COATLICUE Read online

  Sam sat up. "Now we have to get it."

  "We?" Blair repeated, studying the distance from the floor to the rafter. "I'm not going up there."

  Sam glanced at him. "Don't tell me you are afraid of heights, too."

  Blair swallowed. "Yep."

  Sam shook his head. "You and Dad both. They have never bothered me."

  "Like I have said before, you get that from your mother," Mac interjected as he walked back in. "What's the problem?" Blair and Sam pointed upward.

  When Jim returned from the kitchen, he found Blair and Mac standing by the couch, both looking up. Following their eyes, Jim's mouth dropped open when he spotted Sam, carefully winding his way through the rafters. "What is going on?" he asked as he walked over to Blair and Mac. Blair quickly explained, pointing at the picture.

  "And of course, neither of you are helping," Jim stated, studying the two men with their feet firmly planted on the ground.

  "We are helping," Blair answered with a grin. "We are guiding him to the picture." There was no answering smile in Mac's face, however. His eyes were carefully following his son's progress.

  "Right," Jim replied. He looked at his partner. "I thought you'd be over that height phobia after our jump over the cliff."

  "No way, man. That adventure just reinforced it."

  Sam had reached the rafter above them, and athletically knelt down on the beam. Stretching lengthwise on the rough wood, he slipped the picture off the nail. "Watch out below," he called, then dropped it into Mac's waiting hands. Handing the picture to Blair, Mac kept his eyes on Sam as he pulled himself up, and picked his way back across to the loft. Mac slowly walked over to the staircase.

  "What did Simon have to say?" Blair asked, fingers feeling along the back of the picture.

  "Well, it seems that our two 'friends' are basically hired help. All they will say is that they were hired by a Spanish-speaking guy."

  Blair snorted. "That's not much help."

  Mac grasped Sam's hand, and helped him over the rail. "It might be more helpful than you realize, Blair. Pete says Phoenix believes Diego Cruz is in town."

  "Who is Diego Cruz?" Sam asked, brushing dust and wood splinters off his jeans.

  "He's a suspected art and artifact smuggler. I've caught a few of his hired help, but have never come close to his inner operation."

  "So, you think he may be interested in whatever Mrs. Farrell left for Sam to return?" Jim queried.

  "Exactly. If Mr. Farrell picked up some artifacts that weren't recorded from a dig, Cruz could easily fake some papers, and sell them at a hefty price."

  "Meaning he would rather get to them before I do," Sam said matter-of-factly, though Jim picked up on the tension reappearing on his face.

  "We'll just have to prevent that from happening," Mac replied, squeezing his son's shoulder as they walked over to Blair and Jim.

  "Here," Blair broke in, handing the picture to Sam, "Your mystery, you do the honors."

  Sam smiled, noticing Blair had already bent back the tabs. He pulled the cardboard back while the other three watched, finding a piece of paper. Returning the frame to Blair, Sam unfolded the thick paper. With Mac and Blair peering over each shoulder, and Jim trying to read upside down, they all focused on symbols there. "Oh great," Sam muttered. "Now we have a map to decipher."

  "What is with this woman and moons?" Blair muttered, noting the quarter moon in one corner.

  "What is that?" Jim pointed, trying to crane his neck to get a better view.

  "Looks like a large rabbit sitting next to his hole," Sam replied, frowning.

  "Then we have some sort of path curving along here, and ending in an oval." Mac traced the line with his finger. He tilted his head sideways. "This is going to take some studying."

  Jim glanced out the window, noting the darkness that had fallen during their search. "Why don't we have supper, get some sleep, and go after this in the morning?"

  "Sounds good," Mac agreed, trying not to yawn. "Would you like me to cook?"

  Blair fought to keep a straight face as Sam's nose wrinkled in concern. "Nah, let me do it. I know what we packed."

  "Then I'll help," Mac continued, following Blair into the kitchen.

  "We'll get the fire started," Jim called after them.

  Blair carefully stretched as he walked out of the bathroom, leaving the door open for the waiting Sam. The mattress had been harder than he was use to. Yawning, he wandered into the living area, noticing the notepad next to the map on the table. He started reading the notes there as Jim walked past him toward the kitchen. "Jim, is this Mac's work?"

  Jim glanced down briefly, and nodded. "Mac was up until late last night. I think he is still getting over his jet lag."

  Suppressing another yawn, Blair read down the evidence of Mac's brainstorming. The older man had written down possible meanings of each symbol on the map. Blair was impressed by the various ideas, ranging from literal to mythical to symbolic. Studying the map and list, Blair could see several possible routes to try.

  Jim walked back out. "Did Mac have any breakthroughs?"

  Blair shrugged, "Some good ideas, just one snag. Where to start."

  "Where to start?" Jim questioned curiously.

  "Yeah, unless there is a place to start, it is hard to determine where to look for the various possible landmarks. About the only one that seems to easily connect to anything is the serpent that turns into a river here. That is probably the creek nearby, but nothing is certain. "

  Sam exited the bathroom, and joined Jim and Blair at the table. "Well, what's next?"

  "Next, you two go find some firewood, while I make breakfast," Jim answered. "I think all this nice weather is about to turn on us, and we may need a fire later."

  "All right," Blair agreed as he grabbed his leather jacket.

  Within a few minutes, he and Sam were scouting for wood a few yards behind the cabin. Blair noticed a small building as he walked towards a fallen limb. "Hey, Sam, what is this place?"

  Sam turned, and chuckled. "Oh, that is the outhouse. I am SO glad the Farrells decided to install inside plumbing."

  Blair chuckled as he walked behind it. "Yeah, can you imagine having to make a run for it in the middle of the night during a storm?" Suddenly, his mirth died away. "Sam, come here a minute."

  Sam looked up, brow wrinkled in concern. Cautiously walking around the building, he found Blair staring at the door. "What is it?" Blair pointed at the quarter moon cut in the door. "What?" Sam asked again, puzzled.

  "Mrs. Farrell's map had a quarter moon on it, at just that angle," Blair explained, excitement growing in his voice.

  Sam looked at the door, then back at Blair. "You think this is the starting point?"

  "Can you think of a better spot?" Blair asked with a smirk.

  Sam glanced back at the door, then began sweeping the woods around them with his eyes. "Do you remember what symbol was near the moon?"

  Blair, also turning to search, replied, "I think it was the..."

  "Rabbit," Sam finished for him. He pointed at the rock formation up the slope from them.

  Blair turned his head sideways, "You know, that DOES look like a rabbit, with long ears, and the eye being that small outcropping there." Excited for a new break in the mystery, Sam jogged toward the rock, Blair fast on his heels. Neither thought to go back and inform Jim and Mac.

  Mac entered the kitchen, yawning. He smiled as he sniffed the aroma, "Pancakes?"

  Jim smiled, " Yeah, the fresh mountain air always gives me a craving for them. Get caught up on your sleep?"

  "Some," Mac replied, looking around. "Where are Sam and Blair?"

  "Out getting firewood, " Jim answered, flipping the cake on the griddle. He automatically extended his hearing in the direction Blair and Sam had gone.

  "I saw the young men go up the hill, Senor Cruz."

  "We will follow them. You two get MacGyver and Ellison in the cabin."

  At the concerned look that crossed Jim's face, M
ac asked worriedly, "What is it?"

  A connection deep within caused Jim to briefly respond, "Cruz," as he concentrated further, hearing a brief yelp from Blair. The edges of his focus had begun fuzzing into a zone out, when Mac grabbed his arm. "Jim!"

  Jim shook his head, and met Mac's eyes. "We are about to have company."

  Mac continued to read Jim's eyes, mouthing silently, "Where?"

  Jim motioned towards the back door, then the front room with his head. Pulling his gun from his holster, he indicated the front with his gun. Mac tilted his head towards the back. Jim nodded his agreement, and slipped quietly through the door to the front.

  Picking up a pot holder, Mac grabbed the griddle off the stove and positioned himself by the back door. He didn't have long to wait. As the back door slowly opened, Mac slammed the griddle into it, which in turn hit the man behind it. The man went down hard. Mac immediately dragged him inside and knelt beside him. Flipping the stunned man on his back, Mac pulled his arms behind him. Mac tore a towel from the nearby counter into strips, and tied the man's hands. Then he quietly searched the kitchen drawers for any other useful items.

  Jim slipped into the alcove between the stairs and the wall. Patiently, he listened to the invader cautiously enter the cabin, and carefully step across the wood floor, searching for his intended victims. Once past Jim's hiding spot, Jim immediately placed his gun in the perp's neck. "Freeze! Cascade PD," Jim stated. He took the man's gun from his suddenly limp hand.

  Hearing Jim, Mac entered the room. "Is that all of them?" he asked. He tore off lengths from a roll of duct tape he had found in kitchen, and gave them to Jim.

  "No, Cruz has more after Blair and Sam," Jim replied as he quickly wrapped the perp's hands in tape, and forced him in a chair. As he wrapped another around the man's feet, he indicated his jacket hanging on one of the pegs. "Give me my jacket, and we'll go after them."

  Stopping at the foot of the rock resembling a rabbit, Sam started looking around. "Okay, what is next?"

  Studying the stone, Blair slowly backed off, trying to get the angle as it was on the map. "I think it was that black circle you called a rabbit..." Suddenly, Blair's voice ended with a yelp.

  "Blair!" Sam called sharply, turning to where Blair was. Or where he had been, since there was no sign of him now.

  A muffled voice barely reached him, "Down here."

  Puzzled and concerned, Sam cautiously stepped over to the voice. A hole appeared in the ground, sod dipping inward. "Blair! Are you all right?" Sam called again, worry increasing.

  "I'm okay, just got a new tear in my jeans," Blair replied. Sam could see light suddenly pierce the darkness below. "It looks like the mouth of a tunnel. If you want, there is some steps cut into the rock here. I just took the hard way.

  Still concerned about Blair, Sam carefully investigated the hole, quickly finding the holds Blair had mentioned. He climbed down, guided by Blair's voice and his light. "Where did you get the light?" Sam asked. He ran an eye over his new friend, searching for injuries.

  Blair held out a tiny lantern on his keychain. "Gift from an old girlfriend. Came in handy a while ago when I was in trouble, so I always make sure I have it." He then shone the light on the timbers lining the walls. "Looks a little like a mining tunnel. "

  Sam pointed to a mark in the rock wall next to them. "What is that?"

  Blair brought the lantern closer to the wall. "It is a curvy line like on the map." Blair traced it with the light. "It ends at this bump of rock."

  "An oval-shaped bump of rock," Sam added. They exchanged looks.

  "We should go back, get the larger flashlights," Blair suggested.

  "Shhh," Sam said suddenly, hearing unfamiliar voices above.

  Soon, both could hear a man say, "They were heading in this direction, Senor Cruz. I don't know where they went to."

  Without a word, Blair shut off the light. Another voice replied, "We need those young men. They must be here to find the Aztec artifacts Farrell had." Sam reached into the darkness to grab Blair's arm. Silently, they crept back from the hole, and away from the new danger.

  Jim and Mac crouched behind some brush, watching four men searching around a rock outcropping. "Cruz is the man next to the red bush, giving orders," Mac softly whispered. "Do you know where Blair and Sam are?" Mac knew that Jim's abilities gave him an edge over the others in the small meadow.

  Jim tilted his head slightly, searching with his hearing for a familiar sound. Mac instinctively laid his hand on Jim's arm, providing the anchor that was usually Blair's job, a guide's job. Pushing that thought away, Jim filtered out the sounds from the men in front, finally pinpointing a familiar heartbeat, next to another. "To the left," Jim replied, puzzled. Something wasn't right.

  Mac glanced to the left. "You mean in those trees?" Mac couldn't see how the younger men could hide there among the slim, bare trunks.

  Jim slowly shook his head. "No, closer." He attempted to piggy-back his sight with his hearing.

  Mac surveyed the men in the clearing again, then took a good look at the rock outcropping. It looked like a rabbit. On the map, next to the rabbit was... "Could they be underground?"

  At that moment, Jim spotted the tiny dark hole in the ground. "Yes, there," he pointed.

  Mac still couldn't see anything, but trusted that Jim could. "Can you tell if they are all right?" While Mac knew both his son and Blair were good at taking care of themselves, he was still worried given the circumstances.

  Jim smiled slightly, "Both their heart rates are up. I'd guess they know they are being hunted, but hoping no one finds their hiding hole."

  "Especially since it must be part of the map," Mac absently replied. At Jim's questioning stare, Mac pointed to the outcropping. "Rabbit."

  Jim, really looking at the rock for the first time, nearly groaned when he recognized the outline. Studying the men in front of them, Jim worried that they might extend their search, and find the 'rabbit' hole. "Any ideas?"

  Mac, too, was grimly studying the situation. "It's going to take a while for the cavalry to arrive." Jim had called Banks from his cell phone before they left the cabin.

  Jim nodded. "Simon will alert the local sheriff, but with the distance and bad relations there, I doubt they will respond very fast."

  "Tennison's district?" Mac asked, remembering the sheriff that hated the 'city boys', and Blair's story as to why.

  "Yep," Jim confirmed. He had his gun, but in facing three armed men, two with automatics, knew he had to save his for a last resort.

  At that moment, the men split up in different directions. "Divide and conquer?" Mac suggested.

  "Sounds good," Jim replied. "I'll take the big guy on the right." They, too, split up, following different henchmen.

  Sam felt the wall next to him curve in towards him. He and Blair had been stealthily slipping down the dark passage, trying to put as much distance between themselves and the entrance. "Blair, I think there is a bend or dead end here," he whispered.

  Blair decided they were far enough in to risk light. Shielding his eyes, Blair pressed on his tiny lantern, drawing a soft protest from Sam. "Yeah, this tunnel continues on," Blair confirmed.

  Sam turned his head back, still blinking. "Any idea where it could lead?"

  Blair shrugged, "Hopefully, it leads someplace out, so we can avoid Cruz's men and warn Jim and Mac." They walked quietly several more hundred yards, when Sam and Blair both stopped at the same time. "Do you see..."

  "Light?" Sam finished. "Maybe this is a way out!"

  Rapidly covering the rest of the distance, Blair leaned over a pile of wood and debris to look out the small opening. "This looks out over the creek. Must come out the bank."

  "Perhaps this is where Mr. Farrell brought in the artifacts, then boarded up the passage so no one else would find it," Sam suggested. He tugged at one of the wood planks. It broke off in his hands, one end a sharp point.

  Blair picked up a nearby crowbar, rusty from disuse and years of humid
ity. He quickly tore off another couple planks, opening the passage enough for them to slip through.

  Jim put to use his survival and hunting skills to sneak up silently behind the big man. "Looking for me?" he asked. As the man turned, Jim slugged him, knocking him out cold. "Hope the rest are this easy," he thought as he dragged the man off the path.

  Mac climbed up a ridge of rocks that ran parallel to the path of the second man. Careful not to dislodge any stones that would make a sound, Mac managed to slip ahead of the tall man. He discovered a loose pile of heavy timbers near the edge. Noticing that the path lead directly below, he quietly picked up one of the timbers, and patiently waited for the man to walk under. Just before the henchman reached the correct spot, another voice called out. "Hey Tomas, have you seen anything yet?" Above, Mac held his breath.

  "No, not yet. It is as if those two disappeared into thin air!"

  "Well, whether they walked or flew, Cruz wants results." The two men started forward again, crossing the spot directly under the trap. Mac immediately levered the timbers over the edge. Shouts greeted the falling logs. Mac quickly climbed down to check his work. Both men laid unconscious under the pile. Before Mac could see if they were still alive, he suddenly felt a cold gun barrel on his neck.

  Jim slipped down the path, searching to see if Mac had been successful. Rounding a bend, Jim stopped the instant he saw Diego Cruz, holding a gun to MacGyver's head. "So, you must be Detective Ellison. Perhaps you will be so kind to tell me where the Aztec artifacts are? Mr. MacGyver has not been cooperating."

  Jim quickly scanned Mac, detecting no injuries, but spied Cruz's arm wrapped around the his neck. "We haven't found the artifacts yet."

  The arm tightened. "You have had plenty of time to find the artifacts. I will even offer a handsome sum for them. But I refuse to let you sell them to anyone else."

  Jim continued to study Cruz. He thought he heard footsteps behind the gunman and Mac, hopefully the sheriff. "Why do you want them so bad? We don't even know what the Farrells had."