Sam kept his rifle pointed, but he eased back on the trigger.
A squeaky voice, timid and frosted with terror, echoed up from behind the blinding light. “It’s me!” The light suddenly tilted away from their gathered faces to play across the ceiling. A small figure stepped forward.
Sam lowered his weapon, silently thanking his uncle for his training in restraint. “Denal?” It was the young Indian lad who acted as their translator. The boy’s face was ashen, his eyes glowing with fear. Sam shouldered his rifle. “What the hell are you doing down here?”
The boy hurried forward, keeping the flashlight he bore pointed down now. Words in fractured English rushed from him. “I… I see Gil sneakin’ down here with Juan and Miguel. With bags of stuff. So I follow ‘em.”
Maggie pushed beside the trembling boy and put an arm around him. “What happened?”
Denal used his free hand to slip a cigarette to his lips. He did not light it, but its familiar presence seemed to calm him. He spoke around the cigarette. “I no know… not sure. After they broke the sealed door—”
“What!” Sam gasped out. Even in their dire situation, such a betrayal shocked him.
Denal merely nodded. “I no see much. I stay out of sight. They crawl through door… and… and…” Denal glanced up to Sam, his eyes frightened. “Then I hear screaming. I run. Hide.”
Maggie spoke, “Goddamn. The feckin’ bastard was going to loot the place right out from under our noses.”
“But obviously something went wrong,” Norman added tensely, glancing back at the wall of rubble behind them. He turned back around. “What about the other two? Juan and Miguel?”
“I no know.” Denal seemed to see the blockage for the first time. He crossed to the cascade of boulders and clay. “Guillermo run out… I wait. I scared others might catch me. But no one come out. Then big boom. Stones fall… I run.” Denal raised a hand toward the tumbled section of the temple. “I should no come down alone. I should tell you instead. I so stupid.”
Sam took the Wood’s lamp from Ralph and turned off its ultraviolet glow. “Stupid? You at least thought to bring a flashlight.”
Maggie moved closer to Sam. “What are we going to do?”
“We’ll just have to wait for Philip to realize we’re down here.”
Norman scowled at Sam’s side. “We’ll be waiting a long time.”
Denal crossed back to them. “Why no call him on walkie-talkie?”
Sam frowned. “Like the flashlight, that’s another thing none of us thought to bring.”
Denal reached to a back pocket and pulled free a small handheld unit. “Here.”
Sam stared at the walkie-talkie. A smile grew on his face. “Denal, don’t ever call yourself stupid again.” He took the pocket radio. “If you’re stupid, what does that make all of us?”
Denal stared gloomily back at the rubble. “Trapped.”
Philip still knelt in the communication tent when the camp’s radio erupted with static. The loud noise drew a gasp from the startled student. Garbled words flowed between screeches of static: “… stones collapsed… someone pick up the line…”
It was English! Someone he could talk to! Philip scrambled for the receiver. He stabbed at the transmission button and spoke into the receiver. “Base camp here. Is anyone out there? We have an emergency! Over!”
Philip waited for a response. Hopefully whoever was there would be able to send help. Static was his only answer for a few strained heartbeats; then words formed again. “Philip?… It’s Sam.”
Sam? Philip’s heart sank. He raised the receiver. “Where are you? Over.”
“We’re trapped down in the temple ruins. Gil blew the entrance.” Sam explained about the security chief’s betrayal. “The whole structure is unstable now.”
Philip silently thanked whatever angel had been watching over him and kept him from being buried down there with the others.
“You’ll need to send an S.O.S. to Machu Picchu,” Sam finished. “We’ll need heavy equipment.”
Eyeing the pickax in the damaged CPU, Philip groaned softly. He clicked the transmit button. “I have no way of reaching anyone, Sam. Someone took out the satellite system. We’re cut off.”
There was a long pause as Philip waited for a response. He imagined the string of expletives flowing from the Texan’s lips. When Sam next spoke, his voice was angered. “Okay, Philip, then at first light send someone out on foot. Someone fast! In the meantime, you’ll need to survey the damage on the surface when the sun’s up. If you and the workers could begin a cautious excavation—at least get started—then when help arrives you can move quickly. I don’t know how long the air will hold out down here.”
Philip nodded, even though Sam could not see. His mind dwelt on other concerns—like his own safety. “But what about Gil?” he asked.
“What about him?” Sam’s voice had a trace of irritation.
“He’s surely long gone.”
“But what if he comes back?”
Again a long pause. “You’re right. If he blew the place and sabotaged the communications, he must be planning to return. You’d better post guards, too.”
Philip swallowed hard as the growing danger he faced dawned on him. What if Gil returned with more bandits? They had only a few hunting rifles and a handful of machetes. They would be sitting ducks for any marauders. Philip glanced to the single Quechan Indian who still held the flashlight at the tent’s entrance. And who among these swarthy-skinned foreigners could he trust?
A squelch of static drew Philip’s attention back to the radio. “I’m gonna sign off now, Philip. I have to conserve this walkie-talkie’s battery. I’ll check back with you after sunrise to get an update on how things look from above. Okay?”
Philip held the receiver with a hand that now shook slightly. “Okay. I’ll try to reach you at six.”
“We’ll be here. Over and out.”
Philip settled the receiver back to the radio unit and stood up. From outside the tent, the worst of the commotion from the riled camp seemed to have died down. Philip crossed to the tent’s flap and stood beside the small Quechan Indian.
Barefoot, wearing only his robe, Philip stared out at the black jungle and the smoking ruins. The chill of the night had settled deep into his bones. He hugged the robe tight to his frame. Deep in his heart, a part of him wished he had been trapped down in the temple with the others.