“Take a look. See these wavelengths? There’s definitely another structure concealed behind this central wall. Whatever it is, it’s metallic in nature and rises straight up through the pyramid, clear to the roof of the temple.”

“Okay, I believe you. Can we go now?”

Mick stares at her, incredulous. “Go? Don’t you get it? It’s here—within these walls. All we have to do is figure out how to access it.”

“What’s here? A hunk of metal?”

“A hunk of metal that may turn out to be the instrument that will save humanity. The one left to us by Kukulcan. We have to … hey, wait, where are you going?”

She continues walking out to the platform.

“You still don’t believe me, do you?”

“Believe what? That every man, woman, and child on this planet’s going to die within the next two weeks? No—sorry Mick, I’m still struggling with that one.”

Mick grabs her by the arm. “How can you still doubt me? You saw what’s buried in the dull. The two of us were down there together. You saw it for yourself.”

“Saw what? The interior of a lava tube?”

“A lava tube?”

“That’s right. The geologists aboard the Boone explained the whole thing to me. They even showed me infrared satellite photos of the entire Chicxulub crater. What appears to us as a green glow is just a subterranean lava flow passing beneath that hole in the seafloor. The hole opened up when an underwater volcano became active back in September.”

“Volcano? Dominique, what the hell are you talking about?”

“Mick, our minisub was sucked down one of the lava tubes when part of the underground infrastructure collapsed. We must have floated topside when the pressure subsided.” She shakes her head. “You really played me, didn’t you? I’m guessing you heard about the volcano from a CNN report or something. That’s the noise Iz heard over SOSUS.”

She punches him in the chest. “My father died exploring a goddam subterranean volcano—”

“No—”

“You played me, didn’t you? All you wanted was to escape—”

“Dominique, listen to me—”

“No! Listening to you is what got my father killed. Now you listen to me. I helped you because I knew you were being abused and I needed your help in finding out what happened to Iz. Now I know the truth. You set me up!”

“Bullshit! Everything the Navy fed you is a goddam lie. That tunnel was no lava tube, it was an artificially created inlet shaft. What your father heard were sounds coming from a series of giant turbines. Our minisub was sucked down an inlet shaft. The submersible jammed the turbine’s rotors. Don’t you remember any of this? I know you were hurt, but you were still conscious when I climbed out of the sub.”