The Snake King began walking around the capstone, admiring it, stroking it. Still amused by the conversation.
Charlie looked confused. “Don’t know that one.”
“Augury,” Acosta said darkly.
“Exactly,” said Selena. “It’s the custom of looking into certain media in the hope of communicating with the other side. Over the centuries, most cultures have done this and used all sorts of things – obsidian, polished metal, even the surface of water.”
“As in crystal ball gazing?” he said.
“Exactly. The Maya thought that they could communicate with demons through their mirrors and summon them into this world. They even wore mirrors on their backs in battle in case their enemy tried to attack from behind in the hope the demons would crawl out of the mirror and kill their attackers!”
The Snake King stopped walking and turned. In his hand he now brandished a gleaming pistol. “Yes, you have shown us all how clever you are, but sadly now it is time for you to die!”
“So this is it?” Diana said with a sniff. “We die here in his hellscape and no one will ever know?”
“Are you freaking kidding me, mate?” Riley said. “I’m not dying down here. The Eagles are in the Grand Final this year! I’m not missing that because some barking mad apeshit wackadoodle thinks he’s descended from the lizard kings!”
“Snake Dynasty,” Selena said with a sigh. “They’re not actual lizards. We talked about this.”
“Yeah, whatever. They all go down the same way when you hit them hard enough.”
The Snake King laughed. “Big words from a man seconds from his own death. Now, you all die. Tarántula! Have your men execute them, now!”
Carlos and Miguel Mercado brought up their submachine guns, smiles on their faces and fingers wrapping around the triggers.
“Mitch!” Selena said. “I've heard of cutting it fine, but don’t you think this is a little relaxed even for you?
“Take it easy,” Decker said. “We’re not going down without a fight.”
“So what are we going to do?” Charlie asked. “We’re outmanned and they have our guns!”
“Leave it to me,” Decker said. “I have a plan.”
23
“He has a plan,” Acosta said. “This makes me feel much better.”
“Cool it with the attitude, Pepe,” Decker said, raising his voice. “You know, you’re a real pain in the ass!”
Acosta was shocked. “But…”
The ex-marine squared up to him. “Ever since this mission began it’s been one long brag about how goddam great you are!”
“But this is not true! I…”
“And now look at us! You went and got us killed!”
Atticus’s jaw fell open. “How dare you, Captain Decker! Dr Acosta is one of the very finest archaeologists I have ever had the honor to know!”
“Yeah, yeah,” Decker said, turning his hand into a flapping mouth. “Dr Acosta and his Montesino Codex, Dr Acosta and his Xunantunich glyphs, Dr Acosta and his stupid, ancient book of goddam Maya priest incantations, Dr Acosta and his great big flapping mouth and his…”
“Wait!” the Snake King stepped forward and used his hands to push the barrels of the Mercados’ guns down to the floor. “Wait! What did you just say, Captain Decker?”
Decker turned from an angry and confused Felipe Acosta and faced the Snake King. “Huh?”
“I asked you what you just said…to him.”
Decker feigned ignorance and smiled broadly. “Don’t tell me, you’ve also had experience of his big, flapping mouth?”
The Snake King’s eyes began to bulge. “What did you say to him about incantations!?”
“Oh, that…” Decker looked disappointed. “I thought you and I could start some sort of club, right? We could have little t-shirts with I survived Felipe Acosta written on them and…”
The Snake King grabbed Carlos Mercado’s gun and held it to Decker’s temple. “Felipe, what is this book of incantations? Please realize this man’s life depends on the answer.”
Acosta was dumbfounded, and worked his mouth without any sound coming out of it.
Luckily, Selena had already worked out what Decker was doing. “It’s nothing,” she said, playing it down. “Just an old parchment covered in gobbledygook. Not worth your time. Rubbish. Drivel, really. Just some nonsense about summoning gods and storms. Just hokum, nothing to interest a serious mind like yours.”
The Snake King’s eyes had filled with greed. “Where did you get this parchment?”
“In the convent,” Atticus said, now onboard with the gambit. “It was beneath the Montesino Codex. Held flat under it. My daughter’s right. It’s just mumbo jumbo, Nate.”
“I am not Nate! I am the Snake King!” He pushed the submachine gun’s muzzle harder against Decker’s temple. “The Snake King!”
Atticus took a step back, eyes widening in fear. “Yes, of course. My mistake, Snake King.”
The Snake King calmed down. “Where is this Codex? Hand it over!”
“It’s not here, silly,” Selena said.
“Why not?”
“Like we just said, it’s nonsense. We saw no reason to bring it along. It would only weigh us down.”
Weigh us down, Decker thought with an eye roll. “What she means is, we didn’t want to damage it for no reason so we left it someplace safe.”
“What place?”
As she spoke, Riley was making his way closer to Novarro, one eye on his gun.
Selena played along. “Actually, it’s in a safe.”
“I am losing patience,” the Snake King said. “I want the location, now!”
Riley fired his elbow into Novarro’s face just as Decker smashed the Snake King’s gun away from his temple, grabbing hold of it.
Tarántula saw what had happened and raised his gun but Decker was one step ahead. He squeezed the trigger and swept the muzzle across the cavern, spraying bullets everywhere. Tarántula and the Mercados were first to hit the deck. Novarro and Diablo grabbed the Snake King and Atticus and pulled them to the ground behind the
