Incarnate: Mars Origin "I" Series Book III (19 page)

Panama Rainforest

“So none of the
murals looked like anything that would save the world from the people who
brought destruction,” I said to Logan, referring to the inscription on her
jungle stone slab.

“We still might
find something.” She didn’t seem to care what I was saying.

“Like what? A
weapon of supernatural power?”

She cast her
eyes over at me disapprovingly. “Nothing supernatural, I’m sure.”

I gave that
comment a smirk.

Jairo had been
walking ahead of us. We were in the hallway that led from the mural area. Logan
and I moved through it slowly, examining the walls. Not only did we find corn
but depictions of everyday life, afterlife and Maya men represented as gods.
And the Bacabs were everywhere.

“Justin! Logan!
Come here. You won’t believe this.” Jairo called out to us. “We’ve found it!”

Logan and I
looked at each other. “Found what?”

“Come here,” he
said. “Hurry!”

We trotted in
the direction from where he called. Around the next turn the hall widen into a
room. A magnificent hall. Jairo had lit the torches that ran along the wall and
it had made the room as bright as a 100 watt bulb.

 We walked
slowly into the hall. Mesmerized by it. The walls were beautiful. After
thousands of years, they shone like they had been polished just this morning,
and they cast reflections as we held light up to them. Brick-style gold, smooth
and soft held together without mortar.

“Are these
walls made out of gold?” Logan ran her hand over the walls.

“I don’t know.
I’ve never seen anything like this before,” I said, “Even the burial chambers
of the Pharaohs weren’t this beautiful.”

And across the
room from the entrance were double golden doors. Jairo was standing next to
them with that big grin of his on his face.

“What is it,
Jairo?” I found his grin contagious. We walked over to him.

He took hold of
the hand, and with all his might pulled until it creaked opened.

Logan and I
stood at the door and shined our lights inside.

Books. The room
was filled with books, and scrolls, and papyri. On tables on shelves.

“It’s a
library,” she said.

“Jairo, is
there a torch system in here?” I asked. “Can you get us some light?”

“I’ll see.”

“Can you
believe this?” Logan went to reach for a book.

“Logan!”

She snatched
her hand back. “I wasn’t going to just pick up a manuscript. This one is bound.
It looks like leather.” She ran her hand over it and then picked it up. “It’s
okay.”

“Wait until we
get some light,” I said. “So we can see what we’re doing. We don’t want it
disintegrating in our hands.”

“I don’t know
that we’ll have any more light than this,” Jairo sad. He walked back toward us.
“You’ll find this hard to believe but it looked like they may have used a
battery-power light source in here and the batteries have long since died.”

“You’re
kidding, right? Battery powered.”

“Or some kind
of generator. Pretty sophisticated stuff.”

“Do you think
it’s Maya, Ma?”

“I don’t know.”
I smiled at her through the refractions of light. “But I do think it’s amazing.

“I think it’s
the Hall of Records,” Jairo said.

“The Hall of
Records,” Logan asked.

I laughed.
“Jairo. You can’t believe those books you read. There is no such thing as a
Hall of Records.”

“I read your
book, Justin.”

“Yeah, and
you’re one of a few that believed it.”

“What is the
Hall of Records?”

“It’s a library
that houses the history of man, his origins and all of his secrets,” Jairo
said.

“Yeah,” I said.
“And it is located on a metaphysical plane of consciousness.”

“What else
could he be?” he asked.

“Just what it
appears to be. A library.” I flashed my search light around the room. “You’re
going to have to tell your benefactor about this, Logan. Get a group down here.
Without light you can’t do anything. You’ll have to string some down here.”

“I can’t wait
to tell my benefactor about this,” Logan said. Then she paused. “You think
they’ll try to push me aside? Take the credit?”

“I would hope
not. What do you think Jairo?”

“We are all
witnesses to this. You’ll get the credit for the lead in this, Logan. I don’t
think you’ll have a problem with your benefactor.”

I bit my lip.
“I would love to have a look at this.” I eyed Logan. “Before it’s all carted
away.

“I think if we
took a few of the bound ones out to the hall, it’d be okay.”

“You think so,
Logan? I could just kick myself for not having any gloves or plastic. Nothing
to preserve it. I just didn’t think we would find anything.”

“Really? All
this time you went along with this and you didn’t think we’d find anything.”

I chuckled.
“No. Never. In fact Micah is coming down day after tomorrow. I had planned on
leaving.”

“Bet you don’t
want to go now,” she said.

“You’d win that
bet.” I laughed. “C’mon let’s go and get the things we need, Logan,” I let my
searchlight scan the room. “We’ll come back tomorrow. Prepared. We can then
pack up some of the manuscripts and papyri.”

“Ma, I know you
have to want to look at his stuff as bad as I do. How can you wait until
tomorrow?”

I squinted one
eye. “It’s hard. But if we pull this stuff out into the air . . .”

“I think if we
just took something wrapped in leather. One or two of the codices.”

“I don’t know,
Logan.”

“Yeah, Justin I
was thinking I could take one of the battery operated lamps. I want to see how
they work.”

“Well, that
would be okay. We’d just have to be sure to catalogue it. But a book? It’s not
safe.”

“Ma, one little
book. We can take one
you
choose.”

“One, Logan.” I
closed my eyes and relented. “Just one. Jairo, you get a lamp.”

It was decided.
We’d come back with the stuff we’d needed to preserve a few of the papyri and
manuscripts. We’d have to send something out to get dated. Logan and I walked
around the room. She picked up the first few “safe” things she could find and
lugged them into the hall. I chose more carefully. I flashed my light up and
down the shelves until I saw things that looked familiar to me. Something I’d
never thought I’d find in Mesoamerica.

We worked in
the hall and library for two days. The first day, we sketched out the area by
hand and then we took pictures. Lots of pictures. We didn’t bring down lights
because we would have had to have a generator to hook them up to. We’d wait
until we told Logan’s benefactor so he could give the say so on what he wanted
to do on setting up a camp. And then, on the second day, we set about deciding
what things we’d take out to show her benefactor and send out for testing.

I wanted Logan
to do the right things. Make it look like she was experienced enough to handle
the dig. It wasn’t like the one in Caracol that had been excavated for years.
This would be a new dig.

Starting from
day one. And this find would make history.

I had only
grazed over the codex we took out the first day. And on the second day, I
hadn’t told Logan, but I’d taken something else. I hoped I would have a chance
to look at it.

“Jairo. I
forgot. I had wanted to scrape some of the walls and flooring and have it
analyzed, but I forgot the equipment in the jeep. Would you go and get it for
me?”

“Sure. Be right
back.”

 I took in
a deep breath and stretched out my back. “Other than the scrapings. I think
that’s about it, Logan. What do you think?”

“I think that I
am still too excited to think.”

I laughed. “I
know that feeling. So let’s start taking this stuff out and when Jairo gets
back, we’ll do the scrapings and we’re done for now. I looked at my watch. “Oh.
Shoot I didn’t realize it was this late. We have to hurry, Micah should be
here.”

“You’re still
leaving. I was sure you’d change your mind.”

“You don’t want
me to be here when you tell your benefactor. You and Jairo should get the
credit for this. I’ll fly back down after the announcement. Like a proud
mother. No one will be the wiser.” I smiled at her. “C’mon. Don’t want to keep
Micah waiting.”

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“Mom’s not in
her hotel room.”

“What time were
you supposed to meet her there?”

Micah looked at
the time on his phone and put it back up to his ear. “Ten minutes ago, Dad. I
even tried calling her on her cell. No answer.”

“Well you know
your mother, she’s never on time for anything. And I’d be really surprised if
she had that cell phone with her. She always forgets it.”

“So why did you
have me put that GPS on it?”

“After her
little unexpected rendezvous with Senator Cook, it made me feel a little safer.
Knowing that I could track her.”

“Let me see if
I can pull up her phone’s location.” Micah, standing in the hotel lobby, went
and sat on one of the couches near the front doors. He put his father on
speaker and clicked on the GPS icon.

Mase laughed.
“You put a tracker on your phone?”

“Yeah, it gave
me a scare seeing her drive away in that car. I didn’t know where she was going
and I couldn’t help her. I think Uncle Greg might have done it too. After I
told him about it, he asked me how to get the app.”

“Did you tell
your mother we made it so we could follow her?” Mase asked.

“No. But I
wasn’t thinking about how she always forgets her phone. I should have told her
so she’d be sure to carry it with her all the time.”

“She’d still
forget. You couldn’t reach Logan, either?”

“Okay, Dad. I
can see the last location of her phone. And it’s not here, so she has it with
her.” He took the phone off speaker and put it back up to his ear.  “And
no, I couldn’t reach Logan, either. I tried her on that satellite phone but it
rolled right over to voicemail.”

“I’d say, don’t
worry about it. Just sit tight and they’ll get back eventually.”

“Yeah, alright.
I’ll just check into my room. Maybe grab something to eat, watch a little
television. I’m sure they’ll be back soon. I’ll leave her a message. And I’ll
call you back when I hear from them.”

“Sounds good,
Micah.”

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“You pinpointed
the signal to the phone?” Aaron asked Castor.

“I have the
general area.”

“What’s going
on? Why can’t you pick it up?” Aaron leaned in close to Castor to look at the
screen.

“Probably,
they’re too deep in one of the caves. Simon said there were a bunch of caves
they were working in. He didn’t know the exact location where they’d be today.
Just the general area.”

“So what do you
suggest?”

“We sit tight,
Aaron. They’ve got to come out of the cave eventually.”

“We should have
come earlier.”

“Castor’s
right, Aaron. Just be patient.” Laura said. “What? You got an itchy trigger
finger?”

“I’m not
thinking about shooting anyone.” He laughed. “I’d leave that up to Castor.” He
glanced at Laura. “No just excited. So disappointed about my last dig. Simon
promised me something good here. Something big.” He clenched his jaw. “He
better be telling me the truth.”

Laura looked at
Castor staring at the phone’s GPS locator and back at Aaron. “Why don’t you
take a look around? Survey the land.” Laura stroked Aaron’s hair. “Where would
you put your camp?”

Aaron smiled at
her. 

“Come on. Walk
with me,” Aaron said. “Let’s see what this place has to offer.”

Five minutes
out into their walk, Aaron and Laura heard a rustling in the bushes behind
them.

“Castor is that
you?” Aaron called out. No answer. “Castor!” he called again.

Castor stepped
though the bushes with a smile on his face. He held up the tracker device.
“We’ve got her.”

 
“Did
you hear that?” I stopped dead in my tracks. We were starting to move a couple
of the things we wanted tested out beyond the hall area. We’d made it outside
of the tunnel entrance going into the cave. “Listen.”

“Mom. Stop
trying to scare me. I’m sure it’s just Jairo coming back.”

She turned her
head and listened toward the direction of the entrance. She turned back and
looked at me. “I don’t hear anything.”

There was a
loud boom, like a gunshot,” I said. “You didn’t hear that?”

“No. And how do
you know what a gunshot sounds like anyway?”

“I’ve been shot
at before.” My mind went back to that night in Jerusalem when Hannah Abelson or
Simon Melas, never figured out which one, shot at me. Jack took the bullet but
I felt like it had hit me.

 “Oh, man,
Ma.” She rolled her eyes. “Why would you say that? You’ve never been shot at?”
She shook her head.

“There it is
again.”

“I heard that!
That’s a gun?”

 “This is
not good,” I said. “Where in the world is Jairo? And who could be firing a
gun.”

Logan ducked
down and covered her head.

“We’ve got to
get out of here,” I said. I pulled her up. “Hiding out in the open won’t save
you, you know.” I pulled her down into the tomb room. “Just because you stoop down,
doesn’t mean the bullet can’t hit you. We need to hide.”

“I gotta pee.”

“No you don’t.”

“I do, Ma.
Really. I gotta pee.”

Logan’s entire
body was trembling. Her eyes searched mine for help, imploring that I fix
things. All my past fears flooded my mind. The fear that some harm would come
to my family because of my work. But I was sure this had nothing to do with me
or my work. I didn’t know who was shooting outside of the tunnel or why they
were shooting, but I was scared and so was my daughter.

“Well, you
can’t pee here.” She looked at me like what I was saying didn’t make a bit of
difference. “Look. Do you want to stop and pee and hope you can finish before a
bullet hits you, or you want to find a place to hide?”

“Oh my God. I’m
so scared. Do you think that someone with a gun is coming to look for us?”

I don’t know. I
don’t know why anyone would.”

“It’s the
Assistant Director, Logan said. A tear fell down her face. “The Assistant of
the Belize Institute of Archaeology. I just know it.”

“This isn’t Belize.”

“He’s followed
us.”

Tears starting
running down her face. I wasn’t’ so sure she wasn’t going to lose it. My first
instinct of course was still to protect my child. But at my age, and as out of
shape as I was I just didn’t know how I could pull off any “Indiana Jones-like”
moves.

“We can hide.
Down in the library,” I said and grabbed her around the shoulders. Her knees
were starting to buckle. I wasn’t sure if she could stand without my help. Then
I heard a voice calling my name.

“Justin!” The
voice was barely audible. “Justin!” I kept hearing my name called over and
over.

“Jairo,” I
whispered and looked at Logan. “That’s Jairo’s voice.”

I leaned Logan
up against the wall and started walking toward the voice. Out into the cave.

“Jairo. Is that
you?” My voice fought to make it out of my throat.  “Jairo?”

“Shh!” he said,
coming toward me, he waved at me to stop. “Don’t come any further. You’ve got
to go the other way. You’ve got to hide. They’re here with guns.” He moved in
closer to me and pulled his hand away from his stomach. His hand and his shirt
was covered in blood.

He
collapsed, and tumbled over on me. I grabbed hold of him, and fell back on the
wall to try and support the weight of his body. But his body was too heavy for
me to hold. Dead weight.

“Oh
my God! Who, Jairo? Who’s here with guns?”

He
didn’t say anything.

I
slid down the wall letting the weight of his body push me down. I landed on my
butt, my legs splayed in front of me and his body stretched across them. “Oh my
God.” I stroked his hair and felt tears welling up in my eyes.

Logan
came walking around the corner. I looked up at her. “I think he’s dead.”

She
let out a wail.

“Shhh!”

I
gently pushed Jairo off of me and clambered to get up. It broke my heart that
he was dead, but I couldn’t stop and mourn. Just then a voice echoed down the
cavern.

“I
hear you. I know you’re in there.” It came in a sing-songy, low pitched voice.
“I’m coming to get you. You should just make it easy for yourselves.”

I
looked down at Jairo and back up at Logan.

Logan
started crying. A slow whimper at first, but then she couldn’t catch her breath
and she began to heave, taking in loud gasps of air and crying. I looked down
the cave and knew that someone with a gun and no hesitation in killing was
coming in after me and my child.

“Shh!”
I put my hand up to Logan’s mouth. “You have to be quiet,” I whispered to her.
“C’mon.” I nudged her with my elbow. We went back though the cave into the
tunnel and entered the tomb room. I grabbed the searchlight and hit the switch,
we plunged into complete darkness.

We
have to hide.” I put her down through the tomb first. Then I went in and pushed
the tomb shut behind us.

“They’re
going to find us.”

“No,
they’re not. No one knows about this place but me, you and Jairo. And he’s . .
. gone. We’ll just keep quiet. In the dark. We’ll be safe.”

We
waited for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, I felt we were safe.

“C’mon.
We have to try and get out of here.”

“We’re
not going to make it.” I could feel her fear in the dark.

“We
have to. Or we’ll be like Jairo.” I spoke into the darkness. “We have to. Can
you do it?”

 We
didn’t dare turn on the searchlights. Our breathing was heavy and if anyone was
close would have given us away. We ran through the tunnel, and out to the cave,
finding ours way out. Stumbling over rock, tripping in holes, and bumping along
the walls. We held onto each other hands, the slick sweat coating our palms
making it difficult to stay connected. My heart was pounding so hard I was sure
thought it was going to give out.  

.
Every few seconds looking back over my shoulder to see if anyone had seen us. I
hadn’t the faintest idea where we were going to go. What we were going to do,
or how we could fight back.

I
didn’t even know who was chasing us.

Logan
and I were visibly shaking and we were covered in sweat mixed with the dirt, it
made my face grimy. My stomach was flipping over and had clinched into little
knots. I kept swiping at it with the back of my hand. I was so tired. Panting,
I just needed to sit down. I didn’t have the stomach or strength for what was
unfolding.

We
scrambled out of the cave, into the open rainforest
. I
stopped
dead in my tracks. I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Simon Melas was sitting
in a jeep waving us over.

“Oh, thank
God,” Logan said. “Someone to help us.” She started running toward the jeep. I
grabbed her arm and jerked her back.

 
“C’mon, Mommy, we’ve got to get out of here.”
What’s wrong with
you?”

 “Simon?”
My voice was strained. “What are you doing here?”