“Just stay calm, Glen. We aren’t here to steal anything. We are just passing through.”
“You aren’t passing through shit until you tell me what all this is about!” Glen shouted, leveling the shotgun at James’s face.
“Please, Glen. You need to let us pass.”
“I don’t know what this is, but I know this – I never liked you Tureks. Seems to me that mother of yours can’t mind her own business. If she ain’t busy putting ideas in my Jennifer’s head about leaving, she’s calling the cops and trying to get my Jennifer to press charges. The last time they showed up I thought sure they were going to come with a warrant, and the last thing I need is cops snooping around here.” He pushed the gun forward toward James’s face. “And I ask you this, what man ain’t got the god-given right to discipline his own wife when she gets out of line?”
“Well, Glen, when your Jennifer shows up on our porch with a bloody lip and a black eye, the cops are going to get called. Now please, do the smart thing here and let us pass. We won’t tell anyone about your little grow operation.” James tried; his hands were still held out, palms open.
Garrett watched wide-eyed from the cover of the tunnel. “Holy shit, he has a shotgun pointed right at James’s face! What do we do?” he asked, looking to his mother for help.
“You shut up and wait, like your brother said!” she said in a lowered tone as she moved carefully forward to the mouth of the tunnel.
Garrett blinked in stunned disbelief. She had never told him to shut up. Who were these people? He glanced to Lenny, hoping to catch his eye, but Lenny’s attention was on James and Glen, who was becoming more agitated. The barrel of the gun was practically pressed to James’s nose. It was close – too close.
James held up his hands. “Last chance, Glen, I want you to calm—” He stopped short when Glen’s eyes flicked to Elaine as she slowly eased through the hole in the wall behind James. James used the distraction to grab the barrel of the shotgun with his left hand, then Glen’s trigger finger with his right.
Garrett gasped.
The power went out and the lights flicked off again.
When they came back on, James yanked back on Glen’s trigger finger until it snapped.
Glen wailed in pain, instantly letting go of the gun.
James flipped the gun around and struck Glen on the bridge of the nose, eliciting an immediate spray of blood from the neighbor’s nostrils.
Glen let out a high-pitched shriek as he dropped to his knees. His eyelids fluttered, but somehow he stayed conscious.
Upstairs they heard more shuffling, rummaging through drawers, then a woman’s voice. “Glen! My god! What’s going on, Glen!” she screamed.
The lights continued to flicker in and out, the power unsure whether to stay on or off. Garrett felt disoriented, like he was inside the Wacky Shack fun house at the Menard County Fair – only the smell of barf was replaced with the smell of weed and coppery blood.
The power issue didn’t slow Glen’s wife, Jennifer, as she came down the stairs with utter disregard for her own safety. Jennifer was a slight woman, but she was wiry and brandishing a butcher knife. When she stepped off the last step, her eyes darted to Glen.
Glen was on the floor on his hands and knees, bleeding profusely from his nose. Despite his condition, he was making a good effort to get to his feet.
Jennifer’s eyes flicked from Glen to James, and her face screwed up in a fleeting moment of confusion that quickly turned to rage. “What have you done!” Jennifer screamed, lunging at James with the knife.
He sidestepped, dodging the thrust. The woman didn’t slow and began flailing wildly, slashing at James again and again.
Glen was back on his feet and pissed. “You broke my nose! You son of a bitch! You broke my nose!” He turned, staggering away from James back toward the wall near the stairs.
Jennifer continued frantically brandishing the knife back and forth through the air.
James backpedaled, dodging the wild swings of the blade, occasionally using the shotgun to block a strike he couldn’t avoid. “Jennifer, please? Don’t!”
From the shadows behind the artificial lighting, Elaine emerged. “Jennifer!”
Jennifer turned, her face twisted in a combination of surprise and fury, the butcher knife held high. “Elaine!”
“Jennifer, it’s okay,” Elaine said calmly.
“They’re trying to rob us!” Glen shouted over his shoulder.
Jennifer’s head shook side to side in sheer panic. Her eyes darted from Elaine to the hole in her basement wall.
“No, hon, we’re not.”
“Don’t you dare listen to her! He broke my nose!” Glen said, lifting a long-handled garden shovel from its hanger.
Fear clouded Jennifer’s face, but it wasn’t fear of Elaine… it was of Glen. She swung the knife at Elaine’s face.
Elaine moved with sudden speed, grabbing the wrist of Jennifer’s knife hand, twisting until the knife fell free.
Jennifer screamed.
The knife clanked to the floor as Elaine pulled the woman in close and whispered something in her ear, but Garrett couldn’t hear what it was. Next, Elaine yanked Jennifer’s wrist across her body, forcing the smaller woman into a spin until Elaine was suddenly behind her. Elaine wrapped her arm around the woman’s neck from behind then braced it with the other hand, leaned back, and squeezed. “I’m so sorry, Jennifer, but we have to move,” Elaine said, as the woman’s eyes rolled up in her head.
Jennifer struggled briefly, her bare feet dangling uselessly inches above the floor before she went limp as a noodle.
Garrett and Lenny’s eyes went wide in disbelief as Elaine eased the woman gently to the concrete floor and rolled her onto her side.
“Bro, did your mom just put your neighbor in a rear naked choke!?” Lenny said.
But Garrett’s attention was back on his brother. “Look!” he said, pointing.
Glen squared up on James, his garden shovel drawn back over his right shoulder like a batter ready at the plate. “You made a big mistake, you son of a bitch!” Glen said, bloody spittle spraying from his mouth.
James stared unflinching, the shotgun in his right hand, but the way he held the gun told Garrett his brother had no intention of shooting the man. Then, slowly, he switched the shotgun to his left hand and waited.
The basement lights continued to dance strangely. Garrett knew it was somehow the work of the God Stones. He could feel them.
Glen sucked in a breath, tensed, and cocked the shovel back a few more inches.
It was the tell James was waiting for. Rather than react to the coming swing with a block or try to dodge it, he did what Glen didn’t expect. James stepped forward, closing the gap completely as he drove a wicked right elbow into the man’s face before the shovel even left his shoulder. Glen dropped to all fours as the shovel slid harmlessly across the basement floor. James wasted no time and stepped forward again, this time booting Glen in the gut.
Glen rolled onto his back, choking and coughing.
James struck him in the head again, this time with the butt of the shotgun. Glen didn’t move, but that didn’t stop James from striking him a third time just to be sure.
Elaine nodded at James approvingly, then swiveled her face back toward Garrett and Lenny. “Let’s move!”
9
Giants
Wednesday, April 6 – God Stones, Day 1
Rural Chiapas State, Mexico
“Sarah, Are you okay?” Gabi asked.
Sarah held out a hand as she tried to pull in several slow breaths.
“I think you are hyperventilating. Maybe you should sit down?”
“No!” she managed, waving Gabi off. “I just… need to… to breathe. God, Gabi! This is life-changing… history-changing!”
Without warning, she grabbed the young girl with the raven hair and pulled her close, squeezing her in a tight embrace. Too tight. “Sa… rah,” Gabi groaned, laughing. “I can’t… breathe
.”
Sarah loosened her grip and laughed too.
Footsteps echoed off the stone steps as Gabi’s mother and father, with the rest of the team, made their way down the spiraling staircase.
Sarah pushed Gabi back and held her at arm’s length, her headlamp beam washing over Gabi’s face. “We got to get it together, girl. Don’t let the team see you freaking out!” Sarah said, as much to herself as to Gabi.
Gabi nodded, suppressing another laugh.
Sarah let go of Gabi’s shoulders and rubbed her sweaty palms down her pant legs. They nodded to each other and turned to the stairs as Fredy, along with María, Manuel, Andrés, and Itzel, the core of her archaeology team, entered the chamber. Each team member was loaded down, carrying coils of rope, harnesses, plastic tubs, camera gear, and tripod lighting equipment. Up above, the local laborers led by Juan, the foreman, would continue their efforts to clear debris in the other direction of the cave.
“Team, we have something major here,” Sarah said carefully.
The team froze in place, looking at her expectantly.
Sarah looked at Gabi, pressed her lips into a tight smile, and turned back to the team. “The skull racks appear to be holding the heads of a… of a… of a race of giant people with double-rowed teeth.”
Fredy blinked, then very slowly he sat a lighting tripod down on the floor with a soft clack.
No one else moved.
“See for yourselves,” she said.
Still, no one moved. They stood transfixed, perhaps in shock at Sarah’s spectacular claim. It was as if they had just stared into Medusa’s eyes and turned to stone.
Fredy was the first to break the stone-like trance, approaching the nearest rack, where one of the horizontal wooden shafts had rotted over time, causing several skulls to slide off onto the floor of the chamber. It only took Fredy a brief moment of close inspection. “Dios mío!” Fredy gasped. “Sarah’s right – they’re too large, and the teeth… I’ve never seen anything like it!”
The chamber exploded with excited energy, everyone talking at once. Andrés and Itzel began assembling the lighting and soon the circular chamber was bathed in artificial light. Fredy, Manuel, and María went to work measuring, photographing, and cataloging all the data the chamber had to offer.
“Gabi! Itzel, can you believe this?” Andrés said, taking his wife’s and daughter’s hands in his. “In my wildest dreams, I never thought we would discover anything like this place.”
Itzel shook her head. “No. Never. It’s truly amazing. This changes everything we thought we knew about the past. The implications are… my god, they’re…”
Andrés kissed her hard on the mouth then, pulling back, he smiled. “I know, my love! I know.” He grabbed Gabi, lifting her as he spun in a circle.
“¡Papá!” Gabi screeched as she twirled.
“Andrés! Please be careful! We can’t have you falling down in here.”
Andrés spun away, still grinning with excitement.
Sarah laughed to herself as she watched them. Then her laughter faded as her thoughts went somewhere else.
Gabi closed the distance between them. “Are you okay, Sarah?” she asked.
“Yes,” she breathed, “better than okay. I just wish Charles and Bre were here for this. Look there,” she said, pointing at Itzel. “It’s your mom I’m worried about.”
Gabi watched as Itzel’s smile changed to concern when she suddenly realized she was still wearing her wedding ring. Her mother always removed her ring before each day’s dig. Now she stood chewing her lower lip, apparently deciding whether to stuff the ring into her pocket or risk leaving it on her finger as she worked. “¿Mamá?”
“It’s fine,” she said with a forced smile, finally deciding to drop the ring into her front pocket rather than risk damaging it or knocking the small diamond loose.
Sarah approached her mother, pulling a long gold chain from beneath her shirt. Unclasping it, she pulled the chain through the eyelet of a small charm. “This charm was a gift from Breanne. This gold chain was a gift from someone else.” Next, she removed a thin bracelet from her wrist, attached the charm, then placed the bracelet back around her wrist, double-checking the clasp.
“Itzel?” Sarah said, approaching the woman. “Can I see your wedding ring?”
Surprised, Itzel smiled. “Of course.” Carefully she removed it from her pocket and passed it to Sarah.
Sarah slid the ring onto her gold chain and smiled in return. “Now turn around.”
“Oh, Sarah – I can’t take this.”
“Yes, you can,” Sarah said reassuringly as she pointed at the ring. “Now please, I insist – take this before you lose your ring.”
“But, Sarah…”
Sarah gestured to her to turn around. “Maybe someday I will have a ring to hang from it and you can give it back to me,” she said, with a small smile.
The pain in Sarah’s eyes did not go unnoticed. Itzel started to turn but then suddenly threw her arms around the woman. “Thank you! I promise I will keep it safe for you until you need it.” She turned around, pulling her long hair to the side.
Sarah clasped the necklace around the woman’s neck. “There you go. Now then, let’s go make history!”
Itzel spun back toward her, tucking the necklace into her shirt. “Yes! History!”
“Gabi, if it’s okay with Itzel, let’s take another look at that hole.”
Itzel nodded. “Just be careful, Gabi. I am itching to get photos and measurements of these skulls, and did you see the murals? We should photograph those right away. Just in case the air or all of us breathing in here causes a reaction with the pigments.”
Gabi knelt down, reexamining the rim of the hole under the new wash of artificial light. She could see no tooling marks in the four equally placed notches, nor could she see tooling marks around the walls of the perfectly circular hole. Finally, she said, “Sarah, I don’t think this place is real.”
Sarah nodded. “I think I know what you mean, Gabi. How closely did you look at the stairs when you came down?”
“The seams on the stairs? And the ones on the walls of the staircase?” she asked. “You noticed them too?”
“I did, but I don’t think the others have, and I don’t have an explanation for it… not yet. Do you?”
“You’re asking me?” Gabi asked in surprise.
“Of course,” Sarah said, matter-of-factly. Lowering her voice, she continued, “Listen, Gabi, sometimes you have to use your intuition.” She pointed at her gut. “I believe in it as sure as I believe the sun shines. So, I ask you, Gabi, what is yours telling you about this place?”
Gabi gazed aimlessly at the top of the chamber, considering Sarah’s words as she tried to consciously access her gut, to feel something inside her, to listen for it to tell her how she felt. But that wasn’t how it worked, was it? No. She knew that. Instinctively she knew that just like she knew this place wasn’t natural. “Sarah? I think this place was constructed. Just like the pyramid above isn’t really a mountain, this place isn’t really a cave. The whole thing – the stairs, this whole room, and this hole too – I don’t think it leads to a cenote,” she said, gesturing with a nod.
Sarah nodded too, looking around the room as if for the first time. Then she looked back at the rim of the hole and ran her hand along the surface. “Smooth as glass. Maybe you are onto something, Gabi. Fredy, come here, please,” Sarah said, scanning the chamber.
Gabi’s face stretched into a wide grin.
Fredy came to her side, his eyes dancing all around the newly lit room. “Sarah, this place is incredible. The skulls… they’re, they’re… Sarah, this is a whole new race of people right in the heart of Mesoamerica! And unknown until now! Have you looked at the walls? The murals! María and Itzel are brushing them now, and the colors they are revealing are as vibrant as the day they were painted! Sarah, they may tell the whole story of this place! Just think of it! Until this very moment! A race completely forgot
ten by history! I… I just… just…” But the words wouldn’t come.
Gabi giggled. It was funny to watch Fredy struggle with the initial shock of what she and Sarah had already experienced.
“Alright, Fredy,” Sarah said, chuckling. “You’re going to be world famous, but first let’s figure this out. This place is just starting to show us its secrets.” She pointed down the shaft. “I need to get to the bottom of this shaft. Help me gear up. I’m going in.”
Gabi looked at Fredy as concern washed over his face like a dark shadow.
Suddenly Fredy found his voice. “Sarah, please, wait. I recommend you send Andrés first. We don’t know what this is or what problems you may encounter.” His scowl deepened as he pressed his lips into a tight line.
Gabi looked back to Sarah.
“I’ll be fine,” Sarah said firmly, her own face hardening with determination.
Now back to Fredy.
Fredy’s jaw tightened as he seemed to realize he was in for an argument he couldn’t win. But he made one more effort. “Andrés is a professional climber. Let him go first and at least make sure it is safe.”
Before Fredy could finish, Sarah had her harness on and was connecting the figure-eight device to a length of cord like she had done this a thousand times. Gabi thought she probably had done this a thousand times in a thousand places all over the world.
“I know, Fredy – that’s why he is going to come double-check my gear and make sure my tie-off is secure.”
As Gabi listened to the back and forth, she realized that if Sarah was getting this much trouble out of Fredy, there was no scenario that was going to have Gabi rappelling down the shaft next to Sarah.
Fredy knelt beside Sarah, placing a hand gently on her upper arm. “Please, Sarah, reconsider. It may be booby-trapped like the tile was. Let us not forget that whoever built this place put in a false ceiling in the upper chamber. We still don’t understand how they were able to get all those stones in place. I beg you, Sarah. Who knows what they were capable of!”
The Keepers Of The Light (God Stone Book 2) Page 7