Chaney checks his watch. ‘You should. It’s one of the emergency vehicle passageways at the MTI Bowl.’ He taps Kurtz on the shoulder. ‘The eye of the storm should be passing over us any moment. When it does, pop the gate and drive us straight onto the field.’

‘Yes, sir.’

Immanuel’s heart races. Jacob’s orchestrating something … but what?

Lauren stares at him as if they’ve just met. ‘You should have told me … Manny.’

‘I couldn’t. Try to understand, it was a lifetime ago, it’s not who I am.’

‘I don’t know who you are anymore. Do you even love me?’

‘Lauren—’

The wind stops howling.

Ryan Beck steps out of the vehicle, aims his laser rifle, and blasts open the locked gate. Kurtz guides the limo up the concrete ramp, using the vehicle’s reinforced front bumper to bash through the unhinged iron doors.

The limousine climbs a river of water, then drives onto the flooded football field.

Kurtz maneuvers to the fifty yard line and parks. Moments later, the rain stops and the wind ceases blowing. Wisps of blue sky and sunshine warm the drenched field.

They are within the very eye of the storm.

Everyone climbs out of the car, sloshing in calf-deep water.

Lauren looks toward the heavens. ‘How is this possible? How did you know the cyclone’s eye would pass directly over this spot?’

Immanuel Gabriel’s insides are trembling, his mind screaming at him to run, to get the hell out of this stadium while he still can.

‘Look!’ Kurtz points to the approaching western eye wall.

An object has emerged from the foreboding lead gray vortex, the sun’s rays shimmering off the mirrorlike gold panels of its dagger-shaped bow.

The Balam …

Immanuel drops to his knees, hyperventilating as he recalls Jacob’s words. ‘ … the wormhole’s closest mouth will pass outside Mars in a week. To rendezvous in time means we’ll have to leave Earth’s orbit in ninety-eight hours.’

The Guardian’s starship hovers high over the flooded field, then descends, its landing gear splashing onto the flooded field with a walloping thud, its dissipating force field sending waves rippling in every direction.

Ryan Beck is supporting Dominique, who is close to fainting.

Lauren stares at the object, slack-jawed, then spins around to face her fiancé. ‘The Popol Vuh … the legend of the Hero Twins! All this time you knew … you knew you’d be leaving me!’

‘It’s his destiny.’ Jacob descends from a ramp located beneath the starship, Dr. Mohr in tow. Seeing his wife, the teary-eyed NASA scientist slogs through the flooded field and hugs her.

Jacob stares hard at Chaney, his azure eyes violet with anger. ‘I was very specific. The girl wasn’t supposed to be here.’

‘Don’t blame me,’ rasps the former president. ‘Your brother insisted.’