Curse of Atlantis (27 page)

“You’ll be happy to know we’re just about done. I believe we’ll finish the complete excavation by tomorrow,” Javier replied, ignoring the question and second guessing
Dimitri
’s next question.

“That is encouraging
,
but what are you looking for?”
Dimitri
persisted.

“I’m still looking for a way into the pyramid. As we’ve talked about before, we found the door in front, but it’s featureless. Now that the pyramid is fully excavated, I’m sure we’ll find the mechanism that opens it,” he said. “We should find a way in very shortly.”

“I must congratulate you on
your
efforts. The Boss has been watching the progress from the news reports on TV and has grown eager for the moment he can enter the King’s tomb,”
Dimitri
said, now showing uncharacteristic respect.

“I’m sure once he sees what’s inside, he’ll be more than happy to release my daughter,” Javier responded, testing
Dimitri
for a response.

“Yes, I’m sure once he is satisfied with his gains, he’ll release her,”
Dimitri
replied.

Javier thought about his response. Something seemed peculiar about it.

“Satisfied with his gains…” Javier repeated. “I’m not sure what you mean by that,” he asked.

“It’s simple. If The Boss is satisfied with what he finds, he’ll return your daughter,”
Dimitri
responded coldly.

“That wasn’t part of the deal,” Javier shouted, now enraged. “All I was supposed to do is get you inside. That’s it. Now somehow I have to
ensure
he likes what he sees? That’s ridiculous. I don’t have any control over what he like and dislikes or what’s inside that chamber, for that matter. There could be nothing of value inside there.”

“You told me your analysis showed images of gold inside the chamber. As long as it’s still there when we get there, I’m sure he’ll be accommodating,”
Dimitri
said, callously.

“I only speculated about the gold. We won’t know what’s in there until we open the chamber and look inside,” Javier defended.

“For Serena’s sake, it better be gold,”
Dimitri
said coldly.

Javier shook his head in disgust. Having dealt with the Russians for the past two months, he knew there was no arguing with their irrational logic.

Suddenly, Javier saw a shift in
Dimitri
’s eyes. Spinning around, he watched men running past the far corner of the pyramid and disappearing from view. Loud shouts in Greek could be hear
d
a
s more men ran up the hill
and disappeared as they ran to the other side of the pyramid.

“What the…” Javier started to say, but was cut off by the shock of the commotion.

He looked over his shoulder to the two men in dark suits, then turned back toward the faded shouts from the opposite side of the pyramid. Instinctively, he ran to investigate, leaving the Russians in the middle of their unfinished business.

Rounding the corner of the pyramid, Javier watched as men anxiously huddled near the center region of the blank face. As the shouts grew louder
,
he ran quickly toward the crowd of men. Breaking through, he stopped short at a gaping hole
in the ground
at the base of the pyramid. Staring into the nine foot long by six foot wide rectangular hole, three feet down was a large stone block that nearly covered the bottom of the hole. Looking at the face above, a doorway into the pyramid was now visible, the size measuring nearly the same size as the block in the hole in the ground.

“Javi, over here,” Jack shouted from the side of the hole.

As quickly as he could, Javier moved around its perimeter, pushing through the shouting men.

“Jack, what happened?” Javier said nearly out of breath.

“We found this other door while digging out the wall of dirt,” Jack pointed as he talked. “There wasn’t any way in, just like the door in the front of the pyramid. One of the workers spotted a small hole just beneath the doorway, about four inches in diameter. From what I can make out by a couple of the other workers, he inserted the handle of his shovel into the hole and the ground beneath him gave way. The door then moved out from the face of the pyramid and fell on him.”

Javier stared at the hole that was now a grave, speechless by the death of the crushed worker.

“Awful… just awful,” he finally said.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s so sad,” Jack said, his voice low and sympathetic.

“Jack, Javi, what going on?” Burt said, as he made his way through the crowd.

Javier looked at the hole in the ground, then back at Burt. In a low, solemn voice, he replied simply, “Booby
trap.”

“You will clear them away before we enter, won’t you?” a cold voice called out from behind the three.

Turning around, Jack, Javier and Burt stared nervously at their reflections in a pair of mirrored sunglasses. As the two dark-suited men stared back at them, their stone cold faces sent and eerie chill into the three.

Filled with contempt, Jack replied simply, “Of course.”

~~~~~  ~~~~~  ~~~~~

Serena heard the familiar pair of Italian leather shoes approach her door. She
stiffened
in reflex and waited for the knob to turn. Seconds later, Nicolae entered the room. Gone from his face was the disconnected scowl and in its place, he wore new look: a satisfying grin.

“Well, well, Miss Arista. Just when I think your father and his pathetic servant Jack Roberts, are about to fail, they somehow succeed and pique my interest once more,” Nicolae said, shaking his head in surprise.

Serena felt a glimmer of hope with Nicolae’s words. “Have they found the pyramid?”

“Not only have they found it, but today, my number one called to let me know the pyramid is almost completely excavated. No small feat, I’m guessing.”

Serena sat back on the stale
-
smelling, uncomfortable couch that was her bed for the previous two months and breathed a sigh of relief. With no one to talk to and little word from the outside world for the previous two months, she could only speculate on their progress. Now hearing the word of their success, she struggled to hold in her emotions.

With guarded optimism, she asked, “Have you seen it?”

“Not yet, but I’m certain we’ll be making that trip down to
Greece
shortly. I’m suspect it should be within the next day or so… just as soon as they insure it’s safe to enter.”

“Safe? Is the structure unstable?” Serena asked.

“I’ve heard no reports about its structure. The safety I speak of are the booby traps that have killed one man already,” Nicolae responded in serious tone.

“Oh my God, no!” Serena called out in shock. Now fearing the worst, she asked, “Who was it?”

“It was nobody… a common worker, but his death was fortunate. We now know to look for dangers inside the tomb,” he replied, feeling satisfied by the discovery.

Serena thought about Nicolae’s words, then asked, “You mention ‘we’. Does that include me too?”

“Of course,” he grinned slyly.

Nicolae’s odd smile felt disturbing and sent a shudder through her body. From the moment she was kidnapped, she had maintained a positive attitude, forcing herself to believe everything would turn out ok. Now, with Nicolae’s cryptic response, she knew her life and possibly the lives of the others were in jeopardy.

“You’re not going to let us live, are you?” Serena asked directly, now coming to grips with her fate.

An evil smile spread across Nicolae’s face as he considered Serena’s question.

“There’s no profit in it,” Nicolae responded coldly. “Frankly, this whole business of kidnapping has been frustrating… too much waiting involved. When I want something, I usually take it and eliminate any trace of my involvement. Had the crystal been the only artifact of interest, you would have been killed months ago. Consider yourself lucky there’s also a pyramid.”

“Funny, I don’t feel lucky,” Serena snarled, unable to hide her contempt.

Nicolae reached inside his expensive suit jacket and pulled out a handgun. Instantly, he pushed the barrel into Serena’s temple. Recoiling in fear, Serena fell backward on the couch, her eyes clench
ed
tightly as she prepared for the worst.

“As I said, consider yourself lucky. If I wasn’t worried about staining my favorite suit, you’d be dead right now.”

With a quick flick of his hand, he struck Serena across the side of her head. She let out a whimper as she clutched her now bleeding wound. As the blood trickled into her hair, hatred raced through her. She wanted to say something in retaliation but forced herself to stay
quiet,
knowing full well any response would probably end her life.

In a low, unsympathetic voice, Nicolae said, “I’ll be happy to be rid of you… and the others.”

He spun on his heels and walked briskly out the door, locking it after he left. Serena rushed to the bathroom and quickly washed the small cut on the side of her head. Staring at herself in the mirror, she saw the caked blood that had already began to clot in her hair. With intense hatred she said, “You’ll get yours, asshole. You just wait… you’ll get yours.”

Over the next couple of days, the death of the Greek worker was investigated by local authorities. With the extraction of his body, the sight of his sad remains
cast
a pall that hung heavy over the work site. Those fearing for their lives, left immediately. Those that stayed, continued to work, but now at a greatly reduced pace. All work around the pyramid was viewed with suspicion. Each shovel of dirt, each push of a broom, was moved with extreme caution.

With the site of the tragedy clear
ed
away and the hole in the ground filled, Javier, Burt
,
and Jack carefully inspected the new entrance to the pyramid. Standing at the gaping doorway, the three peered in and took notice of the mechanism that caused the heavy door to topple over onto the deceased worker.

“Just look at the craftsmanship of that levering device. What a marvel of engineering,” Javier said as he pointed to two beams of stone that rested on each side of the chamber toward the top of the ceiling.

“It looks like those beams ride along stone casters. If I’m not mistaken, there’s a lever behind those stone beams that pushed the door open… simple, yet ingenious,” Burt added.

“I’m a little confused,” Jack said. “Those beams must be a thousand pounds a piece. It’d take a lot of force to move them, even if they were perfectly balanced and ran freely on those casters.”

“There must be a lot more to the levering device behind the walls. There has to be. We’re just not seeing it,” Javier replied.

“So what else aren’t we seeing?” Jack asked, now nervously examining the walls of the chamber.

“Good question. My gut feeling says a lot. Keep your eyes and ears open for anything suspicious,” Burt said, stating the obvious.

With lights attached to their hard-hats and heavy duty flashlights in hand, they carefully stepped into the chamber. Listening intently for any unusual sounds, the
y
examined the back of the darkened room.

“I think I see the back of the chamber, about thirty feet ahead,” Jack said quietly.

“I see it too. There doesn’t seem to be any doorways leading off this room either,” Javier added.

“Maybe they’re hidden, like the doorway in
front of the pyramid
,” Burt said.

“Great,” Jack blurted out in exasperation. “If they’re hidden, they’re probably booby trapped too.”

All three stopped and looked at each other grimly.

“This is nuts. We shouldn’t be in here,” Jack said.

“You’re right. Unfortunately, there’s no time to waste. Every minute counts here,” Javier responded. “Why don’t you guys wait outside and I’ll go alone.”

“No way. We’ve come this far… we’re staying together,” Jack replied.

Burt swallowed hard and stepped forward, followed by Javier and Jack. The sound inside the chamber was
deathly
quiet and each foot step could be heard as the sand crunched beneath their shoes.

Ten feet in, hieroglyphics began to appear on the walls. Burt scanned them, trying to recall their meanings from memory.

“Any idea what these things say?” Jack asked in a hushed tone.

Burt shook his head simply and continued to step forward, each foot carefully placed. Beads of sweat formed on brows of each man as their minds tried to anticipate the next trap.

Fifteen feet into the chamber, Burt stopped. His face looked perplexed.

“Burt, what is it?” Javier asked, anxiety building in his voice.

“I’m not sure. I can’t
believe
I forgot my translation book,
” Burt responded
, feeling embarrassed
as he stared at the
hieroglyphics
.