Read Torched: A Thriller for Free Online Page B

the wet stone, her legs dangling over the precipice. She scrambled for
purchase, even as her momentum carried her closer to the lip of the enormous
cenote. She snatched at a length of vine and arrested her fall, her chest
digging into the ledge as her entire lower body dangled out there in space.
    She spun her
head. Water from at least a dozen freshwater springs trickled over the edge and
into the dark blue pool beneath her.
    She looked down,
and the drop made her scream. It had to be fifty feet—maybe more than that.
    She peered back
up; the hog was closing hard. It bullied into the cypress grove, head bent,
legs churning.
    Terri shrugged
the duffle from her shoulder. With her left hand she swung it once, twice,
three times—gauging its weight for the long fall. On the fourth try, she let it
go and watched it sail on a gentle arc toward the sandy beach.
    It landed (dry,
thank goodness!) with a satisfying WUPF !
    She looked up,
just as the razorback realized the folly of its haste. It lowered its enormous
head, tusks bared, and tried to brake. It slid toward her, and she shrieked in
fear and let go.
    She fell
backward, just as the animal swung its thick skull into the space she had
vacated, trying to bury those deadly tusks in the side of her face.
    She was
perfectly supine for a fraction of a moment before her body, understanding that
something wasn’t quite right, reacted on instinct; she rotated in the air,
pulling her knees up into her chest.
    She hit the
cenote on her side, the frigid water punching the breath from her lungs. Down,
down she went, plunging deep into the inky cold. The world shimmered above her,
a perfect circle of blue sky through what looked like ten feet of cloudy
Lucite, and then her brain took over and she stroked toward the surface.
    She broke
through with a gasp, sucking oxygen in great choking mouthfuls, then swam
frantically for the beach. She pulled herself from the water and collapsed on
the beach. Blood seeped through the wounds on her knees and palms, trickling
across her skin in tiny channels.
    Other than the
abrasions, which stung like a hundred paper cuts, she thought she was unhurt.
    “It’s…a…freaking… miracle ,”
she panted.
    She heard that familiar
grunting and looked skyward. The hog was still there, studying her from the
ledge.
    “Leave me
alone!” she screamed. “Go on! Get!”
    The razorback
watched her for another minute, then turned and disappeared. Terri grinned.
“Yeah! Yeah, fuck you!” she shouted, this time a little less emphatically.
    She went to her
duffle and took inventory.
    The iPad had
survived the toss.
    She pulled out a
crumbled granola bar and ate it, then finished the last of her water before
filling her canteen in the sinkhole. She put everything back except for the
map, which she studied for a few minutes before deciding on a direction.
    She was just
starting to scale the hill that she hoped would reunite her with the trail when
three gunshots— BAP…BAP…BAP —echoed through the jungle. She ducked behind
a bush, peering up at the lip of the cenote. There was a fourth gunshot, then
she heard a voice.
    “Ms. James!”
Chaco called. He whistled from the ledge, waving down at her. “Hello! Ms.
James! Come on out!”
    She did, and he
grinned down at her.
    “Big fella, eh?
He, uh…he won’t be giving you any more trouble.”
    “Chaco! What are
you doing here? Did you follow me?”
    He shrugged.
“Maybe a little. You coming? For somebody with places to be, I’m surprised to
see you down there, just cooling off with a swim.”
    Terri laughed.
“Yeah, yeah…I’m coming. Is this the best way back up?”
    He nodded. “But
watch your step. It gets tricky near the top.”
    And it was, but
there was a narrow path back up the sheer limestone bank. With Chaco talking
her through it, she made it up in one piece.
    “I’m surprised
to see you,” Terri said. “Surprised and thankful, Chaco. Do I…do I owe you more
money?”
    Chaco waved