“Won’t make any difference,” Ben said. “Apparently, this place can only be found every 10 years. Come back next week, and there’ll be nothing.”
Barlow sniggered. “Oh really, like what happens, the entire tabletop mountain vanishes?”
Ben now knew that Barlow obviously hadn’t heard that part of the legend.
“Well?” Barlow looked at their faces. There was silence for a moment or two, and then he held a hand up. “You have my word on it. And given my men are experienced hunters, trackers, and bushmen, we will be of value to you.”
Ben looked from Barlow to Bellakov, and then to the stony-faced Koenig and Bourke. Both looked about as mean and hard-bitten as you could get. Bottom line, Ben didn’t trust the four men for a New York second. They held the guns, and had already shown him they were prepared to use violence. If he said no, what was to stop them killing all his friends, right here, right now? Time to play along, he thought, for now.
“Agreed,” Ben said quickly.
“What?” Emma’s face screwed in anger.
“Hey, Ben, that’s not your call.” Dan and Steve also looked surprised.
“We need them,” Ben said matter-of-factly. “If what’s at the top of the tunnel is anything like what my great ancestor put in his notebook, then the more security we have the better.”
“Good man,” Barlow said and slapped his thighs. He then looked at his wristwatch. “3am — in a few hours the sun will be coming up. Might be worthwhile arriving as early in the day as we can manage. What say you, Mr. Cartwright?”
“Sure, and no hard feelings.” Ben held out a hand to Bellakov who ignored it. He laughed and then turned to Barlow. “We’ll pack up, grab a quick bite, and then start up.” He turned to the shaft.
“Steve, Emma, for our new guests, remind us again of what you saw in there?”
Steve’s eyes still burned with anger, and he mumbled through a swelling jaw. Emma put a hand on his arm and spoke up. “A shaft, not quite vertical, but steep. Root-bound and possibly a few choke points, but I’m betting it’s passable — for someone of normal body weight.” Her lip curled slightly as she glanced at Barlow.
The man grinned in return. “Then I better remember to suck it in, hmm, darling?”
Emma continued. “I estimate the climb to be easily over a thousand feet, maybe more, much more. And I doubt there’s going to be too many places to rest. We need to decide if everyone goes or not.” She let her eyes slide to Andrea, whose brows immediately snapped together.
“Hey.” She scowled. “You really think I just sailed, rode, and then trekked through the Amazon to wait down here and mind your coats?” She gave Emma a tight smile. “Not fucking likely.”
“That height is not bad at all,” Jenny cut in. “Some of these tepuis can climb to 3,000 feet.”
“That’s good. Steve, you okay?” Ben asked.
The young man worked his jaw for a moment and then nodded. “Nothing a little payback couldn’t fix.” He glared at Koenig who just smirked in return. “I’ll save it for now.”
“Nino, how about you?” Ben saw that the young guide had finally gotten to his feet, but still shifted from foot to foot.
He shook his head. “I think I go back home now.”
“No, I don’t think you will,” Barlow said. “You can stay here at the foot of the plateau, and one of my men can stay with you. But no one is leaving to broadcast our find until we say so, well, until I say so. Is that clear?” Barlow tilted his head, his smile benign.
Ben shrugged. “Can you climb?”
Nino bobbed his head.
“Nino, I’ll give you a big bonus for your troubles, promise,” Dan said and flashed him a salesman’s smile.
“I can climb.” He scowled at Barlow. “And I can be trusted.”
“Okay, we buddy up,” Ben said. “Emma, Nino, and myself will lead us up. Steve and Andrea, Dan and Jenny, and Mr. Barlow, you three can make your own arrangements. Also, we climb light; anything unnecessary we leave down here.”
“Agreed,” he said. “Except for one change; Mr. Bellakov and myself will climb directly behind you and your first team, Mr. Cartwright. And then Mister’s Koenig and Bourke will bring up the rear. All good?”
Barlow raised his eyebrows, but Ben knew it wasn’t really a question.
“Fine,” Ben said.
The final rations were then eaten in silence and then done more for taking in fuel, as everyone became lost in their own thoughts. Ben turned to see Barlow’s man, Bourke, fiddling with something and Ben groaned when he recognized the shape.
“What the hell do you think you’re going to do with that?”
Bourke ignored him and kept at his work. Ben got to his feet and so did Bellakov.
Ben pointed. “Am I going mad, or am I seeing some asshole counting out fragmentation grenades?”
Bourke looked up and grinned as he took them out of plastic and laid the squat green canisters on the ground in a row. “F1 anti-personnel fragmentation device, five-second internal fuse and lethal detonation spread of 30 feet.” He winked. “These bad boys will do some real damage.”
“Damn right they will; to us if not handled correctly,” Ben said, seething.
Barlow sighed. “Calm down Mr. Cartwright. We don’t know exactly what deterrents we’re going to need yet. And if we need them, and in a hurry, I’d prefer the good Mr. Bourke here doesn’t need to spend valuable seconds fumbling in his preparations.”
Ben fumed. He objected to seeing the military-grade explosives because he didn’t have any. Plus, he had no idea whether Bourke had handled them before.
“You only use them when I say.” He glared.
Bourke looked up and chuckled. “Yeah, sure.”
Ben went and sat back down, finishing his final meal. He started to think this bad idea was looking worse by the second.
It was still dark outside when they attached their headlamps to foreheads and lined up at the bottom of the shaft.
CHAPTER 20
Comet P/2018-YG874, designate name Primordia, was now at its perihelion or maximum observable focus as it had now reached its closest point to Earth.
The magnetic distortion had also reached its peak, but now the field generated a form of stability. The hurricane-like winds that had been roaring above them on the top of the plateau ceased, and the boiling clouds dropped to become a mist that moved through a primordial forest.
Warm rain fell on a lost world. The wettest season was here.
CHAPTER 21
Warm air rushed past them as Emma stood on a small ledge and looked up into the natural cave tunnel. Her trained eye picked out tiny ledges, toeholds, and crevices for toe and fingertips.
The upside was it was so narrow they could go up chute-style where they braced a leg against each side of the tunnel and basically hopped their way upwards.She led the way and used her hunting knife to cut and hack away at many of the roots barring their way — so far, she found no real impediment. Added to that, the rushing wind told her that the chimney went all the way to the top. Or she hoped. There was always the chance that the chimney was going to take a turn and exit out on the cliff-face.
She looked back at Ben — he wasn’t an expert climber, but he was fit and sturdy, keeping pace with her. His strong jaw and stubbled chin held a smile.
“Hey, if my dear old great, great grandfather could do it…”
She laughed. “Yeah, but he was younger than you back then.” She had a small flashlight attached to her wrist, and she reached up, adjusted her forehead lamp, and began to scale again.