It simply read, "You're too late!" in neat block print. Below that, in smaller scribbled writing: "Sorry for throwing you off a cliff."
"Damn!" I shouted out loud. Mercury had once again outplayed me. I let the momentary anger pass and collected my thoughts. She had beaten me to the idol, which meant I now needed to find her before she left the island. The idol was too important to let fade into obscurity. The hundreds of bodies interred in the previous room deserved more than that.
A quick scan of the room's walls showed there were two exits. The one I had come through, and one other directly across from it. She must have doubled back the way she came. Time was ticking, and with every second she came closer to escaping.
I rushed down the passageways, no longer giving the now familiar Taino artwork even a cursory glance. There was only one thing on my mind. The cave would occasionally open up from rock-choked entrance ways to reveal small rooms, forcing me to stop long enough to check for alternate passages. The pathway remained linear, and I only lost a few seconds at each chamber until I came to a vast chasm.
A simple plank bridge spanned the gigantic crack in the floor. Made of ancient wood and fiber ropes, it looked like it was from the set of a movie. There were no handholds, and it was less than three feet wide. How did these people carry bodies across this thing? I thought as I tested the first plank with my weight.
The board creaked and the whole bridge swayed and moaned under the pressure of my weight, but it held. Even though Jaye must have crossed the bridge twice, I probably weighed fifty pounds more than her. But there was no other way across, and time was wasting. All I could do was hope the bridge could handle the extra weight.
It was roughly twenty-five feet long, anchored to large square stones at each corner. Five careful steps brought me to its middle. The ancient structure sagged and quivered under my unsteady legs. I made the mistake of looking down and felt my legs tremble more violently. I had never liked heights, there was a reason I lived at sea level.
The black void stretched out below me as my vertigo increased. Forcing myself to concentrate, I put one uncertain foot in front of the other. My heart skipped with each creak and crack. Step by step, the far side grew closer, only two more steps to go.
A loud snap reverberated off the chasm walls, and the bridge heaved. I dropped to my knees to avoid being thrown off. A cacophony of sounds erupted from the far side of the chasm. Abandoning all semblance of safety, I threw my flashlight and made a desperate leap as the bridge dropped out from under me!
I landed on the edge of the chasm, desperately clawing for a handhold as I slid backwards towards the abyss. My fingers clamped around one of the remaining planks of wood and I prayed it wouldn't break as I got my other hand on it and hoisted myself clear of the cliff. The ancient wood creaked and groaned, drowning out my grunts of exertion. Carefully, I drew one knee over the ragged stone edge of the cliff and then followed it with the other.
I am really beginning to hate this cave, I thought as I rolled over to safety on my back. I wanted nothing more than to rest and collect my thoughts, but I settled for a quick self evaluation. My ribs ached from where I had landed against the rock, but they were not broken. My hands throbbed where my mad scramble had scraped away their skin, and I probably used up a couple of years' worth of heartbeats. Just another day at the office.
There was no time to revel in my narrow escape from the jaws of the pit. Jaye Mercury had the idol and a significant head start. I couldn't lay there and let her get away. Every second mattered. I rolled to my feet, groaning against the soreness in my chest, and retrieved my flashlight from beside a cluster of delicate-looking stalagmites.
I resumed my dash through the cave, ignoring everything except the path leading slightly upwards. There were no offshoots or other cave-ins, and except for a few loose rocks, the floor was clear enough to allow me to make excellent progress.
The level of darkness didn't change much when I came upon the massive sinkhole like it had been earlier in the daylight. A quick glance up showed a black sky and millions of stars. Sporadic wisps of torn clouds glowed silver, illuminated by a mostly full moon. They gave me hope for a dry and easy trek back to the village.
Leaving the sinkhole behind, I sprinted through the now familiar cave and out into the relative brightness of the jungle night. A moment later I was crashing through the brush in pursuit of history and the biggest payday of my life.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Navigating the jungle would have been difficult with a manicured trail. Trying to follow a path carved out by machete in the dark was nearly impossible. It had been easy enough when I was high on the mountain where the vegetation was thinner. With less canopy coverage, I had used the moon to help guide me. But once I had descended back into the tropical rainforest, the moonlight disappeared completely, and with it, the path too disappeared.
My flashlight was no use either. It was too bright and its beam too focused. I dared not turn it on. The risk of being seen was too great, and I doubted that the thick foliage and underbrush would conceal such a powerful light.
Roots and rocks rolled under my
