Aztec Gold

TWENTY SEVEN

Daylight hit them like a direct blow to the brain, stomping in on their awareness and making Lex bite into his lips, knowing he couldn’t make a sound. Alicia had already appraised him of the various punishments for giving their position away, none of which were pleasant and only two sounded of interest.

Alicia poked her head out of the hole, eyes squinting. The rock plateau was empty to the west, running all the way to the flatlands with little cover. By inching her body forward she managed to survey the open land that led back toward the stepped escarpment.

“All clear,” she said with more confidence than she felt. As bodies started to crowd around her she snapped. “Wait!”

Scanning the skies for the metal birds of prey was not enough. She had to inspect the area, cast a trained eye over the hard ground and the eroded ridges; test for a dozen other disturbances and study the lands. Despite the relative openness of this place Coker could still have placed a sniper or two out there and man-sized delves and nooks were everywhere, courtesy of the timeless elements.

Even Crouch peered around her. “See anything?”

Alicia sighed. “To do this properly I’d need another fifteen minutes if you’re prepared to wait.”

“Well, not really.”

“Can’t you… call the cavalry?”

“Of course.” Crouch disappeared from view.

“Wouldn’t it be easier to just stay in the caves?” Cruz wondered.

Russo fixed him with a stare harder than a Death Valley rodent. “We’re soldiers not fucking rabbits.”

Alicia stepped out, then crouched down, alert to every movement. Russo covered her back, Healey stepped out to the flank. Two minutes of careful reconnoiter inspection yielded nothing.

Crouch returned. “All good. Once they got over their shock and excitement they agreed to send help.”

“I really don’t like this.” Alicia never took her eyes off their surrounds. “Coker should be somewhere around. Unless he’s a total incompetent he surely saw us reach the top of the cliff.”

“Maybe he’s still climbing,” Caitlyn said.

At that moment Alicia’s eyes were temporarily blinded by a sudden silvery flash that came from the distant hills near Paria Canyon. “Damn, he’s got a scout out there.”

Almost instantly, the roar of powerful engines signified the close proximity of the two choppers, though Alicia could still not see them. Her judgment needed to be fast. Return to the caves and become potential rats in a trap, also leading Coker straight to the gold in the process, or make for the rock terraces and flit among them like deadly ghosts.

“Come on!”

She raced out of hiding, Russo waiting for the others to break cover before following. The team ran hard, realizing their lives probably depended on pace right now, and made the edge of the plateau in less than a minute. Alicia pulled up, Lex at her side, as a panther-black helicopter rose up right in front of her, so close that the features of the pilot could clearly be seen through the tinted cockpit glass.

Alicia didn’t miss a beat, veering to the side as the chopper hovered. Like a suddenly unblocked stream the rest of her team followed, Russo and Healey raising weapons in warning to their enemies.

The second chopper reared up, shooting over the top of the cliff and roaring above their heads. To a person the team ducked, but the metal bird passed in an instant, already hovering and lowering slowly toward the plateau they had just vacated.

Alicia reached the slope to the side of the first jutting wedge of rock and scrambled down its length. Her eyes registered no surprise as a dozen men came into sight, clearly positioned and waiting for her. As one they raised their weapons, but Alicia had no intentions of being captured.

Ever.

Sliding down the last few feet, she plucked her handgun from its holster and picked off the first three men. She crashed into the next two, toppling them like skittles. Behind her Healey also opened fire, his bullets finding men that were firing themselves. His shots struck first, spinning their bodies and sending their bullets against the mountain or into the skies. Then he was also among them, making himself their priority as the rest of his team still came down the slope.

Alicia disarmed a man with a handlebar moustache before hurling him off the cliff edge. As her eyes flicked momentarily down she saw more men gathered on the ledge below. A quick count put the number at six but she couldn’t be sure. That left the rest of Coker’s crew and the man himself probably up top on board the choppers. Her team was well and truly boxed in.

Crouch was among them and struggling with a big merc whose face bore the tattoo of a dragon. Russo was torn between covering their rear and wanting to join the fray. So far nobody was following them down from the plateau above but it might only be a matter of time. On the other hand Coker could already be inside the treasure cave…

Russo grabbed Lex, jammed a pistol into his hand, and yelled, “Watch our backs!” Then raised his gun and took aim. A bullet slammed into the rocky outcrop at his side, another skipped along the channeled floor. Alicia threw a second man toward the valley below. Healey fought hand to hand with a stocky man with a bright red face. Crouch stumbled and went under his opponent, taking a heavy blow to the side of the head. Russo relieved him of his burden with one bullet and saved Healey from being knifed in the back with another. Then shock jolted him as a bullet struck his side, smashing like a hammer into the flak jacket he wore. He staggered, almost dropping his gun, but fought through the pain and surprise to regain his feet a moment later.

Looking up, the world had turned red.

Surprise hit him, followed by bewilderment and uncertainty. All this passed in less than a second and then it was the barely remembered feeling, the bursting, raging need to cause chaos, bringing it all into focus. This was a feeling he’d only experienced once before, years ago. It was the craze of a berserker falling over him; the turmoil of violent battle had suddenly become his best friend. Back then it had taken over, consumed his soul, winning the battlefield and saving most of his comrades but making a blight of the place he used to call his heart.

Not now. Not again. Whatever the circumstance he wouldn’t let it destroy him.

Bellowing with rage, an outlet, a red-hot steam vent, he pounded the ground like a man trying to bring down the mountain. Gradually, the red receded. Pure battle hatred ebbed away, leaving his gut and chest full of bile. At last his eyes cleared.

Lex was beside him, covering whilst he recuperated.

“Thanks, man.”

Lex grunted. Russo breathed hard. Alicia dropped a third man over the edge, this time making sure he fell among his climbing colleagues. The trick gained them precious minutes.

“Other side!” Crouch suddenly yelled.

Alicia saw it immediately. As they plowed their way through the mercs on this ledge and more scrambled up from below, the descent on the other side of the rock ledge, though steeper and more dangerous, was clear. Coker had positioned the majority of his men up top.

She engaged another merc, forcing his gun arm down and between his legs before head-butting under his chin, the force of her blow lifting him off his feet. Stepping in she hurled him over her shoulder, toppling a second man and the last that blocked her way to the other edge of the ledge. With cold indifference she placed bullets in the two men that otherwise would have had no compunctions in killing her.

Crouch materialized at her side. “Risky,” he said, looking down.

“My fucking middle name. And our only chance. Even then they’ll be right behind us.”

Alicia turned, beckoning the team over. Healey dealt with the last merc even as a bullet whizzed close to his skull, fired by the climbing enemy force.

“Quick!”

Alicia whirled and jumped through the air, landing hard amidst a pile of shale and rock dust, slipping and sliding down the steep slope. There was a good reason they hadn’t chosen this side of the mountain to ascend. Steeper, with a sheer drop to the left and strewn with sharp-edged bits of rock and potholes, debris and partly eroded edges, the way down was unjustifiably perilous. Alicia’s intent in sliding down first was to at least clear some of the dangerous rubble out of the way. She would trust in her own catlike instincts to stay on the path.

Down they slithered and slipped, not even Caitlyn or Cruz slowing them up; a team connected by more than a little esteem and a vast burning desire. Alicia gained the second ledge down and hit the rough slope again, kicking timeless elemental wreckage from her path. From above came more shouts and then a familiar voice blared down the mountain.

“Crouch! For God’s sake!”

Alicia paused, slowing. Peering over the top ledge was Greg Coker, his eyes squinting into the blinding sun.

“What the hell’s your deal, man?”

“Stop. We can talk.”

Crouch turned slowly, staring upward. “From what I hear, Greg, the best thing for you to do right now is step off that cliff.”

Coker looked momentarily shocked, then tried to wipe the expression off his face. He failed. “I could really use your help, Michael.” After a moment he seemed to realize how that sounded and added, “To find the treasure.”

Crouch seemed to think about Coker’s double meaning. “Then find a way to talk to me. But it sure as hell isn’t going to be through a bevy of dumb mercenaries.”

Coker’s expression softened as he appeared to absorb that. “Stop or die,” he said without missing a beat. “That’s what the man in charge wants me to tell you.”

The team continued downhill. Crouch answered for them. “Without us you’ll never find that treasure.”

“He’s willing to take the chance.”

Alicia snorted. “Yeah, that figures. Senseless, irresponsible silly crime lords. They’re all the fucking same.”

“It’s the power,” Cruz said at her back. “Being from Mexico I know a little about them. More than I’d like to.”

Crouch urged them on. To Coker he said, “It’s your choice, Greg, but at the moment you’re definitely playing for the wrong team.”

Coker’s face disappeared quickly, replaced by others and then the cliff edge above was bristling with guns. Alicia darted underneath the next outcropping, followed by the rest of her team, only Russo at the back having to dodge between bullets.

“For a big man you’re even slower than I’d imagined,” Alicia told him as he rolled at her feet.

Russo jumped up and dusted himself off. “Stop flirting, Myles. You ain’t my type.”

Alicia sputtered, momentarily dumbstruck. It wasn’t often a gibe caught her off-guard but Russo’s had done the trick. Before she could retort Russo and Healey were returning fire.

Crouch nodded. “Good. We need to remind them that it’s not worth their while to fire down this mountain side.”

A screaming body tumbled past their little refuge, arms and legs flailing. Alicia listened as a lull interrupted the clamor from above. “All right. Time to move.”

Again they ran, Healey and Russo covering their flight. It took all of Alicia’s concentration and skill to clear a path, stay safe and ignore the peril at her back as she descended the mountain.

Outcroppings — what the Aztec had called terraces — slipped by at a rapid rate and the valley floor grew closer with every passing minute. Twice more the mercs above attempted pot shots and twice more Healey and Russo dissuaded them. After a while their enemies must have decided that pursuit was the better option; the trained soldiers could move faster than Crouch’s team.

Russo called along the line. “At least nine to a dozen still chasing us.”

Alicia surveyed the floor of the valley, now huge and startlingly close. Sunlight bounced off the rocks and filled her forward vision. For all the tech Crouch and Caitlyn had brought to the team, the one thing they had forgotten was bloody sunglasses.

Still, it had been a wild ride since leaving Mexico.

Just how she liked it.

Gaining the flat ground, she immediately unslung her weapon and covered her team’s race to safety. Once they passed her she turned to run as Healey in turn dropped to one knee. Running this way, shielding each other, they traversed the exposed ground, moving more slowly but in a far safer formation. Crouch made them zigzag their run and drop behind random boulders, further confusing the pursuit. Alicia reminded them that Coker had left at least one man positioned back at Paria Canyon.

“Then it’s the Colorado.” Crouch pointed off to the left. He knew that America’s great river snaked within a few miles of this position and, although inaccessible for much of its length, offered two manageable staging areas not far from where they were.

“Satnav it, Caitlyn,” he said. “We haven’t a moment to waste.” As she worked and ran he put in another call to the authorities.

Alicia took her turn once more, protecting their escape with a few well-placed shots. Ahead now another ridge line became visible, a mini-cliff that formed the higher banks of the Colorado at this point. Caitlyn guided them toward a break in the ridge, where satellite photos had earlier revealed a viable route down to the river. More of a plan D, Alicia had never expected to be white water rafting during a treasure hunt, but those that adapted quickest survived. Or so she believed.

Reaching the top of the incline, and with Coker’s men about a quarter of a mile in their wake, Alicia swung her pack around and unfastened one of the zips. Dragging out a soft object in a bag she readied herself for the upcoming maneuver. The dinghy would inflate automatically and she’d have to be inside it by the time it hit the river. There were three dinghies between the team, the others held by Crouch and Healey.

Alicia slid between the upstanding rocks, each spire craggy and pockmarked, worn with age. The moment they dropped out of sight of their pursuers the team didn’t waste a moment, spurring on and wrenching out their durable dinghies, first reloading and then stowing away guns and electrical equipment. Below them, the dashing waters cut their way through the canyon, running narrow and fast and not without risk here.

The team inflated their dinghies and Caitlyn and Cruz, Lex and Russo jumped headlong into the crafts as Alicia, Crouch and Healey held them as steady as they were able. Water smashed against the side of the canyon and splashed back into their faces; the low, narrow boats bounced from trough to trough, unguided at first. Alicia gauged their distance from their pursuers as they paused beside the river.

“If they have dinghies they’ll be right at our backs.”

Crouch’s phone rang. With a laugh and a finger aimed toward all the gods of inappropriate timing, he unzipped his pack, unwrapped the phone and put it to his ear.

“Yes! This better be bloody good!”

Alicia tried to guide their dinghy whilst watching the enemy. After a few fruitless minutes she gave the primary task to her boat’s other occupant, Laid Back Lex.

“Keep us away from the friggin’ rocks.”

“Oh thanks, never would have thought of that!”

“Belligerent bastard.”

Alicia felt her heart sink as Coker’s mercenaries broke out rubber dinghies of their own, flinging them easily into the water and jumping aboard. Within a few moments there was a hot pursuit down the Colorado, bullets pinging and whickering through thin air and bouncing off the sides of the canyon.

Crouch’s shout drowned out even the automatic gunfire. “No way! You’ve got to be fucking kidding!”

Alicia again found herself shocked by the man’s outburst. The stresses of this expedition and the weight on his shoulders might be bigger than running the Ninth Division, but still Crouch was not a man partial to nonsensical flare-ups.

The news had to be bleak.

Crouch shouted into the phone, his words lost as a hail of gunfire pounded into the approaching rock wall and Alicia screamed at Lex to adjust their course. Raging waters sprayed and splashed to every side of them. A moment later, Crouch, in the lead boat, turned to shout.

“Our recovery team’s been grounded,” he cried, his words bitter with disbelief. “Sounds like someone in charge was paid off. They’re effectively buried for now with no idea when they’ll be cleared.”

As if in answer, Alicia ducked under another onslaught. Coker’s goons drew closer. Now their flight wasn’t just about staying safe for an hour, it was about returning to save the treasure too.

And they were going the wrong way. Fuck!

“Someone stopping the recovery team isn’t simply about grounding a chopper,” she told Lex quietly. “The authorities were en route too. Military maybe. Who can call off that kind of rescue operation at a moment’s notice?”

“The President?” Lex struggled to keep them away from a midstream rock cluster.

Alicia pouted, taking a face full of water. “You’ve clearly never met him. And shit, I didn’t mean anyone of such importance. I’m thinking more local. I’ve come across my share of corrupt politicians in my time.”

“Shocker.”

“Point taken. Police then. Army. Do they have a mayor of Arizona?”

“How the hell would I know?”

Alicia gave up, knowing Lex wasn’t exactly in the mood to talk and, for now, was probably right not to. She concentrated on shouting directions as Coker’s men heaved closer and the stream quickened, dropping through a series of narrows with white water cascading over the sides at every twist and turn.

The front of their dinghy smashed hard into the left rock wall, rebounding and losing momentum. Alicia staggered. Lex paddled hard to align their course. A bullet skimmed off the surrounding waters, skipping over the waves. Alicia decided enough was enough and returned fire, though the ever moving craft blew even her careful aim to bits. She began to think the best way to score a hit was to bounce a bullet off the damn canyon wall.

Ahead, Crouch let out a warning cry. Alicia gave up the potshots to take a tight grip of the side straps as their dinghy plunged through a set of rapids. With the bows dropping at an alarming angle the team simply held on as their crafts fell and crashed through churning water, their back ends skimming to left and right. Alicia felt them being bounced from rock to rock, fizzing across rapids, controlled by the torrent. With a huge jolt they hit the bottom of the sudden drop and found themselves in calmer waters.

Crouch used the reprieve to bark an order. “A little further up to the right,” he shouted, “is our second potential entry point. We need to use that now as an egress point and get back to that mountain!”

Alicia fired once more as their pursuers hit the rapids, claiming a lucky shot as a bullet ripped apart a plummeting dinghy and spilled out all three of its men. Before she could utter a word their enemy’s first dinghy was upon them and Crouch was shouting about another, worse set of upcoming rapids.

“Time to fight or die,” she told Lex. “And earn my respect, biker boy.”