“What is it Jason? What are you shooting at for Christs sake? What do you see?”
Before he could answer, a gun shot went off from among the trees. The bullet passed within inches of Danny’s head. Both agents got up and ran for cover behind the supply tent. More shots were fired, hitting almost everything around them. Fire logs and dirt flew in all directions as a continuous shower of bullets were fired. Both Danny and Jason waited it out, when suddenly it stopped.
Danny said, “who the hell is firing at us?”
“I don’t know! Maybe someone came back to steal more artifacts,” said Jason.
They felt like sitting ducks out in the open, not knowing from where the next shot might come from. Jason decided to make his way over to the fire, hoping the flames would distract whoever was firing at them.
“Danny! We have to get out of here. Go find Angelo, while I go for Helen.”
He signaled okay and made his way to where Angelo was last seen. Jason fired a couple of random shots into the jungle in an attempt to distract the intruders. Danny looked around for Angelo while taking cover within the safety of the trees, but he was nowhere to be seen. Jason managed to make it to Helen’s tent. He rushed in expecting to find her crouched down somewhere. Then he saw the rear part of the tent ripped open, footprints were everywhere. He expected the worst. Helen had been taken from the campsite under his very nose.
Jason called out, “Danny, are you alright? Where are you?”
Then he heard something moving from within the trees.
“I'm okay!” called out Danny as he emerged from the jungle.
“Helen’s not here! They must have come specifically for her,” said Jason.
“Angelo is also gone. I can’t find him anywhere. He must have made a run for it,” said Danny.
They went over to the burning fire and put it out, feeling safer in the dark.
Danny asked, “how many do you think were out there? Why would they take professor Shireberg?”
“I’m not sure how many, maybe two or three. I’m pretty sure they took the professor to show them the way to the site. They were distracting us so one of them could get to her.”
Danny said, “we better get after them before it’s too late. The footprints seem to be heading in the site’s direction.”
“Grab as many supplies you think we might need. Nobody messes with me and gets away with it,” said Jason as he reloaded his gun.
CHAPTER SEVEN
While Jason and Danny were collecting supplies, Helen and her aggressors were already halfway to the site. They bound her hands pushing her to the limits in an attempt to reach the site before Jason and Danny caught up with them.
Diego did not agree with what Carlos was doing.
He whispered to him, “we do not have time to go searching for gold! We should be heading back to our vehicle with the woman.”
Carlos thought otherwise.
“This will be our backup money if Mr. Tony does not pay us in full. If we do find treasures, it will be worth much more than what he is paying us.”
They pushed Helen along both excited about finding something of value.
Helen was thankful for Jason coming up with the tree notching as she relied on it to get to the site. She prayed for Jason and Danny to be alive. Helen was sure her assailants would kill her once they found gold. Helen had no idea she was to be taken back to the States to decipher the same tablet that she had discovered.
“They have at least a twenty minute head start on us. I just hope I’m right about them going back to the site,” said Jason.
Danny was walking behind Jason, trying to keep up with his long strides. He kept his flashlight low to the ground so as not to give themselves away. Jason didn’t need a flashlight but held on to one so as not to cause any suspicion to Danny.
Then he saw fresh tracks, meaning Helen was taking the attackers to the site.
Jason said, “good girl, she’s following my tree markings, leading them straight to the entrance. We have to get there on time. I’m sure they’re gonna put a bullet through her pretty head once they find the way in.”
Danny agreed, saying, “the Chief will have our heads if anything happens to her.”
Jason stopped and faced Danny.
“Well, the stupid woman should have hid herself in a better place! It’s her own fault.”
The agents tried to quicken their pace, but the jungle is a difficult place to navigate especially during the night. Now and then they would hear the hoot of an owl and even the growling of some wild animal. Jason was not bothered by the sounds, but Danny stopped now and then to check behind him, expecting at any moment to be pounced upon by the animal responsible for the growling sounds.
It was after nine when Helen reached the entrance. She didn’t have her flashlight with her and was surprised when Carlos handed her one.
“You show us where we can find gold, and I will let you live a little longer,” said Carlos, shoving her forward.
They entered the narrow passageway making their way through the same rooms and started the descent down the long flight of stone steps. Helen was rather excited knowing she will soon be entering the area where she had stopped with Jason and Danny. But she wished the circumstances were different, exploring the site as an archaeologist and not as a hostage.
They were now at the bottom of the steps. Helen shone her light upon the large statue. She was about to enter a place where nobody had been for many hundreds of years. Carlos and Diego stayed close behind. The only thing on their minds was finding gold. As they were about to enter the unknown, Helen’s heart began to beat faster, she could feel her chest pounding, the adrenaline surging through her body. She took the first step inside the pitch black cavern. With flashlight pointing in front of her, she could see the place was enormous. The height of the cavern exceeded well over seventy feet, not even her flashlight could penetrate deep enough to reach the other end.
Hanging on each side of the walls were rows of wooden sticks with some sort of wicker wrapped around the top part. Helen knew immediately what they were used for. Below the first wooden stick was a bowl filled with thick liquid. She dipped her finger into it smelling the oil.
She asked Carlos, “do you have a match or lighter?”
He looked puzzled, but just the same he gave her his lighter. She unhooked the wooden torch from its holding place and dipped it in the oil. Next she ignited the lighter, and the wooden torch blazed to life. She smiled to herself at the wonder of a thousand or more year old technology still very useful to this day. Approaching the opposite wall she did the same. Helen then encouraged Carlos to light up one row of torches while she lit the other side. After all of them were alight, she then turned around holding a flamed torch in her hands. What she saw next was astounding. She was looking into a deep underground cavern, so vast it would take more than a day to explore the entire place.
In front of her were more stone steps leading down to a large precisely centered enclosure. It had twelve large statues representing the gods of the underworld. All twelve gods were placed in a circular fashion measuring over a hundred feet in circumference. Positioned below each statue were stone benches, probably used by the high priests while they sat in meditation, as they entered the spirit world in communication with the gods. Standing exactly in the middle was a large stone boxed like table where sacrifices were performed. On the outer side of the cavern walls were doorways waiting to be explored.
Carlos walked past Helen and made his way down to the statues followed by Diego. Helen was now confused. She had a chance to escape or follow the two men. When Carlos reached the first statue, he began to pound on it with a large rock. Helen saw what he had in mind. Her heart was dedicated to archeology, and to see newly discovered masterpieces being destroyed right in front of her eyes was enough to forget about escaping. She ran as fast as she could down the steps shouting out to Carlos.