Painter pointed his flashlight into the treasure vault behind the Holy of Holies.
Hundreds of stone plinths supported golden skulls of every shape and size: fanged cats, ivory-tusked mastodons, domed cave bears, even what looked like the massive skull of an allosaurus or some other saurian beast. Amid them also stood scores of canopic jars, some etched with ancient Egyptian motifs, possibly originals carried over from their ancient home. But there were clearly others that had been modeled on local animals: wolves again, but also birds of every beak, mountain lion and other cats, grizzly bears, even a curled rattlesnake.
"We'll never be able to move all this in time," Chin said. "We have only fifteen minutes."
Kowalski nodded. "Time for Plan B, boss." He looked over at Painter. "You do have a Plan B, right?"
Painter headed back into the main temple. "We can try to move as much as we can. Maybe lessen the chance it'll ignite Yellowstone's caldera."
Kowalski followed, pitching other ideas like hardballs. "How about we come down here with blowtorches? Doesn't heat kill this stuff?"
"Take too long," Chin said. "And I don't think a flame's even hot enough."
"Then how about we drop a bunker buster up top."
Painter fielded that one. "We're too deep."
"What about the nuclear option?"
"Last resort," Painter said. "And we might end up causing what we're trying to prevent."
Kowalski tossed his arms high. "There's got to be something we can do."
As they entered the Holy of Holies chamber, a thin figure burst through the gold chain curtain. He skidded to a stop, gaping momentarily at all the gold.
Kai stepped toward him. "Jordan...?"
He held up a hand, panting to catch his breath. "Washington called... timetable got shortened... stuff is gonna blow at six-oh-four."
Painter didn't have to check his watch. His internal clock had been counting down all on its own. Two minutes. All eyes stared at him for some solution, some insight.
They were out of options-except for one.
He pointed to the door. "Run!"