Page 179 of Empire of Shadows

“No time!” she retorted and ducked behind the archway.

Another bullet pinged off the stones uncomfortably close to Adam’s head, as though to emphasize her point.

He lurched behind one of the columns, and then peered down at the foot of the pyramid. Jacobs stood a quarter of the way up the stairs, balancing another Enfield expertly on his shoulder as he took aim.

“Point taken,” Adam called over to where Ellie hid against the inner wall.

“You nearly hit me!” Dawson screamed at Jacobs from where he crouched abjectly on the stairs.

“I don’t think he cares,” Adam pointed out loudly, unable to resist.

A few steps farther down the pyramid, Staines shifted from cowering to bolting around the corner of the structure to get out of range.

Ellie darted from her cover. She grabbed Adam by the front of his shirt and yanked him into the temple. They raced into the inner chamber, where she slapped the machete into his hand.

Relief washed over him at the beautiful sensation of having his knife back where it belonged.

“Did somebodybreakthat?” Ellie blazed.

The outrage in her voice snapped Adam out of it. She was glaring down at the shattered jade mask on the floor, where it had fallen when Adam threw Dawson into the shelf.

“Uh—let’s worry about that later. How are we going to get out of here?” Adam demanded.

“The same way I came in,” Ellie replied. She pointed to one of the narrow windows. “Out the back—but Bates…” She caught his sleeve and held him back. “Padre Kuyoc is here. I don’t know how—or why—but Jacobs has him. It sounded like Kuyoc might be trying tohelpthem. But why would he do that?”

Adam’s gut lurched with unpleasant surprise.

“Live first. Deal with the crazy priest later,” he declared.

Angry voices echoed up from the front of the pyramid. Jacobs barked at people, cold and authoritative, while Dawson complained loudly in between his commands.

Adam yanked Ellie to the window. “Lead the way, Princess,” he ordered.

Ellie scrambled onto the ledge, slid through the opening, and lowered herself down awkwardly until she dropped from view.

Adam followed, turning sideways to squeeze himself through the narrow gap in the stones. It was just wide enough to accommodate his chest.

Good thing he hadn’t been able to carry more of Cruzita’s tamales.

The drop from the window to the nearest tier of the pyramid was about six feet. Adam managed it easily.

The mountain rose up before him, cloaked in long, deep shadows. There were no stairs on this side of the structure—only the enormous tiers. Each rose perhaps seven feet from its base… or was it further?

It looked further, Adam thought as he wobbled dangerously and abruptly sat down.

Ellie scrambled ahead of him like a cat, shimmying over the side of each layer until she could let go and safely drop.

“Are you coming?” she demanded from a few tiers below him.

“The rocks aren’t moving,” Adam muttered to himself. “It onlyfeelslike they’re moving.”

“Bates!” she called impatiently.

Adam forced himself into motion, sliding to the edge of the tier and dropping over it.

His body accomplished the move gracefully. It seemed to know what to do even as Adam’s thoughts were consumed by something like a silent, high-pitched wail of protest.

It got easier as the ground got closer. He even managed to pull ahead of Ellie. At last, he cleared the final tier, landed solidly, and turned around to extend his arms.

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