The Cleric's Vault (38 page)

Neither
answered.
 
They turned back to the
symbols and stared at them.
 
Their
expressions were of deep concentration, as if they could somehow will the
answer out of the ancient rock.

Will
stepped back over to the main entrance and peeked around the corner.
 
He saw Weaver heading towards the cave
entrance on the narrow ledge, followed by several agents.
 
He looked back into the room and saw
the two flashlights pointing back and forth at the symbols.
 
Satisfied the other two were busy, he
waved his hand at Angela, trying to get her attention.
 

*****

Angela
saw Will peeking out from a corner about forty feet away.
 
It looked like he was attempting to
communicate.
 
His hand signaled her
to stop moving.
 
She’d been playing
second fiddle long enough to Will Hastings.
 
He had always been The Prophet’s little pet.
 
There was no way he was going to get
the glory for this.
 
She pulled her
left hand off the rock face and waved back at him, then with her right hand
quickly raised her gun and squeezed off three shots.
 

Will
had seen Angela going for her gun.
 
Fortunately, he had only slightly revealed himself from the cover of the
cave entrance.
 
He ducked back as
she fired her weapon, sending rounds pinging off the stone near where he was
looking out.
 
He didn’t understand
why was she shooting at him?
 
She
and James were supposed to be working with him.
 
He risked sticking his own weapon around the corner.
 
More shots resumed from her position,
keeping him pinned down.
 

Suddenly,
more bursts ensued from other positions.
 
Her team had opened fire.
 
Bullets sent sparks and stone fragments flying around him.
 
And there was no way for him to fire
back.
 
Resigned, he hurried back
inside the room.
 

Will
looked grave.
 
“We have company.
 
Probably ten agents or so.
 
We need to go now.”

Adriana
and Sean looked at each other.
 
They were both standing in front of the middle doorway.
 

“We
think it might be this one,” Adriana said.

Will
moved across the room but suddenly stumbled and fell to the floor in front of
the door on the right.
 
A few feet
away from his hand was something shiny.
 
He turned the beam of his flashlight on the object and realized what it
was.
 
“I think you might be going
the wrong way,” he said as he lifted up a shiny quarter.

Sean
stepped over to see what he was holding.
 
“Tommy must have dropped it for us so we would know which way to go,”
Sean said as he took the coin from Will.

“Looks
like we’re going through door number three,” Will raised an eyebrow.
 

The
others silently agreed and followed him into the passage.
 
Sean stopped at the threshold and
thought for a moment.
 
Then he took
the quarter and flipped it over to the far left doorway.
 

Chapter 65

Ecuador

Angela
Weaver stood with her back to the wall, next to the entrance of the cave.
 
The last man on her team was about to
reach the flat area near the entrance when an insect flew near his face.
 
He swatted at the bug with one hand
causing him to lose his footing on the wet ledge.
 
His feet slipped out from under him and he fell into the
churning water below.
 
Only a short
scream could be let out since the drop was only twelve or so feet.
 
Weaver and her team stared through the
spray into the foaming pool.
 
The
unfortunate agent never resurfaced.
 

She
noticed the men had gathered around her and were waiting to see what she would
do.
 
“We keep moving,” she said,
coldly.
 
The others nodded.
 
She clipped a small light to the bottom
of her gun barrel and switched it on then spun around and led the way into the
cave, shining her light around on the smooth rock walls as she moved ahead.

The
cave was actually a passageway, carved out of the rock underneath the
river.
 
It was no natural
occurrence by any stretch of the imagination.
 
Human hands had created it a very long time ago.
 
The corridor ran straight back for
about thirty feet or so before opening up into a fairly large room with three
doors that proceeded further underground.
 

Angela
stepped over to the door on the right and examined the symbol at the top.
 
Then, quickly, she did the same with
the other two.
 
She turned to her
team leader.
 
“This must be a test
of some kind.
 
Which way do you
think they went?”

He
moved to the door on the right and examined the floor and hard edges to the
doorway.
 
Then he repeated the
process with the middle door and then the one on the left.
 
He reached down and picked something up
off the floor near the last door with a Greek symbol over it.
 
“A quarter,” he said.
 
“Looks like they went this way,” he
stood up and tossed the coin over to her.
 

Weaver
wasn’t convinced but it was their only lead.
 
She couldn’t interpret the meanings of the symbols so she
had to take the chance.
 
However,
she could minimize her personal risk.

“You
two,” she pointed at two of her remaining six men.
 
“Lead the way.”

The
two mercenaries looked at each other skeptically but obeyed.
 
They’d already seen what she was
capable of in the church.
 
Slowly,
they stepped across the threshold of the doorway and into the passage.
 
Angela and the others followed closely
behind.
 
The air in the corridor
was cold, noticeably more so than the room they’d just left.
 
A draft brushed passed their faces as
they continued to move along.
 
Just
like the room before, the walls were smoothly carved from the rock beneath the
river.
 
There were no signs or
pictures, only perfectly smooth stone walls and floors.
 
The two men in the lead came to a point
where the direction of the passageway came to a halt and made a sharp
right.
 
Cautiously, they leaned
around the corner and shone their beams into the empty, stone hall.
 
Simultaneously, they moved ahead around
the corner, one on each side of the path.
 
Suddenly, the floor shifted and tilted down where they stood.
 
They lost their balance as the
contraption lowered like an ancient teeter-totter.
 
Both men yelled for a moment before dropping out of sight.

Angela
and the team leader had jumped back at the sight but they moved forward again
and risked a look down into the space where the men had fallen.
 
On their side, the floor had raised and
they could see down into a chamber.
 
Their flashlights revealed a pit of what looked like hundreds of stone
spikes protruding up from the floor.
 
A few skeletons with very old looking armor were scattered among the
stone spears.
 
Like the decayed
bodies of the skeletons, the two men who fell had been impaled.

One
of them was already dead, a particularly large spike jutting through his chest
in a bloody, mangled mess.
 
His
eyes stared up to the ceiling, lifeless.
 
The other man was writhing in agony, a stone barb piercing through his
abdomen and right leg.
 
“Help…me,”
he managed to gasp.

“Leave
him,” Angela ordered.
 
“We go back
and take a different passage.”

The
man below reached up his right hand, begging for help when a deep rumble
resonated through the cave.
 
The
floor began lowering back down again and the dying mercenary disappeared in the
darkness below.

“Turn
around,” She ordered.
 
“Let’s
move.”

*****

Tommy
was amazed at how deep the passage went into the earth.
 
It seemed like they’d been walking for
thirty minutes.
 
Maybe it had only
been ten, but, either way, the task of carving out that much stone seemed an
incredible one.
 
Finally, he could
see an opening up ahead.
 
“Looks
like something at the end of this corridor,” he said to Carlson.
 

A
few moments later the hallway opened up into an enormous room.
 
The ceilings rose like the inside of a
pyramid, coming to one point in the top where a small hole appeared to be bored
into the stone.
 
The smooth walls
were about eight feet high, meeting the ceiling and amplifying the effect of
the sloping angles.
 
On the
opposing three walls were three symbols, a leaf carved into the middle of
each.
 

Tommy
recognized them immediately.
 
In
the center of the room, a cube shaped pedestal rose up from the ground about
four feet.
 
The scene reminded him
of the chamber he’d found in Georgia.
 
With that one, they’d needed to place the stone on the little altar to
gain access to the golden room.
 
This pedestal, however, was different.
 
Engraved on the side of it was a picture of a tree whose
branches wrapped around, spiraling upward until they reached the top.
 
On the surface were three imprints of
leaves matching the ones on the walls.
 
Within each imprint were dozens of little stone pegs.
 

“What
is this?” Carlson asked as he whirled around in confusion.
 
“Where is all the gold?”

“You
know,” Tommy answered in a snobby tone, “that is exactly what the last guy
wondered when I found one of these things.”

Carlson’s
anger spiked; he smacked Tommy across the face with the back of his hand.
 

Tommy
fell backwards a few steps but stood tall once he regained his balance.
 
“Yeah, about that.
 
We probably need the three golden
leaves to get into the real chamber,” he said defiantly.

“What
are you talking about,” Hunter raised his gun and pointed it at Tommy’s
face.
 
“What golden leaves?”

“You
mean these,” a new voice came from behind Carlson in the direction of the
doorway.
 

Carlson
turned around to see Wyatt open his backpack and reveal a shimmering, yellow
object; he also noticed that Will and Adriana had guns trained on him.
 

Hunter
cursed himself.
 
Had he kept his
gun on Tommy, he could have at least retained his hostage.
 
Now he was in a tight spot.
 
However, he still had the weapon aimed
in Adriana’s direction.

“Drop
those guns or I kill her right now,” Carlson made sure his barrel was pointing
straight at her heart.
 

Tommy
started to move towards him from behind, but Hunter saw the movement and halted
him.
 
“You move another inch and
she dies!
 
Understood?”

Schultz
froze in his steps.
 

“Squeeze
that trigger and you die next,” Sean said in a steel voice.

Chapter 66

Southeastern Ecuador

Angela
stood between the two remaining doorways, trying to decide what to do.
 
Telling any other men on her team to
lead the way down a dark passage would be futile after seeing what happened to
the last two.
 
She would have to
take a risk.
 

“You
two,” she pointed at a red-haired man with a matching beard who was standing
next to another mercenary with a shaved head and a goatee.
 
“Take the middle passage.
 
We’ll go down the right.
 
If you get into trouble, radio for
help.
 
And if you find anything,
let me know.”

They
knew she had no intention of helping them, as just evidenced with the men who
she’d left to die but by offering to take the same chance they were taking,
their minds seemed to be a little more at ease.
 
They nodded, full of new courage and watched as she led the
way into the far right corridor.
 
The team leader and another, younger mercenary followed her in.
 
Convinced they had as good a chance to
survive as the others, they moved ahead and disappeared into the center portal.

Angela
moved carefully along the passage, staying close to the wall.
 
Her light shone into the long hallway
ahead.
 
It seemed so far, she
couldn’t see the end of it.
 
Suddenly, she heard two screams in her radio.
 
They’d only been in the tunnel a minute.
 

Quickly,
she and the other two rushed back to the room they’d just left.
 
Both of the men she’d sent into the
middle passage were laying on the floor.
 
Their bodies had multiple puncture wounds throughout the
torso and limbs.
 
The red head had
received one through the left eye.
 
A pool of blood surrounded the bodies and was draining towards the main
entrance to the room, slowly.

She’d
been lucky.
 
Whatever it was that
killed them hit them with enough force to knock them out of the tunnel.
 
“They’re gone,” she said two the last
two as she pointed to the third doorway.
 
“This must be the way.”

*****

Hunter
Carlson considered the situation for a moment.
 
There was no way he could take them all out.
 
His only hope was to negotiate.
 
He’d done his research on Schultz and
Wyatt, though he had no idea who the others were.
 
“The people I work for only want gold,” he said after
deliberating.
 
“While you, Mr. Wyatt
and your friend over here care more about the historical side of things.
 
You want to make sure antiquities are
preserved.
 
The money is of no
consequence, right?”

“What
are you getting at?” Tommy asked from behind.

Carlson’s
gun moved a little to the right as he moved his head slightly at the
question.
 
That was all Will
needed.
 
His weapon fired, sending
a painful echo around the room.
 
The bullet was true though, and found its mark squarely on the gunman’s
wrist.
 
The impact of the round
caused Carlson to instantly drop his weapon to the floor, grasping his arm with
the other hand.

Tommy
grabbed the gun and held it at his side.
 
Hunter’s face contorted in mixture anger and agony.
 

“You
ok?” Sean asked her.
 
She
nodded.
 

“Glad
you could catch up,” Tommy said, calming down a tense moment.
 
He smiled at his friend.
 

Sean
grinned, “Next time, make sure you check who’s driving before you hop in a
car.”

*****

Angela
and the remaining two men on her team heard the gun shot echo through the
passageway.
 
They froze in place,
wondering if the shot was directed at them.
 
There was no bullet ricochet.
 
Still, the sound meant that they weren’t far away.
 
“Keep your lights low on the ground in
front of us,” she ordered.
 
“We
don’t want to announce our arrival.”

*****

Tommy
smiled.
 
“Glad you brought those,”
he said pointing at the backpack containing the golden leaves.
 
“It looks like they go on that pedestal
over there.”
 
He walked over and
knelt down on the hard stone.
 
Carefully, he lifted the frail looking objects out of Sean’s backpack
and admired them for a moment; the intricate craftsmanship was stunning.
  
“There must be a counter balance
system here like the one we found in Georgia.”

“Not
more ancient elevators, I hope,” Sean joked.

“Only
one way to find out.”
 
Tommy stood
up and walked over to the stone altar.
 
He gently laid the first leaf into place where it matched the
design.
 

Will
paid no attention.
 
He just kept
staring at Carlson with his gun pointed at the man’s head.
 
Carlson was returning the gaze but
wasn’t sure what was going through Will’s mind.
 
He clutched his bloody wrist with the other hand but gave no
indication of pain.
 
The gears of
Will’s mind were turning.
 
He
needed to find out who Carlson worked for.
 
Then he would kill him.

Tommy
had already laid the second leaf into place and was now setting the third one
down.
 
He cautiously let the object
settle into its seat.
 
A clicking
sound came from within the pedestal and the center wall.
 
It was then joined by a deep rumble
that shook the entire room.
 
Suddenly, the center wall then began to move, revealing a seam along the
top and sides.
 
A huge doorway was
opening from the middle of the wall.

“A
hidden door,” Adriana marveled at the sight.

The
enormous piece of stone continued downward, shaking ancient dust from its
surface as it moved.
 
Sean and
Tommy pointed their flashlights through the opening as it continued to
widen.
 
Through the darkness, they
could see the reflection of their beams on the other side.
 

Adriana
stepped next to Sean.
 
She could
see a glimmer of something metallic just through the short passage between the
rooms.
 

“You
all go on ahead,” Will said loudly.
 
“I’ll stay here with this piece of crap.”

The
others nodded and stepped slowly into the tunnel as the large door finished its
descent with a loud thud.
 
Sean
reached into his pack and pulled out a handful a large, white glow sticks.
 
He bent one until the bright light
illuminated and he dropped it on the floor.
 
The stick cast an eerie white light on the walls and ceilings
of the stone.
 
Then he took a few
more, activated them and tossed them ahead into the next room.
 
As the sticks began to glow, their eyes
were filled with an unbelievable site.
 
Statues, gold panels, scrolls, medallions, plates, ancient armor were all
placed neatly around the room.
 

Sean
glanced at Tommy.
 
His friend’s
face beamed with excitement.
 
Before he could say anything, Schultz was on the other side of the
chamber looking at a stone placard with a Babylonian engraving on it.
 
Then he moved quickly to another piece,
a thin golden scroll with ancient Hebrew imprinted on it.
 
He traced his fingers along the writing
for a few seconds before going to the next object.

The
room was gigantic, running around seventy feet long and probably just as wide.
 
Each wall was decorated with precious
objects from an ancient civilization.
 
In the center of the room, a triangular stone pedestal sat alone.
 
Sean walked over to it and noted the
designs that covered the sides of it.
 
On each side was a pyramid of varying sizes, shapes that were eerily
familiar.
 
At the top of the
pedestal, a small, round stone sat silently.
 
It was the third stone.

Adriana
could not help but admire the work that represented so many ancient
cultures.
 
She wondered, “Why are
all of these from things here?
 
They’re from civilizations on the other side of the world.”
 
Something in her voice told Sean she
had already come up with the answer.

“We’ve
been trying to figure that out,” Tommy answered.

“Think
about it,” she continued.
 
“These
relics represent nearly every major society from antiquity.
 
There are even some here that the
history books never mention.
 
How
did they get here?”

“There
are theories that maybe there was an ancient trade route that people from the
old world took long before Columbus came to the new world,” Tommy responded as
he kept examining the cache.

“Perhaps,”
she said.
 
“But what if it was
something else?”
 

Tommy
stopped where he was and looked over at her.
 
Sean did the same.
 
“What are you getting at?”

“I
have been investigating the lost chambers for some time now.
 
When you two found the first one in
Georgia, I knew that there were many symbols and signs pointing to ancient
civilizations.
 
But most of what
you found was just words and gold.
 
“Now that I see these relics with my own eyes.
 
I am convinced of the truth.”

“What
truth?” Sean asked, suspiciously.

“The
people who brought these things here were not traders.
 
They left their home out of
necessity.
 
And they brought as
much as they could from their history to preserve it.”
 
She looked at them both before
continuing.
 
“A collection like
this could only have come from one place.
 
The Library of Alexandria.”

*****

Will
watched the others out of the corner of his eye.
 
When he thought they were too far away to hear him he
sneered at Carlson.

“Now
here is what’s going to happen.
 
You’re going to tell me who you work for; then I’ll make sure that you
die quickly.”

Carlson’s
eyes flashed in surprise.
 
“What
are you talking about?”

Will
held the gun lower, pointing it at the man’s right knee.
 
“Have you ever been shot in the knee,
Hunter?”

“How
do you know my name?” he asked, ignoring the question.

“Because
I’m better at my job than you.”

“Who
are you?”

“Just
answer the question, Hunter.
 
Who
do you work for?”

Realization
came across Carlson’s face.
 
He let
a smile creep to the side of his mouth.
 
“Oh, I see.
 
You’re the one
working for The Prophet, aren’t you?
 
I’ve heard about you but they work very hard to keep your identity a
secret, don’t they?”

Will
raised the weapon back up to the man’s chest.
 
“You’d better start giving me names now or so help
me—“

“You’ll
what?” Hunter interrupted.
 
“You’ll
shoot me?
 
They won’t let
you.”
 
He waved his hand towards
the passageway.
 

“Maybe
I’ll kill them, too.
 
You don’t
know my orders.”

The
last statement struck home with Carlson.
 
He didn’t know what this man was supposed to do.
 
He’d heard about him and knew that The
Prophet had sent his best to oversee the operation.
 
But that was all the information he’d obtained.
 

“I
can make it hurt real bad, Hunter.
 
Or it can be over quickly.
 
Either way, you aren’t walking out of here.”
 

The
man looked into the other room at the other three who were examining the now
illuminated room.
 
“Ok,” he said
finally.
 
“Let’s just say that you’re
not the only one working for The Order.”
 
He raised an eyebrow as he spoke.