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Hulan ignored the outburst and hurriedly sorted through Brian’s things, which still lay in a ear into the backpack, she asked, “Where’s your brother’s journal?” When Angela didn’t answer, Hulan dropped the bag, turned, and pushed the girl up against the wall “More people are going to die unless you tell ht now about your brother’s journal!”
“I gave it to Lily”
“On the night she died?”
Angela bent her head and nodded
That ela toward the door “Go to the front desk Tell the night clerk to run to the Public Security Bureau He has to tell Captain Hoht”
Angela stared at her duhly “Do you understand?” Angela nodded “Go!” Hulan pushed Angela toward the lobby, knowing in her gut that the errand would be fruitless Hom was probably in the cave by now But Hulan had to prevent his death if she could
She ran through the corridors back to the third courtyard, with the roo When she reached it, she left the colonnade and stepped out into the central courtyard and thrashing rain A clap of lightning lit the sky for a ain She scurried to the scholar’s rocks in thefor an entrance She circled again, focusing on the ground this ti She took a couple of steps back and looked at the rocks again, ignoring the fact that the rain had soaked through her clothes The three rocks appeared to abut each other, but she could see now that there was empty space in the middle
She circled again slowly, then stepped forward and slipped her hand into an opening between the two largest rocks Even with the war around her, she could feel cool air She pulled her arripped it in her hand She took a breath to calh the seam of the twin rocks Once inside, she reached into the backpack and groped for the flashlight She stood on wha
t looked to be the edge of a well She had to be more careful!
She hunched doith her back against the rock, careful not to lose her footing on the riht into the hole and saw footholds carved in the sides With all of the rain she couldn’t test if this was actually a well She had only two hands, and she was going to need theht and tucked it into the waistband of her pants She shimmied around carefully so she could put on the backpack Then, without a moment’s hesitation, she descended into the dark hole
Five ht back on Again, she ru until she found the miner’s lamp, which she put on She looked up one last tied down the dark tunnel What had rain of truth that had lain e had disappeared fro soldiers He’d used this tunnel to escape, just as Lily’s killers had used it to bring her body back into the hotel The h the hole and back to her roohed by the knowledge that they were creating a seely unsolvable mystery
As she ran, Hulan could hear conversations waft down froh cracks and holes that ran up to the surface She knew she’d left Bashan behind when the muffled sounds of civilization ceased and she heard only her own footfalls and labored breathing She had no idea what direction she was going or even where she was, but at least this stretch of pathas clear and there were no obvious side tunnels or crawl spaces
After a half hour, new sounds ca, the roar of the river so rats Up ahead a flash fro bolt lit an exit Hulan slowed as she neared it, reached for her weapon, and aie of the exit, she peered out Night had settled fully now, and the storht have been But in the , she saw that the tunnel opened onto a se of the cliff less than a foot above the raging river
She pulled her head back inside the cave and wiped the rain from her face with her foreare, so she put away the gun and flashlight, then stepped out into the rain With the light fro just inches below her The water crashed on the rocks, sendingto sweep her feet out from under her The path narrowed even further as it inclined steeply She put her back against the cliff that towered behind her and edged forward No one ahead of her or behind her as far as she could see, but then she couldn’t seeand everything around her
Her left foot slipped out froained her balance Branches of lightning lit the world for another frighteningto secure her footing with each step until the path leveled out