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They all scrambled for cover as bullets ricocheted through the confined space. Maddock drew his Walther and scanned the rim of the gulch. Another shot rang out. Maddock saw the muzzle flash and fired off two shots in quick succession.
“Did you get him?” Spenser asked.
“Doubt it.”
“Drop your weapons!” Segar held up a shiny badge. “I am an honorary Sheriff’s Deputy in three states!
A bullet struck the boulder he was hiding behind and he ducked down. “No respect for authority.”
The outline of a large man appeared at the edge of a cliff. He raised a pistol. Unfortunately for him, Maddock and his team were ready and waiting. Maddock, Bones, Atsa, Gold, and Platt all fired at once. The man’s body jerked as the bullets struck him, and he slumped to the ground.
“If I could only get up there, I could eliminate them with my bare hands,” Segar said.
“Feel free to scale the cliff. We’ll cover you,” Bones said.
An eerie silence filled the air. They waited in case the attackers were playing possum, but the enemy appeared to have broken off their attack.
“Think we got both of them?” Gold asked.
“My gut says one of them survived and he’s now hauling his wounded buddy away,” Maddock said.
“I think he’s beyond wounded.” Gold gave his rifle a loving pat. “We turned him into Swiss cheese.”
“Speaking of wounded, where’s Joe?” Maddock turned to see the Navajo propped up against the wall of the gulch. Dakota was tending to a wound in the man’s shoulder.
“Just grazed him,” Dakota said. He cleaned the wound, applied ointment and a bandage, and wrapped it in medical tape. Maddock was impressed with his calm and efficiency. Apparently, there were still layers of the onion to peel back where the eccentric young man was concerned.
“Where did you learn first aid?” Maddock asked.
“Picked it up here and there. I got hurt a lot when I was a kid and Spenser got tired of bandaging me up.” Dakota paused, scratched his head. “Come to think of it, I still get hurt a lot.”
“Those must have been the guys we were warned about,” Atsa said. “But why did they attack us? We aren’t any danger to them down here.”
“Unless we miss our guess, they are members of a group called the Dominion,” Maddock said.
Atsa frowned. “Like the voting machines?”
“The Dominion was around long before those machines,” Maddock said. “And they want to stop us from finding the treasure.”
“Is it really that valuable?” Joe asked.
“It’s not only the cash value they’re interested in,” Maddock said. “The Dominion is a Christofascist group that understands the power symbols have over some people. The Golden Jesus would be of great use to them as they work to convince people the Dominion is anointed by God to save the world from evil.”
“The world would be a better place if everyone simply stuck to the Golden Rule and left it at that,” Spenser said. No one argued with her.
“If these people are trying to kill you, why continue with the hunt?” Joe asked.
“They know we have already discovered clues to the treasure. The only way to end this is to get to the Golden Jesus first and turn it over to a legitimate institution,” Maddock said.
“And that will stop them?” Aska sounded doubtful.
“The war will continue, but we’ll win this battle,” Maddock said.
“In that case, I’ll tell you what I know.” Joe sat up straight, cleared his throat. “As I was saying before those bastards shot me, my great-grandfather claimed to have stumbled across the cave when he was a young man. He said the eagle will point the way.”
“Any idea what that means?”
“There’s a rock formation that looks to me like an eagle. It’s not far, but you’ll never find it if you don’t know the way.” He took a minute to sketch out a map in the dirt, describing the landmarks as he drew. “I’m afraid that’s all I can do for you. I never hunted for the treasure myself.”
Joe declined their offer of help getting back to his vehicle. He insisted his wound was superficial, hardly worth considering. So, Maddock and company bade the two Navajo goodbye.
“A word of warning,” Aksa said as they walked away. “The part of the canyon you’re going to is treacherous. It’s renowned for its rockslides. The last person I knew who went in didn’t come back out.”
As Joe had described, it was a short hike to their destination, and the way in would be almost impossible to find if one didn’t know where to look. Hidden behind a juniper was a narrow cleft in the rock. It was barely wide enough for them to squeeze through. When they reached the other side, they found themselves in a box canyon.
“I wouldn’t want to be trapped here.” Bones scanned the walls. His hand rested on his Glock.
“Segar, how about you stand guard?” Maddock said. “Anyone tries to get through, you do your thing.”
Segar nodded gravely and made a small bow. “Not even the French Foreign Legion could get past me.”
“Of course not. They’re French,” Bones said.
They searched the base of the canyon until they found a petroglyph that depicted a serpent devouring a spiral.
“It’s exactly like Young described.” Spenser squeezed Maddock’s biceps and bounced on the balls of her feet. “We are getting closer.”
While she and Platt recorded a scene in front of the petroglyph, Maddock scanned the canyon rim. He soon spotted what he thought was the rock formation Joe had described. It was a short, squat columnar shape with a pointed rock jutting out at the top.
“I’d say that resembles an eagle perched atop a rock. It appears to be facing that way.” He pointed at the opposite side of the canyon. “Follow the eagle’s eyeline and see if anything jumps out at us.”
“I see something,” Bones pointed halfway up the cliff, where a ledge led to a spot cloaked in shadow. “Might be a cave. Want to try it?”
It was a challenging climb but well within the capabilities of everyone in their party, except for Segar, who remained on guard duty. They worked their way up slowly. Heat roiled off the sunbaked rocks, and the air shimmered.
Everyone had reached the ledge except Maddock and Spenser when he looked up and saw movement on the canyon rim. Next thing he knew, a wall of rocks was tumbling down on them.
“Rockslide!” he shouted.
He held onto the ledge with one hand, grabbed Spenser by the wrist, and held on as a shower of rocks and gravel rained down on them. Pain shot through him, and he felt his grip on the ledge slipping. A moment later, Bones and Platt hauled him up, with Spenser in tow.
“Thanks for the assist,” he said.
“Never again until you lose some weight.”
“I’m not the one who’s developing a beer gut.”
Bones looked down at his flat stomach, then looked at Maddock. “That’s not funny.”
They followed the ledge around to a small cave entrance hidden behind a patch of Mormon Tea. Once inside, they were able to stand up again. Twenty paces back, the cave ended in a pile of rubble that reached the ceiling.
“Think we can move the rocks without bringing the house down?” Bones played the beam of his light across the ceiling.
“It looks solid to me,” Maddock said. “I don’t think this is from a collapse.”
“What does that mean?” Platt asked from behind the camera.
“It means somebody piled these rocks here,” Bones said. “Which makes me want to see what’s on the other side.”
Spenser narrated while they worked to clear away the rubble. In short order they had created an opening large enough to crawl through.
“I feel like Howard Carter when he opened King Tut’s tomb,” Maddock said. “When he looked inside, someone asked him if he could see anything. He was so overwhelmed that he could only manage the words, ‘Wondrous things.’”
“Let’s hope there are wondrous things waiting on the other side,” Spenser said.
