Brian Sadler Archaeology 03 - The Strangest Thing

by Bill Thompson

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Thursday

  Two weeks after the disappearance

  A little after midnight two men were making their ways through the jungle. The shrieks of howler monkeys high in the trees above them were shrill and unearthly. The dense forest was alive with sound, a choir of animal voices coming from all directions.

  Thomas Newton Torrance was more accustomed to limousines in London than trekking through the Mexican undergrowth in the middle of the night but this was a critical trip. Now that he knew exactly what Cory Spencer had found he had to see it himself, deal with Cory and implement the plan he had developed. Since Brian Sadler knew about it too, time was quickly running out. Cory’s clandestine meeting with Sadler earlier this evening had changed everything.

  Immediately following the aborted attempt to bring up the metal artifact, Torrance and Cory Spencer had visited the chamber. That time TNT had resisted seeing what Cory had discovered – it wasn’t safe with Dr. Ortiz standing by at the top of the temple. Thomas Newton Torrance had patiently waited for an opportunity to see for himself what Cory Spencer had found – the hidden passageway with an amazing secret.

  The fact that President Chapman’s body lay in the cavern was a minor issue in the scheme of things. Torrance would deal with that. He had been formulating a plan that would solve everything and give him sole control of the rarest single thing ever discovered on planet Earth. And that wouldn’t change now. It just had to be implemented immediately.

  After leaving Brian’s cabana Cory had walked quietly back to his room in the barracks. Most of the student diggers had been sent back to Sussex University – there was nothing left for them to do. Only a few of the team remained – they were playing cards at a table in the bunkhouse and barely acknowledged his entry. By ten p.m. he had fallen into a light sleep – the restless kind when there’s a lot on your mind. After telling Brian everything he had felt much better; at least someone else knew what was going on. Cory felt certain he could delay showing Torrance the secret passageway and cavern now that Brian was helping him. It was all going to work out.

  Cory’s phone had rung at midnight. “Meet me outside your barracks at 3 a.m. Bring a flashlight and the key,” Torrance had said. Then he hung up. Spencer lay in his bunk, suddenly drenched in sweat.

  What was going on? Why did Torrance want to see him? Could he know about Cory’s meeting tonight with Brian? There was no way; Cory had been extremely careful and knew he hadn’t been seen coming or going.

  I have to talk to Brian about this. He got dressed, grabbed a light and his keys and stepped outside the bunkhouse to call Brian. Everyone else was asleep. Good.

  Cory was careful not to let the screen door bang shut behind him. He saw no one but in a few seconds he heard a low voice. “Hello, Cory. You’re up a little early for our 3 a.m. meeting, aren’t you?” Torrance stood in the trees wearing a headlamp that was turned off.

  “What are you doing here? I was just going to check on something…”

  “Enough, Cory. Enough lies. We’re going to see the passage.”

  “Now? Uh, I don’t think…”

  “No, you don’t think, Cory. That’s the problem. We’re going to see the passage. Now. Take us through the jungle. I want to avoid the pathways and the night watchman’s station. Do you have the key to unlock the gate?”

  It was impossible to miss the steely hardness in Torrance’s voice. An involuntary shudder of fear engulfed the archaeologist.

  “The key’s in my pocket.”

  “Go in front,” Torrance said. “Now.”

  The two men carefully walked through the dense jungle. Cory Spencer stayed ahead of Torrance and used his flashlight. TNT had one too. Spencer heard the noisy screeches and howls but ignored them; he was on guard for things that made no sounds. He scanned trees and ground, watching for one of many jungle dwellers whose poison could paralyze a man in thirty seconds. The snakes could kill a man quickly, as Cory well knew from what had happened to President Chapman. Out here in the jungle there were other silent predators, such as the big cats, that pounced and tore their prey into pieces while it was still alive. The rain forest at night was not a place for men. It belonged to those who lived and died here, sometimes the hunter, sometimes the prey.

  “How much further?” TNT quietly asked. It would have taken less than ten minutes if they’d stayed on the cleared pathways from the archaeological barracks to the ruins. By going through the jungle it added at least a half hour and a lot more effort.

  “Maybe five minutes,” Cory responded, his voice quivering. “Keep your light pointed in front of you and look side to side as we brush through this undergrowth. We don’t need anything biting us.”

  TNT was seriously afraid of snakes although he hadn’t revealed that to the people here in Mexico. During the walk through the jungle he had occasionally gotten so far behind Cory that he almost lost sight of him. That was because Torrance was being overly cautious and watching his every step. Each time he realized he was too far back he quickly caught up. It was better to be close behind the guy who was forging the trail, TNT thought. Safety in numbers and all that. He had a fleeting thought that a jaguar could kill them both before either had time to react.

  Finally they broke out of the dense undergrowth. Still in the forest, the trees now were spaced far apart and the underbrush had been cleared. TNT relaxed.

  “We’re in the northeastern sector of the Archaeological Zone now,” Cory whispered. Similar to a national park in the States, this was the large area that had been designated a historic preserve. “We don’t have far to go.”

  Cory checked his compass and altered his direction slightly. In a moment they came to the open plaza by the huge structure called The Palace. Behind it was the beautiful Temple of the Inscriptions, almost ghostly in the moonlight.

  In the eerie brightness of the moon they scaled the temple without flashlights. Far above the ground they entered the gaping doorway that led to the stone stairway and Pakal’s tomb. The iron gate over the top of the stairs was securely padlocked.

  The archaeologist fished the key out of his pocket, unlocked the gate and lifted it up. It was fortunate for TNT that Dr. Ortiz had provided the lead archaeologist with a key. TNT would have far preferred being alone tonight. What he now knew he would see was so incredible he wanted it all for himself. But he needed the Cory, especially now that the archaeologist had involved Brian Sadler in the secret of the temple. Cory had sealed his own fate when he made that decision, TNT mused. But it’s of no importance to me. It was his decision so he’ll live with the consequences. Or die, actually. Torrance smiled at the pun.

  The two men descended the stairway inside the Temple of the Inscriptions and reached the tomb of King Pakal. They were both using headlamps. The protective covering over the king’s tomb had been removed and the drawings on the sarcophagus lid took on a frightening aspect as the light played over them. King Pakal’s countenance glared upwards towards the Mayan god sitting atop the mysterious craft Pakal seemed to be riding in.

  “Ready to go down?” Cory asked. He was resigned to the fact that tonight Thomas Newton Torrance would learn the truth. And he struggled to think how he would work all this out. This man wouldn’t bully him any longer. As soon as he got out he’d tell Brian that Torrance had seen the secret passageway and the cavern. Since TNT now would know what happened to President Chapman, this would change Brian’s planning. But Cory had faith that his old boss would figure something out.

  Cory started down the ladder and Torrance descended after him. The archaeologist walked to the wall directly behind the stone altar where the metallic artifact lay.

  “Here’s how it works,” he said. “It was purely by chance I noticed this small recess in one stone of the altar under the artifact. I put my hand there to steady myself while I looked at the metal strut, and I felt it. It’s like a little depression, so small you’d never see it. I only found it because I felt it.” He pointed to a r
ound indentation that was impossible to see. It looked exactly like the rest of the rock. In all the searches neither the FBI, the Mexican authorities nor Brian Sadler had located it.

  “I stuck my finger in it but nothing happened. I thought about it all night and wondered if there might be a second indentation somewhere close by. The next day I was closing up the site – I had sent everyone else out – and I looked closely at the wall opposite the first button I found.”

  In the same end of the chamber where Cory had found the first small indentation there was a second depression, this time in the wall. About shoulder high, it blended perfectly with the rock. It was something a person would never have noticed unless he had found the first one and knew to look for another. It was about three feet from the first “button,” the one in the altar itself. By sheer luck Cory had stumbled upon both depressions. You could look forever, Torrance thought, and never see either one.

  “I worked for fifteen minutes trying to figure out how it might operate. I pressed one, then the other. I had almost given up when I pressed them both at the same time.”

  Positioning his left hand over the small round indentation under the artifact, he reached his right hand over to the identical depression in the wall. Hands outstretched, he pressed both at the same time. A rock about the size of a refrigerator swung noiselessly backwards into the wall, revealing a dark stone passageway about three feet wide and five to six feet high.

  “Will the stone door stay open?” TNT asked.

  “I don’t know. All I know is that these two buttons will both open and close it. When I found it I immediately closed it back so I could show it to you. I haven’t checked it out since because I was afraid I might get trapped inside. This is the first time I’ve opened it since then.” Cory didn’t mention the other thing he had discovered – that the massive stone door could be operated from inside the passage as well as from the chamber outside.

  Torrance walked inside the corridor. Already knowing the answer he said, “Where’s the President’s body? I thought you said it was right here.”

  Cory’s voice quivered as he spoke. Torrance watched his face then spoke harshly. “You said the President’s body was here at the beginning of the corridor. You said there were two glyphs etched into the passageway further down but that you never went to the end of the hallway. Is all of that true? If so, where pray tell is the President’s body, Cory?”

  “I didn’t tell you everything earlier about what’s in here.”

  “Tonight when you told Brian Sadler, was that the truth? Was I the only one you lied to?” Torrance pulled a small pistol from his pocket and aimed it at Cory Spencer.

  “How…er, why do you think I said anything to Brian?” Cory moved to the wall, propping himself up with his arm – he looked as though he were about to faint.

  TNT shook his head, smiling.

  “I told you I could hear and see everything you were doing. And you, you idiot, didn’t believe I had the capability to do that. But I really do, Cory. I heard the entire story – every word you told Brian Sadler this evening.”

  Torrance had listened to the conversation courtesy of devices he had ordered Dr. Ortiz to install. The audio pods were all over the patio dining area and Brian’s room. There was nothing anyone could say in either place that would go unheard.

  “Walk ahead of me down the passage,” Torrance ordered, waving the gun to indicate he should start moving.

  As Cory pushed away from the wall the huge stone door behind him suddenly closed with no sound but a click. He had pressed the button as he leaned against the rocks.

  Snakes weren’t the only things that made Thomas Newton Torrance afraid. He wasn’t too wild about dark narrow enclosures deep beneath the ground either.

  “Very clever, Cory. I see you discovered a way to control the door from inside the passageway. Now open it.”

  “Give me the gun and I’ll open the door.”

  “You give me such little credit. Do you truly think you can outsmart me? I’ll figure out the door later, with your help or without it. Now walk down the passageway ahead of me.” He gestured ahead with the gun and Cory began to walk, shining his flashlight on the wall to his left.

  About five feet down the corridor Cory stopped and directed his flashlight beam at the first glyph. Careful to keep an eye on him, Torrance stood in front of the hieroglyph carved into the wall. He marveled at its beauty and gasped as he appreciated what it represented.

  It was roughly four feet by two, intricately detailed and beautifully painted – the most astounding glyph he had ever seen. It was here among the Maya, in a temple in fact, but it was dramatically different from those usually associated with this culture. Struggling for a word to describe it, Torrance thought of “modern.” Most Maya glyphs were beautiful and intricate but they were clearly drawings made a long time ago by a people who somewhat crudely drew gods, animals and humans.

  This glyph was undoubtedly ancient. It had to be – here it sat, carved into the wall of a hidden passageway beneath a fifteen hundred year old tomb. But it looked like a rock drawing of something modern. TNT thought it looked abstract – a lot of little capsules that resembled the pills doctors prescribe, only larger, lying in some kind of oval nest. It was detailed enough that he could make out that each seemed to be wearing some kind of hat with earflaps like you’d wear in cold weather. Four tiny appendages stuck out from each capsule – the hands and feet, if that’s what they were, ended in round circles instead of fingers and toes. Many of them were grouped in threes on top of each other like the circular parts of little snowmen. He counted them – there were fifteen in all. Fifteen little capsules in a large oval bowl. That’s exactly what they looked like.

  “Go on,” he said at last, reluctant to leave this wonder but equally interested in what he knew was ahead.

  Cory walked a few feet further then shone his light on the second glyph. This one was another abstract drawing of some kind but it was totally different from the nest of capsules in the first glyph. This one showed fifteen circles in various positions around two large ones in the middle. Like the other, this glyph was painted in vivid colors of green, blue and red. The large middle circles were yellow, like the sun.

  “You know what this means…” Torrance muttered to himself.

  “I know what it means, Mr. Torrance. So will you when you see what’s in the cavern.”

  As Cory walked on Torrance saw the tunnel end about ten feet ahead. It was pitch black except for the beam of their lights so it was impossible to see what was coming up. Keeping his head down to avoid bumping the low ceiling he followed the archaeologist as they both stepped out of the passage and into a room.

  They stood in the cavern President Chapman had marveled at. Torrance shone his light around – what he saw in the middle of the massive room literally took his breath away. Even after having heard Cory tell Brian Sadler about it Torrance still was astonished. He wasn’t totally surprised; for thousands of years people had pondered certain mysteries and TNT had long thought what the answer to those questions might be. But he was amazed – lightheaded. He was seeing something so unbelievable it was almost incomprehensible. He never expected it to be like this. And he had never expected to see it himself.

  Thomas Newton Torrance walked forward to the pile of metal lying roughly in the center of the cavern. Forgetting about Cory Spencer, TNT stood transfixed in front of the most amazing thing on earth. Or anywhere else, for that matter.

  Cory took a step toward him.

  Jolted back into reality, Torrance raised his gun hand back up. “Stay where you are.”

  Satisfied that Spencer couldn’t rush him from that distance, Torrance looked back at the egg-shaped metal object. He wanted to touch one of the capsule-like things that lay before him. He counted fifteen – they looked old and dusty, having lain for well over a thousand years locked in this hidden cavern. Wonder how long they really have been here? Torrance thought. He reached out his hand over the caps
ule things but paused. The strut had been radioactive. These could be the same, so touching them was unwise. Reflexively he pulled back his hand quickly and stepped backward.

  As he did so Torrance tripped and fell to the ground, his gun skittering one way on the sandy floor as his flashlight rolled another. He had fallen over something – he reached out in the semi-darkness and felt it, realizing he had momentarily forgotten about the body of John Chapman. As he started to get up he saw Cory’s light find the gun. The archaeologist quickly picked it up and aimed it at Torrance.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “This is the end of your controlling me, Mr. Torrance. You’re not running the show any more. From here on I am. You can’t get out unless I show you how. You’ll never find the way.”

  Surprised at Cory’s sudden bravado, TNT snapped, “Cory, you’ll do what I say. If you don’t…”

  The archaeologist interrupted. “I’m tired of all the things you’re going to do if I don’t obey you. I’ve done some bad things in my life – so have you, I bet – and I can’t go on wondering when you’re going to drop the bomb on my entire existence. But now I’m calling the shots. Here’s what I want from you – here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to promise me you’ll never reveal my past. You’re going to give me full credit for this discovery and you and your money are going to back me as an archaeologist from now on. Take it or leave it. With you or without you this will work for me.”

  Torrance didn’t answer for almost a minute. He stood defiantly looking at Cory. Finally he responded in a quiet steady voice.

  “Have you ever heard anyone say that a person knows so little he doesn’t even know what he doesn’t know?”

  “What does that have to do with me…”

  “It has everything to do with you.” Torrance smiled grimly. “Can I pick up my flashlight? I want to show you something.”

  Cory answered affirmatively. TNT retrieved the light and stepped back over to the middle of the cavern where the oval egg lay with fifteen small capsules inside it. Torrance pointed at it.