When the hostages emerged from the forest trail into the clearing beside the sinkhole, they saw a small heap of dirt-encrusted bones.

They saw scoops of dirt flying through the air, flung by a shovel they heard attacking the earth deep inside the hole.

They saw churned soil near a sturdy tree and a discarded length of rope near the edge of the bushes.

What they didn't see was Shepard Krausse.

Carlo grinned. "I do not see a prisoner, signorina," he said.

Miranda said, "He's gone!"

Mrs. Cleary said, "S'prise, s'prise," in a tone that said she was not surprised in the least.

Felicia stepped around the three friends so that her rifle pointed directly at Miranda. The barrel ended barely six inches from Miranda's spine.

"Can you see me, Mister Krausse?" Felicia shouted at the forest. "In case you can't, let me tell you I have a gun pointed at a young lady here, and I won't miss at this distance."

Felicia paused and listened. No response.

"Of course, if you don't care about this lady, maybe after I shoot her I'll shoot Euro-Boy here. I know he's a close friend of yours. I'll save the old lady for last."

Again, nobody answered.

Felicia turned and shouted into another part of the forest. "On second thought, I might not kill your friends outright. I might only wound them seriously and leave 'em here in the woods to suffer."

No answer.

"You step out where I can see you," the T.A. yelled. "Maybe you two big, strong men can help me get this job finished. Then I'll tie everybody up and hit the road."

She aimed her voice at yet another part of the surrounding woods. "You come on out, Mister Krausse, and everybody lives. But this offer expires soon. I think you better get out here!"

Miranda yelled, "Stay away, Shepard! You know they're going to kill all of us, no matter what. Save yourself, at least!"

"You're right," said their captor. With the rifle barrel she nudged Miranda closer to the crater's edge. "In fact, since you guys are so interested in finding David, I think you should join him right now."

She moved as if to force the hostages over the precipice, into the bottomless, water-filled sinkhole. Felicia knew Maynard, halfway down the hole's inner wall — with his shovel — would ensure no one who fell in would be able to climb out.

When Felicia began herding the trio toward the crater, she dropped back from Miranda, to cover all three at once.

Carlo stepped between the gun and his two friends. He was only two paces from Felicia's rifle.

In a single instant, Miranda and Mrs. Cleary broke and ran, a shot split the air, blood spurted, and something big fell into the black hole with a hollow splash.

Mrs. Cleary and Miranda froze mid-step.

Miranda screamed, "Carlo!"

Inside the hole, Maynard had set his shovel aside to pull a fossilized molar the size of a tennis shoe from the muddy wall of the crater.

When Carlo fell in, Maynard reached out and placed a hand atop the man's head. Carlo surfaced, but before he could take a breath, Maynard shoved him under the water.

"Got him!" called Maynard. Then he tossed the fossil molar onto the rim of the sinkhole and skittered up after it. He added the tooth to the pile of muddy bones already on the ground.

Miranda hurried to the edge of the dark shaft and looked in. Carlo had not surfaced, and she screamed his name again.

Mrs. Cleary grabbed Miranda's arm and stopped her from leaning too far over the unstable edge of the sinkhole.

Felicia aimed at the two women beside the abyss.

Maynard shouted, "Wait!"

Miranda shrieked, "Carlo!"

Mrs. Cleary yelled for Miranda to "Git back!" from the brink.

The loudest screech of all, however, came from the smallest member of the congregation: Zeus.

Wailing like a chorus of banshees, with his feet spread to all four compass points as if he were a flying squirrel, the little cat blasted down from an overhead tree branch and hit Felicia square in the face.

Four sets of claws sank into the flesh of her scalp and jaws, turning the cat into a firmly affixed, hairy facemask.

Reeling backward from the kitten's impact, Felicia squeezed the trigger of Martha's rifle.

The gun's booming only added to the screaming, screeching, yelling cacophony.

The bullet went wild, hitting no one.

Zeus's momentum shoved Felicia backward. When she slammed butt-first into the ground, the rifle jarred from her grip.

The weapon landed a few yards away, and Mrs. Cleary scooped it up — half a second before Maynard could reach it.

She swung the barrel in his direction.

He wisely backed away.

Almost before Felicia's head struck the dirt, Shepard dropped from the trees overhead. He landed nearby in a crouch and pounced toward the sound of Zeus's air-raid-siren screeches.

Locating Zeus's victim by sound and touch, Shep grabbed Felicia. He flipped the woman belly-down and slammed one knee into the center of her back. She was pinned under his considerable weight.

Zeus then retracted his claws, stepped off Felicia's lacerated face, and sauntered away.

From the direction of the farmhouse, Sheriff Deputy Tyrell Krothers, from the huge metropolis of Luz, came thrashing through the palmetto bushes into the clearing. He double-handed his pistol. "I heard shots! Anybody hurt?"

Maynard spun as if to escape into the jungle, but he tripped over the pile of mammoth bones.

He regained his feet and bolted toward the trees, but Mrs. Cleary was having none of that nonsense. She shot him.

Maynard, though bleeding, kept running — until a lady librarian smashed him to the ground. Miranda hit the man with a flying tackle worthy of any 300-pound NFL linebacker.

"I reckon somebody's hurt now," Mrs. Cleary told the deputy.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:   Short chapter, I know, but there's a lot going on in a small amount of time, out there in the woods.  Looks like everything's all wrapped up neat and tidy, but don't be fooled.  Surprises are coming fast for Shep and Miranda as well as for their readers!  Don't miss next week's installment of The Mammoth Murders.

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