Hex shrugged. ‘We’ve spent all this time trying not to get lost. Pity to throw it all away.’
‘Hex is right,’ said Alex. ‘I don’t mind staying behind.’
Paulo tied one end of the vine onto the forked stick. ‘No, I’ll stay.’ He pulled the knots to test them. ‘After all, this is my contraption.’ He handed Alex the machete. ‘We’ll catch you up.’
Alex got his map out of his belt kit. It took just moments to reorientate himself. He looked at Hex and Li. ‘Ready?’
They nodded. Hex looked back at Amber. ‘Make sure you nail the squirmy little beggar firmly into the ground.’
‘I’ll get him, don’t you worry,’ said Amber. She wished she felt as confident as she sounded.
Hex and Li headed off after Alex, counting paces. Amber’s heart thudded in time with their feet crunching on the leaf litter. Hex trod on a branch and the crack flooded her brain with images: the crashes and the screams in the night, the trail of destruction as the poor, panicking donkey tried to escape the pain of the snake bite.
Paulo coiled up the free end of the vine and stood behind her. He handed her the stick. ‘Just slide it into the ground, in front of where you’ve got your foot. Make sure it’s firm.’
Amber took the stick. ‘If it doesn’t work, do I get my money back?’ She positioned it behind the snake’s head. It reared back, eyes watching her like black sequins. She rammed the stick into the ground hard and it slid in like a garden fork.
Paulo gave a tug on the vine.
‘Don’t do that!’ hissed Amber.
‘Just testing. Now take your foot away.’
‘Are you sure?’
Paulo nodded. ‘It’s held securely.’
Very slowly, Amber raised her foot a millimetre. The snake felt the pressure release and humped its back. Amber froze.
‘Keep going,’ said Paulo. ‘Its head is still pinned.’
Sweat was running down Amber’s face. She held onto Paulo and slowly lifted her foot. She looked down. The snake was held firmly by the stick, as though it had been stapled into the ground.
Paulo took her arm and moved her away. ‘Now we follow the others.’
The snake hissed at them, showing pale fangs. It knew they were moving.
Amber couldn’t take her eyes off it. ‘What if it slides out?’
‘It can’t. It’s a close fit.’
Amber turned round. The others had vanished but they were easy to follow thanks to the path Alex had cut with the machete. Behind her, Paulo paid out the vine, looking backwards all the time. If it got caught, it might release the snake before they had got far enough away.
Li’s voice sang through the trees. ‘Are you there?’
Amber called back. ‘We’re coming. Go on ahead.’
Paulo continued to pay out the line. ‘We’re nearly at the end. Ready to run?’
‘Sure.’
‘Go!’ As Paulo started to run he felt the vine snag and pull free. The snake was released.
‘Go go go!’ he yelled.
Amber ran. Demons pursued her, images of what would happen if she didn’t run fast enough. Her bergen thumped on her back, pushing her on. Eventually, Paulo, Hex, Li and Alex closed in around her, pulling her back, telling her she could stop.
She collapsed in a heap on the jungle floor, getting her breath. ‘Has it gone?’ she gasped.
Paulo was nodding. ‘Yes. It’s gone.’
Amber pulled herself up onto all fours, still breathing heavily. She looked up at Alex. ‘Can we just do some boring navigation for a while now? After all, that’s what we came for.’
Paulo in front, Alex and Amber next, Hex and Li at the back. Every ten metres, stop and check. They felt they were getting better at this. They slipped into the routine more easily, each playing their part like components in a machine. It was repetitive, but now they were all working so well together there was something satisfying about it.
‘Hey,’ said Paulo, ‘there are some more of these drystone walls.’
Alex bent down and brushed aside some of the vines. The stones formed a mound, sloping away from him into the undergrowth. ‘No, they’re different. Look.’
The others stopped and looked. The mound was at least as tall as Alex was.
Alex knew what it was. His dad had described them. ‘That,’ he said, ‘is a pyramid. A tomb.’
6 T
OMB
‘A genuine Maya tomb . . .’ said Alex.
‘It’s almost completely hidden,’ said Hex. ‘We could be the first to find it.’
While Paulo marked a notch on a tree, Amber started to trace the perimeter, stepping high to avoid the brambles and wait-a-while. ‘It’s quite big.’ She walked further along and then stopped. ‘I can see the corner.’
‘Hang on,’ said Alex. ‘Don’t go out of sight.’
‘Let’s look at the other side,’ said Li. ‘Come on, guys.’
Alex had got to the corner. ‘It’s about twenty metres square,’ he called.
Paulo, Li and Hex clambered over tree roots, leaning on the dark weathered stones.
‘Did the Maya bury their dead with a lot of grave goods, like the ancient Egyptians?’ asked Li.
‘I think so,’ said Paulo.
Hex traced his fingers along the stones. One row had been carved, like a stripe of patterned tiles in a bathroom. They were weathered back to shadows but were deliberate markings: ovals, dots, circles; strange bubble shapes like the writing of aliens.
They heard Amber’s voice. ‘Hey, guys. This is the entrance.’
They hurried along to the end of the wall. Alex and Amber were standing by a tall black opening, tapered at the top, made of big stone slabs. It faced into a wooded valley.
Hex looked at Amber. ‘OK, we’ve finished here. Let’s be respectful and leave the tomb in peace.’
Amber was too excited to rise to his sarcasm. ‘I don’t think it’s disrespectful to investigate,’ she smiled. ‘After all, this could be preserved for the nation.’ She got out her torch and flashed it into the opening. The light bounced off mud-coloured stones.
The others got their torches out too. Hex angled his downwards. ‘Hey, guys, there are steps.’
Four torch beams converged on Hex’s. They revealed a perfectly preserved set of stone steps going down into the darkness.
Paulo swept his torch over the walls. ‘I can’t see the bottom. Looks like it goes down for quite a way.’
Alex slipped off his bergen and propped it against the tomb wall. ‘Who’s coming exploring?’
‘Doesn’t look like there’s room for more than one at a time,’ said Li. ‘Why don’t you go down and see what’s there? It might be blocked.’
‘Hey,’ said Hex. He took off his bergen and pulled out the night vision goggles. ‘Take these. You’ll get a better view.’
Alex put the strap over his shoulder. ‘Thanks.’ He stepped into the opening.
Paulo played a torch on Alex’s back to keep an eye on him. The steps went down sharply and soon all they could see was the top of his blond head.
Paulo looked at the others and grinned. ‘Following in Dad’s footsteps.’
Hex shuddered as he watched Alex descend. The tunnel came to a blunt point at the top, like a coffin. Alex seemed to be heading into inky blackness. Rather him than me, thought Hex.
Alex took it slowly. The steps were steep, as though they were made by a race of people with longer legs than normal. It was hot; the rocks caught the sweat coming off him and held it. It was damp and smelled of animal droppings, like a cave.
A few more steps and he would be at the bottom. Alex stopped and listened. It sounded as though something was moving down there. A noise like something crunching around on gravel. Was it an animal? Certainly enough wildlife had been in and out recently. There could be something living down there. He turned the torch downwards.
Something threw him against the wall of the tunnel. He gasped and the sound was magnified by the close walls. He steadied himself. He was sure he hadn’t tripped. It was like he’d been hit but he hadn’t felt a blow – anyway there was no one else there. Yet his shoulder was singing with pain where a bruise was forming.
It happened again. This time he was thrown forwards and his hands ground into the gritty guano on the steps.
Amber’s voice shrieked down to him. ‘Alex get out, it’s a quake!’
There was a rumbling noise like the deepest notes on a cathedral organ. Alex powered up the steps. Stones and crusts of ancient bird droppings fell around him. He burst into the daylight. Paulo and Hex grabbed him and pulled him away from the tomb. The earth was shaking and they dived to the ground, covering their heads with their arms. A tree crashed over.
The quake stopped. For a long moment the five friends didn’t dare move.
‘Are we still alive?’ Hex’s voice was shaky.
Alex sat up. ‘Everyone all right?’
‘Hex, get off my foot,’ said Amber. ‘Then I’ll be all right.’
Some trees close by had fallen, but the damage to the tomb looked worse. The outer stones from one corner had tumbled away, showing pale surfaces.
‘Lucky you got out,’ said Amber.
Alex patted his shoulder suddenly. ‘Damn.’
‘What?’ said Paulo.
‘I dropped the night vision goggles.’
Amber high-stepped back to the entrance and flashed her torch into the tunnel. There were the goggles. They looked a very long way down. ‘I can see them.’
Hex came up behind her, followed by the others. ‘It’s all right, they’re shock proof.’
Amber was talking fast, an edge of panic in her voice. ‘Can we risk going down for them? We are in deep trouble if we lose them. I promised we were just going to do nice boring things like trekking, not exploring tombs. You know what my uncle’s like. If we don’t get them back in one piece . . .’
She didn’t need to say any more. If John Middleton suspected how dangerous their ‘holidays’ really were he’d withdraw his support – and there would be no more Alpha Force.
Paulo began playing his torch over the walls. ‘Let’s see if it’s safe to go back in.’
Alex was kicking himself. ‘They must have slipped off my shoulder. I should have had them on more securely.’
Paulo clicked off his torch. ‘The walls still look straight. I don’t think anything structural has moved. I think it’s safe to go down.’
Alex put his foot on the first step. ‘Right, I’ll be two ticks.’ He went down into the tunnel, moving as fast as he dared.
He reached the goggles and put them carefully over his shoulder and across his body. Now they shouldn’t fall off.
He had just started back up when he heard something. A desperate cry. It sounded human. He flashed the torch around behind him but he could only see walls. ‘Hello?’ he shouted. His voice echoed.
‘Hello?’ called Li’s amused voice from far up above.
‘Not you,’ called Alex.
The noise came again. It was definitely down in the pyramid – and it sounded like a cry of pain.
Alex cupped his hand to his mouth and called up. ‘There’s someone down here. Get Paulo and the medical kit.’
In the tunnel opening he saw Paulo slip his bergen off. A moment later he was pattering down, his broad shoulders nearly obscuring the light. ‘What’s up?’
Alex flashed the torch down the remainder of the staircase. ‘I think there’s someone in here.’
Five steps and they reached the bottom. It was well beyond the point where daylight would penetrate. They flicked their torches around. It was a small space, with barely enough room for the two well-built teenagers to turn around without their belt packs catching on each other.
‘It’s just a dead end,’ said Paulo.
‘Hello?’ called Alex. ‘Where are you? We’ve come to help.’
There was no answer. ‘There was definitely someone here,’ he went on.
‘Did your dad ever say how you get into these places?’
Alex shone his torch over the walls and looked at them carefully. ‘No. I think he didn’t want to give me ideas.’
‘Aha.’ Paulo had noticed something. Two of the walls were made of blocks, but the third looked a little different. ‘Look, this is carved to look as though it’s made of blocks, but it seems to be solid. Like a door.’
He pushed. It swung open noiselessly, as though on well-oiled hinges. ‘Maya engineering,’ whistled Paulo. ‘Bueno.’ He walked into the chamber. ‘Hello?’
There was a click.
Alex rugger-tackled Paulo to the ground. There was a flash and a bang, and a piercing whistle as something ricocheted off the walls.
7 R
OBBER
They heard Amber’s voice from far away on the surface. ‘Are you OK?’
Alex shouted back through the open door, ‘Yes.’
A smell of cordite and gunpowder filled the tiny space. Paulo retrieved his torch and shone it around. A shotgun stood on the floor, its barrel propped up by rocks. A branch lay in front of them, vines linking it to the trigger. It must have been wedged in the door, ready to fall if it was opened. A booby trap. And it didn’t look like it had been set by the ancient Maya.