The Cleric's Vault (37 page)

“It’s
locked,” Will informed him from inside the vehicle.
 

A
quick pull on the latch confirmed what he said.
 
“Maybe Mauricio has a key to each vehicle on the key ring,”
Sean said as he fished out a set of keys from his pocket.
 
He pressed one of the buttons; the
lights flicked accompanied by a sound of the doors unlocking.

Adriana
pulled a small knife out of a cargo pocket and made quick work of the ropes
around Will’s feet and hands.
  

Sean
handed him a gun.
 
“Glad you’re
okay,” he said.

 
“Thanks,” Will replied and took the
proffered weapon.
 

“Where’s
Tommy?” Sean asked.
 
“What happened
to you guys?”

“We
have a new player to deal with.”

*****

The
sound of the rushing river was all Tommy could hear, the noises of the forest
had faded away to millions of gallons of moving water.
 
Ahead of them, the trees opened into
the shore of the Rio Zamora.
 
The
river was smaller than Schultz had expected but was still of considerable
size.
 
Off to the right, about a
hundred yards away, it dropped over a waterfall.
 
The mist of the churning water plumed up into the air a good
sixty to eighty feet above the drop point.

Hunter
tipped his head towards the falls in a motion to head that way.
 
Tommy reluctantly obeyed and started
trudging along the water’s edge.
 
They only walked a few minutes before the bank of the river came to a
sudden halt, falling away about fifty feet to the bottom.

Tommy
noticed that leading down to the bottom of the precipice was an old path of
stone stairs winding its way along the rock face of the cliff.
 
It was wet from the constant barrage of
mist and would no doubt be slippery.
 
Still, it appeared to be their only way down.
 
“We’ll have to go down that old path there,” Tommy yelled
above the crashing of the waterfall.
 
Hunter nodded and motioned with his gun.
 
As they proceeded to wind their way down the ancient
staircase, Tommy could see on the other side of the gorge was another
waterfall, where two rivers poured into one.
 

*****

Will
had explained how he and Tommy had stepped right into the stranger’s trap.

Sean
was relieved to hear that Tommy was still alive, but he knew there wasn’t much
time.

“Do
you have any idea who this guy is?” Sean asked as they marched along the jungle
path.

Will
shook his head as he ducked under a low hanging branch.
 
“No.
 
I didn’t recognize him.”
 
He decided the most prudent course was to lie about knowing
who Hunter Carlson was.
 
Keeping up
the illusion that he was just a cop was still necessary, right up until the
point he executed everyone.
 
Will
figured less they knew that he knew, the better.
 

Inside,
though, Will was furious..
 
In his mind,
the battle already raged.
 
He hoped
he got another chance to meet Carlson.

Sean
interrupted his thoughts.
 
“We’ll
just have to assume he’s another hired gun with Golden Dawn.
 
If you get a chance, take him out.”

Adriana
raised an eyebrow at the comment.
 
She realized the sound of rushing water was starting to overwhelm the
calm of the forest.
 
“The river is
just up ahead,” She announced and looked back at the others.
 
“Sounds like the waterfall isn’t far
from here.”

*****

Angela’s
convoy stopped behind the two parked SUVs at the edge of the forest.
 
She exited her own truck and held her
gun casually at her side, brazenly walking up to the first vehicle and then the
other.
 
Her team watched for a
moment and then followed, satisfied that the coast was clear.
 
She knelt down on one knee and
inspected the dirt near one of the wheels.
 
“They went into the woods,” she stated.
 
Her head turned as she gazed into the
forest.
 
“Probably down that little
path there.”
 
She stood up and
flicked her head sideways.
 
“Let’s
move.”

Angela’s
middle-aged driver stood next to her.
 
He was an imposing figure with road shoulders and a strong chest.
 
Perhaps she would have some fun with
him once they’d retrieved the next clue.
 
“Who is in the other truck?” he interrupted her train of carnal
thoughts.
 
“There was just one
earlier.”

“I’m
not sure,” she said.
 
“Looks like
the other truck from last night.
 
If so, that means there are more than just two of them.
 
We still have numbers on our side. Just
stay alert.” The team locked and loaded their weapons and started to head down
the trail.

*****

Tommy
stopped at the bottom of the path and looked up at the waterfall.
 
At the base of the falls, a narrow path
ran along the face of the rock.
 
It
appeared to lead behind the mist and falling water.
 
Carlson noticed it too and motioned with his gun towards the
ledge.
 
Tommy obeyed and stepped up
onto the rock.
 

Tommy
had to concentrate hard and pressed his back against the wall of rock just to
keep his balance.
 
The little ledge
was probably less than a foot wide and even though the drop to the pool below
was only about ten feet or so, the rocks beneath were fully capable of breaking
bones or fracturing a skull.

Both
men inched their way along, shuffling carefully until they were underneath an
overhang of the waterfall.
 
It was
wet and slippery from the constant lathering of the billowing mist.
 
Once behind the curtain of the falls,
the ledge opened up as the rock face receded into the earth.
 
The path widened to where they could
walk normally across it for a short distance until it came to a dead end with a
flat wall.
 
They were standing on a
large, circular piece of earth that jutted out from the stone.
 
Tommy stared into a door-sized opening
in the wall.
 
It must have been a
cave but it looked manmade.
 
The
precision of the angles and edges was nearly perfect.
 
Above the top edge of the doorway, a strange symbol had been
engraved into the stone.
 
It was
almost identical to the image he’d seen on the stone they discovered in
Georgia:
 
a spider.

Chapter 64

Ecuador

“You
recognize that symbol?” Carlson asked as he stared up at the engraving.

Tommy
nodded.
 
“Yeah.
 
I’ve seen it once before.”

“So
this is the right place?”

“Seems
to be.”

“Then
get moving,” Carlson poked him in the back with the tip of his gun, prodding
him to move forward.
 
He handed
Schultz a small flashlight as the two men moved into the darkness of the
cave.
 
He’d grabbed a few out of
the truck before they left.

They
had entered a small, circular room with three new, stone doorways.
 
Each one had a different symbol over
it, etched into the rock.
 
The
smooth walls were completely barren except for what was above the doors.
 
Beyond the thresholds of each doorway,
the interior was completely pitch black.

“Which
one do we take?” Hunter asked, confused.

Tommy
didn’t answer.
 
Instead, he stepped
closer to the door on the left, above it was a symbol that looked like a circle
with a line through it.
 

“What
is that?” Carlson pressed.
 
“What
does it mean?”

“It
looks like Theta,” he answered.
 
“The Greek symbol for death.”

“Death?”
Carlson wondered as he stared at the symbol.
 
“So I guess not that way then, huh?”

For
the first time since his capture, Tommy noticed a bit of uncertainty in the man
who had taken him captive.
 
He’d
been stoic up until that point.
 
It
was something Schultz had seen before.
 
In awe of the ancient and mysterious, men’s minds filled themselves with
wild evils that lurked in the dark.
 

“No,”
Tommy answered flatly.
 
“We won’t
want to go that way.”
 
Then, he stepped
to the center door and examined the symbol above it.
 
It had a circle with a diamond in the lower part.
 
Beneath the diamond was a small cross.
 
To the left and right of the circle
were for lines that looked like legs with claws at each end.
 

“What’s
that one?” Carlson asked impatiently.

“It’s
Egyptian.
 
It’s called Aten.”

“What
does it mean?”

Tommy
sighed, “It can have two meanings.”
 
He pointed to the circle.
 
“The disk represents the sun, giver of life,” he pointed at the
cross-like object.
 
“This is an
ankh, the symbol of life.
 
The
eight legs originally represented a time frame.
 
There were four years of famine and four years of plenty.
 
The symbol was basically brought about
by a Pharaoh named, Akhenaten.
 
He
changed the theology of the country and brought them under this banner of one,
all powerful god.”

“I
don’t need a history lesson.
 
Do we
go this way or not?”
 
Hunter was
becoming anxious.

“I
don’t know,” Tommy said.
 
“The
symbol also represents the bringer of death.
  
So it could be meant as a warning.”
 
He stepped quickly over to the last
door and scanned the image above.
 
It was a side view of an oddly shaped head with an elongated mouth and
large eye.
 
Next to it was a disk
that had two curved lines within it, forming a kind of broken “s.”
  
Above both symbols was something
that looked like a snake.
 
“This
one is also confusing,” Tommy started before Hunter could annoy him further.
 
“The head is an ancient symbol of death
in Aztec legends.
 
The disk,
however, is the symbol of life.”
 
He stopped for a moment and considered the image.
 
“The serpent was one of their
gods.
 
But I don’t think that’s
what it is here.”

“What
do you mean?”
 
Carlson looked
around, nervously.
 
“I say we take
the door in the middle.”

Tommy
shook his head.
 
“No, I don’t think
so.
 
You see, this is a cross
referenced set of symbols here.
 
This one isn’t the snake from Aztec lore.
 
This one is different.
 
I think it’s referring to something else.”

“Like
what?”

“It’s
referring to a choice that was given and a choice that had to be made: life or
death.
 
The serpent represented the
choice.”

Tommy
stared thoughtfully at the symbol above the third door.
 
It had to be the right one.
 
The story was starting to make sense.
 
He remembered the first chamber of gold
they found in the United States and the clues that led to it.
 
They all came together under several
different ancient cultures.
 
He
began to think about the cultures that were missing: Asian, Nordic,
European.
 
Why hadn’t there been anything from those places mingled in?
 
Everything seemed to center around
places that were predominant in the Bible.
 

As
a child, Tommy had studied the Bible, as he did many other ancient scriptures,
to learn about different beliefs and chronologies of old.
 
But he’d not taken them to be entirely
literal.
 
His parents were not
deeply religious.
 
So he had not
become entrenched into any religion.
 

As
he stood before the darkened doorway, he began to make a connection.
 
The Biblical references in Georgia and
Tennessee, the clues left behind by Padre Crespi, and all of the symbols they’d
seen so far were all places that were part of the ancient Biblical
landscape.
 
He wondered why.
 
He felt the barrel of the gun pressing
into the middle of his back again, cutting off his train of thought.

“Is
this the door or not?”

The
stranger was starting to get on his nerves but as long as he had the gun Tommy
had to play ball.
 
“I think so,” he
answered, somewhat certain.

“Fine.
 
You go first,” Carlson ordered.
 

Schultz
did as he was told and started into the door.
 
As he did, his foot tripped and he fell forward onto the
stone floor.
 

Carlson
stepped back, cautiously watching his prisoner’s sudden, random fall.

“Sorry,”
Tommy said as he pushed himself back up off the ground.
 
“I can be a little clumsy sometimes.”

“Just
keep moving,” Hunter said, looking around, paranoid.

Tommy
hoped he’d chosen correctly.
 
One
way or the other, they’d find out soon enough.

*****

Adriana
noticed the pathway leading down to the base of the waterfall and stepped onto
the old, stone staircase casually.
 
“Looks like this takes us down to the bottom.”

The
three moved as fast as they could, carefully navigating the slippery stone
steps down to the base of the waterfall.

Sean’s
eyes fell upon the wall near the waterfalls.
 
He noticed a small ledge leading around the rock face and
behind the deluge.
 
“There,” he
said as he pointed.
 
“They must
have gone that way.”
 
Sean stepped
quickly up onto the narrow edge, careful not to slip, and started shuffling to
the left towards the falling water.
 
The others followed and copied his movement.

It
was tricky going for Sean since he wore a small backpack.
 
He wanted to press further into the
rock to keep his balance but doing so was impossible.
 
Finally, as he reached a point behind the waterfall, the
path began to open up into a sort of platform.
 
He turned and faced the rock wall and a dark door that had
been carved into it.
 
The others
arrived at the same spot a few moments later and followed his gaze at the
emblem above the entrance.

“You
have seen this symbol before?” she asked Wyatt.

He
nodded.
 
“It was on the stone we
found in Georgia.
 
I guess that
means we’re in the right place.”
 
Without warning, he started moving toward the entrance.

“You
sure about this?” Will asked, halting him in his tracks momentarily.

Sean
tossed him a small flashlight and switched on his own.
 
Wyatt turned and faced him.
 
“No.
 
But Tommy’s in there.
 
So that’s where I’m going.”

*****

Angela’s
team had arrived at the river but saw no sign of the group they were following.
 
After searching the riverbank they
found several different footprints leading to a ledge near a waterfall.
 
Further inspection led them to a stone
stepping path that worked its way down to the bottom where the falls poured
into a foamy pool.
 
There was still
no sign of their targets so they had proceeded down the only way that made
sense.
 
One of her men had nearly
fallen over the precipice but had been saved by the team leader who had grabbed
his shoulder just before he had completely lost his balance.
 
Once they had reached the bottom, the
trail went cold.
 
On the rocks
there were no footprints to track.
 

She
ordered a few of the men to go over to the riverbank to see if they had left
the rocky area and continued on downstream, but there was no sign of any
movement beyond the point where they were standing.

The
team leader walked over to the rock face and noticed the stone ledge.
 
“They could have gone this way,” he
stated.

Weaver
had been looking downriver when he spoke.
 
She walked over to the spot and ran her hand along the narrow
pathway.
 

“Careful
not to fall into the water,” he said to her as she climbed up onto the
ledge.
 
“That water looks harmless
enough but there could be an undertow.”
 
His words carried and ominous tone.

Fortunately,
she was thin and well balanced.
 
She leaned back easily against the rock and started moving towards the
falling water.

*****

Sean
stared at the three doorways, each with an odd symbol above it.
 
Which one should we take,” Sean asked.

Adriana
was lost too.
 
 
“I know a lot about these things but I’m
not sure.”
 
She pointed at the
Greek symbol of Theta.
 
“I know we
don’t want to go that way.”

“Why
not?” Will questioned as he stepped over and dared to look closer into the
portal.

“Because
that is the Greek symbol for death.”

He
nodded his understanding and slinked away from the doorway.
 

“The
other two are confusing, though,” Sean added.
 

She
agreed.
 
“Yes, they both have
conflicting messages.”

Will
looked confused.
 
“What do you
mean, conflicting?”

Sean
pointed at the Egyptian symbols over the middle door.
 
“This symbol was used mostly during the reign of a Pharaoh
named, Akhenaten.
 
He replaced some
of the other religious symbols with this one.
 
It represents the sun god, the giver of life.”

Adriana
continued his thought.
 
“But the
king introduced the idea that there was only one great god.
 
So the deity this symbol represents can
also be the bringer of death.”

“And
that one?”
 
Will asked, pointing to
the door on the far right.

“It’s
a similar issue,” Adriana answered.
 
The two Aztec symbols on the bottom represent life and death.
 
The snake, though, seems oddly out of
place.
 
It could mean that
particular deity held sway over life and death as well, but, typically, that
was not the case with the serpent god.”

“So,
how do we know which way to go?”