Deity (39 page)

Unfortunately,
Mexico
was a half-world away from his little Afghan village. As a young man yoked by
Muhammed and struggling to survive each abysmal day, it seemed the last thing
he had time to concern himself with was an inaccessible tropical civilization.

But
that was before he fell in with a powerful Afghan
Mujahedin.

Abe’s
involvement couldn’t have been better timed. He’d received the finest training
and the most powerful firearms he’d ever seen, courtesy of the United States
who’d pawned the
mujahedin
in their
own agenda against the Soviet occupation. It was then that fortune found Abe
when he was selected as an arms gopher, a middle-man in the backdeals between
the
mujahedin
and their financial
supporters—the Taliban.

And the Taliban paid well. So well, in fact, that Abe was
able to afford Mexico
where he could finally practice
Jihad
under his own restrictions. But his ties to the
mujahedin
could not be severed so easily. The Taliban took advantage
of Abe’s position in the western hemisphere, using him to negotiate with the drug
lords in Mexico who also
profited from their own arms deals in America. Over the years, Abe became
his home country’s top weapons supplier, via Mexico. Now, his popularity had
spread to Al-Qaeda who was feverishly padding his pockets, not for weapons, but
for access to the United
States through Abe’s Mexican ties.

But
that wasn’t his war. He only profited from the affairs of men. He never
followed them. While the world battled over their social, economic and
theological concerns, Abe concentrated on his own eschatological
Jihad
. He revered himself as a true
mujahid
, constantly struggling to find
the true path to God. And now he had followers, his own troop of
mujahedin
 
who
wanted nothing more than to obey
God by receiving His commands first hand.

Sonjay
was the most loyal of them all.

“How
do we know which spoke is the thirteenth Baktun?” Sonjay asked as he and Rafi
fell in line along the edge of the wheel.

“We
won’t know until we get a good look at one,” Abe barked as he found his
handhold in a Kin notch. “Now push!”

Together,
the men lunged into the wheel. Abe threw himself against his notch. His legs
strained until his feet slipped out from under him. He quickly got up and
lunged again.

The
wheel didn’t budge.

Tarah’s
laughter echoed behind him.
“Abe, you silly man.
You
have to unlock the wheel first.”

Abe
spun around. “What?” he snapped.

Apparently
Tarah found his tone comical for she laughed again. He found it maddening when
she knew something he didn’t.

Tarah
pointed out to the middle of the wheel, where the thirteen spokes came together
around a stubby, vertical hub - a stone pillar—protruding from the edge of the
water pool.

“If
I’m not mistaken,” Tarah continued. “You have the key.”

Chamber

As
Tarah turned everyone’s attention to the pillar at the center of the calendar
wheel, movement there caught Peet’s eye. The dim light made it difficult to see
at first, but the movement was unmistakable. A woman was tied to the pillar.

A blonde woman—like Lori.

Could
it really be her?

Before
the thought had a chance to fully realize itself into Peet’s mind, Abe
retrieved the Talking Cross and started around the edge of the cavern toward
the nearest spoke that tied back to the pillar.

Peet
stepped forward. “Don’t you think I should go along?” he called. “In case this
is another puzzle.”

Abe
hesitated, and then as if having decided there’d be no danger in it, he ordered
Tarah to release him. The woman did exactly as she was told with an icy glare
that pulled Peet’s attention away from the relieved muscles in his arms. The
woman didn’t trust him; that much he could tell.

“Go,” she ordered. “Just know our rifles are watching
you.”

Peet
needed no reminder. He was well aware of the firepower behind him as he hurried
to catch up to Abe. But escape wasn’t what Peet had in mind. The girl at the
center of the massive wheel was.

“Remember
what I told you,” Abe warned, as they turned for the wheel arm together. “You’re
as good as dead if you don’t unlock that pillar.”

“You
need to be more patient,” Peet growled back. “Science doesn’t always produce
immediate returns.”

“With
the right motivation it will,” Abe assured him.

They’d
not gone far when they came upon a bright, life-sized fresco of the Calendar
Deity painted on the chamber wall. The colors were more brilliant than anything
he’d ever seen—as though they’d been painted on yesterday. That surprised him
considering the shaft of light pouring in from the vent above. It landed on the
wall directly above the Calendar Deity, and was creeping ever down.

Abe
seemed not to notice the Calendar Deity or the light as they marched right by. He
simply continued around the chamber until the sweeping arc of the wheel
intercepted them, cutting off their path with a mere six inches between the
wood and the chamber wall.

“After
you,” Abe said.

Peet
stepped onto the thick rim of the wooden wheel hovering barely a foot off the
ground. Abe was right behind him, the monstrous contraption slightly shuddering
beneath their weight.

As
thick as it was, the rim was barely two feet wide but sturdy enough to walk
comfortably on. Not that there was any fear of falling off with the chamber
wall at his shoulder and the ground not far underfoot. It was the man marching
behind him that made for the element of caution. If Abe said he would leave him
for dead, then Peet was going to take him at his word. Somehow, Peet was going
to have to get the giant wheel moving in the right direction.

Within
a few yards along shallow arc of the rim they finally came to the wheel’s
massive arm and Peet detoured onto it. He followed its long span out toward the
water’s edge where the stone pillar kept everything grounded.

And
Lori was there watching them approach!

She
was bound with her back against the pillar. Her face was swollen and her lip
cracked and bleeding from whatever Abe’s men had done to her, but there was no
mistaking the fact.

Lori
was alive!

In
a flood of incredulous relief, Peet felt compelled to race up to her, to hug
her. Thank God, thank God! Lori was alive! His throat tightened at the sight of
her. Oh, how he wanted to hug her, but strangely Lori didn’t appear to share
any mutual emotion. In fact, she merely laid her head back against the pillar
and closed her eyes against his approach and she didn’t budge from that position
even as they stepped onto the narrow central platform and carefully slipped
around her.

She
didn’t even look at him. Peet knew, because he watched to see if she would.

Was
she okay? Was she suffering from injuries he couldn’t see? Was she expecting
more of the same?

Peet
suddenly wondered if she had even recognized him and the very idea that she
might mistake him for a threat tugged at his heart. Brushing against her as he
stepped around to the back of the pillar left an unbearable temptation to
speak, to tell her that everything was going to be okay, but he restrained himself.
Although his senses were suddenly tuned into Lori and her condition, he was
still consciously aware of Abe who pushed around her like she wasn’t even
there.

“So
this is where men speak to God,” Abe said in reverent awe. His fingers began
working anxiously around the shaft of the Talking Cross. He stepped up to the
pillar directly behind Lori, his eyes wide in anticipation.

Peet
waited, not really sure what to expect. For a moment he felt dizzy standing on the
narrow platform. On one side of him, beneath the great wooden beams of the
wheel’s spokes, was the ground. On the other side, beneath the other half of
the giant
beams,
was the murky water. If he fell
either way he might fit between the arms where they connected with the platform,
but it would be a tight fit.

Abe
couldn’t contain his excitement. His chest heaved with unrelenting joy. If Peet
didn’t know better, he’d thought Abe had found a pillar of solid gold. However,
the pillar was anything but treasure. It was short, but just like the others it
appeared to be nothing more than a cylinder of dead stone crowned with a round
ball that nearly matched Lori’s height. The immediate difference that Peet saw
was the tight, gear-shaped hole at the very top of the pillar ball.

Abe
saw it too and with measured movements, he lifted the Talking Cross above the
pillar and then eased the long shaft into the hole. It fit perfectly. Peet held
his breath as the cross slipped further and further into the hole. Lori had yet
to move, her eyes still trained shut. But in that moment of nervous silence her
face no longer held the strain of dreadful expectation. Instead, she looked
rather relaxed.
Even peaceful.

She
looked like she was praying.

The
Talking Cross slipped into the top of the pillarball until it finally stopped
with its crossarms just centimeters above the stone. Abe’s fingers released the
crucifix and slowly lifted away from the prize he’d expended so much effort obtaining.

And
then it happened.

Without
warning, the massive wheel shuddered beneath their feet. Peet and Abe braced
themselves. Lori’s hands merely balled into fists along the sides of the
pillar. And then suddenly, a tremendous moan reverberated out of the pillar. It
expanded in waves until the noise completely filled the chamber.

Peet’s
heart stopped.

Beneath
his feet he could feel the wheel shaking—trembling beneath the groan of God.

The Center

Lori’s
eyes popped open when the first vibration tiptoed along her back long before
the Talking Cross had been fully seated into the pillar ball. It was as though
the pillar had awakened at the mere touch of the cross and Lori was the only
one to notice as the stone quivered along her spine.

Something
wasn’t right.

Then
came
that dreadful moan. She felt it rise out of the
pillar, giving a new intensity to the vibration. The sound grew louder and
louder until it seemed to explode right out of her ears. There was no escaping
it. No relief. There was only that consuming groan that pulsated off the chamber’s
volcanic walls.

Behind
her, Abe’s voice cried out against the assault, calling out to Allah.

That
was when the deafening sound leveled off and began to weaken. It slowly faded
to a steady hum, a low drone that minimized the trembling within the pillar.

“What
just happened?” Abe asked.

There
was a long pause. Lori waited as he paced around the pillar behind her. She
pictured his puzzled face as he listened to the low hum penetrating the
chamber.

“What
the hell is going on?” Abe demanded. His voice sounded so near, so close behind
her. She could almost feel his frustration. His anger mounted with each word. “What
is that noise?”

Abe’s
desperations worsened when nobody offered an explanation. Lori couldn’t begin
to make sense of it herself. All she knew was that the pillar, or something
beneath it, seemed to be the source of the noise. Abe took a frantic breath,
and then, to her surprise, he marched around the pillar and snapped his pistol
to her temple. Lori flinched, suddenly wracking her brain for a solution but it
wasn’t she who was expected to respond. Abe wasn’t even looking at her. Keeping
his pistol trained to her head, Abe held his focus beyond the pillar, on Dr.
Peet.

“Tell
me what’s going on!” he demanded.

Dr.
Peet quickly found a response, a different kind of desperation filling his own
voice. “The cross!” he blurted. “It must have triggered some sort of power
source to the wheel.”

“What
power source?”

“I
don’t know.”

The
cold muzzle of the gun pressed into Lori’s head. She closed her eyes, wishing
there was a Mayan expert among them to provide the answers. Where was Dr.
Friedman when she needed him?

Minutes
ago Lori didn’t know who to expect Tarah to lure into the chamber with her
shameless wailing. She had hoped for Dr. Friedman, even Dr. Webb. She certainly
didn’t expect Dr. Peet and yet, it didn’t surprise her to see him. All this
time he had been on the trail of the Talking Cross, just as she’d begun to
suspect. He had indeed left her for dead in the cenote. If Abe and Tarah had
not come along, she would be.

Now,
in a cruel twist of fate, she needed to be rescued from her rescuers and Dr.
Peet presented her only hope. Unfortunately, she held little confidence in him.
The Southwestern anthropologist was in way over his head trying to decipher a Mayan
pillar, and the last time they’d been in a cave together hadn’t turned out well
for her.