The Sam Reilly Collection Volume 2

by Christopher Cartwright

  Zara looked at him. “You think this could be precisely the watershed moment Nostradamus was predicting?”

  Sam nodded. He still hadn’t bought everything she’d said about Nostradamus, but neither was he keen to overlook the greatest prediction the master seer had ever made concerning the future of the human race – especially when it coincided with their present circumstances. “Okay, I agree with you, but to do that we’re going to need to find a way out.”

  “We might not have much time,” Tom said. “And I can’t see us finding another way out of here.”

  Sam said, “I think I’ve made a decision about that.”

  “What?” Tom and Zara asked in unison.

  Sam powered down his DARPA suit to conserve energy. “We rest tonight and tomorrow morning we climb back up the well.”

  “We’d never survive. It’s too soon. There will still be hundreds of Ngige’s mercenaries searching for us.”

  “Sure,” Sam agreed. “But maybe we don’t need to kill all of them. Maybe we kill a few and take their satellite phone?”

  “We could take them, one at a time by the well. Once we have a phone we’ll contact the Maria Helena and get retrieved.”

  Zara said, “It sounds like an impossible plan.”

  “That’s because it is,” Sam said. “But I don’t have another one – and we’re running out of time.”

  He closed his eyes in the darkness and forced himself to rest. He would need to if he was to think clearly tomorrow.

  In the complete darkness, Sam had no idea how long he’d slept. It was a deep sleep. He’d had a dream. It was vivid. One of those dreams in which you wake up and still wonder what was real and what was imagined.

  He was crossing a desert in the night, navigating by the stars. Only he’d lost his way. Something terrible had happened to the celestial sky, and instead of an infinite myriad of stars and constellations, he saw nothing but the dark canvas of space. He was on a journey, searching for something important. He couldn’t quite remember what it was he was looking for, but he knew it was the most valuable and important quest he’d ever made. He was about to give up all hope of finding it – whatever it was.

  He’d stopped walking, fearful of finding himself even more lost as the time went by. He wanted to cry. He felt so close and at the same time distant from whatever it was he was searching for. He tilted his head and looked straight up.

  Above him a tiny dot erupted into a fireball in the pitch black canvass. The light glowed brighter until he was no longer able to look at it without hurting his eyes.

  Sam opened his eyes. The massive dome structure was so bright he could see the entire place. Startled, he glanced at Tom and Zara. Both were still on lying on the island next to him. It took a moment for Sam to realize the significance.

  If everyone’s asleep, who turned on the lights?

  Sam’s eyes followed the arch of the dome to its crest. At the very top of the dome, a massive oculus, maybe thirty feet in diameter, no longer displayed only darkness. Instead, it now erupted in sunlight, which reflected throughout the subterranean cavern.

  Zara opened her eyes. “What the hell is that?”

  Sam grinned. “I believe that’s the way out you said would be impossible to find.”

  Chapter Sixty-Eight

  The light traveled down through the oculus and onto the island. From there, it ricocheted around the dome, with increasing intensity, before sending a return light back through the original opening. Sam stared at the oculus. The light penetrating downwards appeared to be rectangular, but by the time it reflected off the water surrounding the island, the light appeared in the shape of a triangle. It surprised him, because the island clearly formed the shape of a perfect circle, positioned precisely below the oculus. The light lasted no more than fifteen minutes and then disappeared, leaving them in total darkness.

  Sam increased the temperature on his DARPA thermal suit, and the darkness slowly turned to a stable blue glow. He looked at Zara and smiled, “See, I told you we’d find a way out.”

  She returned his smile. “What way out? You haven’t got us out of here yet!”

  “The light. That was sunlight. Where it can get in, we can get out.”

  She laughed. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve heard you say. The light could have just as easily come through an ancient pipe, no larger than a coin in diameter. The light will get in but nothing will get out.”

  “That’s a possibility,” Sam conceded. “But I have another idea.”

  Tom looked at him. The edge of his lip curving upwards, not quite in a grin, but definitely as a statement – this ought to be good! “Go on, Sam. Let’s hear it.”

  Sam opened his mouth to speak. Paused and then grinned as though he’d suddenly been delivered a revelation. “It’s the light. You see, the light that reflected upwards did so in the shape of a triangle.”

  Silence.

  Zara asked, “What exactly is it about the triangular light that intrigues you, Sam?”

  “The light that descended through the oculus was in the shape of a rectangle, but when it reflected off the waters surrounding the island, it did so in the shape of a triangle.”

  Tom asked, “But the island is a perfect circle?”

  “Well spotted, Mr. Bower!” Sam said. “I have a theory the island is not an island at all. Instead, I believe it floats. Or that is to say, it once did, when the water levels were much higher than they are today.”

  “The island floats?” Zara asked.

  “Used to,” Sam corrected her. “Probably still does if the water level ever rises high enough again.”

  Tom smiled. “You think this was a giant water holding tank. Like the heart of the Garamante’s last major water stores. It was protected and monitored. The light shines through the opening, down to the island. If the water is low, it shows a triangle, if it is high it shows a rectangle, if it’s full, it shows a circle.”

  “Exactly,” Sam said. “Maybe this was the lowest point in the Garamante Empire. As water flows downward, all irrigation tunnels fed through to this chamber here. The masters of the day must have known they were using enormous amounts of fossil water to irrigate their arid lands. They must have been terrified it would one day disappear. So they built this chamber and every so often, would shine light through a tunnel to get a reading of the water’s depth.”

  Zara asked, “Why not simply walk down and measure it?”

  Sam shook his head. “Not that simple. This place could be hundreds of miles from the main city. It would take days or weeks to send someone to test the water levels. Instead, they were grand engineers and built a system of reflective stones to shine sunlight into their holding tank.”

  No one made a comment.

  Sam smiled. “So what do you think?”

  Zara smiled. “I think you have a fantastic imagination, but even if you were right, it doesn’t help us get out of here.”

  “Why not?” Sam asked.

  “Because that oculus must be eighty feet above us, and there’s no way to reach it.”

  Sam glanced at the base of the dome, where the triangular-shaped pendentives met the water. “I had an idea about that too.”

  “What?” she asked.

  Sam smiled. “Have you ever been to Florence?”

  Chapter Sixty-Nine

  Sam spoke slowly. His eyes stared vacantly at the massive dome, but his mind wandered as though he was reliving a time nearly twenty years earlier when his father had taken him to visit the Italian city of Florence.

  Sam said, “It’s been many years since I last visited the great city, but one view still remains from my trip. One vision, so fantastic that I found its impression permanently embedded somewhere in the part of my brain that permanently stores valuable information.” He grinned. “Among the contour of spires and domes one regal structure dominates the city’s skyline.”

  Zara smiled. “Florence Cathedral.”

  Sam nodded. “The construction of Il Du
omo di Firenze, as it is known to the locals, started in 1296 in the Gothic style with the design by Arnolfo di Cambio. But it wasn’t completed until 1436 because until that time, no one could decide how to build such an enormous masonry dome without its weight causing the structure to collapse during the building process. Do you know who worked it out?”

  She nodded. Her eyes were wide. “Filippo Brunelleschi, a Master Goldsmith.”

  Tom sat down. Disappointment showing across his face that he was being forced to hear another history lesson before being able to escape.

  Sam continued. “The building of such a masonry dome would have posed many technical problems. Brunelleschi looked to the great dome of the Pantheon in Rome for solutions. The dome of the Pantheon was formed by a single shell of concrete, the formula for which had long since been forgotten. Soil filled with silver coins had held the Pantheon dome aloft while its concrete set. This could not be the solution in the case of a dome this size, and massive shoring would put the church out of use. For the height and breadth of the dome, starting 171 feet above the floor and spanning 144 feet, there was not enough timber in Tuscany to build the scaffolding and forms. Either of you like to hazard a guess how Brunelleschi overcame this problem?”

  “He used a double shell, made of sandstone and marble,” Tom said.

  Sam glanced at him and nodded. A slightly wry smile forming on his lips. Sometimes his friend did listen to history. “Brunelleschi’s dome would consist of two concentric shells, an inner one visible from within the cathedral nested inside a wider, taller external dome. To counteract hoop stress, he would bind the walls with tension rings of stone, iron, and wood, like hoops on a barrel. He built the first 46 feet in stone, after which he continued with lighter materials, such as spugna and brick. He also managed to do so, without the use of conventional, ground-based scaffolding.”

  Zara interrupted. “This is a great history lesson, but I don’t see how any of this is going to help us reach the top of the oculus?”

  Sam smiled. “Look at the size of this dome. It’s not quite as big as Il Duomo di Firenze, but only by a dozen or so feet. That means the engineers and craftsmen who built this extraordinary structure must have overcome similar obstacles during construction.”

  Zara asked. “You think this is a Duomo?”

  Sam smiled. “I’m certain it is.”

  “Again, how will any of this help us?” she asked.

  Sam smiled again. “Because you have to picture this place without any water at all. What’s on the other side of the interior dome of the Duomo?”

  Her eyes hardened. “The cloistered vault!”

  Chapter Seventy

  Zara watched Sam slip into the cool water. Her face was a mix of anticipation and someone preparing for disappointment. She saw Sam swim gently along the surface to the edge of the dome, where the pendentive met the water. The large muscles in his back formed sharp angles with each stroke. He moved along the surface in a counterclockwise direction.

  Tom dipped into the water on the opposite side of the island. Dropping like a pin and then surfacing moments later. He turned to face Sam. “I’ll bet you a beer I’ll find the entrance first.”

  Sam smiled. “You’re on!”

  Zara laughed. They were such typical boys. It was like watching children at the beach looking for hidden treasure. Only in this case, the treasure was real, the pirates were real, death was real, and the outcomes possibly resulting in the life and death of the human race.

  And still, they looked like they were having fun.

  Sam and Tom disappeared below the surface. The light in the dome faded quickly as the blue haze from their DARPA suits became buried in the water. Within a minute, the dome had turned to a deep gray, and eventually into total darkness. She stared at the water. Or more accurately, where she believed the water should have been, waiting for the light to return. She didn’t wear a wristwatch and had no means of measuring the time, but it seemed to stretch.

  When she was certain more than a few minutes had passed, she sat down. Zara felt the gallop of her heart, as the claustrophobia snuck in. She breathed in deeply, trying to resist the terror that was struggling to overcome her.

  She forced herself to smile. Faking it is half the battle. She knew they hadn’t drowned. Not yet and not both of them. They had probably found something. An underwater ledge or another cavern. Anything to let them breathe for a while and continue to explore.

  She stood up again, finding she was becoming angry with both men. If they have found something, why not come up and let her know? Why make her wait, and suffer – in total darkness?

  Around what seemed like ten minutes later, but might have been much less, Zara spotted the tiniest of blue dots in the water below. She smiled as she watched it slowly surface, bringing with it, the familiar blue glow.

  A moment later, the island lit up with the strange, blue light.

  Zara turned around. The island was just about glowing. What the hell? She glanced at the water where the blue light was still approaching. The second light was coming from somewhere entirely different. She looked up and smiled. Leaning on the edge of the oculus, eighty plus feet above, she saw Sam Reilly’s face.

  She squinted her eyes to make out the shape. Even at that distance, the man appeared to have an arrogant smirk of self-confidence. “Morning, Zara. I told you I’d get to the top of the dome! How about you come join me, the view’s fantastic!”

  “Looking forward to it!” she shouted back.

  She smiled and a moment later Tom surfaced. His face cheerful as he quickly boasted, “I won. I found it first!”

  I’m stuck in some subterranean hell hole with two children!

  Zara asked, “You found a way out?”

  “No. I found a way to the top of the dome. Of course, Sam couldn’t stand to be beaten so he asked for a double or nothing bet that he could reach the top of the dome before me. I don’t know if I’d go quite that far, yet, but I did find a way to the top of the dome.” Tom smiled. “Have you been waiting long?”

  She shook her head and smiled at his concern. “Now what?”

  “Now if you follow me, I’ll take you to the top of the dome, and we hope like hell the ancient tunnel leads somewhere worth going.”

  Chapter Seventy-One

  Zara dived downward into the depths of the subterranean lake. She followed the blue light where Tom swam in front of her. It reminded her of a ghoulish apparition as the pressure built up in her ears. She tried to swallow and move her jaw, anything to relieve some of the pressure in her middle ear. The pressure changed and she was able to descend without any further pain.

  The entrance was thirty or maybe even forty feet below the surface of the water. It was an arched door, which led to a narrow staircase. Apart from being submerged, the opening appeared no different than any of the thousands of mediaeval arches and stone stairs found throughout Europe. She followed Tom who swam quickly through the arch and into the stairwell.

  You’ll have to swim quickly once you’re inside or you’ll never reach it! She recalled Tom’s words to her before diving.

  Zara reached the top of the archway and pulled herself through. She’d reached the deepest point of the dive. Now all she had to do was live long enough to reach the surface. Inside, the series of identical stairs fit snugly between the inner and outer dome within a space no wider than two feet. The stairs ascended steeply in a clockwise direction.

  She swam through and began the dangerous journey, alternating between kicking off with her feet and pulling herself upwards by drawing on the stairs, in a similar manner to an astronaut maneuvering around the Space Station.

  Her head throbbed. Oxygen starvation was starting to affect her brain. She focused on the blue light ahead. No longer able to discern any visible image of Tom, her mind imagined it really was a ghost leading her toward something.

  But was it where she wanted to go?

  Was it a good spirit, or evil?

  Her mind s
truggled to comprehend what she was trying to achieve. The space was dark with solid masonry walls on either side as she ascended in a continuous curve. It was impossible to know how far she climbed. She imagined the stairway wrapping all the way around the inner dome until it made a full circuit, possibly even multiple laps. She settled into a rhythm and soon the discomfort in her chest and blurriness in her mind all ceased to matter. She was moving, ascending, and that all had to mean something good, right?

  A moment later, the fear returned – she’d lost sight of the blue spectral.

  Zara panicked. There was nothing else for it. She’d reached the limits of her ability to hold her breath. She squirmed to make sense of anything, but now the one thing she could remember – the fact that she needed to follow the blue light – had been taken from her.

  She continued heading in a clockwise direction. Constantly ascending in an identical curve, but soon she no longer had the ability to move her arms or legs. She no longer worried about whether or not she could hold her breath. None of those problems mattered anymore.

  Zara felt herself sink onto the edge of the stone stairs. The last thing she remembered was the warmth. Everything felt so warm, and good, and safe. Dying wasn’t so bad. The darkness had been pulled up around her like the safety of a warm blanket. It consumed all her senses and left her feeling nothing.

  Chapter Seventy-Two

  Sam looked at Tom as he squeezed by inside the narrow stairway, where the water met the dry section. He looked at Tom’s hardened expression as he breathed deeply. “You okay, Tom?”

  Tom nodded but said nothing.

  Sam waded into the submerged steps of the stairs. “Where’s Zara?”

  “She was behind me a moment ago.”

  Sam swore and then dipped his head beneath the water, diving head-first downward. He followed the descending stairs in their counter-clockwise direction. He could hear the sudden throb of his own panicked heart sending blood pounding in the back of his ears. He descended for approximately twenty seconds before he saw her.