by Nick Thacker
Bryce sighed and followed them deeper into the cave system.
Chapter 39
4:35 am
The fissure took a hard turn to the right. The narrow, A-shaped opening forced the men into a crouch almost as soon as they entered. The entrance was nondescript, but as they got further in it became obvious that the passage was not a natural feature. The tunnel quickly took on the shape of the elliptical shafts below the Giza pyramid. It curved slightly to the southwest, back toward the Treasury. After about ten feet, the walls became perfectly smooth.
Bryce knew it was an exact replica of the shafts they’d found at Giza — he also knew that somewhere due south of their location, they would probably find a mirror image of this shaft. Like the Giza shafts, there would be two conjoined “Golden Spirals” beneath Petra.
Vilocek had come to the same conclusion. He pulled out the shard of crystal he’d been carrying and held it up to the wall. The familiar blue symbols came slowly into focus. The three Israelis looked around in wonder as the symbols appeared on the walls, floor and ceiling. Vilocek kept moving forward, calling for the rest to keep up. Where does he get his energy? Bryce thought. Tanning never seemed tired; never seemed out of breath. He doesn’t seem human.
As they continued down, the symbols grew brighter and Bryce saw Vilocek put the sliver of crystal back in his pocket. Cole must be down here, Bryce thought, remembering how the writing on the walls of the pyramid and in Whittenfield’s notebooks lit up in the presence of the young man. They were getting close.
“Whoa — hold up!” Vilocek said, pulling up suddenly. “Shit!” Bryce came up behind, nearly piling into Karn, looking to see why they’d stopped.
In front of Vilocek and Karn was a gaping hole. The shaft ended at the edge and a deep, empty space stared back at them. Karn pointed his light into the void. The darkness consumed the anemic beam like a black hole. About fifty feet ahead on the other side of the chasm, the shaft continued slightly below them. Karn’s light barely illuminated the circular opening, but they could just make out more of the bluish symbols glowing in the interior.
Bryce realized something else: they were not standing in a tunnel, but in something more like a large tube, somehow suspended in an immense cavern as if it was held by an unseen hand.
“Now what?” Karn asked no one in particular. “How the hell do we cross this?”
“Beats me,” Wayne said. “How did Madu and the others get across?”
“Look!” Jeff pointed his flashlight toward Vilocek’s feet. Wedged tightly in a crack in the wall was a grappling hook attached to a thick piece of climbing rope. Karn hauled up the rope, finding the end slashed. The remainder was too short to reach the other side. “Bastard cut it so we couldn’t follow him. Damn,” Jeff said.
Bryce noticed Vilocek backing up out of the corner of his eye. He turned to face the man, realizing then what he was attempting.
“Vilocek, it’s too —“
Vilocek ran forward and launched himself out and over the edge of the tunnel. The corresponding tunnel across the chasm was a bit downhill and to the left, and Vilocek had aimed his jump perfectly.
Still, he wasn’t going to make it.
Bryce was helpless as he watched the older man writhing in the air, falling faster than any of them had expected. Vilocek reached out as he passed the ledge…
And his upper body hit it with a thud. He grabbed at the smooth floor, hoping to catch something. His hands and fingers worked against gravity, and finally he found a slight purchase on the very edge of the tunnel floor. His body stopped falling, and suddenly he was dangling from the edge of a cliff, both arms outstretched.
Bryce was already impressed with the man’s agility, but now he was interested to see if Vilocek could perform a perfect pull-up.
He could. Vilocek pulled himself up and over the edge of the tunnel, and only paused for a few seconds as he shifted his weight, testing, trying to make sure he had a solid hold and center of gravity before he brought his leg up and around and onto the floor. Finally, with a flourish that would have fit in at a gymnastics competition, he stood up and bowed.
Beka clapped, and Karn whistled.
Bryce, however, stood silently and watched. He knew what Vilocek would ask of them next.
“Well, gentlemen,” Vilocek said, not even a hint of exhaustion in his voice. “If an old guy like me can do it, you can, too.”
Chapter 40
4:57 am
It had taken them an extra ten minutes to string together a grappling hook and rope swing and get everyone across, but they were here.
Madu and Sergeant Aines stared, wide-eyed.
They had reached the chamber at the bottom of the twisting, turning shaft, and they were all breathing heavily from the exertion.
They were standing before an unbelievable amount of treasure that towered in the center of the room, spilling over to each corner and piled in some places to chest level. Jensen, Corinne and Cole stood just inside the room, dumbstruck.
For an entire minute, no one spoke.
The hoard would net millions on the open market, not even considering its historic value.
Madu finally found his voice.
“It’s the treasure of the Pharaoh,” he whispered. “It’s the reason they named this place the ‘Treasury.’” He walked slowly around the cache, shaking his head.
All my life, he thought. All my life I thought it was a myth. A hoax. Madu’s father had dragged him and Heri around the world trying to find this very thing. To think, they could have had a much different life if they’d only known where to look so many years ago.
Madu shook his head, more forcefully. No. My father was a drunk and a loser. He got what he deserved. Besides, this is not about the treasure. Not anymore.
“I thought there was no treasure,” Jensen said. “Wasn’t it just a myth?”
“That’s what we’d been led to believe,” Madu explained. “When the Pharaoh chased Moses out of Egypt, it was said that his army brought with it the massive treasury. Pharaoh decided that its weight had been slowing them down, and he therefore ordered the men to create the ‘Khaznat al-Faroun’ — the ‘Treasury of the Pharaoh.’
“But how could they find this place? The tunnel system?”
“Maybe they got lucky — it’s always been there, just hard to see without the crystal guiding the way.”
All eyes turned to Cole Reed.
“Or a guy with the crystal in his bloodstream.”
“Maybe they did have the crystal,” Madu said. “Or at least a piece of it. That could have been one of the reasons this place was so sacred to them, why they invested so much in finding it and dumping a massive treasure here.”
“It was supposedly nothing but a myth, but many people used to shoot at the urn above the Treasury’s main entrance, hoping that gold would begin to fall out.”
“But that was just a myth,” Jensen said.
“That’s the thing about myths,” Madu said. “Usually they originate from somewhere or something based in truth. It seems as though we are standing directly below the Treasury now, so perhaps those treasure hunters were looking in the right place, just not deep enough.”
Cole grabbed a handful of gold and silver coins. As he poured the coins from one hand to the other, his eyes fell on the wall behind the pile. “Look! The symbols!”
The others all turned to look. The now-familiar symbols shone with an intense bluish light from the walls, ceiling, and floor.
“What about it?” Corinne asked, exasperated. “They look the same as they have all along — “
“I can read them,” Cole said, pointing to the wall. “This one — the one that looks like a creature coming out of water — I think it says ‘our people,’ or something similar.”
“What do you mean you can read them? They’re gibberish!” Corinne’s voice climbed an octave. ‘This is all gibberish — the myths, the legends, the treasure — “ she flung a coin against the wall. It’s pro
bably not even real!”
“Stop,” Madu said softly. “I assure you, this treasure is real. The myth, the legend my father told me as a boy; it seems all of it is very real.” He turned to Cole. “What can you read? How?”
“I don’t know,” Cole said. “It’s not like reading in English. It’s like I see the symbols — some of them — and I just understand.” He looked around, his eyes darting back and forth and finally falling on another symbol. “Like this one. The squiggly lines that intersect. I look at it and I think — no, I know — that it means ‘journey,’ or ‘travels.’ I can’t read them all, but from what I can read, these symbols were written by a small group of ‘travelers’ who came here and built these passageways — long before the city was erected, I think.”
They all stared at Cole as if he’d lost his mind. He was busily perusing the countless symbols in front of him, his tongue half out of his mouth and his skin radiating a pale bluish hue. He looked otherworldly.
“Yeah. Yeah, it says they came from ‘the opposite world,’ or something. An island tribe — that’s why they use the person-water symbol as their mark.”
Madu’s head snapped up. “‘Island’?” From the other side of the globe, by any chance?”
“Yeah — I think they’re referring to an island somewhere beyond the horizon — “
“That’s right,” Jensen said, his voice low. Madu looked at him. “The island is a place I’m quite familiar with. I can’t believe it hasn’t struck me until now.”
“What island, Uncle Jensen?” Corinne asked. “How do you know?”
“Because this language — the symbols — it’s called Rongorongo. It was, up until right now, indecipherable.”
“Like Sumerian cuneiform?” Sergeant Aines asked.
Jensen nodded. “There are only two languages known to historians that remain to this day completely indecipherable. One of those is Sumerian cuneiform, and the other is Rongorongo. The language of the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island.”
“Easter Island?” Madu asked. “With the heads?”
“Yes — the Moai are statues built as shrines of supposed Rapa Nui leaders and chiefs, and there are over one hundred of them on the island altogether.”
“The Rapa Nui must be the original owners of the crystal,” Cole said. “They built these tunnels and chambers, and added the symbols on the walls as a way of marking where they’d been. I can’t read it all, but maybe they were planning to use this chamber — and the one at Giza — as a secret storage place for the crystal?”
“That would make sense, I guess,” Jensen said. “They may have wanted to ensure that the crystal would be safe, but never lost — if they ever came under attack or catastrophe, they’d have numerous locations available to hide it in.”
“What does this mean for us?” Madu asked. “Is the crystal here somewhere? Under all of this gold?”
“Unfortunately, I don’t think so,” Professor Andrews replied. “Surely Pharaoh’s men — the people who would have found this chamber and stashed this treasure here — wouldn’t have left something as powerful as the crystal if they’d found it here. More likely they were looking for it here, just as we are today. Either it’s somewhere on Easter Island, or…” his voice trailed off.
Suddenly they heard shouts from behind them, in the shaft.
“They’ve gotten across!” Aines said as he crossed the chamber to the exit on the opposite side. “We need to get out, commander!”
“Prepare the passageway,” Madu said. “The rest of you, look around — quickly!” He started rifling through the piled treasure.
Cole started digging as well. The rest joined in, every few seconds glancing back toward the passageway.
A sudden sound like a thunderclap burst from the passage into the small chamber. “They’re here! Go, go!” Madu yelled, waving his weapon. The captives had no choice but to comply, and they headed for the exit.
Chapter 41
5:19 am
Cole felt the sides of the tunnel as he ran up the passageway. The blue glow did little to light their way. Madu’s flashlight shone from behind, casting a jittery, bouncing glow with every one of the man’s footsteps. Aines, with the other light, was up ahead somewhere.
Cole wondered how the others were doing. Corinne was probably fine, but her uncle was hacking and heaving for air, his feet landing heavily as fatigue and stress began to take a toll on him. Cole hoped he’d be able to stay on his feet — if he fell now, he knew Madu wouldn’t have the patience to wait around for him.
Finally Cole saw a dancing light in the tunnel ahead. Then Aines came into view, hunched over a small boxlike object, intently focused. As they approached, jogging and sweating, Aines stood up, nodded at Madu, and fell in next to him at a trot.
Gunshots sounded from behind. Cole ducked, as did Corinne and her uncle, but Madu ran past them, zigzagging his way around the three civilians. The gunfire continued as Vilocek and his man Karn emerged around the corner. They stopped shooting, but ran faster as they saw Madu retreating up the tunnel.
Cole realized suddenly why Madu had kept running — it wasn’t out of fear of being shot. He looked at the small box, inconspicuous in the dim light. Terror rose in his chest as he grabbed Corinne and Jensen by the arms. “Come on!” he shouted. “Run!”
They got about twenty paces past the block of explosive before Sergeant Aines detonated it. The deafening blast shook the tunnel, lifting them off their feet and throwing them to the floor. They slid and rolled out of the tunnel and into a small square chamber, as the shock wave blew over their heads and dissipated in the closed-off room.
Chapter 42
5:22 am
Bryce heard the shots ahead. Unsure of what was happening, he sped up and tried to see around the bend. Beka and another Israeli guard passed him as Wayne, Jeff and Sean came up behind.
Then he caught sight of the three civilians, running up and away from the shooting. He couldn’t see Madu or the other soldier who’d been with them. The numerous gun-mounted flashlights almost fully lit the passageway now, and his eyes caught something small on the floor close to Vilocek and his men. He strained his eyes, trying to make out the object. Then he froze. “GET DOW — “
Oddly, he didn’t hear the explosion. But he saw Vilocek and Karn outlined in darkened silhouette as they were violently thrown forward. He couldn’t see Beka, but assumed he’d fared about the same. One of the Israeli soldiers had been flung backwards, almost to Bryce’s feet, and the other soldier had simply disintegrated.
Bryce turned his attention to the soldier laying on the floor in front of him, and knelt to get below the smoke. As he crouched, the Israeli wriggled toward him, more shivering than crawling.
He did a double-take. The man wasn’t moving — at least not on his own. Instead, the floor beneath the man was snaking into thousands of tiny cracks. A larger crack was approaching the man’s feet…
Shit. Bryce lunged forward, but it was too late. The floor beneath the soldier gave way, the entire section falling into oblivion. The man’s feet and torso sunk down into the new chasm, but he remained hanging by his arms from the edge. Bryce stretched his rifle toward the man, and he grabbed hold of the barrel. Wayne started to come up alongside Bryce to offer a hand but Bryce waved him off.
“Stop!” he shouted. “There’s not enough support anymore — the three of us together will be too heavy. See if you can find a way out of here.”
Wayne turned back.
The soldier was heavy. Bryce could barely hold on to the rifle, much less pull the man up. He struggled against the weight, worried about the shaft disintegrating.
The cracking continued, though it was almost inaudible. It was emanating from within the thick floor and walls of the tunnel, and Bryce knew he wouldn’t be able to hoist the man up and over the ledge without the shaft crumbling away.
The Israeli cursed — he heard it too. “Hang on,” Bryce yelled, not even sure the man understood English. “We’re going
to get some rope or something,” he said. A louder crack rang out.
He heard footsteps coming up from behind. Wayne must have found something. Bryce shifted his position, trying to get as much leverage as possible to buy them time.
“Hey, I got something,” Wayne shouted. The footsteps were now accompanied by a heavy dragging, clunking sound.
A few more chunks of floor fell away, and Bryce knew Wayne wouldn’t reach them in time. The Israeli, muttering something to himself, pulled himself up on his elbows.
He looked at Bryce, nodded once, and released his grip on the gun.
“No!” Bryce knew it was too late. The man was already gone. He didn’t scream as he plunged to his death, and they couldn’t hear him hit anything at the bottom — if there was a bottom. Bryce was stunned, knowing the man had sacrificed his own life to save the team.
Wayne, Jeff, and Sean all watched over Bryce’s shoulder. They stood for a moment in silence, then Wayne spoke up.
“Found this.”
He was holding one end of a large gold chain, the rest of it trailing on the floor at his feet. It looked heavy — each link was about half an inch thick, and the whole thing must have weighed almost seventy pounds.
But how to get it over the gaping hole in the floor? Deja vu, Bryce thought. Although the gap this time was much shorter — probably no more than eight or ten feet — this time the opposite side was slightly uphill. He looked at the chain, then back at the hole.
Without a word, Jeff suddenly burst past him.
Bryce only had time to look up before Jeff launched himself from their side of the broken passageway into the air. He flung his body forward with a grunt, his arms outstretched toward the far edge of the tunnel. With a heavy thud, he landed awkwardly, his arms barely holding on to the floor, the rest of his body dangling in space — just as the Israeli had done.
