The three hours that Dalton had promised was made two. Steve had gotten to the cavern entrance in under an hour from when he had parked, and waiting outside that steep, rocky mouth was torturous. Danny's car had been parked in the lot at the bottom of the mountain trail, and there had been nothing inside of it. Steve had parked his truck beside it, and took himself and his bag up through the rain to the cavern entrance.

Mud was already slick down the side of the mountain, and unfortunately, it didn't appear as if there was going to be a break in the dark grey clouds anytime soon. Steve had sheltered in the wide open mouth of the cave, and he only perked up eagerly when he heard voices yelling up to him. Searching out into the rain, Steve saw neon shapes coming towards him, lights strapped to their heads.

Dalton was in the lead, a tall and muscular man with tattoos all the way up to his neck, and two others followed him, a young looking man and woman. All of them were wearing bright clothes and thick jackets, and all of them had backpacks strapped tightly to their backs. Steve reached out a hand, and he and Dalton shook hands with a solemn nod.

"Have you gone in yet?" Dalton asked, and Steve shook his head. Dalton slid an extra pack off his back, and offered it out to Steve, who took it thankfully, adding it to the load he already had on his back. With a nod to his companions, Dalton introduced his help.

"This is Carla and Rick, my two most experienced spelunkers that help me run the company. They'll go together, and then you and I will go together. I brought radios for each of us, but no promises on how well they'll work when we have walls of rock between us" he continued, pulling a radio out of his pocket and handing it to Steve. Steve took it and put in in his pocket before shaking the hands of the man and woman, each of whom had the same solemn look on their face.

"Thanks so much for coming out here on short notice" Steve commented, and once again the two additional team members nodded their head, while Dalton only sighed.

"I just hope we got here in time. I saw two cars at the base of this mountain, and I can only hope that when we leave, there will be none. Hopefully your friend has not wandered too far. For safety's sake, we will meet back out here in one hour, no more than that. It may very well not take that long to find your friend, Commander, but we must keep ourselves safe if we are to help him."

However hard it was to accept, Steve understood. This was dangerous territory, and it did no good if the rescue party got injured in the process. There was nothing more that he wanted than to go charging into the cave, to pull his friend out of whatever mess he was in, and rush him home with a profuse string of apologies.

It was a shame that Steve was better with sea, air, and land than he was within the earth. Although Danny liked to say it more often than not, it wasn't true that a SEAL had every skill known to man- they just had most of them.

So it was with Dalton's supervision that Steve slipped some gear on, such as a basic harness if they had to descend any steep inclines or secure themselves at the risk of slipping. Steve was more than grateful for the help of the experienced spelunker, because now he felt that he could be sure to come through for Danny, he surely could rescue his best friend now.

They made their way into the entrance of the cave even further, drawing them away from the still heavy rain. Steve shook his head and smoothed down the wet hair, droplets running into his eyes. The team was faced with two main tunnels that branched off to the left and to the right, an utter and complete darkness filling the gaping maws that threatened death. Steve groaned, and the two younger climbers were silent, but Dalton took a deep breath. It was the most confident sounding expression that came from the group, and that confidence was expressed once again as he demonstrated his ideal plan.

"Carla and Rick will take one tunnel, and Steve, you and I will take the other. I'm going to remind you that we should meet back here in an hour if we don't find anything, just for safety's sake. Now, let's get started. Remember, one hour, back here! And you two, remember all the safety precautions that we normally follow, don't do something stupid. We're already here to rescue one person, we don't need to make a mess and have that number rise to two or three."

"Yes boss" Carla said, tugging the straps on her harness once again, and Rick nodded rather than chiming in with a response.

"Good" Dalton affirmed, and turned towards the right tunnel, motioning for Steve to follow him. Steve did so nervously, but his fear for Danny overrode the fear that was creeping up on him just as plainly.

His steps were sure and steady behind Dalton, and he carefully observed the path and walls around him, the damp stone that sent chills through his bones. His boots splashed softly in puddles that pooled on the sandy colored stone, and his headlamp illuminated calcium and mineral deposits that streaked their surroundings with white and yellow.

The path continued on for a good while, and Dalton didn't say a word, nor did Steve bother to initiate conversation. The deeper down the tunnel they ventured the colder it got, and Steve tried to ignore the chill seeping through his bones, replacing the discomfort with the fear that Danny had been down here too long if it had indeed been so cold the entire time.

The sound of running water had been subtle at first, but the further they went down the sloping tunnel, the sound only grew louder and more violent. Dalton must have been able to feel the tension in the air, as he halted, and turned back to Steve.

"It's the rain, the water is coming down into the tunnels and flooding some of the underground rivers. We can only hope that he has not been so unfortunate as to stumble into one of those, for then, we may never find him" the guide said grimly. All Steve could do was swallow his fear and push on further, hoping that what Dalton had said wasn't true.

Thanks so much for reading, I hope that you enjoy! I appreciate every single review, follow, and favorite on this story, and I hope more than anything that you enjoy it! Sorry for the delay in posting, I promise the next chapter wil be up sooner!