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I think it's great, Laura!

Here's more...


Penn looked up at Mike and Peter.
"Micky and Davy should've used their heads." He said, "Now they've made things worse."
"Davy tried to save Angelita." Mike replied, "And Micky led El Diablo's men away from me and Peter. They didn't use their heads, but their hearts were in the right places."
"I thought El Diablo was gone from here." Peter said.
"He was, but not for long." Penn replied, "After I came to the area, so did he. But instead of banditry, he and his men now rob tombs and temples, then sell the artifacts on the black market to collectors."
"Can you make money that way?" Mike asked.
"Yes, depending on how rare or how old something is, you can get hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a single pot or statue." Penn replied.
Suddenly, there were footsteps on the stairs leading up to the door. Penn motioned for Pedro to shut the lights and for Mike and Peter to stay quiet. He then stood behind the door.
The door opened slightly, and Penn yanked it open. He then grabbed the figure and threw him to the ground. Pedro turned the lights on again.
It was none other than Lupe on the floor. Pedro fell on the other man, hitting, kicking and cursing the other man in Spanish. Neither Penn, Mike or Peter made a move to stop him.
"Please stop, let me talk!" Lupe begged Pedro, as he tried to shield himself from the blows.
"Why, all you'll do is lie!" Pedro yelled, kicking Lupe in the ribs once more.
Penn put a hand on Pedro shoulder and glared down at Lupe.
"Spying for El Diablo again, right?" He asked.
"No, Senior Penn." Lupe whined, "I want to help you all."
"Help us?" Mike shouted, coming over to stand over Lupe as well, "You work for El Diablo!"
"Only because he say he'll burn down my garage and destroy my cars!" Lupe said, sitting up.
"We can't trust you." Peter said, "And why should you help us now?"
"I didn't know El Diablo had Angelita." Lupe replied, grabbing the wall and climbing to his feet. "I didn't really know if you four were at the cafe or not. Please, let me help you. I swear on the grave of my mother that I will help you get Angelita and your friends back."
"How can you help us?" Pedro said. "Do you know where El Diablo has taken my daughter and their friends?"
"Si, El Diablo has probably taken them back to his old hideout in the hills for the night, then he'll go to his secret camp in the jungle where he does his looting."
"Do you know where this secret camp is located?" Penn asked.
"Si, I will tell you how to get there." Lupe replied.
"No, Lupe." Penn said, jamming the tip of his umbrella up Lupe's nose, "You're going to take us there."

As Lupe had said, El Diablo took his prisoners by jeep to his old hideout in the hills. Angelita sat with El Diablo in the front of one jeep while Micky and Davy were tied up in the back of another.
When the group arrived, Angelita was taken toward the tents, while Micky and Davy were taken to a tree a short distance away. Davy recognized the tree as the same one he had been tied to when El Diablo had captured him the first time.
The tree truck split into two branches to form a V. Micky and Davy were tied with their hands above their heads to each of those branches. When they were tied, El Diablo came over to them.
"Get some sleep, amigos." He sneered, "Tomorrow we go on a treasure hunt...and tomorrow maybe you die." He laughed and turned toward the camp. He then stopped and looked back at his captives. "Or perhaps you'll die tonight if the coyotes find you! HA HA!"
El Diablo and his men laughed, and then left the two Monkees alone in the dark.


To Be Continued...

Laura, if it's okay with you, I'll finish the story after your next part!

Here's a little more...

About a half-hour's drive over increasing rough terrain brought the group to Penn's camp. Angelita told Lupe to stop and Mike stopped his jeep behind him.
"What's wrong, Angelita?" Mike asked.
"Penn's camp is on the other side of this hill." Angelita replied, "We should check around first to make sure El Diablo isn't there."
The others agreed that that was a good idea. Quietly, they got out of the jeeps and walked over to the camp, keeping to the trees and rocks. When they could see no sign of anybody around, they walked into Penn's camp.
It was instantly clear that El Diablo had been to the camp first. Tents were torn down, equipment was smashed and Penn's jeep was missing.
"What a mess." Davy said, "What do you think El Diablo was looking for?"
"Probably Penn's notes about the coin." Micky said. "And any useful equipment."
"Well, it looks like he did." Peter said, indicating a knocked over table with papers strewn about.
"Perhaps not." Angelita said. She walked over to two trees on the side of the camp that formed a V. "Good! It was not discovered!"
"What wasn't discovered?" Pedro asked, as he and the others walked over.
"Penn told me he kept his important papers hidden in a box right here." Angelita said, pointing to the ground with her toe. "Lupe, see if you can dig it out."
"Si, Angelita." Lupe said. He grabbed a shovel from the camp and dug down.
It didn't take long for Lupe to hit a box in the ground. He quickly uncovered it and brought it up. Angelita opened the box and brought out a small leather diary.
"I'll bet El Diablo was looking for this." She said, looking through it, "These are notes and drawings of that big object that is connected with the coin."
"El Diablo must know about it too." Davy said, looking at Lupe.
"I did not know about this, senor." Lupe said quickly, "I only told El Diablo when any visitors came to El Monotono."
"In any case, " Mike said, getting the discussion back on topic, "Do the notes say where this big thing is located?"
"Penn always thought it would be close to where he found the coin." Angelita replied. "And from these notes, it seems to be where he was digging."
"Then let's go there." Micky said.
"Where is the object supposed to be?" Lupe asked.
"About ten miles further into the jungle, Lupe. Why?" Angeltia asked.
"That is also where El Diablo's camp is." Lupe replied, "So he may be closer than we think to what ever El Diablo is looking for."
"Then we should get there first." Mike said.
"No, we should go after Penn first." Pedro put in.
"My father is right." Angelita said, "We must rescue Penn, and then find what everyone's looking for."


To Be Continued...

Moving right along...


Mike and Peter slowly walked across the courtyard, being very careful to avoid the sleeping men. As they passed El Diablo, he rolled over on his side and faced them, but did not wake up. Mike and Peter froze in their tracks. El Diablo began to snore. With a sigh of relief, the two Monkees continued over to Penn.
Finally getting past the sleeping bandits, Mike and Peter climbed up the steps and over to Penn. He looked up as they approached.
"Penn, are you okay?" Mike whispered.
Penn frantically began to shake his head, since he was still gagged.
"Don't worry, you'll be free in a second." Peter said, as he began to cut Penn's bonds with his machete. Mike worked on Penn's other side.
A few seconds later, Penn's hands were free, and he ripped the gag out of his mouth.
"Get out of here, it's a trap." Penn said fiercely.
Just as he spoke, a heavy rope net fell on top of Mike and Peter, knocking them down. Attached around the ends of the net were bells, which created a huge ruckus. When Mike and Peter had cut Penn's ropes, it also had let loose the net. El Diablo and his men quickly woke up and ran over to Mike, Peter and Penn.
"Ah ha!" El Diablo laughed, "I knew you would come and try to rescue your friend!"
"Let them go, El Diablo!" Penn shouted, "They don't know anything about the treasure!"
"Perhaps not," El Diablo replied, rubbing his chin, "But they will come in handy when we need someone to test for traps."

To Be Continued...

I'm sorry I haven't been doing this quicker...life, you know, happens...
I'll also be away this weekend. I'll be in Chicago at the Fest For Beatles' Fans.
Don't worry, I will finish this story...soonish...thanks for your patience!

Here's a bit more to chew on...

Penn, Mike and Peter were shoved into the temple after El Diablo. Once they had caught up with the bandito, he turned to them and shoved the notebook in Penn's face.
"Where is that object?" El Diablo demanded.
"I don't know." Penn said, "I didn't know this place even existed until now. I've never explored it."
"Now you will." El Diablo said, shoving the notebook into Penn's hands. "And you will lead us to it, or something bad may happen to your friends."
With a sigh, Penn opened the notebook and then looked at Mike and Peter.
"You just had to find my book, didn't you?" He asked sourly, "You Monkees had to play hero once again, had to get involved."
"Sorry Penn." Mike and Peter said, looking at the floor.
"Let's go." Penn told El Diablo and the others, "The object 'might' be in this direction."
With that, he led the group deeper into the temple.

To Be Continued...

Hi everyone! I'm back from Chicago! Had a wonderful time, met Patti Boyd and basically had fun...except for early Monday morning when the fire alarm went off at 3:30 a.m...some doofus set off a fire extinquisher near a sprinkler...

Anyway, here's more of the story. Thank you Nora for your kind words!

Several of the rooms they explored at first were already in use by El Diablo and his men for storage. The temple wasn't very big and the first floor seemed to be arranged in a square, with one room leading to the next. Penn frequently stopped and examined the writings and drawings carved into the walls, and stopped at a large mural covering one wall. El Diablo noticed this and questioned the archeologist.
"What is all this?" He asked, "What does this mean?"
"From what I can make out," Penn replied, "It seems to be a history of the people that once worshiped here. I'll need time to decipher it."
"I'll give you five minutes." The bandito said.
"Five minutes?" Penn exclaimed, then laughed, "It could take five years to properly figure out what went on here, who worshiped here, what God they..."
"Five minutes!" El Diablo roared in Penn's face. "Or do I kill one of your friends now?"
Penn angrily grabbed a torch from one of El Diablo's men and went over to the mural. Starting at the far left corner, he looked at the drawings intricately painted onto the stone. Some of the drawings were worn away by time, but many others were still visible. Penn was only half-way through the mural when El Diablo walked over again.
"Well, your time is up." He said, "What does it say, where do we go from here?"
"I was right." Penn replied, "This mural gives the history of the people that once lived here."
"Where is that object?" El Diablo mentioned.
"I'm getting to that." Penn said, "According to the drawings, a meteorite crashed in this area and exposed a rich deposit of gold hidden in the Earth."
El Diablo's eyes lit up. "Go on."
"The pictures show craftsmen making objects from the gold and storing it, perhaps waiting for the God who sent the meteorite down to Earth to come again and pick up the gold objects they had made." Penn continued.
"How does this object we are looking for fit into this?" The bandito asked.
Penn pointed to another drawing. It looked roughly like the object in Penn's notebook.
"Here's the object, and it looks like it is some kind of door, but I still can't be sure without more research." Penn said.
"Does it say where the object is?" El Diablo demanded again.
"No, and it doesn't appear to be in this temple either." Penn replied, "We've searched this whole bottom floor."
"There's got to be more here, Senor Penn." El Diablo said menacingly. "Perhaps a secret door?"
"If there is, I don't know about it." Penn replied, "Remember, I've never explored this temple before. We should try someplace else, I know of another more promising site..."
Suddenly, Mike and Peter, who had been standing across the room, leaned against a wall. It turned sideways, knocking the two Monkees onto the floor.
"Nice job, guys." Penn muttered to himself as he and El Diablo walked over. Mike and Peter got up off the floor, while Penn and El Diablo looked into the room. It turned out it was a set of stairs leading down.
"Very good, gringos." El Diablo laughed, "You are proving your worth already." He turned to his men, "Give them torches, they shall lead us from now on." Mike and Peter were given torches.
"After you, senors." El Diablo smiled.
With an apologetic look at Penn, the two Monkees began to lead the way down the stone stairs.

To Be Continued...

When Penn had said this, everyone began to walk a lot slower. El Diablo and his men hung further back behind The Monkees and Penn.
Soon, Peter noticed the floor had small holes in it.
"Penn, what are these holes for?" He asked.
The archeologist quickly looked at the floor and the walls around them. The walls also had small holes in them, about an inch in diameter and about a foot apart. In around that time, Penn heard a snapping sound.
"Everyone get away from the holes!" He shouted.
The words were barely out of his mouth when sharp wooden spikes about two feet tall came out of those holes in the floor and walls! Penn, the Monkees, Angelita, Pedro, Lupe and El Diablo managed to jump out of the way in time. A few of El Diablo's men weren't so swift and they received slashes on their arms and legs.
"That was close, too close." Davy breathed.
"Thanks, Peter." Penn said, patting him on the back.
Angelita ran over to Penn.
"Are you alright, my love?" She asked.
"Yes, but go back with the others, it's too dangerous up here." Penn replied.
"No, I'd rather face danger with you than be back there with him." Angelita said, shooting an ugly look at El Diablo.
"Keep moving, Senor Penn." El Diablo ordered, now even further back than before.
Penn took Angelita's hand and, with the Monkees, continued down the passageway.
Futher down there was another trap, but this time it had been already activated, as the skeleton with arrows sticking between its ribs testified. The group carefully moved around the unfortunate explorer and continued on.
Without warning, the passageway opened up into a large cavern, at least two stories high. The torches the group carried did little to dispel the darkness so they could not be sure.
"Where are we now?" El Diablo demanded.
"Without proper lighting, I can't be sure." Penn replied. "Look to see if there are any torches along the wall that can be lit."
El Diablo ordered his men to look for torches. One man found a bowl carved into the rock and put his torch into it.
The bowl lit up...and the flame traveled around the wall to light other bowls, slowly lighting up the cavern.
"Very clever." Penn approved, "There must still be oil in the channels between bowls."
Soon all the bowls around them were lit and it turned out the place they were in was not a cavern at all but a large room, covered from floor to ceiling with elaborate paintings. What got everyone's attention however, was not the paintings but the object sitting against the far wall.
It was the large stone object that Penn had been seeking!
The drawing Penn had in his notebook did not do the object in front of them justice. It was almost twenty feet high, not measuring the three wheels on top, and looked to made of solid gold! It was about ten feet wide and about four foot in depth. There was a handle-shaped object sticking out from the side, and what looked like a chute in front.
"The gate of Cookamonga." Penn said in awe, walking closer.
In seeing the object, El Diablo had lost his fear and joined Penn.
"If this is a gate, where does it lead?" The bandito asked, looking up.
Penn didn't answer right away, he was studying the writings on the object.
"Answer my question, senor Penn." El Diablo said impatiently.
"It leads to the tresure of the Cookamonga people." Penn said finally, "But I suppose you already guessed that."
"How does the gate open?" El Diablo insisted, getting agitated.
Penn walked around the front of the object, looking at the writings carved into its surface.


To Be Continued...

"Any last words?" El Diablo asked the group.
"Not to you." Angelita spat.
"Spare Angelita at least." Penn said, "She's innocent."
"What about us?" Mike asked.
"Angelita does not love me so she dies too." El Diablo said, then turned to his men, "Get ready to shoot."
Peter was on the far right end of the gate. As he moved back against the gate, his arm hit the handle-shaped object on the side. He pushed down on the object and to his surprise, it moved.
A creaking noise was heard from within the machine, accompanied by the sound of stone grinding.
"Up there!" Davy called out.
Everyone looked up to see the three vertical wheels on top of the gate slowly start to spin. They went faster and faster, then after a few seconds they slowly ground to a halt. The group could now see that carved into each wheel was a figure of a man. Other figures were also visible on each wheel as well.
"What was that all about?" Micky asked, puzzled.
"I think I understand now." Penn said.
Suddenly out of the chute came a small pile of gold coins like the one Penn had put into the gate! El Diablo and his men pushed the others aside and greedily grabbed at the coins.
"What happened, Penn?" Angelita asked. "Why did all those coins come out?"
"The Cookamonga people loved to gamble." Penn said, "I noticed that in a lot of their drawings. They used this ancient slot machine to guard their treasure." Penn replied, "You have to rely on chance to get anything. This time we were lucky."
"What do you mean by lucky?" Pedro asked.
El Diablo pushed his way over to Penn before the archeaologist could answer that question.
"I see now that this is a one-armed bandit." El Diablo laughed, "Something I can understand. Tell me, can I do it again?"
"Yes, but you have to be careful." Penn warned, but El diablo was already over at the slot machine. He put a coin into the slot and pushed down the handle.
The machine creaked and groaned and the wheels on top spun once again. This time, three hearts in a row lines up on the wheels.
After several seconds, an even bigger pile of coins, large and small, came out of the chute, followed by gold jewelry and small statues. El Diablo and his men went crazy, grabbing what they could and stuffing it into their pockets. Fights broke out as El Diablo's men tried to grab more for themselves. Lupe even managed to grab some gold for himself, while everyone else tried to keep out of the fray.
El Diablo picked up another large coin and made to put it into the slot once again.
"El Diablo, no!" Penn shouted, running over to him, "You already have enough gold, don't be greedy!"
But the bandito pushed him aside. "I will empty this machine out! I will be the richest man in all Mexico!"
He put the large coin into the slot and pushed the handle once again.
Once again, the slot machine creaked and groaned and the three wheels spun around. This time however, the wheels did not match up. They lined up as a an X, a lightning bolt, and a dagger. The bandito and his men looked expectantly for more gold to fall, but nothing came out.
"What is wrong?" El Diablo said, "Where is my gold?"
"Just like any slot machine, you put in your money and take your chances." Penn replied, looking up at the three wheels, "You won't be a winner each time...in fact, you've been quite lucky."
"I want all the gold NOW!" El Diablo shouted, kicking the machine.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you..." Penn warned, "Those wheels are lined up in the Cookamonga symbols for death and if you try to get anything by force..."
Penn's words were cut off by loud scratching noises, coming from inside the machine...


To Be Continued...