Ancient Hiss Story (13 page)

C
enturies of water
rushing through the ancient river had cut a chasm in the ground. They followed alongside it as the map indicated, the chasm growing deeper as they progressed. Kate’s stomach swooped every time she looked down.

Kate was glad she had brought her walking stick. It had scared off a few snakes along the way and the frequency of snake sightings seemed to increase the further they went.

“We must be getting close.” Their journey had progressed through the various maps and they were now on the last one, which Kate assumed ended at the tomb. Judging from how far they thought they’d progressed in relation to the map, they should be coming up on it soon. Kate just hoped they’d be able to see it in the dense foliage.

She needn’t have worried. They river took a sharp turn and there it was.

“Holy moly. I guess that’s it, huh?” Ace said.

“Yes. It looks like this old map was pretty accurate after all.” Kate stared at the step pyramid which rose up out of the forest. It wasn’t the whole pyramid, though. Like most of these ancient ruins, one side had crumbled and fallen. They weren’t close enough to see it, but Kate pictured the stone would be strewn about at the base, covered in moss and dirt. The top was just a jagged outline of what it once had been. Halfway up was a platform similar to that which usually sat on top of these types of pyramids and would typically be used as a temple.

On that platform, Kate could see Jersey, Kate's parents and the
Golden Capers
gang.

Panic lapped at Kate’s gut. It looked like Jersey had them as hostages and was threatening them with something. She didn’t know what Jersey was doing, but whatever it was, it didn’t look good for the
Golden Capers
gang. “What’s going on up there?”

“I don’t know. Let’s sneak up a little closer and find out,” Ace whispered. “We don’t want her to know we're here.”

They wove their way through the thick foliage, being careful not to make any sound or movement that might alert Jersey to their presence. Kate could see that the pyramid backed up against the edge of the river. The side of the temple that backed up to the river had deteriorated and sheered off steeply. The platform where her parents stood dropped off sharply, straight to the edge of the cliff. It must have been a one hundred foot fall and it looked like Jersey was aiming to push them off.

Kate’s heart crowded her throat as she watched Jersey advance toward the huddled group that made up her parents and close friends. They took a backward step. There were mere inches now between them and the edge of the platform.

Kate could see they were tied together somehow, ankle to ankle, their wrists bound behind them. One false move by one of them and they’d all topple, pulling each other over the side. Had Jersey managed to do that on her own? She must have had help, but where was that help now? It looked like Jersey was the only bad guy up there.

“They'll fall to their deaths!” Kate started to run toward the pyramid but Ace pulled her back.

“You can’t just rush in there like that or she probably will push them off,” he whispered in her ear.

Of course, he was right. She couldn’t just go off half-cocked and rush Jersey with only a walking stick for a weapon. What had she been thinking? She needed a better plan. And then one came to her. She turned to Ace.

“You’re right. Can you shoot her from here without hitting anyone else?” Kate hunkered down behind a large-leafed plant, her eyes glued to Jersey, anticipating the kill shot that would send the blonde archaeologist tumbling down the pyramid’s steep steps.

No shot came.

She looked back over her shoulder at Ace. “What are you waiting for? Can’t you get a clean shot?”

Ace hesitated. “It’s not that … I don’t have a gun.”

Kate’s brows pinched together. She whirled around to look at him. “What? What kind of FBI agent goes out without a gun? Are you joking?”

She looked up and down and then wondered where she thought he would have hidden a gun. His gray, sweat-covered T-shirt clung tightly to his nicely formed chest and tapered waist. There was no bulge for a gun. Where had she thought he would keep it? In the pocket of his cargo shorts?

Ace ran his hand through his short-cropped hair. His face turned sheepish. “Well, I’m not actually out here with the bureau.”

“I knew it,” she hissed. “You’re with the bad guys.”

Ace held up his hands. “No. Nothing like that. I might have exaggerated before when I implied I came out
ahead
of my partners. The truth is they don't even know I'm out here. Oh, they planned to send us, but they were taking so long and you were here in danger … I came out to make sure you didn’t get hurt and figured if I did a little recon about the tomb, it would help when my team finally did get here. But since I wasn’t on official business, I left my gun at home. The gun is only for official FBI business, you know.”

Kate rolled her eyes. Leave it to by-the-book Ace Mason to leave his gun at home.

“Don’t you have a gun in one of your pockets?” Ace indicated Kate’s multi-purpose vest.

“No.” Kate could smack herself. Why hadn’t she thought to bring a gun? She wasn’t used to carrying one and everything had happened so fast, she didn’t even think to get it when she was back at the camp.

Snatches of the conversation going on up on the platform drifted down to them. She couldn’t make out the actual words,, only that Gertie was saying something sarcastic and Jersey was saying something threatening. She looked up and saw Jersey poke her stick at Gertie, who shuffled backward, the heel of her shoe heart-stoppingly close to the edge of the platform.

If they waited any longer, her parents and the
Golden Capers
gang—the only family she’d ever known—would plunge to their deaths in the river below. She couldn’t let that happen.

“I’m going in!” She pushed Ace away and sprinted toward the temple.

K
ate was vaguely
aware of Ace yelling for her to come back, but his words were drowned out by her thudding heartbeat as she sprinted for the pyramid. Reaching the steps, she took them two at a time, her only weapon the walking stick held out in front of her.

Jersey heard her coming and turned to face her, holding the long, pointy weapon at her to stop her advance. Now that Kate was closer, she could see it was some sort of hook spear with a long, pointy blade. Jersey swished it through the air like a Kung Fu master. It looked menacing, but Kate was more relieved that Jersey wasn’t pointing it at her parents than concerned about her own welfare.

She pressed the button on the handle of her walking stick and the knife slid out. She’d have to fight Jersey on her own terms.

Kate surged up the last of the steps, confident that she could beat the blonde archaeologist. But when she got to the top, she skidded to a stop, the confidence draining out of her.

The platform where Jersey and the
Golden Capers
gang stood was not one solid surface like she had thought. It was broken up into different areas-the solid surface at the top of the steps where Kate stood and another solid surface at the back of the temple platform that backed up to the cliff leading to the river. Those surfaces were no problem. What
was
the problem was what was in between—two giant pits too wide for Kate to jump across.

The pits weren’t really the problem, either. The problem was they were both filled with angry, writhing snakes.

Kate froze in her tracks. She stared down at the mass of wriggling, slimy bodies. She could see all different kinds of snakes. Some were all black, some brown and tan with a pattern, some solid brown with stripes. Were any of them poisonous?

Her stomach turned inside out, her vision started to fade and her knees grew weak as the hissing of the snakes filled her ears.

“You can do it, Kate!” Her mother’s voice pulled her attention from the writhing reptiles and tugged her back from the brink of unconsciousness.

She looked over to see the smug look on Jersey’s face.

“What’s the matter? You don’t like snakes?” Jersey taunted her. “Well, that’s too bad. I was hoping to push you off the cliff with your parents but if you die in the pit of snakes it’s all the same to me. Either way, I get to discover the tomb and I will be the owner of the riches and the most important item—Itizuma’s codex.”

Kate frowned. Did Jersey think the tomb was inside this pyramid? Maybe Jersey didn't know that most Aztec pyramids were solid dirt. Boy, was she gonna be mad when she found out there was no tomb in the pyramid. Kate felt a little let down herself—had the map been just a ruse? Or was there really a secret tomb at another location nearby? At the realization of Jersey’s mistake, some of Kate’s bravado returned.

“I think you might be disappointed,” Kate said. “The tomb isn’t in here.”

Jersey snickered. “Of course it is. Gramps wrote about it in his journal and Burgess Maxon provided me with the last piece of the map that I needed and I followed it here. Too bad these old people got in my way. But that’s okay. I don’t mind killing all of you.”

Jersey turned her attention back to the
Golden Capers
gang at the edge of the platform and Kate felt a jolt of panic.

“Wait! You’re doing this all for nothing. Your grandfather was wrong. There is no tomb!” Jersey stopped in her tracks, turning back to look at Kate in confusion. Kate realized she’d struck a nerve. She had Jersey off guard now and had to act quick.

Kate looked down at the snakes, who seemed to be hissing even louder. Their beady, gold, slitted eyes looking up at her sent a surge of terror through her veins. But she couldn’t fight Jersey from over here. She’d have to get to Jersey’s side and the only way to do that was to jump across the pit.

Studying the area, Kate saw there were actually two pits with narrow walkways in between. She only had two choices. She could throw the walking stick—her only weapon—like a javelin and hope that it hit Jersey and injured her enough for her parents to escape. Or she could leap across the walkways to get to Jersey.

The javelin throw was a long shot. Jersey could easily dodge out of the way and Kate would be left with no weapon. So, the only thing to do was to jump onto the narrow walkway.

She looked down at the pit again and started to get that woozy feeling. Her limbs felt like they were mired in mud. Her mind was telling them to jump but they wouldn’t move. It was a familiar sensation, the same sensation she'd felt in the steam tunnel and on that fateful day back in Stockholm.

“You can do it, Kate!” This came from behind her. It was Ace.

Where had he been?

His voice dragged her out of the frozen state. She looked up at Jersey’s smirking face and then at the
Golden Capers
gang and she felt a surge of warmth and love chase away the frozen terror. These were her people and she
had
to save them.

Kate closed her eyes and jumped.

K
ate braced
herself for the slimy, rubbery feeling of snakes crawling on her. But she didn’t feel that—instead, her feet met solid ground. Her eyes flew open. She’d managed to make it to one of the walkways. It was only about a foot wide but wide enough for her to gain her purchase.

The snakes hissed louder, as if to show their disappointment that she hadn’t fallen into the pit.

Across the second snake pit, Jersey’s eyes widened. She seemed to be completely astonished that Kate had jumped over the snakes, which made Kate wonder how Jersey had gotten the
Golden Capers
gang up there in the first place. Was there another way up onto the platform? There must have been, but that wouldn’t do her any good now as she was straddled between the two pits. She’d need to jump across the second one in order to do battle with Jersey. A second way down
would
come in handy, though, once she’d defeated the antagonistic archeaologist.

Kate glanced down at the snakes again but this time they didn’t bother her nearly as much. She’d already jumped over one pit.

She could do this.

On the other side, Jersey was at the ready with her stick, which Kate saw was pointy and red on the end. Had she already stabbed somebody with it? Kate didn’t want to think about that. She balanced her walking stick in both hands and jumped over the second snake pit, landing directly in front of a surprised Jersey.

Faced with an opponent who had a foil-like weapon, Kate’s training quickly came back to her and she instinctively moved into a fencing stance.

“On guard!” She couldn’t believe she’d actually said that.

Jersey snickered and jabbed at Kate’s chest. Kate deftly moved out of the way, swishing her walking stick toward Jersey’s face.

Jersey stumbled back and Kate jabbed toward her middle. But Jersey was quick. She spun out of the way and managed to land a blow on Kate’s shoulder.

Kate fumbled the walking stick. She recovered it at the last minute, but not before Jersey landed another blow on her ankle, causing her to stumble and almost fall into the snake pit. She spun away quickly, jabbing out in Jersey’s direction and connecting with her arm. Satisfaction flooded through her when she saw a flash of blood well up on Jersey’s bicep. Too bad it wasn’t enough of a wound to stop her from coming forward.

Kate was vaguely aware of her parents and the
Golden Capers
gang cheering her on. Remembering her fencing training, she blocked out all outside influences and focused on the moves—slashing right and then left, then spinning to avoid Jersey’s clumsy jabs.

“Kate! Look out!” Ace’s voice came from behind her. She glanced over quickly to see that he’d come up to the edge of the first snake pit with a long tree branch which was sharpened at the end. She’d wondered what he’d been doing all this time. Apparently, he’d been fashioning himself a weapon.

But the momentary distraction cost her. Jersey lunged forward, ramming her stick into Kate’s side.

Kate doubled over, falling hard onto the stone platform.

Jersey loomed over her, holding the stick high over her head to administer the fatal blow. But the blonde archaeologist’s triumphant cry had the opposite effect on Kate. Instead of making her give up, it gave her a surge of energy. Kate catapulted up from her position on the ground with the knife end of the walking stick thrust out toward Jersey’s torso.