As they neared the far end, Maddock realized that the Lords of Xibalba had one final test for them. There was a gap at the bottom of the twenty-foot high back wall where it met the sloping floor, an opening just wide enough to let the balls roll through. It reminded Maddock of the goal slot on a foosball table, and it probably served the same purpose, allowing the system to retrieve balls and put them back in play. Higher up on the wall were three openings just like the one at the far end, but unlike that hole, these were not for scoring goals. As if to confirm this supposition, a few seconds after they reached the wall, another ball shot out of the center hole and sailed out over the court.
Conspicuously absent, however, was a staircase to take them out of the arena.
Maddock intuitively realized that they were probably supposed to beat the game, maybe by scoring a goal, or maybe more than one, but he also knew that doing so wasn’t really an option. There probably was a staircase there somewhere, hidden in the floor or walls, just waiting for them to pass the final test.
From further down the court he heard a truncated scream and a loud crunch, the sound of breaking bones, as one of the Serpent Brothers went down. The rest were still coming.
“Buddy system,” Maddock shouted, turning to face the others and putting his back against the wall. “Human ladder.”
Bones understood immediately. He stuffed his pistol into his waistband and ran forward to take a similar stance alongside Maddock. He leaned over slightly, hands coming together to form a step. “Kasey. Angel. You’re next.”
Kasey, who had no doubt gone through the same kind of team-building exercises as the two former SEALs, ran to them and without a moment’s hesitation, planted her right foot in the cradle formed by Bones’ fingers, and vaulted up onto their shoulders. She repositioned herself so that she was also facing out, one foot on Maddock’s shoulder and one on Bones’, and extended her hand to Angel, who was already starting up.
Angel had watched enough Spartan Races on television to grasp what was expected of her. She scrambled up Bones’ chest and caught Kasey’s hand. Though Angel was a little heavier, her momentum was going the right direction, and Kasey was able to launch her even higher. High enough to grasp the stone lip. She used her feet to push even higher and then, with a final heave, pulled herself to safety.
Isabella went next, a little more tentatively, but with Angel reaching down from above to catch her, the final part of the ascent was considerably easier.
Miranda also seemed to know exactly what to do. “Dad, I’m going next. When I get to the top, you go up. Kasey will boost you, and the rest of us will pull you up. Don’t think about it, just do it.”
She didn’t wait for him to acknowledge, but ran forward and scaled the human ladder like an old pro, joining the others at the top.
“Move it, Doc!” Maddock yelled, a lot more forcefully than was his custom, partly because he hoped to jolt Bell into motion, and partly because two Serpent Brothers were emerging from behind the last line of stelae, just fifty feet away.
As Bell closed the distance separating them, a skull-ball bounced into view and struck one of the snake warriors. The blow knocked him flat, spilling him into the path of his comrade, but when the ball struck, it ricocheted away at a right-angle that put it on a collision course with Bell.
“Kasey!” Maddock yelled. “Shift!”
As soon as he felt her weight leave his shoulder, he pushed off the wall, leaping toward the uncomprehending archaeologist.
Bell stopped in his tracks, eyes wide in disbelief as Maddock barreled toward him. It was absolutely the worst thing he could have done, but Maddock poured on the speed, reaching Bell a fraction of a second ahead of the ball. Tackling the older man to save him would probably have been just as dangerous to both of them, so instead he grabbed ahold of Bell’s arm and spun around on his heel, whipping the other man around and out of the way. The ball bounced past both of them, and disappeared into the gap at the bottom of the wall, missing Bones, with Kasey standing on his shoulders, by scant inches.
Now Maddock and Bell were out in the open, with more Serpent Brothers emerging from the shadows. Maddock, still in mid-pivot, propelled the other man ahead of him, toward the wall. “Bones! Take care of him.”
He kept turning until he was facing the ball court again, drawing his SIG Sauer as he moved. He dropped the nearest Serpent Brother with a controlled pair, took a step back, found another target. Fired.
The reports echoed throughout Xibalba.
The Serpent Brothers were scattering now, but behind the elaborately tattooed warriors, a pair of figures in street clothes — a dark-haired man and a woman with red hair — were urging the warriors to press their attack. The woman had to be Carina, the renegade acolyte from the Serpent Brotherhood. The man could only be Alex Scano.
If you want to kill the snake, Maddock thought, cut off the head.
But as he put Scano in his sights, he heard Bones call out. “Uh, Maddock, we’ve got a problem.”
“Deal with—”
There was another report, but it hadn’t come from Maddock’s pistol. He ducked as a round sizzled through the air above his head.
“Drop the gun, Dane!”
A chill went through Maddock. The voice, like the shot, had come from behind him, and both had come from Charles Bell. “I’m sorry, but I can’t let you kill him. Drop the gun.”
CHAPTER 33
Stunned, Maddock did the only thing he could. He raised his hands, the barrel of the SIG pointed up at the ceiling, and turned around.
Charles Bell was standing a few paces away from Bones, a pistol in his shaking hands. He seemed uncertain of what to do with it, pointing it at Maddock, then at Bones, then back again. The gun was just like the one Maddock still held. Bell had probably swiped it from Bones’ belt. The question of where he’d gotten the weapon was of far less importance than why, but Maddock thought he knew the answer to that question as well.
“Dad!” Miranda shouted, frantic. “What are you doing?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Maddock shouted, locking stares with Bell. “He’s working for ScanoGen. Helping them find Xibalba.”
“That’s impossible,” Miranda said.
There was a strange grinding noise in the wall, and then with another loud report, a skull ball — possibly the same one that had just rolled past — shot out of the elevated hole on the right.
Some kind of automated ball return, Maddock thought. From start to finish, the process had taken only about thirty seconds.
Bell flinched as the ball sailed over their heads, but then stabbed the pistol at Maddock. “I told you to drop it. No one else has to get hurt.”
“That’s right, Maddock!” called out another voice. Maddock knew it had to be Scano himself. “I don’t want to hurt you or your friends.”
“Dad?” Miranda said again, but this time it was a desultory question. “Why?”
“He’s the mole?” Bones said, incredulous. “Not Miranda?”
“Me?” Miranda gaped at Bones. “You thought I was working for the other side?”
“You were always on your phone. And you got all pissy when you thought we were leaving you out of the loop. You were the logical choice.”
“Thanks a lot.”
“Sorry.”
“ScanoGen got to Copán ahead of us,” Maddock added, maintaining eye contact with Bell. “And they showed up here right on our tail. We knew someone was leaking information to them. Just couldn’t figure out why. I know you said ScanoGen was giving you grant money, but this is something else, isn’t it? Did he offer to let you and Miranda be among the chosen few to survive the apocalypse he’s going to unleash?”