Humanity Unlimited 1: Liberty Station (7 page)

“Are you calling for help or just catching dinner down there?” Rex shouted.

“I am kind of hungry,” he said. “It’s damned good to hear your voice.”

“I thought you were gone, man. They blew up the whole pyramid. You got the civilians?”

“I have Miss Cook with me. Doctor Valdez didn’t make it. Did the boys get out?”

“Just before the thing collapsed. I left Leann with the civilians and came hauling ass back.”

A wave of relief rolled through him. “Thank God.”

“Are either of you hurt?” Rex asked. “We’ve just about got a rope secure. I’ll come down for you if I need to.”

“We’re fine. Rig one of the rappelling harnesses and we’ll handle our end.”

He looked at Jessica. “I assume you’re fine with being hauled out of here.”

“Hell, yes. The ride can’t be any scarier than having a pyramid dropped on you.”

“Probably not.”

Harry holstered his pistol and waited for the harness. When it came swishing down, he strapped Jessica into it. “Just hold onto the rope and they’ll get you out. Safe as houses.”

“Thanks for coming for me.”

“My pleasure. Haul away!”

They lifted her out of the well and quickly dropped the harness back down for him. Getting it on while treading water with his gear was a bit of a challenge, but he managed. “Pull!”

They lifted him into the bright sunlight. Ready hands yanked him over the rim of the well and he rolled over onto his back.

“Today has totally sucked. I’m charging my father extra.”

Rex pulled him to his feet. “Let’s get you into a tent to change into something dry. Sandra will help Miss Cook.”

“I want eyes all around us. If some of them made it out of the pyramid, I want them found. Nathan is too damned selfish to blow himself up just to get me. He probably had another way out. Find him.”

His people spread out as he lugged his waterlogged pack into the nearest tent. He’d be lucky if anything was dry. If not, he’d borrow something from Rex.

* * * * *

Nathan watched them fish his brother out of the well with mixed emotions. It would’ve been nice to have Harry off the playing field, but he wanted to see his eyes when he killed him.

He had his crosshairs on his brother, but wasn’t tempted to fire. He’d have too much trouble making it back to the LZ with Harry’s team hunting him every foot of the way. If the copter crew was even ready when he called.

No, not the time to take chances. “I’ll be seeing you soon, big brother,” he said softly.

When the others began fanning out to search the general area, Nathan knew it was time to put some distance between him and them. He’d have to report a complete failure. They’d missed the target and his team was captured or dead.

Well, that was occasionally the price of doing business. They’d failed, so they could take the fall with the local authorities. They wouldn’t talk. The money waiting for them when they got out ensured that.

Oh, well. He backed away from his hide and slung his rifle over his shoulder. He’d watch his brother for a while, and then call for a pickup when things calmed down. This was not over.

Chapter Six

Thanks to her waterproof pack, Jess had dry clothes to change into. The female mercenary left her alone to change, saying she’d be outside if Jess needed anything.

What she needed was a stiff drink and some time to grieve for her lost friend. Time she suspected she wouldn’t have. Not until they were safely out of this jungle.

She stripped off her wet clothes, twisted as much water out of them as she could, and packed them in a trash bag. They’d be nasty by the time she washed them, but that was a manageable problem. She then dried off and changed into the dry clothes she’d laid out.

The next thing she did was check her camera. It was dry and working, so she synced the pictures to her tablet, which was also intact. Thank God.

While that was happening, she eyed the contents of the dead man’s satchel. It was mostly still together, but she needed to secure it better. They’d be traveling in a hurry and the fall into the water might have irretrievably damaged something already.

She saw several wrenches and a flat-bladed screwdriver similar to the one on her belt back at the spaceport. The tip was removable. There were other tips that looked as though they could fit on the screwdriver handle, but their purpose was murkier. They looked electronic, but there was no indication of a power source. Or what they might do.

She examined the screwdriver handle. The grip had a removable base that revealed a hollow. It held what certainly looked like a battery. It had strange writing on it, similar to the nametag on the mummy. No signs of corrosion, so there must not be an acidic component.

After all this time, the battery was certainly dead, but examining it in the lab might tell them the power level it was supposed to deliver.

At the bottom of her pack was a notebook. It was about the size of a diary and seemed intact. The cover looked like leather, but it wasn’t cracked. The pages hadn’t come apart either, so she risked touching her finger to their edges. No, it wasn’t paper. It felt slick, like some kind of plastic.

Jess took a deep breath and opened the cover.

The first page had tight rows of handwriting in a language that she didn’t recognize. Maybe it was a diary. The beginnings of some of the paragraphs were different, so that could mean dates. The inside cover had a few lines of text, maybe the man’s name and how to return it to him if it was lost.

She took a chance and lifted the book out to lay it on the cot. She wanted pictures.

That’s when she saw the tablet under it and stopped breathing. She set the book carefully down and picked up the device. The surface felt like glass, but that didn’t mean much. It could be any number of materials.

The back was made of light metal and had a strange emblem centered on it. A tree of some kind with text in a circle around it. It shared some similarities with the Rainforest logo, but wasn’t enough like it to feel creepy.

There were several recessed buttons, but she restrained herself from pressing them. The power supply had to be dead, but she didn’t want to take any chances. She’d examine it more closely once she had it back in the lab.

It took her ten minutes to take multiple images of each page. The first third of the book only had text. The middle of the journal had a number of drawings as well. Some of plants that she wasn’t familiar with, but also what looked like contour maps of terrain. One whole page had what was certainly a rough map of the Mayan city.

There were sketches of men and women she assumed to be Mayan. Not just the well-to-do, but workmen building a wall. Women tending to plants in a terraced garden. Even children playing some kind of game. The man had a good hand.

A second map seemed to show a path away from the city. There were notations in the strange language that probably meant distances or landmarks. The end of the trail had a heavy circle around it. More text beside that might indicate what was there, but she couldn’t make heads or tails of the words.

Jess finished taking pictures, synced them, and put everything except her tablet back into the pack. She shouldered her bag and walked out of the tent. The woman was waiting. Another man was slowly turning, watching the jungle. The rest were gone.

“Is it safe out here in the open like this?” Jess asked. “If you think there are still some bad guys out there, maybe we should get under cover.”

The woman shook her head. “We’ve already cleared the general area. We’ll withdraw down the trail as soon as Harry is ready.”

He stepped out of another tent as she said that. He was dressed in dry fatigues, but still had his wet pack on his back. And his weapons, of course.

She walked over to him. “What’s your plan?”

“A couple of my people are looking to see if they can find any other bad guys, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. Once they get back, we’ll move toward the river and meet up with the workers. We’ll call for the police when we get to the river.”

Jess stepped closer to him and lowered her voice. “I took a few minutes to look over the artifacts. I found something you might want to see.” She handed him her tablet with the map of the area on the screen.

He looked at it closely. “What’s this?”

“A page from a book inside the satchel. I’m thinking it’s a journal. This is the Mayan city here. This path leads somewhere the dead man thought was important. The police will be all over this area. We should see what’s there before they accidentally destroy it. Or lead looters to it.”

He gave her a stern look. “In case you forgot, there are people in the jungle that want to kidnap you. I don’t think wandering around where they might get a second shot is the smartest thing to do.”

“I know it’s a risk, but this is important. Really important. Come on, surely even a man like you can see that the first extraterrestrial visitor and the things he brought with him need to be protected at all costs.”

The corner of his mouth quirked up. “A man like me, huh? Perhaps it would surprise you to know I don’t grunt when I walk or drag the backs of my hands on the ground. And we don’t know this guy came from outer space.”

Jess felt her face heat. “That wasn’t what I meant.” Actually, it had been exactly what she’d meant. It just wasn’t polite to rub his face in it.

“There was a tablet computer in the satchel. Where else would someone with something like that come from? Atlantis? No. Humanity would’ve found some trace of a terrestrial civilization that advanced. This person came from space. With the condition of the body, he might not have been human.”

Harry looked skeptical. “I’ve seen enough pictures of mummies to know that was a human being. An alien, even one that was bipedal, would almost certainly have some aspect of the face that was noticeably different. Unless, of course, you’d like to propose that humans were seeded all over the galaxy.”

“I’m keeping my options open. Think of this from another angle. The artifacts we’re recovering could lead to any number of breakthroughs. The technology would have to be very advanced.” She thought of another angle. “It might even have military applications.”

He shook his head slowly. “You really need to check your prejudices at the door, Miss Cook. I’m a warrior, not a warmonger. Perhaps you’re right, though. If there were weapons or technology that could lead to a weapon, I’d rather not see it make its way into the world. There’s already too much violence and killing for my taste.”

Harry spent a minute examining the map. “I think the best course of action is to accompany the workers to the river. We can call for help from there. Then we’ll set out for this place. If the scale is anything close to accurate, we might make it there by midday tomorrow. Maybe. What language are these comments in?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve never seen anything like it, but I’m not a language expert.”

“Someone will figure it out. Come on. Let’s get moving.”

She watched him get his people into motion. They took down several of the tents and packed them. Probably so they’d have shelter overnight. That had her full approval.

While he organized things, she went back into the tent she’d come from and let the emotions she’d been holding back roll over her. Better to cry now than when she had an audience. Her friend was dead and that hurt. If she ever had an opportunity, the people behind Abel’s death would pay.

* * * * *

Harry had the team ready to roll in ten minutes, but stopped when Sandra held up her hand. “Is something wrong?”

“The client is pulling herself together. Give her a few more minutes.”

Not the time for it, but he could hardly blame her. He was sure the events of the day would give her nightmares for months.

He’d already cleaned and oiled his weapons, so he made one more pass around the camp. If they were going to be stuck in the jungle for a few days, he wanted to be sure that they had everything they needed.

They had enough water, but taking more would help if they had problems. The tents he’d commandeered would see them through until he arranged a pickup. The extra food and cooking utensils would make them a bit more comfortable.

When he had nothing else to do, he decided he owed his father a call. He reluctantly stepped away from the tents to get it over with.

“Harry,” his father said when he answered. “Did everything go as planned?”

“Nothing ever goes as planned, but this went a little further off script than usual. Nathan and his team beat us here. We managed to get Miss Cook away from him, but his people killed the archaeologist leading the dig. At least one of Nathan’s people died, as well. Both of them are buried under a collapsed pyramid.”

“That is unfortunate news, but it could have been much worse. Well done. What’s your extraction plan?”

Harry considered what he could say over an open line. Any unencrypted communication might have extra ears. “We’re getting the workers to the river, but we’re not evacuating with them. There are aspects of the situation that require our attention before we can get clear. We’ll be here at least one more night.”

The tone in his father’s voice expressed his disapproval. “Miss Cook’s safety is paramount. I’m certain that whatever issue you’re concerned with can wait until she’s safely away.”

“I disagree, as does she. I’m not able to go over the specifics over an unsecured line, so you’ll need to trust my professional judgment.” He smiled at defying his father. The small pleasures in life were the sweetest.

“In any case,” he continued, “I’ll call when we’re ready to evac. If you had a plane nearby and perhaps a helicopter capable of picking us up via cable from the jungle, that would make this go more quickly.”

“I’m not happy with this turn of events and I expect a full briefing once you’re clear. And, Harry? This better be more than just tweaking my nose or you’ll enjoy our next meeting even less than you usually do.”

The line went dead.

At least they understood one another. He cleared his throat outside the tent. “Miss Cook, it’s time to go.”