He’s going to be unbearable on the way back to the surface, she thought, and made a mental note to stay away from him. She’d stay close to Alex. She looked across to where he was standing and caught him looking at her; he smiled and then looked away. That’s much better to look at, she thought. She hoped Silex didn’t push him anymore as she could tell Alex was trying hard to be patient and firm with the scientist. A few times she had seen the HAWC leader’s face darken and his jaws compress as though he was biting back some sharp thought or action and only just managed to keep it locked away. She really hoped Silex was smart enough to see it as well.

Borshov sent his two Krofskoya comrades over the jerry-bridge first. Not that he thought it was likely to be booby-trapped as there was no way that Captain Hunter could know he was being pursued. Nevertheless, he hadn’t lived this long by making assumptions.

They couldn’t be more than an hour behind them now. Their orders were to retrieve all scientific data, eliminate all mission members and make it look as if a natural disaster had befallen them. Borshov and his team must complete their mission and be gone before the American helicopter returned. Otherwise, they would be left to find their own way back.

“Wow, oh wow,” Matt was bouncing from wall to wall deciphering more of the ancient glyphs carved into the stone. “Qwotoan flies, or maybe flees, from us while we are protected by the mighty Kinich Ahau; he was the god of the sun. Hmm, this bit’s interesting. ‘No more does he call to us with our fallen warriors.’ Wonder what that means . . . maybe I’m translating it all wrong. Ahh, I need more time.”

“Yeah, but does it say what this Qwotoan is? Could it still be around, and have taken Johnson?” Mike was talking over his shoulder to Matt as he continued to scan the further recesses of the cave.

“Nope. I think it’s just an old legend about one of the gods these Aztlans had. They probably had gods for everything—the sun, wind, rain, disease, harvesting, fire. There is definitely a race overlap here; some of these glyph symbols representing gods are the same in Mayan and these others are almost Olmec. Every time I think I’ve got it, I look at the next symbol and it skips away on me. But there is obviously a clue here that I just can’t draw out yet, it’s nearly . . .”

Matt turned to look at Mike and froze. Mike had his gun to his shoulder and was intently watching a figure glide towards him out of the darkness. Matt could feel the hair on his head rise as the soundless figure drifted towards them. “Lieutenant Johnson,” he said, “is that you?”