The Mayan Priest (46 page)

Gillian swallowed. Her throat was dry and her palms sweaty. What would she find?

She was so frightened that it took a moment of extreme bravery to lower her body to the same level as the opening and shine the torch inside.

The room was approximately ten feet wide, twelve feet deep and six feet high. It was plain and clean, with the only remaining implements lined up along the back wall. An out of place, large, flat block lay at the entrance, bringing forth memories of an old-fashioned trigger that Gillian immediately recognised as a trap. It was missing the projectile it had been designed to hold.

She unhitched the harness and hurried to the plaster, ripping away the panel like a person possessed. It came apart easily, having been opened recently to reveal a narrow passageway which Gillian stepped into without hesitation. She almost ran the winding thirty feet of precisely cut footings before dropping suddenly towards an ever increasing noise. At first she could not make out the source of the sound, but six feet revealed a small running stream and a tiny cave. She bent down so as not to hit her head and burst through the opening like a bull at a gate.

The first thing that struck her was the small amount of natural light filtering from a small fissure in the rock face situated over the stream. It was not enough to illuminate the cave, but it did allow her to look about without her torch.

Gillian’s head was raging with anger and common sense, ordering her to take control of the situation and check to see if her friends were alive. Unfortunately her body would have none of it and she stood frozen less than three feet away. The unknown was so much more pleasant than the known, proving that ignorance was bliss.

Gillian stepped forward, fell to her knees and embraced Richard with the tenderness of a child. She burst into tears as Julia, Redmond and Mitchell sat up to greet her.

They were all alive.

Her wishes had been granted.

‘I’m so sorry to have taken so long,’ Gillian started to say as Julia squeezed Gillian’s hand with what little strength she had left.

‘It doesn’t matter. What counts is that you found us in time.’ Her thin face stretched in agony as she tried to lean forward and embrace Gillian.

Gillian burst into a fresh set of tears. ‘I have so much to tell you all,’ her fear giving way to a high, fuelled by adrenaline and excitement, ‘but first I must get help.’

‘Jilly, Love. Before you go, there’s something you must know.’

Gillian gazed at the faces that barely resembled the plump, well-fed people she had last seen many days ago and knew what they wanted to tell her. As far as they were aware, Fred had died honourably and they were preparing themselves to give her the news they thought would devastate her.

Gillian looked at their shocked expressions and realised she owed them one hell of an explanation. They did not know about Samuel, Arun, the kidnapping of her father and the time she wasted following Kinix’s trail which had proved to be unnecessary in saving them. They were unaware that Fred had died, that she had met a wonderful man and that a pimply taxi driver was actually the one who paved the way for their rescue.

‘I may have spent the last couple of days surviving on water and the odd wayward fish, but I am not so fragile that you have to protect me. I know that his body must have been a mess after that fall,’ said Richard as Gillian cradled his head and gave him a big kiss on the cheek.

‘I am telling the truth. He did not die from the fall, but there’s time for that later on. I need to get you out of here.’

The process was painstakingly slow as the survivors were moved one by one. Redmond was first with a broken ankle, followed by Mitchell who suffered considerable dehydration and then Julia and Richard who were both able to walk with the aid of an assistant. Their fortitude had been attributed to Richard’s knowledge of the Mayans and his belief that they must have had a ready source of water to build the tunnel. His persistence had paid off and he had located the false panel that led to the stream. Whilst food was scarce, the occasional fish had been captured, giving sushi a whole new meaning.

Their survival was met with a rousing cheer of joy as everyone rushed to greet them. They were fussed over, attended to by the two physicians on site and given the best beds, linen and clean clothing available.

Everyone felt that sense of achievement, as if something good had come from bad and they were all enjoying the moment.

Gillian was forced to wait for the hullabaloo to pass before spending the ensuing hour filling Richard in on the events that had occurred over the last many days. He expressed surprise that she had managed to survive, let alone save them from certain death.

‘Ah … the Aussie!’ Richard exclaimed. ‘I heard you were flown out from Australia and were instrumental in locating the position of the last two clues.’

‘Fat good it did us. The whole reason for doing that was to open the lift to get you out,’ replied Adam.

Richard had a twinkle in his eyes as he sat upright on the temporary stretcher.

‘I studied the first manuscript and clues thoroughly. Believe me when I tell you that whilst decoding the evidence was not necessary to save us, Kinix holds a mighty secret that needs uncovering.’

Gillian eyed him thoughtfully. ‘Good luck, my dear friend,’ she was about to say when she recalled the small Kinix tile in her pocket. She plucked it out and handed it to Richard.

‘My dear departed fiancé and his illustrious leader, Arun,’ Gillian spoke with a bitter sarcasm, ‘missed this and a number of other tiles that were considerably thinner than the rest at the base of the tunnel.’

‘Hmmmm,’ Richard grinned like a Cheshire cat and carefully rotated the tile in his hand. ‘Let me think on this, but right now you need to go and find your father’

CHAPTER FORTY

‘The President has a window of twenty-four hours in which he can keep Arun’s arrest a secret. Along with an increasing time frame also comes a greater risk of Arun’s drug trafficking ring escaping before we can name and shame them. Added to this complication is the fact that Arun is considered a supreme leader and his absence will not go unnoticed.’

Georgio nodded before continuing. ‘The President’s original intention was to do it quietly, to remove the filth while keeping the whole operation a secret, but considerable pressure from his advisors suggested that it would be better to make an example of him. To show the world that power and wealth does not make you immune to prosecution. The only catch is to find his place of business.’

‘That is also confirmed on the list of names Sean discovered,’ concluded Georgio before adding, ‘Peter and Reynata will be here shortly.’

Gillian did not respond. She sat in a stunned silence. ‘How could I be so pathetically stupid!’ She held her head as if she was in pain. ‘Samuel,’ was all she said.

Gillian turned in excitement and enveloped her Uncle Peter in a huge bear hug. She planted a kiss on his cheek, one which he returned with equivalent affection.

‘These are my good friends Georgio and Adam,’ she said.

‘Ahhh. I know Georgio, but I have not met this young man before,’ smiled Peter as he shook Adam’s hand. Nice to meet to you, Son. And this is my friend Reynata.’

Gillian turned to welcome the woman with the intent of friendship, but she paused in her tracks. The woman was quite tall, perhaps five foot ten. She was slender with an athletic build not unlike Gillian’s own figure and had glorious, long brown hair that swept over the left side of her face, concealing her eye and cheek. Her eyes were blue and she had an olive skin that would tan easily given exposure to the sun. A gust of wind caught Reynata’s hair, blowing it away from her face long enough for Gillian to see that the concealed side of her face was badly scarred.

Gillian gazed at her in length, quickly forcing her eyes away in fear of lingering too long. She did not wish to be impolite, but there was something about her that she felt drawn to. It was not her looks or the knowledge that she had seen Reynata in a photo. It was the sense of familiarity that was very similar to the emotions she felt with Samuel. Her eyes were deep and understanding. The smile brought a feeling of comfort.

Gillian shook her head. She was feeling rather uneasy but could not place the origin of her discomfort.

The last words Gillian heard Reynata say as they climbed aboard the helicopter to commence their journey to Tajumulco was: ‘I had a daughter with that colour hair.’ Her voice was muted and sad.

The ride to Tajumulco took less time than Gillian’s daily morning slog to work and she barely had time to organise her thoughts before the 2640 feet high mountain rose into view. The highest mountain in Guatemala, Tajumulco, was listed as protected in 1956 and is rumoured to sit atop an extinct volcano with twin cores. It would make the perfect hiding place for Arun due to its inaccessibility and potential for multiple underground caverns.

Gillian analysed her feelings and was surprised to discover that she did not experience the same nervous sensations she had when looking for Richard. She had been unsure if Richard had the ability or opportunity to survive, but she felt certain that this was not the case for her father. A few things came into play. First was that her father was amazingly resilient and the second that the society Arun had created was missing their ahaw. It was unlikely that they would perform a sacrifice without him although it was possible that he had been subjected to torture.

She fervently prayed this was not the case.

Gillian grimaced, her eyes gazing at, but not seeing, the rich reds and luscious greens of the landscape backed by the hot afternoon sun and blue sky.