Kismet stepped aside as the man, still clutching the dry bag in one hand and the pistol in the other, charged up the sloping tunnel.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Russell cautioned belatedly.
The hand with the pistol came up, middle finger extended in the air. “Screw you, too. I ain’t in your army.”
Elisabeth was still sputtering with unfocused rage as the man reached the top of the rise and then stepped over, out of their line of sight.
A loud snap thrummed in the still air, followed immediately by a wet squishing noise. A grunted curse drifted back down the tunnel, and then something heavy crashed to the floor and everything was quiet again.
Kismet shared a confused look with Elisabeth and Russell, but before anyone could voice an inquiry, the pool behind them erupted in a plume like an underwater explosion, and Higgins, with a thrashing Annie locked under one arm, came into view.
Annie, who had only just a couple days earlier suffered a nearly paralyzing bout of claustrophobia, was in full panic mode. Kismet could only imagine her reaction to being ordered to dive into a dark, water-filled hole, and then told to swim into another dark hole with millions of tons of earth poised to bury her alive. He wondered why Leeds hadn’t simply just left her topside and saved himself the trouble, but then realized the obvious answer; she was the leverage that would buy continued cooperation from himself and Kismet.
Annie had not stripped down for the swim, and so now was fully clothed but soaking wet. She remained on the verge of hysteria, but when she saw Kismet she brightened a little and wrestled free of her father’s protective grasp to rush up the tunnel and embrace him.
“I thought you were dead.”
He returned her embrace, holding her tight.
Her shaking relented a little, but she continued to cling to him, refusing to look anywhere but at his face. He eased her forward and continued up the passage to see what had befallen Leeds’ hireling. Elisabeth and Russell were right behind them, while Higgins waited, alone and seemingly cast adrift, near the entrance pool.
The headstrong man stood frozen in mid-stride on the threshold of a much larger chamber. Kismet took another step forward and discovered why the man’s explorations had ended there.
A pole of wood, bristling with sharp spikes now blocked the entrance to the cavern. Kismet recalled what he had read in Fontaneda’s diary; he and the other explorers, besieged by angry natives, had turned the cavern into a fortress, with snares and booby traps as a passive defense against invasion. Evidently, he had left those measures in place, maintaining them over the years.
One of the stakes had impaled the man, who still wriggled soundlessly in his death throes like a worm on a fishhook. The man finally succeeded in pushing himself off of the deadly poniard and collapsed backwards, splashing onto the floor where the last of his lifeblood drained away. Elisabeth turned away in disgust.
Other faces now filled the entry tunnel below them; Dr. Leeds and two more of his hired thugs were advancing up the passageway.
Leeds’ gaze went immediately to the motionless form on the ground. “What is going on here?”
“Your man tried to go on ahead without you,” explained Russell. “I tried to stop him, but…something happened.”
“A parting gift from our friend Fontaneda,” supplied Kismet.
Dr. Leeds drew in a sharp breath. He whirled to face Russell, and savagely grabbed hold of the front of his wetsuit with his good hand, bringing the deadly hook on his other to the major's throat. “You saved him?”
Russell sputtered, trying to find an explanation for his actions that would satisfy the occultist, but Elisabeth spoke first. “John, there was a trap. He walked right into it.”
Leeds paused, stifling his rage. “A trap?”
He thrust Russell away and turned to Kismet. “You knew about this, didn’t you? The Spaniard did this?”
Kismet nodded and flashed a defiant grin. “Better watch your step.”
One of Leeds’ men knelt beside the body a let out a low wail. “Ah, shit. Lonnie!” Almost clumsily, he scooped up the dead man’s pistol and brought it to bear on Kismet.
“Stop it,” Leeds barked. “Put that away.”
The man, almost blubbering, pointed at the corpse. “He’s dead.”
“You men knew there was risk in this endeavor. Great accomplishments require great risks, and sometimes, great sacrifices. Your friend took a stupid risk and has paid for his recklessness. But we may yet benefit from his sacrifice.”
A wicked gleam flashed in Leeds’ eyes as he turned to Kismet. “The Fates must have a reason to keep saving you. Who am I to argue with the forces of the universe? Since you seem so eager to discover the secrets of this place, why don’t you take the lead?”
“Why should I do anything for you, Leeds?”
The occultist pointed his hook at Annie. It was answer enough.
Kismet sighed. “All right, Leeds. Let's finish this.”
Leeds’ party took a few minutes to unpack their gear and dress in dry clothes before pushing on. Russell remained in his wetsuit and carried his SCUBA gear with him, perhaps anticipating more submerged tunnels along their path. Annie had nothing to change into; her father had, against her protestations and without any preparatory measures, grabbed hold of her and jumped into the water. Still, she was better off than Kismet who had somehow lost his shoes, never mind that he looked like he’d been put through a wringer.
He stayed close to her, and that helped, but she was still in the grip of overwhelming emotions. She could not will her body to move; the nearness of the cavern walls smothered her, as did the knowledge that the only escape from this place was through stone and water. Yet, it was not just the irrational fear that stabbed at her heart.
Kismet was still alive, but how long would that last? Leeds was only keeping him around to accomplish his twisted purposes. And she was nothing more to the occultist than a lever to force Kismet — and her father as well, she supposed — to remain compliant. That realization sickened her.
With flashlights to show the way, the party advanced to the top of the rise. The spiked pole still barricaded the end of the passage like a deadly tollgate. Kismet was ordered to investigate the grisly trap while Dr. Leeds kept a firm grip on Annie's shoulder, ready to punish her at the first sign of resistance.
Kismet quickly discovered the trip wire that had triggered the trap and announced that it posed no further threat. One of Leeds’ men produced Kismet’s kukri and used the heavy blade to chop through the barrier, whereupon Leeds gestured for Kismet to proceed.
When Annie got her turn to pass from the tunnel, she discovered a wondrous underground room. Had she been slightly less intimidated by the location of the chamber, she might have been amazed by the discovery.
The walls of the chamber were a smooth, brilliantly white limestone, reflecting and amplifying the glow of the flashlights to fill up the entire area with illumination. There were a few mineral deposits — stalactites that looked like drips of milk frozen forever in time, and stalagmites that rose from the floor like anemic toadstools — which threw long, bizarre shadows against the bright walls. Flowing through the midst of the stone forest was a stream of water, seepage that had found its way down through the bedrock to ooze from the walls and ceiling.
Then Annie saw that not all of the lumps on the floor were stalagmites. There were also bones, picked clean of flesh, but still unquestionably the remains of human beings.