. How could they have known and could this really be the lesser of two evils like they’d originally believed?

  Not bloody likely.

  Its head swayed back and forth like a snake as it flicked its tongue, tasting the air. It’s skull, however, wasn’t shaped like a snake’s. To Logan, it reminded him of a large lizard—like a type of Nile monitor or even a Komodo dragon—mixed with a crocodile. The jaw was longer and narrower than a serpent’s too but was no doubt filled with similar dagger-like fangs like either species named had.

  It stepped further into the cavern, showing the rest of its girth. Like most legends, this one’s size was also overstated by the hunter Hagenbeck. It wasn’t half-elephant in size at all. It did, however, have the same thick leathery skin as an elephant.

  It’s a dragon.

  The thing was, in every respect, a wingless dragon. The long neck and body added to the description even more. Its feet were large, webbed…and three-toed, sporting eagle talons on the ends of each digit.

  “Hagenbeck was right,” Kiani whispered. “It’s a dragon.”

  “More like an oversized jungle monitor with a longer neck,” CJ softly replied in their ears.

  “See its back?” Fitz asked.

  Logan did. The Nsanga had a row of thick scales running down its back, protruding like a crocodiles did. They eventually met with a full crocodilian tail too.

  “Not to rain on our parade,” Logan said, keeping his voice low, “but why hasn’t it attacked us?”

  “I’m not sure,” CJ replied, also keeping her voice low, “Some lizards and crocs are shy by nature.”

  “Or,” Fitz said, “it hasn’t figured out which one of us it wants to have a go at first.”

  It’s possible, Logan thought, intently watching the Nsanga’s behavior patterns. He learned to read his enemy while in the army, but that was normally through the sights of a sniper rifle, not face-to-face with a primordial creature such as this. He’d been in some close calls with predators in the past in the Serengeti too, but Charlie, the man who Logan eventually replaced, had taught him well.

  If we survive this, I’m flying the old coot out for a beer.

  “Okay,” Logan said calmly, “listen up.” He took a couple of slow steps back. “Move further into the cave, but go nice and easy. Maybe our new friend will—”

  The Nsanga opened its mouth, hyperextending its jaw like a snake. The sound that came out was like a bird screeching and a serpent’s hiss. It looked at Logan and Kiani and then the others, deciding who to eat first.

  “Move it!” Logan shouted, abandoning his “nice and easy” order.

  Logan’s shouted order got everyone moving, including the creature, unfortunately. It lunged at the two of them but couldn’t move any further forward due to the narrowing path. So, instead, it turned its attention on CJ and the rest of the team.

  “Aw, shit,” Fitz said, letting loose a couple of three-round bursts. Every bullet found its mark, but instead of inflicting any type of real damage, they only startled it.

  “Open up!” Fitz shouted. A chorus of sound suppressed thwaps and coughs filled the air as Logan and Kiani, unable to fire because of their more treacherous footing, continued their retreat. They needed to desperately find a way around and join in the fray.

  Or come around behind it once they—

  “Logan,” Kiani said, turning around.

  He also turned…and grumbled.

  The route got even narrower, maybe a foot across and it slanted in towards the drop ever so slightly. For peace of mind, Logan leaned right and took a look at what their potential landing spot looked like. The walls of the cliff directly below them bowed out a little like a bowl, ending in a type of mossy grass that seemed to coat the valley’s floor. The lighting was actually pretty good below too, roughly the same as it was on the cliff.

  Worst case is we take a slide and then a hike. We can handle that.

  “Keep moving,” he said, ushering Kiani forward. “We need to help the others.” He could still hear the sound of the whispered gunfire, but noticed they were moving farther away from the others. The valley was opening up and the treetops were growing thicker, blocking his view of the battle.

  He slipped and grabbed the first handhold he could find, a hole in the wall beside him. Righting himself, he noticed that the surface was honeycombed with them. They were about the size of his head and looked to go very deep.

  More outlets for water?

  A hiss told him otherwise.

  He flinched as a tiny set of jaws snapped shut, just missing his fingers. He reeled away from the smaller Nsanga—the big one’s offspring apparently—and urged Kiani to move. He ducked under its next attack and followed behind her.

  “What is it?” Kiani asked, unable to turn and see.

  “Um, nothing,” Logan said, watching the puppy-sized lizard emerge. “It’s just the kids popping in for a visit.”

  “Kids?” she asked. “You’re kidding?”

  He watched as its front claws, also sharp as shit, dug into the porous rock and found purchase. “Nope… Not kidding… Please move faster.”

  “I would if I could,” she said. “Just try and make do.”

  Make do?

  He mumbled a retort and drew his sidearm. It was normally used as a last resort type of weapon. In war, if you had to rely on your pistol, you were generally done for. But this one was different. The team’s standard issue Glock 23 .40 caliber variant packed a little bigger punch and would be able to take this one’s head clean off if he could land a decent shot. The bad thing was it didn’t sport any kind of suppressor. It would work, but it was going to be noisy.

  Flattening his back against the wall, Logan steadied the weapon in his right hand, pointing it back the way they’d come. Unfortunately, he didn’t see the second Nsanga youth coming until it appeared and latched onto his forearm. The round missed the first creature’s head but still found its chest as his aim was thrown off.

  “Gah!” Logan screamed, punching the second creature in the head twice before it let go. Then the world went askew as he leaned too far and fell into the valley below.

  * * *

  CJ heard her brother’s pain-filled shout echo around her and the others. The first thing she noticed was that it didn’t come through in their comms. Just as they moved deeper into the cavern, they lost all communication with Logan and Kiani. They were on their own.

  Not that we’re in any better shape.

  So far, the Congolese dragon hadn’t pounced on their position. A steady and irritating stream of gunfire kept it at bay as they made their way deeper into its lair. She marveled at how the creature would dip its head and take the rounds in the harder scales covering it. Even its eyes were protected from an overgrown supraorbital foramen—the bone beneath a human’s eyebrow. The growth acted as a natural shield, keeping its serpentine eyeball safe from harm.

  “Now, I understand why they didn’t follow us,” Zeus said, sending another burst into the creature. “They knew it would be coming back and figured it would take care of us.”

  “Well,” Ares added, “unless we figure out a way to get out of here, it will.”

  Everyone, regrettably, agreed. They were toast unless they found a way out…with or without Logan and Kiani. CJ shuddered at the thought of leaving her brother behind but could at least be comforted in believing in his and Kiani’s abilities. If they could stay together, they might just have a chance.