I narrowed my gaze. Her pixie features were innocent, yet deceiving. She was clever, conniving. And she was manipulating the hell out of me.
But that didn't mean she wasn't right.
"Okay, " I said at last. "You've got a deal."
P
ART
II
Ball Lightning
Chapter 22
Emily's helicopter looked luxurious on the outside. But the inside was a whole different story.
The chopper dipped and swung to the side. I shifted uneasily in my seat. Tried my best to get comfortable. But it didn't work.
The cabin was gigantic, heavily metallic, and completely free of opulence. Oval-shaped windows lined either side of it. Their acrylic surfaces were heavily stained, making it difficult to see through them. Just beneath the windows, two long benches sprouted from the walls. Their metal legs were welded to the floor. They'd looked stiff from a distance. But sitting in them for an extended period of time had proven to be sheer torture.
Dr. Qiang Wu was piloting the chopper. The rest of us sat in the cabin. We'd self-segregated into three areas. Beverly, Graham, and I sat in the front with Emily and Crowley. Miranda and Tum occupied the middle. Meanwhile, the Maneros had situated themselves in the rear of the chopper.
Our luggage and equipment were lashed down throughout the cabin, stuffed between boxes, crates, and cases. The items were just a small percentage of the overall cargo. I'd noticed several large externally slung crates prior to entering the chopper.
I wiped a mask of sweat off my brow. Several weeks had passed since I'd seen Emily. Until her call, I'd started to wonder if she'd forgotten about our arrangement. Part of me had hoped that was the case.
My mind flashed back to the Maya Mountains. I recalled Votan's helicopter descending out of the dark clouds. His men had fired almost immediately. Two workers, a man and a woman, had crumpled to the ground without a word. Their blood had seeped onto the rocks.
I'd felt tremendous sorrow. However, I hadn't felt guilt. I knew Votan and his army were responsible for their deaths. Still, something changed inside me as I'd raced for cover. At that exact moment, I knew my days of treasure hunting had come to an end.
Or at least, I thought they'd come to an end.
My throat felt parched. More sweat beaded up on my brow. Uneasily, I shifted my beat-up canvas satchel, trying in vain to get comfortable. Finally, I shrugged it off. As the excess weight left my body, I felt slightly better.
But only for a few seconds.
I shifted again, feeling even less comfortable than before. I was too wired to sleep, too exhausted to concentrate.
Crossing my arms, I leaned back. My skull touched a window. The surface felt cool and damp against my head. I forced myself to relax. My eyes closed over. My mind drifted away.
Then the helicopter jostled.
My head smacked against the acrylic glass. Searing pain ripped through my skull.
So much for sleeping.
Opening my eyes, I looked around. Beverly sat on my left, headphones clamped over her ears. Her eyes were closed and her head leaned on my shoulder. Graham sat on my other side. His torso was twisted toward me. His cheek was firmly pressed against a window and I caught a sly smile on his face. From the look of it, he was having a dream.
A hell of a dream.
"Can't sleep?" Emily's soft voice carried into my ears.
I looked across the aisle. Her nose was buried in an old tome. She flipped pages with one hand and used the other to take notes on a legal pad.
Crowley sat on her left, facing Graham. He caught me looking in his direction and frowned.
"I'd like to," I replied. "Unfortunately, Dr. Wu isn't much of a pilot."
"It's not his fault. The air's choppy."
"I've been meaning to ask you something. What happened to the sarcophagus?"
"Miranda placed one of her other assistants in charge of it. He's going to conduct a full-fledged excavation of the tomb over the next six months."
I studied the book in Emily's lap. It appeared to be a collection of old documents, letters, photos, scrawled sections of text, and occasional sketches. "Is that Hope's diary?" I asked.
"No," she replied. "It's a history book."
"What kind of history?"
"Personal history. Let's just say genealogy is a passion of mine." With a dull thud, she closed the book. "So, are you ready?"
I nodded.
"You might not have to do much. With any luck, Rigoberta and Pacho have already secured the library."
"I can't believe you let them go in alone."
"It's not like we dropped them off to fend for themselves. They've got supplies and their dogs for company."
"When was the last time you heard from them?"
"Forty-eight hours ago." She shrugged. "I'm sure it's just a problem with the satphone."
Emily had taken secrecy to a whole other level. In lieu of a normal satphone, she'd equipped Rigoberta and Pacho with a parental-controlled unit. That allowed her to block all incoming or outgoing calls that didn't involve her.
"What did the pyramid look like?" I asked after a minute.
A dazed look came over her face. "It's beautiful, truly the most impressive building I've ever seen. I don't want to say more lest I spoil it for you. But trust me. You're in for a treat."
"I'm surprised you didn't search it already."
"I tried. Let's just say it wasn't as simple as I expected." She sighed. "I hated to leave it behind. I haven't been able to think about anything else for the last two weeks."
"Why'd you plan two separate trips anyway?"
"It was Miranda's idea. She wanted to give Rigoberta and Pacho ample time to set up camp and survey the site. Plus, the tractor took up too much cargo space."
I sensed uncertainty in her voice. "Is that it?"
She sighed. "Truthfully, I'd planned to take just one trip. But after new information came to light, I decided it would be wise to bring as many supplies as possible. I might have overdone it, but at least we'll have every tool imaginable at our disposal."
I narrowed my gaze. "What's the new information?"
"The Maneros have made a lot of headway on that plate we recovered from the tomb. For one thing, we now know the Library of the Mayas contains thousands of books, far more than Hope had reported. We've also confirmed that those books are made of gold."
I grinned. "That's a good thing."
"We also learned a little about the pyramid. It's not just a storehouse for the library. It's also a vault."
My grin vanished.
"The Mayas sealed something inside it with the library. We don't know what exactly." She took a deep breath. "All we know is that it was something terrifying. Something evil."
Chapter 23
"A vault?" Graham lifted his voice. "Are you serious?"
"Apparently, we're the last ones to know about it," I said quietly. We stood in a small niche situated between the cockpit and the cabin. "My point is this. If she kept that from us, she might try to hide other stuff too."
"Agreed." Beverly's eyes sparkled in the dim light. "And she might not be the only one keeping secrets around here."
I looked over her shoulder. Emily continued to flip furiously through her strange book, making occasional notations on a pad of paper. Her muscles were tense. Her forehead was scrunched up in a questioning manner. Meanwhile, Crowley watched her with a careful eye.
Miranda and Tum sat together. They appeared to be locked in a quiet, private conversation.
In the back of the chopper, the Maneros were hunched over a small table, speaking in soft tones. The gold plate from the sarcophagus lay on top of the table, glimmering gently.
"You're right," I said quietly. "We should get to know these people. Then they'll be more likely to share information with us."
"Sounds like a waste of time to me," Graham said. "Most likely, we'll never see them again.
"It's not just about gathering information. We're going to an extremely remote part of Mexico. We'll have no contact with the outside world for days, maybe even weeks."
"So what?"
"If things go wrong, we're going to need allies. So, we need to know who—if anyone—we can trust."
Chapter 24
"What do we do if the rotors stop turning?" I asked.
Dr. Wu gave me a quick look before turning back to the controls. "What kind of question is that?"
"An honest one." I edged into the cockpit. "It's been a long time since I flew in a helicopter."
"You pray," he said after a moment. "You pray like crazy."
I chuckled. "That's reassuring."
"You don't need to worry. This here is a Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma. It's a bit old but it's got a five-blade main rotor that cuts way down on vibration. Plus, two Turbomeca Makila 2A1 turboshaft engines linked up to a dual-channel Full Authority Digital Engine Control, or FADEC, system."
I blinked. "What?"
He smiled. "Basically, a digital computer controls the engines. If things go haywire, the FADEC system will protect them, provide redundancy, and issue emergency responses. In other words, if the engines stall, our little FADEC system will force them to thrust."
"Without your input?"
"Yes."
"What if the FADEC system fails?"
"Then the engines fail. There's no manual override so I've got no way of restarting the engine."
"That's crazy."
"Sure, if we only had one FADEC system. But this baby's got three of them. That's Emily's doing. She's all about redundancies."
"Is that right?"
"We've got two language experts, Dora and Renau," he replied. "Crowley doubles as my crew. He can fly if something happens to me. Plus, we've got a second doctor. Well, sort of."
"What do you mean?"
"Tum is a Maya shaman. He deals in natural remedies and healing rituals. A bunch of nonsense if you ask me." He gave me a quick look. "Even you. You're a redundancy."
The doc was telling the truth. Miranda's team was more experienced with normal excavations and my team was more experienced with unconventional ones. Still, there was overlap between our skill sets.
"How long have you worked for Emily?" I asked.
"Two years. No, wait. Three years."
"Is she married? I didn't notice a wedding ring."
"Why?" He arched an eyebrow. "You interested?"
"No. But she says this expedition is open-ended. I find it hard to believe she'd leave a spouse on those terms."
"She's not married. At least, I don't think she is."
"You don't know?"
"Emily's a very private person."
"What's she like as a boss?" I asked.
"She's a—what do you call it—a technocrat. She thinks she knows better than everyone else. And you know what? She's usually right."
"She must be successful."
"She is."
I cocked my head. "So, how sick is she?"
He gave me an odd look. "What makes you think she's sick?"
"Most people don't employ a personal physician."
"True." He paused. "All I can say is I'm sworn to confidentiality."
"I just want to know if I should be worried. Is she contagious?"
"She's not contagious." He was quiet for a moment. "But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be worried."
Chapter 25
"This isn't right." Miranda's voice trembled.
"If you'd read the contract—"
"Forget the contract," Miranda screamed. "We had a deal."
Emily didn't respond right away. From experience, she knew the trick to managing an angry person was to avoid fueling the fire. So, she kept her tone even and spoke quietly. "You still get to examine it."
"Yeah, along with a hundred other people."
"Please try to understand. The quicker I get the library into the right hands, the quicker Arclyon can start testing remedies."
"Just give me six months. That's all I need."
After cutting through the fancy jargon, an expedition was nothing more than a project to be managed. The key was division of labor. In other words, finding the right people for the right jobs.
However, good management also required a personalized approach. Some people needed scolding. Others needed coddling. Miranda belonged in the latter category.
"You don't need to worry." Emily looked around. The others, for whatever reason, seemed to be ignoring the argument. "Remember, you have exclusive archaeological access to the library."
"That won't matter if someone leaks pictures to the media."
"Every person who sees the library will be required to sign a binding contract. Arclyon will sue anyone who doesn't abide by the terms."
"And that person will use income from the leak to buy the best defense possible." Miranda shook her head. "I can't believe an imbecile like you has kept a business alive this long."
Prior to undertaking the trip, Emily had researched older expeditions. She'd studied teams led by Thor Heyerdahl, Robert Peary, and Ernest Shackleton, among others.
In the process, she'd learned something interesting. Those old leaders would deliberately bring losers on each expedition. And not just normal losers. They'd hire the worst of the worst. Liars, scoundrels, slackers.
At first, Emily hadn't understood it. But a little more research uncovered the truth. Those old leaders had worked in difficult conditions, largely isolated from the comforts of modern society. As such, their expedition members tended to harbor subconscious anger. By having losers around, a leader could focus that anger at certain individuals rather than at the expedition as a whole.
Emily hadn't knowingly hired a loser. But she was starting to think she'd gotten one all the same. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves." She lowered her voice to a bare whisper. "First, let's find the library. Then we can figure out how to handle it."
Miranda's eyes turned wild. "Screw you."
Emily understood Miranda's passion for the library. She felt it too. She could still recall the exact moment she'd first laid eyes on Hope's diary. She recalled flipping it open and studying the brittle pages. It had fascinated her and sparked a lifelong interest in the unknown. Years later, that interest had led her to found Arclyon Consulting.