As he fell, he pulled his knees to his chest, tucked his chin, and drew his hands up to his face. He had only a moment for the fear of being hit by ricocheting bullets to do battle with that of too-shallow water, before the tickling sensation of falling was replaced by the icy impact of his body striking the surface of the underground river.
He kicked downward, and fanned his arms out, trying to keep himself from plunging too deeply. The dark, cold water enveloped him, and then his feet struck bottom. The impact sent waves of pain coursing up his legs, through his groin, and up his spine. He felt his body crumple. A coppery taste filled his mouth. For a brief, panicked moment he thought, I’m paralyzed. Then his legs seemed to find a life of their own. Reflexively, they kicked out, and he felt himself rising toward the surface, even as a hard current swept him down the tunnel and away from the deadly gunfire.
He broke the surface in total darkness. He blew a mixture of water and blood from his sinuses, and took a wet gulp of air. Coughing and spitting, he struggled to keep his head above water. He was surprised to find that his arms worked as well as his legs. The cold water dulled the pain in his back, knees, and ankles, but the sensation was there and that was a good sign. He was also surprised to find he’d maintained his hold on his Walther. He hastily shoved it into his waistband as he swam.
He’d only managed a few feet when his head struck something hard. A loud sound burst through his ears. He felt a brief flash of pain, and then fading…
“Hey, babe. Thought you’d be home by now.”
“Sorry, I had to make a stop. I’ve got a surprise for you!”
“I hate surprises. What is it?”
“Dane! You are no fun at all.”
“I know. Now, what’s my surprise?”
“I’m not telling.”
“Come on. You know I’m going to get it out of you.”
“Fine, just be that way…Daddy.”
“What did you say?”
“You’re going to be a…AAAAAH!”
Scream.Tires screech. Crash. Glass shatters.
Silence.
“Melissa! Melissa, speak to me! Melissa!”
Silence.
“Melissa?”
Call ended… 0:59
A scream of primordial rage filled his throat, and he rent the veil of unconsciousness. His head was still above water. He must have only been out for a few seconds. Suppressing an angry sob, he focused on staying afloat, and pushed the memories back into the recesses of his mind.
The channel was narrow, and he quickly paddled to one side. He tried to find something to grab onto, but the arched walls were smooth and slick. He kept treading water, concerned that hypothermia would set in if he did not get out of the frigid stream sometime soon. He wished that he still had his flashlight. What if he passed by a side passage and could not see it in the darkness?
He banged into the side of tunnel as the current swept him around a bend, and then silver light exploded around him. Blinded after so long in the semi-darkness of the burial chamber, and the underground waterway, he squeezed his eyes shut. He felt something tighten across his throat. Then several hands were on him, pulling him free of the water. He opened his eyes to see Bones, Kaylin, and Meriwether leaning over him.
“Good thing you had the sword on,” Bones said, grinning. “I missed you, but I caught hold of the scabbard.”
“Are you all right?” Kaylin asked, looking frightened. “You aren’t hurt, are you?”
“Oh yeah,” he groaned. “I feel great.”
Accepting a hand up from Bones, he climbed to his feet. His ankles screamed in hot pain, but he did not think they were broken. Likewise, his knees and back hurt, but he was still in one piece, which was all that mattered.
“We heard shots,” Meriwether said.
“They almost got me,” Dane said hoarsely. He paused and hacked up the last of the water in his lungs. “I don’t know if they’ll try to follow us, or not. We’d…” He stopped and took a good look at his companions. “Why aren’t you wet?”
They all laughed.
“Three tunnels branch off of the shaft of the well just above water level,” Bones explained. “They were pretty well concealed, so we couldn’t see them from above. Lucky for you, we picked the one that came out downstream.”
Dane looked around. The room was wide, about one hundred feet square. The walls were incredibly smooth, seemingly cut with laser precision into the native rock. Ornate, ivy-wrapped columns climbed the corners. The underground river flowed through a channel twenty feet wide, that divided the room. Where the water flowed in and out of the room were archways adorned with sculptures of angels dueling with swords.
On either side of the room, wide steps led up to high, arching doorways, each opening into a dark tunnel beyond. Above the arch on either side was the carved figure of an angel in flight. Its wings, rendered in painstaking detail, swept downward around either side of the doorway. Each angel, its face an implacable mask of fury, held aloft a fiery sword in its right hand.
High above, small window-like openings, one in each wall, looked down on them. Dane craned his neck to look at them. He could not make out anything in the darkened recesses behind the windows, but he could tell that there was open space beyond them.
A random thought broadsided him without warning, and he looked at the other three in confusion.
“Wait a minute,” he said. “Where do you think all of this light is coming from?”
“From these.” Kaylin pointed to a diamond-shaped stone protruding from the wall nearby. It was about the size of Dane’s hand, and glowed an opalescent white. A row of them ran at regular intervals around the room about a third of the way up from the floor. Another row circled the room about two-thirds of the way up, and more were set in a grid-like pattern in the ceiling. How had he failed to notice them?
“Watch what happens,” Meriwether said, his voice an excited whisper. He shone his flashlight on one of the stones. When the beam hit the diamond-shaped object, the surface seemed to swirl and flash in an array of colors like mother-of-pearl. The glow that emanated from the stone grew in intensity, and as the light that it generated touched the lights on either side of it, they too shone more brightly. “It absorbs the light and amplifies it.” Meriwether sounded entranced.
“What is this place?” Dane marveled. Before anyone could answer, footsteps sounded from the other side of the room.
Dane whirled and drew his pistol, hoping that the water had not treated it too roughly. He had allowed himself to be mesmerized by the magnificence of what he was seeing, and now their pursuers had caught up to them. Four men in dark clothing, armed with automatic rifles burst through the doorway on the far side of the room. They looked around in confusion for a moment, and then caught sight of Dane’s party.
“Get up the stairs!” Dane yelled. Bones shouted back, but his words were lost in a raging torrent of gunfire.
CHAPTER 25
Dane dropped to one knee, bringing the Walther to bear on the four armed men, all the while expecting to feel hot lead ripping through his flesh. However the roar that filled the room was not the staccato rattle of automatic weaponry, but the sharp report of large caliber rifles. Across the room, two men crumpled to the ground. The remaining pair fired wildly into the air as they backed up, seeking shelter in the passageway from which they had come. The rifle fire continued unabated.