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Kathryn is nearly halfway across a rock, leaning forward trying to get a better look at the sculpted wall. Her eyes drift off to the column of gold, cheeks still wet from her teeth, but brain is running a hundred miles per hour. The surprise is gone, now, she wants to engrave it in her mind.
"They just left all of this here," she breathes out. "The San Jose's crew must have driven them out."
John B is interested in something else entirely, slamming his hands down her shoulders. "Kat. You see all that on the ground?" Amongst the stalagmites, pieces of shiny rocks are scattered everywhere. "That's loose gold, Bug."
"Oh my god, it's everywhere," Sarah breathes out next to them.
Kathryn leans back, a smile easily stretching her lips. "I'll stop the nerd-ery if we pick some of those up, that's for sure."
They nod, awkwardly agreeing, humming, and sliding across the smooth rock like an improvised slide.
For the following minutes, they take as much gold as they can, which isn't a lot considering the sheer weight of it, but Kathryn can deal with the gym session, really, because the look on JJ's face when he sees the gold nugget she's picked up, oh, that'll be worth at least half of it.
Going full Kook indeed.
They're laughing, giggling, really, shouting and jumping up and down as the light dims down. When they're in darkness, Kathryn shuffles for her bag, putting the gold to the side.
"We have to haul ass, right now," she says, heart suddenly in her throat as she holds the lit flare. "Otherwise, we're entombed in there, and that's not the kind of fate I want."
John B nods. "We'll come back for the rest. Let's go."
The way back is quicker – they've already discovered the rooms, the hidden mechanisms. The fact that time is wasting also helps. Not that it wasn't before, but the very real prospect of being buried alive burrows under her skin in all the right ways to light an actual fire at her ass.
They're lucky that the flare is waterproof, able to guide them under water. They're even luckier to manage to actually swim up, with the gold in their backpacks. Now that's they knowEl Dorado is right behind them, they just have to get some materials, call the authorities, make it a protected landmark and–
