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“Exactly. That’s why I kind of hope Kukulkán does return. He could teach us knowledge that has been lost for centuries. For millennia. We always assume the present is controlling the future. That our inventions are going to change everything. Futurists have been predicting for years that we should look more closely at the past.”
“Futurists like Ray Kurzweil?” Brower said.
“Yeah. Didn’t he say something about exponential curves? I don’t remember the quote, but it reminds me of what you said back at FBI headquarters.”
“I’ve followed his work. We think the future is linear. With technology, it’s exponential. If you take thirty steps, you don’t get to thirty. You get to a billion.”
“Yes!” Roth agreed emphatically. “Have you read Alvin Toffler’s work?”
“I love Toffler. He said that the illiterate of this century will be those who cannot learn, unlearn, and learn again.”
“Yes! Oh, I wish we weren’t about to die. I could hang out with you. We keep looking to the future for the answers. But what if the Maya already had a cure for cancer? Or diabetes?”
“It would put a lot of pharma companies out of business,” Brower said.
“It might even put the Defense Department out of business. Isn’t that another reason why the Spanish might have burned the knowledge they’d found? What if they learned something they weren’t ready to accept? That established history wasn’t accurate. Better to burn the codices and keep the world in ignorance. Rather than learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
“We can’t undo what the Spanish did when Cortés came. Or what the other immigrants did when they came to the Americas after that. I don’t think anyone is going to just go back to Europe and start over again. Despite what Illari and her faction want.”
“Agreed. What Illari and her ilk want isn’t going to happen. But that doesn’t mean the status quo can’t change in other ways. There was a Hungarian doctor who figured out germs were killing mothers in a maternity ward in Vienna. No one believed him, even though he was right, and he was eventually put into an insane asylum. It took Pasteur’s backing of the same idea to convince people of the truth. Knowing something isn’t enough. Being a good communicator is essential.”
Brower gave an amused grunt. “When you first arrived in DC, I wasn’t open to the idea that people could transform into jaguars. Or that shields could repel bullets. It wasn’t until I saw it happen with my own eyes that my skepticism collapsed. Now that I know what’s possible, I think I can help persuade others to consider another perspective.”
“I get what you’re saying. My mind was pretty closed too until we were put in a life-and-death situation. I knew we couldn’t beat the Beasleys physically. It forced me to consider other options.”
“When they come for us, we’re not going to have a lot of time,” Brower said. “So let’s think outside the box once more. If the kem äm amplifies force and repels matter, then if I shoved a guard into another web, it would amplify the force of my shove. Do more damage to him.”
“Yes,” Roth said, sitting up straighter.
“I studied aikido in college,” Brower said. “It was all about using momentum and small applications of force to have an outsized reaction.”
They both heard the door at the end of the corridor open on its noisy hinges. Roth’s heart rate began to intensify.
“I think this is it,” he whispered.
Brower nodded and rose to a crouch, arms folded around his knees. His suit was already torn in a few places. Roth picked up the poison dart and squeezed it tightly between his fingers.
“Bring the German chancellor first,” Jacob Calakmul said, his voice echoing down the stone corridor. “Then the British PM.”
Roth and Brower exchanged glances. They’d both assumed that they would be first. And why was Jacob down here in person? Roth’s confidence began to quiver.
From beyond the web of kem äm, several warriors marched past their cell. In a few moments, they returned, dragging a man in a suit with gray hair back toward the stairs. Then another was fetched.
“Why is Calakmul speaking English?” Brower whispered.
“The king of Spain next,” Calakmul directed. He came to stand just outside their cell, his back to them. Roth saw he was wearing his ceremonial attire, so his calf muscles were visible, just beyond the kem äm. The temptation to stab him was hard to control, but he knew better.
More commotion, and another man was hauled away. The king of Spain was gibbering in Spanish. He looked terrified.
“Take them to the temple and bring them to the altar,” Jacob said. Then he turned and faced their cell. There was something wild in his eyes. He looked unhinged.
“Are you ready to die, Mr. Roth?” Jacob said. “It is time to climb the temple.”
Roth realized why Jacob was speaking in English. It was for their benefit. He was saving Roth and Brower for last to show them they had failed.
Jacob waved his hand over the doorway and the kem äm disappeared. He stood outside the entrance, his gaze mocking.
“Aren’t you going to try and stab me?” he taunted. “You think I am easy prey? I don’t need any guards to handle you both. It insults me for you to presume I haven’t considered your every move. Or do you believe my brain is still underdeveloped?” He said the last words with bitterness.
