Aztec Gold

TWENTY FIVE

Crouch scrambled at double speed up toward Caitlyn and let out a shout of exultation, quickly tempered.

“Rivulets, tracks in the floor, have been cut on every ridge,” he said, inwardly berating himself for his outburst. Though stupid, even as he rebuked himself he knew exactly why he hadn’t been able to hold the enthusiasm in.

Here was the culmination of a lifelong dream, a ridiculed fable he’d proven to be true, a treasure found that a murdered and imprisoned culture had once owned and lost, a vanished heritage that attested to their true greatness.

Spurred on by urgency and desire he raced for the next slope. “We have to find the one that leads to something more than the face of the mountain.”

“Between Hummingbird and the Ritual.” Caitlyn fixed the line of the rising sun in her mind as she pounded after him. “Between that line and these channels… ”

Alicia and the rest ran in their wake, the force at their back immaterial now. What would happen was inevitable. Crouch needed his proof to initiate the call for help. When Alicia chanced one more glance at their backs she saw Coker’s force traversing the far slickrock ridge and two small specks above them, birds in the sky.

“Bollocks,” she intoned. “Coker has at least two helicopters with him.”

Russo kept his head down. “As soon as he realizes the scout’s been neutralized he’ll send ‘em in. Shit.”

Above them, Crouch reached the fourth, fifth then sixth tier of rock. The older man was starting to pant. Caitlyn disregarded etiquette and pushed at the small of his back, helping him over the more awkward parts. The seventh ridge passed and they were nearing the top, over a hundred feet high. Still, the rock face was solid, offering no sign of a niche, cave or even a tunnel in the floor.

Alicia, Healey and Russo caught up to them. “Still nothing?”

Crouch scaled the final slope, breaking free of the ascending mountain and emerging onto a wide rocky plateau. Before them a spacious escarpment ran back toward the ridged beginning of some expansive upland terrain, stretching as far as the eye could see.

Crouch wilted. “No. There’s… nothing here.”

Caitlyn felt her own passion wane. “But these grooves were made by somebody.” She kicked at the dead-straight furrows. “Oh dear, the sun isn’t as direct up here.”

As she said it, the line of the rising sun, clear against the mountain wall, had expanded and dissipated across the open landscape, making the Aztec’s guidance almost impossible to follow. It was only because she’d fixed the spot so firmly in her mind that she was able to point in all seriousness to the soft ridge that led to the plateau ahead.

“The troughs end right there.”

Crouch moved forward, every step a battle as he fought against elation and failure. When he closed in on the small ridge his steps grew smaller, less frequent. Any moment now he’d have to admit that their quest had been unsuccessful.

But we found the initial treasure… the words were already formed on his lips.

Maybe there was another cave, another room back there. Maybe it had been found previously and the sheets of gold left abandoned — its secrets lost between warring treasure hunters. Maybe…

The minor ridge was solid, a knowledge that fell heavily on his heart, but then he realized that it ran at a slight angle away from him and was formed of a series of bulges. They’d have to walk its entire length to check around every one.

Luckily, the grooves pointed them straight at the right one.

Caitlyn skipped past Crouch, unable to contain her high spirits. Alicia was merely surprised that Healey didn’t follow in her wake. When the girl bent down and then looked up, her face shiny and bright, she made Crouch’s heart skip a beat.

“What is it?”

“A narrow entrance, made against the rock wall and against the natural angle. Without the clues we followed this hole would be almost impossible to take seriously.”

Alicia reached the girl, staring down. The narrow hole was barely wide enough to admit a man, clogged now with debris and practically unnoticeable. There was something very cunning about how it had been formed behind the natural angle of the ridge; a person’s eyes would automatically follow the regular line.

“No time to waste.” Crouch fell to the floor and started to use his hands to dig out debris. “Spread this out in as regular a manner as you can. Coker won’t find this hole without help if he tried for a thousand years.”

In minutes the hole had been cleared and Crouch was chest-deep inside. Alicia evaluated the scene at their back, seeing nothing but the two distant specks in the sky, perhaps moving closer now. Crouch soon disappeared and then Caitlyn, Cruz and Lex. Alicia eyed the two remaining soldiers, none of them overly pleased about wriggling into a hole in the ground.

“Rock, paper, scissors again?”

“Fuck it,” Russo grumbled. “I’ll go.”

“Ah, shouldn’t you go last?” Alicia asked innocently. “Since you’re more likely to plug up the hole. I mean that in a good way.”

Russo ignored her and struggled through. Healey jumped up next and then Alicia grasped the edges and slowly lowered herself down. The curve of the hole fitted against her body like a small chute. She slid along carefully, using arms, elbows and knees to grip the sides. When she glanced up the last thing she saw was a small circle of daylight, blue wilderness sky unbroken by cloud or vapor trail.

Then, the darkness.

Crouch shone a flashlight over her as she located her own. In addition to the handheld version, she carried a weapon-fixed and head-mounted variation, the latter of which she also employed now.

In the glare of many flashlights, the age-old blackness reluctantly brightened. Dust and untouched debris coated the floor. Already the cave was larger, both ceiling and walls beyond reach. Crouch illuminated their surroundings.

“Nothing to see,” he pointed out. “Probably intentional in case anyone happened to stumble into this place by accident.”

Alicia read his mind. “Which means we’ve a long way to go and no hope of getting out of here before Coker arrives. How far down does that phone signal of yours reach?”

“I guess we’re about to find out.”

Time played tricks with their minds as they descended. Minutes felt like hours as each twist and turn, and even each footfall, needed careful attention. The initial shaft brought them into a sub-chamber that could be exited only through a similar tunnel. With no more clues to guide him, Crouch was thankful the chambers hadn’t been littered with a warren of tunnels. The tunnel fell at a comfortable angle until he estimated they’d dropped a hundred feet and were heading back toward the desert floor. It also occurred to him that each ridge’s set of troughs actually pointed toward this hidden place — a guide or a frustrating obstruction devised by the ancient warriors?

Still lower, and now the angle evened out, leading them into the heart of the great primordial mountain. The moment their going became easier, Crouch pointed to a carving on the wall.

“The first sign,” he said, “that our crazy quest is almost at an end.”

Alicia gave the picture a passing glance, taking in the now familiar stick figures and accompanying snakes, spears and swords. No doubt that these people were warriors and made of the hardest metal. Flashlight beams flew across the rock all around her, the sounds of their footfalls echoing through the surrounding perpetual dark. She might have imagined a deep feeling of isolation when trekking hundreds of feet below the earth, but the team she’d become a part of were close and the bonds they’d already formed were already easing her burden.

A dozen feet more and an archway materialized out of the gloom, its uprights covered in symbols.

Crouch heaved a great pent-up sigh. “This is it.”