Dourado

CHAPTER 24

Dane turned and peered through the opening in the rock face, back in the direction from which they had come. Shadows moved stealthily across the moonlit sand. He caught a glimpse of pale light glinting off the barrel of a gun. He could not tell what type, but the length of the barrel told him all that he needed to know.

“How many?” he whispered to Bones.

“At least eight,” Bones said. “Probably more. Either way, they’ve got much more firepower than we do. “

“Should we turn out our flashlights?” Kaylin asked.

“No, then they’ll know we’ve spotted them,” Dane said. “Let them believe they’re taking us by surprise, and maybe they’ll be less cautious.” Dane hoped his voice carried more optimism than he felt.

“Who do you think they are?” Meriwether whispered, drawing his pistol, an old, Swiss-made SIG P-210, from his fanny pack.

Dane shrugged. “Probably the same guys who’ve been after us all along. Either that, or Wrexham’s got friends.”

“How would they find us?” Meriwether protested. “We’ve been so careful in every detail.” His words sounded like a statement, not a question.

“Right now, I don’t think that’s as important as how we’re going to get out of here,” Bones said, “because there’s no way we’ll be able to get back out the way we came.”

Dane knew that his friend was right. He scanned the room one last time, seeing no sign of a secondary egress. He knew what they had to do.

“Down the well,” he said, “and make it quick. Bones first, Kay next, then Meriwether.”

Bones clamped his small flashlight between his teeth, tucked his Beretta into his belt, and swung over the side into the well. The others complied without protest, although Kaylin appeared quite displeased. Cautiously, they climbed over the edge. Finding their footholds, they slowly disappeared from sight.

Dane knelt behind the well, positioned so that he could see outside. His Walther he held trained on the opening. In his left hand, he played the flashlight back and forth across the far wall of the cavern, trying to create the illusion that they were still inside looking around.

He stole a quick glance down into the well. The others had not yet reached the bottom, their flashlights bobbing far below where he stood. His heart pounded. How much longer could he wait? He wanted to cover their descent, but if one of their stalkers appeared in the doorway, Dane would have no choice but to shoot him. After that, the odds of him making it safely down to the bottom would be slim indeed.

He strained to listen for the sound of approaching footsteps. He heard nothing. Whoever these people were, they were good. They had to be close by now. He looked down the well again and thought he saw the reflection of light on the water. The others were close to the bottom. He could start his climb down.

He laid his flashlight on the ground with its beam pointed toward the coffin farthest to the right. Perhaps the intruder’s attention would be temporarily diverted from the well when they first entered the room. Tucking the Walther into his waistband at the center of his back, he climbed onto the edge of the well, all the while certain that, at any moment, an armed man was going to appear in the doorway while Dane was at his most vulnerable.

He hung his left foot over the edge, and felt for a toehold, but there was none to be found. He moved his foot in a circle against the smooth stone, seeking to gain purchase in the darkness. I should have spotted out my path before I put the flashlight down, he thought. Frustration welled up inside of him. Finally, he found a niche in the wall. Gripping the edge with both hands, he swung the other foot over and quickly found another hold. Cursing the darkness, he began a slow descent. The sword made movement awkward and he was grateful for its incredible lightness.

He had descended no more than twenty feet when he heard a shuffling above him. Someone had entered the burial chamber. The sword bounced off the back of his thigh as he went. He paused, hastily adjusted it, and then quickened his pace, wondering absently how deep the water down below was, in case he should miss a step.

The hand and footholds were set at regular intervals, and he soon fell into a rhythm. He stole a glance upward, and saw that he had covered a good fifty feet. He guessed that he was about halfway down.

He heard a clattering sound, and the faint glow above him seemed to waver. He guessed someone had kicked the flashlight. The followers had obviously proceeded with caution, thoroughly searching the cavern before declaring it empty. He wondered how long it would be before they looked into the well.

He had his answer sooner than he would have liked. A shadowed form appeared in the faint circle of light up above. Now grateful for the darkness, Dane scrambled down the wall at a pace that bordered on incaution. The figure up above moved away. Dane kept his eye on the circle that seemed to grow no smaller no matter how quickly he moved down the wall. They couldn’t be giving up, could they?

As soon as the thought entered his mind, two faces appeared above him. A gleam of dark metal, and then the sound of automatic weapons fire shattered the cloak of silence. Dane froze as the bullets ricocheted off the wall behind him and down the shaft below. Holding on tight with his left hand, he freed his Walther as a second burst of gunfire ripped along the wall, this time farther below him.

Taking aim, Dane squeezed off two shots. He heard a scream, and one of the shadows disappeared from sight. The second man, however, ripped off a long, steady stream of bullets that tore into the wall only a few feet above him. Sharp, stinging pain danced across the top of his skull as fragments of ancient stone cut into his scalp. Idiot! You gave them a target! Hoping that the others were clear of the shaft, he let go, and plunged toward the river below.

As he fell, he pulled his knees to his chest, tucked his chin, and drew his hands up to his face. He had only a moment for the fear of being hit by ricocheting bullets to do battle with that of too-shallow water, before the tickling sensation of falling was replaced by the icy impact of his body striking the surface of the underground river.

He kicked downward, and fanned his arms out, trying to keep himself from plunging too deeply. The dark, cold water enveloped him, and then his feet struck bottom. The impact sent waves of pain coursing up his legs, through his groin, and up his spine. He felt his body crumple. A coppery taste filled his mouth. For a brief, panicked moment he thought, I’m paralyzed. Then his legs seemed to find a life of their own. Reflexively, they kicked out, and he felt himself rising toward the surface, even as a hard current swept him down the tunnel and away from the deadly gunfire.

He broke the surface in total darkness. He blew a mixture of water and blood from his sinuses, and took a wet gulp of air. Coughing and spitting, he struggled to keep his head above water. He was surprised to find that his arms worked as well as his legs. The cold water dulled the pain in his back, knees, and ankles, but the sensation was there and that was a good sign. He was also surprised to find he’d maintained his hold on his Walther. He hastily shoved it into his waistband as he swam.

He’d only managed a few feet when his head struck something hard. A loud sound burst through his ears. He felt a brief flash of pain, and then fading…

“Hey, babe. Thought you’d be home by now.”

“Sorry, I had to make a stop. I’ve got a surprise for you!”

“I hate surprises. What is it?”

“Dane! You are no fun at all.”

“I know. Now, what’s my surprise?”

“I’m not telling.”

“Come on. You know I’m going to get it out of you.”

“Fine, just be that way…Daddy.”

“What did you say?”

“You’re going to be a…AAAAAH!”

Scream.Tires screech. Crash. Glass shatters.

Silence.

“Melissa! Melissa, speak to me! Melissa!”

Silence.

“Melissa?”

Call ended… 0:59

A scream of primordial rage filled his throat, and he rent the veil of unconsciousness. His head was still above water. He must have only been out for a few seconds. Suppressing an angry sob, he focused on staying afloat, and pushed the memories back into the recesses of his mind.

The channel was narrow, and he quickly paddled to one side. He tried to find something to grab onto, but the arched walls were smooth and slick. He kept treading water, concerned that hypothermia would set in if he did not get out of the frigid stream sometime soon. He wished that he still had his flashlight. What if he passed by a side passage and could not see it in the darkness?

He banged into the side of tunnel as the current swept him around a bend, and then silver light exploded around him. Blinded after so long in the semi-darkness of the burial chamber, and the underground waterway, he squeezed his eyes shut. He felt something tighten across his throat. Then several hands were on him, pulling him free of the water. He opened his eyes to see Bones, Kaylin, and Meriwether leaning over him.

“Good thing you had the sword on,” Bones said, grinning. “I missed you, but I caught hold of the scabbard.”

“Are you all right?” Kaylin asked, looking frightened. “You aren’t hurt, are you?”

“Oh yeah,” he groaned. “I feel great.”

Accepting a hand up from Bones, he climbed to his feet. His ankles screamed in hot pain, but he did not think they were broken. Likewise, his knees and back hurt, but he was still in one piece, which was all that mattered.

“We heard shots,” Meriwether said.

“They almost got me,” Dane said hoarsely. He paused and hacked up the last of the water in his lungs. “I don’t know if they’ll try to follow us, or not. We’d…” He stopped and took a good look at his companions. “Why aren’t you wet?”

They all laughed.

“Three tunnels branch off of the shaft of the well just above water level,” Bones explained. “They were pretty well concealed, so we couldn’t see them from above. Lucky for you, we picked the one that came out downstream.”

Dane looked around. The room was wide, about one hundred feet square. The walls were incredibly smooth, seemingly cut with laser precision into the native rock. Ornate, ivy-wrapped columns climbed the corners. The underground river flowed through a channel twenty feet wide, that divided the room. Where the water flowed in and out of the room were archways adorned with sculptures of angels dueling with swords.

On either side of the room, wide steps led up to high, arching doorways, each opening into a dark tunnel beyond. Above the arch on either side was the carved figure of an angel in flight. Its wings, rendered in painstaking detail, swept downward around either side of the doorway. Each angel, its face an implacable mask of fury, held aloft a fiery sword in its right hand.

High above, small window-like openings, one in each wall, looked down on them. Dane craned his neck to look at them. He could not make out anything in the darkened recesses behind the windows, but he could tell that there was open space beyond them.

A random thought broadsided him without warning, and he looked at the other three in confusion.

“Wait a minute,” he said. “Where do you think all of this light is coming from?”

“From these.” Kaylin pointed to a diamond-shaped stone protruding from the wall nearby. It was about the size of Dane’s hand, and glowed an opalescent white. A row of them ran at regular intervals around the room about a third of the way up from the floor. Another row circled the room about two-thirds of the way up, and more were set in a grid-like pattern in the ceiling. How had he failed to notice them?

“Watch what happens,” Meriwether said, his voice an excited whisper. He shone his flashlight on one of the stones. When the beam hit the diamond-shaped object, the surface seemed to swirl and flash in an array of colors like mother-of-pearl. The glow that emanated from the stone grew in intensity, and as the light that it generated touched the lights on either side of it, they too shone more brightly. “It absorbs the light and amplifies it.” Meriwether sounded entranced.

“What is this place?” Dane marveled. Before anyone could answer, footsteps sounded from the other side of the room.

Dane whirled and drew his pistol, hoping that the water had not treated it too roughly. He had allowed himself to be mesmerized by the magnificence of what he was seeing, and now their pursuers had caught up to them. Four men in dark clothing, armed with automatic rifles burst through the doorway on the far side of the room. They looked around in confusion for a moment, and then caught sight of Dane’s party.

“Get up the stairs!” Dane yelled. Bones shouted back, but his words were lost in a raging torrent of gunfire.