“Here’s the deal, Brian. Yeah, I’ve done something illegal. Yeah, I’m in big trouble. But you have to help me. You will help me. I know you will because I can tell you where President Chapman is. That’s what you’re here to find. There’s one thing you have to promise me. I have to be involved in the decision when to tell President Harrison what happened here. I won’t make you wait long but you and I have to have a plan before you involve the government. I’ve got to make sure I’m covered here.”
“I can’t do that. I can’t make a promise like that. You don’t know what you’re asking…”
“I do know what I’m asking, Brian. Nobody has ever dealt with this before. Either part of this. No one has ever seen what I found. And nobody has ever dealt with a missing President. Just work out a plan with me. If you promise me that, I’ll tell you everything. If you can’t promise that I’ll leave and figure things out alone. But you can’t renege if you make that promise. My life hangs in the balance here. Literally.”
“It’s a deal,” Brian said at last, “but forty-eight hours is all you get.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Cory Spencer told Brian everything that happened on the day President John Chapman disappeared. Brian listened to the entire story without saying a word.
-----
“Mr. President, I really wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Startled, President John Chapman jerked his hand back from the metal artifact lying in front of him. He thought he was by himself in the chamber, his agents waiting for him at the top of the temple. He thought he had fifteen minutes to look at this amazing discovery alone.
Chapman’s immediate reaction was anger, not fear. “Who the hell are you and how’d you get in here?”
“There’s a passageway, Mr. President. I came out of it. There’s a hidden passage and you need to see what’s beyond it. I’m Cory Spencer, sir.” He held out his hand to shake the President’s. “I’m the lead archaeologist from Sussex University.”
John Chapman visibly relaxed once he heard the name. He now recalled seeing Spencer’s picture in an archaeology magazine and knew he was telling the truth about who he was. “You surprised the hell out of me,” he snapped. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m sorry, Mr. President. I figured I might startle you but I’d never have been able to get in here with you if I’d done things the proper way. You need to see this. And sir, don’t touch the artifact. It’s highly radioactive.”
“I want to know why you decided to show this to me. The problem is, I only have about ten minutes before the storm troopers come crashing down that stairway. Let’s see what you’ve found that’s so important then we’ll talk back upstairs.”
“I’ll tell you everything, sir, once I show you what I’ve found.”
Cory walked to the far end of the room, stood between the stone altar and the wall. He extended his arms sideways. His fingers searched and found what he wanted.
“I’ll be damned.” The President watched as a large stone moved silently back into the darkness, revealing a passageway beyond. “How’d you figure that out?”
“No time now, sir.” The archaeologist flipped on his flashlight and led the way. Once they were inside the corridor he pressed an almost-invisible indentation on the wall and the stone swung shut behind them.
“Hang on a second,” President Chapman shouted, alarmed. “Open that back up right now…”
“Mr. President, I’m willing to show you something so incredible you absolutely won’t believe it. But you have to let me do it my way. I’m not ready to let anyone else know about this. You’re completely safe but I’m not going to leave it open. I promise you it’ll open back up when we’re done.”
The President wasn’t accustomed to people ignoring his demands. “OK, Cory. This better be good or you’re in a deep pile of shit, buddy. You know that?”
Cory ignored the question and led John Chapman down the corridor several feet. His flashlight cast ghostly shadows on the walls and floor. As the men moved past two glyphs carved into the hallway Cory pointed them out to the President. “What are they?” he said, taking time to briefly stare at each one.
“The first one’ll become obvious in a moment, sir. The other one will too once you think about what I’m going to show you. We don’t have time to look at these closely, Mr. President. I just want you to see what’s in the cavern ahead of us.”
The passageway ended and they stepped into an enormous room a hundred feet or more long, its ceiling towering above them. Thirty feet in front of them, roughly in the middle of the room, there was some debris. Cory shined the light on it. “Right here, sir.”
There were two mangled pieces of metal lying on the ground. They were like the two oval pieces of a plastic Easter egg – at one time they undoubtedly had fit together but now they were lying side by side as though they had been wrenched apart in an accident.
The pieces were roughly twenty feet long and eight feet wide. One, obviously the top, had rows of a glasslike material that appeared to be windows. As Cory held the light the President looked at it then turned his gaze upon the other section.
The other oval object, the bottom part, was more heavily damaged. On its undersurface were three struts. A fourth was missing, ripped off in what appeared to have been a disastrous calamity of some sort. All four would have kept the object upright; with only three it lay tilted.
“That thing, that metal strut back there in the chamber you discovered, it belongs right here, doesn’t it?”
“Yes sir, it does. It’s identical to the other three that are still attached.”
Chapman peered closely at the interior of the oval object.
“What are those…oh dear God. Are those…This looks just like the glyph back there…”
“You’re absolutely right, sir. Those small white capsules are the same things depicted on the first glyph back in the passageway. There are fifteen of them – I counted them. I think…well sir, just between you and me I think they’re some sort of beings. I know that sounds crazy…”
The President was stunned. He didn’t move for several seconds. When he spoke his voice was a whisper. “Yeah, Cory, I have to agree with you. I think those things were in this craft when it crashed. It may be crazy but I can’t think of anything better.”
Chapman looked at the archaeologist, thinking out loud. “Who drew the glyphs on the corridor wall? They don’t look Mayan.”
“No way to tell for sure, Mr. President, but I figure somehow these things did. And look at this.” Cory pointed to the outside of the “lid” of the oval metal egg. Etched into the metal was an exact duplicate of the second glyph – a lot of circles in various positions around two large ones.
“Do you think…Cory, is it possible this depicts the place they came from? Do these circles represent planets revolving around…”
Suddenly Chapman stepped backwards. “Shit!” he yelled, raising his left leg into the air.
Cory turned the light on the President. Through his left pant leg a four-foot snake had embedded its fangs into Chapman’s thigh. The archaeologist recognized it immediately – a fer-de-lance. Aggressive and almost always lethal. Chapman had obviously disturbed it – probably he had stepped on it – and the snake had attacked.
The President of the United States of America fell to the ground next to Cory Spencer. The archaeologist panicked. He withdrew a knife from his pocket and stabbed the snake in its head, careful to stay clear of its mouth when the viper released its hold. Once he made sure the snake was dead Cory shook the President’s body, pumped his chest and attempted to give him CPR. He knew from experience that these attempts were useless but he had to try.
Once before Cory had seen a fer-de-lance strike a human. It was at an archaeological site in Guatemala and one of the workmen had been bitten after sticking his hand under a rock in a cave. He had died almost instantly. Having seen that, Cory knew there was absolutely nothing he could do for Chapman but he worke
d for ten fruitless minutes. It was over – the President had died less than sixty seconds after he was bitten.
Cory stopped and sat on the ground next to Chapman’s body. He shook uncontrollably and tears flowed. “Shit. What am I going to do about this? What will they think about why I took the President in here? How much trouble will this be for me? I just made the most amazing discovery in the history of the earth and now it’s all going down the drain.” Think. Think, man. You have to think. Figure something out.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Brian, I just didn’t know what to do. I still don’t. Until you got here I didn’t think I had a chance even to live. I’m scared to death of Thomas Newton Torrance. I absolutely believe he’s going to kill me after he gets what he wants and I show him what I’ve found.”
“Who else knows about this, Cory? You know this thing can’t be kept secret.”
“Mr. Torrance knows I found a passageway and about the glyphs. He doesn’t know about the craft or the white capsules. I also told him I found the President’s body – he doesn’t know I was there when it happened. As soon as I found out they were going to televise the raising of the artifact I notified TNT – I owed him that as our backer. When they got into the chamber and began working to hoist up the artifact I figured there was a big chance that someone else might discover the passageway. I decided to tell him about the glyphs and the President but I didn’t give him any information as to how it happened. I made it sound like I never walked to the end of the passageway. He thinks the President’s body is right at the front of the passage and he has no idea there’s some kind of craft in the cavern.”
“And he hasn’t asked to see it?”
“Oh sure he has, but there hasn’t been a chance. We went down to the chamber and talked on the day they tried to raise the artifact but he was unwilling to have me open the passage with people nearby. He’s pushing now for a time to see it. I’ll have to get in there at night. That’s the only way. Brian, can you help me? I thought everything would be OK here. I had a great plan to “rediscover” the passageway and find the President dead from a snakebite. But I made a mistake telling Mr. Torrance. I think he’ll do anything to get this for himself. He won’t let anyone stand in his way. I think he’d kill me, Brian. I really do.”
“OK. Let me ask you a few more questions. What did you do after the President died?”
“I completely went to pieces, like I told you. I sat there maybe an hour, maybe more. I tried to think what to do but I couldn’t come up with anything. So I went back to the front of the passageway to go out and heard faint voices, shouts, through the stone wall. I suddenly realized what had to be going on. The President had said he only had about ten minutes in the chamber alone. His security people must have come looking for him. And they wouldn’t leave. They’d be there all day, maybe even all night, trying to find him. I hoped they wouldn’t find the way in, but in the meantime I couldn’t leave.”
“How’d you finally get out?”
“I waited all day. I kept turning my flashlight off to conserve batteries. At around nine o’clock I couldn’t hear any sounds through the wall so I made the decision to open the passageway door. If I had gotten caught then it would be all over. But I didn’t. The chamber and Pakal’s tomb were empty. I climbed the stairway and unlocked the gate from the inside. I quietly raised it up, locked it back and looked outside. I saw some people down below me in the plaza. They were guards – one was smoking a cigarette and I saw its glow. So I sneaked down the side of the pyramid. It was tough but I kept quiet, made it down and back to the barracks.”
“What happened then?”
“First thing I did when I got back was to look at my phone. Mr. Torrance had called maybe ten times and texted at least that many. He got more and more insistent in his voicemails and texts that I get in touch with him.”
Cory showed Brian some of the texts. Insistent isn’t exactly the right word for these, Brian thought. They were demanding, threatening.
“Cory, you need to leave this with me for now. I need to think about this and we’ll figure out a solution. If everything happened the way you say, there’s nothing to be afraid of. I promise you I won’t desert you or let you get into trouble over this. The President has enormous power. You just have to let me take charge of this for now. OK?”
“OK, Brian.”
“Meet me tomorrow at 8 a.m. at the temple. I’ll talk to Dr. Ortiz and get permission for us to go in there by ourselves.”
“Thanks. Like I said if you hadn’t come I don’t know what I would have done. Now at least I have hope.”
They exchanged cellphone numbers to keep in touch. The archaeologist left Brian’s room through the patio door, just as he had entered. They had talked for over an hour.
Sitting in his cabana less than five hundred feet from Brian’s, Thomas Newton Torrance removed the headset once he heard the two men finish their conversation.
He waited three hours. Around midnight he made a phone call.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Thursday
Two weeks after the disappearance
A little after midnight two men were making their ways through the jungle. The shrieks of howler monkeys high in the trees above them were shrill and unearthly. The dense forest was alive with sound, a choir of animal voices coming from all directions.
Thomas Newton Torrance was more accustomed to limousines in London than trekking through the Mexican undergrowth in the middle of the night but this was a critical trip. Now that he knew exactly what Cory Spencer had found he had to see it himself, deal with Cory and implement the plan he had developed. Since Brian Sadler knew about it too, time was quickly running out. Cory’s clandestine meeting with Sadler earlier this evening had changed everything.
Immediately following the aborted attempt to bring up the metal artifact, Torrance and Cory Spencer had visited the chamber. That time TNT had resisted seeing what Cory had discovered – it wasn’t safe with Dr. Ortiz standing by at the top of the temple. Thomas Newton Torrance had patiently waited for an opportunity to see for himself what Cory Spencer had found – the hidden passageway with an amazing secret.
The fact that President Chapman’s body lay in the cavern was a minor issue in the scheme of things. Torrance would deal with that. He had been formulating a plan that would solve everything and give him sole control of the rarest single thing ever discovered on planet Earth. And that wouldn’t change now. It just had to be implemented immediately.
After leaving Brian’s cabana Cory had walked quietly back to his room in the barracks. Most of the student diggers had been sent back to Sussex University – there was nothing left for them to do. Only a few of the team remained – they were playing cards at a table in the bunkhouse and barely acknowledged his entry. By ten p.m. he had fallen into a light sleep – the restless kind when there’s a lot on your mind. After telling Brian everything he had felt much better; at least someone else knew what was going on. Cory felt certain he could delay showing Torrance the secret passageway and cavern now that Brian was helping him. It was all going to work out.
Cory’s phone had rung at midnight. “Meet me outside your barracks at 3 a.m. Bring a flashlight and the key,” Torrance had said. Then he hung up. Spencer lay in his bunk, suddenly drenched in sweat.
What was going on? Why did Torrance want to see him? Could he know about Cory’s meeting tonight with Brian? There was no way; Cory had been extremely careful and knew he hadn’t been seen coming or going.
I have to talk to Brian about this. He got dressed, grabbed a light and his keys and stepped outside the bunkhouse to call Brian. Everyone else was asleep. Good.
Cory was careful not to let the screen door bang shut behind him. He saw no one but in a few seconds he heard a low voice. “Hello, Cory. You’re up a little early for our 3 a.m. meeting, aren’t you?” Torrance stood in the trees wearing a headlamp that was turned off.
“What are you doing here? I was just going to chec
k on something…”
“Enough, Cory. Enough lies. We’re going to see the passage.”
“Now? Uh, I don’t think…”
“No, you don’t think, Cory. That’s the problem. We’re going to see the passage. Now. Take us through the jungle. I want to avoid the pathways and the night watchman’s station. Do you have the key to unlock the gate?”
It was impossible to miss the steely hardness in Torrance’s voice. An involuntary shudder of fear engulfed the archaeologist.
“The key’s in my pocket.”
“Go in front,” Torrance said. “Now.”
The two men carefully walked through the dense jungle. Cory Spencer stayed ahead of Torrance and used his flashlight. TNT had one too. Spencer heard the noisy screeches and howls but ignored them; he was on guard for things that made no sounds. He scanned trees and ground, watching for one of many jungle dwellers whose poison could paralyze a man in thirty seconds. The snakes could kill a man quickly, as Cory well knew from what had happened to President Chapman. Out here in the jungle there were other silent predators, such as the big cats, that pounced and tore their prey into pieces while it was still alive. The rain forest at night was not a place for men. It belonged to those who lived and died here, sometimes the hunter, sometimes the prey.
“How much further?” TNT quietly asked. It would have taken less than ten minutes if they’d stayed on the cleared pathways from the archaeological barracks to the ruins. By going through the jungle it added at least a half hour and a lot more effort.
“Maybe five minutes,” Cory responded, his voice quivering. “Keep your light pointed in front of you and look side to side as we brush through this undergrowth. We don’t need anything biting us.”
TNT was seriously afraid of snakes although he hadn’t revealed that to the people here in Mexico. During the walk through the jungle he had occasionally gotten so far behind Cory that he almost lost sight of him. That was because Torrance was being overly cautious and watching his every step. Each time he realized he was too far back he quickly caught up. It was better to be close behind the guy who was forging the trail, TNT thought. Safety in numbers and all that. He had a fleeting thought that a jaguar could kill them both before either had time to react.
Brian Sadler Archaeological Mysteries BoxSet Page 63
