The group heard German voices shouting from outside of the mausoleum. Peeking out through a crack in the door, Penelope saw several men in dark suits carrying firearms searching through the graveyard. Malcolm, thinking quickly, used his tire iron to jam the door, giving the group a few moments to prepare.

Archie continued down the ladder into the dark, hoping to find a way to stall or hide from the Nazis. He discovered an oval room about twenty feet below the floor of the crypt, filled a strange, acrid smell he couldn’t place. Iris and Eleanor, not wanting to be in the line of fire, also hurried down into the hole with Archie while Malcolm and Penelope prepared to greet the incoming Nazis. Archie played his flashlight over the room, and Iris saw a cistern filled with bubbling crude in the center of the chamber, a short stone basin surrounded by small, unlit torches.

Up above, the Germans began prying open the door with a large metal pick. As the door hinges gave way, Malcolm plugged the first man at the door with his Colt 1911. Penelope bashed the head of the second man trying to enter with her large mechanic’s wrench. Malcolm filled a third German mook with lead before the remaining Nazis scattered for cover behind headstones. They began firing blindly into the mausoleum, keeping Malcolm and Penelope pinned down inside the stone structure.

Archie, wanting to see how the situation was going, climbed back up the ladder. He narrowly avoided catching a bullet between the eyes as he poked his head up. Ducking back under cover, he yelled to Malcolm and Penelope to retreat down below and pull the stone seal back over top.

Down below, Iris and Eleanor, now in complete darkness as Archie took the only light with him and blocked the hole above, began hearing moaning sounds coming from the far end of the room. Eleanor had a brief panic attack and was only calmed when Iris used her lighter to set one of the small torches alight, passing it to her friend. The warm, bright glow of the fire soothed Eleanor’s fears, and she shared a brief thank you with Iris. With light restored to the room, the two women saw a triangular passage leading out of the room on the other side.

Penelope and Archie beat a hasty retreat down the ladder while Malcolm covered them, sending the remainder of his magazine whinging towards the cowering Nazis. He quickly followed his teammates, diving through the hole before pulling the plug back over. With no way to jam the stone block, Malcolm instead yanked free the wooden ladder supports, collapsing it so that the Nazis would have to use rope or other means to get down into the subterranean chamber.

With nowhere else to go, the group took more torches from the cistern and headed into the triangular passage, Archie leading the way. The tunnel sloped steeply downward into the earth, and they found it difficult to keep their footing. The stone was slick with mildew, and the passage, clearly partially carved and partially natural, was a tight squeeze in some places.

After about a hundred feet of slippery tunnel, the passage opened into a huge trapezoidal cavern with a large chasm cutting across it. A rickety rope bridge spanned across to the other side of the crevasse where the group could just barely see some kind of stone outcrop, perhaps a boulder or carved table.

Throwing all caution to the wind, Archie marched onto the bridge, telling everyone it was perfectly safe. He promptly almost fell through to his demise as one of the wooden slats gave way. Penelope pulled him back, demonstrating unexpected strength for such a small girl. She smiled at Archie and warned him to be more careful.

Heeding Penelope’s words, Archie then carefully made his way across. The rope bridge creaked and groaned, but he managed to make it to the other side. The rest followed, with various degrees of deftness and a few close calls.

On the other side of the chasm they found that the stone outcropping was actually a granite sarcophagus. Archie studied the symbols on the stone case, finding to his surprise the symbol of the all seeing eye, not something usually connected with Cortes or the conquistadors. However, he was able to positively identify that the sarcophagus was the resting place of the father of Mexico, Hernan Cortes. Penelope used her wrench to open the rusty latches on the sealed coffin, revealing the decayed body of Cortes. 

While Archie, Penelope, and Eleanor studied the body, Malcolm mades a joke to Iris that she will have plenty to write about in her next magazine article. Angered, she declares that she writes literature, not flimsy articles in some rag. She turned in a fit of pique and tossed her torch onto the bridge to ensure the Germans could not easily reach them. The rope and rotting wood quickly caught fire and began burning away.

Eleanor examined the body in the coffin, and found an amulet, an intricately carved Aztec coin with strange markings on the back, around the skeletal neck of the ancient explorer. She gingerly removed it and placed it in her bosom, smiling as she successfully completed her Uncle’s mission. Meanwhile, Archie made a rubbing of the symbol on the lid of the sarcophagus, convinced it meant something important.

After watching the bridge burn, Malcolm scouted around the cavern and found a narrow caved in passage in the wall. He and Archie began clearing the rock away quickly as the Germans arrived on the other side of the chamber. The Nazis opened fire, attempting to shoot across into the dark. Bullets whizzed by Iris and Eleanor, and Malcolm quickly called everyone over to the passage to help clear out the debris. With German bullets pinging off of the stone around them, the crew pulled the last bit of stone free and crawled into the musty tunnel beyond.

With only room to clamber along on hands and knees, the group rapidly made their way through the twisting passage. The darkness was oppressive, the narrow stone walls catching and tugging at their clothing, and for a moment Iris worried that Eleanor would have another panic attack. Instead, young Ms. Bailey seemed to be enthralled with the medallion, and soldiered through the skinny tunnel. Everyone rejoiced when the crawlspace opened up, though those cheers quickly faded when they realized they were now standing in a sewer. Wasting no time, they climbed up the nearest ladder to a manhole and found themselves not far from the taxi.

The group sprinted to the taxi, but unfortunately a group of Germans outside the graveyard spotted them. The chase was on! Manuel the taxi drive tried to lose the pursuing Nazis, but was quickly shot dead by one of the German snipers. Malcolm pushed the poor man’s body out of the car and took the wheel. Penelope and Iris shot back at the pursuing Germans, the ladies unleashing a hail of lead, while Archie tried (and failed) to climb into the front seat. Stuck upside down with his feet wildly pedaling the air, Archie scrambled to reach the front seat. With Eleanor’s help he righted himself and picked up Malcolm’s pistol, firing back at the Nazi’s from the passenger seat.

The car narrowly missed a truck, tired leaping across the macadam, Malcolm spinning the wheel and jamming the taxi’s gear shift down. As the car fishtailed around the obstacle, Archie fired an amazingly lucky shot, clipping the ear of the German driver, causing them to spin out and roll their car. The team got away, but the German soldier watched them go, bitterly gritting his teeth while swearing they would meet again.

The crew drove onward to the marina, wasting no time and stopping for no reason. They quickly jumped into the seaplane, revving up the engines, and Malcolm eased the bird into the sky with their prize…though with no clear destination in mind.

As they reached altitude, the Aztec medallion began to glow…