Sean stepped cautiously across the threshold, hoping there weren’t any crazy booby traps like he’d seen in so many movies. In his experience, he’d only come across a few things like that. For the most part, though, measures that were set up thousands of years ago to prevent intruders had long since rotted away or lost their effectiveness. Still, better to be safe than sorry.
“Move,” Ulrich insisted with a nod.
“It’s imperative that we be careful here. You don’t want to end up with a dart in your eye or something.” Sean said sardonically.
Ulrich wasn’t fazed by the comment, but the guard looked around, his eyes filled instantly with paranoia.
They were all safely on the other side of the wall when Allyson spoke up. “Do you guys smell that?”
“Yeah,” Tommy agreed. “It smells like some kind of gas.”
Flattop’s head darted left to right, up and back, panic all over his face. It was easy to tell the man was not comfortable being in a place so far under the ground. It probably didn’t help that they had no idea what was waiting for them down there.
“Anyone got a match?” Sean requested.
“You’re not going to light a match down here, are you? You guys just said you smelled gas. Are we going to just blow ourselves up?”
Sean smiled at her. “No one’s going to get blown up.” His light pointed to a torch hanging on the wall in a sconce that appeared to be carved from the same rock as the wall. “Why would someone put a torch there if something was going to explode?”
She supposed he had a point. Ulrich flicked a small book of matches at him, hitting Wyatt in the chest. Sean snatched it out of the air before it could fall to the ground.
A few moments later, the tightly wrapped rags on the piece of wood were burning brightly. Sean pocketed the matches, figuring the German wouldn’t care, and gave the flashlight to Tommy. He purposefully took a few more steps forward and stopped. The hallway where they’d been for the last ten minutes opened up into an enormous, square chamber. In the center, rising up from an inset lower floor, a pedestal stood as the only furniture in the room.
The most striking thing about the room, though, wasn’t what stood in the center of it. It was the fact that the chamber was empty.
Chapter 56
Eastern Georgia
“Where is it?” Ulrich demanded loudly. “Where is the gold?!” He grabbed Tommy by the shirt and pressed the gun deep into the skin underneath his jaw.
“I don’t know,” Tommy stammered. “This should be it.” Something in his eyes said that he was telling the truth.
Ulrich released the gun from his hostage’s neck and carelessly pushed him away. “Is this it, Thomas? Is this your golden chamber?”
“I don’t know where the gold is. Maybe someone beat us to it. It should be right here. Let’s just look around. If we’re lucky, we might find a clue as to where it went.”
Sean stepped down into the center of the room, lowering his light to get a better look at the pedestal. It was a simple design: a perfect, rectangular stone cube. Unlike the blank walls surrounding it, the plinth was covered in hieroglyphs, not unlike what they had just seen on the colossal door a few moments ago. As Sean drew closer, he noticed an object resting on the top of the platform. His eyes widened in realization.
“Schultzie,” his voice was firm, trying to contain the excitement. “You might want to come take a look at this.”
“Is that what I think it is?” he blurted out, nearly missing the step down into the lower part of the chamber.
“Yeah.”
They both stare at a stone disc of nearly identical size to the one Sean had in his pocket. The medallion was lying on one side, a picture of an odd-looking spider carved into it. Both friends looked at each other quizzically, unsure what to make of the piece.
Ulrich and the guard ushered Allyson over to where Tommy and Sean were standing.
“What is it?”
“I think it’s the clue to the next chamber,” Tommy replied.
“But where is the gold?” Ulrich had had enough of the games and riddles. “This was supposed to be a GOLDEN chamber. Not an empty one!” His voice echoed off of the solid walls.
Tommy shrugged. “All I know is that this amulet is probably the next piece to the puzzle and...” While he spoke, his right hand reached over and grasped the stone disc, lifting it off of the podium.
As soon as Tommy had lifted the weight, the ground beneath them started vibrating. Ulrich and his cohort braced themselves by bending their knees and putting their arms out to their sides. Sean grabbed Tommy’s wrist and looked quickly at where the stone had just been resting a moment before. A small button protruded from the center of the pedestal.
“Not good,” Sean said quickly.
As he did, the grinding sound of stone on stone filled the room as the floor began slowly rising toward the ceiling
“Put it back, Schultzie!” Sean shouted over the noise.
Tommy’s obeyed immediately, realizing what was happening. He hurriedly put the disc back on the top of the stand. As expected, the floor stopped moving. It had risen about three feet closer to the ceiling.
“Don’t do that again,” Allyson requested.
Ulrich and the guard frantically looked around, concerned the floor might begin moving up again, and if it did, they were jumping back to the main floor where it was safe.
Puzzled, Tommy and Sean looked at the stone cube before them, trying to interpret the hieroglyphs.
“Always good to read the instructions before you activate a three-thousand-year-old death trap,” Tommy commented with a sideways glance at his friend. “Must be some kind of weight and counterweight system.”
Sean snorted a quick laugh. “Yeah. This looks like a story of some kind.” He ran his finger across the stone.
“Two men of truth, bring a gift to the great god,” Tommy translated. “By giving up what they had, it looks like the glory of the gods was revealed to them.”
Sean moved around to the other side of the pedestal. The epiphany hit him. “The other disc. We must have to put it on this thing with the other stone.”
Tommy stepped around to look at what his friend had found. A two-inch-deep circle had been cut into the stone. “It makes sense now. According to the story, whoever finds their way here must bring the first disc and leave it before they can find what they seek.”
Ulrich was now leaning in close to monitor the discussion while Flattop stood back, still uncertain about what was going on.
Feeling in his coat pocket, Sean produced the original stone disc.
“Boy, am I glad you brought that,” Tommy sighed, eyeing the artifact with relief.
“Yeah.” Sean crouched down to one knee. The circular indention in the stone podium mirrored the carving of the two birds, except that the two birds were raised, not indented like on the medallion. Quickly, he removed the spider disc from the top and slid the stone into place and pressed it down firmly. Somewhere in the cavern, there were a few clicks and then silence.
Nothing happened.
“What is the problem now?” Ulrich demanded.
Ignoring the question, Sean then took the medallion with the spider on it and placed it on top of the one Tommy had found.
The ground began shaking again, and the grinding sound of the ancient stones resumed at full decibel. This time, though, instead of rising, the floor began to sink.
“It’s an ancient elevator!” Tommy shouted over the noise as the enormous device continued to move downward.
Sean looked a little more suspicious but was anxious to see where the lift would take them.
The floor above was gone as they descended into a shaft cut perfectly into the sandstone. Then, around the edge of the moving floor, a gap opened up, growing larger and larger until with a thud, the old machine came to a thunderous halt. The eyes of its passengers searched the dark corners of the room cautiously. Resting on either side of the stone lift were two enormous g
olden obelisks pointing majestically toward the ceiling of the room. Their torches and flashlights flickered off of the walls.
Sean stepped off the platform toward something that looked like a bronze birdbath. With a quick nod, Ulrich motioned for the guard to follow Wyatt.
Arriving at the large dish, Sean looked inside it briefly then touched his torch to the material it contained. Immediately, the fuel roared to life, lighting up the entire quarter of the room.
What their eyes beheld was more stunning than anything they had ever imagined. Sean stepped backward a moment, nearly bumping into the guard, who stumbled briefly then caught his balance.
Before them was an entire wall made from square golden panels.
Tommy barely spoke above a whisper. “We’re here.”
Chapter 57
Eastern Georgia
Tommy hopped down from the stone platform and rushed over to the wall. He ran his finger over the incredible pieces of yellow metal. It was more amazing that anything he had ever seen.
Ulrich, too, seemed in awe of the scene. He moved almost unconsciously from the platform of the elevator to the main floor of the chamber, his mouth slightly agape at the sight as he moved closer to the shimmering partition.
The wall made of pure gold stretched forty feet from corner to corner, reaching around twelve feet in height. Its shiny surface was covered with hieroglyphic pictures and strange text, similar in appearance to the words on the original medallion Tommy had found. Four other dishes accented the corners of the room. In between the dishes were four stone boxes resting on the floor. They looked like sarcophagi, but Tommy wasn’t sure. The large containers had the same odd-looking words chiseled into them.
“This...it’s incredible. I had no idea it would be so...spectacular.” His voice choked.
Sean smiled, half-excited, half-desperate to find a way for them to survive. He knew they only had a few minutes to make their move. Stepping over to the wall on his left with Flattop in tow, he made his way to another large fire plate. This one was made from silver. Again, he dipped the torch into the ancient fuel, and the wall before him came to life in the fiery glow.
He repeated the illumination process at a third dish, this one made from what looked like onyx.
Allyson watched Sean’s progression from the safety of the elevator, amazed by the radiance of the room. As he made his way to the final saucer, Sean gave her a quick flash with his eyes. What did he want?
Again, he gave a quick look over to her left with his eyes toward the pedestal on the elevator.
The disc. Sean wanted her to remove the disc so the elevator would start going back up again. She shook her head.
He mouthed to her, “It’s okay. Do it.”
She looked over at Ulrich who was now standing directly behind Tommy, raising his gun to the back of Tommy’s skull. Sean was nearly to the last dish. Her eyes shot back toward Tommy and again to Sean. As soon as Tommy was executed, the guard would take that as his cue to kill Sean. Then she would be next.
“I really must thank you for your help in finding all of this, Thomas. It has been quite an adventure,” Ulrich finally said.
Tommy turned around to find a gun barrel between his eyes.
“Unfortunately, your services are no longer required.”
Sean gave her a quick nod as he ignited the final plate’s fuel. The guard stood directly behind him, raising his weapon as well. His thick face was completely vacant of any emotion.
Biting her lip, Allyson reached down and pried the medallions from the podium with her fingers. Immediately, the ancient elevator rumbled to life again, rising slowly from the floor.
Neither Ulrich nor Flattop saw Allyson’s sudden move. So when the giant mechanism started moving again, they both spun around instinctively.
Ulrich’s reaction was less shocked as he realized quickly what was happening. He twisted his arm away from Tommy and fired off two quick shots that narrowly missed Allyson, who crouched behind the stand of the rising platform. As he started to lunge toward her, something grabbed him by the ankle.
Tommy’s grip was firm, and Ulrich felt himself lose his balance, toppling over with a thud. Both elbows smashed unexpectedly onto the solid stone floor. Pain immediately shot through his arms, and the crash caused the gun in his hand to rattle free.
Across the room, the guard’s reaction to Allyson had been less coordinated. The big man seemed momentarily confused by what was happening. However, he quickly followed Ulrich’s lead, and he took aim at the woman.
A shot was never fired from the stocky man’s weapon though. Before he could pull the trigger, a sharp and burning pain shot across his head and face with bits of dripping flame flying past his eyes.
Sean had taken the moment of surprise and moved quickly, swinging his arm as hard as he could. The torch bashed against the man’s temple, sending sparks and fire swarming around the man’s head.
For a second, the large body staggered, dizzied from the strike. Instinctively, he dropped his gun and reached up to his face with both hands, screaming in pain. Sean followed the blow with another swing.
This time, the stocky man was ready. He recovered from the initial blow and raised his other arm just in time to block the flaming staff from hitting him again.
It was Sean’s turn to be surprised. He had not anticipated the strong man’s ability to stabilize so fast. After blocking his attack, the man grabbed the torch with one hand and Wyatt’s throat with the other.
Sean tried to pry the fingers loose that were cutting off his supply of air, but the grip was too strong. He swung wildly at the guard’s face, only getting in a few glancing blows that seemed less than ineffective.
The room began to spin as the lack of oxygen started taking its toll. His lungs screamed to breathe, but he could not force open his throat. With a last-ditch effort, Sean jumped and lifted both of his legs in a running motion, essentially stepping on Flattop’s chest then his face with both feet. The odd movement worked as Sean’s legs forced free the man’s grasp and sent him reeling backward toward one of the flaming urns.
Wyatt landed on his side and gasped for air, his lungs filling gratefully in relief. He only had a moment, though, as the guard had caught himself and was charging toward him like a bull. Tommy staggered to one knee with a hand still on the ground. Only a few feet behind him, another of the dishes burned brightly. The idea came just quickly enough.
Running at full speed, Flattop squared his shoulders into a tackling position, ready to drive Wyatt to the floor. But just as he was about to hit him, Sean rolled out of the way and caught the guard with his boot.
The man stumbled forward out of control, and before he could stop, he crashed into the fiery platter, sending it toppling to the ground. He reached out his hands to the floor as he fell, but they landed in the fire that now spread along the floor. The man let out a yelp and withdrew his hands, but when he did, his body collapsed into the flames. His black suit roared to life in a burst of yellow-and-orange heat.
He screamed and struggled to roll out of the flames as his entire body became engulfed. Finally, after a moment, the man was able to worm his way onto a part of the stone surface where the fire hadn’t reached, and he continued to turn over in the dust. A few seconds later, the flames had been smothered. The skin on his face and hands peeled and blistered from the burns and his flattop haircut had been singed down to the scalp.
Then he opened his eyes to see Sean Wyatt standing over him with his gun. Without hesitation, Sean raised the weapon and clicked off a shot. The bullet smashed into a knee, shattering the joint into a bloody mass of tissue and bone.
Wailing, the man collapsed onto his side, both hands gripped the bloody mess where his kneecap used to be.
“Don’t move,” Sean remarked casually as he turned to leave the man twisting in agony on the floor.
Wyatt’s attention went to the other side of the room as the elevator continued its ascent.
Tommy was hanging onto
Ulrich’s foot for dear life, but the strong blond man was dragging him along, struggling to get to the gun that was only a few feet away. Across the room, both combatants saw an orange-yellow flash followed by a howling scream and then a gunshot. Neither one could see beyond the giant column that was pushing the platform of the elevator up.
Ulrich was only a few inches from the gun, his fingers scratched against the hard floor in an attempt to pull closer to it. He kicked a couple of times, once catching Tommy in the face. Still, the man would not let go.
Tommy realized his attempt to impede Ulrich was futile. His jaw ached from the black shoe striking it. There was only one thing he could do. In one sudden movement, he released the blond man, who tumbled forward just beyond the gun. All Tommy could do was dive behind one of the stone boxes for cover before Ulrich could get off a shot.
The unexpected momentum had thrown Ulrich off only for a few seconds. He recovered quickly and snatched up the weapon, squeezing off three quick rounds at the sprawling Tommy. The bullets ricocheted off the sarcophagus and bounced, momentarily, around the room.
“Very clever, Thomas!” The voice was sinister as Ulrich stood up, firing another shot just over Tommy’s back. It pinged off the golden wall beside him.
“But now your little game is at an end,” Ulrich continued. He took a step forward, moving in for the kill, when another gun popped from somewhere else in the room.
Ulrich froze in his tracks. Looking down at his chest, he noticed blood slowly seeping into his shirt. He spun around quickly to return fire, but his reaction was too late.
Four more shots came from the other weapon, all of them finding the blond man’s torso. His legs wobbled for a moment then gave way, sending his now-heavy body to the ground.
Sean lowered the weapon and walked over to the man lying on the cold stone floor. Blood trickled down Ulrich’s face from the corner of his lips. His icy-blue eyes were wide with shock. His lungs gurgled beneath the crimson-stained shirt, struggling against the damage the bullets had inflicted.
With a final act of defiance, Ulrich tried to raise his pistol.
Another loud bang from Sean’s gun punched a dark hole through the man’s forehead, and the hand holding the gun dropped lifelessly to the floor.
Sean Wyatt Compilation Box Set Page 28
