The underground river below the terra cotta army was more like a sewer tunnel system than a river. The water was about knee-deep, and fortunately it was fresh, without a hint of the toxicity of the outside stream.
Cupping some in his palm, Caleb took a tentative drink. A sip, then a hearty swallow. Then he washed off his face as the others saw him and gratefully did the same.
“Keep moving,” Renee ordered. “Unless you want to RV this portion of the tunnel as well. But it seems odd that they would trap the very route just rewarded to us for solving that riddle up there.”
“They’ll booby trap everything,” Phoebe said. “It’s what they do. Sadists.”
Qara made a clicking sound.
“Or,” Caleb said, “they just want to make sure we’re worthy.”
“You’re not,” Qara said quietly. “No one is.”
Renee turned to her, splashing in the cool water. “Then why is this tunnel here?” The radiance from the flashlights reflected off the water, and danced like sunbursts in her eyes. “Why have we gotten this far, if your great Khan didn’t want someone to find him?”
Behind her back, Qara’s wrists worked the straps. Blood dripped into the water, the flesh cut through almost to the bone. Her face bore no expression.
“No,” Renee continued, “our presence here is proof. It was meant to be found. Found, and taken.”
“By you?” Phoebe asked. “I don’t think so. This is just like the Pharos Lighthouse. It was designed to keep out everyone except those with our kinds of abilities. And despite your minor glimpse at our RV session, I don’t think you qualify.”
“We’ll see,” Renee said. “I’m blessed in other ways. Chosen.”
Qara worked her shoulders, pulling, tugging, twisting her fingers back at a nearly impossible angle, getting under the plastic.
Caleb stood by his sister and addressed Renee. “You want these keys, the translation and the tablet. Want it returned to your master. But Marduk’s long gone. And your cult, it’s nothing anymore, is it? So what is this really about?”
Renee smirked. “You have no idea. Once we have those keys, and once we find the-” She stopped herself suddenly, smiled and turned away.
Find the what? Caleb thought. Something else of Marduk’s?
Renee looked back and smirked. “Thoth’s failure will be complete, and all this secrecy and protection will be all for nothing.”
“You’re wrong,” Qara whispered. She separated her hands, snapping through the frayed bonds, then raised her arms over her head in an angelic stance.
She bent her knees, and charged.
Renee felt the Darkhad’s talon-like fingers around her throat before she could free her gun. She fell back into the water, with the Mongolian witch on top of her, choking her, trying to gouge her eyes out. She got a mouthful of icy water and her head struck the bottom, sending up starbursts in her vision. But then, mercifully, the pressure withdrew.
She sat up, shaking her head and coughing. Chang and another soldier had Qara pinned against a wall. Renee pulled out her gun, shook off the water, and aimed. But something hit her hard on the side, spinning her around.
Orlando grabbed the gun. “No!” Then he grunted as a soldier bashed his side with the butt of his rifle. Renee shoved him off and turned back to see that Qara had broken free. She kicked one soldier in the groin and then elbowed Chang in the face, ripped herself free, and ran back for the ladder.
Guns trained on her, but Caleb and Phoebe blocked the way.
“Damn!” Renee hissed, then leapt ahead, pushed between the brother and sister, and fired, just as Qara jumped up the ladder, scaling it like an energized spider monkey. She fired twice, one round hitting the ladder, the other causing a sharp cry from Qara. But the Darkhad still pulled herself up and out.
Renee chased her. You are not getting away. She had a flash of a vision, maybe something psychic-or just her imagination. A brief clip of Qara hiding up above, somewhere in the tunnels, and firing on her as she returned with the keys.
Not going to happen.
Renee hauled herself up, dove and rolled, bringing out the flashlight in her left hand, the. 45 in her right, sweeping the beam around in a tight circle around the opening.
A legion of blank-faced white-eyed warriors glared at her in the light, swords and shields glinting, horse’s rearing.
Then, a glimpse, legs scuttling back by the water’s edge.
Renee settled the flashlight, sighted, and fired.
Qara stood up, back arched. Knee-deep in the mercury-river, she staggered ahead. Turned, her mouth open in a silent curse.
Renee shot her again.
Qara jerked back. Fell, and was swallowed up by the water.
The flashlight beam played over the rippling silver surface until the bubbles stopped, then pulled away. Good riddance.
Renee turned back to the tunnel entrance, and with twenty thousand eyes watching her in the darkness, she descended. She re-entered the tunnel, and amidst the silent stares of her men, and the desperate eyes of her prisoners, she marched ahead.
She thought about calling Robert Gregory, informing him that she was close, but was doubtful certain communications would even work this far down. And besides, he had unwavering faith in her. She wouldn’t fail. He was surely headed for the Sphinx even now, trusting she’d be there as soon as her mission had been accomplished.
Soon, the ancient box would open and the books would be theirs. And once the senator had found the other artifact, they, with the Emerald Tablet, would be unstoppable.
They would hold the power to fulfill their long-awaited destiny.