The Fourth Prophecy

by Ernest Dempsey

  The red bar at the bottom of the device screen turned green, signaling that the camera feeds had been successfully altered.

  She reached into her bag of tricks, as she liked to call it, and pulled out a black box. There was a seam in the middle of it that divided the thing into halves. She pulled the halves apart, revealing two metal rods in the center attached to two miniature clamps.

  Erika took a step back and surveyed the rear wall until she found what she was looking for. A box painted to look the same as the building’s exterior was situated flush against the wall on the far corner. Two matching tubes protruded from it and plunged into the concrete.

  Erika hurried over to the small box. She was wary enough to consider that the exterior wall unit might also be hooked up to some kind of alarm. She carefully slid a knife tip under one of the seams and lifted it a millimeter or two. Nothing happened. Satisfied the box itself wasn’t rigged to trigger an alarm, she removed a set of bolt cutters from the bag and snapped the padlock keeping the panel shut. The lock clanked on the concrete and she dropped the tool back into the bag.

  Inside the box was a mess of wires and two blinking lights. It was a system she’d seen before despite how new it was. Erika made it her business to stay in the know when any new tech hit the market, especially in the security industry. She found the two wires she needed and pulled them out, stripped the coating from the copper inside, and pinched the clamps from her black box against the wiring.

  She waited for a second to make sure the alarm didn’t go off, but she knew it wouldn’t. That little box could easily sell for $50,000 in the criminal underground, but then she wouldn’t have an edge when it came to bypassing an alarm system.

  With a sense of urgency, she rushed back to where she’d left her bag and pulled out something that looked like a string of Play-Doh. Erika pressed the odd string against the door, making a half circle that encompassed the lock and latch. Then she stuck a detonator into the center of the clay-like substance and moved back around the corner.

  She took another device out of her bag and knelt down on one knee. She pressed her back against the wall and mashed the lone button on the device. There was a low popping sound, a fizzle, and then a cloud of acrid smoke wafted by her. A heavy clunk came from the back door, signaling that her explosive had done its job.

  Erika set the box back in the bag and stepped around the corner. More smoke drifted by her. There was a hole in the door, precisely where she’d placed her compound. The door had swung open slightly.

  “Too easy,” she whispered.

  She slung the bag over her shoulder and rushed into the building, pulling the door closed on her way in.

  Inside, she scanned the dark room for a moment before switching on the augmented lenses once more. The red target was down below, in the middle of the building’s second basement.

  From the looks of it, she was in some kind of delivery and holding room. Huge stacks of boxes were arranged across the floor. She assumed they contained artifacts that had been brought to the building for research or to be put on display in the small museum.

  Erika put a wedge under the bottom of the door to make sure it stayed closed and then hurried across the room. If a security guard came through the place, he might not see the hole where the door’s lock used to be but would almost certainly notice a door swinging wide open.

  She pushed through the next doorway into a long corridor and ran ahead until she reached a pair of elevators. One had a single massive door that split in the middle and opened up to a big freight lift. The other was for people. She had no intention of taking either.

  Just down the hall next to another door was an entrance into the stairwell. She pushed through the door and stopped just on the other side, letting the door close softly behind her.

  A set of stairs went up to the right. To her left, a doorway with a card reader and a keypad led to a set of steps that descended into the bowels of the building. She reached into her tight black tank top and produced an ID card. She scanned the bar through the slider and then entered an access code when the little LED screen prompted her.

  A second later, a green light appeared, and the door clicked in three places. She pushed through and paused on the other side to let the door close before continuing.

  Getting the ID card had been easy enough. Disguised as a courier, she’d delivered a package to one of the logistics guys in the building. A little coffee spilled onto his pants and the guy jumped up in a panic, making it easy for her to steal his card, replace it with a fake, and get out of the facility without him ever knowing what happened.

  The access code was somewhat more difficult, but she’d planned ahead for that as well.

  When the guy jumped up from the scalding hot coffee, Erika knew he’d have to run to the restroom to clean up the mess. She’d told the guy she’d wait until he finished cleaning himself before getting his signature.

  The unwitting victim had no idea he’d just inadvertently given access to his computer to one of the most dangerous women in the world.

  She watched until the guy disappeared around the hallway corner before sliding into his seat and pulling up the access codes for everyone in the building. His name was easy enough to find. Once she had it, the numbers for the code seared into her memory, and she returned the screen to where he’d left it.

  Erika pulled her weapons out of their holsters and made sure a round was chambered in each. Then she began the descent into the depths of IAA headquarters.

  She passed the door for basement level one and kept moving. While she wondered what might be on that floor, she knew the goal was farther down. With every step she took, the red target in the middle of her lenses drew closer and the angle to it shallower.

  The staircase ended on a concrete landing, and she faced another doorway. This one didn’t have any additional security measures, which she found to be odd. Then again, if the people who ran the place believed the previous door was enough, why would they install additional measures?

  She pulled the door open and stuck her head into the room. Long bright lights flashed to life on the ceiling high above. For a second, she thought someone might be inside, but she realized the lights were on an automated system, probably designed to save energy when someone left the room.

  Erika snaked her way through the door and into the huge space on the other side. The room was like a small warehouse. The ceiling stretched up to nearly twenty feet high and the far wall was at least 120 feet away. Unlike the cardboard boxes she’d seen upstairs, this room was filled with glass cases, each containing priceless artifacts from all over the world.

  She walked by the first row of cases and stopped in the middle of the room. She reached up, switched off her lenses, and placed the glasses in her gear bag. There, on the far wall, was an upright, narrow case with a glass cube at the top. Inside it, the relic glowed with a bizarre light.

  Erika had been told the object produced a strange glow, but she didn’t believe it, at least until now.

  She walked by more cases, mesmerized by the artifact. When she reached it, she slid the bag down to the floor and stood up straight, staring at the object inside its protective display.

  When her employer requested that she steal this item, her boss hadn’t given her any details regarding the relic, only what it was and where to get it. When Erika learned the artifact’s name, finding information on it had been easy enough, though no one seemed to understand its true power. That was part of the reason it was stored at IAA headquarters, to undergo further investigation.

  Erika reached out and touched the glass, partly out of admiration and partly to test her override systems. Nothing happened, and she clenched her jaw, ready to finish the last part of the mission.

  She dipped into her bag once more and retrieved a device with two suction cups and a spinning diamond blade attached to a metal disc. It looked like a high-tech pizza cutter, but this tool could cut through almost any glass in the world.

  Sh
e started to attach the unit to the display case when she heard a voice from the stairwell.

  Immediately, a frown crossed her face. She stuffed the cutting tool back into her bag and yanked it up off the ground as she ducked behind a long, wide display case to her right.

  A second after she dropped from sight, the door swung open, and two people walked in.

  Erika couldn’t see their faces, but she heard their voices.

  “Why are the lights on?” a man said.

  “No idea,” said his female counterpart. “Don’t they normally shut off when nobody’s here?”

  “Supposed to.”

  Erika deftly bear crawled over to the other end of her hiding place, holding one of her pistols in her right hand. She peeked over the top edge and saw the agency’s primary researchers standing in the doorway with confused looks on their faces.

  She lined up her weapon’s sights with the guy, putting the right side of his face squarely in the middle. From this distance, sidearms could be inaccurate. Erika, however, could shoot a fly off a horse’s back from that range with a stable base.

  Her finger tensed on the trigger, ready to put a round through Alex’s head.

  Chapter 18

  Chiapas

  “You know,” Martinez shouted, “I think patience is overrated!”

  Sean and Tommy roused from troubled sleep. Sean was leaning against the bars in one corner of the cage while Tommy had slumped to the ground and was resting his head on his forearm.

  Sean blinked slowly, trying to adjust to the blinding flashlights Martinez’s men were shining into their miniature prison.

  “What are you going on about?” Sean grumbled. “Can’t you see we’re trying to get some sleep in here?”

  “Yeah,” Tommy agreed. “And can we get some new pillows in here? This is worse than that hotel in Mumbai a few years ago.”

  “I’m glad to see you two are in your usual humorous form despite the fact that you’re both my prisoners,” Martinez said.

  “Well, you know us,” Sean said. “Always looking to please.”

  “That’s good, amigo. Because we aren’t waiting until morning for you to show me this treasure. We’re going tonight.”

  Sean and Tommy exchanged frowns.

  “Tonight?” Tommy asked. “What’s the problem, Osvaldo? Couldn’t sleep?”

  “Like a child on Christmas morning,” Martinez said.

  “Oh that’s right. You guys celebrate Christmas, too,” Sean cut in again. “What’s it like around the holidays at the old cartel stronghold? Do you guys sit around singing Christmas carols and exchanging presents?”

  “Hey, what did you get Julio?” Tommy said with a chuckle. “Oh nice. A kilo of blow! Awesome!”

  Martinez ignored their little play-for-two and motioned to one of his men standing close by. The guy stepped forward with a ring of keys befitting a bank manager and fumbled through them until he found the right one. A second later, the cage door swung open and the man stepped back, resuming his position near the boss.

  “Please,” Martinez said, motioning with one hand. “Lead the way.”

  Sean hesitated, thinking for a second that maybe they were being duped. Then he reminded himself that being inside the cage wasn’t any safer.

  He stepped out, stretched his arms, and kicked his legs out a few times to get the blood going.

  “Sorry,” he said, “foot’s asleep.”

  Tommy followed him out into the open and waited with arms crossed.

  “Would you mind giving us a couple of those flashlights?” Sean asked. “It’s awfully dark out here.”

  “My men will light your path,” Martinez said as he brandished a pistol. He pointed the gun at Sean’s face. “Move.”

  “I need my map,” Sean said without flinching. “It’s in my gear bag, back in that tent over there.” He pointed to the canvas shelter across camp.

  Martinez kept a stoic expression on his face, never taking his eyes off the prisoner. “Diego,” he said to one of his men. A diminutive guy with an automatic rifle slung over his shoulder stepped up immediately. “Run and fetch their map,” he said in Spanish.

  “It’s in my rucksack you guys took earlier,” Sean said.

  Diego frowned, not understanding. He spun around and took off at a jog. Sean watched until the man disappeared into the tent and then returned his attention to Martinez.

  “We need the map,” he said and rolled his shoulders.

  Diego reappeared from the tent, holding the map in one hand. He hurried back across the camp and presented the rolled-up piece of paper to his employer. Martinez clutched it with a firm fist for a second before handing it over to Sean.

  “Thank you,” Sean said and snatched the map.

  He unrolled it with Tommy looking over his shoulder. Martinez shifted his position so he could also see what the two Americans were examining.

  “We’re going to a place called Devil’s Falls,” Tommy said so Martinez could hear.

  “It’s right here,” Sean said, tapping on a place on the map.

  “I know where the waterfall is,” Martinez said, irritated. “You could have just asked.”

  “Yeah, I figured, but I really like this map,” Sean quipped.

  Martinez didn’t seem amused. “The waterfall is this way, just over the next ridge.” He turned and issued orders to the men hovering around. “Watch these two very closely,” he said. “I don’t want them trying to do something stupid.”

  The group started marching into the darkness with two armed men in the lead, followed closely by the two Americans and then five more guys, including Martinez.

  “The joke’s on him,” Tommy whispered into Sean’s ear as they trudged forward. “We do stupid all the time.”

  Sean gave a nod. “Yep, and it’s about to get even stupider.”

  Tommy glanced over his shoulder at the two guards behind them. They didn’t speak a lick of English. “So…you gonna let me in on this plan of yours?”

  “No. I think I’m just going to let it play out while you watch.”

  “I already know part of the plan; at least I think I do.”

  “Just keep in mind it’s fluid. Things can change. And then there’s always the possibility that we don’t find what we’re looking for at these falls.”

  “Believe me, I’ve already considered that.”

  “Good,” Sean said, keeping his eyes forward. “Because if that happens, they may kill us right there.”

  Tommy swallowed and kept moving.

  Once the procession was out of the camp, their speed slowed as they climbed the nearest hill. The narrow path wound its way up the slope from left to right to make the grade less steep, but it also made the walk a little longer. As the group got closer to the top, the sound of the waterfall grew louder. By the time everyone reached the top, they were all breathing a little heavier, and the sound of the water crashing into the little river was the only thing they could hear.

  A hole opened in the canopy above the waterfall and allowed moonlight to fill the immediate area, bathing the pool and churning white foam in its pale glow.

  Tommy stared out at the scene. “I wonder why they call it Devil’s Falls.”

  Sean peered through the darkness at the illuminated waterfall. “I suspect it has to do with those two rocks at the top looking like horns. And if you look close enough, the rock formation the water pours over looks like a skull.”

  Tommy leaned forward and narrowed his eyes to get better focus. “Oh yeah. You’re right. I can see that.”

  “Shut up, both of you,” Martinez rumbled from the back of the line. “You’re here. Now what?”

  “I can’t believe we were this close,” Tommy muttered. “It’s right in their camp’s backyard.”

  “I said silence!”

  Tommy slowly spun around and faced the cartel leader. “And you also asked what we’re supposed to do next. So, it’s kind of a catch-22, telling us to shut up and also asking what our next mov
e is supposed to be.”

  Martinez raised his weapon and aimed the barrel straight at Tommy’s right eye. “The treasure. Where is it?”

  Sean stared at the map and recalled discussing the solution to the cipher with Alex. He’d said that inside the devil’s mouth there were lies and truths. Sean raised his head and looked at the waterfall. He traced the skull outline on the rocks and found what he believed would be considered the eyes, which were really nothing more than a couple of symmetric recessions in the upper part of the rock face. Below that, he couldn’t see anything that resembled a mouth, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there.

  “We’ll need to get closer,” Sean said. “It should be down there.” He pointed at a spot next to where the white water poured into the pool.

  Martinez looked skeptical, but he gave a nod to the men in front to keep moving.

  The convoy continued down the other side of the ridge, winding their way down the path until they reached the bottom where the narrow river lapped against the shore. There was no way up to the rocks from where they were standing, which meant they would have to cross the stream. It was only thirty feet across at most, but it was difficult to tell how deep the water was. On top of that, there could be anything lurking in the murky darkness.

  Sean surveyed the area, looking for some kind of a way across that didn’t involve climbing to the top of the waterfall. He found what he was looking for downstream where a series of rocks jutted out all the way to the other side.

  “Looks like we can cross over there,” he said, pointing at the makeshift bridge.

  “Cross?” Martinez asked. “I don’t think so. Why don’t you tell us where the treasure is, and we’ll go check for you?”

  Sean rolled his eyes. “Because, Osvaldo, we are probably going into some hidden chamber or something where there will be booby traps and ancient symbols you have to decipher. So, unless you want to end up crushed under a giant boulder falling from the ceiling—or pierced with ancient blow darts dipped in a neurotoxin—I’d suggest letting us take the lead on this one.”