Zahra redrew her pistol but kept her light holstered on her hip. She stepped lightly, impressed at how solid the platform was. It had been constructed of logs that had been tied together with hand-woven ropes. The entire cenote was lined with similar platforms. They led the way down to the bottom, where most of the buildings had been built.
Snaking left, Zahra found steps instead of a ladder. She quickly descended them and stepped onto another landing. This one was only ten feet wide, but it went on forever before ending at another stairway. Unfortunately, these steps weren’t in the best of condition. Zahra looked over the edge and estimated that she was still, at least fifty feet above the floor. A fall would kill her.
“Really wish I had my hook right about now.”
If she did have it, Zahra would have simply rappelled down to the bottom and skipped the stairs altogether. She groaned and took a careful step. The wooden plank groaned back. It was the only noise in the entire cavern. Even the incoming force had quieted. The next three steps were solid enough, barely creaking at all. But the fifth step cracked and fell apart beneath her foot. It started a chain reaction of events.
Zahra took off at a chaotic sprint as the stairs, and the wall next to her, were torn apart by automatic gunfire. Luckily, the shooters were still airborne. There was no way they could get their sights set on her long enough to get off an accurate shot — not unless they got their shit together and put their rounds in front of her and not on her. It was plain to see that these guys didn’t have any formal instruction. If Zahra could make it to the city, she knew she would survive, though she still needed to find a way out. The forced entry couldn’t have been the only way in.
The stairs began to collapse with only ten feet to go. Zahra dove forward, rolling right onto her good shoulder. She took the hard landing in stride and rolled to her feet and darted into the closest cover she could find. The dwelling was well-built and concealed her exact position from view. She didn’t stay in one spot, either. Zahra kept moving, zigging and zagging around the structures, paying them no attention until she felt that she was safe.
Thirty seconds after her intense arrival, Zahra paused, settling her racing heart. She kept her Glock holstered and, instead, unsheathed her SOG knife. The lighting was low, reminding her of the dusk that preceded a full sunset. She could see just enough to navigate the city, but the range was low. She lost the next dwelling to the low light. If a fight came to her, it would be fought close up and in the dark. Zahra’s black clothes would aid in her ghost-like movements.
She kept her footfalls steady and came to a road. Zahra guessed it was the main pathway at the center of Z. She peeked around the corner and looked up. Joe’s landing zone was at the heart of the city. The entire complex had been built around that one spot. It’s where Zahra was headed now.
She ducked around the log cabin-like building and knelt as a light swept over her head. Scurrying around the front of the hut, she, again, paused and waited.
“Fan out! Find her — but be careful!”
Moving like molasses, Zahra leaned around the next structure and watched as all six men headed down separate paths. One of them stepped toward her. Every time the mercenary pointed his flashlight down one of the crossroads, Zahra moved up and closed in. After five such moves, she slunk behind the next building and flattened herself against its outer wall. Zahra was halfway to the center of the city now. She let out her ponytail and tossed it over her bare right shoulder. Her black hair would help conceal her contrasting, lighter skin. Zahra really could have used her black thermal long-sleeve at the moment.
She tucked her arms up high into her chest and turned away just when a light swept across her form. As soon as it passed her, Zahra faced her pursuer. It wasn’t Joe, but that didn’t mean she would just let him go.
I’m not going to kill you either, she decided.
Zahra wasn’t heartless. She would disable these men without ending their lives unless she were forced to do otherwise. This guy wasn’t all that big. He was around her height but outweighed her by about forty pounds. But no matter. It didn’t matter how big they were, especially when their prey didn’t mind fighting dirty.
Sheathing her knife, Zahra drew her Glock. She refrained from shooting him in the back and, instead, she used the firearm as a hammer. Zahra was mindful of the trigger, keeping her index finger off it. She leaped forward and bashed the gunman over the head with the steel slide. He crumpled in on himself but hadn’t been knocked unconscious. Zahra didn’t give him a chance to recover. She treated his skull like a soccer ball and kicked him in the temple as hard as possible.
That did it. Ouch.
Zahra grabbed his boots. Using mostly her right arm, she dragged him off the main road and into the darkness behind the hut. The effort of moving his body caused her head to swim. Zahra was losing blood fast. She needed to rest, but the voices shouting at one another across the city backseated that idea. She’d need to escape this place first.
Right, she thought, looking around. So, where’s the exit?
There had to be one. The builders would have needed another access point besides the one Zahra had used. She glanced up, but quickly deduced that the residents would have used an entrance that was less… spelunky. Plus, there was no way Zahra could climb the ropes Joe’s team had used in her current condition.
Listening for movement, Zahra heard nothing and moved on.
Staying low, she continued toward the middle of Z, stopping at one of the structures that ringed what looked like a ceremonial altar. The light coming down from the ceiling illuminated the city center nicely. The sight caused Zahra’s stomach to lurch.
There were more bodies here. Hundreds of them.
“Oh, god,” she mouthed silently. What struck her the most about the grisly sight wasn’t the numbers. It was the smell. Some of the dead were recent kills — fresh enough to reek of decomposition. Zahra focused on the ground around the bodies, and her eyes opened wide. It was wet. Some of the blood that had been spilled was only a couple of days old.
Looking past the mayhem, Zahra could barely see something else. The other side of the cenote was lost in the dusky haze, but she thought she saw a tunnel. That would be her target.
She kept to the outskirts of the city center and hugged the front of the ring of buildings. It would have been quicker to go straight through, but she would have left herself open for attack from all directions. There was nowhere to hide, either. She made it to the three o’clock position before something caught her eye. Two bodies had been laid on raised altars out in the middle of the carnage. For whatever reason, they had been placed in more prominent places than the rest.
Interesting…
Zahra stopped and checked the eastern road. It was clear. Then she looked back toward the duo of altars. She growled as her adventurous side took over. Slinking away from the relative safety of the darkness, Zahra skirted across the open expanse. She made her way to the altars, tiptoeing through the revolting, carnal exhibition. Zahra took one more look around the immediate area before mounting the short staircase beneath the ceremonial stone slabs.
The men were long dead. Based on their clothing, Zahra estimated that these two had been here for nearly one hundred years. Interestingly enough, the particular styles looked British. The pants and the boots were a dead giveaway. Both men’s shirts had been ripped open… as had their chest cavities. Zahra sneered in disgust and entered the space between both altars. She tripped on a rectangular object that had been veiled by the shadows created by the overhead light.