The Eye of the Jaguar was a famous ancient relic rumoured to be hidden from centuries in the heart of the Canadian wild, a ruby gemstone worth millions, protected, or so the legend said, by evil ancient spirits for decades on end.
For the Adventurers, the mystery of the Jaguar Eye was too intriguing to resist.
The Adventurers were a daring duo of explorers consisting of Adventurous Ayaan and Adventurous Aayra, and had recently been awarded for their courage in the face of adversity with a knighthood by the Queen of England. Now back in New York City, the duo was trying to sort through tons of letters they’d received in their absence.
“This one’s an invitation to Dan’s Diner.” said Aayra, tossing it away as Ayaan said, “And this one’s a reminder to pay the phone bill. I’ll do that just now.” Aayra chuckled before saying, “And this looks like a toddler’s doodle of a pickle.”
“What!?” cried Ayaan, surprised, nearly wrenching it out of her hands. Indeed, the drawing looked terrible, like a kindergartner had taken a pencil and drawn some squiggles on the page with his eyes closed. The Adventurers knew only one person whose drawing was that abysmal.
As if on cue, the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it.” said Aayra, leaping onto her feet as Ayaan made to pay the phone bill on his smartphone. Aayra flung open the door as Daring Dante walked inside.
Daring Dante was a long-time friend of the Adventurers who sometimes accompanied them on missions. Now, he was dressed like he was about to leave on holiday, a brown suitcase with stickers from countries over the globe taped on it, hanging underneath his arm as he smiled and said, “Nice to see you, Adventurers.”
“Are you going somewhere, Dante?” questioned Aayra, inviting him inside as Ayaan smiled upon seeing him too. “Of course, I am.” he said, tapping the suitcase. “And, in fact, so are you.”
“We are?” questioned Ayaan, taken by surprise as Dante nodded and clarified, “You are. A brand-new mystery just popped up, and this one’s a real doozy.”
“Is that what the pickle was supposed to be?” asked Ayaan as Dante rolled his eyes and said as if it were obviously, “No, silly. That’s not a pickle, that’s a jungle.”
“Then why is it does it have those spots on it?” asked Ayaan as Dante replied, “Those are the trees.” Aayra laughed out loud as Dante plopped himself on a comfy armchair and lifted up a brochure for some sort of holiday, throwing it into their hands.
“Canada. Wilderness. Gemstone.” he said, holding up both hands. “You’re really going to love this one.”
The Adventurers may have been tired after just returning from another adventure so soon, but the prospect of exploration never dimmed. Dante continued, “So, I learnt about this legend that there’s a gemstone somewhere in the wilderness in Canada, hidden from centuries, supposedly guarded by evil ancient spirits.”
“Did you just say evil ancient spirits?” asked Aayra incredulously as Dante nodded in agreement. The Adventurers had dealt with the supernatural only too often, having encountered magical mobile islands and even befriended wizards.
“Well, I’ve done my research and a few days ago, I found an honest-to-goodness map.” said Dante, retracting a rolled-up piece of paper that was clearly ancient. Parts of it were torn and it looked like the last few centuries hadn’t been good for it.
“Ergo, the Eye of the Jaguar.” said Dante, resting his case. The Adventurers didn’t ask any questions or cite any doubts, only asked in unison, “Got it. When do we start?”
Dante clapped both hands together happily before saying, “Pack up. I’ve already rented a seasoned boatman to take us down the rapids.”
“The rapids?” questioned Ayaan. “Isn’t there any other path through the forest?”
“The rapids are by far and away the fastest. Plus, the start of the jungle is a total mess, and tons of predators live there. This way will be for the best.”
The Adventurers always kept bags packed for different climates, including one for desert weather and another for the freezing cold. Wilderness materials were in another pack as well.
A few hours later, the Adventurers and Dante found themselves outside an ancient log cabin selling supplies. Even though their pack contained practically everything, they still wanted to get a person who knew the parts to check if they needed nothing more. After he’d given the all-clear, they began to walk down towards the place where the boats were.
The boats were exceptionally large canoes and standing above the first one was the boatman Dante had hired, a man who looked to be pushing seventy with a grey beard and a wise look in his eyes. “Welcome to Canada, brave explorers!” he guffawed good-naturedly, lifting up a paddle to show his excitement. The Adventurers politely smiled while Dante waved.
While the boatman, whose name was Oliver, took the front of the boat along with Dante, the Adventurers sat at the back, enjoying the scenery outside. The boat began slowly, then picked up speed, everyone inside pitching in as it made progress downriver.
According to Oliver, the first part of it was pretty even, though when it got dark, it was easy to miss where the rapids opened up. The smaller ones were more about scaring you than anything, but the larger rapids required precise action; one wrong move and the boat could splinter of capsize.
The Adventurers had nevertheless a basic idea about canoeing, but were more than happy to let Oliver take charge, seeing that he obviously had great experience. After a while, the sun began to set in the sky as well, the boat faster than ever nearing the rapids.
“We should be getting a bit careful, right?” questioned Dante, slightly fearful of how close they were to the drops. Oliver nodded but said, “It’s alright, laddie. We’re still some distance away.”
The canoe slightly bounced off a rock and the Adventurers were thrown down. Dante was nearly clobbered by his own paddle while Oliver tried to steer the boat in the right direction. The current was pulling them faster, speeding them towards the rapids.
“Oliver!” shouted Dante, worriedly, but the old man now croaked and laughed, “Oliver? Who’s Oliver?” Something sticky and slimy flew through the air and hit Dante on the face before falling into the river.
A face mask to hide his true identity. Because when he turned around, it wasn’t Oliver staring back. The Adventurers knew exactly who he was all the same, and the mere sight of him made a lump form in their throats.
The Code Breaker.
The Code Breaker was the leader of the terrorist organization Washout. They’d only seen him once before, in an auditorium, but it was clear that he was extremely smart and dangerous.
Strapped to his belt was a small hook that was connected to a large rope. They’d been so focused on the river that they hadn’t noticed a helicopter flying above them. The next movement, the rope pulled upwards and yanked the Code Breaker away to safety. He winked and did a mock salute towards them before disappearing out of view.
“That guy’s got style.” admitted Dante, but the next moment, the canoe nearly capsized, the current picking up speed as the people inside were thrown to the ground.
“We’ve got to paddle to the left!” shouted Dante, and they began paddling on the left side, propelling the canoe towards the right. The left area was covered in small rocks that could easily splinter their boat in half. There was a whoosh and a moment of silence, and then the canoe began to fall.
There was a crash and the canoe leapt slightly as the Adventurers nearly dropped their paddles. There was no time to get off onto dry land, because the current pushed them further in and the next set of rapids was coming up too fast. Aayra tried to paddle back towards the right, only for the paddle to get wedged between too stones.
That was a problem. The next second, the paddle splintered entirely and Aayra was shoved towards the side of the canoe. The boat wobbled ominously as Ayaan pulled Aayra in, and the canoe fell to its original position, water splaying the people inside completely.
“Paddle down!” shouted Ayaan, paddling hard as Dante continued his own even more vigorously. The canoe went down another rapid, this one slightly smaller than the first one, though they barely avoided landing on the rocks. The canoe bobbed once more before their luck ran out and the front of the canoe hit a stone.
There was a crack and it turned to a side, until they were facing the entirely wrong way. Dante turned around, just as the back of the canoe now facing towards the rapids hit another rock and set them the right way, though Ayaan slammed into Dante and both their paddles went flying.
The duo fell to the ground as the canoe dipped and slammed into the water, Dante grabbing hold of the Adventurer as Ayaan almost flew off the canoe.
“We need to get off now!” shouted Ayaan, but Dante shook his head and yelled, “Not enough time!” Aayra was shrieking and pointing towards the rapid in front of them, that looked to be falling into thin air.
“That’s going to be big…” muttered Dante, before yelling, “Hold on!” The canoe bounced off another row of rocks, and then went off the edge.
It went down forward, the people inside flying outside as the boat sliced through the water and the Adventurers submerged, cold water blasting them in the face. Dante fell down next to them.
Ayaan looked at Dante and gave him a thumbs-up. Dante nodded slowly. Ayaan turned back, but Aayra was slowly sinking, having lost consciousness. Shocked and scared, Ayaan swam towards her and grabbed both hands, Dante swimming over to help them.
They emerged out of the water and took a deep intake of breath before setting Aayra down on the riverbank. “I… can’t believe we… made out of that… a… alive.” said Dante, before collapsing from exhaustion.
Ayaan was poking Aayra in the stomach with two fingers, water trickling out of her mouth. “Dante, help!” he shouted, but no response came. Dante was lying motionless, having fainted on the riverbank too. Finally, Aayra coughed, opening her eyes as water gurgled out of her and she gasped loudly.
“Oh, my god!” she said. “I thought it was… over for a moment back there.” Ayaan nodded and assured, “So did I.” before letting go of her and falling onto the riverbank, exhausted.
“You’re bleeding, Ayaan.” said Aayra, pointing to a gash on his knee. He’d been impaled by some sharp stones on his way out of the river, which had subsequently torn through parts of his pants, now revealing ichor trickling.
“I’ll be alright.” said Ayaan. “I can’t believe we didn’t see it. It must have been a trap all along.”
“None of us saw that coming.” said Aayra, as they heard what sounded like a grunt and their senses immediately picked up. Another grunt followed.
“Get down.” said Ayaan, but Aayra knew what the sound was already, head now on the grass, eyes closed, Ayaan doing the same thing. The bear grunted again before trudging forward.
When it comes to bears, the best thing to do is to play dead. Dante was doing well on that forte already, and now the bear was sniffing at him from a distance. It grunted again, the Adventurers holding their breaths. They couldn’t see anything but knew it was close by.
Finally, the bear gave a last grunt and disappeared within the trees. When they felt it was safe enough, the Adventurers opened their eyes and got back up. Surprisingly, Dante was still unconscious.
“It’s getting late.” said Ayaan. “If we don’t want to be running from predators all night, we better find a place to hole up.”
They were trudging through the forest, carrying Dante with them. Dante was heavy and slowing them down, but the Adventurers knew they couldn’t stop. Night was setting in, and nocturnal predators would soon be on the hunt.
“That tree looks safe enough.” said Aayra, pointing towards a tall specimen whose branches were creeping about, offering ample space to sleep. They were dense as well, so they could hide well enough. There was a scurrying sound, and then a squirrel ran down the trunk, an acorn in its arms.
“There’s no way we can climb with Dante.” said Ayaan, setting him down. “We can’t climb any tree. But there isn’t anywhere else either.” There was a hooting of an owl, and the Adventurers looked upwards. The trees mostly covered the sky, but enough of it was visible for them to know that it was night. That wasn’t good.
They heard a gasp and turned to see that Dante had finally gotten up. He looked confused, then realized what had happened and questioned, “How long was I out?” Ayaan shrugged and admitted, “A little bit. You missed some excitement with a bear.”
“A bear!?” burst out Dante, then chuckled. “Good thing I’m a natural at playing dead.” Another hooting sound rang out as he shot a glance towards the tree behind and understood the plan. Slowly, he begun to climb.
The Adventurers climbed upwards behind him. Before long, they were all on one of the topmost branches, nestled in safety, eyes closed and snoring away.
Ayaan woke up in the middle of the night.
He was feeling thirsty, and was just about to look for the water in his backpack, before he remembered they’d set those down at the bottom of the tree, concealed behind some leaves. He was about to climb down when he heard a sound that made him freeze.
“Are you sure they’re gone, boss?” came the voice. “The Adventurers have a bad habit of escaping.”
“Those rapids are as dangerous as any bullet.” came a second voice. “And even if the rapids didn’t finish them off, the predators will. We need to focus on getting the Eye.”
The Eye. They were looking for the Jaguar Eye.
“Aye, aye, boss.” came the first voice again, and then the barking of a guard dog, and the voice subsided as the two disappeared behind a cluster of trees.
Washout was involved once more. Because the Code Breaker might have been bad, but the other one was even worse. Vik.
Vik Stevens was the brother of Mack Stevens, and the duo together were the nemesis of the Adventurers. Mack and Vik went against everything they stood for and vouched for the polar opposite; they were deceitful, mean, and as of recent, murderous. They hated the Adventurers more than anything else and constantly tried to sabotage them.
If they were looking for the Eye of the Jaguar, then that couldn’t mean anything good was supposed to happen. Washout would hardly send it to a museum, rather keep it for themselves or sell it for money to private collectors or rich buyers.
They couldn’t lose the trail. Slowly, Ayaan nudged Dante, who grunted softly and awoke, nearly toppling off the branch. Fortunately, he was strapped in to avoid any accidents in the night.
“Mack and Vik.” mouthed Ayaan, and Dante looked surprised, then nodded and woke up Aayra. Within a few moments, they’d removed the straps, leapt down and gotten their supplies. The Code Breaker and Vik hadn’t been moving particularly fast, and were only some distance ahead.
A few hedges parted, as the trio ducked behind a hefty oak tree, watching with beating heart. More hedges parted as Vik retracted what looked like a dagger and cut through a section of the wildlife, an outstretched branch catching her in the face before the hedge disappeared entirely to reveal a camp.
And it was huge.
Most camps in the wilderness are of families or friends enjoying, and some have only a handful of campers. Even ones with lots of people have a campfire and then a bunch of tents strewn around. Only now could the Adventurers acknowledge just how big Washout was. Because the campsite was, undeniably, humongous.
There was a large table big enough to fit two dozen people smack in the centre, lined up with wooden chairs draped in what looked like silk. The tents were three times the size of normal ones, and nearly twelve had been set up around. At the far end was a pyramid of supplies, and the borders connecting to the woods were protected with what looked like a laser fence. A faint red line was also drawn across the ground, likely to set off an alarm if predators sniffed around the loot in the night.
“You’re back…” came the voice of Mack Stevens, who looked up from the magazine he was reading on the table. For some reason, Mack smelt even worse than he usually did, having put on a cologne so powerful the odour was spreading to even the tree behind which the Adventurers and Dante were. Dante gagged and made a gesture of throwing up.
Vik wrinkled her nose distastefully, while the Code Breaker’s steely expression did not change. Mack withered against their gaze before apologizing, “It was a mistake. The advertisement said it would keep away the bears.”
“No bear’s going to come near with that kind of smell hanging around.” said Vik, groaning. “It’s like they tried to make it stink on purpose.”
“We have more important things to discuss here than odorous cologne.” said the Code Breaker, and the duo immediately canned in. The next second, the silence was broken by the barking of a wolf, or at least what sounded like one, but was actually a monstrous German Shepherd that came out from behind a tent, a sleezy looking man behind it.
“Boss-man…” he said. “You back so soon? Blitzen here was just getting hungry.”
“Your canine eats too much.” said Vik, rolling her eyes, as Blitzen growled angrily. The sleezy guy chuckled and said, “I’d watched your tongue, Ms. Stevens. You wouldn’t like Blitz here getting angry at you, would you now?”
There was another sound, and four men coated in explorer wear emerged from behind another tent. They were all wearing utility belts with what looked like a small pistol holstered inside.
“Guns…” said Dante slowly, and his body twitched nervously. A twig cracked under his shoe, as the man in front glanced upwards like clockwork, and suddenly the pistol was in his hand and pointed in the general direction of the oak tree.
“Aw, crud…” moaned Aayra, and the next second, they were flat on the ground and crawling away. The cover of the trees and the night was protecting them from sight, but the man obviously thought they were some sort of nocturnal creature. There was a shot and the bullet pierced through the bark of the tree.
A second shot rang out, as the Adventurers broke into a run, heads still down but moving far faster now. “Hey!” shouted the man, but by the size of their crouched body, he still thought they were some sort of tiger or jackal and immediately fired once more.
The Adventurers and Dante tore through the clearing as the Code Breaker spun about, getting a clean look at their figures. He growled, “Adventurers!” then returned his gaze to the men around him. “Get them!”
“Tear them apart, Blitz!” shouted the sleezy man, and the next second, the German shepherd was tearing down like a bullet train, the men chasing not far behind with the pistol raised terrorist firing every few seconds.
“It’s just an open field!” shouted Dante, as they emerged on a patch of opening clearing with no vegetation cover whatsoever. There were however, numerous SUVs and 4 by 4’s lined up menacingly, including one whose owner had carelessly left the keys of inside the hatch. Ayaan pulled it out and opened the door.
“We’re stealing a car!” he shouted, stating the obvious, but Dante shrugged and reasoned, “People and dogs are after us, so I think it’s alright in this case.” There was another bark from the German Shepherd, but Ayaan thrust the key forward, and the engine roared. He stepped on the accelerator, and the SUV bolted forward, the German Shepherd’s barks drawn out by the sheer noise of the pacing vehicle.
“This is crazy!” shouted Aayra, whose entire body had been flattened to the back of the car, which jumped slightly before continuing its race forward. Dante was unfolding a piece of paper left on the seat, as his eyes widened in shock.
“These are layouts for some sort of ancient ground.” he said. “And this red dot’s where the campsite is. Which means…”
“We know where the next clue is.” said Ayaan, as the SUV picked up speed. “Take a right in two hundred, then a left after a creek and go forward.”
Ayaan turned the SUV right as it crashed through the vegetation in the forest area, before slowly going over some rocks over a thin creek slinking down the wilderness. The car continued before taking a left and then cut through another section of vegetation.
An arrow cut through the air and pierced through the bonnet of the car, embedding its narrow point into the SUV engine.
The next moment, the engine exploded. The car did an entire flip as all three inside screamed at the top of their voices, the SUV hitting the ground and doing an entire 180 before its rear end crashed into a tree and it came to a halt.
The trio leapt out of the vehicle, coughing and panting as the engine continued to burn. “There’s a fire extinguisher in the back.” said Dante, pulling out an extinguisher. He looked amazed that there was something like that in the back of a car, but considering Washout’s line of business, emergencies seemed fairly common. The fire was engulfed with foam before dissipating entirely.
“That was a booby trap.” said Aayra. “This must be some sort of protection for the Eye… tons of booby traps designed to finish off anyone who comes after it.”
“But how are we supposed to know where they are?” questioned Ayaan, as Dante lifted a small stone and threw it forward. A flaming arrow emerged from behind a thicket and severed it in half.
Dante picked up another stone and threw it. This time, it clattered onto the grass, no weapons emerging. They breathed a sigh of relief. “Alright, now it’s safe to pass.”
The entire clearing was covered in booby traps. Aside from the arrows, which Dante had categorized into poison arrows, with venom more powerful than dangerous snakes, and fire arrows, which had flames emerging from their tips, there were ancient matchlocks as well which fired from behind trees. The ground wasn’t safe either, with the occasional grenade concealed under the grass.
In the centre of the booby-trapped clearing was a bronze statue of a head that looked reminiscent to Moai. The Adventurers figured that that was the clue. After barely avoiding a venomous blade that cut through the empty air in front of them, they stepped in front of the statue, Dante slowly dangling a twig inside of it.
A mechanical pair of blades cut through it and severed it in half. Dante slowly removed it with the twig before placing his own hand inside, touching something solid. He grasped some kind of lever before twisting it, immediately pulling out his hand. There was a groan, and then the ground opened up and the bronze figurehead slowly descended into it.
The ground began detonating with grenades as the Adventurers ran for cover. Explosions ran out as smoke drifted and the ground parted entirely until a natural cave revealed itself, dark from inside and tempting explorers to venture forth.
“I suppose we go inside.” said Ayaan, walking inside the cave with the other two behind him. The torch in his hand lit up to brighten the area in front, though the rest of the cave was dark and filled with inexplicable noises and occasional scurrying of small animals. The cave opened up to reveal another chamber, similar to the place where the Adventurers had found the legendary James Birdy’s treasure on an island.
This time, there were no tricks. The gemstone glimmered alluringly in the centre of the hall, nestled upon a stone platform rising from the ground. The Adventurers stepped forward, and as they did so, they heard more noises coming from outside the cave. Washout was close behind.
There was no time to think. Dante grabbed the gemstone and lifted it into the air.
Immediately, the cave groaned and rocks began to tumble down just as the Code Breaker and the Washout field team emerged. Debris came falling down, as the Code Breaker caught sight of the gemstone in Dante’s hand and lifted a rifle.
A piece of debris struck him on the forehead, and he collapsed stone cold upon the cave floor. One of the men knelt down and began to drag him away, while the others, no longer caring for the Eye, but rather for themselves, began to run towards the exit. The Adventurers and Dante raced forward, as the chamber completely fell apart.
The trio dashed out of the cave before making a beeline for the nearest SUV. Only two cars could now be seen, one of which was a pickup truck, but the SUV was a much more promising target. Dante grabbed the key from a surprised terrorist and got inside.
The surprised silence lasted online for a split-second. The next, they all lifted their weapons in unison. But the heroes were too fast for them, the SUV firing down the forest at top speed.
There was the sound of a growling engine, and then the pickup truck was racing behind in hot pursuit, Mack by the wheel while Vik brandished an Ak-47 at the back, having lost apparently all sanity. The Jaguar Eye was now shoved inside Dante’s pocket, and the explorer was shooting wary glances behind them, while Ayaan struggled to navigate the vehicle. Bullets were raining down, but so haplessly that they were missing the SUV entirely.
Dante spotted a mobile phone in front and grabbed hold of it. No passcode was needed to get inside. He punched in a number and made a call.
“Hello…” he said. “This is Dante Hi…” but the rest of his words were drawn out by the noise of the SUV. Vik, having realized she needed to get close, shouted something to Mack, who promptly crashed the truck into the SUV from the right. Dante, who was closest, immediately dropped the phone, the screen of which splintered as the SUV slowly bobbed back and slammed into the pickup truck.
A number of things happened at once. The SUV carrying the Adventurers and Dante hit a sharp stone, as one tire hissed and gave out, while the pickup truck darted down a small hill, en route to a collision with a large boulder. Vik was thrown out of the truck on her rear end, while Mack bailed, the truck crashing into the boulder, and flipping into the air like a back-flip acrobat before crashing onto its back and immediately exploding.
The forest was already dry and rain was sparse. But the explosion of the truck seemed to have pushed the wilderness over the edge. Flames edged about and leapt onto the trees like an inferno, spreading menacingly.
The forest was on fire.
“Help!” shouted Mack, clutching his ankle, which seemed to have been broken by the fall he’d taken. Vik ran over to him, while the Adventurers got out of the vehicle and raced to his aid. Together, they began to help him forward.
“Can you walk on it?” questioned Aayra, as Mack moaned in a way that suggested he really couldn’t but didn’t have a choice. Flames were dancing from one treetop to another, spreading through the grass as anguished birds took to the open sky. The smell of burning timber filled the air, as Ayaan coughed drily.
“The campsite’s our best shot.” said Ayaan, as they trudged forward, emerging into the open clearing that led to the campsite. Here, the fire had far less fuel to burn up, and was finding it difficult to proceed, but was now darting from the far trees in the direction of the hill behind which the camp was.
Mack groaned once more, clearly in agony before collapsing onto the gras. “Just a little but further…” said Vik, helping him onto his feet. In spite of whatever she made out, she did seem to care about Mack. The Adventurers helped Mack onto his feet, but the walk up the hill was the hardest. Smoke was coming from the camp as well.
Mack fell to the ground at the patch in front of the campsite, which had descended into total chaos. Terrorists were running everywhere, while fire was raining down upon the supplies. The Adventurers had heard a lot about how quickly forest fires tended to move, but even they couldn’t comprehend how quickly it’d spread. It was a miracle they’d made it to the camp.
There was the sound of propellers from above, and a plane zoomed past towards the clearing, which was now burning up as well. Something fell out and immediately, a huge blast of water engulfed it entirely, the plane now moving in the direction of the trees. That fire would be much harder to contain.
There was the barking of a dog, and the trio spun about to see the sleezy man and the German Shepherd approaching. More SUVs had pulled into the parking area, which meant there had to have been more cars parked somewhere nearby by the cave. More terrorists were emerging from their own vehicles, the Code Breaker surprisingly not amongst them.
“You should give us the Eye of the Jaguar now.” said Vik, glaring at them, though there was a more resigned look in her eyes than before. She seemed somewhat apologetic that it had come to this. Mack was still on the ground, squirming about while sobbing and grabbing his ankle. The sleezy man smiled, flashing a row of perfect white teeth.
“FBI!” came a voice that rang above the din. “Put your hands in the air!” The enemy order fell apart as half a dozen dark cars emerged in front of the campsite, firefighters coming out of the latter ones as well in response to the growing flames. A helicopter descended onto the forest bed, as an entire squadron of FBI agents stepped out, flashing their badges. Blitz the German Shepherd whimpered, as if he too understood the game was up. The previously suave sleezy-looking man now looked stunned and extremely scared.
“You’re all under arrest.” said the FBI, before shooting a glance towards the Adventurers and Dante. “Except those three.”
“On what charges?” said the sleezy man, some confidence now seeping back into him. The FBI agent in front, the leader of the squad, removed his dark shades to flash a pair of threatening green eyes that looked like they would stare straight into your soul and tell if you were lying.
“On terrorism, attempted assassination, money laundering, robbery…” he said. “I could go on all day.”
The FBI agents slipped handcuffs onto the accused, while muttering their rights to them. Blitz whimpered once more, the agents cuffing Mack and Vik as well. Then, they were all taken towards the cars.
“Good thing you called.” said the leading agent, and Dante grinned. So that’s what the call was all about. Ayaan smiled too, but a nagging feeling was inside of him, like something very important was missing from the larger picture.
“The Code Breaker…” said Aayra, as the leading agent gasped in remembrance, just as a helicopter emerged into the sky. The door was slightly open, but enough to show the face of the Code Breaker, eyes steely and calculating, observing the Adventurers carefully. His gaze said it all. We’ll meet again.
Then, the doors to the chopper closed and it flew away.
In the aftermath of the adventure, the Adventurers presented the Eye of the Jaguar to the Canadian government for display in one of their national museums, for which the government was indebted to them and Dante as well. All of the accused members of Washout were in custody and awaiting trial, but the Code Breaker had escaped and was still at large, likely planning his next dastardly plot. The forest fire in the wilderness had fortunately been contained, but the Adventurers knew it could have been much worse had things been slightly different. While the no-longer booby trapped ancient grounds had been found still intact, and research about their own history was undergoing by archaeologists.
