“I still think we’re going to have to blast through that petroglyph to get to whatever is behind it,” Saul interjected. “That spiral looks just like a bullseye to me.”
“We aren’t going to blow up the Sun Dagger,” Jade said. “We don’t even have permission to climb the butte. Besides, the petroglyph was carved long before Fray Marcos came to the New World. In fact, the Chaco Canyon settlement was nearing its end during his time.”
Saul shrugged. “Suit yourself. I’m still bringing my toys.” Apparently Jade’s assistant fancied himself a demolitions expert. “By the way, did I tell you what I learned this morning?”
“How to tie your shoe?” Jade quipped.
“No, really,” Saul said, ignoring the jibe. “I was reading an article about Chaco Canyon. The people who lived here were famous for their Cibola-style pottery. Cibola! Pretty cool, huh?”
“Uh huh,” Jade said, returning her gaze to the map. “I feel like we can get in and out of there pretty quickly. The park doesn’t get many visitors, so they likewise have very few rangers. I’m figuring they spend most of their time inside the air-conditioned welcome center. The butte is off the beaten path, so we should be all right.”
Saul stopped the car in a small turnoff amidst sand-colored hills. “We’re hoofing it from here, ladies and gentlemen. Grab your jocks and your socks.”
“Lovely, Saul,” Jade mumbled as she stepped out of the car.
Saul opened the trunk and they each donned a heavy backpack. They had outfitted themselves with climbing gear, analytical instruments and water. Lots of water.
A twisting, sloped trail wound its way up into the bare hills. Dane was soon reaching for a water bottle. They called a halt upon gaining the top of one of the rocky promontories. Years on the water had helped him grow accustomed to the sun beating down on him, but in this place the air seemed to suck the last drops of moisture from his body. He took a long, cool drink and scanned the horizon. It was beautiful, if such a desolate place could be called so. The sky was high and slightly hazy from the heat. He tried to mop his brow, but the sweat evaporated almost instantaneously. How had people ever lived in this oven?
“Down the hill and to the east,” Jade said, leading the way. The trail was gravelly but not particularly precarious. Saul lost his footing more than once, each time falling heavily onto Dane’s back, cursing all the while. The man was a buffoon, but there was nothing Dane could do to get rid of him, so he gritted his teeth and continued bearing Saul up, hoping all the while that it wouldn’t be much longer.
Twenty minutes later they stood at the base of Fajada Butte, staring up at the massive red rock. As Jade had predicted, there was no sign of a park ranger, or any other human being for that matter. Dane circled the base, looking for the most promising climb. He finally settled on the southwest side, stripped off his pack, and began pulling out climbing gear.
“I don’t know,” Saul said, walking up beside Dane. “This thing looks pretty tall to me.”
“One hundred thirty five meters, to be exact,” Dane said. “Not the easiest free climb I’ve ever made, but far from the most difficult.” He and Bones had done their share of rock climbing together, and they had never agreed on who was the more skilled. Dane was more agile, but longer legs and arms allowed Bones to reach crevasses and holds that Dane could not. Until a few years ago, they had placed bets on all of their free climbs. Dane chuckled and shook his head at the thought of his friend. Bones had promised to join them as soon as Isaiah was out of the woods. Dane hoped it would be soon. It just wasn’t right doing this without his partner.
“Are you all right?” Jade asked in her satin-over-sandpaper voice that reminded him of a young Demi Moore. “You look worried.”
“No, I’m fine,” Dane said. “Just got distracted thinking about Bones’ cousin. Wondering if he’s going to be okay.”
“I’m sure he will,” Jade said. “He has to, so I can meet this Bones character you’ve been telling me about. In any case, if you’re serious about free climbing this thing, you’d better keep your focus.”
“Yes ma’am,” he replied in his best military voice. He sprang nimbly to his feet. “When I get to the top, I’ll set a rope for you. Send Saul up first, so you can belay for him.” That, and if the rope breaks, we’ll have one less problem to deal with. “You bring up the rear.” No one had told him he was in charge of the climb, but sometimes a given set of circumstances seemed to dictate it. Since neither Jade nor Saul objected, it must have been the right thing to do.
He set to climbing, and was pleasantly surprised at the ease with which he scaled the rock. The cracked, pitted surface provided ample handholds, and none of the angles were too treacherous. Soon, the three of them stood atop Fajada Butte, admiring the surrounding landscape. He found it truly amazing that a people had not only lived but flourished amidst this hard land.
“The Sun Dagger,” Jade said, her voice filled with reverence and wonder. She indicated a spot against a high rock wall where three slabs of rock stood against the rock wall beneath an outcropping. The tallest was just over nine feet tall, and they all were tilted slightly to the left, like slices of bread.
“It’s not much to look at,” Saul said. And he was right. Despite having seen snapshots, Dane had created an image in his mind of something larger than life, something magical and mysterious. This was something quite ordinary.
Jade’s enthusiasm was not dampened in the least. She hurried over to the stone slabs and ducked down, vanishing behind them. Dane followed her. Slipping into the shade beneath the stone pillars, his eyes were immediately drawn to the pictograph — a large spiral, twisting into a point in the center of the sandstone slab. He had read that the spirals carried different meanings depending on whether they spun out clockwise or counterclockwise, but he could not remember anything more.
“It’s beautiful,” Jade whispered, her fingertips mere centimeters above the rocks surface, tracing the spiral line without touching it. She was right. There was something in its simplicity, its balance, its perfection that moved Dane’s spirit. “Maddock,” she said, “a thousand years ago people sat in this very place and followed the earth’s journey around the sun.”
“Sort of makes Mount Vernon seem trite, doesn’t it?” Dane was partial to the colonial period of American history, but this was truly American history.
They sat for a while in silence, neither replying when Saul stuck his head in and asked what the holdup was.
Jade finally let out a long sigh. “I guess we’d better get to work.”
After making a thorough visual inspection and taking pictures with a high-resolution digital camera, they began work with a hand-held ground penetrating radar unit. Jade looked like a cop laying for speeders, her tanned face and almond eyes solid and serious as she held the radar unit in a two-handed grip. She first took readings below the slab, then around it, and finally of the slab itself.
“Nothing,” she said after taking her third reading of the slab. “It’s solid rock all around. Time to re-think the plan, I suppose.” Her shoulders sagged and her face was downcast.
“That means it’s my turn,” Saul said, picking up his backpack. “Stand back, ladies and gentlemen.”
“Saul, you are not blowing up the slab.” The downtrodden Jade of a moment before had vanished, and the stubborn ball of fire had returned. “If there was anything to be found underneath the rock, the radar would have picked it up. I’ll not have you destroy a piece of history for your own amusement.”