Pretty soon, Derek was getting too heavy for Cassie. She felt like some kind of forklift lifting Derek. She wanted to set him down, but she could not afford to leave him in one of the tunnels of the extremely complex labyrinth-like structure of the Pyramid of the Sun. Her shoulder was sore from his weight, but she pushed through and ignored the soreness completely. "Derek man, if only I knew how much you weighed, then would it have made my job easier to carry you."

"Whatever," Derek shrugs off the comment. "Never mattered anyways." Derek clutched his left knee painfully. "It hurts really bad though. Once we find this Cold iron, let's just destroy it."

"Why do you think we came here in the first place? What, you think we came here so we could get a couple of selfies to post on Facebook or something? We came here so we can blow that thing to Hell where it belongs."

Derek took extreme amusement in Cassie's answer. "Oh man, I love you Cassie."

Cassie blushed at this comment, but she turned away before Derek could see. "I love you too Derek. I could kiss you right now."

Derek's eyes widened and he felt a tightening in his pants. And then his heartbeat increased and he felt himself passing out again. Cassie saw this coming (ha ha) and slapped Derek on the cheek. "Wake up Derek of Gilgamesh, no need to get all pass-y out-y on me. Stay awake." She slapped him several more times, leaving red marks across his face. "Wake up you horny toad!" She slapped him so hard, it actually left a handprint on his face.

"What the hell?!" Derek groaned and put a hand on his cheek, feeling the burning pain in his cheek. "You slapped me! You slapped me!"

"I woke you up, you were passing out on me. Even when I specifically said not to get all pass-y out-y on me," Cassie justified. "You only have yourself to blame."

"I can't help it, every time I see your body or when you wish to kiss me, I pass out from excitement."

"Why?"

"I have no idea, but a doctor had a theory that I suffer from an extreme case of syncope and whenever I gaze upon a 'woman' that is what causes me to pass out," he explained. That is what his doctor told, but him passing out seemed to work solely for Cassie as Derek has seen a college girl naked and yet he failed to pass out. When he saw Cassie naked in Iceland, he definitely passed out.

"Don't worry, I won't be passing out anytime soon. Understand?"

"I'm the one who should be asking you that...and I understand," Cassie said before she continued to carry Derek down the tunnels. The tunnels for some reason seemed to stretch far and far. Neither person was complaining though because they knew that the Cold iron was down the path that they were following. Cassie told Derek that once they destroyed the Cold iron and escaped, then all's well that ends well.

"Hogarth, Jimmy, Antonio, come on down here," Rowan ordered as Vlad rappelled down beside Rowan. The three mercenaries rappelled down into the room and waited for the others to rappel down as well.

"Boss, this place looks like it has been picked clean," Rex comments as he cocks his rifle. "This place looks like it has been lived in for a thousand years at least."

"Try three thousand plus years," Burt said. "This place looks old enough for people even like George Washington to live in."

"Where's Davis and Lambert?" Vlad asked as he looked around. "They must have been down here." He turns to Rowan for an answer. "They must be down here right?"

"No other place for them to go. Start searching boys and maybe we shall get an answer as to where these people went," Rowan answered, but he was not exactly sure of himself. "Paul, Rex, give us some lights."

Paul and Rex obeyed their command. The entire room lit up and Rowan got a clear picture of everything. He was so amazed at all the carving and stone work on the walls, but he was not here for some kind of paint museum tour or whatever it's called in America, he was here for one thing and one thing only: the Cold iron.

"Hey boss," Lex called out from behind him. When all eyes turned towards him, he spoke, "Maybe the two went through this hole in the wall; it looks big enough to fit at least three people at the most."

The ground rumbled beneath Cassie. The two of them were shaken for a brief second. "What the hell was that?"

"I have no idea Derek." Cassie looked at the ceiling above her. She was lucky to have looked up because something came down. A huge brick with spikes on the front swung forward like a swing set towards Cassie and Derek. Using her quick thinking, she dives backwards, taking Derek with her just as the spiked brick swung over her head. Afterwards, the bricked spike was suspended back into the air on the barely visible rope it was attached to and stayed hidden in the shadows.

"What the hell was that?" Derek asked. "Medieval trap?" Then the pain in his knee came back.

Cassie looked at where she stepped at, hoping to find the source. There was a foot sized square carved into the floor, right where her foot stepped just moments before the spiked brick came down. "Yep, definitely a Medieval trap." She slowly helps Derek get up while at the same time watching out for any traps. "Great, now we got to Indiana Jones this thing."

"Oh man, if only I could actually meet Indiana Jones," Derek said hopefully.

"If only we could meet both Indiana Jones and Lara Croft," Cassie corrected. "That would be insanely awesome."

Derek chuckled. "Yes it would be."

Cassie edged forward, watching her step very carefully. "Maybe we'll meet them one day. Indiana Jones is dead and gone and Lara Croft should be forty-three at this point." She always dreamt of meeting the legendary Tomb Raider. But it was more of a pipe dream. A pipe dream that can come true if we escape from this pyramid.

Rowan and his gang arrived at the spot that Cassie and Derek just barely dodged a spiked brick. Rowan and Jimmy were the ones leading the group with the others following close behind. They stayed in a straight line, but kept their weapons drawn just in case of any surprises.

Jimmy stepped on the brick from earlier and a rumble shook the ground. "What the hell was that?" Jimmy asked before the spiked brick came flying down. Rowan and the others gasp with wide eyes at the sight of seeing a huge spike impale Jimmy in the forehead. Jimmy was silent as the spike retreated from his forehead and back into the ceiling. Jimmy's eyes were frozen open as the mercenary fell back on his back. Blood leaked from Jimmy's head and a pool formed around him that washed all the way towards Rowan's shoes. Rowan reaches down not to pay his respects (as if he had any), but to take his gun from him.

"Look people, Jimmy is dead but to be fair, he saved us. He took the bullet for us when he stepped on whatever caused this trap to activate. He saved us all and we should do the honorable thing by moving forward for him. Once we obtain the Cold iron, we can send money to his family for compensation. Anybody with me on this? Good, now everyone, watch your step and let's get moving forward. Remember that Jimmy bit the bullet." He was lying through his teeth, but his men did not know that though. Rowan was as despicable as they came: he was both a mass-murderer and a liar at the same time. But when the chips are down for both Cassie and Derek, then it shall be revealed who is the more bigger woman/man.

Cassie heard that rumble again behind her and recognized it. It was the same rumble as when people step on the carved square in the ground. That could only mean one thing: Rowan was here and he was hot on their trail. But given as to how the rumble was far away, Cassie calculated that Derek and her had a twelve minute head start on the villains.

"Did you hear that Cassie? Rowan is here or someone else."

Cassie rolled her eyes at Derek. "D-Man, I doubt it's the Albanians because we took them all out. The only people who know we are here is Rowan most likely and he most likely would have come down the same hole that we came down, which means that he has some kind of grappling rope for us to climb when we destroy the Cold iron."

"That's kind of a long statement," Derek said as he wheezed from his knee pain. "The only trouble is we have our objective down this path and we have enemies from behind. We are literally trapped between a rock and a hard place."

"So was my dad trapped between a rock and a hard place. He was hanging off a derailed train in the Himalayas and he was pretty much confused about his environment, but he persevered and made it out alive. We are trapped between a rock and a hard place and we will make it out alive. And when we do, I will buy you some tacos from Taco Bell."

"Can we go to a Bosnian one?"

"If only I had Bosnian currency, which I am pretty much picked clean from that car rental guy. By the way, we should whatever treasure we find here to pay for the rental jeep we destroyed." Cassie stopped herself from stepping on a carved square on the floor. "Shit, I almost stepped on that bastard." She steps over, helping Derek over. "Be very careful, remember, we will survive this rock and a hard place."

"We are not going to survive this rock and a hard place," Vlad complained as he stepped over a carved square. "We have traps on one side, and Davis and Lambert on the other side and they are going to beat us to the Cold iron."

"Shut up Vlad," Rowan barked. "One more word and I will kill you."

"And you'll be one man short." Vlad smiled mischievously at him. He was right and Rowan knew it. With Jimmy's death, that left only the nine of them left and killing Vlad would most certainly dwindle their numbers. Rowan was a man who relied heavily on numbers to his advantage and if only Cassie and Derek hadn't killed over two or three dozen men, or maybe less, then would he have had a large advantage. He considered his men to be expandable because of their massive numbers but with small numbers, each life was precious.

"Alright then Vlad. Men, be very careful and we should pick up the pace and we should be able to beat Davis and Lambert to the Cold iron."

"Pick up the pace Cassie."

"And risk inflicting pain on you?" Cassie asked softly. "We still have our guns on us and we will put them to good use once we meet Rowan and his gang. By my calculations, he can't fit that many mercenaries in this tunnel. It can barely fit eleven people at the most."

"Cassie, can I have your gun so I can hold off the villains when they come meet us?"

Cassie considered his words very carefully. He could only feel pain in his legs and his arms were still in good condition. She could not turn and shoot, but when she's running with Derek over her shoulder, he could do the gunning. "Reach for the gun and pull it over my shoulder. When I do the running, you do the gunning."