PLAZA

by Shane M Brown

  'What were you just shooting at?' Spader mouthed carefully. Randerson could just hear it. He doubted Fontana heard a thing, but Fontana must have been pretty good at reading lips, because he answered first. 'The giant lizards! The giant fucking lizards!'

  Spader pulled a confused face.

  Randerson realized straight away that the lizards hadn't penetrated that far into the Gallery yet. Spader has no idea what's in here with us. He hasn't seen them yet. Or he thinks the weapon affected our speech or addled our brains.

  Randerson put up his hand to block out Fontana and said urgently, 'Listen Spader. We are completely lucid. It's just our hearing effected, and Fontana's is worse than mine. There's something in here. Some kind of reptile. There must be dozens of them. They're about twenty-five feet long and they're extremely dangerous. That's what all these stone carvings are illustrating. One tore Fontana's vest right off his back. We saw them enter the Gallery, but they were camouflaged, like chameleons. Their camouflage doesn't work so well in here, so you can see them.'

  Fontana was staring at Randerson's lips. He must have understood something again, because he looked at Spader and yelled. 'They stand out like dog's balls! They're fucking huge. There's a big one following us right now! I shot it in the neck!'

  Randerson ignored him and glanced down to his watch. They only had seconds left.

  When he looked up, Spader was turning his head and talking to Gordon. Gordon was shaking his head. There's no way to reach us, realized Randerson. Our chambers don't link up by any of the nearby passages. Not at the moment, anyway.

  Spader spun back around and shouted. 'South. Go south and meet us!'

  Spader followed up with hand gestures and finger pointing, but Randerson already understood the plan. Both parties would move south and hopefully the barriers would arrange themselves in a way that brought the parties together again.

  Fontana and Randerson nodded that they understood.

  Ethan grabbed Spader and yanked him away from the barrier. At that second, all the barriers rotated. Whatever pressures were coming to bear on the small gap finally succeeded in pinching it shut. Their link to Spader disappeared.

  Fontana spun to take in the new arrangements of barriers behind them.

  Randerson just lay with his flashlight pointing directly at the stone slab. He was stunned by what he’d seen at the last moment before the barriers changed. It had been behind Spader. On a trolley.

  Randerson could be wrong, but it looked like the biggest piece of gold he’d ever seen in his life.

  Chapter 15

  Rourke suppressed his panic.

  The intruders were winning. They had beaten him to the core chamber. They would have his gold by now. Anyone with half a brain would see how the gold could be tipped onto the trolley. Rourke had designed the trolley strong enough to handle the impact. He'd set everything up perfectly. He felt like such a fool.

  The intruders had his prize.

  What could he do to stop them? They could push his gold right passed him. It all depended on the orientation of the barriers. Every four minutes Rourke found himself in a new set of circumstances. Everything kept changing.

  But he had a plan.

  He warily rounded the corner and scanned the chamber for hostiles. It looked clear. He waved his four men forward.

  He'd formulated the plan after spotting some familiar cave code. The code pointed to his secret cache. The intruders hadn't found the cache, although their route must have passed very close.

  Rourke's eyes inventoried his cache of equipment. His light settled on the coils of stolen steel cable. He checked his watch. Three and a half minutes before the Gallery changed again.

  They needed to work fast.

  #

  'Did he just say giant lizards?' asked Ethan. Was he for real?

  'I believe him,' stated Gordon flatly.

  Spader said, 'Maybe Rourke used a hallucinogen on them.'

  Gordon shook his head. 'Take a look around. The people who built this place covered the walls in these carvings for a reason.'

  Ethan remembered Joanne's last translation. 'Randerson said they could camouflage like chameleons, right?’

  Gordon nodded. 'Sound familiar?'

  ‘Sounds like a Wind Deity,’ replied Ethan thoughtfully. ‘A large, camouflaged animal could seem supernatural. If it hunted from the canopy it would look like wind.'

  Ethan felt answers coming together in his mind. 'The Wind Deities could be real.'

  'Why the hell not?' demanded Gordon. 'I bet they built this place because of those animals. Imagine if your God was real and living among you. Now that is a reason to build a monument.’

  Ethan said, 'Other deities were in their minds, but these were actually in their midst.'

  'You're both making some very big leaps in logic,' cut in Spader.

  Gordon sounded excited now. 'What do you think deities are? They were unexplained natural phenomena. They were lighting, they were thunder, they were wind. They were awesome things that seemed removed by several orders of understanding from people's everyday lives.'

  'So what is this place then?' Spader asked. 'What are we in the middle of?'

  'This is a fox hunt,' answered Gordon, flashing his light up on the wall. 'And we're the little red foxes.'

  Spader illuminated more carvings. 'We've been thrown to the lions?'

  'That's not so inept an analogy,' added Ethan. 'The direct translation of chameleon is Earth Lion.'

  'So what now?' asked Gordon.

  Ethan slapped his palm on the gold. 'This gold...are you planning to melt it down? It deserves proper expert analysis.'

  Spader chuckled to himself. 'You really are clueless, Ethan.'

  'About what?' barked Ethan. ‘If you have something to say, just say it.'

  Spader shrugged. 'Ethan, you don't even know any experts. Your little circle of academic peers is exactly that - a little circle. The real archaeology is done by other people.'

  Ethan laughed out loud. 'A secret society of archaeologists? What a joke! You must think I was born yesterday!'

  Spader ignored Ethan's tone. 'Ever wondered about that guy in the library who always has access to the best resources but is never linked to an academic program. Or some of the top students, the really bright ones, who just seem to drop out? Let me tell you something, Ethan; they don't drop out. They're just upgrading to better teams. It just so happens that you’ve stumbled into one of them.'

  Ethan glanced at Gordon for confirmation. Gordon nodded, eyeing Spader uncomfortably.

  'I think I have a pretty good idea of how things operate,' said Ethan. 'It sounds like organized crime - pure and simple. So what happens to the people like me? People who get caught up?'

  Spader answered flatly, 'We have to trick them or recruit them. Or both, like Fontana.'

  Gordon said to Ethan, 'Fontana's the only criminal among us. Well, him and Brish.'

  Brish. Ethan knew that name. He had read it, or someone he knew had been talking about it.

  Gordon clicked his fingers, turning to Spader. 'Now I get it. That's why you split them up. You don't want both thieves working together.'

  'That's part of it,' admitted Spader. 'They're not thieves anymore. Don't let them hear you say that.'

  'That's a pile of nonsense.' Ethan slapped the gold again. 'You're here for the gold. Admit it. If this thing was made of horseshit, you wouldn't be stealing it.'

  'And you don't care that it's made of gold?' countered Spader. 'I bet if it was made of horseshit, you’d be far less concerned. You're just a thief with a permit.'

  'I just want answers,' yelled Ethan. 'I just want a chance to learn what it means!'

  Spader shoved something into Ethan's hand. 'Then why are you wasting time? You've got three minutes before the barriers move again.'

  Ethan examined the small digital camera. A rugged, waterproof case protected the device. The camera's memory was practically empty. It could take hundreds of pictures.

&nb
sp; 'That's not a good idea,' Gordon warned Spader.

  'He's earned it,' said Spader, watching Ethan. 'What are you waiting for?'

  'I need a scale,' answered Ethan.

  Gordon withdrew a tape measure from his cargo pants. He tossed the tape to Ethan. 'Be quick.'

  Ethan didn't waste another second. He extended the tape alongside the gold. Holding the camera in his right hand, he held the fluorescent lantern in his left hand to illuminate the golden hieroglyphs. He took pictures from every angle, and then started taking close-up pictures of every hieroglyph. He was halfway through the process when his watch began beeping.

  Still taking photographs, Ethan heard the barriers change. He ignored everything but his task, trying to record as much as possible before Spader made them push again. It would take Spader and Gordon a few seconds to scout out the new arrangement of chambers.

  Spader asked tersely, ‘Ethan, does the gold say anything about avoiding the Wind Deities?'

  'Not avoiding them, no,' replied Ethan. 'Why?'

  'Ethan, hold very still,' urged Gordon. 'Don't move a muscle.'

  'Why?'

  'Because there's a Wind Deity behind you.'

  Ethan looked over his shoulder. Holy crap.

  The barrier behind Ethan had opened to reveal the chamber beyond. The chamber wasn't empty.

  A God stood in the archway. Ethan's lamp illuminated the massive head and shoulders of a giant lizard.

  It's a dinosaur!

  But it wasn't. Ethan recognized the shape. It was a giant chameleon. Eye-stalks like witches hats fixed on Ethan.

  Christ - it's going to attack me.

  Ethan swallowed, wishing he'd been standing on the other side of the gold. The animal's head rocked from side to side like a branch disturbed by a light breeze.

  A Wind Deity.

  Ethan moved the lantern across his body, finding his balance and preparing to run. At that moment the animal attacked.

  Ethan had no time to react. The attack came in a pink blur. The tongue hit the lantern. The lantern hit Ethan's chest. The impact drove Ethan backwards. He heard the lantern shatter against his sternum, and then he was rolling head over heels across the chamber. He rolled clear into the next chamber. Before he stopped rolling, gunfire erupted.

  Catching himself on one elbow, Ethan looked back towards the shooting.

  The giant reptile thrashed its head as though harassed by wasps. Spader and Gordon kept firing. Ethan saw part of his fluoro-lantern swinging from the creature's mouth. The animal spun away from the gunfire and disappeared into the darkness again.

  Jesus Christ...that thing just tried to eat me! Like I was an insect. It caught the lantern instead. Only the lantern saved me.

  And that wasn't Ethan's only close call. He had been propelled at high speed by the animal's attack. If the archway he rolled through hadn't been open, he would have slammed into solid stone.

  Gaining his feet, Ethan brushed plastic lantern shards from his shirt. Two shards left shallow cuts on his chest. The bleeding had stopped.

  'I think we hurt it,' called Spader. 'Come on, Ethan. Get in here! Gordon, quick, let's go!'

  Gordon spoke as though emerging from a daze. 'Fontana said there were dozens of those things....'

  'We need to move.' Spader bent to push the gold. 'Come on, help me turn this thing.'

  Ethan stumbled into the chamber and took position behind the gold. On Spader's count, the three men pushed. They pushed straight through two chambers, then turned to get a clear run through four more chambers. Ethan’s legs and back felt on fire when they stopped.

  'OK,' puffed Spader, letting them all take a break. 'Now we wait for the barriers again.'

  Ethan remembered something important. He pushed off from the gold and dashed back the way they'd come.

  'Ethan!' yelled Gordon. 'Come back!'

  Ethan found the camera lying up against one wall. The animal’s attack had knocked it from his hand. It must have skidded along the floor. It looked intact.

  Ethan shone his flashlight on the archway where the animal had appeared. Blood flecked the stonework. A deity’s blood.

  Pocketing the camera quickly, Ethan rushed to join the others. At Spader's nod, he took position behind the gold.

  In his head, everything came together. The wind deities are real. It's all real.

  #

  Spader's legs were flagging.

  Gordon looked to be having just as much trouble. Rourke had designed the trolley for six men to push, not three.

  If only we could find Fontana and Randerson again.

  'I've lost track of how many junctions we've taken,' puffed Gordon. He glanced down at the smudged ink-marks on his arm. He pointed south. 'I think we should be heading that way, but I'm not sure anymore.'

  Spader turned to Ethan. 'You're not saying much.'

  Ethan waved towards the dark wall ahead. 'That's because I know exactly where we are. The carving on that wall ahead is of a man missing his hands.’

  Gordon brought up his flashlight. He found the carving Ethan described.

  Spader studied Ethan carefully. 'You know the way out?'

  Ethan answered, 'I'm pretty sure I could abandon you right now and find my way out. You can't. When this place stops moving, certain sections will seal up. Just like when we found it. Anyone trapped inside will die.'

  'He's right,' said Gordon. ‘We need to escape before the gravity increments expire.'

  Spader kept his face blank. 'Abandoning us would be murder, Ethan.'

  'Yes, it would,' replied Ethan flatly.

  'We can stop you from leaving.'

  'It takes three of us to push the trolley. You can't watch me every second.'

  Spader tried to look surprised. 'You've been planning this all along. You knew this would happen.'

  Ethan raised an eyebrow. 'You put the idea in my head. Tables have turned, Spader. Now we're playing by my rules. If you want to get out of here with your life, then I'm in charge.'

  'We don't have time for this!' interrupted Gordon.

  'I want access to the artifact,' said Ethan.

  'I can't do that,' replied Spader.

  Ethan glanced coolly at Spader. 'I wasn't asking you. I was telling Gordon. Right now Gordon and I are the only people with any power in this equation.'

  Gordon replied, 'Seven days access to the artifact. No assistants. Just you. We choose the location. I'll supply all the equipment you'll need.'

  'You don't know what I'll need.'

  'Yes, I do. You can use my equipment. Trust me, it's better than yours. I guarantee you'll be satisfied.'

  'I have your word on that?'

  'You'll get your access,' promised Gordon. 'I'll see to it.'

  'OK,' said Ethan. 'Three chambers south puts us on a straight line to the entrance.'

  'About time,' hissed Spader. 'Now let's push.'

  All three heaved against the trolley. They moved two chambers south before a new sound stopped them. Spader lifted his head from pushing. 'What is that noise?'

  Gordon froze with a listening look on his face. 'Not good. Not good at all.'

  Spader followed Ethan's flashlight along the chamber wall. The light stopped on something new. Steel cable. About four feet up the wall. The cable ran horizontally along the wall.

  Spader illuminated the opposite wall. Yep, there was more there, like some giant robot spider had started a steel web. Ahead, the cables stretched between several chambers. Spader checked behind them. They had pushed right through one chamber without noticing the cables.

  Why is Rourke keeping all these chambers open with cables?

  'This is our missing steel rope,' declared Ethan. 'Rourke stole all this from the dig.'

  'Rourke planned to bring the gold this way,' reasoned Gordon, wincing as the cable made an ominous twanging sound somewhere off in the darkness ahead. 'It means we're on the right track now.'

  'Any chance of going around?' Spader asked. 'Those cables are failing. If one snaps,
it could decapitate us.'

  'This is the quickest route,' said Ethan. 'Do you really want to push this trolley further than we need to? Of course, we can always just leave it.'

  'Point taken,' conceded Spader. 'Let's move fast. It sounds like these cables could all snap any second.'

  ‘Wait.' Gordon pointed to the nearest cable. The cable began twisting right before their eyes. 'Ethan, have you ever seen these fail under high load?'

  Ethan watched the cable twist. 'My safety officer was too good to ever let it happen.'

  Snick, snick, snick.

  'It's not like a normal rope,' continued Gordon. 'This cable explodes in a cloud of flying mesh. When one fails, the pressure might cause them all to fail. We can't be in these chambers then. Anyone inside will be shredded.'

  'So what do you advise?' demanded Spader, already knowing where Gordon was leading.

  'Leave the gold.'

  'Not an option,' barked Spader.

  Gordon nodded and prepared to push. 'That’s what I thought. Well, if you hear the cable snap, hit the deck flat.'

  We'd never have time for that, realized Spader. Best just to get through as quickly as possible.

  All three bent to the task again, ready to drop to the floor at a split-second's notice. In the next chamber, Spader saw every surrounding chamber held open by cables. The pressure on the cables had to be monumental.

  'Oh, this just gets better and better,' puffed Gordon.

  ‘Shhhhh,’ said Spader, switching of his lamp. ‘What’s that sound?’

  He heard it again. The sound of whispering. Off to his left. Someone was hiding in the next chamber. Spader heard boots shuffling stealthily into position.

  'It's a trap!' he hissed. 'Get back. Get back!'

  Too late. Gunfire thundered into their chamber from two directions.

  Spader dived into the nearest corner. He spun so the stone wall smacked into his back. Bright sparks bounced off the walls. He glimpsed Ethan dashing back into the last chamber. Gordon was already gone.

  Someone kicked Spader in the side of the head. No, wait - I've been shot!