“Here.” Andy stepped out of a room on the other side of the temple. “Got steps leading down inside.”
The group crowded in, and they found a room only about 30 square feet, this time with statues of warriors seeming to lunge from the walls. At its center, there was a dark square.
Andy stood at its edge. “Goes down to another floor, I think.”
“Down is good,” said Ajax. He lifted his gun and placed a foot on the first step.
“Wait.” Emma crouched by the dark entrance.
Ajax frowned down at her. “What?”
Emma turned to Helen and Andy. “Smell that?”
“Yeah, it stinks; probably some goddamn mold,” Ajax said. “So what?”
Helen settled beside Emma. “I smell it.” She looked up at her brother. “Snake.”
“Yeah, snake musk,” Andy agreed. “Don’t know how I missed it.”
“Ah, fuck.” Ajax backed up off the step.
“I’ve smelled it before. Last time I was here. Like heady cat’s piss; a mix of body odor and ammonia.” Emma backed up a step. “We need to get out of here.”
“We do,” Drake said. “But we also need a way down. And if this is a possible way down, then we need to check it out.”
“You know what I’m thinking?” Andy asked.
“No, but let me guess; you’re scared shitless.” Ajax grinned as he stared down into the dark.
Andy chuckled. “Yeah, I absolutely sure am. Anyone with a brain would be. But I’m thinking that the reason that pack of theropods outside stopped chasing us and peeled off was not because we overwhelmed them with firepower, but because they smelled something that scared them off. Something coming from in here.”
“Or they already knew what lived in here,” Emma said.
“Well, that doesn’t spook me at all.” Drake shook his head. “To hell with it.” The soldier reached into a pouch and pulled out a flare.
“Everyone stand back. Ajax, on my ready.” He punched it down onto his thigh and ignited the pyrotechnics. Immediately, a brilliant red light illuminated the room, making everyone squint or hold up hands in front of their faces. He tossed it down the steps.
He and Ajax crouched, guns up, waiting for a moment, seeing if anything made an appearance. After another full minute when there was still no movement, the pair headed down.
Emma half-turned. “Stay here.” She followed them.
Emma marveled at how the Special Forces soldiers moved: walking forward, legs braced and guns up, sweeping the barrels left, then right, up, down, and then back again. They seemed to move like machines and miss nothing.
The flare cast a hellish glow over the interior of the room. Underfoot things crunched and though now the room was filled with the smell of burning chemicals from the flare, she could still detect the vinegary sourness of the snake. It made the hair on her neck stand on end.
Drake turned and saw her and waved a hand forcefully, indicating she stay behind them. She had no problem with that. She held the SIG Sauer handgun in a double-handed grip, tight, and as she’d spent countless hours training with the weapon, she trusted it more than any other.
She swallowed, her mouth now bone-dry. It was a labyrinth down below, and the further they moved down a dark corridor, the further back they left the light of the flare. Underfoot things still crunched and looking down, Emma now understood why.
“Guys… ”
“What?” Drake hissed over his shoulder.
“That isn’t gravel we’re walking on.”
Drake looked down, and then half-turned to Ajax. “Bone fragments — this must be their nest.”
“Kill room,” Ajax muttered.
The soldiers continued to move forward and Emma followed closely. They turned into a large room, and she noticed that the doorway had been abraded on either side. Drake reached a hand to it, running his fingers up and down along the smoothed edges.
“Something big passed by here, often; wore it down,” he said. “One guess.”
“Jesus, this doorway is six feet wide.” Ajax grimaced.
Emma felt it first — the breeze on her face — and she straightened. “Something up ahead.”
“Hey, what are those things?” Ajax pointed his barrel light into the corner where there was a jumbled pile of objects that looked like leathery footballs, all broken open.
“Exactly what they look like — eggs,” Emma said.
“All hatched,” he replied. “But they look old.” He nudged one with his boot and it fell to pieces. “Very old.”
At the far end of the room, there was a coal-black hole in the wall, with a carved surround.
“There,” Drake whispered.
They eased cautiously toward it. The surrounding stones had been ornately carved with glyphs, and what could have been letters or words, but were impenetrable to the trio.
“Wish we could decipher it,” Drake said, lifting his barrel light a little higher to shine inside the portal.
“I know what it says,” Ajax said, chuckling. “It says, this way home.”
Just past the ornately carved surround, they could see that the worked stone was only on the outside; inside, there were raw stones and a dark shaft leading on well beyond their light beams.
“A natural cave mouth, and there’s airflow,” Emma said, feeling her spirits soar. She sniffed. “But also might be home to something.”
The large portal was also abraded, and the ground smoothed by the constant rubbing of something big.
“Wanna take a look?” Drake asked.
“Not really,” Emma replied, chuckling nervously. It was her turn to pull out a flare and followed Drake’s example by jamming it down on her thigh — it freaking hurt.
“Put it further in,” Drake whispered.
Emma nodded and then leaned in to launch it in through the portal. The flare sailed in and never even got to bounce as the snake that was lurking just inside burst out at them like it was on a spring. The foot-wide head and glinting eyes caught the glow of the flare as it shot forward, making them blaze like it was a demon rising from Hell.
Emma screamed and fell back. But Ajax and Drake stood their ground and responded with the calm reactions of professional killers. They fired long bursts into the head and body.
The M4 rifle’s medium-caliber shells punched through the armored scales, but the snake still managed to rear up, ignoring the dozens of punctures. It started to pour into the room and the two soldiers continued to pile it on before finally they shredded the neck, nearly severing the head until the thing thumped down dead at their feet.
“Fuck you,” Ajax said. “We’re king of the jungle here.”
Drake held out a hand and Emma grabbed it, hauling herself up. “Jesus, that just scared ten years out of me.”
“You and me both.” Drake turned back to the dead snake. Then gun back up, peered past it into the portal where the serpentine body disappeared for dozens of feet. “You’re right, these guys are huge.”
Emma looked down at the length. The head was a foot wide, the body thicker around than hers. But given its girth and how quickly it was tapering inside the hole, she bet it was about 30 to 35 feet.
“A juvenile,” she said.
“Say what? It’s just a freaking kid?” Ajax’s mouth dropped open and he kicked at it. “Thing’s gotta weigh a thousand pounds if it’s an ounce.”
Emma looked into the hole. The flare still glowed and she could see the remains of bone fragments, plus the tell-tale sign of the white, chalky packages of their droppings.
“The nest.” She looked back at the eggs. “Don’t know how many are in there. Or whether Mom is home.” She shook her head. “Shit.”
“What?” Drake asked.
“That might be our way down.” She leaned in a little further and turned her head, trying to listen for movement, but all she heard was the hiss of the flare. She took a chance and leaned in a little more, reaching for Drake’s flare. Her fingers extended, and she had the unsettling sensation of being watched.