David Golemon - Legend

"Follow me, and keep strict noise discipline until we are well within this upper shaft. No flashlights until I say so. I have to discover if we need to go down into the mine, or up."

As Farbeaux turned his back, Mendez sneered and then waved his men forward. Rosolo would have to find them on his own. But then again, if Mendez knew his man, he would finish the job he had started, possibly before he met up with them again.

For now, El Dorado waited and Mendez could not wait for his just rewards.

Ryan took the offered phone from one of the Delta operatives who were now assigned as security for Operation Spoiled Sport.

"This is Ryan."

"Lieutenant, we've had a major problem with the expedition; they no longer appear to be in the lagoon. Boris and Natasha is picking up an empty space where Teacher had been. She also picked out those fifty-plus men making their way past the rapids. It looks like they intend to enter the lagoon. Listen, Mr. Ryan, Jack did manage to get the heat emitters placed before this happened, so you will have an illuminated target area. Is your team ready to deploy?" Niles asked.

"Sir, we really should consider sending our team in on the ground. There's glitch after glitch with this billion-dollar boondoggle."

"Get it to work, Ryan. The president says absolutely no ground incursion, so it's Spoiled Sport or nothing. We have got to keep this unknown ground element off their back."

"Yes, sir," he replied.

"Now look, CIA has confirmed that there are no Peruvian or Brazilian units out there, so they have to be bad guys headed their way. Zap 'em, Mr. Ryan, you hear me? Protect our people. Get in the air!" Niles hung up.

Ryan handed the phone back and looked at the Delta sergeant. And then he jumped when he heard an alarm sound. Two men ran up the stairway and into the converted 747, carrying fire extinguishers.

"Goddammit, what now?" he asked as smoke started billowing out of the large double doorway of the aircraft.

Niles sat at his desk and rubbed his temples. He removed his glasses and then slammed his hand on the table.

"Are you sure you heard an explosion just before communications were lost?" Pete Golding asked.

Niles didn't look up. He just nodded, not caring to use his voice. He took a deep breath and shoved the still picture of the giant statue and its graffito-marked belly toward Pete, whose eyes widened.

"This whole thing is a hoax?" "Pete, we need Europa to do some digging, and I mean dig . Someone knows about Padilla's lagoon, and I want to know who lied to us and why. Can you help me?"

Pete studied the photo from Teacher once again and then something clicked in his mind about the familiar caption on the cartoon that everyone who had looked at the still had missed. He looked up. "Yeah, I can help."

"I have a man flying out to interview the lone survivor of the 1942 expedition. He should be able to at least tell us what it was they were after out there."

"Then let's get to it; we can cover a lot of ground until he checks in."

Niles jumped at the chance to be doing something, anything. But the feeling remained that an ancient trap had been set, and that Jack and the others had walked right into it.

Teacher was sitting high on the stone steps. Her flooded compartments were draining due to the fifty-degree lean to her port side as she had come to rest on the staircase. The towering statue loomed above the diminutive boat that lay broken at its feet.

The major crawled out of the cockpit through the broken windowframe and then helped Carl through. They climbed slowly down the nose and slid to the stone beneath. Jack turned on his flashlight and shined it around. Carl did the same as they hurried back toward the stern. Their light was seemingly absorbed by the blackness surrounding Teacher . As they looked around, an unfamiliar rustling noise sounded from what seemed a great distance, and could be heard even over the waterfall that fell in the center of the pyramid.

"What's that?" Everett asked as he shined his flashlight into the air.

"Uh-oh," Jack said.

Suddenly the air was alive around them. Giant bats had decided the intrusion of noise and vibration Teacher had made was quite enough. They swarmed like angry bees as they circled Jack and Carl, who dove for their lives, hitting the wet steps and covering their heads as bats grazed them in their frenzy. If just one of the large animals struck them solidly, it would have been bone crushing. Then as suddenly as the raid had started, the bats were gone.

"I can live without that!" Carl said as he stood up again. "Where did they go," he said as he shined his flashlight upward once more.

"The falls, I guess. There must be another opening up there that comes out through the river that creates the falls. Come on; let's get our people out of Teacher ."

When Jack shined his light into the communications section, he saw that Stiles was on his feet, trying to revive the clearly unrevivable Jackson. He shook his head and moved on silently. Carl flashed his own light on the glass and looked in and cursed when he saw the dead navy man. He then followed Jack down the row of windows. No one appeared to be in the navigation section, as they suspected there wouldn't be. Then they came to the lounge. Their lights immediately picked out three bodies floating in the waist-high water. Jack recognized Keating immediately. He was floating faceup and was actually in a slow spin as the water drained from the damaged section. By the looks of his body he had been caught dead center of the explosion; his right arm was missing, and half of his head. Jack moved the light and saw that Dr. Waltrip was lying crumpled on top of Sergeant Larry Ito, who looked as if he had tried to shield her. But the explosion had killed them both. Jack swallowed hard when he didn't see Sarah. He hoped she was with the master chief and others who had made it out.

Carl looked inside the lounge and cried out when he saw the bodies. He shined the light around, hoping to see someone else, or someone breathing.

"We're one hell of a rescue team, Jack."

The major didn't respond. His light was now trained on the opening of the mine. The water churned and rolled in the violence of the falls, and in that maelstrom of foam he saw no one. The survivors from Teacher were alone and in the dark.

Sarah awoke and immediately started choking. She fought her way back through a dark unconsciousness that threatened to overwhelm her just like an induced coma. She rolled over and threw up a stomachful of water, then heaved and then vomited more foul-tasting fluid. She tried to push herself up from the overly hot and wet floor but fell back down. She knew she was hurt somewhere but couldn't for the life of her think straight enough to find out where. Then she pushed up again and collapsed, screaming in pain, when she realized her right wrist was broken. It was then that she thought clearly enough to remember it hadn't been broken in the initial violence of whatever it was that had happened in the boat; it had snapped as she was being pulled down through the water.

She used her other hand to push herself up off the hot stone. As she peered around in the darkness she could barely make out long, hot wisps of steam coming through the stone floor and the walls. Some strange luminescence was also emanating from those walls, providing enough light that she could see her hand as she held it up, almost as if she were viewing things through the green-tinted lense of a night scope. She brought her wrist closer to her face; the damaged section was already swelling. It was broken, all right.