Canyon of the Sphinx (35 page)

“So you did. I thought you were
in Cairo?”

“I was. But the dig is back under
American control and since you and Dr. Burton are a part of that dig, I’ve been
sent over here to see to your security needs.”

She frowned. “In the Yucatan?”

“Hey,” he lifted a threatening
eyebrow. “Remember what happened the last time you were in the Yucatan and I
wasn’t around…?”

She faked a chagrined expression.
“Oh, right.”

“So no more questions. Just deal
with it.”

She grinned, a smile he hadn’t
seen on her for months. He wasn’t ever sure he’d see that smile again,
considering her condition the last time he saw her. But her face was rosy, her
eyes bright, and she looked every inch her beautiful old self. He was glad she
had accepted his presence so easily. It would make it easier for him to stick close.

After the customary hand-shakes
and back-slaps from Mark and Otis, and another big hug from Debra Jo, Tony
followed the group as they moved along the dig area that skirted the perimeter
of what they believed to be a massive courtyard. They had drilled two test pits
across the expanse and had come up with dirt and a layer of carefully-laid
stone indigenous to the local area, unlike the stone that comprised the
sphinxes.

Kathlyn, who had been talking to
one of the foremen when Tony approached, now wandered across the unexcavated
ground to the west of an enormous rise that Christopher had dubbed the Pyramid
of Dreams. It had a romantic sound to it, but the reality of it was a mound of
dirt, snakes and rubble.

“This ground is certainly
fertile,” Kathlyn commented. “I know this is the jungle, but the amount of
growth on this plain is really amazing.”

Mark looked around, not
particularly concerned with the overgrowth. “Are you feeling anything?”

He meant her Intuition. “A
little,” she said. “Like I did before. It’s kind of a weird buzz that…” she
suddenly froze, rooted to the spot. Her expression was curious. “You know, I’ve
been feeling this since we set foot in this valley. It’s a weird buzz that
comes right up through my feet, up my legs, and moves up to my head. It just
occurred to me that I’m feeling something from the ground up.”

The all came to a halt. “Are you
saying something is below us?” Debra Jo asked.

She nodded, as if it all suddenly
came clear to her. “Exactly.” She stood there a moment, closing her eyes,
focusing on the sensation. The world was swimming with sensations. “It’s a
little different than what I normally feel, but now that I think on it, there
is a definite Flow. It’s just not a smooth one.”

“Still feel ghosts?” Mark asked.

“Oh, yes,” she murmured. “They’re
everywhere.”

With eyes still closed, she
lowered her head and began to walk. Otis and Mark followed close on her heels
with Tony trailing behind them. He didn’t like this jungle terrain where he
couldn’t get a clear field of vision. For all he knew, threats were lurking
just out of his sight. When Kathlyn got half-way across the clearing, her eyes
snapped open and she began looking around. Her pupils were dilated to big,
black spots.

“What’s wrong?” Mark asked.

“Murphy,” she said. “Where is
he?”

Debra Jo pointed to the
southwest, towards the slopes where the valley ascended into gently rolling
hills. “Over there with Marcus.”

Of course, Debra Jo would know
exactly where Murphy was. Kathlyn walked very quickly in that direction. She made
her way around a test pit where a group of students from UIR were working,
hopped over a fallen tree, and continued on. The growth was thick and she was
understandably wary about snakes she couldn’t see. By the time she reached
Christopher and her husband, she was almost running.

Marcus saw her coming. He waved
her over. “Come look at this sphinx,” he said. “I think you’ll…”

“Later.” She went straight for
Murphy. “Do you have any heavy equipment at camp?”

Christopher’s brow furrowed.
“Heavy equipment? Like what?”

“A Bobcat, backhoe, bulldozer…
whatever. Anything to clear away about three feet of dirt in the clearing over
there, at the base of the Pyramid of Dreams.”

He blinked, puzzled by her
request. “Why?”

“Because there is something
underneath it.”

Christopher scratched his head,
looking at Marcus and trying to figure out what she was talking about. “We
already know there’s something underneath it. We’ve done two test pits and have
come up with a layer of stone, carefully laid. It’s a courtyard.”

She shook her head firmly.
“That’s not what I mean. You asked me to come here and help you solve your
mystery. Your mystery isn’t here with these sphinxes; it’s in that clearing
back there. This is my third trip here; my strongest feelings come from that
area. Clear out the layers of dirt and I can promise you that there is
something underneath.”

“Like what?”

“Like a mass grave or some other
kind of grave site. That’s the sensation I get.”

Marcus stood there, smiling at
her. “If she says it’s there, I can promise you she’s not far off. If you’ve
got heavy equipment, I would suggest you get it up here.”

Christopher popped the two-way
radio out of his belt holster. He radioed his foreman to get the little Bobcat
ready to move; it was at Site A, about an hour away. It would take forever to
raze the entire clearing in front of the Pyramid of Dreams, but it didn’t much
matter. If Kathlyn Trent told him to do it, then do it he would. He shoved the
radio back into his belt and turned back to Kathlyn.

“Anything else?” it was a
semi-sarcastic, semi-serious question.

“Yes.” She looked at the sphinx
Marcus was standing next to. “Is that the one you showed us the picture of?”

Christopher turned to look at it.
“Yep.”

She pointed a casual finger in
the general direction. “It’s a tombstone.”

His brow furrowed. “Why do you
think that?”

“Think about it,” she said. “The
inscription? We sleep at your feet? It should be obvious what it is.”

Murphy slapped a hand to his
forehead. “Son of a b…. are you sure?”

“Pretty sure.” She closed her
eyes, clearing her mind and trying to get a feel for the site. After a few
moments, her eyes opened. “I don’t get a real strong feel here, but there is
definitely something underneath that.”

“Something? Like a tomb?”

“There’s only one way to find
out.”

She walked away, heading back
towards the clearing. Christopher stood there with his mouth open. Marcus
watched his wife walk away; he was grinning like a fool.

“Well, Murphy,” he said with
quiet irony. “You called down the thunder. Now you’ve got it.”

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

Christopher didn’t have the kind
of operation that Marcus and Kathlyn had. While the Valley of the Kings dig was
funded in part by World Geography Magazine and The World of Exploration
Channel, Christopher’s dig was financed entirely by his school and whatever
donations they could come by. They just didn’t have the cash machine attached
to it. It was what Marcus’ dig would have been if Kathlyn hadn’t come along.
With her status brought money, better equipment, and an all-around better funded
dig. The comparison, truthfully, was sad.

Christopher therefore had to
accept what he had and make the best of it. Instead of big machines, he had a
little worn-out Bobcat. Kathlyn, Marcus and the rest of the teams stood at the
base of the Pyramid of Dreams as the feisty little bulldozer went to work and
began scraping away layers of earth. Christopher had a test area sectioned off
and he had the Bobcat level off about six inches of dirt in a six by six area.
The vehicle would then stop, back off, while he and his team would descend into
the pit and take a couple of hours to examine the area before bringing the
Bobcat back in and repeating the process.

They were able to duplicate the
procedure twice before the sun set and it grew too dark to safely see.
Christopher explained that they never did night work due to the fact that
massive mercury vapor lamps, and the generators needed to run them, were
expensive, and they didn’t have the funds. Also, they never worked at night due
to the danger from bandits or other unscrupulous characters that might prey
upon them. They should have, in fact, shut the dig down an hour ago but due to
the excitement, he had been unable to.

So the work would resume
tomorrow. The workers had already fled the site when the sun even hinted at
going down and after Christopher’s explanation, she understood their fear. It
was still a couple of hours back to camp and even though they had flashlights
and machetes, it would be no match for hoodlums with a gun.

 They shut down the Bobcat and
chained it to a big tree to prevent someone from looting it. A weak gesture;
vandals could cut the chain if they really wanted it, but Christopher locked it
up just the same. As they were gathering their gear, Kathlyn couldn’t help but
overhear some of the remaining workers as they fled down the dark, creepy path
for the night. One phrase stuck curiously in her mind.

“Chris,” she turned to Murphy.
“What in the hell are they mumbling?”

He pulled the machete out of the
big canvas bag he carried. “Who?”

“Your workers. I heard them say
something very strange.”

“What?”

“Los diablos que Comen a Hombre.”
She gestured up the path. “They were running away as they said that. Care to
explain what the Devil that Eats Man means?”

Christopher pursed his lips
impatiently. “Oh, that,” he said. “Los diablos que Comen a Hombre is an old
superstition down here.”

Myths, legends, fairy tales and
superstitions were first on Kathlyn’s list of interests. Marcus, standing
nearby, had been helping stow equipment into a big shed they kept on site. He
wiped his hands off on his jeans before putting his arm around his wife.

“Now you’ve done it,” he said to
Christopher. “You’ll never get rid of her now with talk of myths and legends.
It’s like cocaine to a crack head.”

Kathlyn smiled sweetly at her
husband. “Don’t listen to him, Chris,” she said. “Tell me about the
superstition.”

Christopher slung his big pack of
her his shoulder, adjusting the strap as he spoke. “There are legends all over
the world just like it; succubus, incubus, vampires, you name it. All of them
were meant to prey on men, physically or mentally. I suppose there is a grain
of truth in some of them, at least in rational terms.”

There was skepticism in his tone.
Kathlyn and Marcus glanced at each other. “Remind me to tell you about our trip
to Iraq a couple of years ago,” Kathlyn said to him casually. “I think you’d be
pretty amazed to see how much truth we discovered to a legend.”

“Really?” Christopher showed
genuine interest, but kept his train of thought. “Anyway, the legend of Los
diablos que Comen a Hombre has come through centuries of telling and retelling.
There is really no knowing if there was ever any basis to it. But it goes
something like this; long ago, at the dawn of recorded civilization in this
area, the peoples populating this area split themselves off into two groups.
One group was the forbearers of the Zapotec, Olmec and such, while the other
group was kind of Neanderthals. Literally. The term used in writings is bruto.
If you read the ancient scripts left by the Zapotecs, this group was a band of
uncivilized hooligans without social structure or any manner of organization.
They terrorized this area for a thousand years, preying upon the more civilized
tribes. Anyway, legend has it that they bred blood-thirsty beasts for their
battles. These beasts would move in, kill and eat the dead, and then these
Neanderthals would take over the city and rape it.” His gaze moved between
Kathlyn and Marcus. “There are those that say those beasts still roam this
land. That’s what the workers are afraid of.”

Kathlyn was entranced. Marcus
could literally see her panting at the thought.

“So what do you believe?” she
asked Christopher. “Have you ever seen any evidence to support the tale?”

He broke into a grin, shaking his
head. He hadn’t really expected her to be afraid, but it was a good ghost
story. “No,” he said. “I’ve been in the Yucatan for fifteen years and have
never seen anything that would indicate the legends are real. Although…
sometimes there are strange howls in the night, especially in summer time. I
attribute them to the Jaguars or other wild cats indigenous to the area.”

Kathlyn accepted his testimony.
But having experienced what she had in the course of her career, the bizarre
and the miraculous, she wasn’t as convinced as she should have been. They
started back along the trail with the rest of the team, including Tony covering
the rear.

“Have you ever seen anything
depicted in any art you may have studied that would support the legend?”
Kathlyn asked.

Marcus just rolled his eyes. He
knew she wasn’t going to let this go. But Christopher humored her.