by Janina Woods
“There is a tunnel, but it’s partly collapsed. The damage seems old, though, and not a result of the explosion,” I said in between heavy breaths. “But I couldn’t tell anything more than that. The light doesn’t reach into the tunnel. I could use the emergency strip, but I only have one on my person. Victoria?”
“Also only one. But if this doesn’t qualify as an emergency, nothing does. If our only other feasible option is to climb, I say we take the chance,” she shrugged.
“Emergency strip?” Watson asked.
“A small amount of magnesium in an airtight vial. We carry it as means to create an emergency signal, but it will also burn on contact with water and should provide a burst of light even underwater, when I break it,” I explained. “It will only shine for a few seconds, and then it’s gone forever.”
Watson looked up into the darkness, but even with the brighter light, he would’ve not been able to tell if the topmost tunnel were collapsed or not.
“I agree with Victoria. If I can avoid climbing... even if it means diving though the water,” the doctor concluded.
“Then it’s decided,” I slid off the platform once more and fully back into the water, then produced a small glass vial from one of the many pouches on my belt. “Here’s to hoping I can bring better news this time.”
The faces of my companions disappeared from view as I once again slipped into the black body of water. This time I knew my heading and dove into the tunnel directly. But after only a few strokes the bright light source behind me flickered out of existence. I was swallowed by the darkness, which made it impossible to tell left from right or up from down. A curse escaped me despite it making no sound and there being no one hear it. How could I’ve been so foolish not to secure myself with a safety line?
I had no choice but to use the magnesium strip now, praying to God it would make me able to find the way out. Consciously I kept my eyes open, made as little movement as possible and cracked the vial. Just as expected, the magnesium burned rapidly and enabled me to survey my surroundings for all but three seconds before it was used up. But they were sufficient. Immediately I pushed my body forward with a few powerful strokes and breached the water surface once again. Watson reached for my hand and pulled me up, almost dropping his lamp.
“The water may be troubling us now, but it might also be our salvation,” I said, now shivering in earnest but shaky voice. The cold sapped my strength rapidly. “Some people seem have to built a well all the way down to the tunnel. It looks like it’s still in use as the catacombs have apparently functioned as an actual cistern over the years. It’s some way down the tunnel, but we should be able to reach it. I could see light above.”
“So we get to climb a well instead of a cistern?”Watson asked. “Lucky us.”
“Lucky us, indeed. It will prove to be much easier. But don’t worry... I volunteer to climb it first and get some sort of rope to help you two,” I added. “I will be glad to exercise the muscles to get some warmth back into my body. We will need a flash of light to find the right direction again, so I’ll need the other strip.”
„This time I’ll go ahead,“ Victoria offered and I took her up on it.
“So much for storing my gun where it doesn’t get wet,” Watson mumbled under his breath. In an effort to preserve both his weapon and the paper with the instructions of the ritual, he folded it neatly and tightly, then put both into one of the inside pockets of the jacket, which was made of leather and could be securely closed. I had taken similar precautions before my dive, but now there was nothing about my person that wasn’t soaked through and through. Still, I left the doctor to his preparations, knowing they were also a form of bracing himself for the ordeal yet to come.
We placed the lamp on a step above the water line and lit all remaining candles to provide as much light as possible. Then Victoria and Watson carefully slipped into the water alongside me. Watson was already nervous and shivered.
“Please, relax, Dr. Watson. You will go directly after Victoria and I will be behind you to make sure nothing goes awry,” I reassuringly placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’s not far. Alright?”
“Sure,” he nodded. “Lead the way.”
“Victoria? The opening is about twenty feet into the hallway, more to the right side. I can still go ahead...”
“See you on the other side,” she grinned, took a deep breath and was gone.
I did the same and dove down behind her and Watson as fast as I could. All I had to do was sink to the floor and then follow the doctor’s form while he was swimming through the doorway. But it seemed I had overestimated his courage, because being confronted with the black hole in the wall and the person in front of him being swallowed by it, he hesitated instinctively, which cost us vital seconds of air. But I didn’t hesitate and applied a gentle push to the doctor’s back, which ripped him from his stupor.
The tunnel was wide enough for me to pass him, so I grabbed his arm to pull him along. This didn’t only assure I wouldn’t lose him, it would also make it impossible for him to desert us and return to the catacombs. I could feel him flail a few times as he bumped into the tunnel walls, but kept my grip steady and my bearings clear.
Then, suddenly, a flash of light illuminated our surroundings. I felt the doctor jerk in my grasp and move erratically. In his panicked state, the doctor opened his mouth to scream, which only depleted his precious air reserves further. I pulled him away horizontally, then finally ever upwards, as I followed Victoria. It was a chore to hold on to the doctor, who by now struggled to escape my grasp in the quest to reach the surface - his distressed mind not realising that it was only my action, which would ultimately save him.
This way I found myself squeezed into a narrow well, which was barely wide enough to fit us three, with the promise of freedom delivered by rays of sunshine, illuminating part of the topmost wall. I breathed heavily, as did my companions, but in a stroke of luck, we had avoided injuries - or worse.
“What spooked you so?” I asked hoarsely while I patted Watson’s back to assist the vigorous coughing.
“I... the light...” he huffed. “I saw the face... of a demon.”
Victoria and I exchanged a glance. She had already regained her composure.
“A demon?” I asked.
“A distorted face,” he confirmed.
“It was a stone statue.”
“Whatever it was - the shock punched the last air out of me. I owe you my life, Mycroft.”
“You owe nothing to anyone. But if you insist, give your thanks to Victoria, as she led us through the well to the surface,” I said with emphasis. “And now I’d better move. Every second spent in the water will make it less likely for me to be able to climb this.”
Supporting myself with my back on one side of the well and with my feet on the other, I found that the wall was indeed stable enough for me to climb. I slowly inched upwards for what must have been very well over thirty feet. The walls were comprised only of compacted earth, which meant that the pair beneath me had to endure a shower of dust and stones until I was clear.
As I reached the surface, I was glad to stretch my legs out of the hole and roll myself to the side. The well was positioned in the corner of a derelict building and the opening cornered by low walls on three sides. While it provided cover, it also prevented me from seeing anything beyond a small path, some bushes and a tree spreading out its branches over my head. There was a rope fastened to one of the building’s wooden beams, with a hook to attach a bucket, so I knew it would be long enough to reach the water surface. I cut off the hook, slung it around a beam and tested the strength of both the knot and the wood. It seemed to be sufficient.
“Be careful, I’ll throw you a rope,” I let my voice echo through the well. “And be quick. We seem to be alone for now, but it’s only matter of time.”
Victoria
insisted on Watson going first and secured the end of the rope around his waist in a way it would carry most of his weight. The doctor started his ascent much slower than I had done without the rope. His sluggishness made me nervous.
And then I made a stupid mistake. Cautiously, I stuck my head around the corner of the building to get a view of the entrance to the catacombs and assess the situation. Of course I was immediately spotted by a guard, undoubtedly left behind by Moriarty. He drew his gun and started shooting at once - and while I had retracted my head in a timely manner, it didn’t bode well for our chances overall.
There was shouting in both English and Arabic and I could make out at least three different voices among them. In reflex, my hand flew to my gun, only to find it had been soaked completely. It would work again eventually, but only after a thorough cleaning. Brilliant. As if to hammer the point home, a bullet hit the wall behind me with a loud impact noise.
I couldn’t defend myself, so the only option was to flee. There was a low wall that reached into the bushes on my right. If I could use them as cover, I could make for the building. I didn’t need to escape, I merely had to draw the attackers away from the well so that Victoria and Watson would be able to reach the surface safely. I grabbed a large stone from the partly collapsed ruin and threw it in the opposite direction. It would take them a while to aim again after being distracted and I could make those seconds count.
The shots rang out and I jumped. Adrenaline flooded my system and gave me the boost I needed to get my muscles going after the whole ordeal underground. There was no time to think about the consequences of my decision, and so I flew and didn’t look back. I skipped, ducked behind the next wall and threw myself directly into the greenery. My wet clothes squelched and transformed the dust beneath to me into mud, which left a clear trail to follow. Perfect.
My adversaries ceased their fire and shouted again. Then I heard them run. Their change of position meant a window of opportunity, though to get back up wasn’t as easy as it may have seemed. My clothes dragged me down by their added watery weight and the liquid in my boots sloshed around. Still, I summoned up my strength, made a dash for the wall of the building and trailed along the side until I reached the corner. The guards were still running. Good, so they hadn’t lost me. A shot ricocheted off the wall behind me and gave me a very clear incentive to move.
Neither doubt nor fear entered my mind as I ran toward the door of the building, even though a mortal threat was just behind me. This was what I lived for. If the other two hadn’t been with me, it would have been easy to escape, but for now my first priority was to procure a weapon and either take out my pursuers as quickly as possible, or lose them.
I ducked into the building - fate had it that the door wasn’t locked. But there was no use in hiding, so I slammed the rickety wooden door shut behind me with such force I feared it might break, but it held together valiantly. The noise should attract them. They would think me foolish, producing such an obvious clue to pinpoint my location, but underestimating me would only work in my favour.
Now, the building seemed to be a storage facility, maybe a barn for the donkeys, but it was deserted at the moment. Two galleries of wooden floors were above me, at the walls all around the room, reachable only via stairs in the back. The whole place was curiously empty, except for the straw on the ground and a few nondescript crates on the upper levels. It gave off the impression of a place that had seen better days. Well, in that way we were completely alike.
But there was no time to linger. I had but one chance to get out of this on top. The door could be locked from the inside, but the key was missing, as was the wooden beam that could’ve been used to block it. Still, I positioned myself behind it and waited for the first guard to show. I didn’t have to wait long.
The voices grew louder. I could make out the command to enter the building and braced myself. The door flew open. I caught it with both hands and pushed back, made it fall shut again as soon as one of my pursuers had entered. He was caught off guard by my action and whirled around. But it was too late for him to shoot, as I had already kicked the gun from his hand, sent it flying into the dust and at the same time reached for the one weapon the water couldn‘t have put out of order: My pocket watch.
A forceful pull extracted the thin wire. I threw myself at the staggering man and wrapped the deadly string around his neck in a fluid motion. The sudden pain induced a panic in him, and he moved jerkily. We collapsed together in front of the door - not a moment too soon. Both of our bodies combined were enough to block it as the remaining guards started their assault. As the wood shook and splintered above me, I was acutely aware of my position: My back was against the flimsy wood. Should they choose to shoot at it, I wouldn’t be protected.
Just then my assailant ceased his flailing motions and sank fully to the floor. I didn’t bother to check if he were only unconscious or worse, and it didn’t matter to me anyway. With an effort I pushed myself along the floor, feet against the door for leverage, to reach the dropped gun. As soon as my fingers were on it, I turned around and pulled the lifeless body of my attacker in front of me, as it provided the only cover I could achieve.
The blocking weight was gone and door burst open.
I lay on the floor, which was unwise in the long term, but provided me with the much needed element of surprise, as the guards, falling into the building, didn’t bother to observe the ground. Their loss. Three people entered and fell one after the other, stumbling over their collapsing colleagues, as I shot them, so neatly lined up for me.
The shots had been deafening in such close quarters, but I had no time to wait for my ears to adjust. The body across my torso was rolled to the side and I snatched the wire from his throat, stored the silver watch into one of my pockets to reassemble later. As was my custom, I collected all guns from my attackers - it’s not like they needed them anymore.
Some agitated voices resounded through the narrow alleyway in front of the building, and I jumped up, threw the guns to the other side of the room as I made my way toward the stairs. There was no way I could escape through the front door, and I couldn’t close it either, as the pile of bodies blocked the entryway.
The drying cloth and leather started to chafe my skin as I moved, while my boots were still filled with so much water I might as well have still stood in the depths of the cistern. Stray strands of hair fell into my face as I ran, itching and irritating. I wasn’t going to lose any part of my protective uniform just because it felt uncomfortable, so I gnashed my teeth in order to calm my growing anger and pushed my hair back with one hand, hoping it would still be wet enough to keep some semblance of form and not distract me any further.
There was commotion below me as the dead bodies were discovered, but I didn’t look back. Now that there was something to properly occupy my pursuers, I made it my new goal to reunite with my companions. I escaped through a latch in the storage building’s roof and left the battle behind me.
The cautious sunlight of the day, reminded me that even though we were in Egypt and the air was dry, it was still winter. I wasn’t going to be warmed up by those rays any time soon. A big tree indicated the location of the park, and I ran toward it, then fell down on my knees at the edge of the building and stuck my head out cautiously. From above, I could spot Watson and Victoria, as they crouched behind a wall, close to the point from which I had started my run. There was no time to lose.
To get their attention, I let a shot ring out. Watson turned his head up in an instant and surveyed the rooftops. As he spied me, I could see his eagerness to shout even from the distance, so I motioned for him to stay quiet. The main commotion was still happening around the corner, so I made a quick decision, put away the gun and swung my legs over the edge of the building. With an effort I pushed myself off the roof and into the tree, barely catching one of the thicker branches and cursed quietly as my hands were cut, despite
my gloves, from holding onto the rough bark to decelerate my fall. But it was of no matter. The tree was easily climbable, and after only a few moments, I was on the ground, reunited at last with the others. We eyed each other, and I searched for signs of injury, but the only thing that seemed to trouble them were clothes even wetter than mine and a visible tiredness in their features.
“This can’t be yours?” Watson asked and pointed at the gun, which I drew.
“No, I snatched it from one of my attackers,” I grinned despite my state and pointed up. “Those fools followed me all the way into there. I could corner some of them in the building and silence them for good. But even if they are idiots, it won’t take them long to realise I have disappeared through the roof. Follow me.”
They nodded and fell into step behind me, as I lead them along the side of the ruins and between two buildings on the other side of the plaza, behind a group of donkeys. We moved at a fast pace, which made my body ache from exhaustion and drew a lot of attention to us when passing other people in the narrow streets.
“Where are we going?” Victoria asked.
“Does it matter? Anywhere is good as long as it leads away from there,” Watson said.
“We are going to the Nile to charter a boat to take us upstream, south of Cairo,” I answered. “From there it’s a journey of about half a day into the desert to reach the ritual site.”
“I put the instructions into my jacket, but I am afraid they are quite ruined now,” the doctor stated sadly.
“No worries, doctor. I have committed them to memory. Through here, now,” I pointed into the direction of a very small alley, just as I heard people shouting behind us. “And hurry, please.”
“If I trust anything in this world, it’s your memory, Mycroft,” Watson said in a rare declaration of faith in my abilities, which I had absolutely no mind for properly processing at that moment.