He turned his attention to his companions. Thaddeus was solid. He had done a few tours of duty in the army before joining the organization. He was very good with his sidearm and fair with his knife. He was dangerous, but his skill did not rival that of Jarren, nor would he be expecting an attack. If needed, Jarren would eliminate him first.
Jacob, the other member of their party, was a small-town police officer. He was steady, but was best suited for roughing up drunken Utes and the smart-alecky college kids who biked the scenic trails of southern Utah. His most redeeming quality was his zealous dedication to the Elder and to their cause.
As they neared the safe haven of the top peak of Angel’s Landing, he relaxed and let his gaze drift to Ihara’s trim figure. She was a fine-looking woman. A shame she had to die. He forced down the thoughts rising in his mind. Their sacred mission deserved his full attention, untainted by these stray thoughts.
“Almost there,” Ihara called out.
“How is it,” he asked, “that the entrance has been in this place all these years, yet no one has found it?” The question had gnawed at the back of his mind ever since he learned their destination.
“We don’t know for certain that it has not been found,” she said, not looking back at him. “It’s entirely possible that others have found the entrance, but without the instructions we found, I assume you can’t find your way to the treasure. I suspect the Spaniards made it very difficult to find.”
“Maybe the monster ate them,” Thaddeus said.
Ihara laughed and shook her head. They had arrived at the summit of Angel’s Landing. She stood looking around, a half-smile belying her oddly sad eyes.
“Something funny?” Jarren asked. He hated being left out of jokes, always assuming them to somehow be at his expense.
“A local legend,” Ihara said. “Some sort of chupacabra creature supposedly lurks around these canyons, killing the occasional goat or tourist. There have been a few disappearances, probably hiking accidents, but locals like to blame it on the monster.”
“They found a body,” Thaddeus said. “Mauled.”
“Coyotes, most likely,” Jarren scoffed. “Superstition is the tool of Lucifer, spreading fear in the hearts of those lacking sufficient faith.” Thaddeus scowled, but Jarren ignored him.
“If you say so,” Ihara replied. She fished into her pack and drew out a notebook. “I want to make sure we get this right. The first clue reads, ‘Pass under the tenth step leading to the east.’”
“Step?” Jacob asked, shielding his eyes from the sun and looking around. “But there are no buildings here.”
“Must be a natural formation resembling steps,” Ihara said, “or steps hewn into the rock in a place that’s not readily visible. In any case, the cave paintings discovered at Orley’s ranch definitely indicate the presence of steps coming down from the peak. Let’s look around.” They made a cursory inspection of the top of Angel’s Landing, and then made their way around the edge, carefully inspecting the steep cliffs below for any sign of the mysterious stairs.
“Tell me,” Ihara said, “why didn’t we come in your helicopter? We could have gotten a better look at the cliffs, then been dropped off up here without the big climb.
“Not worth the risk of notice,” he replied.
“That didn’t stop you before,” she said.
“It was not so great a concern then. As long as we found the missing pieces, it did not matter if others grew curious about why we were there. Once we found what we needed, it did not matter if the authorities poked around. They would find nothing. But this…” his sweeping gesture took in the entire panorama “…this is where the treasure is. We positively do not want undue attention drawn to this place.”
“There’s something else I don’t understand,” Ihara said as they walked along. Her foot slipped and he grabbed her upper arm, steadying her. “Thanks. Anyway, I was reporting in regularly. I was doing the job. Why did your goons keep trying to get ahead of me?”
“That was my decision,” Jarren said. He wondered if Ihara knew that he was one of the “goons.” Likely, she would not care if she gave offense or not. “Initially, I did not know if you could be trusted, so we moved on Chaco Canyon as soon as I learned of your plans. You proved yourself at Chaco when you found what we did not, and you reported in as expected. At that point, I was content to let you continue on your own. Closely monitored, of course. That is, until Bonebrake showed up. He had already given us trouble, and we could not take a chance with a wild card like him.”
“You weren’t worried about Maddock?” Ihara asked, shielding her eyes against the intense sunlight and looking down over the edge of the precipice.
“He had shown himself to be loyal to you, so we were content to let things move along as they were. Too bad cutting his rope at Mesa Verde didn’t kill him.”
“Right,” she said, her voice tight. “Wait a minute!” She whirled around to face him. “You recovered the Ship Rock piece, and that was before Bones showed up.”
“What do you mean?” Jarren asked. He suddenly felt cold all over. What piece was she talking about?
“The piece you recovered from Ship Rock.”
“You said you had all the pieces,” he replied.
“I said we had all the pieces. I have five. You have the sixth. Please tell me you brought the translation with you. I was so distracted by… everything I had to do today that I just assumed…”
“Ihara, I don’t know what you are talking about. We did not recover any of the artifacts, and you certainly never reported anything about Ship Rock.”
“There wasn’t time,” she said. “Saul actually figured it out, and by the time he told us about it, you had already…” Her eyes widened in shock. “Oh… my…”
“What?” Jarren was not certain he wanted to hear the answer. He was completely sure, however, that the Elder would not like to hear whatever it was that Ihara was about to tell him.”
“Saul figured out the Ship Rock clue and took off without telling us. He came back and said that you had beaten him to it. He must have kept the piece himself. I’ll kill him!”
“I imagine that has already been taken care of,” Jarren said, relaxing a little. By now, Saul, Bonebrake, and the woman would be long-dead.
“We need to find out whether or not the missing piece was among Saul’s things.”
Jarren grabbed his walkie talkie and called down to Ian who was waiting near the trailhead.
“I need you to contact the team. Have them search Saul’s and Bonebrake’s possessions. There should be a small stone artifact…”
“Sir,” Ryan’s voice came back fuzzy but discernible, “the team has not yet reported in.”
“What?” Jarren checked his watch. Too much time had passed. Something was wrong. He quickly turned over the possibilities in his mind. Notify the Elder? No, that was the last thing he wanted to do. He needed to be certain before he told the Elder anything. There had been too many failures already. He couldn’t hike back down and investigate it himself, and he certainly didn’t want to sit atop this rock while he waited.
“You’re going to have to go there,” he told Ryan.
“Sir? My instructions were to remain here and…”
“Your instructions have changed. Get there and back as quickly as you can. You won’t be able to communicate with us once we’ve found the entrance. Leave Jedediah to man the post, find out what happened to the team, and get back here as quickly as you can.”
“What should I tell the Elder?” Ryan’s voice quavered.
“Should the Elder contact you, which he will not, tell him that the last update you received from me was that everything was proceeding as planned. Otherwise, play dumb.” Shouldn’t be a problem for him, Jarren thought.