Seven Ancient Wonders Part 36

With a heart-stopping boom boom, an enormous five-ton dropstone fell out of a recess in the ceiling-just inside the entrance-blocking out the sunlight, filling the entire tunnel!

Then, to their horror, the gradient of the tunnel gave the ma.s.sive block life.

It immediately started sliding down down the slope-toward them- forcing West's team forward and downward. the slope-toward them- forcing West's team forward and downward.

'Move!' West called.

They all started running down the tunnel, away from the great sliding stone, side-stepping warily around all the ceiling holes they had to pa.s.s under.

The great stone slid quickly forward, chasing after them, an unstoppable pursuer, driving them toward- A cliff edge.

Thirty metres down the slope, the tunnel simply ended at a gaping black abyss. The tunnel did not seem to continue in any way beyond this dark void. This, it appeared, was the absolute end of the tunnel.

The stone kept rumbling down the tunnel behind them.

West fired a flare into the dark void- -to reveal that they were standing at one end of a gigantic subterranean cavern shaped like a giant cube, easily fifty metres long and at least ten storeys high.

Their problem: their tunnel opened onto this cavern right up near the ceiling. ceiling.

The sliding stone kept coming.

Then, by the glow of the hovering flare, West saw the floor the floor of the great cavern thirty metres below him. of the great cavern thirty metres below him.

It was flat and bare, made of sand.

But there was something wrong about it-it was too too flat, flat, too too bare. bare.

West kicked a nearby stone off the edge and watched it sail down to the floor of the cavern.

The stone hit the floor.

It didn't bounce.

It just landed with a splonk, embedding embedding itself in the goopy sand-like surface. And then it went under, seemingly itself in the goopy sand-like surface. And then it went under, seemingly swallowed swallowed by the semi-liquid surface. by the semi-liquid surface.

'Ah-ha, quicksand,' Zaeed said, impressed. 'The entire entire floor is quicksand...' floor is quicksand...'

'G.o.d, you're just like Max,' West said, snapping round to check on the fast-moving stone behind them-ten metres away and about to force them into the quicksand-filled chamber.

'This trap system doesn't waste any time, does it?'

But then, turning back to the ma.s.sive square cavern, he saw the answer-a long line of handbars had been dug into its ceiling; a line that ended at a matching tunnel at the opposite end of the cavern, fifty metres away.

Of course, more dark and deadly trap-holes were interspersed between and above the handbars.

'Lily, here. Jump onto my chest, put your hands around my neck,' West said. 'Zaeed. You got any intel on these handbars?'

Zaeed peered back at the sliding stone: 'I found a reference once to something called the High Ceiling of the Sand Cavern. It said, "Walk with your hands but in deference to he who built it, avoid those of its Creator." Imhotep III built this system, so I'd avoid every third handgrip.'

'Good theory,' West said, 'but since I don't trust you, why don't you go first and test it out. Now move move.'

Zaeed leapt out onto the handrungs, swinging himself along them, avoiding every third one.

Once he'd survived the first few metres, West scooped up Lily. 'Everybody, follow us.'

And so with Lily gripping him around the neck, West reached up and grabbed the first handbar...

...and swung out over the ten-storey drop to the quicksand floor.

It was an incredible sight: five tiny figures, moving in single-file, all hanging from their hands, swinging fist-over-fist across the ceiling of the immense cube-shaped cavern, their feet dangling ten storeys above the floor.

The last in the line was Pooh Bear, who leapt off the doorway-ledge a bare moment before the five-ton sliding stone came bursting out of the tunnel, filling the entire pa.s.sage before falling clear out of it!

The huge square stone thundered off the edge ...and tipped ...and went sailing down the sheer wall of the cavern before it splashed into the quicksand with a great goopy splat.

Then the stone settled in the quagmire and sank below the surface-grimly, slowly-never to be seen again.

West gripped each handbar firmly, swinging himself and Lily down the length of the cavern. Horus flew alongside them, hovering nearby-seemingly amused at their difficult method of travel.

Following Zaeed, West avoided every third handbar, which was just as well. Zaeed had been right. West tested the ninth handbar and it just fell from its recess, dropping all the way to the deadly floor.

He was halfway across when he heard the voices. Shouts. Coming from the entry tunnel.

The first chopper-the Israeli Black Hawk-must have dropped its men directly onto the path at the top of the falls.

West reasoned that they were probably commandos from the Sayaret Matkal, the very best of Israel's elite 'Sayaret' or 'reconnaissance' units. The Matkal were crack a.s.sa.s.sins-ruthlessly efficient killers who, among other things, were widely acknowledged as the best snipers in the world. Stretch's old unit.

Now they were coming in.

Fast.

'Everybody!' West called. 'Get a move on! We're about to have some really nasty company!'

He started double-timing it across the handbars-swinging like a monkey hand-over-hand-high above the deadly floor.

Then suddenly from the entry tunnel there came the familiar heavy whump whump of a sliding stone dropping from the ceiling- followed by shouts and the sound of rapidly running feet. of a sliding stone dropping from the ceiling- followed by shouts and the sound of rapidly running feet.

The Israelis had set off a second sliding stone.

West kept moving across the high cavern, swinging with his hands.

Out in front, Zaeed reached the mouth of the opposite tunnel, swung into it. West followed seconds later, swinging his feet onto solid ground. He turned to help the others- -only to see a red laser dot appear on his nose ...a dot that belonged to a sniper rifle in the opposite tunnel, a sniper rifle held by one of the Israeli commandos, bent on one knee.

A voice came over West's radio frequency: 'Stay right where you are, Captain West. Don't move a muscle.'

West was hardly going to obey-but then, as if it could read his thoughts, the dot s.h.i.+fted slightly...

...so that it now rested on the back of Lily's head.

'I know what you're thinking, Captain. Don't. Or she dies. Cohen! These handrungs. The safe sequence.'

Right then Stretch landed on the ground beside West. Pooh Bear was still huffing and puffing behind him, crossing the handrungs with difficulty.

Stretch glanced sideways at West as he spoke into his mike: 'Avoid every third rung, Major.'

The Israelis moved quickly, leaping out from the entry tunnel, grasping the handbars, moving across the high ceiling of the cavern.

There were six of them, and they all emerged from the entry tunnel ahead of the sliding stone-it just rumbled out of the tunnel harmlessly behind them, dropping into the quicksand pool.

But they also moved in a brilliantly co-ordinated fas.h.i.+on-so that at any moment, one of them hung one-handed and always had his gun aimed at Lily.

Within a few minutes, they were across the cavern and surrounding West's little team.

The Israeli leader eyed West menacingly.

Stretch made the introductions. 'Captain Jack West Jr ...this is Major Itzak Meir of the Sayaret Matkal, call-sign: Avenger.' Avenger.'

Avenger was a tall man, broadchested, with hard green eyes that were entirely lacking in nuance. For him, black was black, white was white, and Israel always came first.

'The famous Captain West.' Avenger stepped forward, relieving West of his holstered pistol. 'I've never heard of a soldier enduring so much failure, and yet still you keep picking yourself up, dusting yourself off, and coming back for more.'

'It's never over till it's over,' West said.

Avenger turned to Stretch. 'Captain Cohen, congratulations. You have done a fine job on an unusually long mission. Your work has been noted at the highest levels. I apologise for surprising you in this way.'

Stretch said nothing, just bowed his head.

Pooh Bear, however, was livid.

He glared at Stretch. 'Accept my congratulations, too, Israeli. You performed your mission to the letter. You led them to us and you sold us out sold us out just in time to hand them the last available Piece. I hope you're satisfied.' just in time to hand them the last available Piece. I hope you're satisfied.'

Stretch still said nothing.

Lily looked up at him. 'Stretch? Why ...?'

Stretch said softly, 'Lily, you have to understand. I didn't-'

Avenger grinned. 'What is this? "Stretch"? Have you been renamed, Cohen? How positively sweet.'

He turned to Pooh Bear.'Alas, everything you say is true, Arab.The last available Piece is to be ours, one Piece of the Capstone that will give Israel all the leverage it needs over the United States of America. Now, Captain West, if you would be so kind. Lead the way. Take us to this Piece. You work for Israel now.'

But no sooner had these words come out of his mouth than there was a great explosion from somewhere outside.

Everyone spun.

West swapped a glance with Pooh Bear.

They all listened for a moment.

Nothing.

Silence.

And then West realised: silence was was the problem. He could no longer hear the constant the problem. He could no longer hear the constant shhh shhh of the waterfall up at the entrance to the tunnel system. of the waterfall up at the entrance to the tunnel system.

The shoos.h.i.+ng had stopped.

And the realisation hit.

Judah had just used explosives to divert the waterfall-the entire waterfall! He was opening up the entrance for a ma.s.s forced entry.

In fact, even in his wildest dreams, West still hadn't fully imagined the scene outside.

The waterfall had indeed been diverted, by a series of expertly-laid demolition charges in the river above it. Now its triple-tiered rockface, criss-crossed with paths, lay bare and dry, in full view of the world.

But it was the immense military force ma.s.sing around the base of the dry waterfall that defied imagining.

A mult.i.tude of platoons converged on the now tranquil pool at the base of the triple-tiered cliff-face. Tanks and Humvees circled behind them, while Apache and Super Stallion choppers buzzed overhead.

And commanding it all from a mobile command vehicle was Marshall Judah.

He sent his first team in from the air-they went in fast, ziplining down drop-ropes suspended from a hovering Super Stallion direct to the top tier of the dry falls, by-pa.s.sing the paths.

Guns up and pumped up, they charged inside.

From their position at the far end of the quicksand cavern, West and his new group saw the Americans' red laser-sighting beams lancing out from the entry tunnel, accompanied by fast footsteps.

'American pigs,' Zaeed hissed.

But then suddenly-whump-the Americans' footfalls were drowned out by a much louder sound: the deep ominous grinding of a third sliding stone!

Gunfire. The Americans were firing their guns at at the sliding stone! the sliding stone!

Shouts.

Then running-frantic running.

Seconds later, the first desperate American trooper appeared on the ledge on his side of the cube-shaped cavern.

He peered around desperately-looking left and right, up and down-and he saw the quicksand floor far below; then he saw the handrungs in the ceiling. He leapt for them-swung from the first one to the second, grabbed the third- -which fell out of its recess and sent the hapless commando plummeting ten storeys straight down straight down.