“Who the hell are you?” Atticus said indignantly. “Coming in here and threatening the life of my daughter, of my friends!”
“But life is full of surprises, old friend.” The man slowly removed the jade mask. “Wouldn’t you agree?”
When Atticus saw the man’s face he gasped and took a step back, reaching out for something to steady himself on. “My God! I don’t believe it.”
21
“Nate!” Atticus took a further step back in horror. “What the hell is going on? I thought you were in Spain? What the hell is all this about?”
Nathaniel Danvers stepped closer to them, still gripping the jade mask in his hand. “Hell is an unwise word to use in this space, Atticus. You of all people should know that.”
Atticus looked behind his old rival and saw the men holding the tarp. “Is that the capstone?”
Danvers laughed. “Ha! So the Moores worked out the Stormbringer was a capstone. Whatever next?”
“Why have you done this? Who are these people?”
“They are my loyal servants, and I am here to claim my destiny!”
Atticus furrowed his brow. “What do you mean by that?”
Another laugh. “I mean the capstone’s power is mine to wield and mine alone!”
“This guy’s crazy,” Riley said.
Charlie nodded. “You can say that again. Just check out that mask!”
Atticus was starting to agree. He turned to Danvers. “But how could you? You’re a good man! An academic of the highest quality. What do you mean this power is your to wield and what was that glowing we all saw?”
Tarántula raised his gun and started to explain, but Danvers stopped him in his tracks by pushing him out of the way and taking a step toward Atticus. “It is not your concern what is happening here, old man. I have no need to explain myself to you. It is enough for you to know that I am not merely an archaeologist. I am the direct descended of the ancient snake kings and I am here to claim my rightful inheritance and that is the end of the matter. No more questions or I will shoot both you and your daughter.”
Atticus stepped forward and started to roll up his sleeve. “You threaten my daughter? Why, I ought to…”
Selena reached out and pulled her father back by his elbow. “Enough, Dad! Can’t you see he’s serious?”
“As am I, Lena! You won’t get away with this, Nate! I’ll see to it every university in the world hears about this. You’ll lose tenure, you do realize that?”
Carlos and Miguel Mercado burst out laughing, as did the other armed men standing behind them. Finally, Danvers grinned as well.
“I don’t think I’m going to need tenure anymore, old man,” he said. “When we’re done with this business I will retire a very rich man. Maybe buy my own island somewhere. If you’re lucky and you ask me nicely enough, perhaps I will hire you and let you serve me drinks.”
The laughter increased, an insane burst of giggles in the damp cool of the cave system. Carlos and took a step toward Selena. He reached out his hand and brushed it across her chest. “Maybe you can come and serve me drinks on that island, too.”
She moved to slap him but Decker grabbed her hand and pulled her back in the same way she had done with her father moments earlier. “Leave it, Lena. These guys don’t even need an excuse.”
Carlos produced a pistol from his holster and pushed the muzzle up into her forehead. “You should listen to your friend, bitch. He knows what he’s talking about. I could fill you full of lead right now and there is nothing anyone here could do to stop it.” He leaned in closer and whispered in her ear. “Nothing at all.”
Miguel laughed. Diablo lit a cigarillo and puffed a cloud of smoke out, eyes crawling all over Diana.
“So what now?” Decker asked, moving in front of the Portuguese woman.
“That’s easy.” Danvers refitted the jade mask and started laughing. With the mask on, Nathaniel Danvers was gone. Now he was the Snake King. “Now is easy.”
The men laughed nervously.
“Now, you will be taken into the boneyard down here and killed.”
“My God!” Atticus said. “You’re criminally insane! How could I not have noticed before?”
“Boneyard?” Selena asked, confused. “What boneyard?”
“Don’t you know?” the Snake King said. “Down here in Xibalba the demons eat humans like it’s going out of fashion. When we arrived, we found piles of human bones covered in gnaw marks… the marks of human teeth.”
“That’s impossible,” Selena said. “The Maya culture was never seriously cannibalistic.”
“So we thought,” he said smugly. “But now there is evidence to suggest that at the very end of the Maya era there was widespread cannibalism among their people. Archaeologists even found human remains that show arms and legs being torn from their sockets with great force and even with human gnaw marks on them.”
Atticus frowned. “There is some evidence the Aztecs practiced cannibalism, mostly tied up with their bloodletting rituals, but even that’s fairly scarce and weak. There’s much less evidence of cannibalism in the Maya culture apart from what we’ve already discussed.”
“It’s of no matter,” the Snake King said. “You will go there now. It will be your final resting place, and you should consider this a great honor.”
“We’re not going anywhere!” Charlie said. “Bloody psychos!”
“Yes, you are!” he snapped. “You will not defy the Snake King!”
“Make us,” Decker said.
“Then we will make you! All except you, Atticus. You will be my insurance policy. Not only will you stop any of your friends here from causing any further trouble with us, but your archaeological knowledge may come in useful, too.”
Atticus laughed. “I see! You need me now. Well, you know what you can do, right?”
“Yes, order you to
