“Something wrong?” Ihara asked.
“Nothing you need to worry about. Let me ask you; do you believe we can find our way to the treasure without the missing clue?”
“I don’t know.” Ihara shrugged. “I assume every clue is important, but I don’t see that we have any choice. Even if it was among Saul’s things, we’d have to get it translated, and I don’t relish waiting that long, do you?”
“Definitely not. We’ll begin our search, and in the meantime, the others can work on searching for the piece. Worst case, we are unsuccessful and have to start again with the additional information.”
“Suits me,” Ihara said. She led them on a circuit around the top, before coming to a sudden halt, her eyes gleaming in triumph. “The solstice!” she exclaimed. “I’ll bet they would have chosen a location that caught the sun most of the day. Somewhere where a rock formation could have cast a shadow…” She did not complete her thought, but hurried toward the edge and lay down flat, her head hanging over the edge. She looked for a minute, and then cried, “I see it!”
Jarren joined her on the cliff edge and lay flat on his stomach, his head hanging over the edge. He could see why no one had discovered it before. Down below them, the rock receded into a deep overhang. A deep cleft wound through the rock and vanished into the shadows of the rocky ledge. No one would be able to see this from anywhere other than where he lay. The floor of the cleft resembled large stairs. This was definitely the spot. They wasted no time in working their way down. Ihara did not wait for them, but counted down ten steps as her translation instructed, dropped to her knees, and began brushing away dirt and loose rock. She drew a long-bladed knife from the sheath on her belt and began probing the area.
“See anything?” Jarren asked, moving in behind her.
“Not…. wait a minute!” Her knife had caught in something. She carefully worked it to and fro, and then drew it back toward her in a straight line. “I think I’ve found an edge. Get your knife and help me.” Soon they had uncovered a slab roughly three feet square. With Thaddeus’s help, they pried the stone loose, and upended it to reveal a tunnel descending at a sharp angle and curving out of sight.
“What’s this carved on the bottom of the stone?” Thaddeus asked. A shamrock with a cross in the center had been scratched into the underside of the rock.
“It’s Fray Marcos’ sigil!” Ihara gasped. “If we needed further confirmation, this is it. We are in the right place. Follow me!” Without another word, she thrust her legs into the hole, scooted forward, and slid out of sight.
“Ihara!” Jarren called, but she did not answer. “Hell,” he mumbled. “We’ll have to follow her. Jacob, you come down last, and be certain to replace that stone before you follow.” Gripping his flashlight in his left hand and his pistol in his right, Jarren took a deep breath and plunged into the darkness and out of sight.
Chapter 24
“Angel’s Landing. Strenuous climb. Narrow route with cliff exposures. Hazardous during…”
“Bones, I know how to read,” Amanda snapped. “I’ll be fine. Besides, I’ve got you with me.”
“If you say so,” Bones said. “Of course, it’s not so much the climb, but who might be waiting for us at the top that worries me.”
“Then you’ll just have to look after me that much more carefully.” She smiled, took his hand, and led him up the trail.
The trek thus far had been strenuous, though nothing either of them could not handle. Truthfully, Bones was more worried about Maddock than Amanda. The few times he had gotten cell phone coverage, he had tried to call his friend but failed to reach him. He had spoken with Jimmy, who had not heard from Maddock, but had managed to translate the final clues from Saul’s piece of the scarab.
“One other thing I wanted to tell you,” Jimmy said, “is that I made a mistake translating a piece of the artifact. Instead of ‘the tenth is impure,’ I’m fairly certain it should read ‘the ten is impure.’ Doesn’t make much sense, but there you go.”
Bones didn’t have time to think about the subtle nuances of language. He wanted to find out what had happened to Maddock. Tough as he was, if Jade had surprised him by delivering him directly into the hands of the Dominion…”
“It might be all right,” Amanda said, reading his thoughts. “You’ve told me before he’s the toughest, most resourceful guy you’ve ever known. Besides, it might not be what you think. She seems to care about him. Maybe she’s double-crossing the Dominion and he’s helping her.”
“I don’t know,” he said. He didn’t know what to think. He just wanted to find his friend.
A young park ranger appeared from around a bend up the trail. He approached them, an easy smile on his face.
“Afternoon,” the ranger said. He was short and stocky with light brown hair and a faint splash of freckles across his sunburned nose. He removed his ranger’s cap and fanned his face. “Enjoying your hike?” he asked, a twinkle in his bright blue eyes.
“It’s beautiful,” Amanda said, “but tiring.”
“Walter’s Wiggles,” the ranger said knowingly, nodding in the direction of the steep switchbacks they had climbed a short while ago. “It’ll do that to you.”
“We’re trying to catch up with some friends,” Bones said in what he hoped was a friendly tone. “Did you pass anyone on your way down? We’re pretty sure they went on ahead of us.” He gave a quick description of Dane and Jade.
“Sure!” the ranger said. “I definitely saw the girl. She’s hard to miss! She was with, like, three guys, though.”
“Was one of them my friend?” Bones asked, every muscle tense.
“Probably,” the ranger said, shrugging. “I just noticed the girl.” He arched an eyebrow at the sound of Amanda’s muttered curse, but did not comment. “They’re probably up at the top by now. Even if they don’t wait around for you, you’ll definitely pass them on their way back down. There’s no other way off this rock.”
“That’s great,” Bones said. He stood, ready to resume their hike, when a glint of gold on the ranger’s chest caught his eye. “What’s that you’re wearing?”
“Oh, this?” Hanging from a leather necklace was a heavy gold cross with a wide loop at the top. “It’s an ankh,” he said. “Pretty realistic-looking isn’t it?”
“It looks very old,” Amanda said, leaning in for a closer look.
“Yeah, but I’m sure it’s not,” the ranger said. “I found it in a stream here in the park. A visitor must have dropped it. Kept it in the office for a year and no one ever called about it, so they let me keep it.”
“It’s pretty cool,” Bones said. “Well, we’d better be going. Nice talking to you.”
“You too,” the ranger said. “By the way, I wouldn’t stay too long. I think there’s a storm coming. I can smell something on the wind. It’s going to be a big one.”
“We won’t dawdle,” Bones said. He and Amanda shook hands with the ranger and continued up the path. When they were out of earshot, Bones turned to Amanda and said, “Well, what do you know about that?”
The top of Angel’s Landing was void of human life. They stood in the eerie silence, catching their breath from the last stretch of trail, which had required hanging on to heavy chains bolted into the stone in order to make the climb. There was no sign of Maddock, Jade, or the other men with whom the ranger had reported seeing her.
“If Jade put these clues in the proper order, we’re looking for something that resembles steps,” Amanda said, consulting her notepad. “I don’t see anything that looks like steps around here.”
“They must have found them.” Bones took in every detail of the top of Angel’s landing. “I’ll find them.”