“What about your wife?” Sam asked.
“What about her? If Sal wants to carry her, it's up to him,” Guido shrugged, grabbing Nina roughly and shoving her hard into the right tunnel while gesturing with his gun. “Now you boys behave. Remember, I have this sweet piece of ass at the end of my barrel...and that metaphor could change anytime I feel like it, capiche?”
“Oh, Jesus!” Nina rolled her eyes, wishing a boulder would just fall on him.
The thunder from afar suddenly became more distinct. When it approached, it sounded as if something heavy was dragging down the tunnel, bit by bit. Guido seemed unfazed by it as he pushed Nina ahead of him into the dark tunnel. Reluctantly, Purdue and Sam explored the left tunnel, feeling a distinct presence in the cave system with them.
“I'm not a superstitious lad, but does anyone else feel like they're being watched?” Sam asked in the half-dark of the tunnel.
“Been feeling like that all the way, old boy,” Purdue answered.
“Whoah!” Sam shouted, slamming his heels in to pull Purdue backwards. As the first in the line, Purdue was about to step off the end of the walkway. Holding his chest in fright, he panted with widened eyes. “Thank you, Sam.”
There it is again, that sincere gratitude, Sam thought. “No worries. Goddamn! I didn’t expect this tunnel to be so short!” he remarked. Sal put Rita down, pulled Purdue to his feet, and then helped Sam up. They soon heard Nina shriek too, in the corridor next to them.
“You alright, Nina?” Purdue asked.
“Aye, still alive,” they heard her respond.
Both tunnels spilled out onto a lake inside the next cavern. “My God, it’s so beautiful,” Nina marveled. Purdue took out his flares and lit three of them to see what exactly lay before them. In front of them was a tranquil, turquoise underground lake the size of a hundred swimming pools. On the other side of the lake was a dead-end, a rock face that reached over six stories in height.
“So I guess we came up the wrong way,” Nina lamented. “It's the end of the line, guys. We’ve literally hit the wall.”
“Don't be so certain, my dear,” Purdue said, shining his super bright flashlight against the glimmer of the wet wall. He had pushed the headlamp back up to its blinding light, penetrating even the subterranean world under Greece's mountain ranges. “There are symbols on the wall, similar to those on the Donar's Club here. Do you see them?”
He threw another flare for her to see. “I see it!” she exclaimed. “Symbols in a circle, aye!”
“So let's get on with it!” Guido shrieked in his annoying childish tone. Another squeal escaped Nina as she fell into the lake water.
“Jesus Christ! I have had it with that c...”
“Sam, you can kick the snot out of him as soon as we have Nina back, alright?” Purdue restrained him.
Nina was treading water, her headlamp illuminating the cavern as she looked around. It certainly was a place of remarkable beauty. The high roof was decorated with glistening stalactites, lazily yielding their tears to the pristine water below. In the light of Purdue's colored flares, the cave looked almost magical, with green, blue, and red playing against the curious formations against the walls. Faces and animals loosely formed in front of the crevices and smaller caverns, sculpting a billion-year-old mural of fascinating forms and shapes in multicolor. Only the cool perfection of the lake trumped the art of calcium deposits and mountain stone.
“Swim out to the wall and see what it's hiding, Dr. Gould!” Guido's command echoed, spoiling the serenity of the silent underworld utterly. “Or I'll shoot you in the water!”
“You will do no such thing, you son of a bitch!” Rita said suddenly. From her pocket she produced a Desert Eagle and she pointed it straight at him. Guido only laughed.
“What are you going to do with that? You can't even find the safety, you stupid bitch,” he spat.
Rita promptly pointed the gun at his bodyguard and shot Sal three times in the chest, sending him to the floor in a three hundred and fifty pound heap. Nina, Purdue, and Sam dropped their jaws.
Swim! Now he has a reason to shoot you! Nina's inner voice cried frantically. Go! Go!
Guido was furious at his wife's betrayal. He cocked his gun and aimed at Nina, but someone caught his arm in the dark. All the others could hear was a series of claps against bone and the weepy cries of Rita's cowardly husband. “Hey, Bruno!” a man said in the dark corridor with Guido. A few more punches cracked. “Long time, eh? Turncoat motherfucker!”
Nina recognized that voice. It was the eloquent man with the broadcast voice that she’d given their destination to purely by accident. She smiled, “Good to see you again, Strongman!”
“Lovely to join your company, Dr. Gould,” the man answered, leaving Sam and Purdue really curious. Sam was holding Rita against him so that she could stand on her good leg. “Do you know that bloke?” he asked her, but Rita shrugged and shook her head.
“But anyone laying a beating on my husband has my vote,” she whispered.
“The name is John Arthur Armstrong,” he introduced himself with a small salute to Nina's colleagues. “I happened upon Dr. Gould while searching for you, Mr. Cleave.”
“Me?” Sam asked.
“Long story, but it’s of little consequence now. May I suggest you get out of that lake immediately, Dr. Gould?” John suggested.
“Why?” Nina asked. “I am about to proceed to the...”
“Yes, the Vault of Hercules,” he interrupted. “Please, please just get out of the water.”
“What’s wrong with the water?” Purdue asked.
John's voice was gentle and calm, the exact opposite of the message he conveyed. “Nothing is wrong with the water, my friend. It’s what is in the water that bothers me.”
Nina needed no more encouragement. Briskly she swam back to the ledge of the tunnel, but it was too late. A hideous and deep guttural slurp emanated from the depths of the lake, filling her with horror. Screaming in terror, Nina tried to swim toward Purdue, but she was pulled under by a powerful force. Purdue swung around to face Rita. “Medley! Medley, what is the next labor of Hercules?”
Agitated, she asked, “After what? How long have I been out cold?”
“Only the stables came before this one! We’ve not had any significant labors after that!” Sam said quickly. On the ledge of the other tunnel the bald man stood, indecisive, whether he should save Nina or risk losing Guido Bruno after years of sworn revenge.
“The stables did not count, because Hercules was compensated,” Rita thought out loud, her fingers entwined in calculation as she stared upward for an answer. “That labor did not count, Purdue! Two labors were disqualified because Hercules had help to complete them!” she stammered as Nina fought the thing that drew her back into the depths. Rita had her hand on Purdue's arm. “That was one labor. Another one was completed but did not count—the slaying of the Hydra! Oh my God, Purdue! The water snake!”
30
From the depths of the cavern system the mysterious dragging sound came again, in increments of volume. Occasionally it would die down completely, only to restart faster and monotonously continue toward the lake where Nina was now struggling to keep her head above water. The heavy breathing of the overweight giant could not be heard above the din caused by the seven wooden boxes he was dragging in his wake as he advanced through the dark, dank world of gods and monsters.
Weary from the tedious effort, he would stop to catch his breath before going on. In his calloused hands he grasped seven reins, crude rope tethers tied to seven makeshift wooden coffins. Every now and then the wicked ogre would discharge phlegm as his chest became too labored. Precious cargo came with him in the seven boxes, merchandise he’d been ordered to procure, but he was not to use them for his own gain. For that he was promised a woman of fire, one he would have to subdue for his prize. With her, he could experiment to his heart's delight, as long as the young ones were left untainted and unharmed for a higher purpose—to be
capacitors for the power of a god.
Finally reached a place where he could hear the screeching of women in a massive cavern with roaring water. He sat down on one of the boxes, savoring the high-pitched panic of a female's terror—a sound he absolutely reveled in. It was a sound Valdi never tired of, and he couldn’t wait to sink his teeth into her soft, white flesh just to make her wail.
Curious as to the fearsome situation of the females below, Valdi crept to the edge to see a beautiful, dark-haired woman fighting the nine heads of a massive dark thing under the water, threatening to drown her. It made Valdi smile. Oh, how he loved the way their skins smelled when they were afraid, the delectable release of pheromones just before they did that thing he liked when they became limp with surrender, that moment they realized that no one was coming to save them.
Nina could feel her lungs burn. Sam was trying to help her, but he, too, was being overwhelmed by the fierce force of the water. Rita looked on in horror as Purdue also jumped into the lake. She grabbed Sam's camera and zoomed in on the pictographs on the wall to ascertain if there was some way to stop the onslaught. She didn’t see a Hydra, naturally, but whatever was under the water was deadly. She looked at the bald stranger holding her unconscious husband by the collar.
“I will deliver him to you if you help my friends,” she told him. “Please, Mr. Armstrong.”
He needed no more urging. John Arthur Armstrong, armed with a hunting knife and rope, dove into the azure lake of hell to assist the other members of the expedition. It would be only fair, as he would never have located Bruno if it hadn’t been for Dr. Nina Gould's generous information. Rita leaned against the wall to force her better leg to support her. “David! What is attacking you? What is under the water?” she shouted.
Purdue was soaked, his clear blue eyes bloodshot, and his face twisted in panic. From the floor of the lake the twisting water had brought up two old corpses that had been lost to the bottom of the depths since 1942. Still dressed in Hitler's uniforms, they floated around the lake like flies in a bathtub.
Purdue barely mustered enough breath to answer Rita. “Underwater turbines, I think!” Gradually, as they struggled in the furious maelstrom, the current grew more aggressive, igniting the electrical circuits tacked along the cave wall. For the first time the expedition party realized that the cavern was lined with electrical light, as the old Second World War lamps buzzed and sparks clapped into life.
Still, with the primitive electrical system driven by the power of the water, the group was still struggling not to drown. Below them in the water, the monstrous device generated an undertow to feed nine churning water turbines coupled to a large tube-like hose. Rita pinched her eyes shut as she realized what it was representing. “Of course!” she sighed. “The Hydra. Nine-headed water snake. Thank God this one does not spit venom.”
One by one the turbines slowed down, taking with them the meager zeal the old, must-covered lights still exhibited. John Armstrong was under the water, literally ripping the turbine heads off the tubing that drove them. It was quite amazing to behold, but Sam, Purdue, and Nina would not look a gift ‘Hercules’ in the mouth at this time. When John had beheaded seven of the nine turbines the water began to even out and calm. Purdue jetted up from below to catch his breath after the sixth turbine had pulled him under.
“I hate Greek Mythology,” he spat, choking.
“Worse than that fucking Medusa Stone business!” Sam concurred. “Where is Nina?”
The historian was on her way to the vast, stretching wall where the symbols were almost disappearing under the water level. They had less time than they’d believed. Purdue joined her at the wall that stood smooth and upright out of the deep lake water. “Come on, Sam!” Purdue shouted. “Rita!”
Rita braved the pain in her leg to immerse herself in the wondrous buoyancy of the lake. “Are you coming?” she asked Sam in passing.
“Be there soon,” Sam replied.
The chamber, known as the Vault of Hercules, would be completely submerged soon. If they were to gather anything from inside it, they’d have to do it very soon. Sam and John had a brief conversation as the ex-SAS soldier joined him.
“So, you were looking for me?” Sam asked John.
“I was. I believe we have a mutual dislike in one Valdi, as much as we share a mutual friend, Bad Norris,” John informed Sam. The investigative journalist instantly felt at home with the bald man. It appeared that he was here in the gut of a sleeping rock in Greece for the same reason as what had prompted Sam to come along.
“Ah, I see!” Sam said.
“I heard you were looking for Valdi, for the abduction of those girls. That agent's daughter too…,” John pried.
“Aye,” Sam said eagerly, “do you know anything about it?”
The bald man drew nearer to Sam. “Shh, Mr. Cleave. I believe the kidnapper—and his booty—is with us by the command of that Sicilian pig, Bruno. He can't get out, though, so we can take our time once he shows himself.”
Sam smiled. “I like the way you think, sir. How do you know he can't get out.”
“Don't stress, but I collapsed the entrance,” John confessed quietly. At Sam's clear alarm, he went on soothingly, “Don't worry, there’s another way out.”
“So you’re not here for the Vault of Hercules? You just want Bruno?”
The bald man nodded. “I couldn’t give two shits about treasure or old gold. Hell, according to my aunt who raised me, I’ve already been inside the Vault. She is a crazy, old Greek woman, me mum's sister. Me dad raised me in Belfast, but me mum was from Camden.”
“You were inside the Vault of Hercules?”
“So I was told, but my auntie died of dementia in 2005. So who knows, hey?” John laughed. However, Sam's people skills told him that John was playing down something obvious and he believed that this man could very well have been in the Vault of Hercules as a child.
“How old were you?” Sam inquired matter-of-factly, trying to keep things casual while he knew full well that John possessed unnatural strength. “When you were supposedly inside the Vault.”
“Oh, I was about ten years old. I was a chubby little bastard, you know? So on holiday me aunt and her boyfriend took me and my older brother swimming...here,” John recounted. “Summer of 1969, it was. But now, I just want that traitor who turned on me and his sicko minion, you know?”
“I get it, believe me,” Sam agreed. But when he glanced toward where he’d last seen Guido, the Mafioso was gone. “Oh shit.”
John looked surprised at first, but then he realized that the entrance to the cave system was closed, preventing any escape. “Leave him. He has nowhere to go.”
“What about his men outside? Can they help him?” Sam asked, but John looked perfectly relaxed about it.
“They can't help anyone, my friend,” he told Sam. “They’re compost.”
“Sam! Are you coming to help?” Nina cried from over at the wall.
“Coming!” Sam said, before turning to John. “Listen, do you know if the kidnapped girls are still alive?”
“No, Mr. Cleave, I have no idea. All I know is that I’m going to extinguish those two pigs for leaving me to rot in prison,” John admitted. “I hope those young ladies are alright, though. Knowing Bruno's obsession with becoming made in the Cosa Nostra, and his need to get into the Vault, he would not want those girls to be touched until he lines them in the Vault. So for all we know, Valdi has not even laid a hand on them.”
“That makes me feel a whole lot better, Mr. Armstrong,” Sam sighed in relief. “You have no idea.”
31
Rita was doing her best to manage with her painful leg in the water. A large, submerged rock served as a temporary seat for her as she helped Nina figure out what the symbols were for. The pictographs were aligned in a circle around another, smaller circle.
“I've got it,” Rita said to Nina. “The labors of Hercules are on the inside circle, right?”
“Aye, true that,�
� Nina affirmed.
Rita pointed at each symbol on the outside circle, explaining, “We have to turn the inner circle to match the outer circle—the labors and their solutions.”
“Okay, that makes sense,” Nina said, “but they’re not all in the right place at the right time.”
“Easy,” Purdue chimed in. “You see that these inner circle symbols are marked upon loose stones inserted into the wall? Well, I think this is like a safe cracking method. You turn it until the top symbol of the outside circle coincides with the mutable symbol of the inside circle.”
Rita was shrieking with excitement, slapping Purdue's shoulder lightly in praise. “That makes perfect sense!”
“Right,” Nina announced. “Here goes.”
The top middle of the inside circle was a lion.
“The Nemean Lion,” Rita and Nina said simultaneously.
Rita turned the dial while Purdue watched in admiration. Impressed by the engineering skills of the ancient Greeks who’d constructed this antique combination safe, Purdue could not help but wish his Egyptian guide, Adjo, was here to behold the system. Adjo Kira, after all, was an accomplished engineer and this device would have fascinated him. It posed the question of whether the brilliant man from Cairo was even still alive.
“Nemean Lion,” Rita said while pondering. “He clubbed it and strangled it in its cave.”
“Right, then we need this one,” Nina said, moving the dial to place the stone with the club on it right above the pictograph of the lion.” After doing so, the two women looked anxiously at one another before Nina pressed on the loose stone of the outer dial to confirm the first labor.
Everyone held their breath, waiting to see what would happen. A clear click startled them, but nothing catastrophic happened, so they proceeded. The stone Nina had pressed down remained so, implying that the choice was acceptable. “Now remember,” Rita said, “the Hydra is the second labor, so don’t be fooled with the next symbol.”
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