Dark Storm by Christine Feehan Page A

glancing over her shoulder often to make certain no one dared approach her mother while she was away.
    “Riley,” Jubal greeted with a slight nod. His gaze was restless, moving over the camp, up into the trees and along the ground. “Is your mother all right?”
    Riley shook her head. “She’s exhausted, but she wants to get up the mountain. Maybe if we make it to the site, she’ll feel better. That’s my hope.”
    “How far up the mountain?” Jubal asked. “The tremors are getting worse. The mountain hasn’t blown in hundreds of years, but that doesn’t mean it won’t. I’m not certain we’re going to be entirely safe on that mountain. Gary’s trying to get us some data. He’s got to wait for the satellite, but we should be able to find out if there are any changes to the shape of the mountain. Photographs of all these volcanos are regularly taken from space.”
    Riley sighed. It wasn’t as if the tremors hadn’t gone unnoticed. “One more thing to worry about. Do you really think the volcano will explode?”
    Jubal frowned thoughtfully. “It feels like it to me. I’m not certain it’s such a great idea to go up, although the plants we’re looking for are supposed to be close to the ruins. If those plants are really there, we need them.”
    “Look.” Riley made up her mind to lay her cards on the table if she had to. She didn’t have much of a hand, but she was going to get the job done and protect her mother no matter what. The determination grew in her that she had to go and stop whatever was inside that mountain from getting out. “I know you and Gary are armed to the teeth. You’re not exactly hiding the fact from anyone.”
    “I thought it might help deter anyone thinking they could use a machete to hack up members of our party,” Jubal pointed out.
    She winced, feeling she deserved the slight reprimand. She shrugged it off. “I don’t like anyone prying into our business so the last thing I want to do is pry into yours …”
    Jubal smiled at her, although there was no humor in his eyes. Maybe understanding. “But?” he encouraged.
    “How did you get all those weapons and your equipment into this country? I’ve never even seen some of those weapons. You couldn’t possibly have gotten them onto a plane.”
    “We have a few friends in this country with private planes and ships. They had everything we asked for waiting for us when we arrived. These plants are as important to them as they are to us. The plants have never grown anywhere but the Carpathian Mountains, and they’re extinct there. If these are truly the same ones, you have no idea what an important find it would be for us.”
    She heard the underlying animation in his voice. He was telling her the truth—or at least part of it. There was an urgency about his need to go up the mountain and, God help her, she was grateful for it. She wouldn’t have to go alone.
    “I need a gun.”
    Jubal’s eyes met hers. She refused to look away. She needed that weapon and she wasn’t going to back down or be intimidated into backtracking. He was not going to get to look at her as a hysterical woman, because she wasn’t hysterical. She was absolutely serious.
    Jubal’s eyebrow shot up. “Have you ever fired a gun?”
    “Yes. I’m quite a good shot. My father’s best friend was a police officer, and he took me to the shooting range when I was ten and I’ve been shooting ever since.”
    “Shooting a human being isn’t so easy, Riley. If you hesitate …”
    “I would have tried to kill Raul with my knife last night,” she said, meaning it. “And I wouldn’t have hesitated, not with my mother’s life at stake. I won’t hesitate if I need to protect her,” she assured.
    “What if you need to protect yourself?”
    Her chin went up. She refused to look away, holding her gaze steady on his. “I’m not a shrinking violet, Jubal. If I need to defend my life, I’ll do it vigorously. And no one is going to harm my mother, not