Fatalis

Grand took in these details quickly since the saber-tooth was only illuminated for a moment. The chopper finally withdrew, throwing the mountain back into darkness.

The scientist reached the sinkhole moments before the cats did. He raced around it, stopped swinging the starbursts, and vaulted the nearest boulder. Then he turned quickly to look back. He was prepared to face the two saber-tooths if he had to.

But both cats were gone.

Chapter Forty-Three

The Wall was stretched over Ha

"You're fired, Wall," she growled.

"Good."

Grand was still crouching behind the rock and looking out at the misty mountaintop. Ha

"Talk to me, Jim," Ha

"Yes," Grand said as he rose slowly. He dropped the star-bursts. He was still staring across the dark tor.

"Saber-toothed cats."

"That's right."

Ha

"It might have been that or it might have been my retreat. A lot of animals won't fight if they don't have to."

"Maybe it was your star-things," The Wall suggested.

"That's possible too. But there's another possibility." Grand put the rock in his jacket pocket and took the flashlight from Ha

"Then why didn't they attack when they first saw us?" Ha

"They weren't hungry and they didn't feel threatened," Grand said. "I think they were just up here to watch the sinkhole."

"Why?"

"I'll let you know when I'm sure. Where's your cell phone?"

"Back at the car."

Grand turned around. "Wall, do you have a cell phone?"

"Yes."

"Can I borrow it?"

"Sure," he said as he reached into his equipment case. "I won't be needing it in the North Pole, where I'm moving tonight because there aren't any monsters there."

"That we know of," Grand said.

The Wall seemed to freeze.

"Jim, what's going on?" Ha

"Deep freeze."

"Huh?"

"One of the cats had large, healed scars," Grand said. "They were long uppercuts. The cat was in a fight with an animal that sliced from bottom to top, head bowed. Possibly tusks. Possibly mammoths."

"Prehistoric elephants?" she said. "What have we got, an entire Ice Age population?"

"I don't think so," Grand said, "which is my point. Mammoths wouldn't be hiding in caves. We'd definitely have seen them before now. Back at the university we had radiocarbon reactions from tissue that was metabolically alive. That can't be. In order to be alive, the creature would have to be processing carbon dioxide. If it were processing carbon dioxide, we wouldn't have gotten a reading."

"Okay-"

"With one exception," Grand said. "Cryogenesis."

The photographer handed Grand the cell phone.

"Wall, is Ha

"It's number one."

"Hold on," Ha

"Remember the elevated water levels in the fur samples?"

"Right," Ha

"That could have come from the ice," Grand said.

"But how?" Ha

"No," Grand said. "But there may have been subterranean ice."

Ha

"A lot of things seem impossible until they happen," Grand said. He slipped the phone into his jacket pocket, turned on the flashlight, then swung back over the rocks.

"Where are you going?" Ha

"To get some answers." The scientist walked over to the sinkhole and cautiously peered over the edge. When he was sure the cats weren't there, he shined the light down. "The cave will probably block the phone signal but I'll find a place to call you."

"Like hell." She turned. "Wall?"

"Yo!"

"My phone's in the car, in my bag. Get it and keep it with you."

Grand looked at her.

"I'm coming with you," she said.

Grand shook his head once. He sat on the edge of the sinkhole.

Ha

Grand didn't think she was bluffing and there wasn't time to argue. "All right," he said. "Wall?"

"Still here."

"Your flashlight?"

The photographer climbed the boulders and ran the light over.

Grand looked at Ha

"Fair enough."

"No talking," he added as he shut off the phone and handed it to Ha

"Just give me time to get down the mountain," the Wall said.

"And back," Ha

The Wall groaned.

Meanwhile, Grand was moving the light around the sinkhole. The sloping passageway went down about seven feet and was lined with sharp-edged stones, most of which appeared to be part of larger, buried rocks. Grand handed Ha

The passageway was just over five feet high and about four feet wide; the air was musty and close. The tu

Grand motioned Ha

That, plus the meaning of the Chumash paintings-the mountains in the upper cave and the circles and crescents in the lower cave. By virtue of what he had seen tonight, Grand believed that the paintings were more than a shaman's expressions of faith.

He believed they could be a warning.

Chapter Forty-Four

Grand made his way through the increasingly narrow tu

She had come down here hoping to pick up more information, more understanding, and more news. She hadn't expected to actually catch up to the cats, though that really seemed to be Grand's intent. Hopefully, he had something in mind for what they would do then. Despite what Grand had said, Ha

As Ha