Her movement caught his eye. A gleaming white grin lit up his dark, narrow face.

She tilted her head and gave a pained smile with a look that clearly said please don't hurt me.

He pointed the gun at her and then back at Tocho. "Both of you, out of the car. Now!"

Tocho stepped out and the stranger shoved him against the car. "Get on the ground. Face down. Hands behind your head. Do it!"

Tocho glanced at Ravenwood. She nodded for him to comply with the stranger's command.

Tocho hesitated. He wasn't keen on giving in to this thug but he finally decided to play it safe. Reluctantly, he got down on the ground. Maybe Ravenwood knew what she was doing. He sure as h.e.l.l hoped so.

The stranger looked down at him and then pointed the gun at Ravenwood. "Don't move," he told Tocho, "or I'll put one through her." His voice sounded much lower than Ravenwood had expected and the British lilt to his accent was unmistakably South African. "You, lady. Out."

Ravenwood pushed the front seat forward and squeezed out of the car, making sure her shirt fell open just enough for the stranger to get a good look.

"Well, now," the stranger said, "looks like this be my lucky day. You and me, lady, we gonna have a good time."

Tocho raised his head. "No, wait..."

The stranger turned quickly toward Tocho, pointing the gun at him and Ravenwood saw her chance.

In one swift move, she disarmed the stranger with a flying kick. The gun flew into the car through the opened door, landed on the backside of the tilted front seat and slid down onto the back floor. The stranger rushed Ravenwood and sent her flying backward with a ma.s.sive head-b.u.t.t to her midsection. Tocho scrambled to his feet and tried to get to the gun but the stranger shoved him away and ducked into the car, reaching for the firearm. Before the stranger could back himself out of the car, Tocho slammed the door on the man and leaned against it, trying to trap him. The stranger heaved himself backward against the door, knocking Tocho to the ground. The stranger wheeled around, gun in hand, but Ravenwood was back up and running at him. She got off another flying kick. The effort dislodged the gun from the stranger's hand but not before he got off two fast rounds. Tocho let out a yelp. Ravenwood whirled around a full three-sixty, her right foot expertly landing a solid blow to the side of the stranger's head. He went flailing backward and landed on top of Tocho. Tocho gasped as the air was knocked out of him. The stranger struggled to his feet, his beady black eyes drilling holes through Ravenwood. They stood, staring at each other and then he lunged toward her. She briskly stepped aside and let the stranger's own momentum carry him past her like she wasn't even there. He slammed into the side of the car but quickly recovered and turned around to face his opponent. She stood her ground, legs spread, body tensed and ready.

The stranger flashed his gleaming white teeth as blood trickled from his mouth and dripped down the side of his chin. Breathing hard, he lowered his head and put his hands up to acknowledge he'd had enough. "Okay, lady. Okay."

"I guess this don't be your lucky day after all." She shot a glance toward his car. "Now get the h.e.l.l out of here."

The stranger nodded, wiped the blood from his mouth and started toward his car.

Tocho groaned.

Ravenwood turned to see if he was all right. He raised his arm and pointed. "Behind you."

Ravenwood looked back to see the stranger coming at her with a blade in his hand. She spun around and landed a kick in the man's groin that sent him stumbling backward. He recoiled, writhing in pain. Then, suddenly, he straightened up and looked as if he was about to lunge for her again. She didn't wait to find out. She ran toward him and left the ground with both legs straight out in front of her. Both feet struck a thundering blow to the man's chest and sent him flying. He landed with a dull thud and his head cracked like a melon against a large rock.

Ravenwood caught her breath, ready for more, then she realized it was over. She approached the body, cautiously, and knelt down to check his pulse.

Tocho struggled to his feet and came over to join her. He peered over her shoulder. "Is he dead?"

She nodded. "I sure as h.e.l.l hope so."

"Well, is he, or isn't he?"

"Yeah, he's gone." She went through the dead man's pockets looking for identification but found nothing. "Mr. n.o.body." She stood up and looked at Tocho. His arm was bleeding but not badly. "Lucky. The bullet just grazed you."

"Yeah. How about you? You okay?"

"I'm fine. A little sore." She stood up and stretched her legs. "I need to spend a little more time at the gym."

"So when the h.e.l.l did you become the Karate Kid?"

Ravenwood was walking around the car looking for something. "Hand to hand combat training at the academy." She leaned down, looked under the car and then moved over to the bushes. She trekked slowly, methodically, through the tall gra.s.s by the side of the road. "You didn't happen to see where the gun went, did you?"

Tocho shook his head.

"Well, we don't have time to go searching for it. We gotta get your arm bandaged and get out of here."

"Get out of here? How're we gonna get out of here?"

Ravenwood pointed toward the stranger's car.

Tocho nodded. "Oh."

The car was a clean, late model, 4-door Mercury sedan with Ohio plates. Ravenwood ran her hand along the top of the car and looked in. "Just a guess," she said, "but I don't think our friend over there was from Ohio." She got in and checked for the registration but found none.

Tocho opened the pa.s.senger door and leaned in. "Hmm... look here." He handed her a wrinkled receipt from a McDonalds restaurant. "Not a lot of McDonalds around these parts."

She read the items. "Two Big Macs, two fries, three drinks and three Happy Meals. Somebody with kids. Christ. I wonder what happened to them. Let's see if there're any suitcases, travel bags, something." She twisted the key in the ignition and popped the trunk and moved around to the back of the car.

"Nothing," Tocho said.

"Well, here's something. At least someone was prepared." She pulled out a small First-Aid kit. "Let's get your arm fixed up and hit the road."

Tocho glanced toward the body. "What're we going to do with him?"

"Well, we're sure as h.e.l.l not going to take him with us."

"Yeah, but..."

"Look, if we don't hurry up and get our b.u.t.t's to San Cristobal and see that shaman then we're all going to end up like our friend over there." Flies were already buzzing around the b.l.o.o.d.y head. "Except it won't be nearly as pleasant."

CHAPTER 52.

The sun was straight up when Ravenwood and Tocho reached San Cristobal, a small, ancient city situated some 7,000 feet above sea level. The streets were narrow, dusty and loosely paved with cobbled stones. As far as Ravenwood could tell, there appeared to be no logic to the layout of the streets but Tocho navigated his way through the confusing maze from memory.

They arrived at the city square, the main marketplace for the surrounding area. Tocho pulled the car over to the side of the road.

The place was a colorful hive of activity. Indians from several of the surrounding villages were mulling around, trading goods amidst a cacophony of different languages and dialects.

Tocho could tell the tribal ident.i.ty of several of the natives by their traditional dress. He pointed out two men engaged in an animated conversation near an open fruit stand. "The one on the left, wearing the tan calf-length pants and black tunic. He's Chamula. That other guy, the one that looks like he's wearing a long white sheet? Lacandon. But they call themselves Hach Winik."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning 'Real People'. They're the last of the Maya, still holding onto the old ways and worshipping the ancient G.o.ds of their ancestors deep in the jungle." He made a sweeping gesture with his hand. "Chamula, Lacandon, Huistecos, Zincantecan, you name it. They're all here every day to trade wares, food, whatever."

Watching this strange and exotic scene out the front window of their borrowed Mercury, Ravenwood gave a quiet chuckle. "Reminds me of the bar scene in Star Wars where the alien creatures from the surrounding galaxies are all gathered in one place."

Tocho laughed. "Yeah, kinda. Except right now we're the aliens."

"Yeah, I guess we are." She sat up straight. "Well, I'd love to play tourist and do some shopping but we're running out of time. How do we get to where ever it is we're going?"

Tocho backed the car into an open s.p.a.ce between two small white stucco buildings and parked it. "We'll have to go on foot from here."

"Is it far?"

"About an hour if we keep up a decent pace."

Ravenwood noticed their presence had drawn the attention of several of the natives. She could see they were talking amongst each other and nodding toward them with curiosity.

"What about the car?" she asked. "Will it be safe here?"

"Yeah... I think so... I'm pretty sure."

"Your confidence is overwhelming."

They changed into their hiking shoes and grabbed their backpacks and the one machete Tocho had remembered to purchase when they went into town to rent the Nissan.

"It's not going to be easy," he said, adjusting his backpack. "We'll pa.s.s through some light jungle terrain and through a couple of small villages. Then the jungle will get thicker and at the same time we'll be climbing to a higher elevation. Not steep, but long."

"Paths?"

"Some. Sort of. If they're not overgrown."

Ravenwood nodded. "Great."

Tocho led the way to a hole that had been cut in a wire fence behind a grove of rugged trees in a small clearing about fifty yards from the car.

"What the h.e.l.l is this?" Ravenwood asked, squeezing through the hole after Tocho. "An escape route?"

Tocho laughed as he continued through the brush. "No. It's a shortcut to one of the villages." He turned around to see she had come to a dead stop, several paces behind him.

"Oh, good," she said. "Another one of your shortcuts."

"Trust me. I'll get you there."

Ravenwood took a deep breath, knowing she had no choice, and continued to trudge along behind her friend.

CHAPTER 53.

The long trek unfolded exactly according to Tocho's description. They pa.s.sed through two small villages where the primitive huts were made of mud bricks and sticks of wood. Some had roofs of tin and others were covered with a matting of huge broad leaves.

It was obvious the natives were not used to seeing outsiders traipsing through their villages. But murmurs and stares were about the only reactions they got with the exception of a few brave children who came running up to them, wide-eyed, dressed in rags and giggling until an adult called them back.

The paths were increasingly less well defined the further they wandered from the second village. The grade was noticeably steeper, the air was getting cooler and the jungle was quickly growing darker and claustrophobically dense.

The sun, now much lower in the sky, could only be seen in short blinding bursts of light through the occasional gaps in the towering foliage.

Ravenwood looked at her watch. They'd been walking for well over an hour. "Hey," she said, breathing heavily. "This is the shortcut, right?"

Tocho, a few yards ahead of her, chopped a huge branch from some prehistoric overhanging G.o.d-knows-what and wielded it off to the side. He turned to her. Although the air was much cooler now, his face was glistening with sweat. He wiped his forehead and grinned. "Take a look."

She moved up and stood beside him. They'd come to the edge of a bluff. About fifty feet below was another village, much larger than the ones they'd pa.s.sed through along the way.

"What's this?" she asked. "Where are we?"

"A Lacandon village. The Real People. Descendants of the ancient Maya."

"Is this where"

"Sh-h-h. Listen."

A rhythmic drumming and the sounds of ritual chanting were rising up from somewhere in the village below.

Ravenwood listened with curiosity. "What is it?"

"There's a sacrificial ceremony going on."

"How do you know?"

"I recognize it. I was allowed to witness it once."

"Sacrifice? C'mon. You don't mean..."

"Not people. No. It's part of a shamanic ritual. Believe it or not, they're sacrificing chickens by squeezing them to death."

"What?"

"Yeah. As an offering to the G.o.ds. Disgusting, I know, but"

"Jee-sus Christ. And we're going down there?"

"Yup."