nearly covered the stone.
Tyler took one look at it and said, “That had to be placed there on purpose.”
Jess knelt and pulled the grass away. “Help me dig it out.”
Tyler went to the car to retrieve the shovels. After ten minutes of digging, they were able to see the carvings that adorned the sides of the circular slab.
A spider, a bird, a monkey, and a human figure. They were identical to the drawings on the engraving.
“Oh, my God,” Fay said, her hands trembling. “This is it!”
“Is that what the map was leading us to?” Jess said. “It doesn’t have any other drawings on it.”
“It must be a marker for something nearby.”
They fanned out to look again. Jess remembered her conversation with Tyler about the sea-side caves and walked to the part of the cliff closest to them, which was obscured by some low shrubbery. She pushed it aside and peered over the edge, where she saw a path carved into the cliff-side that was wide enough to accommodate an elephant. Without the marker, finding the path would have been pure chance in spite of its width.
“Hey!” she yelled. “Take a look at this.”
Everyone joined her at the edge.
Jess turned to Tyler. “Shall we see where this goes?”
“All right,” Tyler said. “Let’s get the rope and flashlights.” The three men returned to the vehicle.
“Nana, you should stay here.”
Fay looked at her as if she were insane. “That would be a big no.”
“We don’t know how safe that path is.”
“If you think I’m staying behind while you get to make the discovery of a lifetime, you don’t know your grandmother very well.”
“Then just let us scout it out first.”
“Absolutely not.” When Jess began to object again, Fay said, “Unless you plan to tie me up and lock me in the car, I’m going.”
Jess shook her head in defeat. “Okay. But I want you right behind me.”
“That’s my girl.”
Tyler and Polk returned with the equipment.
“I asked Harris to stay with the car in case anyone comes nosing around,” Tyler said, and led the way down the path, followed by Jess and Fay, with Polk bringing up the rear.
Once they were on the path, Jess could see that crude handholds had been notched in the cliff, making the descent relatively easy.
After two switchbacks, Tyler disappeared around an outcropping. When Jess came around it, she saw Tyler standing on a ledge large enough to fit three SUVs.
“Looks like this is the end of the line,” he said. “Other than the path back up, there’s no way off.”
While Jess guided Fay onto the ledge, Tyler inspected the cliff face, but there didn’t appear to be any passages leading into a cave.
He knelt in front of a large boulder that was lodged against the cliff face, running his fingers along its base.
“Jess, look at this.”
She bent over and focused a flashlight where he was pointing. The bottom of the boulder was scored with small divots chipped out of the stone.
Tyler looked at her. “Didn’t you say last night that one theory for how the natives moved the Moai was that they rocked the stones back and forth using ropes?”
“Right, but they stopped because they were chipping—” It suddenly dawned on Jess what Tyler was getting at.
“If they wanted to hide this cave entrance from someone paddling along the coast,” Tyler said, “they would block it with one of their stones. I think we’re going to need more muscle here. We’ll have to chance leaving the car alone for a little while.”
Polk called on his walkie-talkie for Harris to join them.
“You really think this is the way in?” Fay said.
“Only one way to find out.” Tyler began rigging two ropes around the top of the boulder, one to be pulled in each direction.
“How much do you think this weighs?” Jess said.
“Oh, probably a few tons. But if they were as good at this as you said they were, I’m guessing they made the boulder maneuverable.”
When Harris arrived, Tyler gave him and Polk one rope while he and Jess took the other. Then he explained the procedure that he thought would work best. By alternating pulls, they started a rocking motion in the stone, and while it was tipped in one direction, the two people on the other side would move out and tug it in the opposite direction.
Tyler was right. The stone was perfectly weighted. Even with only him and Jess pulling, they were able to budge the rock so that it tilted a fraction in their direction. As they let it return to center, Harris and Polk pulled, causing it to tilt farther in the other direction.
After eight more pulls, they had enough momentum to start walking it out. It only moved an inch at a time, but that was all they needed. In ten minutes Jess could see a space big enough for a person to slip through and darkness beyond.
“All right,” Tyler yelled. “I think we got it.”
They let the boulder wobble to a standstill and caught their breath. Tyler sent Harris back to the car. Jess agreed that the last thing they needed was a passing tourist following their path down to the ledge.
Tyler pointed his light at the side of the boulder that had been hidden until now. “I’d say we’ve found who’s been keeping an eye on the place.”
They crowded around and saw what he meant. The side that had been against the cavern opening had the prominent brow and wide nose of the Moai they’d passed on the way here.
“Imagine,” Fay said with reverence. “No one has seen this in over thirteen hundred years.”
“I can’t believe you were able to do this,” Jess said. “We never would have figured out how to get in there.”
Tyler shrugged at her. “I guess MIT wasn’t a total loss. Let’s take a look, shall we?”
Before Jess could respond, he was swallowed by the cave.
THIRTY-TWO
With midnight come and gone, Morgan still kept an eye on the intersection below, though she didn’t think there was much point. She had reviewed the dossier the CIA had on Vladimir Colchev. Given his history and how well he’d planned the attack on Pine Gap, she thought it was very possible he had another mole in the Killswitch project besides Kessler. If that were the case, he would know the theft attempt had failed, and Colchev and his men would be long gone from Sydney.
“They’re not coming,” Grant said.
“They could be giving Kessler some extra time to make it.”
“Not likely. I think it’s safe for me to take a leak.” He headed to the bathroom.
As the fan came on, Morgan’s cell rang. She frowned when she saw it was Vince.
“You’re supposed to be sleeping,” she said.
“The doohickey they have me hooked up to is beeping every five seconds, so I can’t sleep. The morphine’s great, though.”
“What did the doctor say?”
“She said I won’t be playing rugby any time soon.”
“How long until you’re back?”
“They’ll let me check out in a few days and fly back to the US. I’ll be a desk jockey for the six weeks I’m on
