“The Piri Re’is map, the one I located on the Nazca plateau. I found it sealed in an iridium canister. The map was marking the site of the Chicxulub crater. Chichén Itza is located right along the outer rim of the impact ring. If you draw a line from the Kukulcan pyramid to the center point of the impact crater, the angle measures 23.5 degrees—the precise angle of the Earth’s axis of rotation, a tilt responsible for providing us with the seasons of the year.”

Here we go again. “Okay, so what does all this mean?”

“What does it mean?” Mick winces as he jumps to his feet. “It means the Kukulcan pyramid was deliberately and precisely positioned on the Yucatan Peninsula in relationship to the Chicxulub crater. There’s no mistaking this, Dominique. There’s no other ancient structure close to the impact site, and the angle of measurement is too precise to be happenstance.”

“But how would the ancient Mayans have known about an asteroid impact 65 million years ago? Look how long it took modern man to figure it out.”

“I don’t know. Maybe they had the same technology the Piri Re’is map-maker used when he drew Antarctica’s topography, even though it was covered by sheets of ice.”

“So what’s your theory—that humanity will be destroyed by an asteroid on December 21?”

Mick kneels on the floor by her feet, his swollen face in agony. “The threat to humanity isn’t an asteroid. The likelihood of another asteroid impacting the same location is too astronomical even to consider. Besides, the Mayan prophesy points to the dark rift, not a celestial projectile.”

He lays his aching head on her knee. Dominique smooths back his long brown hair, greasy with sweat and oil.

“Maybe you should get some rest?”

“I can’t, my mind won’t let me rest.” He stands, pressing the compress to his swollen eye. “Something’s always bothered me about the location of the Kukulcan pyramid. Unlike its counterparts in Egypt, Cambodia, and Teotihuacan, the structure always seemed displaced—like an exquisite thumb, geographically situated without rhyme or reason, while its sister fingers are dispersed at almost equal intervals across the face of the Earth. Now I think I understand.”

“Understand what?”

“Good and evil, Dominique, good and evil. Somewhere within the Kukulcan pyramid lies good—the key to our salvation. Somewhere within the Chicxulub crater lies a malevolent force, growing stronger as the solstice approaches.”

“How do you know—never mind, I forgot, you can feel it. Sorry.”

“Dom, I need your help. You have to get me out of here.”

“I tried—”

“Forget appeals, there’s no time. I need out now!”

He’s losing control.

Mick grabs her wrist. “Help me escape. I have to get to Chichén Itza—”

“Let me go!” She reaches for the pen with her free hand.

“No—wait, don’t call the guard—”

“Then back off, you’re scaring me.”