Knight remembered that along with human and animal victims sacrificed to the gods, the Mayan also sacrificed their prized possessions including gold, silver, jewels, and codices. He’s collecting the ancient language written on the codices and then destroying them, Knight thought. He drew his knife, held it against the rope, and nodded to the others.

“Ridley!” Queen shouted, standing in clear view.

The man’s head snapped up in surprise. Then a smile crept onto his face. “The Chess Team arrives. I must admit I’m surprised to see you here. How did you find me?”

“You’ve got thirty seconds to tell us where Fiona is before we cut the line and leave you to rot,” Queen said.

“You seem to be missing a member,” Ridley said. “I know King was in Rome, but where is Rook? Did something go wrong?” His smile grew wider.

Queen’s UMP came up fast. She took aim and fired a three-round burst. Two of the rounds missed, shattering ancient bones, but one struck Ridley square in the forehead. He flinched as it struck, turning his head down. When he looked back up there was no injury, just his perpetually smiling face and gleaming bald head. There wasn’t even a splotch of blood.

“Afraid I’m not intimidated,” he said.

“He’s not going to talk,” Bishop whispered.

Queen looked at Knight. “Do it. He might be immortal, but we’ll see how cooperative he is after starving for a few weeks.”

Knight cut through the rope and let it fall.

Expecting some sort of protest or angry retort, the team flinched when Ridley began laughing. They looked down at him.

“All you’ve done is leave me with an army,” Ridley said, and then began speaking in hushed tones. The sea of bones around him began to rattle and shake.

Knight realized what was happening and said, “He’s about to go Ray Harryhausen on our asses.”

“What?” Queen asked.

Knight pointed down at the shifting bones. “Golems are the inanimate made animate. And he’s got a whole lot of inanimate buddies down there. An army of skeletons.”

“But they’re at the bottom of a—” Queen’s words were cut short by a deep rumbling from below. The pit floor was rising as a horde of living Mayan skeletons fused together and turned their empty eye sockets up at the stunned team.

Chapter Fifty-Three

FIFTY-TWO

Wiltshire, England

DUST CHOKED THE air, making it hard to breathe and nearly impossible to see. And with tons of earth between them and the surface, a rescue would not soon be coming.