Hunt for the Lost Sanctum

by Wyatt Liam Anderson

  “Muted services?” Nima reiterated.

  “Yes. Feel free to give him a two-star rating when we are done with our mission. Please, no more questions.”

  They got back in the car, maintaining the same sitting positions as they traveled as far as the Yamantau. The night was already upon them. They got out of the vehicle. After thinking hard about what to make of the pseudo tour guide, Miles walked up to him.

  “Hey, can I see you for a moment?”

  Boris followed him to a considerable distance.

  “Are you even from Russia?” Miles asked. But before Boris could say a word, Miles continued. “You’re from Bulgaria. Look, I don’t know what your game plan is, but this is my game plan, and since you’ve invited yourself to the party, you’re going to stick to it. I know you’re not the tour guide or any guide. And while you tag along with my curious colleagues, let's just say you’re a third wheeler, for now.”

  Boris nodded respectfully.

  Miles and Boris rejoined the others. “Please, grab your bags,” Miles told his friends. Dean assisted Avi with hers, and when Kash tried to do the same for Nima, she declined by waving her hand.

  They climbed up the hill and enjoyed the beautiful views that spread through the east side of Russian, stretching to Kazakhstan. Some areas were restricted from tourists, and they tried to avoid getting unnecessary attention from the men that stood guard at strategic locations.

  13

  Chapter Thirteen

  Yamantau, Russia

  May 2019

  At 6 p.m., the daylight joined the list of advantages that made the odds against them even greater. They stared into the water channels that flowed from the Volga River. Nima, Avi, and Dean were already in their swimming trunks.

  They watched as Boris removed his hat and wore a scuba diving mask.

  “That’s thoughtful. Avi has one. Nima has one too. Miles, we forgot to add diving masks to our shopping list,” Dean said.

  “I knew this might spring up,” Avi said, bringing two masks out of her bag.

  Dean collected one of the masks, leaving Kash and Miles to decide who to wear the remaining one.

  As if their thoughts were synced, Miles and Kash instantly waved their right hands up and down for a rock-paper-scissors game. Miles flashed a fist while Kash showed a flat hand. The remaining mask went to Kash as a result.

  “Hold on a minute,” Kash said as he caught the mask that Avi threw to him. “I think Miles let me win on purpose.” He turned to Miles with a mocking smirk on his face and said, “You can’t swim, can you?”

  Miles didn’t reply. Kash, Avi, and Dean burst into laughter while the others smiled at the realization.

  “Haha! Who has the motherfucking phobia now?” Kash said mockingly.

  Miles shook his head. He handed a box containing their wireless comms to Dean. They would maintain communication when they were out of the water.

  Again, Miles brought a small device out of his backpack and handed it to Dean.

  “What’s this for?” Dean asked.

  “That’s a camera, and it’s water-resistant. Put it on.”

  “So, which way are you going to take?”

  “Don’t worry about me. I’ll figure it out.”

  ______

  Miles left the rest as he climbed up the mountain. They watched him from their position as Miles tried to swing from a cliff into a hole in the mountain. He was sixteen feet above the ground, and a single slip could have been very fatal. He changed his mind and climbed up to another layer where there was a porch-like extension. He carefully climbed up to it. The CCTV placed by the door turned in his direction. Miles quickly raised his hands in the air. His eyes were on the metal door, and he was expecting it to open anytime soon. He kept his hands up as he approached the door.

  Before Miles could touch the door, a rope ladder was let down from another porch-like extension above him. Someone in a black outfit came down the rope, pointing a gun at Miles.

  “I’m not the enemy! I’m not the enemy!” Miles yelled, placing his hands on his head. He went down on his knees as he feared that a slight squeeze on the trigger was imminent, judging from the man’s expression.

  The man in black spoke into his wireless comm in Russian. He jumped from the ladder rope into the small space where Miles was, kneeling and begging for his life.

  Another man in an all-black outfit came down from the same ladder rope.

  “Identify yourself, soldat!”

  The second person spoke more comprehensive English.

  “No, I’m not a soldier. I’m not the enemy. Take my bag, and confirm it for yourself.” Miles tried to maintain calm. From Nima’s brief education about the bracelet, he knew that the cost of panicking was higher than any bullet that could emit out of their guns.

  “Poluchit sumku,” the second man said.

  The first man quickly snatched Miles’s backpack from him. While the second person had his gun pointed at Miles, the first one opened the bag and emptied it on the floor. He picked up an ID card with the label Private Detective in red font. He gave it to his colleague.

  “Miles Cleveland?”

  “That’s my name, sir,” Miles answered, still on his knees.

  The second man spoke to the first in Russian. He approached Miles and had his wrists cuffed behind him while the first one put the items back into the backpack. The second man opened the metal door and ordered Miles to get up. They entered a dark room that led to a narrow hall. The temperature in the hall seemed strangely hot. Perspiration began to gather around Miles’s forehead.

  The first one held Miles as they walked through the narrow passage until they entered a metal closet. One of them pressed down a lever, and the closet sent them down like an elevator.

  They took Miles to a man in a suit, sitting alone in a large room. The first thing that Miles noticed was the ventilator. He tried to hide his relief the moment the cool air blew on his face.

  The man in a suit was eating soup that contained chopped cucumbers. Even as the man in the all-black outfit explained how they caught Miles, the man in the suit seemed to be more concentrated on his soup. As soft as that portrayed, Miles knew not to be swept up by it. He had kept this plan from Dean and the others and sometimes from himself. He had his doubts about the idea from the onset, but when he saw the river physically for the first time, he had no option than to unscrew this idea from his head.

  “Mr. Cleveland,” the man in a suit said, finally lifting his face. He wiped his mouth with a napkin and took another look at the identity card now in his hand.

  “What’s a private detective doing on a restricted property?”

  His English lacked any Russian or Eastern European accent that he had heard since he arrived in Russia.

  “Wrong place at the right time, sir,” Miles answered with a tone that was in-between confidence and a plea.

  “How do you mean? What’s your story?”

  That was exactly what Miles was waiting for—the opportunity to tell a story.

  “A Russian billionaire hired me to dig up some historical and archeological findings that he feared might end up in the wrong hands and consequently change the current event. I know how it sounds, but my boss is a little too philosophical. This bracelet on my wrist, as you can see, will blow off thirty-four hours from now. I’m not a philosophical person, but I believe the Bulgarians are not up to something good. From my brief findings on the job, I’ve seen a man named Boris Rusev.” Miles noticed a slight change in his facial expression when he mentioned the name. “He and a couple of others from different countries are currently here as we speak. I don’t know what he’s capable of, but I am a little familiar with what a lady in his company can do with bombs and other nuclear materials when she gets hold of it. I want to tell you more and possibly show you the proof you need if you oblige me.”

  “Proof? What proof?”

  Miles lifted his hands to him. The man approached him to have a look at the bracelet. “Is
that it?” he asked with an undertone that suggested he might not buy the story.

  Miles declined to comment further. The man in the suit began to chuckle.

  “Miles Cleveland! Really? You must think that I’m not familiar with that face.”

  Miles bent his head in frustration. His new identity was, of course, not enough to erase the publicity that he and Dean Bowen received during their televised trial five years ago. Everyone that had cable or a smartphone must have seen his face or read about the stunt he pulled with the Bloom. His fan base spread across America, Europe, and other continents. Many wanted to know how he could access one of the most secured places in America without an army. And judging by the way the man in the suit laughed, he could tell he must have been a fan too. Or maybe, he still was.

  “Kill me or put me in prison. I’m still going to die anyway,” Miles said in a low register.

  “You want to make me believe that that bracelet on your wrist is a timed TNT bio-tech weapon?”

  “Have your expert look at it. If I’m able to convince you that it is real and also prove that my story is true, you can call the man I work for to come and retrieve me. If that’s okay with you, sir.”

  The man looked at him for a while.

  “How did you get out of prison?” he asked.

  “That’s the most vital question you’ve asked so far. The man that got me out is just that powerful. My ten-year sentence was reduced with one call.”

  “And who’s this person. Does he work with the military?”

  Miles nodded, maintaining eye contact with him.

  The suit guy ordered one of the men in black uniform to call the bomb squad unit. They decided to take Miles to another room, but before they could get to the elevator, two people from the bomb squad met them at the IT department. From the sitting arrangements and array of LCD screens in the large hall, one could tell they were the Russian Intelligence Unit. More than thirty staff with headphones each had a screen in front of them.

  Miles was uncuffed and made to sit on a chair. The guys from the bomb squad put a pin through a tiny port on the bracelet and connected it to the reader that they carried in the form of a briefcase. One of them nodded to the man in the suit after a few seconds. They pressed a button in the briefcase, and the timer stopped. Without waiting for their permission, Miles removed the bracelet and gave it to one of the bomb squad guys. He sighed in heavy relief.

  “Have one of your men check the feed from the wireless device in my bag,” Miles told the man in a suit.

  They brought his backpack and a laptop to him while they watched to confirm what he meant. Miles took out the USB device from his bag and inserted it into the computer. In less than thirty seconds, they witnessed live coverage around the water channel, close to their facility. The image they saw on the small screen was so convincing that the man in the suit unplugged the USB and asked one of the IT officers to put it on display on a bigger screen and ensure they could get audio. All attention was focused on the screen displaying movement, images in the water, and divers swimming through the water channel.

  Miles may have put his colleagues in danger or had just discovered a way to avoid being exploded by a TNT explosive. He sat on the chair, looking from one staff member to the other as they carried out every instruction from the man in the suit.

  14

  Chapter Fourteen

  Mount Yamantau

  May 2019

  Swimming through the cenote was more of a mental exercise than a physical one. The group had to make their way through a couple of tree roots which reached into depths as far as five feet underwater. The beams of sun rays brightened up their way until they got into the tunnel. Aquatic ferns had taken residence on the rocky walls as well as plankton.

  As Boris led them deeper into the tunnel, the only source of light was the flashlights that bobbed in the water as Dean and the others followed him through the clear green water.

  Their movement was very slow because they couldn’t risk stirring up silt that would cloud their already poor visibility; they could barely see a few meters ahead of them. They also had to watch out for fragile walls that were already crumbling from wear and tear.

  The frigid water felt like it was sucking them into some unseen hole no matter how hard they tried to swim against the current. Boris moved with a little more ease, which showed he was familiar with the water. Kash struggled to keep up with the rest and almost opened his mouth to scream when a few curious fish swam up to him.

  Boris led them through a small opening in the side of the tunnel. The temperature was colder here, and it was so narrow they had to squeeze through the gap with their bodies scraping off chunks of sand as they swam through the passage. They came to an open chamber where shoals of squirrelfish and other species swam by. It was so breathtaking, but there was no time to hang around and watch. They had to get to the surface as soon as possible so they could preserve the oxygen in their gas tanks for the return journey.

  The chamber was surrounded by rocks as high as they could see, and there appeared to be no way out except going back through the narrow passage. Boris bobbed his flashlight to get their attention and pointed his finger upward. Avi and the rest didn’t understand what he was saying until they saw him rising to the surface. They followed suit. The swim to the surface was much more spectacular. Dozens of fish swam around them; some curiously tried to nibble at the goggles and equipment. The lichens which had grown on the walls and rocks dazzled with undisturbed beauty. They swam over the wall, and after a few meters, they reappeared at the surface. Kash ran out of the water and quickly began to peel off his diving gear.

  “That was a long, exhausting swim through those claustrophobic passages. Is there no other way out?” Kash asked as he got rid of the excess water in his scuba suit.

  “Oh, yes, there’s another way out if you have refined invisibility skills,” Avi taunted.

  “What? Nima exclaimed as she got out of the water. “We are still underground?” She pointed to the stalactite that hung from the roof of the cave. They looked so fragile that it was impossible to believe that they wouldn't come crashing down on anyone in a few minutes. Their jagged ends looked so frightening.

  “You might want to keep your voice down, Nima. I read somewhere that you could bring those sabers down on your head if you talked too much and too loud.”

  “Thanks, Kash. I will do well to remember that,” she replied sarcastically.

  They all took off their diving suits and put them in their backpacks. Something dropped from Boris’s bag, and he quickly picked it up. Avi gasped at the sight of the gun, and the others followed her gaze. They looked from Boris’s face to his hand, unsure about what to make of it.

  Kash was the first to break the silence. “All my damn life, I can swear I’ve never seen a tour guide with a gun! What are they gon’ do? Shoot directions with it?”

  “Yeah, what do you need a gun for? It’s not like we are going to attack anyone," Avi wondered.

  “I don’t know which is worse.” Nima lifted her hands in despair. “The freezing water, the stalactites, or the gun in Boris’s hand. I think he should just give up the gun, and let’s get moving.”

  “Hand it over.”

  Boris shrugged before he took out the bullet and tossed it over to Nima, who shoved it into her pocket.

  “And the gun? Kash asked.

  “You don’t know this place, so I’m keeping the gun. It’s only something we might need if we run into trouble,” Boris replied quietly.

  This did not sit well with Kash and the ladies, but they let it slide.

  Boris led the group deeper into the dark cavern; the darkness was thicker and enveloping. They had to wrap their arms around themselves as they walked through the chilly cave.

  “There is no sign of life here, not even crawling or creeping animals,” Nima observed.

  “What were you expecting? Dinosaurs or fiery dragons? Your ignorance overwhelms me,” Avi chuckled.


  Nima was incensed by Avi’s remarks. She stopped abruptly, and Kash bumped into her. Flashlights and backpacks hit the floor with a thud, and Nima and Kash followed suit.

  “What on earth was that?” Dean asked. Then he burst into laughter as he saw the pair huddled on the damp floor.

  Nima glared at Dean, who couldn't stop laughing as she dusted off her clothes and readjusted her headlight. He didn't mean to be rude, but it looked so funny seeing the ever-confident Kash squirming on the floor.

  "Is everyone okay?" Boris asked.

  Dean still wore a smile on his face as he helped Nima with her backpack. Kash sniffed and blew on his clothes to get rid of the dust.

  Avi simply walked on to wait beside Boris. She had a smirk on her face that showed she was deeply satisfied with what happened.

  The team continued their journey in silence. Nima was too pissed to talk, and Kash was still recovering from his inglorious squirms on the cave floor.

  Avi looked up to the roof to examine its structure, and she let out a shriek that echoed throughout the cave.

  She quickly grabbed a confused Dean who was behind her and pointed to the roof.

  Boris hurried to their side to find out what had happened, and he smiled when he saw a small creature suspended by a thin web.

  "Oh, that's a trogloraptor," Boris explained.

  "A what?"

  "The cave robber spider. I think it's hunting. Not something to worry about."

  "Well, I might be clumsy, but I'm not a sissy like… RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

  The words were barely out of Nima's mouth before she bolted down the path. She had stepped on a curious rat snake that had slithered up the other side of the wall in fright.

  "Nima? Nima?" Kash called out. “Where did she run to?"