“Which means someone’s followed us!”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Andrew Brandt watched the two Sherpas, the mountain goats of the Himalayas, scatter, leaving their equipment where they were on the mountain side.
“I don’t see them,” he said to the pilot.
“Keep looking. Those Sherpas weren’t going for a climbing holiday on their own,” Dmitri replied. “Those were the two I left looking after Sam Reilly. They must have entered the temple.”
The two men scanned the mountain.
“There!” Dmitri said. “Look at that overhanging rock. It must have an opening — there are footprints in the snow leading into it.”
“If they’ve gone in, they must come back out. Just hover here for a few minutes.”
“I can’t stay long at this altitude,” Dmitri said.
“All right. We can’t wait all day. Everyone off. We’re going in to get them.”
One by one, they dropped off the helicopter’s skids while the pilot hovered, and onto the thick snow on the mountain three feet below them, followed by the soldiers in the second helicopter. He wanted to take no chances. He’d heard of Sam and his friend’s reputation as excellent fighters. There was no way he wanted this to be a fair fight. And for that, he needed to outnumber them.
He looked at the leader of his commando team. “Aiden. Take three men and get me a reconnaissance of that entry. If you find resistance, take cover and hold your position.”
“Understood.”
The three-man team quietly entered the secret opening to the Atlantean temple.
Minutes later the opening turned to rubble along with the sound of a loud explosion. Andrew jammed his ice axe into the mountainside and took cover in the snow. Twenty feet away, the two helicopters, concerned about avalanches, quickly backed away from the face of the mountain.
Snow fell, but no avalanche followed.
Seconds later, Andrew heard the sound of machine gun fire. But he couldn’t tell whether it was coming from his own commandos or someone else.
Aiden returned, blood dripping from the back of his head and burns to his face.
“They fucking have the place booby-trapped!” Aiden swore.
“We need to storm that temple. What have we got when we enter?”
“You have a hole that is completely dark. A cavern that echoes, which suggests that it’s quite large. I didn’t see them, but they must have seen us, because they killed Frankie and Mitchell. Then the next thing I know they’re using an AK47 on me, probably stolen from my own men!”
“What do you need to extract them?”
“Alive?”
“Yes. At least one of them. Preferably Sam Reilly, but his friend must know something.”
“We’d need a miracle. We can do it, but it’s going to cost us in men.”
Andrew looked at his men, checking their weapons. “Okay, do it.”
One of his soldiers passed him a cell phone. He really hated the damn technology.
“Tell them I’m busy.”
“I think you’re gonna want to take this one boss. He says that he has Dr. Billie Swan.”
Andrew looked at his commando. The man was serious. Andrew reached out and snatched the cell phone.
“Andrew speaking.”
“Morning, boss.”
“I thought you were dead. Actually, when you lost the girl, and then stopped answering my calls, I kind of hoped you were dead, for your sake.”
“Let’s just say I’ve been busy. But all will be forgiven once you hear what I have for you.”
“What have you got for me?”
“Dr. Billie Swan. And half of the Code to Atlantis.”
“Christ. I thought she’d deciphered the damn thing. What the hell good is half of the code?”
“None, but she’s about to retrieve the second half. It was apparently broken up into two separate codes, and then stored in two Atlantean temples to protect it.”
“Do you know where the second one is?”
“Congo. Somewhere in the Heart of Darkness.”
Andrew signaled to one of his soldiers for a pen and paper. “Do you know where exactly?”
“No, but I’m still part of the team. I’ll let you know once they’ve found it.”
“Good. Let them solve the mysteries of the second Atlantean temple. Better they risk their lives than me. Once you have answers, send me your coordinates, and we’ll bring a retrieval team in to get the rest of the code.”
Andrew passed the cell phone back, a giant smile on his sinister face.
“What you smiling at?” Aiden said.
“Because we no longer have any reason to keep Sam Reilly and his companion alive.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Sam quickly studied the back of the Atlantean temple.
All the tunnels seemed to have reached an end. And there was little that either of them could do to maintain their position against the significantly more powerful team of mercenaries after them.
Turning to examine the final cavern, Sam said, “We know Billie was here before us. There was no one else on the face of the mountain when we climbed it. We must have only just missed her?”
Tom pulled his Glock out and prepared to fire at anyone who came through the cavern. “Possibly, but sorry to say this pal, I don’t think she’s coming back to save our asses.”
“No, it’s not that. She must have been here in the last day or two. And yet, we didn’t see her or whoever has her leave, which means…”
Tom smiled. Realization dawning on him. “The people outside aren’t the ones who took her?”
“The thought’s crossed my mind, but I don’t think so. I think she beat us all to it, and that whoever’s outside is also searching for Atlantis. And if they didn’t find Billie, that means there’s definitely another exit!”
“Of course!” Tom Said “When I read Plato’s ancient Critias Dialogue, it noted that the Atlanteans built rings within rings of defensive structures so that retreat was possible. It was one of the reasons Billie believed that Amsterdam was related to the descendants of Atlantis. We know that’s not true now, but one thing’s for certain — if the survivors of Atlantis built this place, as an archive to their history, then they must have built in an escape tunnel.”
Several shots raked the walls of the cavern behind them.
Sam looked up to see that the first soldiers were entering the far side of the cave. “That’s great. But if you’re right, we’d better find it soon, because whoever the hell’s trying to come in here, they don’t sound like they’re friendly.”
Sam started to quickly examine the walls, pressing rocks, pulling on things, and then he saw it. A slight change in the sand. “Look at that. It’s as though someone has recently dragged something along the sand. Help me dig this up.”
Tom dug his climbing pick into the sand and caught something solid. He struck it again, and again. On the third attempt, the head of his climbing pick caught. Using the back of the handle, he was able to lever the entire rock structure out, and pull it to the side of the cavern.
Revealing a black abyss.
The air that now flowed upwards towards them was warm.
“What do you think?”
“It’s a priest hole.”
“What the hell’s a priest hole?”
“An escape route, built into the original design of the cave system.”
A small metallic device on tractor wheels slowly entered the room. Like a sinister robot, the machine drove toward them.
“What’s that?”
“Some sort of Remote Controlled Vehicle. They’re finding exactly where we’re hiding!”