Buried Secrets

by Margaret Daley

  The idea of camping overnight by herself almost made her stay, until she glanced at the narrowing passage. She knew being in the wide-open spaces outside the cave was the better choice.

  Zach took the lead again, this time holding her hand when possible. The physical contact soothed her raw nerves. She wished she could close her eyes and let him guide her to the entrance, but she knew the danger in that. One wrong step, and she could break a leg on the uneven surface.

  Back in the small cavern, Maggie crossed the space quickly behind Zach. Her heartbeat calmed the nearer she came to the sunlight. Its rays beckoned, and she hurried her pace, passing Zach at the end.

  Outside, she bent over and sucked in deep breaths, her hands resting on her knees. She couldn’t seem to get enough of the sweet, dry air. Zach’s hand on her back reminded her she wasn’t alone, and she straightened. Legs weak, she immediately sank to the ground.

  Zach knelt next to her and enclosed her in his embrace. “It was too much to ask you to go back into a cave after what happened with you and your father. I should have known better.”

  She gave him a small smile that disappeared almost instantly. “I should have known better. I’m sorry. All I could see was my father trapped under the rocks. I couldn’t move them. I couldn’t save him. I couldn’t even go for help. I thought I was going to die, too.” Words tumbled from her mouth like the rocks had in the slide. She sniffed, swiping her hand across her forehead to keep the sweat from rolling into her eyes and stinging them. “His light had been crushed under the avalanche, along with his backpack, where the spare batteries were. A few hours later mine died, and I was plunged into total darkness. I wanted to die then.”

  “But you didn’t. You hung on because you’re a fighter.” He removed her helmet and smoothed her damp hair back from her face. Tilting her chin up, he looked long and hard into her eyes. “One I’ve come to care about. Will you be all right?”

  “Yes, you don’t need to worry about me.” She already felt as if she’d let him down. She didn’t want to anymore. The whole ride to the mountain, she’d told herself she could go into the cave and be all right. She’d been wrong. Sometimes the desire to do something wasn’t enough. “I’ll be here waiting when you and Hawke come back with the codices.”

  The mesmerizing look he sent her made her want to melt into the ground. He ran his fingers through her hair and leaned down to graze his mouth across hers. In that moment she realized she loved him in spite of her reservations about the wisdom of it.

  When he pulled back, he drew her to her feet. He rummaged in his backpack until he found his gun, and he gave it to her. “I want you to have this.”

  “No, I can’t take that. You’ll be defenseless.”

  He chuckled. “Hawke has his, and besides, I don’t think there are going to be any wild animals in the cave.” She started to push the weapon away when he added, “I won’t go back in if you don’t take it. I know you’re an expert shot. At least, you told me you were at your grandfather’s ranch.” One corner of his mouth hitched up. “Were you pulling my leg then?”

  “No.” She cradled the cold metal in her hand. “I am, or let’s just say I was. Since becoming a doctor I haven’t handled a gun other than when I caught you in Gramps’s house.”

  Zach groaned. “Please don’t remind me of that incident. I was thankful Hawke could vouch for me, but he did rib me about it.”

  “You need to get back inside. The quicker you do, the quicker we can get the treasure and get out of here.” She glanced up at the sun directly overhead. “I’ll be here waiting when you two come out.”

  Another brief kiss and Zach disappeared into the cave. Maggie stared at the entrance for a long moment. She’d thought she would feel more upset with herself than she was, but she knew this was for the best. She would have slowed them down, possibly even put them in danger if she’d had a full-blown panic attack.

  Pivoting away, she scanned the terrain. From this height she could see the dirt road that led to the mountain. At first glance the area appeared barren, but the desert teemed with life. Rolling land stretched before her with yucca, agaves and cacti, some blooming, and a few juniper trees mixed among the scrub brush.

  She put the gun down by her backpack and started to hike to Hawke’s Jeep, then she remembered that life in the desert included rattlesnakes. She decided to carry the weapon with her. As she descended the side of the mountain, she took her time, occasionally slipping on the loose rocks in her path.

  At Hawke’s vehicle she retrieved his camping gear and slung the binoculars around her neck, then began her ascent. By the time she got back to the cave’s entrance she had killed almost an hour. Not used to inactivity, she lifted the binoculars to give her something to do.

  Below her, in the flatter terrain, she spied a mule deer. She followed its progress as it munched on some plants. That lasted fifteen minutes. She needed to come up with something else to occupy her time.

  For a moment her thoughts were centered around the kiss that Zach had given her right before he had gone back into the cave. He certainly knew how to say goodbye to a gal. What in the world was she going to do about her feelings concerning him? In three weeks he was leaving for the summer. Then she remembered what had happened to him the last time he had gone into the Amazon. He’d nearly died.

  “Don’t think about it,” she muttered in the silence.

  She made another sweep of the landscape and caught sight of some dust kicking up in the distance. She focused the binoculars on it and realized it was growing nearer. When the SUV came into clear view, fear seeped into her.

  She trained the binoculars on the vehicle as it came closer. Then she saw there were two people in the front seat. She adjusted the focus and honed in on the driver. The field glasses slipped from her numb fingers and fell to her chest.

  TWELVE

  How had Joe Bailey gotten out of jail? Had someone bailed him out, or had he escaped?

  How had they found them?

  Or had the criminals solved the mystery and come to get the codices without knowing she, Zach and Hawke were here?

  Question after question raced through Maggie’s mind. She backed toward the entrance of the cave, her fear full-blown now. She scanned the area. She could hide the camping equipment, but there wasn’t any way she could hide the two vehicles parked below.

  Picking up the weapon from the ground by her backpack, she felt its heavy weight. She had a gun. She could use it, but the very thought turned her heart to ice. She was a healer, not a killer.

  She inched toward the boulder that hid the entrance to the cave from the bottom of the mountain. Bailey parked his SUV next to their rented tan one and climbed from it. The other man in the front seat did likewise, while a third one exited the back.

  The slamming of the car doors jolted her into action. She needed to warn Zach and Hawke.

  She needed to go back into the cave.

  No!

  Pivoting toward the dark entrance, she fixed her gaze on it. If she hid then went for help, she might not come back in time. She peered over the large rock at the three men. One bent down and drove a knife into the tan SUV’s tires while the other two located Hawke’s Jeep and disabled it. If she had wanted to go for help, it wasn’t possible now unless she could hot-wire Bailey’s car, which she didn’t know how to do.

  Trapped!

  With nowhere to go but into the lion’s den.

  Lord, help! I can’t do this without You. I need Your help.

  Thoughts of Zach and Hawke, unaware of the three men and vulnerable, propelled her closer to the dark opening of the cave. Her whole body quaked as she bent down and grabbed the straps of her backpack, then slung it over her shoulder. She stuffed the gun into the knapsack’s front pocket where she could get it quickly if need be.

  Then she took a step toward the entrance.

  Then another.

  She might have thirty minutes on the three men. Not much time.

  She reache
d out to touch the rock wall just inside the entrance. Definitely not enough time. Especially when she shook so badly she didn’t know how she would be able to hold the rope. She couldn’t leave it down for the men to follow.

  With a fortifying breath she entered the cave. Immediately her heartbeat accelerated and sweat beaded on her forehead. She still trembled with each step.

  I can’t fall apart. Our lives may hang in the balance. I can do this!

  She picked up the rope and started following its path, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other.

  “The Lord is my shepherd.” She began reciting Psalm 23. When she reached the part about, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” a calmness descended. She felt God’s presence all around her. By the time she ended with, “And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever,” His protective shield encased her.

  She made it to the first small cavern and wasted no time crossing it to the passage. When she arrived at the narrowing of the stone corridor, the length of rope stopped. Since there was only one way to go, Zach no doubt was only using it when he absolutely needed to. She paused, rubbing her wet hands together to warm them.

  I am with you until the end of time.

  The verse strengthened her resolve. She would make it through the tunnel because their lives depended on it. She repeated the verse over and over as she crawled forward. Her light shone on her path, and she glimpsed a widening maybe ten feet ahead. She hurried her pace, ignoring the pain in her knees and palms as a piece of sharp rock cut into her. She’d left her knee pads by the camping equipment. She had no time to pamper herself.

  At the end of the tunnel she halted and listened for any sound. In the distance she heard dripping, but otherwise it was utterly quiet. Coming out into another small chamber, she swung around in a slow circle to illuminate the walls while she pulled up the map in her mind and visualized where she needed to go next.

  There was a passage off to the left of the tunnel. She turned toward the area and saw a bolt-hole. Lord, I hope this is the way.

  Before slipping into a narrow tunnel, she checked it out. It appeared to be shorter than the last one. Thank You, Lord. She wiggled inside the small opening, imagining that both Zach and Hawke had barely fit.

  Good. The men behind her might not be able to fit into this tunnel, she thought, and flattened herself so she could slide forward. Sweat-drenched, she sucked in shallow breaths. Again she recited the verse from Matthew aloud to hear her own voice. The words comforted her, and her breathing evened out.

  I can do this. God is with me.

  She emerged from the bolt-hole onto a ledge high above a cavern. Inching forward, she peered over the rocks into the inky blackness, so dark that her light didn’t fully penetrate it. A dead end?

  Before she could decide, a rumble beneath her sent her down flat against the rock as she hugged it for dear life.

  A dead end? Zach looked at the pool before him, so clear that it didn’t even look like there was water in the bottom of the chamber. “This must be what Father Santiago was referring to in his diary.” His light swept the circumference of the room. Rock led down to the edge of the pool. “Where in the world would he hide the Aztec codices? In the water?”

  “If so, they are ruined.” Hawke came to his side and did his own inspection. “Probably the water table was different when he hid them here.”

  “So this is all for nothing?”

  “It might be.”

  “I won’t accept that. Two men have died because of the codices.”

  “Probably more than that, if we knew the full history of them.”

  A noise, as though the earth grumbled its displeasure at their intrusion, rippled through the air. Zach was glad Maggie wasn’t in the cave with them. “That doesn’t sound good.”

  “This cave may be unstable. Some are. I noticed some evidence of previous rockslides as we descended. It might not be safe to stay long,” Hawke said.

  “We’ve come this far. The rockslides I saw didn’t look recent. I want to check this pool out completely. There might be something we’re missing.” Zach pointed toward the far side. “We can’t even see what’s over there. We’ll need to get closer. The water doesn’t look like it would be over our heads.”

  Hawke waved his arm across his body. “After you, cousin.”

  Zach took a step into the pool. Then another. Cold water saturated his lower jeans and hiking boots. “If this doesn’t yield anything, we need to go back to that last fork in the passageway and go to the right. Both were drawn on the map. I wonder why.”

  “But this is the one that ends in a pool.”

  “Maybe he was warning us about the pool.”

  “A trap?”

  “Yes.” Zach’s footing gave way and he went down into the freezing water.

  The way back was blocked by the three men with guns, only thirty minutes behind her at the most. Maggie had to do something, and fast, or she would be trapped on this ledge with nowhere to go. Remembering her attacker’s hand over her mouth petrified her. She’d nearly died twice because of him.

  But even worse, the cave wasn’t stable. What if there was another cave-in? The thought struck terror straight into her heart.

  She was caught between two impossible situations—both deadly. Lord, what do I do?

  The weight of the rope she carried reminded her there might be a rope somewhere on the ledge that led downward. She checked the floor inch by inch. Nothing. No place to tie a rope.

  The ticking of minutes in her mind renewed her fear tenfold. Lord, how do I get out of here?

  The sound of a rock falling echoed in the chamber. Maggie looked toward the direction it came from, and her light sliced across the stone facade a foot from the ledge. A rope hung down into the inky blackness, secured around a rocky protrusion.

  She sidled along the wall until she came to the end of the shelf she stood on, and she inspected the distance between her and the rope. Maybe two feet, and there was a foothold right under the boulder the rope was tied to.

  She peeked over, her beam of light invading the darkness for several yards. Then nothing. Zach and Hawke had gone down. She would have to also if she was going to warn them.

  Lord, I’ve never been afraid of heights. Help me not to be in this case, too. If Zach can return to the place where he almost died, I can do this.

  She glided her foot across the twenty-four inches to the groove in the wall. Before she’d secured herself, screeching filled the air in all directions. Something flew by her, then another one. Bats! Hundreds!

  Zach came up splashing, coughing. The sound echoed through the cavern. He regained his footing and, when the water smoothed out, peered into its depths. A hole about three feet across indented the floor of the pool.

  He flung off his backpack and handed it, along with his helmet, to Hawke. “This might be something. I’ll dive down and check it out.”

  Zach submerged himself in the cold water and swam to the bottom. He ran his hands over its surface, inspecting it for anything that might lead to where the treasure was. All he felt was stone beneath his fingers.

  Zach surfaced. “There’s nothing. Let’s keep going. I want to see what’s over there.” He pointed toward the far wall, where darkness dominated.

  Hawke gave Zach his knapsack. He waded forward, skirting the hole. As he neared the area, the lamp on his helmet radiated against the wall, accentuating the brown, yellow and red of the rock. He noticed there was still a shadow, long and running from the top of the wall to the water, where it appeared there was a rockslide into the pool.

  Zach reached out and grazed his fingertips over the stone surface. “There’s an opening here! This could be it!”

  Hawke came up behind him. “Can you fit into it?”

  Again Zach discarded his backpack and gave it to Hawke. He neared the slit in the rocks and tried to wedge himself through it. “No, and you won’t fit, either.”

  Hawke examined
the surface. “But Maggie could.”

  “No!” Zach objected instantly, thinking about the terror that had gripped her when she’d tried to accompany them earlier. “I won’t ask that of her. We’ll have to think of something else.”

  Maggie jerked away from the swarm of bats. One tangled itself against her helmet as if it were caught in the helmet’s strap. She loosened it and the bat flew away. Before she could tighten her chin strap again, the air teemed with more bats.

  When she ducked down, she accidentally knocked her helmet from her head. It plunged downward into the inky gloom. The sound of it striking the rock floor bombarded through the cavern. All around her darkness prevailed. Although the urge to flail her arms was strong, Maggie held on to the handholds. Thoughts of falling, no telling how far into the pitch-black pit, spurred her to press herself against the wall and not let go.

  Another bat ensnared itself in her hair. She swallowed her scream, squeezing her eyes closed as though that would help rid her of the flapping animal. Lord, please help me! Finally the mammal managed to disengage itself from her strands and launch itself into the air.

  What do I do?

  Panic eroded her fragile composure, which she had managed to hold together—barely—because she’d had a light. Now she didn’t. She looked down and saw a faint glimmer at the bottom. Her lamp had survived the fall!

  I can do this.

  When silence ruled in the chamber, Maggie pried one hand from the stone, searched for the rope and gripped it. Inching closer, she felt with her foot for another hold and found an indentation. Then, grasping the line, she began her descent into the blackness.

  Memories of the other time she’d spent in the dark in a cave threatened to unravel her newfound strength. “I won’t let you win,” she said. Although she didn’t really know who you was, she felt better saying it out loud.

  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.