Juan and Carlos came rushing over to her as well and hugged her. Javier gave her some water and a couple of granola bars from his rucksack. Hungry and dehydrated, she wolfed them down and drank an entire bottle of water. Javier gave her more water and food.
“We were so worried,” Carlos said.
Javier looked at her. “I thought you’d been captured, or worse...”
“I managed to get away,” she replied, “but they had men crawling all over the nearby jungle.”
“Si,” Javier answered, “they’re looking for this place.”
Speaking rapidly in Spanish, Javier filled her in on the events leading up to their arrival and told her who his new friends were.
Mari explained that she’d heard men in the jungle when the four of them had left this cavern after hiding the artifacts, so she’d decided to take shelter in the cave system. She hadn’t dared leave, being that she was completely on her own. She’d hoped that they would come back to look for her once it was safe.
“We all need to remain here for now,” Javier said, “and wait until it’s safe to leave. After losing their prisoners, they’ll likely still have men scouting the area for some time.”
He motioned them to go join the others. They started walking back over.
Mari nodded. “I think that’s best. We can send a scout out in a day or two to figure out if it’s safe to leave.”
“Exactly what we were thinking.”
Rick stood up to speak to the four of them. He was glad that they’d found their missing teammate, but he had questions. He looked at Javier. “I hate to break up this nice family reunion, but what is this place? I’ve never seen anything like...” He stopped mid-sentence, hearing a commotion. He whirled around.
Five armed men sprang out from the same cave entrance they’d all entered through. They were dressed in black from head-to-toe and wore night-vision goggles. Dripping wet, they quickly spread out, surrounding them. They aimed their laser-sighted pistols at the group.
“Hands up where we can see them,” one of the men shouted. “Now!”
CHAPTER 15
They were all startled.
Luis gasped and dropped his water bottle out of sheer fright.
Sofia put her arms around her brother and father.
“Those are the men who captured us,” Diego whispered to Sofia in Spanish.
Sofia nodded.
Rick stepped in front of the others, holding his arms out protectively.
“I said hands up!” the man shouted.
They all complied.
“Good,” he said. “Now one by one, toss your flashlights in our direction.”
The laser sights of the guns were pointed at their chests to emphasize the order.
“Do as they ask,” Rick said, realizing the considerable risk. He didn’t want to see anyone get killed without first trying to find a way out of this situation.
They did as Rick told them.
“Excellent,” the man said, his voice growing calmer. “This will go much smoother if you all keep cooperating.”
Rick clenched his jaw.
“Light this place up,” the man ordered.
Two of the men fished a number of items out of their heavy black backpacks and fanned out. They spread orange glow sticks around the room, interspersed with several portable, battery-operated LED work lights, strategically placed. It bathed the cavernous space in an eerie warm glow, casting shadows against the cavern walls.
The intruders all removed their night-vision goggles. One of the men kicked the flashlights away.
“Well, well, well,” the man said as he spotted Diego, Juan and Carlos. “If it isn’t our former guests. And you’ve brought us to your other friends.” He gave them a cold smile. “How very fortunate for us.”
Rick whispered to Javier, “How the hell did they find this place? I thought you said...”
“Shut it!” one of the men said.
The man who appeared to be their leader stepped forward. He smirked. “We placed tracking devices on our former guests. Just simple small patches that attached to their clothes.” He looked at Diego, then Juan, then at Carlos. “You were most accommodating in leading us exactly where we wanted to go. We’d never have found this place so quickly otherwise.” He looked around the cavern. “It’s very well concealed. Impressive too, I must say.”
The man knew in his bones that this was the place they’d been looking for. It all added up with the research they’d done and all of the rumors they’d heard. It was truly spectacular and highly unusual.
Javier clenched his fists. Everything he and his group had gone through in trying to protect this place, was now for nothing.
“In fact, we were counting on your assistance.” He laughed when he saw the frowns on their confused faces. “We took the prisoners in the hopes that you would help us expedite locating this hidden cave system. We knew it was going to be exceptionally difficult to find, so we positioned ourselves as close as we could to where we thought this part of the cave system might be.” He fanned out his arms. “Then, we waited for you to do the rest.”
Rick chided himself. He was furious at his own stupidity. Now that he thought about it, freeing the prisoners from this mercenary group had been too easy. “I should have thought of that,” he whispered to Javier.
“Yes,” the man said, overhearing him, “you should have.”
Rick glared at him.
“But you didn’t. And here we are,” he said, clapping his hands together. He gave them a broad smile. “Thank you. You have all been most accommodating.”
Rick couldn’t stand the man’s air of casual arrogance. He wanted to punch him in the face.
The man was of average height, with a solid build. He was clean shaven with features that made him look like he could be a Wall Street banker, rather than a jungle-bound mercenary. He had a perfectly white, movie-star smile, dark, slicked back hair and pale skin. He had a clear, direct speaking voice, and exuded a cocky confidence.
“What do you want?” Rick asked.
The man looked
