Chapter 11

You saw the footage,” said Dutch. “What man can jump like that and attack and kill two officers on opposite sides of a car seconds apart from each other without moving over the hood of the vehicle? Where did the claw marks come from? Or the snakebites? And why were they on the necks of the victims instead of near the floor? And one more thing,” he said as he rewound the footage and left it paused on the shot with the man in the entranceway. “Look at his chest. It’s covered in blood, and look—bullet holes—a lot of bullet holes. How can a man just get up from that?”

“There’s got to be another rational explanation,” said Captain Johnson.

“You know something,” said Lieutenant Edmonds shrewdly. “What are you not telling us?”

“I will tell you only if you agree to take on the job,” said Dutch.

“I think we need a moment to discuss this,” said Major Bennett.

The three men stepped outside. As soon as they closed the door behind them, Captain Johnson said, “This whole thing is ridiculous.”

“I don’t know,” said Major Bennett. “I can’t believe that there is anything more here than just a man, but if he can kill armed police officers that quickly, then this situation might actually merit more specialized soldiers.” He hesitated. “The part of this that bothers me the most is Agent Goodman.”

“Sir?” asked Captain Johnson.

“He seems to command a lot of respect from Washington. Otherwise, why would they put him in touch with us? I would like to find out what he knows, but I’m not going to order you to do this. I’ll let the decision rest with the two of you.”

“If I may, sir . . . This could end up being nothing more than a typical psychopath who woke up one day and decided to kill a bunch of people,” said Lieutenant Edmonds. “But it doesn’t feel right, and I would like the opportunity to get to the bottom of it and see for myself.”

“I think this is a waste of military resources,” said Captain Johnson to Major Bennett. “However, Lieutenant Edmonds here has an outstanding record of service, and I trust his decisions.”

“So it’s decided then,” said Major Bennett. They reentered the trailer and approached Dutch. “We’ll do it. Now tell us what you know.”

Dutch nodded. “What I am about to tell you is classified,” he began. “I am not FBI. I work for a special top-secret organization within the government. We originated as a special weapons developer, but we came across something extraordinary, and as a result, we’ve kind of taken on a new responsibility. In 2015, some archaeologists began excavation on an ancient temple not too far from . . . here . . .” He trailed off, his eyes widening as something dawned on him. “The vans . . .” he muttered and pulled out a radio. “Hansen, do you copy? Hansen, come in.”

“I’m here. What’s the emergency?” said a voice through the radio speaker.

“Have you seen anything suspicious since last night?”

“No, sir. Everything’s good here.”

Dutch paused for a moment. Something didn’t feel right. “I’m coming down there. I need to check something out.”

“Copy that.”

He turned to the military officials.

“I’m sorry, gentlemen. I’ll have to finish briefing you on the way.”

They all exited the trailer and climbed into a small black SUV with Dutch in the driver’s seat. As he pulled out, he radioed for his team to follow them. He set the radio down and said, “I apologize for the abruptness. It’s possible the assailant can be found hiding in the ancient temple. A motorcycle cop was killed on the road leading in that general direction shortly after the massacre in the bar, and his partner gave us a description of the attacker that sounded exactly like our guy. I saw some college vans heading that way earlier. I didn’t think twice about it until now.”

“Why would he be there?” asked Lieutenant Edmonds.

“Like I was saying before, this temple changed everything. It led us to some technological discoveries you wouldn’t believe,” said Dutch.

“What do you mean?” asked Lieutenant Edmonds.

“We found some ancient swords capable of harnessing incredible power. There were rare gems embedded in the blades and mixed into the metal that, to put it simply, had qualities that modern science cannot explain. They . . . do things—scary things. We haven’t been able to duplicate the power. Writings on the temple walls spoke of these weapons and many more extraordinary things. Since the swords were obviously real, we wondered how many of the other things on the walls might also exist. We included, as part of our responsibilities, the search for other temple artifacts, mainly because there is one important thing we haven’t been able to shake—if there is any truth to the unbelievable things written on the walls, we have to know if there is any truth to the monster the temple was built for.”

“It is very important that you don’t go anywhere or touch anything in here unless we say it’s okay. Even though we are confident that the areas of the temple you will be seeing are rendered safe, the last thing we want is any surprises,” Kristen told the students as they all stood next to the vans. “To help make it a little easier, we have set up rope dividers where we don’t want you to go.” She turned to address Wilson more quietly. “I already told Kyle this in the school parking lot. There are twenty-three students altogether. You’ll be responsible for the seven students that rode with you. Make sure they don’t go anywhere they’re not supposed to.”

“I figured,” he replied.

“And that goes for you too, Mr. Curiosity.”

“What?” Wilson said, trying to look innocent.

She gave him the look. “I know you too well.”

“Hey, I am not exactly eager to lose a hand or a head either,” he retorted.

“Good,” she said as she turned back to the group. “Okay, everyone, follow me.”

She led them up the stone stairway and into the temple. Wilson followed, studying his surroundings as he climbed. An acid-green motorcycle parked a few dozen feet away caught his eye. It seemed very out of place there, and he wondered what kind of archeologist would ride something like that. Not very practical, considering how much gear they typically carried around with them.

His musings were interrupted by a musical laugh coming from behind him. He looked back to find the source and saw the pretty girl from the parking lot. She was talking with another girl with fiery-red hair pulled back into a ponytail. As they passed, she glanced at Wilson again and smiled. He just smiled back, pausing to let them get ahead, and started up the steps behind them.

At the top of the stairs, they could see into the first room of the temple through a large rectangular opening outlined by two massive stone pillars. Several archeologists were performing various tasks inside the room, from dusting off relics to working on laptops. Many of them stopped to look curiously at the large gathering of college students.

“How was that hike?” Kristen asked, noticing some of the students panting. “Now imagine those stairs being twice as long because half of them are still buried. When the ancient city was destroyed, several sandstorms buried what was left. This is the only structure still standing because they built it into the cliff, which provided it with protection against the war and against the weather. Back in 1865, a man by the name of Jim White claimed to have found the treasure of Montezuma II, which was said to be hidden from Cortez in around the year 1520. Jim White said the treasure was located in a cave in this area. People have been searching ever since, and in 2015, we discovered this temple. We believe it was this temple that he found, but little did he know that this temple actually predates Montezuma II. It was quite the surprise for the archaeologists as well.”

“Jim White? Is he a relative of yours?” asked one of the students.

“Yes, as a matter of fact. It was learning of him and the search for this treasure that got me interested in archaeology. It became a dream of mine to work on this site.” She smiled and gestured to the room. “We call this the throne room. This is where people came to worship and pay homage to Isaac .”

Two men approached Kristen.

“Class, this is Dr. Ramsey, and Dr. Isaacs. They are in charge of the excavation.”

“Good morning,” said Dr. Ramsey with a friendly smile. He was gray haired and was wearing a dusty old flak jacket that looked like it had seen better days. “Professor White has often spoken very highly of you all.”

She gestured to Wilson and Kyle. “This is Wilson Cale and Kyle Ludwig. They are both science professors at the college.”