He swiftly skimmed through the remnants that lay within the range. Several he recognized from when they had sought Wladyslaw’s armor all those months ago.

Spearhafoc the monk, with stolen treasure. Many explorers. Benjamin Church, the British spy, along with the prison ship he was on at the time. And of course, the nuclear bomb, along with the plane it sat upon.

There was a train called Dolly, some semimodern civilian ships that would contain no guns; nothing that would be a game changer.

But it was the other items he had not considered before that drew his interest. If a nuclear bomb was not enough to tempt his friends into another expedition into the jungles, he would have to find something else.

“Let’s get the others,” Cade said. “We’ve got some planning to do.”

CHAPTER

34

“Codex, run us through the remaining remnants within the twenty-mile radius.”

As the group sat on the old tree stumps outside the tunnel, Cade only hoped there was something they had overlooked close by. That, at least, would get the conversation about leaving on an expedition moving.

A dot flashed.

“Charles Redheffer, con man who claimed to have invented a perpetual motion machine, disappeared in 1820.”

Cade shrugged. “Anyone want a fake perpetual motion machine?”

“Next,” the group chorused.

“John Jeffrey, Scottish botanist, disappeared while researching plants in the Colorado desert in 1854.”

“Another desert one,” Cade said. “It’s like Abaddon just watches over deserts, waiting for someone to wander through it.”

“Next,” Amber said. “Unless someone wants to learn about plants.”

“Bela Kiss, insane serial killer, disappeared in 1916 after murdering twenty-three women.”

“Moving swiftly on,” Amber growled. “I’d only stop there to spit on his corpse.”

“That is all,” the Codex replied.

Cade sighed. This was not going to be so easy.

“Show us the remnants within thirty miles,” Cade said, trying not to let the desperation show through to his voice. The nuclear bomb would be a hard sell. Without some way of setting it off remotely, it was basically a very large suicide bomb—and an unwieldy one at that.

“Imperial German Army Zeppelin LZ 90 disappeared without a trace after it broke loose in a storm and was blown out to sea in 1916.”

“Now, that’s more like it,” Cade said, pounding his fist into his palm. “They could have guns on there, right?”

“No,” the Codex replied flatly. “It was unmanned.”

Cade cursed. “Next, then.”

“Panfilo de Narvaez, a Spanish conquistador, and a raft he built following a shipwreck,” the Codex intoned.

“Useless,” Cade muttered.

He peered at the screen, where a cluster of blue dots stood out, deep in the jungles.

“The tombs of: Imhotep, 2950 BC; Alexander the Great, 205 BC; Cleopatra and Mark Antony, 30 BC; Boudicca, 61; Attila the Hun, 453; Genghis Khan, 1227; Atahuallpa, 1533.”

Cade gaped at the blue dots flashing on the screen.

“What, all together?” Cade asked.

“Yes,” the Codex intoned.

“That’s … messed up,” Scott said.

“What use is that?” Cade asked, half to himself. “There might be weapons in there, but we need guns, explosives…”