Page 30

Chapter Twenty-Nine

A ndrew struggled to his feet and then hauled me up. He cradled my face. Over the ringing in my ears, I could barely make out what he said. An inch-sized cut bled above his left eyebrow.

“You hurt?” I peered up at his face cast in shadows. Our flashlights were somewhere on the ground behind us.

“I’m okay. Are you?”

“Did we set off a trap?” My words scraped my throat. Andrew blinked slowly and swayed. His hands slid to my arms, his fingers tightening around them. My hand went to his hips to stabilize him. He must have banged his head hard when we’d tumbled. “You need to sit down.”

“I’m fine.” Andrew turned to look up the staircase.

Through the settling dust, bright lights flickered, and silhouettes shifted. I swallowed, and my ears popped. The noise of gravel crunching under multiple boots grated on my nerves. Hairs rippled down my back, when I realized we hadn’t triggered a trap. A blast had taken out the door in the room above.

“Anybody alive?” Richard’s flashlight blinded me, and I raised my hand to block it.

“Are you out of your goddamn mind?” Andrew shouted. “You could have killed us.”

Richard stepped off the last step. “But I didn’t.”

Rage churned inside of me at the sight of the scoundrel.

Tweedledee shadowed Dickhead, his bald noggin reflecting a light coming from behind them. My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach. William slowly limped down into the cave. Brandon, Brie, and Tweedledum trailed after him, a headlamp strapped to his shaved head.

When William entered the space, tears blurred my vision. I dashed to him and threw my arms around his neck. “I thought I’d never see you again.” He staggered, embracing me. I drew back for an instant to confirm that I was looking at his handsome face. I hugged William tight again. He shouldn’t be here, but damn it if I wasn’t happy to see him.

“Why are you here?” I leaned away to peer at him, not ready to let go of him.

“It was my idea to join Andrew on a treasure hunt, right? I’m sorry I told them the location coordinates.” He smiled, but it was a weak attempt. He winced. “You might not want to put too much pressure on me. My foot is killing me.”

A fresh swell of rage rose in me, and I faced Dickhead. “My brother is hurt. Why did you make him hike?”

The abundance of light chased the blackness, and the area came into full view. It resembled an old underground mine with two wood-framed passages about ten yards away. Four hefty beams with symbols carved into the wood propped a timbered ceiling. The bare stone walls had clusters of shimmering quartz and garnets.

Richard looked over his shoulder and then shrugged. “Extra collateral.”

“It was you last night in the jungle,” Andrew said in a terse tone.

Richard strolled to the closest post and studied a ship carving.

“No. It was Igor and Vitali.” He pointed at the pole. “Have you already figured out the meanings of these marks?”

Andrew bent and reached for his hat. “For once, you can do your own work instead of taking advantage of mine.”

“It’s easier this way.”

Andrew stepped in Dickhead’s direction, but the neckless Tweedledee directed a gun at him. A fear pushed through me. I had no doubt the dumbass wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.

“No need for a confrontation.” Brie placed her hand on the gun, lowering it. “Andy, we tried to be nice. We offered a cut of our share. But you didn’t want it.” She sashayed to Andrew and placed her palm on his abdomen, then it slid down, her finger hooking over his belt buckle. His forehead furrowed. My stomach hardened with jealousy. “How about we make a different deal? You help us find Augustine’s loot, and we divide it. Your precious museum can have some; our client will have the rest. Simple.”

Andrew breathed heavily, his nostrils flared, as he gripped Brie’s wrist and pushed her hand away from him. “How about a hard no?”

Brie tilted her head, her lips pulling into a pout. “Oh, Andy, don’t be that way.”

“Stop fucking calling him Andy,” I bit off and snatched the flashlight off the ground.

She gawked at me first, then snorted a dry laugh, showing off a row of pearl-white teeth. “I can call him whatever I want. Don’t forget, he was mine before he was yours.” Her chin thrust forward, and she pushed her enormous boobs out. The haughtiest expression took over her face. “I told Andy ‘I love you’ in six different languages. Can you do that?”

Earlier anger at them being here and having taken William hostage turned into red fury. My face flooded with heat, and my fingers tightened over the metal in my hand. I had never been in a fight, but there was always a first time for everything. Yet the better half of me understood that Brie’s flirtatious behavior was primarily her trying to provoke me, pushing my buttons, wanting me to show my ugly side. I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction.

“It doesn’t matter how you said it because you didn’t show it,” I said, trying to sound irate and not wounded.

“That’s enough, Brie,” Richard snapped. “Let’s focus on the important things.”

“Fine.” Andrew pointed at the two passages. The light reflected off a small golden statuette on the wall at each entrance. “We divide and conquer. Whoever finds it first keeps the most. Which way do you pick? Left or right?”

What was he doing? I approached him and arched an eyebrow, silently asking what the actual hell. Andrew’s eyes searched mine, his lips curling up. Had he figured out something but couldn’t share?

“Andy, what game are you playing?” Brie crossed her arms.

“I’m being fair. There are two ways to get out of here.” He walked to the second torch on the ground and picked it up. He cleaned the grit of the glass lens. “And Brie, it’s Dr. Jones to you, not Andy.”

She rolled her eyes.

I looked at Brandon. “Will you stay here with my brother, please?”

“No,” Brie snapped. “He’s coming with us.”

I swirled around. “He’s hurt. He shouldn’t be here in the first place.”

“He made it this far just fine. He can continue for a while more.”

“Briana,” Brandon spoke, and I noticed a few days-old purple bruises under his right eye. “With all due respect, this is not the best idea. He’ll slow you down. We’ll wait for you here.”

“What happened to you?” I asked.

Brandon’s hand went to his face. “Igor’s farewell gift.”

“Huh?”

“He quit working for these assholes, and they didn’t like it.” William leaned against the wall, balancing on his good foot.

“We all go. Andrew, lead the way, or I’ll shoot her.” Richard withdrew a gun and pointed it at me. For fuck’s sake, were they all armed? The muscles in my throat tightened, and I stepped back.

“Don’t be an idiot,” Andrew said.

“Now!” Richard yelled, his arm went up, and the gun fired with a deafening bang. I clenched my head and ducked, expecting the bullet to ricochet.

One of the ugly twins snorted and said something in Russian. The pungent smell of burnt sulfur tainted my scent. My heart pounded in my ribcage as I straightened and surveyed William, then Andrew. They didn’t seem to be hurt.

“You bloody imbecile!” Andrew shouted, his nostrils flaring.

“You need to take me seriously.” Dickhead motioned with the gun. “Which way?”

Muscles in Andrew’s jaw ticked, and he squared his shoulders. “I don’t know. Adriana is the only one who knows it.”

My mouth dropped open. “No. I don’t.”

“Yes, love, you do.” He inclined his head. “The path. You remember it, don’t you?”

Different thoughts sped like race cars: the Pérez family letters, Andrew’s journals, carvings in the Iglesia San Antonio undercroft, outside the vault, Augustine’s sketches. And then, at last, the file I made in Photoshop in which I’d combined the two strange drawings.

Sweat developed under my breasts. I could see it almost clearly, but it would be nice to look at it again. The phone was in my back pocket and my fingers itched to check it, but I resisted. These jackasses shouldn’t be made aware that we had a map. Well, sort of. We didn’t know the meaning of all the squiggly lines and markings. Those indications could mean anything. Right way. Wrong way. Dead end. Danger.

“Richard, I don’t trust whatever they’re doing.” Brie scowled at me.

My eyes cut to her. “Unlike you, not everything I do has an agenda.”

I went up to the passages. A cool breeze tugged on my loose strands of hair as I examined each gold statuette. The left one was a round-faced boy, sitting on his knees and cradling two birds in his hands. The other one looked like a kiwi bird picking grass at its feet. The Pérez family for sure was cuckoo for feathered creatures. Was this bird statue a symbol for anything? Upon closer examination, I noticed the bird’s beak pierced a snake.

If I had to make a wild guess, I’d say the kid was a safer choice. But what if their meanings were purposely counterintuitive? Seconds stretched as my eyes darted between the figurines. I took a shaky breath through my mouth.

“We go this way,” I said, gingerly stepping into the left tunnel, the flashlight beam quickly disappearing into the eerie darkness.

Everyone shadowed me: Andrew, Richard, and Brie, William wobbling after them, and Brandon following him. Tweedledee and Tweedledum trooped last. Gratitude that Brandon had decided to work against Dr. Dickhead, mixed with guilt at my failure to believe William about Brandon, twisted my stomach like it housed snakes. Or maybe it was anxiety about what would happen when we found the treasure. Would they let us go? Hurt us? Kill us? Cold sweat covered my forehead at that thought.

The path veered to the right and then went straight and appeared not to hold any danger, just an occasional cobweb. Nevertheless, I had seen enough movies to know negligence could kill me, so I watched where I stepped and paid attention to my surroundings for suspicious cracks or outlines with hidden traps.

A minute later, we piled into an ample circular space, its walls and ceiling lined with square stone blocks, a granite pedestal in the center, and four passages. On top of the stand was a golden statue of an anaconda twisted around a bearded man. His massive hands gripped its head as if he was choking it. Two red gemstones were in place of the snake’s eyes. By the expression on the man’s face, one could guess he was losing the battle. Was this a warning? A sign of a giant snake slithering in these caves? A shiver ran over me. I liked the bird statues much better.

I spun around the room, unable to remember a ring with four paths on the image. Needing to refresh my memory, I slowly skirted the pedestal and fished out my phone.

“What are you doing?” Brie asked, pushing her way to me.

I tilted the iPhone to my chest. “I want to take a photo of this. Isn’t it breathtaking?”

She narrowed her eyes. “You didn’t take photos of the first statues.”

“They weren’t that interesting.” I shrugged while my fingers glided over my screen, searching for the correct image. I found it and soaked up the details. There weren’t any circles. But there was a narrow passage—presumably the one we took—followed by a gap with a strikeout square in the center—the pedestal. Several millimeters above it were four routes.

Brie’s thin fingers latched onto my phone, and she yanked on it. My grip strengthened, lurching my hand out of her hold. She might have had bigger boobs and a toned body, but I was much stronger than she was, and our height difference benefitted me.

“Give it to me,” she commanded.

“Come and get it.”

Richard advanced on me.

Andrew went after him.

Vitali caught Andrew’s backpack and dead-legged him, knocking Andrew to the ground.

I smashed the iPhone screen on the pedestal edge.

Everyone stilled, their wide eyes on me.

“Why would you do that?” William howled.

The action shocked my system.

Blood hammered in my ears. I wiped sweat off my forehead, dirt scraping my skin. “Because now I’m the only one who knows the way around this hellhole.” Did this put me in more or less danger?

“You stupid bitch!” Brie barked.

My palms closed into fists, and I fought the urge to boob-punch her.

Andrew got up and fixed the bag straps on his shoulders. He stepped up to Tweedledee. “Do something like that again, and you won’t leave here alive.”

“Save your threats. Vitali doesn’t understand English.” Brie ambled to Richard. Taking him by his forearm, she steered him towards one passage, stopping shy of its entrance. They colluded in hush tones, him casting a sideways glance at me. My stomach twisted into a knot. Whatever they were talking about wouldn’t play out well for us.

Andrew gently guided me aside. He lowered his mouth to my ear. “You all right?”

“Yes,” I whispered, pressing my damped face to his stubbed cheek. “The paths lead to the same place. Some just?—”

Brie said something in Russian. Igor and Vitali nodded, their eyes cutting to Andrew and then me.

“Okay.” Richard pushed his crusty blond hair back off his forehead. “Which way?”

I eyed each entryway. The image showed all routes feeding into one location. The left one had too many markings, which could mean nothing good. The right one had a break in the line. That could signify anything from a not easily crossed ravine, to an impenetrable obstruction, to something as simple as the graphite had rubbed off over the years and the passage was safe. The two in the middle, which had much larger gateways, had shorter paths with fewer symbols.

More sweat beaded over my skin. The air in the cave was surprisingly warm, or maybe it was the stress of working under the threat of death by gunshot, of an enormous snake that might or might not live here, or of being lost in the cavern labyrinth forever.

“This one.” I pointed with my flashlight at the second opening to the right.

“And why is that?” Richard asked.

I looked over my shoulder. “Because I want to live and the others present challenges.”

Andrew leaned in and kissed my temple. “Do you want me to go first?”

I might know the way, but it didn’t mean I was brave enough to be the leader. I nodded, taking his hand into mine.

He took cautious steps, and I followed him.

Brie appeared at my side, her shoulder grazing my arm. “I don’t trust you,” she hissed.

“The feeling is mutual,” I retorted.

We were ten feet into the passage when Brandon screamed, “Igor, no!”

A breath lodged in my throat, and I turned, my fingers slipping out of Andrew’s. Richard, William, and Tweedledum were with us but Brandon and Tweedledee were somewhere back in the room.

There was a loud creak, then a bam. The floor dropped out from beneath me.