May 31, 6:11 P.M.
Arizona desert
Kai clung to the rope with both hands as the sled under her was lowered from the hovering helicopter. Dust billowed up from below; winds from the roaring rotors whipped all around. She stared down as the top of the mesa rose up toward her, a dizzying view made worse by desert thermal gusts buffeting the sling.
"We're almost there," Jordan said.
He shared the aluminum swing with her. Both his eyes were blackened from the gun butt to his face, but he seemed oblivious to the pain. He kept one hand on the rope, too, but he had his other arm around her shoulders. She had never been a fan of heights-and was even less so now.
But at last, soldiers on the ground caught their sled and roughly unloaded them. Kai stood on shaky legs, glad to find Jordan's arm still around her. At gunpoint, they were led to the chute she'd seen on the video screen earlier. It was a steep descent, but they had no choice.
Reaching the bottom of the chasm revealed a transformed space. A score of soldiers bustled about. Equipment and crates, several broken open, littered the space. Somewhere a drill was grinding into stone. She couldn't figure out what was happening. In the middle of the chaos, she spotted a familiar figure.
Rafael Saint Germaine leaned on his cane, standing over a hole in the ground. She was pushed toward him from behind. He noted her approach.
"Ah, there you two are. Looks like we're all in attendance now."
A shape emerged from the hole, thick with black body armor and wearing a bulky helmet. Still, even without seeing his face, Kai knew it was the blond giant named Bern. When he did look up, she saw that his face was streaming with sweat, which dripped from his eyelashes and off his nose.
"Sir," he said to Rafael, "we've got the ambush site locked down. We just need the bait."
His gray- green eyes flicked toward Kai.
" Tr s bien, Bern. Then we're ready. We'll take them both down. No reason not to play all of our cards."
Kai turned to Jordan. He had been staring to the side-toward a shape half covered in a tarp, booted legs sticking out. She again pictured the rifle shot that had taken out the park ranger and began to shake. Jordan turned, noting the focus of her attention, and stepped to block her view. He put his other arm around her and held her.
Impatient, Bern reached to rip them apart, but Jordan knocked his arm aside. Surprisingly, he was successful.
"We can move on our own," Jordan said coldly, and helped Kai along.
They both knew where they were headed.
Down that black hole.
But what fate awaited them below?