They were getting close to the end. That was becoming obvious from the map, Emilie thought. There weren't that many directions left, so as long as the map was accurate, soon they were going to come to the end. Liz had slowed them down some too, which didn't make Southwood happy. But then again in that little "accident" with the trap that killed two of his men, Liz was lucky to get away with a sprained ankle. Southwood almost had a coronary over that, seeing the key to the map almost falling and barely pulling herself up out of that pit in the nick of time. There was just one little thing that he hadn't noticed. Liz had been limping on the left side, but after the last rest, she limped on the right until a discreet nudge from Janna corrected her. Emilie wondered why Liz would intentionally piss Southwood off by slowing down and then it hit her at their last rest. Liz was listening to someone despite the silence. Cameron was closing in on them and she was letting him catch up.

The thought was heartening although Emilie wasn't sure why exactly. They were still outnumbered even with Cameron's help. The element of surprise was going to be on their side, but these guys weren't going to be afraid to kill any of them once they found what they were looking for. As a matter of fact, chances were they were going to kill them. Bentley had made marks at every turn to indicate the right direction to get them out. Once they reached the center, then the girls were just going to be dead weight. Emilie knew she should be terrified, but there was something in Liz's expression that said she had an ace up her sleeve. And Janna seemed to know what it was as well. It was really becoming bothersome to be the only one in the adventure that didn't know what in the bleeding hell was going on.

And then finally they turned a corner and all of them were startled by a dim glow of light up ahead. For a second the whole group froze. Emilie spoke up softly. "In the tales, it said that the people here had huge tanks of oil, like Emperor Chin of China's tomb, so that the place where the treasure was hidden would glow forever."

There seemed to be an aura of awe about the group as they edged forward down the final tunnel, emerging into a large circular room. It soared at least twenty feet high with terraces carved into the walls and one large outcropping of rock near the top. As Emilie had suggested, small bowl shapes had been carved into the walls and they were burning gently, illuminating the room in a soft glow. Several of the bowls were no longer burning, the rock empty of any oil. Either the lines had broken at some point in the last millennia or the oil was finally starting to run low. The flames danced to a soft breeze of air that was circulating through the cave. Somewhere there had to be either a secret entrance that was open or some kind of air vents. Whoever had designed this place was a master architect. He had obviously meant for this place to be around forever.

Liz knew that Emilie was worried about something beyond their present situation. She had been doing that "yelling" thing more than once for Liz to be ready for possible trouble when they got to the treasure chamber. Well duh, Liz thought to herself. Of course there was going to be trouble. But then she realized that what Emilie was worried about was what was going to happen when Southwood found the fortune that was supposed to be there. Emilie believed that there was something there, but it was the what that had her concerned. She was thinking that Southwood was going to get a nasty surprise. Liz didn't care about what Southwood was going to find in order for him to get a nasty surprise. She knew who was close behind and that was all of the nasty surprise that they needed.

"Eww!" Janna couldn't help but blurt out, one finger pointing, her nose wrinkling. Emilie and Liz followed her finger to a smooth part of the wall where a corpse was lying on what had once been a bed pallet. The dry air of the cave had been a preservative, causing the body to mummify rather than decompose. The three girls started to go over there when one of Southwood's goons tried to stop them

Emilie looked over her shoulder in disgust. "We helped to get where you wanted to go," she said, annoyed. "There's only one way out so will you please tell your ape we're just going to have ourselves a bit of a look around?"

Southwood was carefully removing some pieces of wood that were leaning over several chests on the ground. Bentley heard and waved away the guard. It wasn't like the girls were going to be able to remove anything. He had every intention of making sure they didn't try to sneak anything out before leaving their bodies to molder along side the other person that had been here for a while.

The guard stepped out of the way and they went over to the body. Emilie's eyes raked over it, trying to place what time it came from by the way the body was dressed. Certainly not Egyptian. Fourteenth or Fifteenth century European if she had to guess.

"Can you read that?" Liz asked softly, pointing to words scraped into the rock over the body.

Emilie looked at the words. They were old and faded, but still legible. "Old Spanish," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Don Diego Goya del Fuentes. Isabella, I will come for you."

Janna's eyes widened at the names. While they were waiting for the rain to stop on the golf course, Antonio had told her about the history of the necklace and why it meant so much to his family. So this is why the poor guy never came back for the love of his life. She wondered if Antonio would want to come back here and see the man that much of his family's legends had been built around. She stared at the mummified body with more compassion than the revulsion she had felt before. In his hand was a flaking leather bag. She could imagine him holding onto that bag, uttering his final words, a declaration of eternal love to his princess far away, as the illness or wound that had brought him down finally claimed his life.

Emilie was looking at some other inscriptions in hieroglyphics on the wall and Liz was keeping an eye on Southwood and his men. Janna quietly took the bag out of the corpse's hand, curious to see what it was that he had held onto so desperately in his final moments. Maybe a crucifix or some family symbol? Nobody noticed her opening it carefully, her eyes getting huge at seeing what was in the bag.

"WHAT?" Southwood's shout echoed throughout the chamber. The goon that had been casually watching the girls hustled them over to where the men were. Southwood was kneeling at the largest chest in the room, the lock having been knocked off and the lid opened. He reached in and lifted out a handful of dark pellet-like objects. Behind the chests bundles of dried reeds had been pulled apart, revealing large bundles of rotted cloth.

"What is this?" Southwood demanded, his eyes scorching. His blazing gaze rested on Emilie.

"If I had to wager a guess, I would say pepper," she replied calmly.

"Where is the gold, you fool?" he hissed. "The legendary riches and treasure?"

Emilie shrugged. "Gold and jewels were easy to get in Europe," she said softly but smugly. "I told you that you should have let me do more research on what the treasure was. It wasn't gold that men brought back from the east. To become really rich, you brought back silk and spices. It was called the Silk Road for a reason." She paused. "You fool."

There was no mistaking the shock and horror on Southwood's face as he realized what she meant. All of the planning and deceit and cost. All that he had risked and it was all for what you could now get in any grocery store. Pepper. And the little arrogant Mick standing in front of him knew. All along she had *known* what they were going to find in there.

He glanced over at the three goons still with them. "They better beg to die," he ordered coldly. The malevolence of his tone lit up their faces. All three of them thought the girls were rather attractive and being given free reign was going to be fun. Liz took a step in front of the other two, making them smirk at the grim determination in her eyes.

Liz wasn't counting Emilie and Janna as in the fight really. They might be able to kick a few times, but neither of them could dodge bullets. The entrance to the cavern was to their right, but there was no way to make a break for it without getting shot. She knew that the others were closing in rapidly, but she wasn't too sure how far and there was no way she could break concentration now to ask Cameron. So it was five against one until her brother and sister decided to show up. Okay. She could handle that. Her eyes narrowed on them, her delicate features taking on a feral look. She would never know it, but it was the exact look her mother used to have a moment before an assassination.

For a second the men hesitated. The girl seemed like she had too many surprises in store. They weren't the type that liked surprises. The lead man drew his gun and sneered at the other two. "Don't worry. One in the knee calms 'em down quick." He aimed at her, the barrel dropping low so that it wouldn't be a killing shot.

Liz tensed knowing that there was only going to be one chance. Emilie and Janna weren't standing directly behind her so they wouldn't get hit with a stray bullet. This wasn't going to be pretty. Nope not at all.

It was almost simultaneous. A gunshot rang out as Liz dropped to her knees. Time seemed to slow as the man turned slowly towards his companions, confusion on his features. A thread of blood ran from his left temple and then he collapsed onto the ground, a chunk missing from the right side of his head. Out of the utter blackness of the caves, Heather and Cameron emerged, a thread of smoke still trickling from the barrel of the gun Heather was holding in her left hand.

Liz peeped over her shoulder at her sister and brother. She had been a heartbeat away from springing when Cameron had yelled at her to get down. Instinct had made her drop to the ground before her conscious mind could try and talk some sense into her. She glanced back at Southwood, a slow grin emerging at his stunned expression seeing Cameron alive and well.

"You got your gang, I got mine," she grinned, standing back up. Heather and Cameron circled around so that they were flanking Liz, Heather still holding a gun in each hand.

Cameron smirked at their stunned expressions seeing him alive. "It's kind of hard to kill an immortal," he said with a grin that matched his twin's. "We just keep coming back for more."

The other two men had their guns half-drawn, frozen in place. They just went from three helpless girls, to three helpless girls, a guy that should be dead and Lara Croft without the implants. One of the guys glanced towards the entrance and that was when Jon and Antonio stepped through.

"Not going to happen," Jon said, his lips twisted in a sarcastic sneer.

When Janna saw the two men step through the opening, she felt weak in the knees. First, because Antonio obviously hadn't been killed when he followed her home. And second because he was with Heather and Jon and Cameron of all people. That was not as reassuring of a thought. His dark eyes caught hers, saying everything that needed to be said at that moment. With an extreme effort of will, she tore her eyes away from him and faced forward, mouth set in a grim line.

It was Bentley that stepped forward a cool smirk gracing his mouth. His hands were raised slightly, showing that they were empty. "Well, played," he said in an almost friendly tone. "But what next? Are you going to slaughter us all?"

He motioned to the two remaining guards to put their guns away. "I am a rather good judge of character," he bragged lightly. "I have to be in my position. And what I see is a group of people that are not killers. I don't think you can kill an unarmed man." His last words focused on Heather. There was the barest glimmer on her face that confirmed he was right.

"So then what? Call the police and have us arrested? No, I don't think so. I would say this is a stale mate. There is nothing to be split. We do have that necklace and you did get your fee so all is fair there. We have markings to let us know which way to go and you have the map. I say we all simply walk away."

No wonder the man was the assistant to a crime boss. He was a great negotiator and made some valid points there. They couldn't turn them in without exposing themselves. And Heather knew without a doubt that she couldn't just execute a bunch of people. She might look like her mother, but she didn't have the same training and ways of thinking. Bentley smiled wider as her guns dropped slightly.

The wet punching sound was a soft "glurt", but it seemed to fill the entire cavern. Bentley's smiled widened for a second in a rictus grin, his eyes rolling down as if trying to see the handle of the knife that was now sticking through his throat. Then he collapsed into an undignified heap onto the ground.

All eyes swung to the rock outcropping near the top of the cavern where three people lightly stepped off of it, dropping easily to the ground below. Antonio was the only one to notice that the determination he had seen in the family members was suddenly stark fear at the new arrivals. They went from tough adults to a bunch of scared kids with every step forward and Antonio didn't think it had anything to do with the assault rifle that the man was holding. Then it hit him. He had seen all three of them in the pictures in Liz's bedroom. The blonde man and woman were the twins and Heather's parents and the other woman was unmistakable as Janna's mother.

"He was right," Alicia said with a wry smile, the twin of the knife she had just thrown resting in her left hand. She twirled it back into the hip sheath. "They're not like that. But mommy and daddy are."

Everything seemed to happen in a heartbeat. The kids hit the ground, Cameron pulling Emilie down with him and Antonio following Jon's lead to the ground as Zack squeezed off two rounds seemingly without aiming. Both of the goons flew backwards, one almost with his hand on a gun, but his speed was nowhere near Zack in a bad mood. They fell to the ground, crimson puddles spreading from one's head and the other's chest wound. Southwood jumped back, hitting the wall, his hand convulsively grabbing one of the oil burners that had gone out. And then the thing turned sideways.

A low rumble filled the chamber. A few rocks fell from the ceiling and then the ground trembled below their feet. And then the world seemed to fall apart. Rocks were falling, the ground yawing open, dust and debris flying everywhere, the tremors knocking everyone around violently. Cameron saw the ground starting to open under Emilie and grabbed her, rolling her over with him closer to a wall where there was marginal more safety, his body protecting hers. Antonio caught a glimpse of rocks heading towards Janna's head and jumped forward, pushing her out of the way just in time. She let out a small whimper as her ankle twisted in the fall, pain shooting up her leg. The earth beneath them suddenly split and both of them were sliding down a steep incline.

It was over in a matter of seconds. "Kids?" Alicia called out, trying to see through the choking dust. The badass was gone and it was a worried mother wanting to know if her children were injured. Two things were apparent right off. The entrance was now blocked in a tumble of rocks and Janna was nowhere to be seen. Zack was with the girls. That was good. Cameron had a pretty redhead on top of him. That was interesting. Alicia spotted Max, looking down into a crevasse that had opened. Her eyes met Max's for a moment and Alicia knew where Janna was. Right in the middle of trouble as always. Her twins weren't a bad influence. They were just a catalyst for someone's innate ability to get into trouble on their own.

Janna and Antonio had slid down a steep incline, dumping them out onto a ledge in the wall of the rock. Antonio got to his feet first, getting over to Janna, making sure she wasn't injured. She had a small scratch on her forehead that was trickling blood, but it didn't look serious. She blinked at him dazedly.

"Got a quarter?" she mumbled.

"What?"

"I think I want to take that ride again." Antonio smiled in relief and she smiled weakly back. "Hey, that was kind of fun."

"Perhaps we should try the 'getting out of here' ride next." He could see the humor in her remark now that his heart was beating again knowing that she wasn't really injured.

A gun cocking made them both jump. Southwood was rising from where he had fallen, a sneer twisting his mouth. There was no sanity at all in his gaze and neither of them needed to be told that he had no problem taking out the people that had just cost him everything. Janna thought she might still be able to take him until she put a little weight on her ankle and a hot sizzle of pain ran up her leg. That wasn't going to work. She could feel Antonio tense and knew he was about to do something stupid.

"You can't win if you're dead, you whoring little bitch," he hissed out, ready to savor the sight of Janna's bleeding body falling over the edge and into the black below. Instead he let out a shocked little yawp when a figure in black dropped beside him and snatched the gun out of his hand as easily as an adult taking something from a child.

Max backhanded Southwood in the face, slapping him to the ground. "First of all," she declared, her voice picking up the ghetto accent that only came back anymore when she was royally pissed. "You do not use that kind of language around my little girl, aiight? I smacked down my boy Sketchy more than once for making with the nasty talk around her, you no exception to the rule, got that?"

She looked disdainfully at the gun in her hand. "Second, I hate guns." She tossed it lightly, letting it tumble into the abyss. Her hands went to her hips as Southwood started to get back to his feet.

"Get the hell out of my way," he snarled at her, trying to intimidate her with his much larger size. Antonio went to take a step forward to help Max, but Janna grabbed him and shook her head. You didn't get in Mom's way when she started up with the ghetto speak. That was the sign that you should run as far and as fast as possible.

"Mmmhmmm." Max wasn't impressed by Southwood's demand. "Obviously, explanations are needed." Her movement was so fast, it was barely caught by the human eye as she whipped around, a kick catching him in the gut knocking him back and driving him to his knees. "See," she continued, "you were not the one that spent twenty-one hours in serious amounts of pain trying to get that little girl out of your body. I don't like spending that long doing something that feels good, we clear on that? But I went through it for her. I brought her in the world, so you looking at the only one that's gonna take her out."

Southwood leapt at Max, intent on using his greater weight to shove her over the edge, but she sidestepped, her leg slamming into his midsection. A roundhouse punch had him back on the ground, his lip split and bleeding. "One of the good things about being a mother," she said, cracking her knuckles, eyes glittering malevolently, "is that you learn a lot of ways to explain something to someone. We can rock this issue all day and night. I'm up for it. You?"

"Are you done playing with him?" Zack asked calmly. He had slid down the incline so stealthily that not a rock moved with him. Max jumped slightly and looked over at her brother.

"Just trying to make with the life lessons."

"You and Jhondie," he muttered. "Always have to play with everything first." He grabbed Southwood by the nape of the neck, a sharp snapping sound carrying clearly on the air. Southwood slumped to the ground and Zack unceremoniously flicked him off of the ledge to whatever was waiting in the darkness below. His eyes flashed over to Janna and Antonio and then back to Max. "Move out," he ordered.

Repelling ropes had coiled downwards towards them and he caught one, scaling up it quickly. Max blew out a breath and sauntered over to where her offspring was standing, being supported by one fine-ass looking young man. It took a second to register, but she knew who he was. And he was all over Janna like he was going to protect her with his life. What was the dealio with that? Logan was going to be all kinds of trippin' when he hears about this, Max decided. Something else to blame on my wild genes.

"Mom," Janna started to say, but Max held up a hand.

"Not interested right now," she said firmly. Janna practically shrank back into Antonio. "We having ourselves a long mother-daughter chat all the way home later." Janna paled. "You hurt?" Max asked. Janna shook her head no and Max reached into her quilted black vest and pulled out a small bag, handing it to Janna.

Janna opened it up and gasped as the necklace that they had stolen poured out into her hand. She looked up at her mother who just shook her head. "You can thank your father for that. I don't know what he did or who he called in favors from, but he was on the phone the whole way here then we hit France and Cole and Janice comes on in, hands the necklace over. They was all laughing and saying it was better than a second honeymoon." She sighed. "I am just so glad they are your aunt's family, cause I still don't get a one of them."

"Thank you," Janna whispered.

Max smiled just a bit, catching Antonio's expression as he looked at Janna and the necklace. Yeah, she had seen that expression before. Now if the boy said something about Janna having the singularly most beautiful face he had ever seen before, then there was no way Logan was ever going to let her live down this obvious corruption of their child. "You be a good girl and give that back and make with all of the apologies, baby girl," she said softly. "I'm going to get up there before your uncle has a kitten for us wasting all this time."

She turned and left them alone for a minute. Janna smiled at Antonio. "I said I would try and get it back," she said. "My mother is going to kill me, but I kept my word." She opened her hand flat, offering him the glittering diamonds and gold. He took it from her carefully. It had been a while since he had touched the necklace himself and it seemed odd to see it in these surroundings.

Antonio let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. "I think I understand a great deal more about you now. Not just what your cousin let slip about the unique family history, but has anyone ever told you that you are much like your mother?"

Janna's eyes got wide. "Heather told you? And yeah, my dad would say he never thought he would have to live with Mom as a teenager when I was younger."

Antonio thought for a second. "Your father must be a remarkable person." Janna smiled.

"You don't know the half of it. And speaking of half..." She still had the leather bag that she had removed from the body in the central chamber. She opened it carefully and a flood of diamonds in a gold setting poured into her hand. Antonio's eyes widened as she carefully straightened them to reveal a twin of the necklace that he was holding. "I guess this proves the legends were true," she whispered.

Antonio took it from her almost reverently. "She knew the statue pointed to him," he whispered. "His way back to her. That's why she didn't scream." Janna was looking at him like he had just flipped. He leaned over and kissed her sweetly. "Family legends," he said simply.

"So, since you got the necklace back and solved a 400 year mystery, I guess all is forgiven?" she asked with the cutest little smile.

Antonio grinned at her. "Not quite," he replied. And then placed the necklace that had been stolen back into her hand, closing her fingers around it. "You said you would do whatever it takes to put this back where it belongs. You better keep your promise, because you know I can find you."

Janna was biting her lower lip in excitement. When she spoke, she picked up the French accent once more. "As you know, I am, as I have always been, a woman of my word."

They kissed again and then Max was yelling down that if she had to come back down there, Janna Jacqueline, she was going to regret it. There was enough trouble going around and she did not want it getting heaped on more. Janna and Antonio shared another smile and then he began helping her back up to where the rest of the group was gathered and waiting.