"Let's get inside!" Angie told him, as Michael walked behind her. Rollie looked bewildered as he followed them both inside the darkened bungalow.

Angie had grabbed towels from the bath area and handed one to Michael who, with some difficulty sat down by the table where Rollie had been working on the gags for Syd. He made a small moaning sound as he sat with Rollie not missing that he held his groin carefully.

"Did Angie do that?" he asked, grinning, holding the lantern over the table.

"Yessss," Michael said, in a hiss as he took a deep breath and dabbed at his bloodied face carefully.

"Good…she was always great with the kick!" Rollie told him, sitting across from him and folding his arms across his chest. He kept staring at Michael, waiting for some reason, some apology and maybe- what the hell was going on with him.

Angie had finished toweling off her head, eager to hear what had happened to Lucinda.

Michael looked from one pair of eyes to the other and again, took a deep breath. His left eye was now completely swollen shut and Angie did actually cringe when she looked at his beaten face in the flickering light.

"Lucinda has fallen into a crevice at a tomb site in the northern section of the jungle beyond the lodge. I have already notified the local policia down at the lobby, was making my way up here to tell you two."

"Funny, I was in the lobby!" Angie remarked, hotly, "and there was no commotion, it was dead calm down there. And why jump me from behind and try to suffocate me out there in the rain?"

"I tell you, I have talked with Senor Capistrano myself not fifteen minutes ago to notify the policia. I was on my way up, had stopped to rest on the landing there and you walked by in the rain. I called out to you but with the rain…so I grabbed you and you went crazy!" he answered.

"What's with the face, Michael?" Rollie asked, barely masking his disbelief.

"I got beat up, obviously…Rollie! We have to get out there now and help get her out of there. She has fallen around twenty feet. I could see her with the lantern but the guide was in it with them. They came up on us as we got to the tomb. They robbed me, pushed her and she fell in. I couldn't even see if she was moving or not. They took the lantern as well. I called out to her but there was no answer."

Angie started to pace in the room, her agitation at his news apparent. Rollie was up, calling the front desk. Confirming that Senor Conte had indeed notified the owner for the police, he hung up and looked back at Michael who had his face in the towel.

"Come on, Ange- we're going out there and see what we can do!" he told her as she looked at him, shaking her head.

"You can't go out there like this, the rain, you're still sick!" she exclaimed, feeling very anxious, her worry for Lucinda, paramount.

"I could care less…" Rollie began, but Michael interrupted, "you'll just bring the fever back and go through the shakes again."

"What?" Rollie asked, turning to him, frowning.

"Malaria… I could see it at dinner, Rollie. And don't forget, you told me about you past bouts with it some time ago," Michael said, his voice fading off as he tried to stand. He groaned and stood up stiffly.

"I won't stay here while Lucinda is out there in the jungle, in a 'tomb' of all things, in the dark. How could you leave her?" he asked Michael, his non-trusting, wild thoughts of Michael still there, like an annoying inconvenience.

"What was I suppose to do? Stay, let her die down there. It is pitch black out there, man. They took all the lights. I barely found my way back. You act like I want to kill her or something. This was not in the scenario…Rollie!" he stammered, and went toward the door.

"Michael, I am coming with you!" Angie said suddenly as Rollie looked at her, shocked. Sanchez nodded, opening the screen door to the bungalow for her as Rollie stood there, not believing her. Just a moment ago, he had been rescuing her from the clutches of Michael, now she was going with him willingly.

"Angela, mind coming here for just a moment," he asked her then, as Michael shook his head and went out the door. He stood on the porch waiting for he knew that Angie Ramirez Tyler would be coming, no matter what Rollie Tyler said to her.

"Are you insane? You can't go with him…he'll do the same thing to you as he do to Lucinda!" Rollie told her in a low, raspy whisper.

"Rollie, the police will be there. Something else is going on here. We can get to the truth of Michael Sanchez after this is over. Right now, Lucinda needs us. I want to go!" Her blue eyes looked up at him, imploring him to understand.

"I want to go, you will need me," he told her, his arm slightly shaking as he reached for her shoulder.

"I need you to stay here and rest, Rollie. I will be careful. Okay?" she smiled as he shivered slightly and she left then, leaving him alone in a dark room with the one lantern for light.

*********************************************************

Lucinda kept falling back down into the tomb. She would make some headway, grabbing tree roots and then using them as small ledges but once she got halfway up, the soil would give way and she would fall back, covered in a small landslide of moldy earth. She had stopped calling out for Ricardo. He had obviously gone for help. Just her luck that the Indian guide she picked out was a sorry little criminal and was after their money. She remembered Ricardo being beaten and then trying to intervene…then the fall.

"Great," she murmured to herself, rubbing the goose egg she had on her forehead, "I was suppose to have this great love scene with Roddy in the morning."

She rested against the earthen wall, not really frightened. She could hear the crickets chirping above her. And the rain had stopped, she could see the stars up in the heavens above her. Just not much light, no moon was in the sky tonight. She felt a sharp stabbing pain in her back and pulled away rubbing herself as she felt along the wall for what had caused the pain. She could feel something hard, long, and semi-sharp. Almost like a finger, she thought, amused as she felt it and then gasped.

"Oh my God!" she shouted aloud, for it was a finger, a bony finger, and a hand and still some more of an arm bone as she felt the rest of the skeleton half buried into the wall.

"Get me out of here!" she screamed now, shivers running down her spine, "HELP!"

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Angie and Michael, joined by a rescue team from the park unit, started the hike into the jungle. Michael conversed readily in Spanish with them as Angie barely said a word. He was telling them the same story that he had told Rollie and she, back in their bungalow. She followed closely, Michael behind her in a single file as they headed deeper into the jungle toward the north.

"Angie, stop a moment, let me catch up to you," she heard Michael ask her. She had passed him on the trail some time ago as he had slowed down. She stopped then, and started to walk beside him as he smiled his appreciation. He was still limping a little and once in a while, she had seen him touch his groin, knowing that she had really hurt him.

"I wanted to say something to you, back there," he said, his voice wavering with walking briskly and breathlessness.

"What?" she asked, pushing the leaves from her face, her pace never faltering.

"Angie, please slow down just a second, huh?" he asked her as she turned and looked at him, flashing her light up at his face.

"Okay, so what do you want to say?" she asked him, her pace slowing as he smiled slightly, sighing.

"I am sorry for what I said at dinner yesterday. Really, I know you were angry with me about Baiel and the whole thing in that orchard. I know that the Victor Loubar thing was raw, I mean, I know he did something to you that you'll never get over…"

She tightened her jaw and said nothing. He had hurt her but she would not allow him that satisfaction of knowing how much.

"And Mira, Angie- if she understands what I did and why, then why don't you? If she had killed Czewt, I would not have had a witness. I needed him for the tie-ins with the organization that was handling the world distribution of hashish. It didn't end there in the field in Buffalo, do you realize that?"

"I realize that you shot your own wife or ex-wife who was pregnant with your child, that you let Baiel get killed, and that you let Czewt distribute that stuff for over two years while you observed him, doing nothing. You didn't shed a tear for the operatives that died, who gave their lives and over two years worth of information gathering to help you out!" Angie replied, letting a branch go that smacked Michael right in the face.

He pushed it angrily out of his way and stopped her for a moment; "Mira said she had lost the baby before I shot her. Baiel and Eckvara both knew the score from the beginning. They were getting handsomely rewarded, believe me."

"Little comfort that gives them now," she replied, pulling away from him and continuing their trek.

"By the way, did you know the baby was a boy?" she asked him, hoping it hurt him to hear that.

He made no comment back but she knew she had gotten the arrow to its destination. He was quiet for awhile then as the night sounds in the Corcovada jungle grew more sinister sounding.

"I had no idea you and Rollie were going to be here on this picture," she heard him say after about ten minutes of silence.

"Yeah, right…" she started to say, but he cut her off quickly.

"Yeah, I know you don't believe me but know this; I haven't done anything bad to Lucinda. In fact, she is starting to grow on me," he added and Angie caught the softened smile on his bruised lips.

"She doesn't know who you really are, that you are using her and that you don't really love her," Angie remarked, again flinging branches back at him as she passed through the dense pathway.

"I will tell her, if that's what you are still angry about. I will tell her the truth," Michael replied, his voice almost apologetic.

"So, what happened to the big secrecy here? I thought you had to stay under cover from whom, the government here or what?" Angie asked him, sarcastically.

"Actually, my cover is very intact, especially after being beat up by the very people I am here to apprehend," he replied, matter-of-factly.

"What? You're here to arrest tomb raiders or robbers. Seems like a local police kind of problem, doesn't it? Why call in the Delta force or whatever you call yourselves?"

"Oh, a Chuck Norris fan, huh?" he replied and then added, "These tomb robbers are a special breed. They sell the artifacts that belong to the Costa Rican government to a very interesting client market. One client we are interested in, in particular."

"Gosh, another drug dealer?" she asked, bobbing her head from side to side.

"It's not funny, Angie. This guy has killed literally thousands in third world nations with his drugs and arms sales. He makes Victor Loubar look like a friggin' baby amateur in comparison. Does that help?"

Angie stiffened at Loubar's name. Michael knew exactly what to say, how to get under her skin and that bothered her. Mira had told her more than once that he was excellent with making one feel guilty when there was no reason.

"Yeah, so you took Lucinda on a little surveillance mission this afternoon, part of your cover and got her into this ring of creeps. Great going, Michael!"

"Actually, this afternoon was really just what I said, sight-seeing. I was suppose to have a contact on the movie set, but no one ever showed up. I was supposed to hang around while my 'wife' worked and make contact. At that point, I would be able to set up any "surveillance" as you called it."

"My heart is just bleeding for you, Michael!" she replied, snapping at him. There was a cry from one of the local policia ahead of them and a flare was shot up into the air, making a glowing red signal in the sky.

Angie and Michael both ran at that point catching up to where the policeman had fired the flare. It was the ruins excavation and they were standing over a dark crevice. As they all peered down inside, Angie cried out. She could see Lucinda's motionless body on the floor of the tomb. Michael grabbed her arm, holding her back.

Suddenly, the commotion above ground and the dirt falling over her face, woke Lucinda. She spit the dirt from her mouth and looked up at the glaring light, shielding her eyes from it.

"Hey, finally! I thought I was going to be here next to King Bolsaque all night. We were just getting to know one another…" she yelled up at them.

Angie started to laugh, letting out a sigh of relief. Michael looked at her and smiled back. Angie realized he looked genuinely happy to see her alive. They waited as a ladder rope was put down the side of the tomb and a rescue member disappeared down into the crevice to retrieve her.

What seemed like an hour was really minutes as Angie and Michael finally saw the familiar, but dirty face of Lucinda appear above ground with the flash of artificial light all around her, everyone staring at her.

"Well, applause please!" she blurted out, as Michael rushed over to her, grabbing her in his arms and kissing her. Angie was taken back by his emotional display, knowing it was an act, still- he appeared to be extremely happy she was back to the land of the living.

"Angie!" she screamed, running over to her, limping slightly, "Oh, I just knew that Ricardo would bring you too. Where's Rollie?"

They hugged as Angie shook the dust and dirt from the top of Lucinda's head, "Rollie got a remission of Malaria. He's been in San Juan in the hospital overnight. He wanted to come, believe me, Luce!"

"That's my Australian hunk! Oh well, I love the sentiment anyway. Hope he is okay?" she asked, grinning as she put her arms around Michael and then one around Angie as well.

"He's going to be great, now!" Angie replied, as they were led out toward the pathway again.

"Would you mind, my darling- I want to thank the police chief for helping us, I won't be but a second!" Michael, as Ricardo, told Lucinda, as he stopped in mid-step.

Angie frowned, almost gagging at his saccharin love tokens that spilled from his mouth but Lucinda smiled back at him, nodding her head.

She turned back once, watching him walk over to one of the policemen still standing by the tomb. The two started talking very rapidly in Spanish but Lucinda was talking so much beside her that she couldn't make out what they were saying.

"Come on, Angie! I can't wait to get back to my bungalow and take a nice, hot bath!"

"Let's hope the electricity is back on," Angie said, her head turning around again to see Michael but he wasn't there and neither was the policeman he had been talking to so fervently.

"Oh, yes- I heard the storm raging above my head!" Lucinda remarked, "at times, I could see my little tomb mate when the lightning was flashing so brightly."

"What tomb mate?" Angie asked, confused.

"Oh, King what's his name? His skeleton was poking me in the back. We had a nice little talk. He even gave me this…" Lucinda said, chatting away and pulled out something from her pants pocket.

Angie looked down, stopping and Lucinda handed her the small object. It looked like a small mythical creature, winged and wearing a crown of smaller little creatures over its head. It looked like it had been made from gold.

"Oh! Lucinda! You better report this. I hear these relics are the property of Costa Rica. There are people smuggling this stuff all the time. It's illegal to have it!"

"Balderdash!" she replied, whipping it from Angie's palm and putting it back into her pocket. The King baby gave it to me and it's mine!"

"Okay, just warning you!" Angie told her, shaking her head. Suddenly, Michael appeared beside them, hugging Lucinda again and Angie felt like the third wheel on the pathway back.

Once they cleared the jungle, a scout vehicle was waiting, the police having radioed ahead. There was a little crowd gathered and there waiting, hands in his pockets, pacing just a little was Rollie. Angie smiled, meeting his worried eyes as he then looked to see Lucinda, being held by Michael. Lucinda, seeing Rollie, bolted from Michael and jumped into Rollie's welcoming arms.

"Oh Rollie! It was absolutely terrifying!" she told him, grinning as he hugged her.

Syd Waterstreet was there, happy to see his lead actress safe and sound. Several members of the cast were mulling around as well. As Michael walked over to where Rollie and Lucinda were standing, Angie walked past Roddy Demhurst who made a hissing noise at her.

"Cut the crap, Roddy. Be a grown-up, huh?" Angie told him, walking past him.

"I thought we made a deal. No working together again, Angie Ramirez!" he said to her, arrogantly.

"It's Tyler now, Dimhershey- " she said, cracking a smile as Rollie came over to join her, seeing the exchange between the two.

"Now Roddy, we can all get along here. Besides, what would your fans say if they knew what kind a guy you really are?" Rollie told him, winking.

"Hey, hey Syd? Can he say that to me?" Roddy asked, as Syd raised his eyebrows, walking right past him and pushed his hat back on his head, whistling.

Angie took one last look at Lucinda as she and Michael rode back in the scout. Lucinda waved and put her finger to her lips in a reminder not to tell anyone of her little find. Angie waved and then sighed, shaking her head as Rollie put his arm around her. They strolled back leisurely toward the lodge, just barely a mile away.

"So, I thought I told you to stay put," she said to him, scolding him fiercely.

"Couldn't stay put, you were out there with Michael in the jungle!" he fired back and then grinned, "Besides, knowing you, you got something outta him about what he is really doing here?"

"Maybe, come on- I'll tell you on the way," she told him, relaxing then.

Back in their bungalow, Angie took a shower as Rollie sat at the table, a pencil dangling from his mouth as he flipped it up and down, thinking. Something didn't make sense to him with what Angie had told him about Michael's real reasons for being in Costa Rica. Once again, he believed Michael needed something from Tyler F/X and that this whole sham was an attempt to gain their confidence yet again.

Angie was out of the shower and had toweled off. She turned off the light, happy to see the electricity back but now ready to go to sleep. She could see Rollie over by the table as she hopped into the soft bed. She pulled the covers up around her neck and leaned over toward him; "Hey, come on- time to sleep, Rol!"

"Yeah, to sleep, perchance to dream," he replied, picking up one of his pills and swallowing it with some spring water. He came over and pulled off his clothes leaving them in a heap beside the bed. Some things never changed, Angie thought, as he climbed in beside her and snuggled up to her.

"You're a slob sometimes," she told him, looking over to the floor.

"Yeah, but you love it," he told her, kissing her softly, then smiling, the smile that she knew now so well that told her;

"Uh, maybe you should sleep and get your strength back. We got a lot of work to do over the next few days," she said, trying to sound serious in the dark beside him.

"This will make me sleep like a baby," he told her, moving up against her, his hands sweeping over her back, down her buttocks and lingering there.

He rolled over, pulling her beneath him as she sighed, feeling his wonderful, strong body over her, pressing against her, moving with her as she let herself go into that wonderful place where they existed without any boundaries.

"I think I'm cured," he said to her, later, breathing hard and moving away from her, rolling over onto his back.

"Yeah? Isn't that the sun coming up over there?" she asked, squinting and giggled as she turned over on her side away from the window.

There was no reply. Rollie was sleeping like a baby beside her.

****************************************************

Lucinda rolled over in her bed, restless. She looked over at the sleeping man in the bed beside her. His lovemaking had been curiously detached that night after they had returned to their room. He had acted differently that night, almost as if he didn't know her. She reached over to the chair beside the bed, pulling at her pants that were draped across the arm. Feeling inside the pocket, she pulled out the little relic that she had found clutched in the skeleton's bony-fingered grasp. She rubbed her hands across it, thinking that this was a sign- something exciting was about to happen.

At the tomb of King Bolsaque, the sun was just starting to rise. The Indian guide that had brought Lucinda and Michael to the ruins smiled as he looked down at the empty hands of the skeleton King. He waved at the others that stood at the edge of the jungle clearing and then joined them. They disappeared into the thick, green foliage like a cloud of vapor that had risen over the entire ruins.

The sound of a archeological team, backpacking into the site appeared just as quickly. The daily task of unearthing new finds was underway and the local Indians they had employed to lead them in and help with the digging were sitting on the ground, eating silently amongst themselves, watching the team set up. One older Indian looked to another one eating solemnly nearby and shook his head;

"Sepultura de demonio rey!" he said, shivering slightly. (The Demon King's Tomb.)

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