The Mayan Temple

by Preston William Child

  Once they had him out of the way and difficult for anyone to just come across, they made their way back through the facility toward the exit. Elijah knew that there were at least fifteen operatives still stationed around the base—hardly anything more than a skeleton crew but still over three times as many people as they had. All they needed to do was get to the helicopters and take off. If they could do that without another incident, or delay, that might be able to catch up to Julian and the others.

  It took even more caution than before, but Elijah led them to the Black Sun's private hanger that housed all of the helicopters. As they walked out and admired the half dozen vehicles ready to be commandeered, Elijah took a brief second to appreciate what was happening. This was it—the time to bring down the Order of the Black Sun for good.

  It wasn't just Nina Gould's escape. It wasn't just Charles's escape. It wasn't even just Jean-Luc Gerard's escape. He had been a prisoner of the Black Sun too for a long time, longer than any of them even. He just was able to make the most of it, make his chains a little less visible. He could dress up and get to work, pretend that it was just his job rather than the servitude that he was forced into.

  He pushed his glasses up the ridge of his nose. Lately, he had been seeing much more clearly than usual. He was seeing a whole new world than he had been. Now it was time to share what he saw with everyone else.

  They all filed into the helicopter and the propeller above began its rotation, spinning to life. Soon enough, the headquarters for the Order of the Black Sun was behind them.

  Elijah Dane was finally free, and now it was time for some payback.

  9

  CHAPTER NINE – THE NORTHERN LIGHTS

  Galen felt like he belonged in the lead chopper with Julian but was constantly relegated to the last helicopter in line. He sat as he always did, beside Oniel, who had become his most frequent partner on expeditions. He appreciated his partner's silence thanks to his missing tongue, as he could just bounce ideas off of him without having to hear any sort of verbal reprisal. Oniel also had plenty of experience in killing thanks to his time as part of a notorious Jamaican crime ring, so he helped make Galen a little more dangerous simply by association. He also shared his desire to murder David Purdue and his disdain for how Julian led the order.

  “This is shit,” Galen said, staring out the window at the white ground beneath them. “If he wasn't going to let us go after Davy then he should have at least let us take point on this expedition to that Mayan temple. I've been all over the world, gone to plenty of old places. I know the architecture well. I could be a lot more help if he utilized me. He obviously never bothered to read my bloody books, eh? He'd know just how much great shit I've accomplished if he did. Hell, he could just read the back cover and see for himself. It's a load of shit.”

  Oniel remained as quiet as always beside him. He'd grown used to Galen's almost constant posturing and complaining.

  “He sent everybody but us after Davy when you and I know him best. I've known him for years. Went on that expedition for the Spear of Destiny some time ago. And you were on that boat with him, looking for that pirate's gold. You and I know him far better than Julian, yet Julian is sending out a bunch of poor bastards who don't know the first thing about how annoying David Purdue can be. That's just bad planning and bad leadership.”

  As much as he wanted to scream all of this to the heavens, Galen kept his voice low. There were plenty of people in the order and on that plane that supported Julian Corvus. He wasn't a very popular leader but he had a small group of devoted followers—morons—who just probably wanted to earn favor to rise higher in the order.

  Galen didn't like kissing other people's asses. Most people didn't deserve it. If anyone deserved more ass kisses than he got, it was him.

  “We should be out there hunting that smug bastard down before he comes and interrupts more of the order's plans. That should be the priority. Instead, we're relying on some new girl's information that Purdue is going to this temple...but we can't know that for sure. This could all be a goddamn waste of all of our time.”

  Oniel gave a simple few nods of his head in agreement. Even if he could speak, he still wouldn't be able to speak nearly as much as Galen could. It was physically impossible for anyone else to be able to talk as much as he did. No one else had a big enough ego.

  THE HELICOPTERS LANDED, forming a large perimeter around the temple. As the Black Sun operatives poured out and gathered around, Galen was sure to be standing near Julian. He wanted to hear the plan, and he wanted to remind everyone that he was important and close to the inner workings. Most of all, he wanted to show Julian that he belonged in that lead helicopter and not left to rot at the back of the pack.

  Julian explained the plan thoroughly, making sure that he wasn't skipping any of the finer details. “We'll enter the temple in teams of six, each dispersed throughout. We will set up lighting and many will map out a grid of the entire place.”

  “Excuse me,” Galen interjected.

  Many of the others gathered around looked at him with some bewilderment, baffled that he would dare to interrupt their great and powerful leader. Galen didn't care who he was talking over, especially not someone like Julian Corvus. The others let their shock show but Julian didn't even look at him. He just stared at the snowy ground with some annoyance, but didn't even offer him the slightest bit of attention.

  Galen ignored the slight, putting it in a mental pocket to be pissed off about later. “All I'm saying is that that temple right there up and vanished. Poof. Went from a bloody to jungle to this Christmas wasteland, and we're all supposed to take our sweet time in there? What if it moves again with all of us inside? Who knows if we can even survive that?”

  Julian scoffed but still didn't look at him.

  “I'm just trying to be cautious, eh? Shouldn't we all be?”

  “What exactly are you suggesting, Mr. Fitzgerald?” Julian said coldly. “Is this something that you came up with for that book of yours? Forgive me, I never had a chance to read it. No, you have your orders. I have given them. My plan is the only plan. Understood?”

  Galen wanted to bash Julian over the head with his walking stick, beat him to death for talking down to him like that in front of everyone. It was always the same. He went ignored because he wasn't considered part of the inner circle, not really. But if he didn't do as he was told, he knew that Julian wouldn't hesitate to excommunicate him from the Black Sun or do something much, much worse.

  “Understood,” Galen said, biting his tongue.

  As they made their way across the patch of ice between the helicopters and the temple, Galen noticed that Julian was carrying the Spear of Destiny in one of his hands. He recognized it immediately. After all, Galen had spent quite a lot of time trying to acquire that spear. He would have gotten it too if he wasn't caught in the middle of David Purdue's and Julian Corvus's tug of war. That was another thing that Galen deserved that Julian had taken from him.

  “Why bring the spear?” Galen asked.

  Julian looked like he was tempted to ignore him again but then answered. “A precaution. If some of us die, I would rather have this than a defibrillator wouldn't you? And if this is the day when we claim true victory over the world, I want this with me.”

  It seemed unnecessary but Galen kept that thought to himself. He had already pissed off Julian enough. He would love to upset him some more but he knew that Julian wasn't the most stable person. If he pushed him a little too far, Galen may end up with a bullet between his eyes. And he highly doubted Julian would ever use the Spear of Destiny to revive him.

  The teams entered the temple, all bearing flashlights and lighting fixtures to light the entire inside of it up. There was no point exploring the temple if no one could see anything. Galen begrudgingly accepted going in with the last group inside. It was tough to keep up with some of his teammates due to his limp, but he did his best. He didn't want to be left behind by anyone, let alone Julian Corvus. Of cou
rse he was the first to enter. That bastard wanted to see everything and take everything for himself.

  The rest of the teams were probably already through the entire temple by the time Galen had just set his first few steps inside. It wasn't fair that they all had two working legs and weren't assigned to the back of the line. He deserved more respect than this. All he could do was hope that he found something that everyone else ahead of him was missing. That would show all of them that he wasn't baggage that they could just drag around. He had done more exploring around the world than most of them probably. He was a well-respected and well known purveyor of all kinds of artifacts. He was more capable than most of them, despite what the feedback for his autobiography had said. They all just didn't want him to overshadow them.

  One of the only benefits to being the last inside was that the place was already most lit up thanks to the efforts of everyone in front of him. It gave him a good look at all of the cracked and worn walls of the temple around him. He could hear voices down the corridors. His own team had already broken away ahead of him. Everyone else was hard at work but he had barely begun.

  “Galen?”

  The voice that spoke his name was hoarse and when he turned around, he almost expected to see some kind of creature—but it was a bald man that he recognized—Lucius. He was filthy, and pale, keeping close to the stone walls as he slowly crept toward Galen.

  “Galen, is that you?”

  He was blinking hard, probably trying to get his eyes readjusted to the light. He had been stuck in this dark place for weeks. He didn't have much hope of escape either, considering that all there was outside but a barren frozen landscape that he would never survive. If the cold didn't get him, then he would starve to death.

  “Lucius...looks like you've had a rough go of it, eh? Last I heard, you were in Honduras...”

  “I was,” Lucius said quietly. His voice was shaky and his voice so raspy. He obviously hadn't been getting enough food or water in this place. “I was, yes. I was. Me and Charlotte. Where—where is she?”

  “No one knows,” Galen said. “She was with you.”

  “She was guarding...guarding outside but then that asshole got away and this place moved. It all happened so fast. Too fast. Yes, far too fast.”

  “Who got away?”

  “David Purdue. We had him, Galen. I swear we had him. I swear. But...but he slipped by us. We would have killed him this place just...” He held out his hands, pointing his fingers at the floor. “If this place had just stayed put like it should have...how did it....how did it move, Galen?”

  “Hell if I know.”

  “How did it move!?” His yell was something of a roar at this point. “How did it move!?”

  The scream was echoing through the temple. It wouldn't take long for the other teams to come running to investigate the disturbance. That might not be a bad thing, though. They would all see that Galen had actually found something while the rest of them were all still most likely roaming around empty handed.

  “Just relax, eh?” Galen said but turned and shouted down the halls. “Oi! I found something!”

  “I stepped outside and it was so cold. So cold...there was ice everywhere. It was hot before. Humid. There were trees. Trees that were on the ground. And Purdue was there...he was there...Charlotte...where is she?”

  Lucius' ramblings were growing more incoherent. His time stuck up here had done a number on him. What he needed was some food, some drink, and some rest to at least start to screw his head back on straight. It must have been difficult being stuck in a place you didn't know, thinking that you were just going to slowly die.

  “Where, Galen...where?”

  There were footsteps hurrying down the narrow stone hallways and voices calling to one another. A number of the Black Sun operatives came to Galen, looking pessimistic that he actually had anything of value but when he pointed his cane at Lucius, many of those doubtful faces filled with genuine shock.

  “Is that Lucius?” one asked.

  “Holy shit, it is!” said another.

  “He's alive? Thought he died on that mission with Charlotte.”

  Lucius covered his face with his arms to avoid the glares of their flashlights, cowering away from the light after spending so long in the darkness. He had resigned himself to that darkness, knowing that the temple wasn't exactly accommodating but was at least protect him from the harsh conditions outside. He reminded Galen of a possum or some other nocturnal creature that wanted nothing to do with the daylight.

  Julian pushed his way through the crowd of amazed Black Sun agents and even he looked startled by the sight of Lucius. He stormed over to him and grabbed his face. Despite Lucius' trembling and panic, Julian squeezed hard and examined him closely.

  “So this is where you ended up, is it?”

  “Please—please, please Julian. Don't. I didn't mean...I didn't mean...nothing went as it should have. None of it. It all went so wrong. So wrong. Purdue--”

  “He bested you, yes,” Julian said coldly. “I'm very aware. I gave you a job to do and you failed at it. Completely and utterly blew your chance to earn your place in the inner circle.”

  Lucius was on the verge of tears but it was hard to tell if it was from being afraid or simply his eyes being irritated by the sudden influx of light into his life. But the more Julian spoke to him, the more terror filled his face. This Mayan temple might have driven him to starvation and madness, but he remembered Julian very well. No amount of time or hysteria could make him forget how terrified he was of the Black Sun's leader. That fear seemed to stitch up some of his nerves, able to form coherent sentences again.

  “I didn't mean to. I didn't.”

  “Where is Charlotte?” Julian asked, ignoring Lucius' tearful pleas.

  “I don't know. She was outside when Purdue escaped. I don't—”

  “Shhhh, hush now,” Julian said but it wasn't soothing or comforting at all. It was undeniably an order. Lucius struggled to comply, but he did, and held back more waterworks. Julian squeezed his face harder. “Purdue is most likely going to be on his way. You will have another chance. You won't fail me again.” Lucius was still trembling like a spooked animal and Julian's commands weren't helping. “But...for now, we're going to get you cleaned up a bit. There's some spare clothes in one of the choppers. And we have water and rations. We'll get your strength back up enough to get back at Purdue for leaving you in this place.”

  Lucius managed a shivering nod and he forced a yellow smile. Still, as he was taken away, he looked far from relaxed. Even Galen hoped that with some food in his stomach and some clean clothes that Lucius might get his head screwed back on straight. He doubted it. This place had done a number on him, but how could it not? It was a musty ancient temple that just reeked of death from the sacrifices performed there. It may have provided him some form of shelter from the icy weather outside, but it hadn't been a home to Lucius—for all he knew, it was going to be his tomb. And it would have been if the order hadn't come. He wouldn't have lasted much longer.

  Galen glanced to Julian, waiting for him to thank him for finding Lucius but, as per usual, Julian barely noticed Galen standing beside him. He wasn't going to get any congratulations or any gratitude. If anything, Julian probably just thought of all of this as a distraction from whatever he was doing on the other end of the temple.

  Without a word, Julian started walking back from the direction he came from. Some of the other agents followed suit and Galen followed them, hobbling behind them. Oniel walked beside him but he barely ever noticed him. It wasn't just that he didn't speak; even the way he walked was quiet. That's what probably made him a great assassin for the Wharf Man in his previous job.

  The group that they were following approached a large stone slab that was in the middle of a doorway. Julian stared at it and then turned back to face the small group of his underlings. “Seems important, doesn't it? Let's get it out of the way. See what's happening on the other side of that door.”
/>
  A couple of the operatives got to work and pushed the slab of rock out of the way of the doorway. When it was pushed aside enough to see through, Julian put his face right up to the small opening and looked inside. Galen couldn't see what was on the other side, just darkness. Soon enough, they would have illuminated, but for now, they just had their own eyes to rely on; Julian's cold eyes stared hard into the darkness, trying to make out any shapes or images.

  A wicked smile stretched across Julian's face, the kind of smile he only gave when he had some disturbing thought cross his mind. “I see it.”

  All of the operatives looked at one another, staring at Julian, who was the only one with any sort of view of what was behind the rock. They all waited with baited breath to hear what he had to say but he didn't seem to care about sharing with them.

  “See what?” Galen finally asked with a roll of his eyes.

  Julian turned back, that wicked grin still pasted on his visage.

  “I see the altar.”

  Galen hoped that Julian was wrong. He didn't want that arrogant bastard of a leader to get what he wanted. He didn't want him to be the one to kill Purdue and he definitely didn't want him to get to fulfill whatever his big wish was.

  If Galen had his way, things would end very differently.

  10

  CHAPTER TEN – REUNIONS ON CRACKED ICE

  Purdue hated whenever they had to go someplace cold. It was always difficult to go to a remote and desolate location but that was amplified whenever they were met by extreme weather conditions. They didn't just have to worry about where they were going or to watch where they were stepping. Now they had to worry about trying not to freeze to death. Succumbing to hypothermia was definitely not the most pleasant way to go.