True Believers Read Online Free

gotta climb.”
    She nodded. “Agreed. It's worth a shot if we can get out of here faster.”
    Doc's face turned ashen. “Now wait a minute. You two may be able to climb, but I can't.”
    Paul threw down his pack and slipped on his harness. “There's nothing to it, Doc. It's a pulley system. We'll climb up together.”
    Rachel hammered the first piton in place then tugged on it with all her weight. It held. Perhaps the rock face was stable after all. She dragged out a length of rope and started tying knots, her hands working like a loom as she built a harness for Doc. The man had balked at carrying any more equipment, and Rachel in her impatience had allowed him to travel without climbing gear. Now they'd have to make do.
    In minutes she had fashioned a basic harness, sturdy enough to keep him safe. She helped him slip it on and secured his knots.
    “Rachel. About the cave incident. I just wanted to say—”
    Rachel snugged the knots on the harness, wrapping her arms around his wide waist to make sure the saddle fit comfortably. “Forget it, Doc. It's been a long trip.”
    He held her by the wrist, forcing her to look up at him. “You're the most intuitive archeologist in the field, Rachel. The best I've ever known.”
    She smiled at him and straightened a knot outward so it wouldn't dig into the old man's flesh. “We made quite a team, didn't we?”
    “Because of you we'll probably make every major academic journal in the world. These petroglyphs will make us famous.” His hands fidgeted on the rope harness around his waist. “You know, I planned to retire this year. I'm glad I'll be leaving with this as my legacy. Kind of one last hurrah, if you know what I mean.”
    Rachel patted him on the shoulder, feeling unusually guilty for having been so intolerant. Humans regularly annoyed the hell out of her, but she felt more comfortable in their company than around her own kind. That would change soon. Gilgamesh would make sure of it.
    She grabbed a hold of the rope and jerked on it again.
    “I better go first,” Rachel said to Paul.
    Paul took the rope from her. “You're the better climber, Cruz, but I'm stronger. I can hammer the anchors faster than you can. I'll go first and drag the professor after me.” He handed her a map. “Figure out where we are. We might need shelter for the night.”
    She couldn't argue his point. Their chances were better with him on the hammer. Rachel's gaze skirted down the narrow ravine. The air smelled moist and woodsy. Rain, and not far off. Time was moving against them. She slapped Paul on the back. “Get going.”
    Paul sprang against the rock face as if he'd been born to it, hammering pitons with the speed of a jackhammer. He secured several of the rods then gave the thumb's up for Doc to winch himself up. For once the grumpy old man complied without objection, trusting Paul to pull ahead and secure more anchor points.
    Paul had reached the top and secured the rope to a scraggly tree. When he was finished, he stretched his back but froze when his eyes caught a glimpse of something in the distance.
    Rachel was about to ask him what he was looking at when a stiff wind snatched the map out of her hand and sent it flying down the narrow trail.
    She turned to chase after it but tripped on a gnarled root and tumbled to the ground with a thud that knocked the wind out of her. A curse-filled scream redirected her attention. Rachel looked up in time to see a piton give way. The old man flailed against the rock wall, kicking and yelping like a charred dog.
    “Doc! Stop moving. You'll weaken the pitons.”
    Another piton sprung loose, and Doc plunged several feet with a howling shriek. The ricochet of a rockslide pattered down the cliff walls.
    Paul grabbed hold of the rope and tried to steady it, but Doc's frantic thrashing dragged him closer and closer to the edge. Paul leaned as far back as he could, his face a muddy red from the strain.
    Rachel tried to get up, but her foot gave way