Restless Soul - Alex Archer [44]
She wondered if she should go after the second batch of men who had chased them across the river.
“Maybe I should,” she mused. “They’re not far away.”
But there was still Luartaro and Zakkarat to consider…as well as the automatic weapons that she really had little defense against save for the stolen Japanese pistol that looked so old it might have been manufactured during World War II. So running was her best approach—at the moment.
“Buy some time and distance,” she snarled softly. “Find them a safe place.” More loudly, she said, “Zakkarat, any idea where we are? Any place close to that trail that leads to Tham Lod Cave or our resort?” She thought she could eventually find her own way back to the resort, but it would take extra time. Directions would help a lot. Even a faded sign advertising the bird show would improve the situation.
“Not too close to that cave, I think, Annjacreed.” He spat something out of his mouth and swatted at a fly. “We got twisted and turned around inside that mountain. Hard to tell just where we are. But I do know that we are east of the river. East of the river and somewhere north of your resort. And so we are still lost. I would tell you to follow the river south, but I am not sure that is a good idea right now.”
“Too easy to be seen,” she said, picking her way in a southeastern direction and increasing her pace, forcing Luartaro to struggle along faster with the injured Thai guide. She knew Zakkarat was in pain, but making him go faster was brutally necessary. “You said there are villages around here.”
“Plenty of villages by the river and all around the mountains,” he said, out of breath. “We could hide in one. I would not think those men would follow us into a hill tribe village. Too many eyes and too many questions, yes? They would want to avoid the villages.”
“Then let’s find one of those villages. And let’s find it in a hurry,” Annja said.
Certainly someone in a village would have a Jeep or ATV or some form of transportation they could use, she thought. And if nothing else, she could leave Zakkarat there to be looked after by Luartaro while she doubled back and dealt with the gunmen, picked them off one by one. No more running.
More gunfire erupted, letting her know the men were persistent. But it did not sound so close this time. Maybe the men had not yet picked up their trail and were firing blindly, or maybe they had found something else to shoot.
“This has been one crazy vacation,” she heard Luartaro mutter. “Why did I ever talk you into going to that spirit cave, Annja? Why couldn’t I have settled for an elephant ride or visiting the long-necked women? Or why didn’t we just stay in?”
She smiled in spite of their dire situation and forced their pace faster still.
Questions continued to dance in her mind. If the men were Vietnamese or Laotian, how did they get into Thailand with all of those weapons? Help from the locals? Through a place where there were no border posts? She also wondered what all the treasure was about, and at what lengths the gunmen would go to find her and her companions to keep word of the treasure silenced. And why put it there, in a cavern in the northern Thailand mountains?
Why put the treasure there?
She would never have discovered it if she hadn’t wanted to pursue the voice in her head, if Luartaro hadn’t first suggested going to a spirit cave and if she hadn’t met him while filming in Argentina and on a whim decided to travel halfway around the world on a vacation with him. If she—
Annja caught sight of a trail to the south, doing a double take to make sure that’s what it was. Then she cut a path toward it, pulling at vines and bending branches to squeeze through here and there, and looking over her shoulder