The cave was barren of anything beyond a pile of stones, beneath which the emperor must have been buried. Certainly, the Spaniards who buried him had not left any riches there. Only hidden away the body, so none of his followers would find him.

Scott and his legionaries had uncovered his body, one that had not been embalmed as so many of the others had. It was a skeleton with rags of charred clothing on its body.

“Where?” Cade hissed under his breath.

Behind him, he heard more rockfall, and a keening screech that set his teeth on edge. Not the roar he had been expecting, but somehow the unfamiliar sound was far more terrifying.

The cave was shallow, and even now Cade could see there was nothing but deadwood and animal bones surrounding the rocks.

Then something caught his eye as he turned his gaze back to the rock pile. It was the skeleton itself. What looked like a brown thread dangling from its neck.

Holding his torch close, Cade pulled on it, only to find it was a thin chain, one near rusted through. And at its end, hanging between the man’s ribs … was a small silver cross.

Perhaps Atahuallpa had worn it to convince the men of his Christianity. Perhaps some priest had taken pity on the forlorn body as he had given him his last rites. At that moment, Cade didn’t care.

Cade snatched it and spun, racing back to the crack in the cave wall. And as he eased himself through the crack … he saw it. The Carnotaurus, shaking itself free of dust like a wet dog, its horns scraping the tomb’s ceiling. It had come through, and he could see its shadowy figure in the gloom of the chamber.

Behind that, Cade could see another sniffing at the hole the predator had left, but by some luck, the rubble had partly blocked the entry point once more. It was already pushing its way in too.

But the carnosaur was not looking at Cade. It was following its nose. Sniffing, it seemed, in the direction of his friends. Cade’s only solace was that their door was now closed.

He needed to get the cross to Genghis’s tomb.

Past the Carnotaurus.

He had to use his gun. He should have used it earlier, while the beast was pinioned, fired the rest of the magazine into the beast’s head.

And as he pushed his shoulders against the crack, Cade realized he still could. He flicked the safety off on the gun.

“Hey!” Cade yelled. “Over here! Come on, you big brute!”

The dinosaur froze, cocking its head and turning slowly.

“That’s right, over here!”

Cade waved the torch through the crack. The beast faced him now, snorting in excitement.

It took a step, then another, and another. Still, Cade remained in the crack, waving his torch from side to side.

“Come on!” he bellowed.

On it came, closer and closer, its great steps echoing through the chamber. He held his nerve, holding the torch high to see the approaching figure growing ever brighter.