Read Online Exodus Code by John Barrowman, Carole E. Barrowman - Free Book Online Page B

ledge, and Jack was walking to meet it, his hand outstretched. It was a mountain lion, a sleek black puma, animals that used to be everywhere in the Andes and were now extinct in this region. The beast had a pulpy cut above its eye where Resnos had thumped it, which was stil bleeding into the surrounding rock.
    Renso dug his foot into a crevice near the top and hauled himself up and out, rol ing quickly away from the opening, unwinding the rope as fast as he could. The moon was ful and the plateau was bathed in its soft white light.
    Scrambling to his feet, Renso ran to an outcropping of rocks, tied off his end of the rope, then sprinted back, wrapping two loops around his own waist.
    Bracing himself above the basin, Renso slung the rope down and cal ed to Jack. The puma was poised to leap. Renso knew that it would take Jack with it down into the volcano.
    ‘Jack, stop! Snap out of it, Jack!’
    He felt Jack’s tug on the rope.
    He saw the mountain lion pounce.
    He hauled on the rope. For a second, Jack was swinging against the precipice, the puma snarling and snapping at his bare feet.
    ‘Jack,’ yel ed Renso. ‘A little help would be good.’
    Thank God. Jack was climbing. Renso relaxed.
    A sudden tug on the rope, and Renso knew that Jack had fal en back. He heard the roar of the puma.
    Renso pul ed his pistol, firing into the darkness.
    ‘Jack! Are you OK?’
    Jack was staring down at the creature lying on the ledge, her shoulder bleeding. ‘You shot her. She was so beautiful.’
    ‘You’re hal ucinating, Jack. You’re stoned. What I shot was not a woman. It was a mountain lion. Now move before the damn thing gets up again and wants to eat you.’
    Minutes later Renso pul ed Jack out of the basin. ‘We need to get back to civilization and fast.’
    Jack stared back down at the body, a deep despair washing over him. If he was hal ucinating, why did this al feel so real, and why did he feel that he should remain here with her?
    After Jack’s slow clumsy climb, Renso hauled him from the maw of the mountain. By this time, the ground was trembling so violently, the smoke and sulphur so strong, that even Renso was having a difficult time remaining on his feet as he pushed and cajoled an unsteady Jack towards the steep canyon pass.
    About halfway down, Renso spotted a clearing and a deserted pueblo vil age. ‘At least whoever lived here got out safely.’
    A stone temple, shaped like a round pyramid, had been built in the centre of the clearing. If the mountain was stil standing when this eruption stopped, Renso decided, he’d come back. Might be Inca treasures stil buried in this place.
    Jack stopped outside the cairn. ‘I think I was here.’
    ‘How’s that possible?’
    Jack pressed his body against an irregular block of stone that was obstructing the entrance to the temple. It wouldn’t budge. He began to laugh.
    ‘Hey, a little help.’
    ‘No time, Jack. We need to get off this mountain before she erupts.’
    Jack kept pushing, the stone moving a few inches then sliding back.
    Renso kept going until he realised Jack wasn’t behind him. Renso was starting to get angry. He loved Jack. They’d known each other since the Great War. Jack had saved his life. Twice. And he was certainly the best shag he’d ever had, but right now, stoned or not, he was a real pain in the ass.
    Renso got behind Jack and pushed. The block of stone shifted enough for their passage. On shaky legs, Jack stepped through the antechamber and into the main temple.
    ‘I’ve definitely been here.’ Jack could feel it, but he couldn’t get the memory of it to form.
    Fol owing Jack inside, Renso was astonished to see that the chamber was furnished as if a queen had lived here not centuries ago, but today. The fire was stil smouldering.
    Another deep throaty rumble from inside the mountain shook the chamber, knocking both men off their feet. Jack fel into a stack of pil ows in the corner.
    He didn’t try to get up.
    ‘I remember an