Canyon of the Sphinx (47 page)

He squatted down against the
stone, facing her. In the glare of the red flare, his features had an unnatural
cast.

“Why are you so willing to give
in?” he cocked his head. “Don’t you realize we’re extorting money from you? Or
is that kind of money so throw-away for you that you don’t care?”

“I care,” she said quietly. “But
I just want you two to leave me alone. If I have to pay you to do it, then so
be it. I’m not going to worry about my safety, or my family’s safety, for the
rest of my life. I’ll do it if you’ll just go away.”

 “Fair enough,” he said. “I know
your family is rich. Being an accountant, I’ve done my financial homework. You
alone are worth over one hundred million dollars. Ten million is a drop in the
bucket to you.”

“But you have to remember that
much of that is in assets, not liquid cash,” she said. “Ten million is still a
lot of money to me.”

“I want twenty million,” he said.
“Twenty million and you’ll never hear from me again. Anything less and next
time, we may get one of your kids.”

Kathlyn flared. “You better
goddamn leave my kids alone. Whatever is going on here, your issue is with me.”

“Whatever, dude.”

“No ‘whatever, dude’. Whatever
issue you have is with me alone. Speaking of which, there is something I want
to know.”

“What?”

“This whole crap with Jensen; were
you really in with her the whole time?”

“No,” he said. “Not the whole
time. I was in and out, you could say.”

 “So the lawsuit and everything;
was that just a plan gone wrong or did you guys really plan it that way?”

“That was her stupid plan, dude.
She thought she could blackmail you before the IRS auditors got wind of the
documents she planted. But they got a hold of them when you were in the Yucatan
getting bit by snakes. When your lawyer’s detective came nosing around, I got
scared. I didn’t want to get in trouble. So I agreed to testify against her in
exchange for immunity.”

Kathlyn’s blood cooled. But she
wasn’t surprised; her brother had been right all along. “Asshole,” she
muttered.

Mike just shrugged. Kathlyn was
so distressed that she was shaking. But then she realized the shaking was for
another reason; that strange buzz in her body that had been present since she
set foot on this site. Now was not the time for her Intuition to kick in and
she struggled against it, focusing instead on the situation. She had to think
of a way out of this. But the more she struggled, the stronger the feeling
became.

She was already on her knees. The
flare tumbled from her hand as she rocked forward, bracing her arms against the
floor. Strange voices were speaking to her, visions of people approaching the
altar in the massive chamber and having their chests cut open in reward for
their obedience. There was pain and there was blood. Fear filled her.

Kathlyn groaned, grasping her
chest as she felt their agony. Mike had no idea what was going on.

 “What’s the matter with you?” he
asked warily.

She couldn’t answer him. The
visions became stronger and she could feel herself slipping away. A man dressed
in white flowing robes with a strange rectangular hat perched on his head
invaded her brain. She could see his features. Asian features.

“Dj-ni-xian,” she croaked.

Mike stared at her; confused by
the strange words. “Huh?” he asked.

“I, Dj-ni-xian,” she repeated. “You
shall fall.”

Mike stood up, unsteady and
frightened. Dr. Trent looked like a ghost, pale and quivering. Her eyes were
entirely black as the pupils swallowed up the irises.

 “What in the hell is the matter
with you, dude?” he moved towards her, thinking she was playing games with him.
“Quit it. Now!”

Kathlyn stood up, facing him. She
looked positively frightening. “You,” she pointed a finger at him, “shall fall.”

Mike moved away from her, backing
up into the main chamber. The flare, still on the floor where Kathlyn had
dropped it, was strong enough to illuminate a good portion of the chamber. Mike
backed into the cavernous room with Kathlyn walking after him in a strange,
mechanical gait.

 “Get away from me!” his command
was weak. He kept the gun at her chest, not wanting to shoot her, but he would
if he had to. “Stop or I’ll shoot you; I swear I will.”

She kept coming, murmuring
strange words. “In your death shall be Our life,” she croaked. “You of this
time and place. Today, you shall fall.”

Mike decided to stand his ground.
He had the gun. He came to a stop and she walked right into the gun. Shocked, he
didn’t have time to pull the trigger. Kathlyn reached up and knocked the gun
from his hand, sending it spinning onto the stone floor. Before he could react,
she grabbed him around the neck.

Her strength was super-human.
Mike’s eyes bulged as she squeezed and shoving him against the big stone block
in the center of the chamber. He took a swing at her and landed a blow across
her cheek; she didn’t recoil. Her eyes were big and black, her fingers digging
into his flesh. It was clear that she had lost her mind. Mike started to panic.

“Let go of me!” he hollered.

Kathlyn slammed him back so that
his shoulders and neck were on the slab. Her unnatural strength gradually half-pushed,
half-lifted him onto the slab, her grip on his neck turning his face shades of
red and blue. The chanting coming forth from her mouth was deeply male. It was
heavily accented and tremendously unsettling.

“Great Gods who defend us,” she
rumbled. “We honor you with Death to protect Our Life. The Beast of this day
and time must be sacrificed so that We may live again. Great Gods, accept our
prayers.”

Mike tried to kick, to twist, anything
to escape her iron grip. He didn’t know what was happening to her, but she wasn’t
herself. She was terrifying. He began screaming for help. No matter what the
scheme had been a half hour ago, he hadn’t signed on for this kind of madness.
Dr. Trent was certifiably insane.

Digging out the small avalanche
that had partially filled the tunnel, Marcus and Christopher could hear him
screaming. For a split second, they paused to stare at each other in surprise.
Marcus uttered a curse. They resumed digging with twice the speed, twice the
purpose. Whatever was going on in there couldn’t be good, but they had no idea
what they would truly see when the finally cleared the tunnel and emerged into
the red-hued cavern.

The flare still burned on the
floor. Marcus was the first one through in spite of Tony’s words of caution. 
Christopher tumbled out of the hole behind him, followed by Tony and Mark.  The
first thing they saw was Mike lying upon the great stone altar with Kathlyn’s
hand around his neck. She appeared to be holding him fast with just one hand. A
moment of shock quickly passed.

“Kathlyn?” Marcus called to her.
“Are you okay?”

She acted as if she hadn’t heard
him. She continued to hold Mike by the neck, and Mike continued to struggle.

“She’s gone insane, dude!” Mike
shouted. “Get her off of me!”

Marcus charged forward without
another word. “Where’s the gun?” he demanded.

“On the floor!” Mike gasped.
“Help me!”

Tony saw the gun and went for it.
Marcus went to his wife. One look at her face and he knew what had happened.

 “Kathlyn, it’s me,” he said as evenly
as he could. “What’s happening?”

She didn’t react to the sound of
his voice. Marcus glanced down at Mike, who was turning shades of purple in the
red flare light. Mark and Christopher stood on the other side of the altar, watching
Kathlyn with taut apprehension.

 “Marcus, look at her arm,” Mark
said softly. “It’s like a rock.”

Marcus touched her arm; it was
freezing and hard. He tried to move it, but it wouldn’t budge.

 “Ask if it’s Dj-ni-Xian,”
Christopher urged.

Marcus’ expression bordered
between curiosity and sorrow. He never liked seeing her like this, caught up in
whatever forces tuned into her delicate senses. At the moment, she almost
didn’t look like herself. She was terribly rigid and her lovely face was
distorted.

“Is this Dj-ni-xian?” he asked
her. “Dj-ni-xian, can you hear me?”

She turned to look at him, then.
He was struck by her eerie black eyes. “I, Dj-ni-xian.”

“What are you doing?”

“In his death shall be Our life.”

Marcus and Christopher passed
long glances. Though neither one of them said a word, they were both thinking
the same thing; the words were on the corbelled entrance. Something very
strange and mystical was happening here with Kathlyn smack in the middle of it.
She was as strained and odd as anyone who knew her had ever seen.

“Why must you sacrifice him?”
Marcus asked.

“Because We must live.”

“Who is ‘we’?”

Kathlyn’s free hand came up and
she pointed in the direction of the entrance. “We.”

Marcus wasn’t sure what he meant.
“People at the door? People outside the door?”

Christopher came around to stand
behind Marcus. “Do you mean the people in the courtyard?”

She dropped her hand. “We,” she said,
her fingers tightening again on Mike. “He would kill she who will give Us life
again.”

Christopher leaned towards
Marcus’ ear. “Don’t you see?” he hissed. “He saw what was going on in here.
Mike was going to kill Kathlyn and he wasn’t going to let that happen. This
Dj-ni-xian guy has been at this site since the beginning. He first tried to
contact us through your wife all those months ago. Maybe he looks at her as the
only chance for his people to finally have peace. Because of her gifts, she was
the only one who could find them and set them free.”

It made sense. But Marcus wasn’t
about to let his wife commit murder, trance or not. As the consummately
black-and-white scientist who, prior to the introduction to his wife, would
have coldly disregarded anyone who even remotely believed in the supernatural, Marcus
now found himself reasoning with the entity. It was a significant moment.
Rather than shake his wife from her stupor because her episodes bewildered him,
he realized that he wanted to conclude this.

“He is not going to kill her,”
Marcus assured the spirit. “Let him go and I will take him. Your people will
have life again, I promise.”

Kathlyn didn’t reply for several
long moments. “Walk the path of Homestone,” she gurgled. “We sleep at your
feet.”

“Not anymore. We’ve found you.”

“Feel the longing.”

“The longing is gone. We’ll make
sure you find peace.”

It seemed like ages passed as she
continued to stand, her hand around Mike’s neck. No one was quite sure what to
do. Marcus watched her face, her eyes, her breathing. She didn’t seem to be suffering,
but she was clearly still caught up in whatever had her. Suddenly, her eyes
rolled back in her head and she collapsed. Marcus caught her before she could
hit the ground.

Tony grabbed Mike before he could
bolt, yanking him off the slab. Mark smacked him on the back of the head a
couple of times for good measure.

“I’ve got him,” Tony had Mike by
the arm, twisting it behind his back. “He’s not going anywhere.”

Marcus picked Kathlyn up,
unconscious in his arms. Her long blond hair trailed from the crook of his arm
like a golden banner. Christopher peered at her, concerned.

“Is she okay?” he asked.

Marcus’ gaze never left Kathlyn’s
face. “She’ll be fine,” he said hoarsely. “Just.. give her a minute. She’ll
come around.”

Christopher dared to look at
Marcus. Guilt flooded him as he realized again that he had been the cause of
this entire misadventure, from beginning to end. His selfishness was to blame.

“I’m so sorry about all of this,”
he said softly. “It seems like she’s taken a beating since my university first
asked for her help. I’ll admit, when she first came here and started sensing
things, I was a hypocrite. I wouldn’t take her suggestions until she left my
site, and then when I saw what she had produced, all I could think of was
getting her back down here again to help me. With all you two had gone through
over the past several months, all I could think about was me. And I’m sorry.”

Marcus looked at him, then.
Christopher was surprised to see a gentle smile on his face.

“Do you really think she would
have missed any of this?” he said. “You really don’t know my wife. She lives
for this kind of thing.”

Christopher lifted an eyebrow.
“Right…. she lives for viper bites, crazy people with guns, spirit guides, and
all that other normal, every-day stuff.”

Marcus shifted her in his arms;
she was starting to come around just a bit. “Chris, when she came on to my dig
for the first time, we had scorpion tides, unstable tombs, more crazy people
with guns, and most of all, doing battle with me nearly every damn day. But she
didn’t back down. If nothing else, Kathlyn is a survivor. She’ll keep going even
when the rest of us collapse.”