It took Sean about five minutes to do what Adriana and Emily were able to do in less than thirty seconds. He had slowly eased his way down the face of the canyon wall, careful not to make any sudden movements. Once inside the lip of the cave, he pressed forward quickly but Adriana stopped him short, blocking his path.
“I wouldn’t go too far in there if I were you.” She pointed her light into the darkness and revealed a deep, circular hole that seemed to go down forever.
Sean simply crumpled down to the ground, shaking his head. “I can’t believe I let you two talk me into this. Why couldn’t this thing be down in an underwater cave or maybe in the plains somewhere?”
She simply shook her head at him.
A few moments later Emily had joined them and cast Sean a degrading glance, chastising him for being fearful. “Walk it off soldier,” she shined her own light down into the deep pit. “Looks like we got more to do.”
He simply returned Emily’s jab by squinting his eyes at her, as if he was just fine sitting on the sandy stone floor.
“I’ve been trying to figure out how we get down there,” Villa spoke up, returning from the edge of the cave. She’d been busily tiding up the ropes for the return trip back up to the helicopter. She pointed to some odd engravings on the wall just above Sean’s head and he stood up carefully to look at it, still unsteady with his environment.
“Can you read it?” Emily asked.
He shook his head. “Only a little bit.”
His finger traced the outline of the engraved stone symbols that were so common in North Africa but extremely out of place in the United States. He scanned the wall with his eyes, trying to fit all the pieces together.
Adriana stood behind him, watching as he tried to decipher the ancient text.
“Looks like it says something about an eye and the afterlife, I think.”
“It says the eye of Akhanan can be the path to death or the stairway to life,” Adriana interrupted him. “And that only the righteous may have eternal life.”
Sean and Emily gazed at her, slightly amazed.
“I was getting to that,” Sean stammered.
Starks raised both eyebrows. “Sure you were.” She turned to Adriana and asked, “So what does it mean?”
Adriana stepped curiously over to the pit again and shone her light into the vast, deep darkness. The thing seemed to literally go on forever. An intense look on her face showed she was trying hard to work the riddle out in her head. As she spun back around, her flashlight passed over something at the corner of where the wall ended and the big hole began. She stepped over to get a closer a look and realized what she was seeing. On the wall, a stone panel with twelve, slightly raised pieces were positioned around eye level. She gazed at it in wonder as she traced the outline of the ancient script with her index finger. The other two came near to see what had gotten her attention.
Sean kept one hand on the cool wall, bracing himself in case some unseen force pushed him towards the pit.
“What is it?” Emily wondered out loud.
Adriana answered by shining her light away from the panel and around the corner into the dark.
A narrow ledge came into view that seemed to wrap around the left side of the huge shaft. It was difficult to see the other side but as she followed it around the wall with her light, it came to an end at what looked like doorway.
“So what do we do?” Emily asked.
“I think we go climb back up and get more rope, more gear, and come back down here tomorrow to see how far down we can get in this thing. In fact, maybe we could bring someone instead of myself to do that part of the search.” Sean looked hopeful. Just as he finished his sentence with a childish grin, an odd sound came from outside the cave entrance.
They watched in horror as one rope and then the other whizzed by, falling downward into the depths of the cliff. Adriana made a break for it and dove out recklessly trying to grasp the second rope just as it slithered over the edge and into the canyon depths below.
She lay on the dusty stone floor, her arm still outstretched. Sean ran over quickly and reached down and grabbed her hand, helping her up as she dusted off her tight, black pants with the other hand. “What happened?” She asked.
Wyatt turned to Emily to see if she had an answer. Suddenly, a large object whooshed by the entrance and Sean stepped to the edge to see what it was. Their pilot’s body tumbled through the air below. Sean turned away as it neared the rocky bottom below.
Emily had seen the body as it passed by the entryway and rushed over to look down. Sean grabbed her, but she wrestled him away in time to see Jim Caldwell hit the bottom. She shook violently. “No! No! No!” was all she could get out.
Sean pulled her away from the edge and put his arm around her. He’d worked with her a long time. Emily was a brilliant woman, but not cut out for fieldwork. She’d always been a more administrative type. She handled herself well enough in tough situations but having to keep on full alert all the time had worn her down. Just like it had him.
A solitary tear had formed in the corner of her right eye. Several minutes went by before Emily began to calm down. She took several deep breaths and tried to steel herself against her emotions. She hadn’t been a field agent in a long time, but it wasn’t the first time she’d lost an ally in the line of duty. It probably wouldn’t be the last.
Sean broke the long silence. “Em, we need to go.” She nodded and the three trudged slowly back into the cave.
Will fired off one of his last three bullets then dashed over to the hole where Tommy had been sitting only moments before. He shone his light down into the darkness and saw that there was a rushing stream of water but no sign of Schultz. The drop down to the small river looked to be about fifteen feet. He looked back in the direction of the two enemies and decided he’d rather take his chance with the underground river. Something caught his eye in the wall just over the hole. Will realized it was the stone disc and carefully reached over and pulled it out of the indention in the wall.
Will gave one more quick glance back towards the assailants. One of the men had moved into the open and was rushing his way. He raised his weapon and squeezed off one quick shot. The bullet sunk into the target’s mid-thigh, sending the man to the floor in a crumpled heap. His partner glanced around from a position behind one of the large columns that had fallen but stayed put. Satisfied he’d done what he could, Will jumped down into the cold, flowing water below.
Carlson watched from behind the large piece of fallen rock as his quarry disappeared into a large hole in the floor. The man had fired off one last shot, dropping his remaining agent. Quickly, he stuck the gun around the front edge of the column and stepped out, waving the weapon around methodically just in case. His man was lying on the ground, clenching his left leg about six inches above the knee. “Can you make it?” he asked, feigning concern.
The agent looked up and nodded, knowing what the other answer would result in. He’d already seen what his boss was capable of and wasn’t in the mood to die in a desert cave.
Hunter reached down and offered him a hand to stand up. The agent hesitated momentarily, then reached up and accepted the assistance. “You gonna be able to walk?” Hunter asked.
He nodded again. “Yeah. The bullet’s in the meat of the leg. I’ll be fine.”
“Let’s go after them, then.” Carlson said as he pointed to the hole in the floor.
The man gave a quick nod and started hobbling towards the other side of the room. He knelt down and shone his light down into the rushing water below and around the dark surroundings of the underground river. “Looks clear to me,” he announced over the sound of the flowing water.