Jack Canyon and The Wiccan Stones | CHAPTER EIGHT

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Once they stopped moving, Jack jerked his right arm away from Kisho and punched Hiroshi, who fell the ground as he held his broken nose. Jack spun to his left and head-butted Kisho. When he turned back to Kin, the Japanese man had the gun aimed at Jack's heart.

"Are you going to shoot an unarmed man?" Jack asked as he stood firm.

"I kill you either way I can," Kin said as he put away the gun and prepared to fight Jack Canyon. He swung a fast fist into Jack's direction, but missed.

Jack ducked and threw his shoulder into Kin's gut, forcing him against a tree. He heard the man groan in pain as his back cracked against the bark. He moved back and continuously punched the man until he passed out.

By that time, Yuriko had wind of what had transpired and sent more men to take out the American archaeologist.

Gunfire rang loudly throughout the park. Several bullets tore through the trees and park benches.

Jack raced through the line of trees for cover from the bullets. He charged into traffic, where he was almost hit by a car. He rolled across the hood and stopped.

"Jack!" A familiar voice called out from the car's passenger window.

Jack turned to see that it was Atawhai Tangaroa. He was surprised to see the man. However, he felt like it was not a coincidence. That's when he noticed the driver of the vehicle. It was Erin Sawyer.

"Are you going to get in or are you going to let them kill you?" She asked.

Jack smiled and moved to the back door, where he got into the car.

Taku arrived at the scene and watched as Jack was hauled away. He yelled expletives in Japanese at the top of his lungs, before turning around and making his way back to Yuriko.

Yuriko listened to him intently as he explained what happened. It only enraged her further. "Let's go. We get to Babylon before he does."

***

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you two," Jack said with much relief. "I was trying to escape those Japanese bastards. The only plan I had was to get away. From that point, I was just going to have to make it up as I went along."

"I thought that was your usual plan," Erin stated as she weaved in and out of traffic.

"This time has to be a little different," Jack said. "We have to get to Babylon. The last stone is there."

"We needed that one stone to get into the Sphinx," Erin mentioned. "How do you intend on doing this now?"

"Well," Jack said as he shifted around in his seat. "I was more concerned with escaping, first."

"Oh, Jack, how on earth do we get this next stone without the others?" Tangaroa asked.

Jack looked up at Tanga in disappointment. "Big guy, you have known me long enough to know that I always have a plan."

"Always?" Erin questioned in a skeptical tone. "Apparently you don't remember that mix up in the Amazon about nine years ago. You had a plan then--"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jack interrupted. "My plans always work."

"Always never," Erin stated.

"You two act like you're brother and sister," Tangaroa announced. "Or worse, like you've dated."

"So, Babylon, huh?" Erin questioned as she looked at Jack through the rear view mirror, as she purposefully avoided Tanga's remark.

"Yeah, and timing is everything," Jack responded. "How did you two meet up, anyway?"

Tangaroa smiled at Erin for a moment. "I found her at the Sphinx. I followed you there."

"Thanks, pal," Jack told him.

***

Tangaroa drove the four-wheel drive vehicle across the desert, kicking up dust behind them. He only knew that Babylon was fifty-five miles south of Baghdad. "So, how do you plan to get the stone?"

"I was hoping Yuriko would have beat us here," Jack told him.

"What!" Tanga asked in disbelief.

"Some plan that is, Jack!" Erin cried out as they continued to speed across the desert.

"Well, I thought it was good," Jack replied as his eyes focused on a heavy cloud of dust in the distance. "What is that?"

"It's a dust cloud," Tangaroa announced.

"Wow, what powers of observation you have!" Jack said with great sarcasm. "Get us closer."

Tangaroa narrowed his eyes at the American man as he sped up to catch the other convoy that was tearing through the desert. "Looks to be about six jeeps."

"Four to six men each," Jack announced.

"Iraqis?" Erin asked trying to get a peak, as their jeep was several yards away.

"I can't tell," Jack told them. "Get closer."

"Are you mad?" Tangaroa questioned. "If they are Iraqis, they'll shoot first, ask questions later."

"Just do it," Jack ordered.

Atawhai Tangaroa sped even more, bouncing along the sand dunes to get closer to the convoy. He came off one sand dune and got too close, hitting the vehicle in the rear of the group.

Jack caught a glimpse of one of the men. He was Japanese. "Yuriko's men."

"Well, it's a good thing we found them," Erin said. "You wanna go ask her for the stones?"

Jack glanced at Erin just before leaping into the enemy jeep. He knocked one man from the vehicle and elbowed another in the face. Before he could manage to move farther, the passenger in the front kicked him into the cargo area behind the passenger seats. Jack pushed himself up and forced his foot into the man's chin.

Atawhai crashed the front end of his vehicle into the other, forcing its nose into a sand dune.

As the jeep's rear end jerked around, Jack leaped from it and onto his original vehicle.

"You're nuts," Erin said with her hand over her heart.

"Wouldn't have it any other way!" Jack cried out.

Tangaroa sped as fast as he could, making his way forward to the front of the convoy, but a man from a car in the middle leaped onto theirs.

Jack tried fighting him off, but took a firm hit to the jaw.

The large Kiwi man couldn't keep control of the vehicle, slamming it into the one next to it.

Erin pulled a giant wrench from under her seat and beat the Japanese man in the head until he fell out of the vehicle.

Atawhai was fighting for control when the nose forced an enemy jeep to fish tail, then turn completely to its side. He glanced over in time to see the two jeeps behind it crash into it. He gave a cocky grin.

"Careful, Tanga," Jack stated. "Or else, we'll have no one to fight when this is all over."

"I think he's enjoying himself," Erin announced. "How's the chin?"

"I'll survive," Jack told her.

Yuriko was genuinely surprised to see Jack so soon. She even smiled a wicked smile as she kept the bag of stones close to her chest.

Jack looked at the other men in her jeep. He was angered by Logan's presence, but expected to see Hiroshi and Kisho. He wondered where Taku and Kin were.

"You will never have the stones, Mr. Canyon," Yuriko yelled out as their vehicles bashed into one another.

Jack glanced at Erin for a moment. "Is she saying I don't have the balls?"

"Jack. . ." Erin said as she shook her head.

"What! Any other man wouldn't have tolerated that," Jack told her. He grabbed the bag from Yuriko, who chopped his neck with her hand. He let go and rubbed his neck. "I like strong women, especially if they tie me up."

Erin could not help but think how Jack never changed through the years.

Again, Jack reached for the stones, but when Yuriko tried to hit him, he grabbed her. Swiftly, he pulled her close, almost free of her seat.

Erin grabbed the stones and set them on the floorboard.

Jack blocked Yuriko's punch and pulled her out of her vehicle. As Tangaroa drove off, Jack dropped her into the sand. "That should slow them down," he said as the other vehicles stopped to pick her up.

***

Jack and his team arrived at Babylon several minutes after their battle with Yuriko's men. They knew there wasn't much time, so they had to act fast. It all looked the same, though.

"Where is the Tower?" Erin asked.

Jack searched his bag for his GPS unit. Once he had it, he began to search. He walked forward and around objects.

Erin and Tangaroa followed him as he moved around the ruins. Then he stopped.

"It should be here," Jack said as he stopped abruptly.

"But its not," Erin pointed out.

Jack narrowed his eyes, then remembered what he needed to do. He pulled the stones from his pack and revealed to the sands. Before anyone could react, the sand swallowed them up.

***

Tangaroa awoke in a dim cavern where the Tower of Babel had sunk into, or perhaps, it had been encased by a sand storm. He shook Jack to alert him.

"Huh?" Jack asked as he was startled. "Erin?"

"She's fine," Tangaroa told him as he nodded at the red head, who was standing at the entrance to the Tower.

"What are we waiting for?" Erin asked as she entered.

Atawhai helped Jack to his feet, and the two of them followed Erin into the Tower.

"So, which way?" Tangaroa asked.

"Up," Jack replied as he saw the spiral staircase going up. However, Erin was ahead of them.

"Spirited woman there," Tangaroa told him.

"You don't know the half of it, Tanga," Jack stated as he headed up the stairs.

Erin slowed as she reached the last of the steps. "Why couldn't they have built elevators?"

Jack and Tangaroa entered the chamber only a few moments behind the red head.

The room was plain, like all the others, with an altar upon a small incline of steps in the middle.

"Well, I'm not complaining," Jack told her. "There were no booby traps here."

"Don't you find that odd?" Erin asked.

Jack knelt down and examined the writing on the altar.

"What does it say?" Atawhai asked.

"To open the altar, you must unlock it with the keys," Jack said. "Keys. Plural."

"The stones," Erin mentioned, pulling them from Jack's bag.

Jack nodded and took them from her. "Do you see a lock?"

"I don't," Tangaroa stated.

"Well, look around," Jack announced as he began to examine the room.

"Here!" Erin called out as she spotted three holes on the other side of the altar at its base.

Jack and Tangaroa moved to her quickly. He translated the writing on the stones beneath the keyholes. "We have to arrange them in the correct order. We get one shot at this."

"And if we don't?" Tangaroa asked.

"I wouldn't want to be inside this tower," Jack replied as he took the water stone and placed it into a hole.

"How do you know it goes there?" Erin questioned, concerned with their life. She had put her life into Jack's hands many times. This was different, though.

"Could you let me concentrate?" Jack placed the fire stone into the next slot. As each stone was placed into a hole, it clicked and set off a pulley system.

"Last one," Tangaroa said as Jack picked up the earth stone.

Jack took in a deep breath and placed the stone into the last slot. Loud rumbling forced him to his feet and to stand close by Erin and Tangaroa.

The sound of elaborate machines, made of wood, stone, and rope, echoed in the chamber until the ceiling opened up. The altar and its platform began to spin in a clockwise motion.

"What's going on?" Erin asked, frightened.

"I don't know," he replied as he felt his hand being tightly squeezed.

A bright white light filled the void around the altar.

Jack shielded his eyes from the blinding light. That's when he spotted the diamond stone. "There it is." He reached out for it, but was pulled into the vortex of the portal.

Erin still had his hand and reached for Tangaroa. "Help!"

"I'm trying," Tangaroa said as he tried to keep them from being pulled completely into the vortex. "I can't. I'm not strong enough." His feet were slipping closer to the light.

Then they were gone.