Her Perfect Grave: A completely addictive mystery thriller full of action and adventure (A Reece Cannon Thriller Book 6)

by Paul Knox

  He turned—and then paused. He coughed up blood. Then he fell to his knees. “Who trained you?” he sputtered, a look of surprise across his face.

  “I’m my father’s daughter.” Reece pounced, delivering a fatal thrust into his heart.

  Yunru exhaled sharply, falling over onto the floor. Reece dropped the knife. It clattered on the stone.

  As Yunru struggled for the final breaths he would ever take, Reece went to the shadows and picked up the gun. Then she limped up the steps back to the forest.

  56

  TEN MINUTES EARLIER

  SHANAHAN pitched the GLOCK to Reece and immediately sprang from his cover, firing at Aiguo, yelling to Sandy, “This one’s for saving my life back in Patagonia!”

  Then he watched in horror as Yunru lunged at Reece and they both fell, disappearing into the earth.

  “Xie,” Shanahan called, “get the boy to safety!”

  In three bounds Xie was next to Mario, using his own body to block any bullets from hitting the boy. Xie and Mario then disappeared into the foliage.

  Aiguo ducked behind a large tree, dodging Shanahan’s attack. Shanahan leaped back into the forest’s dense cover, observing everything. Not only did Shanahan keep an eye on Aiguo, he watched Duke and Sandy, who were both leaning up against a tree badly injured.

  Worst case scenario was Aiguo taking them hostage. Shanahan prepared for a stand-off if that was the case.

  But Aiguo must have thought that plan too risky. He jump-pivoted around the tree he hid behind, firing shots randomly, but not breaking his cover.

  After a couple minutes, Aiguo’s gun went quiet. He seemed to be listening, or waiting for something. Shanahan slowly crept closer to him.

  Then Shanahan noticed Sandy. He had been on the ground next to Duke just a few minutes ago, appearing to be on the brink of death. But now he was crawling toward the entrance of the tunnel where Reece and Yunru had disappeared down. Sandy was on the dirt, low enough that he couldn’t be seen from Aiguo’s vantage point.

  What the hell does he think he’s gonna do?

  Shanahan continued inching nearer to Aiguo until he couldn’t get any closer without being spotted. But there were branches in the way of a clear shot. Shanahan would have to charge forward a couple feet before shooting if he wanted to actually hit Aiguo.

  So he did. Shanahan took two quick leaps forward over the crunching leaves and twigs, catching Aiguo off guard. As Aiguo spun around to face him, Shanahan steadied his arm and aim.

  But someone else started shooting first! Kai Castro appeared out the forest only three or four feet away from behind Aiguo. Only because of the thickness of the rainforest did Kai and Shanahan not see each other earlier.

  Shanahan briefly saw that Kai’s pants were stained in blood. Then bullets poured through the air, hitting both Aiguo and Shanahan.

  Aiguo was hit first and smacked against the tree he had been using as cover. His body immediately went limp and dropped.

  Shanahan was hit in the chest by multiple rounds and was knocked backwards, right off of his feet. He fell hard and struggled for air. There was none left in his lungs.

  Kai limped forward, away from that area and towards the tunnel, disappearing from Shanahan’s view.

  Shanahan grabbed at his chest, feeling the body armor he had previously donned. A few moments later, he felt a trickle of oxygen reenter his body. Breathing had never felt so good in his life. None of the bullets made it through the armor.

  He sat up slowly, his chest still burning from the impacts. Then he stood, surveying the scene.

  Sandy had made it within inches of the tunnel’s entrance and was trying to prop himself up. He looked like he was planning on going down there, probably to try and save Reece, however futile that idea may be.

  But then, amazingly, a bloody and battered Reece emerged from the earth. Her left arm was covered in ribbons of dark red blood, and it dripped from her fingertips. White concrete dust was thick in her messy hair, dirtied her face, and covered her No Jodas T-shirt. But her piercing blue eyes radiated purpose and determination like he’d never seen before.

  She limped but was somehow calculated. She moved slowly, but somehow stepped like a snow leopard on the prowl, seconds before striking down her prey.

  And Kai saw her too. Kai lifted his gun, a smile on his face. He took the shot.

  But Shanahan wasn’t the only one who had watched this scene unfold. Apparently Sandy had too. With the last strength Sandy must’ve had in his good leg, he leaped up and forward, getting in between the bullet and Reece.

  Sandy threw himself in front of her. Kai fired again. Two shots at Reece. Two shots right into Sandy’s chest.

  57

  REECE watched her father jump in front of her at the same time two CLACKS! erupted. Realizing what was happening, she had her gun up and pointed in the direction of the gunshots before he had even fallen to the ground.

  The sight of Kai Castro standing there with a sick grin on his scarred face would forever be burned into her memory.

  As would the image of that same grin gaping and transforming into a convulsive gasping of breath while he clutched his throat after a bullet ripped through his neck.

  Reece had fired a single round. The only reason she missed his head was because of her blurred vision, due to the burnt-lime scratches her eyes had endured.

  As Kai’s fading body hit the ground, Reece kneeled to the dirt. She cradled her father in her arms.

  “Dad,” she whispered. “You can’t leave me now. I’m ready… I’m ready…”

  “My dear Reece, I only wanted the best for you. Ever since—” Sandy spasmed, coughing up blood. “Ever since you were born. That’s when I saw the light. And I knew The Association was cursed. I was cursed. But you were the blessing. I love you.”

  Reece shook her head in remorse, so many feelings burgeoning inside. “I should’ve known from the second you showed up back home… From the second I found out Michael Alderidge pushed us all apart…”

  “Reece. Shh.” Sandy put his finger to his lips. Then he summoned the last of his energy. “I want to be cremated here. Far, far away from where I did wrong. And closer to where I did right. Promise me?”

  “Dad!” Reece cried, clutching his hands. Tears fell from her eyes and onto his bloody chest.

  She wept while the light in his eyes dimmed.

  58

  ONE DAY LATER

  REECE sat in the backseat as Shanahan parked the new rental car. She was ready for the two-mile trek. The sun was low in the sky and night would soon fall. The weather wasn’t too warm or too cold. Tropical.

  “You sure you’re okay, Duke?—you can do this?” she asked, before getting out of the car.

  “I think so,” he responded.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” Reece said.

  Duke smiled at her, then opened the door and hobbled out.

  “You sure you’re okay?” Shanahan asked, looking at Reece through the rearview mirror.

  “The hospital people said I needed rest. A little two-mile walk sounds like a rest to me.” Reece stepped out of the car, glancing around, thinking.

  Xie had taken a flight back to China earlier that day. Mario had hung back with the Pipils yesterday after everything went down. The body of her father waited in the village for the events of tonight.

  Reece and Duke had both ended up at a hospital the night prior, staying overnight while hooked up to IVs and machines. They both survived the ordeal, albeit with lots of gauze and bandages.

  Now came the hard part.

  About a half hour later, the three breached the forest cover and appeared in the village. Chief Tekulut had been pacing back and forth, and upon their appearance walked briskly over. He spoke in Spanish.

  “Have you told anyone about…?”

  “I haven’t told a soul,” Reece said. “The discovery has been waiting for over a thousand years. If you’re not in a rush, I’m not.”

  “I mean the tablets.”


  “You had a look in that chamber, didn’t you?” Reece asked. “There was nothing in that room but hieroglyphics and some shiny rocks.”

  Chief Tekulut eyed her. “We might have another look later. There is the matter of—”

  Mario ran up, interrupting. “Señora Reece, I made this for you.” He handed her a necklace made of green jadestone, wooden beads, and colorful seeds from the forest.

  “It’s lovely, Mario. Thank you,” she said, giving him a hug. “Is this for tonight?”

  He nodded. “Will you be dancing?”

  “I think I’ll just be taking it all in, if that’s okay with you.”

  * * *

  After the sun went down, a large fire was lit in the middle of the village. Above this fire, a platform about six feet long and three feet wide sat, made of white branches. Atop the white branches, a body lay wrapped tightly in palm fronds.

  The flames licked the edges of the branches at first, until the orange and red fire enveloped the fronds and consumed the body of Sandy Cannon.

  Reece stared at the dancing blaze, transfixed. Bright sparks floated upwards endlessly, transforming into stars. She watched the fire’s tentacles leap and curl. She could swear that some of them resembled dragons flying away into the night.

  Duke’s arm wrapped around her, pulling her close. She sat next to him, comforted by his presence.

  Pipil men and women in ceremonial dress danced around the fire, spinning in circles and stomping their feet. They raised their hands to the heavens and then brought them low to the earth.

  They chanted low notes and sang high ones, compelling the spirit world to accept a blue dragon and provide him safe passage to the afterlife.

  Reece thought about her father. She reflected on all the things she believed were right, but no longer served her. And conversely, all the things wrong that had somehow worked out.

  A strange feeling crept over Reece as she watched the dancers and the fire. The chants seemed to enter her soul, taking her to the spirit world with her father.

  She had been a detective and followed the law. In fact, she once swore an oath about it. But was that her truth?

  Every day innocent men and women were convicted, later to be exonerated. And every day guilty men and women walked free.

  In Reece Cannon’s mind, the law was fallible. She allowed herself to not only contemplate that, but to embrace it. Now she had to decide what she would do about it.

  And when she figured it out…that would be her truth.

  * * *

  Hours and hours later, the fire had died down and the dancing and chanting had long stopped. The bones of Sandy Cannon lay deep in the pit, mixed in the ash of the wood, ready to be swallowed up by the rainforest.

  Reece stood from her hand-carved chair and walked to the glowing embers. She stood for a long while peering at them. A few tears fell from her face and into the coals, transforming into steam and mixing with the smoke.

  When she finished paying her respects, she closed her eyes and whispered, “I’m sorry we missed each other in this lifetime. But I promise to never miss you in spirit. Because I will take your spirit with me everywhere I go. I am Reece Cannon, the blue dragon.”

  59

  “SHOULD WE HEAD BACK HOME once Duke wakes up?” Shanahan asked, looking up from his breakfast.

  The sky was lit with a warm glow, but the sun had yet to make its appearance. Reece sipped warm tea at the table in the village. The same table where Chief Tekulut had first begun the story of ancient Atlan.

  “Soon,” she said, gazing off in the distance of the forest. “You don’t want to stay another night in paradise?”

  “Speak for yourself,” Shanahan said between laughs. “I guess Duke likes the bed. But I prefer a mattress to sleep on and a coffee maker in the morning.” He glanced around at the Pipil people nearby and added in Spanish, “I slept great last night! Comfy. Real, ah, comfy. The smell wasn’t bad, no, just a little grassy. Yeah. And this food—delicious.” He stuffed another bite of the pupusa in his mouth. “Mmm.”

  “I think there’s something we’re missing, Shanahan.”

  He finished chewing and said, “About the gold?”

  “Mario’s tattoo. I’m pretty sure it’s a mini-map. Some kind of code. The pendant was the macro view, and his tattoo is the micro. Maybe there’s a hidden door in that chamber. Or something else.”

  “Isn’t it made of solid concrete?”

  “It appears that way. But I want another shot at it.”

  “Is there caffeine in that tea?” Shanahan asked.

  “More than in coffee,” Reece replied. “Strong stuff.”

  “Alright, let me try it. And then let’s go check on your theory.”

  * * *

  Soon after, Reece, Duke, Shanahan, and Mario stood in front of the entrance to the subterranean chamber. Images of the violent scenes from two days before flashed through Reece’s mind, and she was sure they were flashing through the minds of them all. But no one mentioned any of it.

  “So, your tattoo, Mario…” Reece said thoughtfully. “There are three defining points on it like the pendant, yet the shape is different.”

  “It’s a frog’s head, Señora Reece. A poisonous one. The poison of this frog is the same that the ancient thief used to murder the queen.”

  Reece continued. “The prominent nose and the two eyes on each side form a triangle of sorts. And that’s also why I don’t think this is just an elaborate stone room. Even your story says Tonaltzintli buried the queen with the tablets. Maybe this room is more like a mausoleum, and the tomb itself is hidden.”

  “Shall we take another look down there?” Shanahan asked.

  They descended the steps slowly and began searching the walls, looking for any parallels between the frog head and the wall engravings.

  “Look at this,” Shanahan called out. He stood staring at the wall next to the back left pillar—the same pillar Reece had first run to in her fight with Yunru.

  “Wow!” Mario exclaimed. “That looks just like the eye of my tattoo.”

  “Exactly,” Reece whispered. A large circular iris of green jadestone was embedded in the wall with a pupil of black tourmaline in the center.

  She rushed over to the front left pillar expecting to find another one. But there was no eye. So she went to the back right. Nothing.

  “Let’s see your tattoo again,” Shanahan asked.

  Mario stuck out his arm. The tattoo stretched around his bicep. It was more than just a frog’s head that circled his arm; it had intricate designs drawn within the image.

  “These designs,” Shanahan said, “they’re like simplistic versions of these hieroglyphics. Look, Reece, this one in the center of the eyes looks like…” Shanahan jumped over to the corner opposite the jade-tourmaline eye. “…this symbol right here.” He tapped against the wall.

  “Maybe it’s to scale,” Reece said excitedly, turning and running back up the steps. “If that’s true, there’s another underground structure.”

  Back on the ground above, Reece judged the distance between the eye and the symbol, and then the same distance away in a straight line. Then she counted her steps as she walked over fallen logs and between trees to the spot where the frog’s mouth would be, if everything was, in fact, to scale.

  “I can’t dig with my arm like this.” Reece stared at Shanahan.

  “Sure, Reece. I’ll dig.” Shanahan grabbed a shovel. “I love digging. So much fun,” he said sarcastically but good-naturedly. “Hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s off to work we go…” He whistled as he stuck the shovel into the earth where Reece indicated.

  Duke and Mario tried to help, but Shanahan easily did ninety percent of the work. Two hours later, Shanahan had a six-foot hole dug when his shovel clinked. And clinked again.

  “There’s something here, Reece,” he said. “But I can’t dig forever. Maybe we need some professional archeologists to do this.”

  “Or a tribe of men,” Reece added. “
Let’s go back to the village and recruit some muscle.”

  That afternoon they returned with a dozen men, all armed with shovels. They all dug for hours until the sun was low in sky, ready to disappear. They had unearthed what appeared to be another tunnel that led down, but getting to the entrance proved much harder and more laborious than the one they had previously discovered. This tunnel was deep enough to have been buried a thousand years ago, whereas the other one would have been found easily.

  “I think that other chamber was a decoy,” Reece said to Shanahan and Duke. “Stay one more night?”

  * * *

  The next morning, Reece was surprised to see a man and a woman dressed in city clothes arrive. Mario ran up to them with smiles. The woman wrapped her arms around the boy and hugged him tight.

  “Señora Reece,” Mario called out, “come meet my aunt and uncle!”

  Reece introduced herself to Mario’s extended family. They greeted her warmly and explained Mario would live with them in San Salvador. The aunt and uncle had arranged to formally adopt him, and the paperwork had only recently been formally approved. In fact, Mario had lived with them on and off already, and had only been visiting other relatives in the tribe during his summer vacation.

  “Is this what you want?” Reece asked him.

  “I’d live with you, instead…if I could?” he asked with that innocent-hopeful look that only children have.

  Reece felt pressure building behind her eyes. “I’d love that…but you’ll be better off with family. But can we stay in touch?”

  He nodded eagerly.

  Before they left, he said his goodbyes to the Pipil and then turned to Reece. “I told you, Señora Reece, you have magic.”

  “It’s just physics, Mario. Not magic.”

  “I know about physics! And math, too. But I also know about magic. You appeared from the sky and then rescued my people. And the sacred tablets are coming back to the people. You’re the end of the story, Señora Reece. The answer to all our prayers.”