Canyon of the Sphinx (22 page)

The jungle darkened and the three
of them continued to run the path as best they could. But with the heavy
canopy, the only real light was from the flashlight.

"Christ, what time is
it?" Dennis yawned.

Marcus glanced at his watch.
"Almost three in the morning."

"What could she be doing up
at this hour?"

"I suspect we're going to
find out."

They didn't say any more, mostly
because it was difficult to gage Marcus' mood. An angry mood would be harshly
met, but if he wasn't angry, they didn't want to tick him off with a bunch of
speculation.  Eventually, they stopped running, but their pace was quick. It
was a long way to Site B and Marcus was surprised he hadn't come across them by
now. He didn't even hear them.

 It was the silence that began to
bother him.

***

As Christopher suspected, she
didn't run the entire way. But she almost did. By the time they reached the
dark, swampy area where the mudslide was located, he was sweating rivers.
Kathlyn was weary, too, but she didn't let that stop her. Before she could take
the hard way down again, Christopher caught up to her.

"Stop," he commanded
softly. "You're not going down that slide. It's bad enough in the
daylight, but at night-time it could really be hazardous. Let's go down the
long way."

Kathlyn reluctantly agreed. But
it was dark and slippery and she was having a difficult time keeping her
footing. Christopher took her hand to steady her, but didn't let it go the
entire way down. His grip came in handy several times, but Kathlyn let him go
the second they reached the bottom of the gully.

It was proper that she let him go
and he knew it. Still, it had been good to hold her hand, if only for a stolen
moment. He watched her in the moonlight, standing in the middle of the choked
gully, gazing at her surroundings. Dirty, uncombed and without her usual flash,
she was still a stunningly gorgeous woman.

"So now what?" he asked
softly.

She took a deep breath and closed
her eyes. "Where does this gully lead?" she asked after a moment.

Christopher looked off into the
darkness. "It winds down into a wider valley."

"Have you explored the
valley?"

"A bit. Mostly, we
concentrated on the sphinx we found here."

"And are there other gullies
around here?"

"Several, actually. We
haven't fully explored any of them, though. Why do you ask?"

She stood there a moment, her
fingertips beginning to tingle. It was the commencement of The State and she
stood very still, feeling the warm, windless motion flow over her. There were
definitely ghosts here; she could feel them. Those were the eyes she spoke of
earlier, but now she was getting a much clearer feeling. In the still of the
night, sensations seemed to come much easier for her. She put out her hands,
feeling the invisible motions roll over them, like swirling sands.

  "Wow," she breathed.
"The feeling is so strong here."

Murphy perked up. "It
is?"

"I dreamt of a city,"
she murmured. "Yellow pyramids and avenues lines with sphinxes. And I get
the feeling that it’s very, very old, much older than you think."

"Like how old?"

"Several thousands of
years."

He shook his head. "The
earliest known civilization, the Zapotecs, populated this area about eight hundred
B.C."

"These aren't Zapotec."

"Then what are they?"

She opened her eyes, looking up
the dark slopes around her. A faint smile played on her lips. "You want to
know something?"

"Yes, please."

"I don't think this lost
city is Egyptian at all."

Christopher felt a surge of hope.
"What makes you say that?"

"I'm not sure. I just get
the sensation that this city is far older than anything the Zapotecs or
Egyptians could build. I feel things much deeper than that."

Christopher looked around.
"Do you get a sensation for where the city is located? Are we on the right
track?"

Kathlyn's smile broadened.
"You really don't see it, do you?"

"See what?"

She threw up her hands as if
reaching for the sky. "This is your city, Dr. Murphy." She walked
over to the muddy, sloped sides and dug her hands into the mud. "You're
standing on an avenue. The slopes of these gullies are walls, covered with
centuries of growth. I think if you dig through this, you'll probably find
homes, or at least the equivalent. And down there, where this gully widens into
a valley, I think you'll find that the valley isn't a valley at all; it's a
massive courtyard like the ones they have a Tikal and Kalak'mul. And the
mountain in the middle of it is a growth-covered pyramid."

Christopher stood there a moment,
his gaze focused on the far end of the gully. Though it was too dark to see the
valley beyond, his mind began racing with the possibilities. That's how most of
the pyramids in the jungle had become, covered with centuries of growth so that
they were barely recognizable. Some believed the centers Kathlyn mentioned were
just the tip of the iceberg. He couldn't believe he hadn't seen this before.

"You're serious?"

"Yes."

He was having difficulty grasping
what she was saying. "What makes you think that?"

"More than a hunch, but
nothing particularly solid. I think Site A was a little farming village or
something; I just don't get any real strong feelings from it. Site B is your
true cache. You're standing in your city, Dr. Murphy. It's been here all
along."

He turned to her, seeing the
confidence on her face and it was enough to give him confidence, too. But after
all his years of searching, for it to end so abruptly and obviously was overwhelming.

"You really think it’s
here."

She nodded. "I do."

"I’ve been looking for this
city for years." He just shook his head. "You’ve spent a total of a
week here. How can you be sure?"

Her green eyes were intense, even
in the darkness. "I've been doing this kind of thing for years, Dr.
Murphy. It’s what I’m paid to do and I’m successful at it. Believe me when I
tell you that you are standing in your gilded city."

Murphy didn't know what to say.
He looked around, feeling a bubble of joy spreading up through his chest. He
didn't want to believe her, yet he couldn't help it. He felt like a volcano
ready to erupt.  At a loss for what else to do, he turned to Kathlyn and threw
his big arms around her in a bear-hug.

Knowing he was happy and not
seeing anything wrong with returning his hug, Kathlyn briefly squeezed his neck
and let go. Only Christopher didn't follow suit; he picked her up and crushed
the breath from her.  When he finally put her on her feet, it was reluctantly.

"I can't believe it,"
he said. "I really can't believe it."

Christopher never saw the
flashlight descending the slope behind him, nor the footfalls that accompanied
it. The next thing he realized, a burst of pain accompanied by a shower of
stars exploded on his face and he was falling backwards, dazed and
disoriented.  His ears were buzzing like crazy. But he knew he had been struck
and it was instinctive that he defend himself.

Marcus was going in for another
blow.  He landed another fist on Murphy's jaw and sent the man skidding on his
buttocks, several feet back into the mud. As he came down for another crushing
blow, Christopher threw himself forward and took out Marcus' legs. Marcus hit
heavily, rolling in the mud as Murphy pounced on him.

"No!" Kathlyn shrieked.
"Marcus, stop it!"

Dennis and Mark looked at each
other; they weren't sure if they should interfere. They had seen Kathlyn in
Christopher's embrace, too. Mark knew Kathlyn better than almost anyone and he
refused to believe anything clandestine had happened. But whatever Murphy got,
in his opinion, he deserved. He shouldn't have been out here with her alone in
the first place.

Christopher landed a powerful
blow on Marcus' cheek. Marcus threw all his weight behind his strength and
dislodged Christopher from his straddled position over him. Agile as a cat,
Marcus came up and used his elbow to pummel Christopher’s broad back.
Christopher, not to be outdone, used his own elbow and threw it into Marcus'
vulnerable abdomen. Marcus doubled over, but not before he cuffed Murphy in the
side of the head, hard enough to nearly knock him unconscious.

"Stop it!" Kathlyn
cried again. Not knowing what else to do, she jumped on Marcus' back and threw
her arms around his neck." Marcus, stop!"

"Get off," he snarled.

She only wrapped herself around
him tighter. Murphy, dazed and injured, was coming in for another punch when he
saw her wound around her husband. He could have sucker punched him but thought
better of it; he might fall backwards and land on Kathlyn. Hanging on to him
for dear life, Kathlyn was horrified.

"What in the hell are you
doing?" she said to her husband.

Marcus was like stone. "I've
got a better question. What in the hell were you doing?"

She let go of him, sliding down
his body until she reached the ground. "I... I found his city for him,
Marcus. It's here; we're standing in it. Murphy followed me here. I don’t
understand why you…?"

He turned on her, viciously.
"Christ, don’t lie to me. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would
have never believed it."

"Believed what?"

"Don't play stupid with me. 
Please; don't goddamn insult my intelligence like that."

"Oh, God," Christopher
breathed. "Dr. Burton, it’s not what you….”

“Shut the hell up,” Marcus
snapped. “You just shut the hell up. I’ll deal with you later.”

“Marcus!” Kathlyn exclaimed
softly. “Why are you talking to him like that? Why did you attack him?”

“I know why,” Christopher said,
looking between Kathlyn and her husband. ”Dr. Burton, it's not at all what you
think at all. I got excited and hugged Kathlyn when I realized she had found my
city. That's what all this was about; that’s why we came out here. We weren't
doing anything subversive, I swear to God."

Marcus acted like he hadn't heard
him, but Kathlyn's eyes widened. "Is that what you thought? That Dr.
Murphy and I were... that we were somehow...?" She burst into tears.
"Marcus, is that what all this was about? How could you think that?"

He watched her turn away, sobbing
pathetically. His violent flash of anger at seeing her in Murphy's embrace was
replaced by an inkling of uncertainty at what he had just done. “What am I
supposed to think?” he hated that he sounded as if he was defending himself. “I
follow you two out here and what do I see? You in Murphy’s arms. Just how in
the hell am I supposed to react?”

Kathlyn was furious. “You’re
supposed to trust your wife,” she snapped. “I asked you once if you ever
believed I was unfaithful to you. What was your answer?”

His jaw was ticking crazily. He
was torn between staring her down and unable to hold her gaze. “No,” he said
softly.

“I didn’t hear you.”

“I said no,” he said, more
loudly. “I know you never have.”

“So you think I would start now,
here of all places?” She wiped the tears on her cheeks, now more angry that
sad. “What in the hell is the matter with you, Marcus?”

Marcus refused to feel like a
fool. But that’s exactly what was starting to happen. “So do you want to
explain to me what you were doing out here with Murphy, alone?”

She couldn’t believe this was
happening. “I woke up with a theory. You were sound asleep and I didn’t want to
wake you. I was coming out here by myself when Murphy caught up to me. He tried
to stop me, Marcus. He said on more than one occasion that we should go back
and get you. But I said no; I just wanted to test my theory and be done with it
without waking you up because I knew you were exhausted. So Dr. Murphy was kind
enough to accompany me out here so I wouldn’t get eaten by wild animals or
kidnapped by terrorists. What you saw was Dr. Murphy showing gratitude for the
fact that I had finally located his lost city. It was an innocent hug,
something you yourself might give to Juliana or Debra Jo. It was nothing at
all.” She shook her head, feeling dull and rattled with emotion. “If you really
think I came out here just to play grab-ass, then you’re not the man I thought
you were. I don’t know you at all.”

Kathlyn had never lied to him,
ever. More than once he had trusted her with his life. She was strong and
virtuous and her character was rock-solid. He suddenly realized that everything
she said made sense and a huge wave of regret swept him. As he had done so
often in the past, he had gone off half-cocked before he knew all the facts.
She had always forgiven him. Looking into her eyes, he realized she might not
be so forgiving this time. He closed his eyes tightly.

"Christ,” he whispered.
“What have I done?”