Authors: Sue Guillou
Gillian studied them carefully, noting an engraved symbol of an open hand over the left entrance and a fist over the other. The left one was the entry and the right the exit. She pushed the door and they all stepped into a darkened hallway lit intermittently by a modern replica of the wall torch.
Gillian gasped.
Large panels of multifaceted copper sculptures lined the walls, the colour of which was picked up by the torches and radiated onto the solid obsidian floor. Glorious glittering rays crisscrossed the path, leaving the users with the impression of walking through beams of gold. It was simple yet effective, distracting Gillian for a second until she heard another joyous cheer.
She bolted to the end of the hall, reaching a sumptuous and bulky set of red velvet curtains which she was about to rip apart in a desperate need to see what was happening.
‘Wait.’ Adam shot her a look of warning as Georgio pushed his way in front of them and peered through the seams. He held up two fingers.
Adam took the right and Georgio the left, both pushing the curtains apart in unison and breaking the necks of the seated occupants before they even knew their lives would be over.
Gillian hurried into the viewing room and gazed at the scene below.
The room was the size of a small concert hall with an enormous vaulted ceiling, giant size wall banners depicting the various Mayan gods and a numerous arrangement of statues. Glorious polished tiles with inlaid hieroglyphics embellished the floor, but the pièce de résistance was a miniature version of a Mayan pyramid positioned almost fifteen feet directly below their viewing platform. It was approximately forty feet tall and painted in the five colours of the Mayan compass – white, red, yellow, black and green. Atop the pyramid was a smaller, glittering, gold pyramid decorated with various precious stones, shells and a flat, front-facing plate that jutted out towards the crowd of approximately 400 strong.
Gillian’s subconscious took in the scenery. She recognised the millions of dollars it would take to build such a room, the massive crowd of men, women and children separated into areas according to gender and importance. She also recognised the total adoration of the people towards the priest on the sacrificial platform, but it was her conscience that was screaming.
Her mind, her soul, her very being was silently yelling in disbelief and horror, yet her mouth remained shut. Even a whisper would jeopardise any possibility they had of saving her father.
Gillian watched as he was paraded about the platform like a prize steer. He looked drugged and his hands were restrained. She longed to load her gun and open fire, to end this ordeal as quickly as possible, but Georgio stopped her.
‘If we shot the priest now, your father will be left unprotected. Undoubtedly the crowd or the accompanying priests would seek instant retribution and kill Dale before we even get to him. Somehow one of us must reach him and secure his freedom whilst the priest is disabled as a distraction.’
Gillian looked dumbfounded, but Adam’s eyes glittered in determination.
‘Look, I’m not much of an inventor, but those curtain cords are long enough to reach that platform. They are also on a pulley system, so whoever jumps and grabs Dale can be pulled back up.’
Gillian stared at him. Initially she thought the idea was totally ridiculous, but the more she considered it, the more it seemed to be the only option.
‘I’ll go. I’ll need the strength of two men to pull us back up,’ she said.
Adam opened his mouth to argue as did Georgio, but they quickly rescinded, both knowing that Gillian’s idea was the only one that had any chance of success.
A cheer of immense proportions echoed throughout the room.
Gillian looked down. Her father’s body was being positioned on the sacrificial altar, held down by four burly attendants. The priest withdrew a knife which he positioned directly over the heart and began to chant.
They were out of time.
Georgio fastened a temporary harness from the end of the thick cord, giving Gillian two seconds to prepare herself before the crowd noticed her standing on the balustrade.
She leapt, her mind and body total connected and focussed on the task at hand. This was the one and only time in her entire life that there was no room for error and she sought refuge in the adrenaline pumping through her body. The leap was terrifying and rough as she was forced through the air at a rate akin to the one and only bungee jump she had ever experienced.
Gunshots rang out and three of the guards immediately fell to the ground. The crowd took a moment to process the turn of events before screams of panic tore through the room and people began to run. The priest glanced up and saw Gillian fly towards him, quickly taking things into his own hands and forcing the knife downward towards Dale’s heart, intent on carrying out his murder.
Another gunshot rang out, striking the priest in the head, forcing a spurt of blood outward in Gillian’s trajectory. She wore the blood on her thighs as she landed on the platform only to find the fourth guard jump at her in desperation. Gillian tried to lift her legs and kick out at him, but she was restrained by the harness she wore. She took it off, ignoring the screams of protest from Adam, and proceeded to swing an elbow directly into the man’s face as he pounced towards her.
Her first attempt was unsuccessful, but Gillian rebalanced herself and forced her mind and body to act as one. With a supreme effort, she alternated her direction, catching him off guard and forcing her elbow out and up. She connected directly with his nasal cavity, shoving the bone backwards into his brain and shattering the entire facial structure to an extent that he was no longer recognisable. The resultant bloodied mess was so disgusting that the she could not bear to look at the man who’s all consuming rage caused him to ignore his horrific injuries and continue to come for her.
He was finished off by another gunshot from above, the fire further infuriating the crowd who had already begun to stampede in various directions. The women and children were directed to the exit, but the enraged men flew towards the pyramid, intent on vengeance. Gillian calculated that she had less than sixty seconds before they reached her.
With so little time at her disposal, Gillian focussed on her father. She jumped towards the sacrificial stone and quickly assessed the situation. Her father was so drugged that he appeared almost completely comatose despite the fact that he was able to stand on her insistence. He was unable to recognise his name and showed no sign of knowing her.
Gillian quickly realised that she would have to put off that emotional reunion until later, forcing her immense disappointment to the back of her mind and quickly strapping her singular harness to him.
Adam and Georgio began reeling him in without delay, the progress still too slow for the harness to be returned.
Gillian had to find her own way out.
She glanced around, spotting the small cavity used by the priests just as the crowd roared up the final steps to her position. There was no time to waste as Gillian took a leap of faith and jumped.
‘Aaaaggghhh!’ she screamed as her bones jarred on impact, forcing her to pause and gather her breath as she picked herself up and raced down the remaining stairs. The stairwell echoed with the snarls and yells of the pursuing men, giving new life to her legs.
She forced her slender limbs to stand by her one more time, telling them that the only thing that stood between her and capture was the ability for her muscles to find that little extra energy. She dared herself to fail, allowing herself to imagine what would happen to her if they caught her. Metaphors of losing her head, having her heart dragged beating from her body, rape and mutilation swirled about her head, somehow forcing her mind to achieve a greater clarity.
She had reached a small space and spun around, noting five passageways leading away from the room.
But which one was the right one?
Gillian conjured up previous experiences with Mayan architecture and realised that a priest would need access routes, namely to his private suite, the general population, the ahaw, a place to store his tools and an escape path. The emergency pathway would be used irregularly at best and was likely to be unkempt in comparison.
She looked for such a tunnel, noting that only one matched her desired description.
Gillian did not delay, taking a flying leap into the passageway, to ensure that her footprints were not evident at the entrance, before running for her life. She ignored the various cobwebs, crunching sounds beneath her feet and the numerous damp patches before reaching a solid grill imbedded into the walls.
It was a dead end!
The voices behind her had remained at a distance for a couple of minutes but they quickly separated and began to spread out, obviously intent on a methodical search.
As she suspected, the torches appeared behind her and she suddenly struggled to breathe. Gillian experience stirrings of panic and attempted to force her mind to concentrate and have faith in her judgement. She knew that she had not made a mistake in choosing the correct path and realised that the grill must be a further door. There must be a latch and the obvious place was concealed within the stone exterior.
Gillian ran her hand through the recessed mortar just as the men caught sight of her. They yelled in delight, roaring like a primitive race of victory as they barrelled towards her.
Gillian shuddered but pressed harder, her fingers bleeding as she probed the gaps in desperation.
Then she found it, a small knob no bigger than a button on a remote control. She pressed it just as the first of the men leered and dived for her.
Gillian heard the rattle of the grate and, for the second time in a few minutes, took a leap through the narrow gap, landing on her side and kicking the gate closed behind her.
Deprived of their reward, the men screamed in fury. They let fly with every obscenity available, but Gillian ignored them and picked herself up from the floor. One way or another, they would come after her, so she had to make the most of the time she had gained.
With her feet pounding the old path, Gillian made her way through a winding maze of channels. She had no idea where she was going but kept following what she considered the most logical direction.
Eventually the tunnel split into two and Gillian ran to the right. It was then that she realised she had made a mistake. Directly in front of her were two men, laughing at her sudden confusion.
What had she done? She should have gone left. What a fool.
Gillian turned around only to discover another man behind her and a set of steps rising from a lower floor to her left. They had been waiting in the off chance that she had come this way and their patience had paid off, catching her like a fly in a spider’s web. In normal circumstances, she would have fought to every last remaining fibre of her being, but she was tired. Perhaps it was easier to give in, and for a moment she actually contemplated it until her fighting spirit came to the fore.
Damn it, she was not a failure. She would not give these men the satisfaction of thinking they were superior to her.
Gillian raised her fists, provoking a malicious and demeaning laugh. They approached her with a confident swagger, their eyes glinting in delight and expressing easy smiles given when someone believes they are the victor. Their only mistake lay in the fact that they had underestimated her.
Gillian stood there, allowing them to think she had accepted her fate, until they were just about to grab her. She ducked and scrambled between the singular man’s legs. Surprise was at a premium and they all flew at her with one of the men scraping desperately at her calves. Gillian responded by forcing her leg outward with as much power as she could muster, scoring one of the men in the face. He screamed in disbelief and pain, his fury propelling him to lunge at her, slamming his body on top of her slender frame. Gillian scrambled for a weapon, finding a stone which she thrust into his eye. A popping sound and the release of jelly confirmed his blindness as he rolled away in agony.
In a conjoined arrangement, the two remaining men grabbed Gillian by her legs. One man tried to move in behind her with the intention of securing her hands, but she managed to seize a handful of dirt which she catapulted to her rear. She was rewarded by another yell and an incensed reaction by the remaining man.
Long past any sort of sensibility, the short, dark-haired young man struck her across the face. He grabbed her by the hair and forcibly wrenched her to her feet before whacking her with a clenched fist on the cheekbone.
Gillian felt her world spin as oblivion spread over her and she collapsed to the floor.
Moments passed before Gillian came to, only to find the man kneeling over her with his pants down to his ankles.
She refused to scream, choosing instead to try and wriggle, but he held her firm until he suddenly fell forward. It all happened so quick that she did not know what to make of the falling body until it revealed an absolutely furious Adam with a gun in his hand and Reynata by his side.
They had come back for her.
Gillian uncharacteristically burst into tears, foregoing any remaining dignity and pride. For once she didn’t care that Adam was seeing her softer side, more keen on receiving a few moments of sympathy and understanding. She decided that she had earned it, but then so had Adam and Reynata who had risked their lives to come for her. She was being ridiculously self-indulgent.
Adam smiled and held her for a moment.
‘Sorry, but we have to go,’ interrupted Reynata with a look of sincerity on her scarred face.
Gillian pondered her expression for a moment, seeing someone of determination and genuine caring … but those deep blue eyes … Gillian suffered another moment of déjà vu and extreme discomfort, causing her to look away.
‘It was you, wasn’t it? It was you who came for me,’ Gillian directed towards Reynata as they hurried down an alternate path.
‘Yes. Adam, Georgio and your father escaped in exceptionally good time thanks to you. The entire collective were too confused by the events to organise a chase which allowed them to flee unimpeded. As soon as I saw you were missing, I was able to lead Adam to you. These tunnels are not difficult once you have used them a few times.’