by David Wood
“Radioactive material doesn’t typically glow,” Amanda said. “But sometimes radiation can cause other minerals to glow. I wrote an article on it once.” She stood and took his hand as they paused, admiring the sight.
On the far end, water poured out of a clover-shaped opening forty feet up the wall, and tumbled over a series of seven terraces before emptying into the channel that flowed beneath them. The walkway on which they stood ran directly down the middle of the channel, ending at the seven-terraced waterfall.
“Where is all this water coming from?” Amanda asked.
“We’re pretty far below ground level,” Bones said, consulting his Pathfinder. “I suppose some sort of underground stream runs through here.”
“Well, this fits, at least. I think the next two clues go together,” Amanda said, taking out her notes. “’On the third terrace in the cave on the eastern side inside the waterfall.’ Looks like we’re going to get wet.”
“And to think I didn’t even bring my umbrella,” Bones said. “Who’d have thought we’d need one down here?”
From the stairwell behind them a cold voice spoke.
“I wouldn’t worry about that. You won’t be needing it.”
Chapter 28
Issachar knew something was wrong the moment he entered the chamber. A foul stench filled the air, the faint sound of something… many somethings... running, and then…
A vicious snarl, and then a bloodcurdling scream. Confused shouts. Gunfire. Muzzle flashes. Confused interplays of light as the squad members searched for their attackers. And then he saw one.
A flash of gleaming white fangs, a slick, black snout, and burning eyes hurtled toward him from out of the darkness. He brought his Kalashnikov up and blew its head apart. So they could die. That was all he needed to know.
A flare blossomed in the darkness, setting the cavern aglow. Some of the creatures shied away from it, but others continued to attack. The surviving members of the squad fell in together, keeping up a steady fire and moving as one across the cavern.
Issachar picked off another leaping beast. In the glow of the flare he could see a little more of them. Their low-slung bodies were lithe, like greyhounds, and covered in dark hide. What were they?
“This way!” The Elder shouted. “Keep moving!”
Another squad member fell to one of the creatures. Issachar fired at it and missed. The beast began dragging the body away. He fired again and brought it down.
Reaching the far side of the cavern, Issachar and Benjamin laid down a steady rate of fire, trying to keep the creatures at bay as the men climbed into the passageway, but the creatures had fallen back into the darkness. Issachar caught a glimpse of booted feet as the beasts dragged the corpse of one of their men away into the darkness.
That’s everyone, Elder,” Benjamin said as Issachar scrambled into the tunnel. “The rest are dead. The creatures are…” he paused, his face twisted in disgust. “The creatures are dragging their bodies away. They’re even dragging away the carcasses of their own dead.” Sweat shone on his florid face, and he voice quavered.
“What are they?” Levi asked in scarcely more than a whisper.
“I don’t know,” Benjamin said. “Their heads are like wolves, but their teeth…” He shuddered and swallowed hard. “I wish I had could have gotten a better look at them. I’ve never seen anything like them.”
The Elder had gotten a good enough look at them, however. In the first chamber, they had found Jacob’s remains buried under a rock fall, and had just seen the passageway above the pillar, when surprised shouts and agonized screams shattered the silence. As the rattle of gunfire filled the air, he turned back to a horrific sight. Like a macabre slide show, each muzzle flash revealed demonic creatures, somehow doglike, reptilian, and catlike at the same time. He could make no more sense of them in the strobe-like flashes of gunfire and wavering beams of their high-intensity flashlights. They stood little chance against these lightning-quick creatures that could apparently see in the dark. He had dropped a flare and guided his men to the escape, but already his elite twelve had been reduced to seven.
“It doesn’t matter what they are or what they look like.” Issachar’s voice was a low rumble like a rockslide. “They can be killed. That’s all that matters.” He stood, his hulking form seeming to fill the tunnel in shadow.
The Elder nodded. He stood and shone his light down the passage ahead of them, seeing nothing threatening.
“We are seven now,” he said. “A fitting number for uncovering the secret of the legend of the Seven Cities. God has seen fit to cull our flock. We will not be taken unawares again. Naphtali, you will be the rear guard. Keep an eye out behind us.” The hulking blond man nodded. “Benjamin, watch for any passages or trapdoors on our right, Asher you mind the left. Levi will be on the lookout for anything coming from above. I will take the lead.” His words seemed to renew his men’s confidence, and they set forth at a slow jog.
The Elder set his jaw, channeling his frustration into a sense of righteous rage. It was his destiny to bring the Dominion to power. No longer would they be a clandestine organization, little more than a well-funded paramilitary group. The treasure would bring them greater wealth, no doubt, and the notoriety associated with the discovery would certainly cause many true believers to finally abandon the Mormon church and join the Dominion. But the true prize was something none other than him even suspected. Not even Ihara knew what the Elder believed lay beneath these stones. He suppressed a shiver of excitement as he thought of the moment he would finally lay hands upon it and the Dominion would truly live up to its name.
“Put your hands up very slowly.” A man stepped out from the shadowy passageway, his pistol trained on Bones. He was just a shade over six feet tall, solid and muscular. His flat-topped hair was prematurely gray and looked like it had been cut with a laser level. He fixed his intense gaze on Bones. “Ihara, will you please relieve them of their weapons?”
Jade stepped out from behind the man. She did not meet Bones’ eye as she relieved him of his Glock and Amanda of the .22. She didn’t check his boot sheath, which struck Bones as odd. He was certain she knew about the knife he always carried.
“I remember you now,” Bones said. “You’re the idiot whose car I stole at Mesa Verde.” Bones said. “Where’s Maddock?”
Jade did not answer. She stepped back to stand beside the man with the gun and went about storing the confiscated pistols in her pack before drawing her own weapon, a snub-nose .38 revolver, and trained it on Amanda.
“Maddock is dead,” the man said. “You can thank Ihara for that.”
“Shut up, Jarren,” Jade muttered.
“I’ll kill you,” Bones whispered. “Slowly and painfully.” He wasn’t sure which of them he was talking to. Right now, he wanted them both dead. He might have taken his chances going after Jarren, but not at the risk of Jade killing Amanda. “You’re both going to die.”
“You’d better do it quickly,” the man said. “As I’m about to kill you. I just wanted to give you some time to think about it before you died. You deserve to suffer a little. As a matter of fact,” he lowered his gun from Bones’ chest to his abdomen, “I think I’ll make it slow and painful, as you suggested.”
“You might want to think again.” He was trying to think of anything to keep them talking. Anything to buy time in hopes that Jarren would make a mistake and give him an opening. “We’ve heard from Jimmy again. Seems he made some mistranslations in the final steps.” It was almost true. “We saw what happened to your little friend in the first chamber, so you know what a bad idea it is to proceed without complete information.”
“We’ll take it off your dead body,” Jarren said.
“I didn’t write it down, you half-wit. It’s in my noggin.”
“We should keep them alive anyway,” Jade said. “In case the treasure is booby-trapped. Let them lead the way and they can spring whatever traps are waiting for us.”
“N
ot a bad idea,” Jarren said. “But we don’t need both of them to do that. And since Bonebrake here is the one with the knowledge, that makes his girlfriend expendable. Kill her.”
It was like Bones had been dunked in freezing water. His eyes locked with Jade’s and he saw her look from him to Amanda and then at Jarren. Her face was a mask of uncertainty. She looked at Amanda and frowned as if trying to communicate something. Her eyes fell, as did her hand in which she held her gun.
“Ihara?” Jarren turned his head to look at Jade. That was all Bones needed.
He sprang forward, striking Jarren’s wrist with a vicious downward chop that numbed his fingers. He ripped the gun out of Jarren’s grasp, but before he could get control of the weapon, Jarren knocked it out of his hands. Green light glinted off the barrel as it spun through the air and splashed into the water. At the mouth of the passage, Amanda had pounced on Jade and was grappling with her, trying to wrest the revolver from her. Bones landed a solid right to Jarren’s jaw, sending him tumbling backward. He leaped past Jarren, stumbling as he dove for the weapon.
He, Jade, and Amanda landed in a heap at the mouth of the passageway. Bones grabbed the short barrel of the revolver and pointed it up toward the ceiling, aware that Jade’s finger was still on the trigger.
“No!” Jade grunted. “You… don’t … understand.”
Bones twisted onto his side, and with his right hand, pushed the hammer back and forced the webbing of his hand inside the hammer, preventing it from firing. With a snarl of pure rage, he ripped the pistol away from Jade. Before he could turn the weapon on Jarren, though, burning agony exploded inside him as Jarren landed a solid kick to Bones’ groin. Dizzy with pain and grunting with the effort, he rolled onto his back, raising the revolver. Jarren kicked it out of his hands and dove onto Bones, his hands clutched at Bones’ throat.
Bones had plenty of experience in ground fighting, but the direct blow to the groin had weakened him. He struggled to get the clutching hands away from his throat. He worked Jarren’s right hand loose, and struggled in vain to wrap it up. He pushed with both feet and twisted, trying to turn the man over, knowing he did not have the leverage or remaining strength to do so. His air almost completely cut out, his vision swam and Jarren’s eyes glowed in triumph. Bones twisted again, trying to free himself. Amanda could not help him; she was still struggling with Jade. He knew the fight had lasted only a minute if that, but the moments stretched into eternity as they struggled for their lives.
Jarren ripped his hand loose from Bones’ weakening grasp and clenched his fist, ready to rain down blows, when something caught his eye. Bones’ pants leg had slid up and Jarren had seen the knife. Before Bones could react, Jarren wrested it free and raised it above his head.
“Time to die.”
Chapter 29
Maddock burst into the glowing cavern, his eyes taking in the scene in a split-second. Jade and Amanda wrestling on the floor, rolling precariously closer to the edge of the walkway and the dark water that waited below. A man with an upraised knife. Bones clutching desperately at the man’s arm.
His Walther useless, having expended all his bullets fighting off the dark creatures that whose lair he had penetrated, he sprinted forward, leaping into the air and catching the man full in the chest with a flying side kick. The man fell onto his back, still clutching the knife. Maddock tumbled to the walkway, catching most of the impact of his fall on his shoulder, rolled over, and sprang to his feet.
“Jarren! No!” Jade shouted. She and Amanda lay on the ground, their fight forgotten, both staring open-mouthed at Maddock. Bones rolled over onto his stomach, choking and gasping for breath.
Jarren crept forward, his knife held low, a vicious look in his eyes, still panting from the fatigue of his fight with Bones. He chanced a glance behind him, apparently to gauge how long he had to dispatch Maddock before Bones was able to join the fray. He sprang forward, slashing at Maddock’s inner thigh, trying to sever the femoral artery.
Maddock slipped out of the way just in time, the blade slicing a shallow cut across the outside of his thigh. He sprang forward, driving his elbow into Jarren’s throat. Jarren reeled backward, gasping, but immediately resumed the attack, stabbing at Maddock’s midsection. Maddock pivoted and with an open palm, knocked Jarren’s knife hand to the side. As the blade thrust met empty space, Maddock trapped Jarren’s elbow with his right arm and struck him twice in the side of the neck with vicious palm heel strikes. Jarren’s knees buckled and the knife clattered to the ground. Maddock released his grip.
As Jarren staggered away, Bones stepped in front of him.
“I owe you this,” he said, and drove a devastating right cross into the man’s temple. Jarren’s eyes went glassy. He took two steps to his right, and then went limp. He tumbled like a rag doll over the edge of the walkway and into the water below. They watched the current carry him out of sight.
Bones grasped Maddock by the shoulders and held him at arm’s length, looking at him like he had not seen him in ages.
“Bro, I thought I’d never see you again,” he said. His eyes grew suddenly hard and he whirled about, picked his knife up off the ground where Jarren had dropped it, and stalked down the walkway toward the women, who were standing and looking at him in trepidation. “All right, Jade. What do you want me to cut off first: your fingers or your toes? I would cut your eyes out, but I want you to watch yourself bleed to death.”
“Bones! What the hell are you talking about?” Maddock shouted. He couldn’t believe his friend was saying this.
“She’s one of them,” Bones snarled. “She’s part of the Dominion. All along, it was her feeding information to them. As soon as Jimmy sent us the final translation, they sent men to kill us. They killed Saul and almost got us. She,” he pointed at Jade, “was supposed to kill you. She told them she had.”
Maddock felt like a detached spirit floating in blessed unfeeling. He had not felt this numb since Melissa died. Everything fell into place. She had used him, used them, to help her find the clues she sought. When she didn’t need them anymore, she drugged him and left him to die in the desert, and left the others to be taken unaware by the Dominion men.”
“Don’t kill her,” he said in a voice like ice. He couldn’t bring himself to do that. “Find something to tie her up. We’ll figure out what to do with her after we find the treasure.”
“Maddock, no!” Jade cried, her voice cracking. “You read my note, didn’t you? I explained everything!” Tears welled in her eyes, and she took a tentative step toward him.
“What note?”
“They wanted me to kill you, but there was no way I would ever do that. I gave you something to put you to sleep and left you somewhere safe I knew of, somewhere close by until I could come back for you. I explained it all in the note.”
“You left me in the desert to die.” He said.
“I left you in a sheltered place with six bottles of water, a bag of trail mix, and a note telling you to stay out of sight until I came back for you because the Dominion wanted you dead. Don’t you remember when we stopped for coffee? The paper bag I carried out of the convenience store?” She was pleading now. “I tucked it between you and the wall of the overhang.”
Maddock vaguely remembered her taking a paper bag out of the back of the car. He certainly could have missed a brown paper bag stuck in a shadowy overhang of red rock. Could it be true? He wanted it to be, but he didn’t know if he could trust her.
“Maddock, if I wanted you dead, don’t you think I could have killed you while you were asleep? Why do you think I left you so close to Zion instead of out in the middle of nowhere? How could you think I could do that to you after we… after…” Her voice faded away. Tears now flowed freely down her cheeks, but she did not look away from him. “Please,” she whispered. “I really do care about you.”
He couldn’t take it. He had tried so hard not to let himself have feelings for anyone since Melissa had died. There had been Kaylin for
a short while, and then after last night, he had thought… He turned his back on her and stared into the water tumbling from the center of Fray Marcos’ symbol and down onto the glowing terraces.
“Explain a few things to me, then.” Bones said, taking up the slack in the conversation. “You admit, then, that you’re in the Dominion.”
“No,” Jade replied. “Maddock, please look at me. I’ll tell you everything. I promise.”
“Telling me everything from the start would have been a good idea,” he said, turning around to face her. “Now I don’t know if you’re going to tell me the truth or a carefully crafted story.”
“I know. When I first met you, I didn’t want to scare you away by telling you. I actually knew your name, and yours,” she said to Bones, “from reading about what happened in Jordan. Then things got dangerous, and I was afraid you’d bail on me, and I was scared and I needed you. When I realized I was falling for you, it had been so long that I didn’t see how I could tell you after waiting all that time.”
“Fine, just tell me whatever truth it is you want to tell me.” He folded his arms across his chest and stared at her.
“My passion has always been solving the mystery of the Seven Cities. Saul was one of my students, and one day he approached me with something I had only dreamed of ever finding: the missing final page from the journal of Fray Marcos de Niza.”
“Great. Another journal,” Bones muttered, fingering his knife.
“Fray Marcos uncovered evidence of a “great and terrible” secret. That secret was somehow associated with an order that acted under the sign of the cross-and-clover, the one we now know as Fray Marcos’s sign. He journeyed through the New World and managed to confirm the truth of that secret. Seeing the depredations they committed upon the native people, and not wanting the Conquistadores to discover his secret, he concocted the story of the Seven Cities of Cibola, both to explain his wanderings and to throw the Spanish off. He did not, however, think it was his place to hide this secret from the world forever, so he and Estevanico concocted a plan. He remained in the southwest, planting clues in places he and Fray Marcos had chosen. Fray Marcos returned to Mexico, telling everyone that Estevanico had been killed and spreading his tale of seven cities containing more gold than the Incas ever dreamed of.