Found in the Lost

by Tarina Deaton

  “Gods,” Christine said. “This is the chamber of the gods. At least that’s what I’m calling it.”

  “I don’t give a shit what you call it as long as she can figure out where the fucking tomb is.”

  Kinley gasped and spun toward the center of the chamber. Shane shuffled her to the side and stepped in front of her. A man rose from the altar and she jumped back. The same man who’d offered her a ride at the airport in Flores. It was all starting to make twisted sense.

  Disappointment, shame, and a host of other ugly emotions swirled in her stomach with the sharp bite of acid. All this time, she’d trusted Christine. Confided in her. Shared her discovery with her and then had been betrayed by her.

  “Who is he?” The man pointed at Shane.

  “My boyfriend.” Kinley stepped from behind Shane and took his hand. If they knew he was more than just an average Joe, they might hurt him. She wasn’t too proud to admit she was out of her element and royally screwed if she had to fend for herself.

  The man looked at Christine, who shrugged. “Whatever.” He swung his legs over the side of the altar and kicked his heels against the stone. “We are going to set the charges today.”

  “I told you, we are not blowing up the walls. We can’t make it look like there was never any treasure if there’s a fucking hole blown in the wall,” Christine said through clenched teeth.

  The man must be Armando, who appeared unbothered by the fact he was lounging on a sacrificial altar. Kinley suppressed a shudder.

  “Who cares if there is a hole in the wall? Or every wall?”

  “I care. Because I still need to be able to write up the find and I can’t exactly do that if it looks like I looted the damn place first.”

  “Again—who cares? We’re going to be so damn rich you’ll never have to beg for scraps from a bunch of intellectual rejects again. We’ll blow it and be out of this fucking jungle before the end of tomorrow.”

  Christine pulled a handgun from the small of her back, pointed it at Armando, and shot him.

  Kinley screamed and slapped her hands over her ears as the sound echoed off the stone walls.

  “I am sick and tired of men telling me what I can and cannot do.” Christine looked at her. “Figure out how to get into the tomb and we’ll both make history.”

  All she could do was stare at the woman she’d admired and trusted for so long. What had happened to her?

  Christine raised the gun and pointed it at Shane. “I just killed the man I’ve been fucking for almost two years. Don’t think I’ll hesitate to shoot your boyfriend to get you to cooperate.”

  Kinley spared a glance at the man sprawled on the altar, his blood creeping toward the channels that would drain it from the top.

  “Okay,” she whispered. Looking up at Shane, she held out her hand. “Can I have my notebook?”

  “Kin.” His eyes were trying to telegraph a message, but she didn’t know what. All she knew was the best way to get them out of there was to solve the puzzle.

  “It’s okay.”

  Shane pulled her notebook from his cargo pocket and handed it to her. She managed a tight smile and faced the wall closest to the entrance and actually analyzed the carvings instead of just looking at them.

  She could do this.

  Christine might kill them as soon as she did, but maybe she could give Shane time to devise a plan. He’d snapped an armed man’s neck—here was hoping he could disarm a woman having one hell of a midlife crisis.

  Chapter 12

  “Can we get some food in here?” Shane asked. He’d leaned against the wall closest to the chamber entrance.

  “No,” Christine said. She was pacing in front of the wall to his right, her gaze never leaving Kinley, who was working on the wall directly across from her, with the altar in between them.

  “How about some water?” he asked.

  “No.”

  “So your plan is to starve and dehydrate us. Got it.”

  Christine checked her watch. “We’ll break for the day in two hours. You can eat and drink then.”

  Two hours, plus the hour or more they’d already spent there, should be plenty of time for Leonidas to send in the team. He regretted ditching the satellite phone, not that it would have worked under the tons of stone above their heads, but he felt naked and vulnerable without a way to communicate with them. He had some glint tape stashed on his clothes, but the only way to place it anywhere as a signal was to leave the pyramid and he wasn’t about to leave Kinley alone with the crazy lady.

  Christine had calmed down once Kinley started working and kept her full attention on Kinley while she muttered and jotted notes in her notebook.

  “How did you guys get in here? I didn’t see a clearing large enough for a helicopter.” Which meant the one they’d heard yesterday had been just a coincidence, unless it was dropping supplies to the camp.

  “They bulldozed a road through the jungle and drove in.”

  Kinley turned around. “You bulldozed a road through the jungle?”

  Shane thought that was a ballsy move as well.

  “Not me,” Christine said. “Them.”

  He noticed she did that a lot—blamed something on “them” instead of taking any responsibility for her involvement.

  “Are the guards loyal to you or the dead guy?” He needed to know the level of threat they were going to face leaving the temple.

  Christine diverted her attention away from Kinley to glare at him. “You ask a lot of questions.”

  Shane held up his hands in mock surrender. “Hey, I’m just worried about what they’re going to do when we leave here and they find out their boss is dead.”

  She stared at him for several minutes. Had he taken the hapless boyfriend act a bit too far?

  “They’re loyal to getting paid. Now shut up.” She returned to watching Kinley.

  He waited and watched. Just when her shoulders began to relax, he asked, “When was the last time they got paid?”

  “I swear to—”

  “They’re prayers,” Kinley interrupted. “They’re all prayers. This isn’t a tomb, it’s a sacrificial chamber—that’s it.”

  “Bullshit.” Christine sneered. “We are in the precise center of the pyramid. This is where all the important tombs were found in the existing pyramids and this is where Aapo’s tomb is, so find it.”

  “It’s not here! Look.” Kinley turned back to the wall behind her.

  “God of maize.” She pointed to the large medallion in front of her then stepped to her right. “Goddess of birth and fertility. God of rain. God of sun. Goddess of family. God of life.”

  She pointed at the large, gold-covered medallion in the center of the wall directly across from him. “God of death…and the afterlife…”

  “What? What is it?” Christine asked.

  Shane joined Kinley in front of the wall. She didn’t say anything but went around the room and scanned the medallions, one hand tracing each one without touching it, while she mumbled to herself.

  “What is it?” Christine asked loudly.

  Kinley’s head whipped around, her ponytail swinging with her. “That medallion is upside down.”

  “Is that important?” Shane asked.

  “Maybe.” She returned to stand in front of the medallion in question. “This symbol here”—she pointed to the bottom of the circle—“is at the top of all the other medallions.”

  Christine pressed her face against the wall next to the stone circle. “There’s a gap. It looks like it’s attached to the wall instead of carved from it.” She stepped back and looked at Shane. “Turn it.”

  “Uh. I’ve seen this movie. I turn the big Mayan wheel of death and the afterlife and poison darts shoot from the walls, the floor drops out, the ceiling collapses, and we all die. No thanks.”

  “That only happens in movies,” Kinley said. “There has never been a tomb found with booby traps.”

  Shane crossed his arms. “Don’t care.”


  Christine took a more hardline approach to convincing him. Taking a step away from the wall, she pointed the gun at Kinley. “Turn the wheel.”

  Kinley stared at him with wide, frightened eyes. Fuck. He didn’t have a good feeling about this. Not that he thought the ceiling would actually collapse or a giant boulder would roll on top of them, but he had no doubt Christine would kill them both the moment they outlived their usefulness.

  “Step to the side,” he told Kinley. Wiping his hands on his pants, he grasped the edges of the medallion. The gap was too small to fit his fingers in, so he gripped it like a rock climber and hoped the Mayans adhered to lefty-loosey.

  He strained against the wheel for almost a minute. Just as he made the decision to try the other direction, it shifted a hair with a fall of dust. He snatched his hands from the stone and looked at Kinley.

  “It moved,” she said. Her green eyes shone with excitement and he grinned.

  “Keep going,” Christine said behind them.

  For a moment, he’d forgotten they weren’t alone. Judging by the way Kinley’s joy dissipated, so had she. Gripping the stone, he tried to get it to turn again, succeeding in getting another inch before having to take a break. Over the pounding of his heart, he heard three short taps.

  “What was that?” Christine asked.

  “What?” Kinley asked.

  “That noise.” She looked around the chamber.

  “I didn’t hear anything,” Kinley said.

  “I heard tapping.”

  “Maybe whatever mechanism this is attached to runs through the chamber and it settled?” She shrugged.

  He didn’t know whether she honestly hadn’t heard the signal or if she was trying to distract Christine. “Maybe it’s the poison darts cocking into position.”

  “Shut up and keep turning,” Christine moved away from the back wall.

  Perfect. Shane smirked at her and looked at Kinley. “Ready?”

  She inhaled and blew out a breath. “Ready.”

  Placing his hands back on the stone, he widened his stance and licked his lips. This was going to suck if he was wrong.

  “Now!”

  He grabbed Kinley and engulfed her in his arms, taking her to the floor as the lights went out plunging them into complete darkness. A shot rang out and sparks ricocheted off the wall exactly where Kinley had been standing.

  “Get down!”

  “Drop the gun!”

  “Shane? You good?”

  “We’re good,” he said. “You’re good, right?” he asked against Kinley’s hair.

  “You’re squishing my boob,” she said.

  “Oh, shit. Sorry.” He relaxed his hold.

  “Tango secured. Shane, if you’re done playing nookie, we’re bringing the lights back on.”

  “Fuck off, Devon,” Shane said.

  Devon laughed and counted down from three. Shane closed his eyes, then blinked them open to let them readjust from the total darkness. Visually checking that Kinley was unharmed, he gripped the side of her face and kissed her. Fuck, he’d been so afraid she’d be hurt during the takedown, he hadn’t even been able to contemplate it beforehand. Now his whole body shook with relief.

  He pressed his forehead against hers. “You’re okay.”

  “I’m okay,” she whispered.

  “Y’all going to stay down there all night?”

  Shane looked over his shoulder to find Harrison standing over them in full kit.

  “Yeah,” Shane said. “Do you mind?”

  Kinley slapped his shoulder. “No. Let me up.”

  Shane sighed and rolled to his feet, helping Kinley to hers.

  Christine sat near the altar, her hands bound behind her back, tears streaming down her face and a look of unadulterated rage directed at them. Devon and Jordan stood next to her.

  “Kinley, this is Devon, Harrison, and Jordan. They’re part of Leonidas. Guys, this is Kinley.” They all waved and said hello while Shane ran his hand down her shoulder and arm one more time. He needed the contact.

  “Let’s get out of here,” he said.

  “Wait.” She looked at the medallion, then back at him.

  “You want to open it?”

  She licked her lips and nodded.

  He glanced at his teammates, who all shrugged. Except Harrison who raised his gun to the low-ready.

  “What are you doing?” Shane asked.

  Harrison looked at him like he was crazy. “Mummies, man.”

  Shane looked at Kinley and raised an eyebrow. “See?”

  She rolled her eyes and gestured to the medallion.

  He chuckled and gripped the edges, straining to turn the wheel. He managed an impressive twenty degrees or so before his strength gave out.

  “Here. Switch out,” Devon said. He swung his rifle behind his back and took Shane’s place. He managed another few inches before switching out with Jordan. Harrison stayed in the background, ready to shoot any cursed undead that popped out.

  Little by little they turned the wheel until it was upright and settled into something with a deep thunk. They stepped back and glanced around the room.

  Waiting.

  For…nothing. Nothing happened.

  “Now what?” Devon asked.

  “I don’t know,” Kinley said. “I mean, the temple has been here for thousands of years. Whatever was supposed to do…whatever…could be stuck, it could be deteriorated, or…” She shrugged.

  “Or?” Shane asked.

  “Or there’s nothing to find and the medallion was just upside down.”

  “What if we push on the wall?” Harrison asked.

  “Not worried about mummies now?” Jordan asked.

  “Oh I’m still worried, but I’m invested now. I want to know what’s behind the wall.”

  “Kinley?” Shane asked.

  She shrugged again. “Sure.”

  Shane’s teammates joined him along the wall, two on either side of the medallion, and braced their shoulders. “One…two…three!”

  He grunted as he put his weight against the wall, his feet sliding on centuries of dust on the floor. He wanted the damn thing to move. He didn’t want to see the disappointment in Kinley’s eyes again.

  The wall lurched a foot and they stumbled upright, looking at each other in astonishment.

  “Holy shit,” Harrison said.

  “Keep pushing?” Devon asked.

  “Hang on.” Kinley peered at the edge of the wall. “Does anyone have a flashlight?”

  “Here.” Jordan held out a small black light.

  She clicked it on and shined it along the edge of the wall on either side. “There’s a void on the left. I think the wall will slide in.”

  They found handholds and pushed the wall in the direction she indicated. Inch by inch another room was revealed. They stopped when the heavy stone panel was half of the way in the recess, opening a space wide enough for three of them to stand shoulder to shoulder. Without discussing it, they stepped back and let Kinley shine the light inside.

  “Oh. My. God. It’s real.”

  “Ho-lee shit,” Harrison said.

  Jordan leaned his arm against Shane’s shoulder. “That’s gold, right?”

  “It’s mine! I found it!” Christine pointed the gun she held right at Kinley.

  “No!” Shane dove for Kinley, knocking her to the ground.

  Shots rang out and fire burst to life in his back.

  “Shane. Shane!”

  Chapter 13

  “No. Nonononono.” Kinley struggled under the weight of Shane’s body. Over his shoulder, she could see the blood spreading across his back. “Shane. Shane! Help him!”

  Two of the men lifted Shane off her while the other one helped her upright. She jerked her arm from his grasp and crawled to Shane. “Please don’t be dead.”

  “He’s not, but you need to let us work on him,” one of them said. Jordan, maybe? She couldn’t remember their names. She should, but she couldn’t. Not right now.
/>   She spared a glance at Christine lying at the base of the altar, her eyes wide and unseeing, a dark crimson flower blooming on her chest. “How did she get the gun?”

  “It was still on the floor,” Jordan said. “It was kicked out of the way when we took her down. None of us bothered to pick it up since she was secure. How’d she get her arms in front of her?”

  “Yoga,” Kinley said. “She did yoga religiously.”

  “Fuck,” one of the guys next to Shane said. “We need to get him topside. I can’t get Turner on the radio under all this stone.”

  One of them handed his gun to Jordan and hefted Shane onto his shoulder. She clapped her hands over her mouth when he jostled Shane into a better position. God, he was so big. She’d laughed when he’d been hunched over in the entry tunnel, but they were all going to hunch—how were they going to get him out of there?

  “Kinley, can you lead the way?” Jordan asked.

  “What?” She looked from Shane to him. “Yes. I think so.” All she had to do was follow the lights, right?

  Leading the way out of the chamber, she spared one last glance for Christine. She should feel something—regret, hate, something. All she felt was numb. She started off slowly, worried the team wouldn’t be able to keep up with their gear and carrying Shane, until one of them asked if she could go faster. She could sprint for the exit if they needed to, but she settled on a jog. The rattle of their gear echoed behind her.

  What was that doing to Shane’s injuries? Was it making them worse? They hadn’t even sealed the bullet holes like Ace had done with Jorge’s wound. Did that mean Shane was better or worse? Was he already dead and they weren’t telling her?

  The final set of steps appeared and she angled her body through the last tunnel. She turned to watch the team exit, walking backward to give them space until she tripped over a stump, landing hard on her ass and back. Pushing up, she scrambled backward. She hadn’t tripped over a stump, but over the body of one of the guards.

  Jordan helped her up once again. “Sorry. Should have warned you we cleared the camp.”

  “It’s okay. Probably not something you usually have to tell people.”