She continued, passing the Queen’s Chamber as they went by.
Sam said, “You, Genevieve, and Elise wait here. Tom and I are going to quickly check out the Queen’s Chamber.”
“Don’t bother,” Billie said. “The stone tablet isn’t in there. It’s stored in the King’s Chamber.”
“So you said.” Sam’s piercing blue eyes met hers. Then, emphatically, he said, “We’re still going to check out the Queen’s Chamber first.”
“Why?”
“Because I made this mistake when we searched the temple we found in the Kalahari Desert. We got to the King’s Chamber, only to get attacked by someone hiding in the Queen’s.”
Billie shrugged with indifference. “Okay. Don’t take too long.”
She watched Sam and Tom’s lights disappear as they traveled farther down the horizontal tunnel and then returned her gaze upward, where she knew the temple guards would be waiting for them.
The firing switch on Genevieve’s Heckler and Koch submachine gun was set to F, for fully automatic. She shined her flashlight behind them and then up ahead.
Elise said, “I’ll keep an eye on the tunnel behind us.”
“Okay, good idea,” Billie said.
Genevieve asked, “Do you still believe this place is guarded by an army of Pirahã warriors?”
“Yes,” Billie replied without hesitation.
“Will they try to attack us?”
Billie thought about it for a moment. “I have no idea.”
Genevieve spoke with the candor of someone having coffee with a friend. “I think it’s safe to say they will. If the Pirahã simply let you take this ancient stone tablet they would be pretty much useless as guards, wouldn’t they?”
“Not if the Master Builders want me to take it.”
“So, the question is, do they want you to take it?”
Billie nodded. “And the answer to that is, I have no fucking idea.”
Genevieve squeezed her hand in a gesture almost resembling sympathy. “They really did a number on your mind, didn’t they?”
“Yeah. But what, specifically makes you say that?”
“I’ve never seen you doubt any decision before. Even when you left Tom to continue your search for the Master Builders, you did so with unwavering certainty that it was the right thing to do.”
Billie said, “It was. I had to leave.”
“I know. But it cost you the best man in the world.”
She leveled her gaze at Genevieve and smiled. “And you found him.”
Genevieve grinned. “Yes. How very lucky for me.”
“I would have done the entire thing over if I had it to do again.” Billie breathed in and sighed heavily. “Besides, you love him, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Chapter Five
Billie spotted the first movement of light flickering from the horizontal passageway.
She waited until Sam and Tom were close enough to recognize and then said, “Find anything?”
“No,” Sam conceded.
She smiled. “I told you it was empty.”
Sam glanced up, toward the Grand Gallery. “All right. Now the hard part. Do you still think the Pirahã are going to let us steal this thing?”
Billie said, “Question of the day. There’s only one way to find out.”
She took the lead, stepping slowly and quietly. It was only sixty-odd feet before they reached the guards. The Pirahã warriors stood on either side of the Grand Gallery. They were so still that at first she mistook them for sculptures.
Her eyes glanced across the tunnel, taking everything in. The Grand Gallery was filled with temple guards. She and Sam were fooling themselves if they thought their team of five could defend against nearly four hundred warriors.
She lowered her weapon.
It was pointless anyway.
Billie tilted her head, studying the situation. Sam stepped up beside her. Billie saw their presence didn’t seem to have been detected. Everyone in the gallery was facing in the opposite direction. She couldn’t determine whether they were mostly men or mostly women, but as she stared she began to differentiate.
More than half grasped spears that looked to be almost six feet in length and carried blades of obsidian that were a foot or more long. Those with spears had what looked like rawhide strings around their waists, but were otherwise naked. They had intricate paint or tattoos covering their arms, legs, and backs. Some had headdresses of rawhide, decorated with feathers, braids, shells and other items she couldn’t identify. Those without spears wore the same strings around their waists, but had longer hair and more elaborate headgear. There didn’t seem to be any children present.
A cool breeze began to waft toward their party. In the distance, the Black Smoke curled down from the King’s Chamber toward them in serpentine movements. Billie stopped, and quickly donned her military-grade gas mask. Sam and the rest of their team followed. For nearly two years the strange, sweet smelling cloud of smoke, had enslaved her within the Amazon jungle. At the time it had provided her with the strength and endurance to work on the construction of this very temple, with the fervor of religious fanaticism.
And for two years, she had felt like she had been chosen to personally help out the Gods – the ancient Master Builders who were so far advanced from the rest of the world’s civilizations, that it was impossible to perceive them as anything else.
Since then, she had learned that the Black Smoke was nothing more than a very clever ruse to dominate the Pirahã, in order to provide intense labor in total secrecy for the construction of their latest temple. It relied on the smoke of a strange fungi that shared similar hallucinogenic effects with Lysergic Acid Diethylamide – more commonly known as LSD.
Using the drug and persuasive techniques, communicated through high frequency sound waves, the Master Builders were able to maintain absolute control of hundreds and potentially thousands of people against their will, simultaneously.
It was this ability that most frightened the U.S. Secretary of Defense, who had ordered Sam Reilly to investigate the Master Builder’s ability to utilize the weapon. If such a weapon could be mastered, then no one was safe. Military strength became irrelevant. And no one could be completely trusted.
Her eyes turned to the rest of their team. It was hard to imagine how to begin to fight an enemy that consisted of nothing more than a thick, sweet smelling, fog of smoke.
They’d discussed whether the masks would protect them, and the fact was, they didn’t know. But it was better to try and fail than not have a plan at all. The only person who didn’t don a gas mask was Elise, whose genetic anomalies and hyper-developed brainstem seemed to render her immune to the Black Smoke.
As the smoke touched each temple guard in the tableau in front of them, they turned one hundred and eighty degrees to face them. The warrior’s eyes remained fixed straight ahead, with no recognition or deviation toward her or any of her party.
When the last Pirahã turned to face them, the whistling started.
It was high-pitched and eerie. None of the warriors reacted to the presence of Billie’s party. It was impossible to imagine they simply hadn’t been spotted. But every one of the temple guard’s eyes were fixed and glassy, every mouth pursed and whistling the eerie tune.
Billie could now see the men’s bodies were painted red, and they carried small shields. The women had small rawhide ‘aprons’ suspended from their waist strings, along with intricate tattoos on their faces.
The whistling went on until Billie thought she might go insane, and then suddenly stopped. Like an old movie effect of Moses parting the Red Sea, the tribespeople moved back to each side of the passage, and stayed there, looking straight ahead. Billie’s eyes danced back and forth, intently studying what she was seeing.
“What the hell do we do now?” Sam asked. He didn’t bother lowering his voice, since the Pirahã clearly didn’t seem to care about their presence.
&nb
sp; “I think they’re going to let us pass,” Billie answered.
Sam spoke to Elise. “You have any idea what the Black Smoke wants?”
“No.”
“But you understand it?”
Elise smiled. “It’s not like what you think. It isn’t the sort of telepathy you’re thinking of. I have a sense about how the Black Smoke feels, that’s all.”
Sam persisted. “Okay so what does it feel like?”
“It feels content.”
“That’s it?” Billie asked.
“That’s it,” Elise confirmed.
Billie continued through the Grand Gallery. She ignored the temple guards. If they wanted to pretend to be sculptures, who was she to interrupt them? Two minutes later, she reached the King’s Chamber.
Sam was right behind her.
In the center of the King’s Chamber lay a sarcophagus. Billie felt her arms and legs moving, but it was almost like being in her recurring dream again, knowing what she should do next. She drew a long breath and then let it out on a sigh as she gazed at the sarcophagus.
On it lay a thin stone tablet of some sort of polished black stone. The tablet was illuminated by what Billie could have sworn was a floodlight. But how…? And then she saw the dust motes dancing in the beacon. The rays were separated, as if shining through a cloud. Her eyes, accustomed to the darkness of the temple and surrounding cave system, could barely make out the hole far above the sarcophagus.
She pointed, and Sam looked up. He pulled a monocular from a pocket and extended it, searched for the hole above, and found it.
“I can see leaves fluttering in the breeze. It must extend from the mountain’s surface, all the way through the tip of the pyramid,” he said in a low voice.
Billie paid him no attention. She had stepped up to the sarcophagus and reverently lifted the tablet. Sam looked back at her just as she stowed it in her backpack and calmly walked away. Behind them, the strange whistling resumed.
“Sam, I think it’s time we go,” Billie said.
“Hell, yes, it’s time to go. I don’t think the Pirahã are going to be indifferent to us much longer – especially once they work out we just stole their map. You remember what happened to Indiana Jones when he removed that artifact from that temple around these parts?”
She smiled at him. “Sam, that’s a movie.”
“Even so. It didn’t end well for him.”
Sam didn’t need to tell her twice to get a move on. She wanted out of the temple just as fast as he did. They retraced their steps between the ranks of guards, walking quickly. When they reached the others, all five of them hurried down the passage to the main tunnel, and started up the incline without pausing.
A strong breeze gusted through the pyramid’s exit and down the descending tunnel, nearly knocking Billie off her feet. It was followed by a second Black Smoke. This seemed particularly dark, and malicious as it forced its way through her, and the rest of their crew, racing toward the Pirahã guards.
“That’s different!” she said.
“What is?” Sam asked.
She swallowed, hard. “I’ve never seen a second Black Smoke.”
To Elise, Sam asked, “Any idea what it is?”
Elise shook her head. “No. Nothing good. I can almost feel its hatred.”
Farther inside the temple, the high-pitched trilling sound finally stopped. It was immediately replaced with a new sound. This one was more resonant, like thunder. It took a moment, and they all realized what was causing the new sound.
They’d almost made it to the entrance when the thunder of 400 pairs of feet reached their ears.
Elise said, “Something really bad just happened!”
“You think?” Billie asked, without hiding her sarcasm.
Sam yelled, “Run!”
Chapter Six
Blood pounded in the back of his ears and his chest throbbed with exertion, but Sam continued to climb the final steps of the main tunnel until he reached the giant entrance to the outside of the subterranean pyramid.
He waited until the rest of his team was out and then removed the safety pin from the smoke grenade and rolled it down the descending tunnel. Three hundred and fifty grams of a thick purple smoke, consisting of potassium chlorate, lactose and a purple dye hissed as it was suddenly released from the canister, until it fully obscured the narrow, descending tunnel.
Tom stopped. “Should we hold them here?”
“Yeah, for as long as we can with smoke grenades. I don’t want to resort to lethal methods unless we have to.” Sam turned to Billie. “Get the stone tablet back to the helicopter.”
Billie said, “I’m on it. Genevieve and Elise are already making their way up the ropes. Once she’s at the top, Genevieve’s going to scout somewhere to cover the entrance to the cave system, where she can pick off any attackers if she has to.”
“Sounds like a plan. Now go!”
Sam didn’t need to tell her twice. Billie disappeared, and Tom threw another smoke grenade into the tunnel.
It didn’t bring them the reprieve they’d hoped for. Instead, their attackers continued through the smoke with the unwavering fanaticism that they’d seen in Billie months earlier. From what Sam guessed, the entire Pirahã tribe were being guided through the smoke-filled tunnel from the same outside source that had told them to attack.
He turned to Tom. “Come on, let’s go. They’ll reach the surface soon.”
“You don’t need to tell me.” Tom started down the pyramid’s steps.
Sam followed him, climbing down the six-foot high stone blocks in a series of fast moving maneuvers in which he swung his legs over the side, while bracing with both hands on the top of the stone – making it appear more like a controlled falling action.
Nearly a hundred feet below, he could just make out the faint glow of a single headlamp, where Billie had finally reached the bottom and was now making her way into the set of narrow tunnels filled with crystals.
They reached the base of the giant stone steps at the front of the pyramid. Behind them, Sam heard their attackers bursting out of the main ascending tunnel. He glanced over his shoulder, running his flashlight across the main entrance. The tribal guards of the sacred temple were spreading out over the giant stairs, taking them in single steps.
Taking the steps as they were, the Pirahã would reach them in minutes.
Sam didn’t stop to plan his next move. Instead he ducked down and into the shallow tunnel toward the outside of the cavern and followed the line of footprints in the sand they’d used to enter the temple. The light of his headlamp reflected off the myriad of crystals the size of an adult that lined the walls and surrounding cave-system. Large stalactites and stalagmites broke the cavern into a complex labyrinth.
He rounded a bend, crawling on his hands and knees – and then stopped. The marks in the sand simply vanished.
Sam shined his flashlight around, expecting to see the footprints and signs of sand being turned over by others shuffling through the sand, but instead he found nothing. There were at least six separate tunnels that branched out of the cavern they were in. He turned around, but there was no sign of anyone back-tracking from where they were.
“What the hell?” he asked.
Tom flashed his headlamp across each tunnel. “The marks couldn’t have simply disappeared. Besides, I watched Billie follow Genevieve and Elise into this tunnel only ten minutes ago.” He shined his headlamp onto the ground, where a few small handprints remained. “See, these would have been made by Elise.”
Sam’s gaze swept the ground of the cavern. He looked closer at what he was seeing and felt the prickly finger of fear tease him as understanding finally reached his mind. The ground was completely smooth. Far too much so to be natural. The rest of the cavern floor showed a multitude of pockmarks and deep indents where dripping water had eroded the ground. In front of him were tiny grooves in the sand.
He touched it with his hand. His fingers easily penetrated the loo
se sand. A wry smile curled his lips, as though he’d finally discovered the answer to a great mystery. Only the discovery itself almost certainly confirmed his worst fears.
Sam said, “Someone’s intentionally raked this area. By the looks of things, they’ve done so after the girls went through here.”
“Which means, either they didn’t want us to know where the girls went, or they intentionally made sure we couldn’t escape.” Tom flipped the safety on his Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun over to F for fully automatic. “Either way, I think they lost their rights to a fair fight.”
“You might be right, although I’m not sure who we’re fighting yet.”
The sound of four hundred warriors charging echoed like thunder through the cavern. A sign their pursuers were still closing in on them.
Sam said, “All right, we can’t go back the way we came. We’ll keep moving and see if we can find a way out. They can’t have raked the entire cavern since the girls went through this way.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Tom said. “You head to the left and I’ll go right. We’ll meet back here as soon as we find something.”
Sam nodded. “Good luck.”
By the time Sam reached the edge of the three separate tunnels that headed to the right, he heard Tom call out to him.
“I’ve got something.”
Sam raced along on his hands and knees. “Where?”
Tom pointed, using his flashlight to shine directly on the hand and knee marks in the sand. “What do you think?”
“It looks like only one person went through this way.”
“Could it have been Billie?”
“I don’t know. It might have been, or they could have come from whoever tried to cover the tracks in the sand to make us lose our way down here. Either way, we’re going to have company any minute now.”
Tom shrugged, as though he would deal with whatever company they had when it reached them. “So, we follow it?”
“Yeah.”
Tom, already ahead of him, led the way through the shallow and relatively narrow cavern. It meandered around a series of stalagmites that were larger than either man, before heading in a straight line for more than forty feet, and then making a sharp turn to the left.
Code to Extinction Page 5