by S. L. Menear
“He gave me an ultimatum to find the Blue Dragon Diamond in seven days and deliver it to him or he’ll feed you and Derek to the lions. I only have six days left, but I have some good leads.”
“Don’t come here. He wants to kill you.”
“Don’t worry, turns out I can control dangerous animals telepathically, like I did with the kraken. If those lions eat someone while I’m there, I guarantee you it won’t be us.”
“I miss you, sweetheart. Please don’t do anything dangerous trying to save me.”
“I miss you too. And don’t worry. Mike and our friends are helping me.”
“If I find out where we are, I’ll contact you. At least, I hope I’ll be able to reach you again. I love you, Sam.”
“I love you too, Ross. Do whatever it takes to survive until we can rescue you. I promise we’ll find you.”
“Goodbye, Sam.”
His voice faded from my mind.
Banger nudged me. “Sam?”
I grinned. “I just had a telepathic conversation with Ross.” I told him everything Ross had said.
“Too bad he doesn’t know where they are. We could send a few teams in and kick ass. Maybe even feed Sweetwater to those hungry lions. I hate to see animals suffer.”
“Yeah, we wouldn’t want those kitties to starve when there’s a bald, chubby meal available.”
“In the meantime, let’s get our butts downstairs and grab the prize.” Banger nudged me downward, our boots thudding against the stone.
The air in the stairwell was cool but stale and musty. What if no one had been in this part for the past ten thousand years? We rounded a turn in the Z-patterned stairwell, and I almost tripped over a skeleton skewered by two spears.
“Stop!” I reached back to protect Banger. “Stick to my back like glue.”
He peered over my shoulder. “Look at the red symmetrical cross on the tunic—he’s a Knight Templar from medieval times.” He reached down beside the fallen soldier and picked up his heavy wooden shield covered with metal. “I guess he didn’t hold this in front of him. Too bad.”
“How did he get in here? The lock on the Sphinx’s head was hidden by an inch of sandstone, and he didn’t have the key.”
“We’ve descended well below the head. He must’ve entered from somewhere in the body.”
I glanced around. “Could be more surprises waiting for us. We’d better go slower and watch for booby traps in case the ten-thousand-year-old defense system fails to recognize me.” I stepped over the skeleton.
“The one in the obsidian pyramid recognized the triplets, but that’s no guarantee this one will do the same for you. Proceed carefully, Sam.” He squeezed my shoulders.
We crossed a landing and continued down the stairs as he held the shield in front of me.
A whooshing noise made me duck, and he crouched down with me as a spear shot past where his head would’ve been.
“Holy crap, that could’ve killed you,” I said, my voice shaky.
“You think?”
I turned to him. “Sticking close isn’t working because you’re a lot taller than me, and being on a stair behind me makes you even taller. We might not hear the next one coming.”
He looked down at me. “No problem—wrap your legs around my waist, and I’ll carry you so your head will be on the same level as mine.” He slung the shield across my back and lifted me up.
“This had better work.” I wrapped my arms around his neck as he eased us down the steps.
No spears.
About twenty minutes later, I said, “Geez, these stairs seem endless.”
“Listen, little missy, you’re on my team, and SEALs never whine. Got it?” He arched an eyebrow and looked into my eyes.
“I don’t whine, I comment. We should be there by now, and you must be tired of carrying me.”
He rounded the switchback on the umpteenth landing. “Ask and you shall receive.”
The stairs ended in a dim circular chamber about twenty feet in diameter.
“Doesn’t look like there are any doors, but we know better, don’t we?” I grinned.
Banger pivoted, checking every inch of the walls. “Dare I set you down?”
“Okay, but stay sharp.” I examined the walls and spotted two dust-covered gold-medallion door locks twenty feet apart and six feet above the floor. “Hmmn, shall we take door number one or door number two?”
“Let’s try the one on the right.” He gestured in its direction.
I pulled out my medallion key, brushed away the dust in the lock, and pressed the key against it. The sound of stone scraping against stone echoed in the chamber as a small section opened inward, sending swirls of fine sand into the air.
“You have to enter first, but be careful.” I switched on my flashlight and peeked in. The room was large, about fifteen feet wide by thirty feet long.
He held the shield in front of him, ducked through the door, and shined his light around the rectangular room. “Looks like another Hall of Records, like Plato predicted.”
A second later, spears shot out from the walls and bounced off his shield. “Sam, get your ass in here!”
I rushed in, and the door shut with a loud thud. In Atlantean, I shouted, “Cease fire.” The spears stopped. “Thank god. I didn’t really expect that command to work.”
“Well done, my queen.” He bowed but kept the shield in front of him.
Wall sconces held oil lamps, so I lit them as I circled the room. It was indeed another Atlantean Hall of Records. Floor-to-ceiling shelves on every wall held gold canisters filled with scrolls. Unlike the gold vaults in underwater Atlantis, there was no need for waterproof safes in a desert.
I glanced at Banger, who waited near the door. “The spears stopped on my command. I think it’s safe for you to walk around.”
He nodded and pulled off his backpack.
A pedestal table in the center of the chamber held an ornate gold chest that measured about a foot square. I touched the chest, and the lid sprang open. A two-inch marquise-shaped blue diamond dominated the center of a beautiful gold bracelet engraved with Atlantean symbols. I tried it on my right wrist, and the gold instantly molded to my arm. I couldn’t get it off.
“Uh oh. This might be a problem.” I held up my wrist. “It’s stuck.”
Banger had been busy pulling things out of his backpack. He glanced at me. “It’s too small to be the Blue Dragon, but keep it if you want. Nobody knows what’s in here.”
I stared at the items from his backpack and picked up what looked like a detonator. “What are you doing with this?”
“Separate mission.” He connected wires to explosives planted between the canisters. “If we found another Hall of Records, which we just did, my orders were to destroy it.”
“Why?” I hated to see ancient wisdom destroyed but suspected the reason.
He met my eyes. “America prefers to have the only set of scrolls.”
I clutched the detonator. “I understand, but wait until we see what’s in the other room.”
He crossed his arms. “Why?”
“Because the Atlanteans have all sorts of mechanisms built into their chambers. Could be that if we blow this one, we won’t be allowed into the other one. We might even get trapped. I’d like to look for the Blue Dragon before we do anything drastic.”
He hesitated. “All right. Makes sense. I’ll finish placing the charges and set the timer for one hour. That should give us plenty of time to search the other room. We won’t need to come back here, right?”
“Let’s hope not. I’ll check the other chamber while you finish this.”
He held up a hand. “No, we should stick together. This’ll only take a few minutes.” He ran wires between the charges and connected them to the detonator.
I was about to protest, but within seconds red LED lights counted down from sixty minutes. “Are you positive we won’t destroy the Great Sphinx when you set these off? It looks like a lot of C-4.”
“Relax, Sam, this isn’t my first rodeo.” He tapped his chest. “Navy SEAL.”
“Really? I had no idea.”
“There you go, stealing my lines again.” He grinned.
“Let’s see what’s behind that other door.” I inserted my medallion key and opened the exit for the Hall of Records. It closed behind us as we crossed the circular room.
When I opened the door for the chamber under the left paw, Banger entered first with his shield up and lit the oil sconces. As usual, the door closed the instant I stepped inside, but there weren’t any flying spears this time. Had my command carried into this room?
The left chamber was the same size but quite different from the right one. Huge diagrams covered the upper walls, and shelves beneath them held crystal pyramids and odd-looking copper devices. I searched every shelf.
“Well, the bad news is there’s no Blue Dragon.” I glanced around, looking for a symbol marking a hidden compartment. I ran my hands over the walls, but nothing popped open. “The good news is there’s a subterranean tunnel that runs from here to the Great Pyramid.” I grinned.
His eyebrows shot up. “How do you know that?”
I pointed at a diagram. “See this? It indicates the Great Pyramid is a power plant, and these are the specs for how it works.” I tapped a spot on the diagram. “This valve allows water from the Nile to enter the pumphouse beneath the pyramid. Hydrodynamic pressure vibrates the stone blocks in the pyramid, activating the crystals, which in turn produce electricity. Amazing, huh?”
He studied the diagram. “Wow, Sam, I think you’re right.” He tapped one of the crystal pyramids on a nearby shelf. “These must be spare parts, and I’m guessing some idiots who didn’t understand their purpose took the originals a long time ago.” He shook his head. “Awesome discovery.”
I checked the drawings and glanced at Banger. “Maybe if we fire it up again, a secret chamber will open and reveal the Blue Dragon. How many of these crystals can you carry?” I pulled off my backpack.
“I’ve got room for six in my backpack if you can carry the chute and the other three.” He unzipped his pack, handed me the paraglider, and began loading the crystals.
“They look heavy, but I can manage three and the chute.” I pulled on gloves before touching them, in case my bare hands might activate them. It was the rare frequency of electromagnetic energy flowing through my body that had made me the default heir to the throne of a dead civilization buried two thousand feet beneath the sea.
I shoved the heavy pyramids into my backpack. They fit with a little room to spare, so I grabbed what looked like copper electrical devices and crammed them in before zipping it closed.
“Uh, just one problem.” He glanced around. “Where’s the entrance to the tunnel?”
Standing in the center of the rectangular room, I shined my flashlight on each wall.
“There.” I pointed at the wall farthest from the entry door. “It’s in the middle of that diagram.”
I strode across the room and stood in front of the wall. The number seventy-nine in Atlantean was engraved on an electrical diagram carved onto the wall. “That’s the atomic number for gold.”
My brother’s tool helped me scrape off a thin layer of limestone covering a gold medallion lock hidden behind the number.
Turning to Banger, I grinned. “Voila.” I inserted my gold key.
The floor vibrated as a door-sized section of stone dropped into a slot under the wall, sending musty air into the chamber.
He glanced at his watch and slipped on his backpack. “We’ve got twenty-six minutes before the charges detonate next door. I suggest we put as much distance as possible between us and this room.”
I pulled on my backpack. “You’re right. I’d better lead so we don’t set off booby traps, but you’ll have to exit first.”
He switched on his flashlight. “Let’s go.” He held the ancient shield in front of him and waited outside the door so I could take the lead.
Keeping ahead of Banger was easier said than done. That man had a long stride and never seemed to get winded. I trotted ahead of him, weighed down by the crystals. He carried twice as many in his pack, so I could hardly complain. We were in a dark, narrow tunnel that seemed endless.
My claustrophobia reared its ugly head again, and the explosives under the Great Sphinx worried me. The possibility of being trapped in a tunnel no one knew existed made my heart race. So did the heavy load in my backpack. I continued on until I could barely catch my breath.
“Hey, big guy, need a break?” My voice was breathless and squeaky.
He turned me around. “Claustrophobia kicking in again, Sam?”
I sucked in a deep breath. “Maybe a little. Sorry.”
He pulled me into his arms and gave me a bear hug. “You’ll be okay. I guarantee it.”
“Thanks, Banger. I guess we’d better get going. Your charges will be exploding any second.”
It wasn’t long before a loud boom echoed down the tunnel, followed by a swirling dirt cloud. Deep rumbling preceded a section of rock dropping into the tunnel behind us, sealing off the passage to the Great Sphinx and blanketing us in stone particles and sand.
He coughed and blinked his eyes. “Sorry, Sam, I thought the charges were safe.”
I choked out dust. “They were probably fine, but this tunnel is thousands of years old and deep underground. Vibrations from the explosion must’ve caused the collapse. We’d better keep moving.”
We hadn’t gone far when a large stone block crashed down in front of us, not quite sealing off the tunnel, but too large for us to crawl over it. My worst fear had been realized. We were trapped underground, and nobody knew where we were. I tried not to hyperventilate as my heart hammered my chest.
Banger looked through the narrow opening. “At least air can still get in from the other side.”
“If we hadn’t stopped because of my claustrophobia—” I choked on some dirt.
“Don’t even think that. You’re the last heir in a long line of Atlantean queens. If anyone can get us out of here, you can.” He placed his hands on my shoulders and looked into my eyes. “Pull out one of your high-tech gadgets and fix this.”
I hesitated and looked into his calm brown eyes. “Doesn’t anything ever scare you?”
“Let’s see, ever since I was called upon to deal with things involving you or your realm,” he ticked the items off on his fingers, “I’ve encountered deadly ancient mechanisms, megalodons, krakens, an enormous snake, a pod of hippos, and a vicious crocodile, not to mention a burning airplane and bad guys bent on world domination.” He smiled. “But every time I needed help you came through for me. I don’t understand all your unusual abilities or the weird artifacts you’ve collected along the way, but I have faith in you. So, no, I’m not scared.” He hesitated. “Maybe just a tiny bit worried.”
Fifteen
Giza, Egypt
A full moon illuminated magnificent pyramids towering over the Giza plain while the Great Sphinx kept silent watch in the distance. Mike sat on the Range Rover’s hood and focused his night-vision binoculars. “Nobody. They must still be inside.”
Lance glanced at his watch. “They landed an hour and a half ago. I hope they’re not trapped in there.”
“What if they already moved to the Great Pyramid?” Bryce trained his binoculars on the huge monument that gleamed under the moon.
“How could they get there without being seen?” Lisa scanned the area.
“Maybe they found an underground passage.” Mike searched the barren plain between the silent beast and the trio of huge pyramids.
“That would have to be one heck of a long passage—at least a half-mile.” Lance glanced over his shoulder. “Uh, team, we have company.”
A Jeep carrying armed soldiers left a trail of dust as it pulled alongside their SUV.
Mike let the binoculars hang on a strap around his neck and aimed his cell phone at the Great Sphinx.
A soldier s
tepped out. “What are you doing here so late?”
Bryce answered in his polished British accent. “My mates and I wanted to get some pictures of the Giza monuments under a full moon.”
“Mates? What about the woman?” The soldier looked at Lisa with contempt.
Bryce shrugged. “My sister—she insisted on coming. You know how it is.”
Lisa crossed her arms and spoke in a British accent that matched Bryce’s. “Don’t you like women?”
“Are you drinking alcohol?” He studied the team.
“No, sir, we just want to enjoy the view and get some pictures.” Mike held up his cell phone with a photo of the huge statue on it.
“Don’t stay too long, and keep a good distance from the monuments.” The soldier gave Lisa a parting glare and climbed into the Jeep.
The team waited until they drove away before speaking.
Mike stared at the departing vehicle. “Our tourist ploy might work for another twenty minutes, tops. Then those soldiers will insist we leave.”
“When Sam and Banger surface, we’d better swoop in before the soldiers see them.” Lisa checked her watch. “They’ll be a lot harder to explain.”
“Better keep scanning in every direction.” Mike raised his binoculars. “Knowing my sister, they could pop up just about anywhere.”
Underground Passage
Trapped in a secret tunnel with one of the bravest men I had ever known, I pulled the sphere out of my belly bag, ran my hands over it, and said, “Annihilate that big stone block with your laser.”
Nothing happened.
“Maybe you need to say it in Atlantean.” Banger took a step back. He looked ghostly, covered in pale dust.
“Okay, I’ll try that.” I spoke slowly, careful to pronounce the ancient words correctly as my claustrophobia escalated.
The silvery-blue globe hummed and vibrated, flew out of my hands, opened its portal, and zapped the obstruction with its laser. Rock chips flew at us, and the air clouded with tiny particles of stone debris during the continuous onslaught.
I yelled, “It’s working,” and then my throat went into a coughing spasm.