Free Temple of the Jaguar by J.R. Rain, Aiden James

frigging mind. But I was banking on the fact Leo’s henchmen’s semi-automatic rifles were trained in general on us and not upon our heads just yet. The mercenary look of these guys made it obvious that when it was time to bid us adios , the weapons would be raised and our foreheads would be their close range targets. That meant I had about twenty seconds still to come up with an escape plan.
    “ Always the joker, Nicholas,” he laughed, although the glint of amusement in his eyes had disappeared. “I’ve often wondered if we should’ve fed you to the Nile crocs and not your buddy, Mario, ten years ago. Or...perhaps we should have fed you both, and then called it a day.”
    “ Maybe,” I said, noticing that the biggest ‘hill’ that was made of thousands of golden trinkets, figurines, and small bowls had a narrow stalactite above it. The distance was within my throwing range. Could I hit it? Perhaps...as long as I had the right item to toss. A better question would be whether or not it would make a difference, since the stalactite’s tip would have to crack off and land upon the hill’s apex perfectly to cause the avalanche I hoped for. “Mario was a good man, and a better friend. And I have no doubt that he’s waiting on your sorry ass to join him for an ass-kicking the very moment you cross over into the afterlife.”
    Words delivered smoothly, and it got the reaction I wanted...the one I desperately needed to try and work my even more desperate plan. Leo gave in to an uproarious fit of laughter, and even his two assassins began chuckling. These guys looked eastern-European, and I worried the joke might be lost on them. But the laughter grew as Leo’s fit continued. This was it—the now-or-never moment I needed.
    I pulled Marie close and planted the most intense kiss upon her mouth. Of course, she squealed in surprise and tried to push me away. But she held on long enough for me to reach between us and grab my beloved bowie knife. The very bowie knife that my dad once wore on his utility belt, and the one that always felt good in my hand.
    No, I didn’t try to use it on our assailants. That would’ve been suicide.
    But, I did use it.
    Knowing I’d likely never see it again if my plan failed or was successful, I flung it by the sharp tip toward the stalactite high above us. It twirled in the air, and flew with the familiar ‘swoosh’ from whenever I’d thrown the damned thing with force in the past. The knife hit the point exactly where I had hoped...and then careened off and clanked loudly against the cavern wall to our right.
    The stalactite remained intact.
    Ishi let out a low sigh that was followed by a low grown, and then Marie began to berate me about my kiss. The menacing trio standing in front of us no longer found my behavior amusing, and as the gunmen repositioned their weapons I couldn’t help but smile at the irony of my last moments on earth. Why in the hell had I thought hitting a bull’s eye on a target sixty feet away would amount to more than a pile of bat dung in the end?
    But the expected gunfire—either as single shots or a barrage of bullets—didn’t happen. It didn’t because in that moment of expecting to die, while everything grew eerily quiet around me, I was largely unaware of a loud rumble going on in the wall where my knife had struck.
    “ Oh, my God, Nick—you hit the jaguar’s eye!” said Marie, excitedly.
    “ The what?!”
    But then I saw what she was talking about, and felt somewhat ashamed that I had paid little attention to the carvings upon that wall. Especially the one that marked this cavern as the inner sanctuary of what long ago was known by the moniker “Templo Del Jaguar” , as Cortez once referred to this mystical place. My knife had chipped a small portion of the eye, which apparently set off a trigger of some sort. The wall was moving backward, and as it did the other walls and the floor below us began to shake.
    “ It’s collapsing!” shouted