The desert the Black Widow were driving through abruptly ended and sloped down a hill covered in thick, green grass. At the bottom of the hill was a beach. The water's edge was barely visible through the thick fog. Blake had led his gang to La Flor de Mal.
For the majority of the trip, Rachel had hidden in the back of Dalton's van. However, it didn't make much difference in her distance from Blake, as he had elected to drive the van and have Dalton drive the Silver Angel. She wasn't surprised when the door of the van slid open and there stood Louie and Mark. "Let's go, Hun," Louie said. Rachel got out and Blake walked up to her with the medallion in his hand. He put the chain around her neck and tilted her head to judge the look of it.
They had climbed down the steep hill, Blake repeatedly offering Rachel his hand to help her down, but every time she refused. However, when they got to the beach, she was glad for his help when she had to get in the longboat. There were three boats, the one in front being the one that Blake stood at the bow of, Rachel at his feet, and Louie and Mark rowing. When they came to the mouth of the cave on the island, Rachel was momentarily frightened when they were plunged into complete darkness.
Not much later, Viper had led his own gang to La Flor de Mal – in half the time it had taken Blake to get there. But instead of having the whole gang charge into the caves like the cavalry, he had them stay on the hill as he searched the island through a pair of binoculars, glancing at his compass every now and then.
"How did Viper come by that compass?" Jacob asked Bryan.
"Well, not much is known about Viper deMarco. He just showed up in Lorenzo one day with some scheme to go out for the treasure of La Flor de Mal. But that was before I'd met him. Back when he was the leader of the Black Widow."
"What?" Jacob asked, startled. "He never mentioned that."
Bryan knew he'd said too much already, so he decided to just tell Jacob the whole story. "He plays things closer to the vest now. Learned that the hard way. See, three days into his journey, his right-hand man came to him and said that if everything's an equal share, that should mean the treasure's location, too. So Viper gave him the directions. But that night, his gang betrayed him. They put him in the middle of the desert and left him for dead. . . .Right after they'd drugged him with twelve caffeine pills. That's 24 cups of coffee. And for Viper being someone who was clean sober his whole life . . . " He shook his head.
"Ah . . . " Jacob noticed. "That explains a lot . . . "
"Yeah . . . " Bryan said with a grim nod. "Now Jacob, when a gangster's stranded, he's left with his gun and a single bullet. Well, that won't do much good for food or being rescued. But after about three weeks of starvation, thirst, and heat, that gun'll start to look really friendly." He put a finger to the side of his head to demonstrate. "Now Viper. He escaped the desert, and he still has that one shot. He won't use, though. That gun's aimed at one person. His backstabber of a right-hand man."
"Blake," Jacob said, finally seeing the puzzle go together. "So, how did Viper escape?"
"Well, I'll tell ya. He walked through the desert nonstop for three days and three nights. Then on the fourth morning, he came upon a pack of coyotes. So he leashed them all together and rode them back to civilization."
Jacob found the story a little far-fetched. "He rode a pack of coyotes."
"That's right."
"What did he use for rope?"
Bryan was stumped. He looked over, and saw that Viper had been standing there the entire time. Jacob and Bryan looked at him for a moment. "Human hair," Viper said. "From my back." He made sure Jacob knew the story wasn't true. He looked at Bryan and said, "Me and Jacob are going in. You keep the gang here. If there's trouble, you'll see my signal."
Bryan nodded. "Got it. And in the worst-case scenario?"
"Keep to the Code."
"Right. The Code."
Viper rowed the boat toward the mouth of the cave as Jacob sat at the front with a lantern. "So what exactly is in this cave?" Jacob asked.
"Well, some say that this cave goes to a slowly descending river that leads to an underground lagoon. The rest say that just inside the mouth of the cave is a bottomless pit that goes all the way down to hell."
". . .Which is it?"
Viper pulled the oars into the boat as they were pulled into the cave. "Well, I guess we'll find out . . . "