“You won’t find it,” Baker continued with more confidence. “God won’t allow it. He hasn’t for four thousand years. He won’t let it be discovered now, not by you.”
Everyone at the table was completely lost by the exchange. Apparently, Baker was the only one at the table who knew anything about what Alexander Lindsey was really up to, which was good. He would only have to eliminate the one committee member. It might do some good to kill off one of them anyway to put them in their place and keep them off his back. He stood and brushed down his suit jacket and tie, clearly getting ready to leave. “I don’t have time for these ridiculous children’s games. And my answer is still no. If you are short on money ask for more tithes and offerings from your congregations. It’s what you preachers do best.”
With that last stab, he stepped over to the door and exited the conference room, making his way down a long office hallway toward the exit sign. While he walked, his fingers typed a text message. Rick Baker. Terminate.
Chapter 30
With guns trained, the three men stared at Tommy and Will. They had nowhere to run and essentially no cover in the large open room.
The pedestal was the only hiding place and wasn’t going to be much help. Or would it? Tommy wasn’t sure.
“Step away from the gold,” the man ordered.
“Who are you?” Tommy asked, trying to stall them for a moment. His eyes searched the ceiling for anything. Then he saw it, above the entrance to the passage, a huge rectangular stone seemed oddly out of place, jutting out of the vaulted ceiling just slightly. He noticed other similar pieces above and realized what they were.
“You don’t need to worry about that,” the leader of the group said. “Just put your hands up and get away from the gold, nice and slow.”
Will began to back up cautiously, raising his hands while he moved. Tommy moved too, but when he raised his hands he pushed them out sideways, knocking the gold leaf off the pedestal with his left hand. The artifact clanked to the floor, and the three men with guns flinched as the pang echoed through the room. A deep rumble began to resonate through the chamber as if the whole mountain was shaking. The armed men looked around for a moment as dust began to break loose from the ceiling. The ground beneath their feet vibrated violently.
Suddenly, the large stone Tommy had noticed over the doorway fell to the floor, crushing the man who still stood closest to the corridor. The rock instantly buried him under its weight; he never had a chance to scream.
The other two men realized what happened and looked up to the ceiling. Another stone, a little farther away and to their right, dropped and crashed to the floor with a thud. The man to the leader’s right just barely dove out of the way.
Tommy watched one of the men flattened by the heavy object. It gave him a brief second and while the other two were distracted, he took a chance and dove towards the gold leaf. He grabbed it and stood in one motion.
The remaining two armed men caught the movement near the altar and turned to fire.
Tommy darted back towards Will. The young cop reacted quickly and pulled his weapon out of its holster. He fired three quick shots at the newcomers who went sprawling across the stone floor in opposite directions.
Another large stone dislodged from the ceiling and landed near Will, missing him by a mere few feet.
Muffled shots popped from the other side of the room as the men returned fire from behind one of the big stones.
Will and Tommy ducked behind the one that had just fallen nearest them to take cover.
“Got any idea how we’re going to get out of here?” Will asked as he peeked around the corner of the stone and squeezed off a shot.
Schultz looked around frantically. “Honestly, I hadn’t thought that far ahead.”
The opening to the passageway was blocked so there was no going back the way they came.
“Keep them pinned down over there,” Tommy ordered suddenly. He crouched down and shuffled to the wall nearest to where they were hiding, looking closely for anything that would help them get out. Several more shots ricocheted around him making him flinch and sending sparks flashing off the stone. There had to be another way out.
The sound of Will’s weapon was deafening in the cavernous room. Each volley was amplified by the stone. The air began to smell acrid from the gun smoke.
Tommy tucked in behind a large piece that had fallen and tried to stay out of sight. As he did, his flashlight caught the edge of something peculiar in the wall. A small, circular indention of a familiar size was nestled in the rock. Tommy leaned in for a closer look and noticed four notches protruding from the edge of the round impression towards its center. He ran his light along the smooth surface until he found an edge, then up until he found another. An ancient door. Hurriedly, he pulled out the stone from his backpack and slid it into place in the impression. It was a perfect match, but something was wrong. He pulled the piece away from the indention and looked at it closely. Then he looked at the small hole. There were little raised areas inside the hollowed out circle. A closer look at the stone revealed something he’d not noticed before. There were little areas of discoloration that appeared to be the same size as the ridges in the wall’s impression.
More muffled shots sent rounds off the floor nearby. A ricochet passed so close he could have sworn he felt the air move from the bullet. Will continued to hold them off but was being more conservative with his firing due to the fact that he didn’t have that many bullets left. Tommy had noticed the cop had already switched to his reserve magazine of rounds. He looked back at Will who fired another shot at the two attackers.
Will squeezed the trigger. He’d been counting the rounds fired. Only four left. He held up four fingers so Tommy could see. Time was running out.
Chapter 31
It had been a little over an hour since Emily had made the call. While waiting, they’d gotten back on one of the tour buses and visited Guano Point for a few minutes before heading back to the main information center. A black helicopter bearing a Justice Department seal was landing in a space near the parking lot just as they exited the shuttle. “That must be our ride,” she said as she pointed over to the chopper.
Up ahead, the blades of the rotor began to slow slightly. A pilot wearing the stereotypical aviator-style sunglasses hopped out of the front. He also sported a light brown jacket and dark-brown pants. The man appeared to be in his upper forties with streaks of gray flicking through the thick, cocoa hair. Emily strode out in front and extended her hand, which the pilot took firmly. “Heard you needed a ride,” he said casually, speaking loudly so his voice could be heard over the whine of the turbines.
“We appreciate you coming down on such short notice.” She expressed their gratitude. There was an awkward pause for a moment while they shook hands a little longer than would be expected.
“This is Sean and Adriana.” Emily pointed to the two onlookers.
“You two know each other?” Sean asked.
“Jim Caldwell,” the pilot responded while offering his hand. “I’ve done some field work for Emily in the past. I’ve been doing some stuff out in Los Angeles for the past few years, but I happened to be in Vegas when the call came through.”
“That’s a happy coincidence-” Sean eyed her suspiciously.
Emily rolled her eyes at the insinuation.