“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.”
“Not 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 leapt 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 leapt onto 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 leapt onto Bones, his hands clutched around 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.