‘My apologies, Tak,’ Lopez said to the old man. ‘I hope your payment was sufficient?’
‘Yes, yes,’ Tak replied enthusiastically as he backed away from Ethan.
‘I should have known,’ Ethan said as he turned to face his former partner. ‘Either you followed us or you suddenly decided on a weekend break in Cambodia.’
‘Who’d have thought it?’ Lopez replied with a slight shrug.
‘You followed me,’ Lucy said as though betrayed. ‘You’ve been following us the whole time?’
Lopez shot Lucy a pitying look. ‘And you’re surprised? You’ve been wandering around with one of the world’s most controversial fossils in your pocket for years. Do you have any idea how much money it’s worth?’
‘You always did have a mercenary streak in you,’ Ethan observed. ‘What’s your plan? Take the remains and sell them to the highest bidder?’
‘Best bet,’ Lopez replied. ‘None of the governments involved in this want Lucy’s discovery to be public knowledge because of the panic they fear it will spread. That means no country can lay claim to the remains without exposing them, which also means that they can be put up for sale on the black market without fear of arrest for smuggling.’
‘And there was I thinking you were the honorable one of the pair,’ Lucy uttered in disgust.
‘Thanks very much,’ Ethan replied, somewhat dismayed.
‘Business is down,’ Lopez said by way of an explanation. ‘A girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do, especially after this asshole decided to leave me carrying the can while he went off wandering around the world to find himself.’
‘I took a sabbatical,’ Ethan replied.
‘You took off!’ Lopez shot back as she jabbed her pistol in Ethan’s direction. ‘You left me to get by on my own! Do you have any idea how many hours I have to work just to make ends meet?!’
‘Can we do this another time, please?’ Lucy intervened as she moved between them.
Lopez nodded. ‘That’s fine. I’ll just take the measurements you made and be on my way, thanks.’
‘Over my dead body,’ Lucy snarled.
‘Don’t tempt me.’
Ethan shook his head. ‘You’re no cold-blooded killer, Lopez. What’s this really all about?’
‘You don’t get to ask,’ Lopez shot back at him. ‘By your own choice it’s none of your business now.’
Lopez took a single place and jabbed the pistol into Lucy’s ribs. ‘Your measurements, or I’ll ventilate you right here and right now.’
Not used to having a pistol stuck in her side, Lucy hesitated no longer as her anger vanished and she reached into her satchel and produced a rubbing of the carving she had made and the measurements she had made alongside it. Lopez snatched it from her and tucked it into the pocket of her shorts.
‘Nice doing business with you all,’ Lopez flashed a bright smile as she backed away.
Ethan watched her go, certain that he would be able to track her and find out where she went. Lucy had said that they would not be going to Peru, and now he desperately wanted to know what she meant and whether Lopez would be heading in the wrong direction. He made no effort to stop her, and she was almost at the tree line when a hand reached out and grabbed Lopez from behind and rammed a pistol up under her ribs.
‘I’ll take that.’
Ethan’s eyes widened in amazement as from the darkening tree line half a dozen camouflaged troops emerged, their weapons trained on Ethan and the villagers behind them. They spread out quickly, taking up firing positions, M-16 rifles held firmly in professional grips. Ethan heard the villagers behind him exchange a flurry of nervous whispers.
‘This is supposed to be one of the remotest sites on the planet,’ Lucy gasped in dismay. ‘Where the hell are all these people coming from?’
Ethan said nothing as the armed soldier reached down to Lopez’s shorts and slid his hand inside the pocket to retrieve the notes that Lopez had stolen. The soldier’s hand lingered for a few seconds longer than it needed to in her shorts as he spoke softly in her ear.
‘Nice doing business with you,’ he smiled.
Lopez scowled at him but said nothing as the soldier pocketed the paperwork and backed away from her. Ethan watched in silence, his hands still in the air as the troops surveyed the natives before them.
‘My apologies,’ the leader of the small platoon said in an American accent. ‘But my orders are to ensure that nobody leaves this place alive.’
Ethan glanced sideways at Tak, the old man understanding every word the American soldiers said. He saw a look of fresh resolve appear on the old man’s face and his wiry old finger curl across the trigger of the AK-47 he still held in his hands.
‘And where’d you take orders from?’ Ethan asked the soldier.
‘You’ll never need to know.’
Ethan jerked sideways and lifted a boot to bring it crashing down on the lantern glowing beside the temple. His boot smashed through the glass and instantly the jungle plunged into near darkness.
In the dim illumination from the darkening sky above Ethan saw the American soldier lift his rifle to aim at Ethan and in an instant Tak let out an enraged cry and opened fire. The bright muzzle flash of the AK-47 illuminated the jungle clearing with jagged flashes of light as its clattering fire rattled out.
Ethan hurled himself at Lucy and threw them both down onto the jungle floor as the rest of the villagers likewise opened fire on the American soldiers, who themselves leaped for cover and returned fire. Ethan saw Lopez break away from her captor and sprint into the darkened jungle
Tak got off half a dozen rounds before he was struck by two American bullets high in the chest and hurled onto his back. The villagers kept firing, their disorganized and chaotic attack sending bullets flying both toward the American soldiers and high into the jungle canopy. Ethan grabbed Lucy’s hand as he got to his feet and dashed into cover behind the temple.
‘Let’s get out of here!’ he hissed.
Lucy followed Ethan as fast as she dared through the dense jungle as they turned south around the back of the temple and plunged down the hillside. The crackling gunfire ceased and Ethan heard American voices yelling in the darkness behind him. The villagers would have been completely outclassed by the American troops and had either been annihilated or were fleeing into the jungle, but Ethan felt certain the Americans would not pursue them and instead return their attention to Ethan and Lucy.
‘The shooting stopped,’ Lucy whispered as they ran.
‘Only temporarily,’ Ethan insisted. ‘Keep moving!’
XXI
Ethan hurtled down the hillside with Lucy hot on his heels, and behind them he could hear the Americans plunging through the undergrowth in pursuit. He recalled that they were wearing jungle kit and were laden down with water, webbing and weapons. Ethan and Lucy were encumbered only by their light rucksacks, but the soldiers’ fitness would likely even the odds.
Ethan began to slow slightly as they descended the mountain side, knowing that even the slightest injury would render them unable to escape. Lucy closed in behind him as they ran, aiming for the open tracks used by the motorcyclists and tourists to reach the waterfalls below. Both of their mopeds were parked down there, and although Ethan was certain that such battered old vehicles would not have been stolen he could not be sure that the headlights worked.
A shot cracked out behind him and he flinched instinctively as the round smacked into a tree to his right.
‘Get in front of me,’ Ethan insisted as he moved to the right and allowed Lucy to pass him.
Another shot impacted close beside Ethan’s head and sprayed him with wood chips as he ducked down and followed Lucy through the darkness. Moments later she found the path that they had followed up the hillside, a slightly clearer passage through the forest toward the waterfalls below. Lucy picked up the pace as she regained her confidence on the narrow trail and Ethan likewise accelerated as they raced through the darkness.