CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN JAGUAR TEMPLE CALAKMUL BIOSPHERE RESERVE

JAGUAR TEMPLE

CALAKMUL BIOSPHERE RESERVE

January 10

Suki felt a strong instinct to heal Angélica and rushed to where she lay sprawled out. Why, she didn’t know. This woman had assisted Jacob Calakmul in trapping them in the Yucatán a year ago. But she’d also convinced a warrior to spare Lucas’s life after he’d climbed out a window and onto the roof. Maybe she’d done something to upset Jacob. Or maybe it was Ix Chel’s very nature to protect the lives of a mother and child.

“Know her?” Jordan asked, crouching next to the body. The other soldiers were gazing around the chamber, taking in the splendor of the cenote.

“Her name is Angélica,” Suki said. “She’s Calakmul’s girlfriend.”

“Not anymore, clearly,” he answered. “She’s lost a lot of blood.”

Suki lowered her head and placed her hand on Angélica’s shoulder. Her life was just a dim little spark. Suki could sense two heartbeats, timid little throbs that clung to life. Focusing, she drew on the power of the ring and bracelet.

“Kunaj,”Suki uttered, invoking the magic. She’d healed Jordan and Monica a few hours ago. With her mom and Jane Louise’s help. These wounds were even worse. Immediately, the power began to swell. It spread from Suki’s hand across Angélica’s body, mending broken bones, fixing punctures. It didn’t pull the blood back into her body, but it created fresh blood cells. Gashes and rips were repaired. It all happened within moments, just as it had for Jordan and Monica.

Angélica gasped and lifted her head. She wore jewelry from Jacob’s collection, bright necklaces, earrings, and bracelets, along with a traditional Maya outfit similar to the ones she’d worn during the death games.

“Suki?” Her voice quavered.

“Where’s my dad?” Suki asked.

“How did you ...? What are you doing here?” She looked past Suki at the soldiers and shrank from them in fear. “How did you get past the barrier?”

“The same way I got out with my mom and Jane Louise. Did Jacob ... do that to you?”

Angélica shuddered and nodded. “I tried to help your father escape.”

Gratitude swelled inside Suki’s heart. “Thank you. Where is he?”

Angélica shook her head. “It didn’t work. Jacob saw what I did. He brought me down here to kill me. He’ll kill me again if he finds me.”

“Help me get my dad, and I’ll help you get out of here,” Suki promised. She looked around at the cenote, at the strange-colored water. It was pretty poggers. “What is this place?”

“It’s a sacred cenote,” Angélica said. “A place where they stored the treasures of jade. How did you know I was here?”

“Ix Chel led me here.” Suki bit her lip, wondering if she should tell Angélica she was pregnant. Considering the father of the child had just tried to murder her, it probably wasn’t a good idea to spring the news on her just yet. “Can you stand up?”

Angélica rubbed her arms and rose without wincing. “I’m healed.”

Suki nodded and smiled. “So you’ll help us?”

Angélica nodded firmly. “I can. I will. But if we don’t destroy the smoking mirrors, they’ll be able to escape.”

“You mean the mirrors made of obsidian? Like the ones in the White House?”

“Yes, and there are others. The Order of the Jaguar Priests uses them to maintain their influence throughout the world.”

“My priority is getting my dad and the other kidnapped leaders out of here alive,” Suki said.

“I know. But there’s a tunnel connecting this palace to the pyramid where they’re going to sacrifice the leaders. They’ve already been taken there by now. We can use the same tunnel and get there faster. The chamber with the smoking mirrors is on the way.”

Suki turned to Jordan.

“Secret tunnel?” he asked.

“Through the mountain?” she replied. It was a reference to the Avatar TV show. She had a feeling he knew it too.

“I like this place,” Jordan said, nodding. “Let’s block the mirrors, then. That makes a ton of sense.”

“I think we need to take the secret tunnel,” Suki agreed. “Especially if it’s a shortcut.”

“The servants are forbidden to use it,” Angélica said. “Let’s hurry before it’s too late.”

Suki glanced at the cool-looking cenote once more and saw the large chunks of jade in the shallow water. There was a stone ramp leading to a circular platform in the middle of the cenote. His own sacred indoor swimming pool. Suki shook her head, and they hurried back to the steps. Two of the army soldiers went ahead, weapons raised, to clear the path. Suki’s heart was pounding from the effort by the time they made it back up to Jacob’s room.

Angélica had a haunted look on her face as she surveyed the room. “That way,” she said, pointing to one of the passages leading out.

Suki knew the palace compound pretty well, but she’d never been to this part before. That was probably another reason Ix Chel had given Suki the idea to help Angélica. As they went down the corridor, Angélica summoned kem ?m to light the torches along the walls.

Suki was nervous to go somewhere so shielded from moonlight, knowing they’d need to fight their way out, but surely Ix Chel was steering them in the right direction.

“There’s something you should know,” Angélica said as they walked quickly.

“What?”

“I can help remove the shields protecting the jaguar priests and the warriors, but they will still be faster and stronger than your soldiers. In addition to physical strength, they can also injure you in other ways. Like with disease and blindness.”

Suki hadn’t thought of that. She’d assumed that removing the shields would be enough, and kapow, a bullet would kill them.

“That’s a problem,” Jordan said. “Unless we hit them first.”

“Your weapons are noisy,” Angélica said. “Once you start shooting, they’ll hear and prepare other ways to defend themselves. Like speed and quickness. Invisibility. You won’t even know they are there until it’s too late. I know the Kowinem. They have powerful dark magic.”

“So how do we protect ourselves?” Suki wondered.

“By being as quiet as possible. Follow me.”

After traveling down many steps, they reached the tunnel heading from the palace compound outward. As they moved through the darkness, Suki sensed the other smoking mirrors, just as she had sensed the one at the White House. It had an intense feeling of evil. Of wrongness.

“Whoa, I can feel them,” Suki said.

“Feel what?”

“The mirror things.”

The tunnels were pitch-black, except for the kem ?m torches. They couldn’t see far ahead, and there were also various side tunnels branching off, perfect places for someone to hide. Suki’s nerves were twanging with the danger.

“This main tunnel leads to the pyramid where the sacrifices happen,” Angélica said. “I don’t know where the mirrors are, but they’re off this main path somewhere.”

“Keep going,” Suki instructed. Her instincts were starting to warn her again. Was it just the magic of the mirrors or something else? She felt like she had in Florida when they were driving to the airport. It was a nervous, sick-to-her-stomach kind of feeling.

Angélica didn’t seem to sense anything at all. She looked serious but not frightened.

Farther on, they reached a side tunnel, and Suki could feel the wrongness emanating from it. “That’s it,” she said, pointing. “They’re there.”

“If we don’t break the mirrors,” Angélica warned, “they will all be able to slip away.”

Jordan nodded firmly. “Side mission. Let’s knock it out and then go back this way.”

“Our job is to rescue people,” said another soldier worriedly.

“This is how they kidnapped the leaders,” Angélica said. “And there are more to be abducted later. This was just the first round. Without strong leaders, when the border attacks start, there will be confusion about what to do. That will increase instability.”

Jordan nodded. “We go for it.”

Suki tried to choke down her fear. “Let’s hurry. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

Jordan led the way with his partner, followed by Angélica and Suki. The final two looked reluctant, but they followed them.

Deeper in, Suki sensed magic down one side shaft, and then another. It was like a maze, but she could sense a path through it.

They reached a stela with a glowing symbol carved into it. It radiated a feeling of darkness.

“Huracán,” Angélica whispered fearfully.

Suki sensed the mirrors beyond the stela. “The mirrors are behind this rock, but I don’t know how to move it. There is probably a password or rite that needs to be performed.”

“Anyone have any C-4 explosives?” Jordan asked.

“Pretty sure that would cause this tunnel to cave in, Scott,” said Friedlein, his partner, doubtfully. “And we’d be announcing ourselves. It’s not our mission.”

“We could rig it with explosives and a trip wire,” suggested Mercado.

“Quiet,” Suki said. There was something approaching them from behind. Her insides shriveled with worry. “Someone’s coming.”

“Infrared,” Jordan said. The soldiers all switched to night vision.

“Nothing,” said another, dropping to a knee and aiming his rifle into the corridor.

The stone behind them grew brighter and began to grind and lift.

“Uh-oh,” Jordan muttered, turning as the stone began to rise.

A jaguar shrieked as it bounded out at them. One of the soldiers pulled his trigger on reflex, sending bullets spraying down the corridor.

Suki brought up a web of kem ?m in front of them just before the ricocheted shots killed them all.