The Spider Stone

by Alex Archer

  "The sentries are."

  "None of them saw Bashir?"

  "They saw him walk into the brush. They didn't see him walk back out."

  Annja grabbed the pistol and slung the assault rifle. Reaching down, she grabbed her backpack. It contained medical supplies, rope and extra gear.

  "Why did Bashir go into the brush?" Annja asked.

  "To use the bathroom. He's shy about that. Kamil knows he's supposed to go with him, but he said he couldn't wake up." Tanisha shook her head. "I didn't even know he was gone until I woke up a few minutes ago and he wasn't there."

  Garin was up when Annja left her tent. So was McIntosh.

  "What's going on?" Garin asked.

  "Bashir is missing," Tanisha cried.

  Garin looked over to one of the hard-eyed sentries.

  The man shook his head, then spoke German. Annja listened.

  "Did you see the boy?" Garin asked.

  "The boy went into the brush," the man said. "He does that. Likes to be by himself. Shy kidneys. I didn't think anything of it."

  "Has anyone been around?"

  "No."

  Garin held the assault rifle, barked orders to his men and looked at Annja. He spoke in English. "Let's find the boy."

  ****

  Following Bashir's trail across the muddy ground was easy at first. The rain had softened the surface enough that his footprints sank into the ground. However, that same rain also threatened to wash them away.

  Annja moved quickly. Mud clung to her hiking boots and made her feet heavy. Sucking noises sounded every time she lifted the boots clear of the muck.

  Bashir had managed a circuitous route through the brush. From the way he stopped and his feet turned around, it was evident he was tracking something. A short distance on, Annja found the tracks of a hare.

  "A rabbit," McIntosh said, dropping to one knee to examine the tracks.

  "Bashir saw them all day yesterday," Tanisha said. "He wanted to make a pet out of one of them."

  A short distance ahead, Annja saw where a sinkhole had opened up in the earth, leaving a gaping maw almost four feet across. Her heart trip-hammered in her chest. She'd suspected that Anansi's chamber was underground, but there was no way of knowing how large it was.

  "Oh, my god," Tanisha gasped. She jerked into a run.

  Chapter 27

  Annja caught Tanisha around the waist and held her back from the sinkhole.

  "Let me go!" Tanisha struggled, but Annja was able to hold her.

  Garin moved in to help.

  "Bashir may have fallen into that hole!" Tanisha said. Her tears mixed with the rain.

  "I know," Annja said as calmly as she could. "If he's in there, we'll get him. But we won't be able to help him by losing our heads." She stared into Tanisha's eyes. "Do you hear me? Don't waste time."

  Tanisha nodded.

  Annja passed the woman off to McIntosh, then shrugged out of her backpack and took out a coil of rope. She tied the rope around a tree in a quick, practiced flip.

  "I've got you," Garin told Annja, taking hold of the rope.

  Annja nodded at him, then knotted the rope around her waist and went as quickly as she dared to the edge of the sinkhole. She focused on saving Bashir, not finding the little boy drowned in a huge pool of mud.

  She eased over the edge of the hole, taking heart in the fact that the sinkhole hadn't crumbled any farther and that the mud pile at the bottom of the hole wasn't large enough to cover even a small child.

  Annja spotted muddy footprints on the stone floor of the tunnel. Crouched down at the bottom of the drop, some ten or twelve feet below the ground, she realized that she was standing in a passageway.

  "Annja," Garin called.

  "I'm all right. Bashir's not in the mud." Annja knelt and examined the stone flooring. Flat stones made up the bottom of the passageway. More stones supported the sides. A quick check over her head, dragging her fingers along the tunnel's ceiling, told her that stones had been used there, as well.

  Thin streaks made from small fingers stained the walls. As Annja studied them, the mud began to run.

  "Bashir was here, though," she called up. "The sinkhole leads to a tunnel." A puddle of water came halfway up her boots. He got scared he was going to drown, she thought. Or that no one was going to find him.

  "Where is he now?" Tanisha asked.

  Annja peered into the darkness. "I don't know. Get some flashlights and get down here."

  ****

  Tafari roused the instant Zifa touched him. "What?" he asked.

  "Childress called," Zifa said. "It appears that Annja Creed has found a tunnel to an underground structure."

  "Get the others," Tafari ordered. "Let's go see what the woman found." He strapped on his guns over his loincloth, then opened the tin containing the paint he used to mark himself as a warrior of his people. He started putting on the skull face by touch.

  ****

  "Bashir." Annja called the boy's name as she went forward through the passageway. The floor tilted, heading deeper into the earth. Her voice echoed ahead of her, letting her know that she'd barely seen any of the underground space that existed. "Bashir."

  "Annja?" The boy's voice came out of the darkness. In the next moment he was stepping into her flashlight beam. He was covered in mud. "Annja!"

  She knelt, holding on to the boy as he desperately wrapped his arms around her. Then he was sobbing, shaking against her, knotting his fists in her shirt.

  Annja didn't say a word, just held him and let him know she was there. She rubbed his back.

  "I was lost," he said.

  "I know," Annja replied.

  "I was chasing after a rabbit. I didn't know it was leading me into a trap."

  Annja smiled. "I really don't think the rabbit built this, do you?"

  Bashir pulled his head off her shoulder and sniffled. "No. Bugs Bunny would never live in a place like this." He looked around.

  "That's probably true," Annja agreed. "Are you all right?"

  He nodded.

  Annja made him step back so she could survey him from head to toe. Muddy and teary-eyed, Bashir didn't seem to be any worse for the wear.

  Holding on to his hand, Annja walked him back to the sinkhole. McIntosh, Garin, Tanisha and Childress had gathered around the opening. They lowered a rope and pulled Bashir up. Mother and son had a tearful reunion.

  "Is it down there?" Childress asked, more animated than ever. "Anansi's treasure?"

  "I don't know," Annja said. "I didn't reach the end of the passageway. It goes on for a while."

  Lightning flickered against the cottony-gray sky of early morning. Thunder pealed like a cannon, drowning out the constant hiss of the falling rain for a time.

  "With the sinkhole opened up like that," McIntosh said, "the rain could flood the passageway."

  "We could try to close it up," Childress said.

  "No," a woman said.

  They all turned and found Jaineba standing at the edge of the savanna. She wore a brown grand bubu and leaned on her staff.

  "This is the time to seek out Anansi's treasure," Jaineba said. She strode from the tree line and stopped in front of Tanisha. "This is why you were brought back to our people, daughter. Blood of your blood was sworn to protect this place and these secrets."

  Blood of your blood? Annja thought.

  "Me?" Tanisha asked.

  "I have seen you in my dreams," Jaineba said. "And this one, too." She nodded at Annja. "Your coming was foretold to me months ago. It was time for this place to be found." The old woman put her hand on Bashir's head, then on Kamil's. "These two are of the warrior blood of the Hausa who once lived in these lands. Those people were friends to my people. Their medicine man was charged with preserving the secrets of Anansi that were given to his people. But he was taken from these lands by slavers after his people were destroyed."

  Annja listened, not knowing how much of the old woman's story to believe.

  "You are Yoh
ance's descendant, daughter," Jaineba declared. "I see his blood in you."

  Tanisha shook her head.

  "It is true," the old woman said. "Just as Yohance was charged with caring for the Spider Stone and the secrets it contained, so are you now charged with bringing forth the secrets Anansi left in this place."

  "But that can't be true." Tanisha's voice was hollow.

  "Search yourself, daughter," Jaineba encouraged. "You have told me before that you feel tied to this place in ways that you don't understand. Now it is time to see that your spirit longs to be here so that it can join the spirits of your people."

  "My mother and father have never wanted to come to Africa."

  "Not everyone who is gone from this place will feel the pull." Jaineba stared into Tanisha's eyes. "But you feel it strongly."

  Tanisha said nothing.

  Thunder boomed.

  Kamil and Bashir pulled in closer to their mother.

  "Which is it to be, daughter?" Jaineba asked. "Do you turn your back on your true past? Or do you seize your destiny?"

  Destiny. The word hit Annja with a jolt. When she'd picked up the sword fragment, she'd set her foot upon her own destiny. And it had led her here.

  "I'm going down there," Garin stated gruffly. "Even if it's only to get out of this rain." He looked at Annja.

  Annja knew it was Tanisha's decision to make. She looked at the woman.

  "This is your passion, your love, isn't it?" Tanisha asked. "To see old things. Relics and artifacts. It's not about the gold or silver for you."

  "No," Annja answered honestly. "It's about touching the past." She made herself smile. "For all we know, that passageway goes nowhere. Or to a flooded room. Anything that might have been in there could have been taken long ago." She couldn't help thinking about the plague that Garin had insisted still remained within the chamber below.

  Tanisha was quiet for a moment. "All right," she said in a soft voice. "Let's go see what there is."

  ****

  They came to the end of the passageway. A large wall of stone blocked the path.

  "A dead end?" Childress said, playing his light over the craggy stone surface. "That's what we came down here to see? A dead end?"

  Annja handed her flashlight to McIntosh, then went forward to examine the wall. Tanisha joined her.

  "Do you think we're dealing with a counterbalanced wall?" Tanisha asked.

  Turning to McIntosh, Annja said, "Play the flashlight beam along the bottom of the wall."

  McIntosh did.

  "Watch the silt in the rainwater," Annja said.

  As they watched, the murky sand and mud slid quietly under the edge of the rock. The two surfaces had been fit together so smoothly that the delineation between them wasn't readily apparent.

  "The Egyptians did a lot with counterbalanced walls," Annja said. "Since we're not so far away from that culture, and the Hausa who built this wanted to remain secretive, maybe they mimicked some of the engineering feats the Egyptians used."

  "Found it," Tanisha said, her hand resting at a point midway down the wall to the right side. "Everybody step back. I don't know which way this is going to turn."

  After everyone was clear, Tanisha triggered the release mechanism. A four-foot section of the wall swiveled. Rock chips and pebbles ground audibly under the massive weight of the hidden door.

  Taking her flashlight back from McIntosh, Annja stepped through the door on one side while Tanisha slid through on the other. Their flashlight beams hit the treasure waiting on the other side at the same time.

  Childress cursed in stunned surprise.

  The room was huge, at least 150 feet across. Several fortunes in gold and silver, ivory and gems, occupied stone shelves made of carefully placed rock. The riches immediately pulled the attention of Garin and his men. Likewise, McIntosh and his group of CIA agents were drawn in.

  Hallinger and Ganesvoort seized on the same thing that caught Annja's attention. Clay tablets sat in neat piles.

  Mesmerized, everyone moved forward.

  "Can you read it?" Hallinger whispered to Annja as she carefully lifted a tablet.

  She looked at the row of characters. "I can pick out some words here and there, but this is even older writing than what's on the Spider Stone."

  "Do you know what we have here?" Hallinger asked. Then he answered his own question before she could make the attempt. "This is the history of a people. Probably a history that isn't even known today."

  Annja knew. This was the kind of find all archaeologists dreamed about. This was the kind of event that made careers.

  It was also the kind of thing that allowed them to be caught off guard.

  Assault rifles on full-auto opened fire. A hail of bullets struck Garin's mercenaries, chopping many of them down where they stood with their hands filled with gold coins or jewels. Some of them managed to pull their own weapons and start firing back.

  It was enough to break the line of skeleton-faced men into confusion as several of their number pitched over dead. Annja could tell by the surprise on their faces that they hadn't expected to get routed – even if only momentarily. She was certain the attackers were Tafari's men.

  "This way!" Tanisha yelled, throwing herself toward the back wall.

  Garin and McIntosh had their assault rifles up, opening fire and spraying bullets at the warriors in the other doorway. Half of their men were down and probably dead.

  Return fire from Tafari's men hammered piles of treasure. The room plunged into relative darkness as many of the flashlights winked out and the ones that survived were extinguished so they wouldn't draw fire.

  Tanisha kept her light on. She ran toward the back wall without hesitation, seeking something on the wall. Annja was surprised when that section of the wall spun out to reveal another tunnel.

  The survivors raced through the second door, hurling themselves from the death room as Tafari's men launched a new fusillade of bullets.

  On the other side of the door, Tanisha reached up and adjusted the hidden mechanism. The massive door shut again. The gunfire became muffled.

  Garin leaned against a wall and changed magazines in his assault rifle. "How did you know about the other door?" he asked.

  "That end of the room was the same size as the other one," Tanisha answered. "And I couldn't imagine anyone only building one way into that room, knowing they could be trapped by a collapsed passageway."

  "If you'd guessed wrong," Hallinger gasped, holding a hand to a bloody wound in his side, "we'd all be dead."

  "We were almost dead anyway," Garin said. "That was a stupid mistake." He grimaced in displeasure. Blood wept from cuts on his cheek and forehead. Either he'd been grazed by bullets or splinters of flying rock.

  "That means this tunnel has to lead to the surface somewhere," McIntosh said. He took a flashlight from his pocket and shone it around.

  "Unfortunately, we don't know how far away that might be," Garin said. "And the whole time we're looking for another way out of here, Tafari is loading up as much of the treasure as he can. Including, possibly, the plague."

  "My boys," Tanisha said. "My boys are still out there."

  Her words, the desperation and the fear, filled the passageway with silence.

  Annja took stock of them. Other than Garin, McIntosh, Hallinger and Ganesvoort, who had a wound in his thigh that needed tending, only three other men had survived the attack. Sporadic gunfire from the treasure room let them know no one else would live.

  Without a word, Tanisha took off, running toward the end of the new passageway.

  Annja ran after her. She knew if Tafari found the boys, he would kill them.

  They ran through the darkness, sometimes stumbling and falling, but getting up again and going on.

  Behind them, Annja heard the massive door open, followed by a brief volley of gunfire, and knew that they were being pursued.

  ****

  Tafari pointed his assault rifle at the open door of the treasure room
. "Hold your fire," he ordered his men.

  They'd already fired into the darkness. It had taken them a while to figure out the mechanism of the door. Too much time, he now saw.

  "They got away," Childress said.

  "I see that," Tafari said angrily. He quickly divided his men and sent a group of them down the throat of the passageway after those who had escaped.

  "They can't get away to tell someone," Childress protested. He gestured at all the gold and silver. "It'll take days, maybe weeks, to get all of this transported out of here. The rain will make that even harder. Carrying this much weight, trucks will get stuck." He reached out and picked up a small fired-clay pot that caught his eye.

  The pot was white, covered in gold filigree and sealed with wax. It was an oddity against the other treasures.

  Tafari glanced around the room. It was more than he'd ever thought might be there. He reloaded his weapon. "They won't get away," he said. Lifting the assault rifle, he pointed it at Childress. "And I don't need a partner anymore." He pulled the trigger and unleashed a 3-round burst.

  Childress dropped like a rock, a look of surprise frozen on his face.

  Tafari plucked the pot from the dead man's hand and ran down the passageway. He had the engineer's children. That gave him an advantage no one yet knew about.

  Chapter 28

  The tunnel came to an abrupt end.

  Annja swung her flashlight up and examined the ceiling. There was no hint of a door. Whatever had been there all those years ago had filled in with silt and debris.

  "Move," Garin ordered, slinging his assault rifle and reaching into the combat vest he wore. He extracted a grayish lump of what looked like modeling clay. "Plastic explosive. There's going to be a lot of noise. Cover your ears and get back."

  Annja grabbed Tanisha's arm and pulled her back. Hallinger had one of Ganesvoort's arms slung over his shoulders and was supporting the man's weight. Both of them were breathing hard, almost to the point of exhaustion. She knew they couldn't go on much farther.

  Garin prepared the charge.

  When the plastic explosive detonated, a thousand pounds or more of mud was blown outward. A lot of the mud came down, splattering all of them.