“I just hope we’re close to a way out,” Angel said. “What about the bats?”
“If something disturbs them, just hit the ground and let them fly on by.”
“The ground that’s covered in bat crap. I’m sorry I asked.”
“Better that than having a rabid bat get caught in your hair.”
“Rabid?”
“Kidding,” Maddock said quickly. He took the heavy pack from Miranda and slung it over a shoulder. “But let’s just try to avoid spooking them. It will be easier all around.”
He started down the steps, walking heel to toe, moving even more quietly than their whispered conversation.
At his first tentative step, his boot sank ankle deep into the guano, which was thicker and drier than the mud at the bottom of the shaft through which they had entered, but a lot more disgusting. The accumulation probably went down several feet. He could feel it compacting underfoot with each step, like powdery snow.
He could now see another staircase rising up on the far side of the cavern, less than fifty yards away if they abandoned the original plan, but the guano was heaped higher in the center, and getting through it would be messy and dangerous.
For a few minutes, the rustling noise above continued, but as the bat colony grew less restive, Maddock became aware of a different sound that was, in its own way, even more ominous. It was the sound of bat urine and feces hitting the guano-covered floor, a veritable shower of excrement raining down all around them. And on them.
He decided to pick up the pace a little. They were just halfway across when a piercing shriek tore through the quiet.
Maddock froze. He didn’t think the noise had come from any of them. It was loud and high pitched, but distant, like the whistle of an approaching train, and lasted only an instant, but that was long enough to send the bats into a frenzy.
Bestial screams, accompanied by the sound of ten thousand pairs of leathery wings unfurling, filled the cavern with noise. Motes of dust and vapor swirled in the air as those tiny wings began stirring the air.
At first, the tumult was mostly confined to the upper reaches of the cavern, but he knew that as the creatures’ panic intensified, they would soon begin swooping lower, forcing the team to duck and cover.
Disregarding his own earlier advice, Maddock shouted over the din. “Run!”
He stepped to the side and began motioning for the others to go ahead. Angel sprinted ahead, looking uncharacteristically desperate. Miranda came next, holding her father’s hand, urging him to move faster, but Bell was clearly struggling even at a jog.
“I got this!” Bones roared, scooping Bell off his feet and throwing him over one shoulder. The archaeologist choked out a curse but there was little else he could do as Bones charged forward, outpacing even Angel. Miranda stared after them, frozen in disbelief, so Maddock grabbed her hand and pulled her along.
Something flashed in front of his face. He made a reflexive swipe at it with his free hand. The bat veered off at the last instant, but two more took its place, and then the air in front of them was filled with the rustling of wings. The weird clicking chirp of echolocation, multiplied a thousand times over, was an assault on the senses, vibrating through every nerve of Maddock’s body.
Miranda stumbled, her hand wrenching free of Maddock’s grasp, and went down, plowing a furrow in the guano as she skidded forward. Maddock leaped after her, looped a hand under her arm and dragged her to her feet as small furry bodies began slamming into both of them.
On a rational level, Maddock knew there was little risk of injury. With rare exceptions, most bats weighed less than an ounce, had very small teeth and zero interest in attacking a human or anything else larger than a mosquito. That was little comfort in the midst of the storm, however.
There was also a very real danger of getting lost and stumbling into some ever greater peril. He was already disoriented. With an opaque cloud swarming around them, it was impossible to tell which way to go. He couldn’t see the far stairwell or the lights of the rest of the group.
He turned in the direction he thought would take him to the cave wall and, still holding Miranda’s arm, started toward it. The carpet of guano seemed to grow thicker underfoot, so after five steps, he turned to the left and tried again.
This time he found the wall.
The swarm was a little less intense near the edge of the cave, where the bats had less room to maneuver, allowing him and Miranda to move at a near run. He kept his free hand in contact with the wall at all times, while maintaining his grip on Miranda’s hand so they would not become separated. After a few minutes, or maybe it was only seconds, he saw flashes of light directly ahead through the haze and heard a familiar voice calling out to him.
“Dane!”
He veered toward the light. “Angel. I’m here.”
Suddenly she was there, throwing her arms around him. She was streaked with filth and clearly terrified, but seemed otherwise unhurt.
Now he could see more lights, Bones and Bell, climbing the steps to safety. The swarm was thinning, the majority of the bats probably fleeing the cavern by whatever hidden route they used to reach the outside world.
“We’re almost there,” he promised, taking Angel’s hand. Now that he could see the way to safety, there was no need to grope along the wall.
A few hundred bats were still flitting about overhead, but Maddock ignored them as he cut the last corner and kicked through the guano pile to reach the stairs. He let go of Miranda there, letting her charge ahead, but kept his grip on Angel. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze as they mounted the steps.
As soon as they cleared the passage, the first thing Maddock did was take several deep breaths. The stink of guano still clung to him, but the air seemed a little clearer here, the ammonia fumes slightly less overpowering.
Then the rest of his senses caught up.
This new cavern was magnificent, easily twice the size of the cathedral-like entrance at the surface, but its size was only the beginning.
In the distance, along the far edge of the cavern, water spewed from the rock wall, an underground river spilling out in a waterfall hundreds of feet high. The water splashed down into a large round pool, and then ran away in several directions down what seemed like perfectly straight canals. There was little question that the canals were man-made since they ran parallel to paved streets, lined with structures — pyramids and temples like those he had seen only as ruins in Chichén Itzá, Copán, and the City of Shadow.
That he could see any of this was the most remarkable thing about the cavern. The sheer size of the place should have left most of it hidden in shadow, but he could make out the distinctive outlines of the buildings and the spray of the waterfall because the cavern was aglow with pale blue phosphorescence, most of which seemed to be concentrated in the sprawling city complex.
Much closer, he saw Miranda walking down a broad staircase that descended toward the hidden city. The steps ended in a long box-like courtyard that looked eerily familiar. At the far end of the courtyard, dominating the center of the cavern, stood an enormous pyramid, easily as big as El Castillo.
Bones and Bell were descending the stairs, just a few steps past Miranda.
And then Maddock realized that there were two more people on the steps, coming up as if to greet them all.
His first impulse was to go for his gun, but even as he did, his brain caught up. He didn’t know the dark-haired beauty on the left, but the other woman was instantly recognizable. He just couldn’t figure out what she was doing here, deep underground.
“Hey Maddock,” Kasey Kim shouted. “What took you so long?”