King Solomon's Curse

13

‘Jay!’ Nina screamed as Rivero crashed to the floor, blood spurting from ragged wounds across his back. His camera skidded across the stones, spinning to a stop with its spotlight glaring back at his anguished face.

The hooked poles hit the limit of their movement with a clang, then swung back into their slots. Behind, the closing walls reversed direction and retreated to their original position. The stone slab rumbled back upwards until it was again flush with the rest of the floor. It stopped with an echoing crunch.

Eddie ran to join Nina, the couple dragging Rivero clear. He cried out in pain. ‘Oh my God!’ Lydia cried in horror as she saw the red trail behind him.

‘Get me some more fucking light!’ Eddie barked. Fisher hurriedly raised a torch as Nina snatched up the camera and shone its spot over its fallen owner. Rivero’s clothing had been ripped open. The Yorkshireman lifted away the bloody material to see the extent of his injuries. The cameraman’s lower back had been slashed in three places as if by a giant claw.

‘How bad is it?’ Nina asked fearfully.

‘It got him pretty deep here,’ he said of the largest wound. ‘The other two probably look worse than they are. I’m more worried about tetanus or some other infection. I dunno how rusty those hooks were, but we’re in the middle of the jungle as well. We’ve got to get him cleaned, closed and covered before any fucking bugs start making a meal of him.’

‘I thought there weren’t many insects here,’ said the stunned Howie, trying to overcome his shock by fixing on something mundane.

‘Only needs one fucking botfly to lay eggs in a wound and you’re in deep shit. Where’s the first-aid kit?’

‘I’ve got one.’ Nina shrugged off her pack.

‘I’ll get started. Someone shout to Fortune, tell him to radio the others and bring more rope. We might have to lift him out if he can’t climb.’

‘I’ll do it,’ said Fisher. He ran back towards the entrance as Nina gave the medical kit to her husband.

‘Will he be okay?’ Lydia asked.

‘I’ll do what I can,’ Eddie told her. ‘I need some water.’ Nina put down the camera and passed him a canteen. He cleaned his hands as best he could, then carefully washed the wounds before unrolling a length of sterile gauze and laying it over the deepest laceration. Rivero gasped. ‘Jay, can you hear me?’

‘Yeah…’ the cameraman said, voice strained.

‘I can’t tell how deep you’ve been cut around your spine. Can you move your legs?’

Another gasp as Rivero shifted position, his toes scraping on the dusty floor. ‘Thank God,’ Nina said in relief.

Eddie nodded. ‘That’s something, at least. Fucking hell, that could have been really nasty if that trap’d worked a bit quicker.’

Fisher hurried back in. ‘They’re on their way.’

‘Good.’ He applied more gauze. ‘Normally I wouldn’t move you until you’ve been bandaged up,’ he told Rivero, ‘but I really don’t want to stay down here.’

‘No arguments from me,’ Rivero replied through clenched teeth.

Nina was not so sure. ‘I don’t think we’re in any immediate danger. Taking him up too soon might do more harm than good.’

‘No, I… I think we should get him outside too,’ said Fisher. ‘We came here to film you finding a lost city, not get caught in killer traps! I’ve got to put the crew’s safety first. As soon as we’re out, I’ll call for a medevac on the satphone.’

‘How long will that take?’ asked Ziff.

‘It’ll have to go via the company’s offices in LA, but I’d hope they can get a chopper to us pretty fast. I was once on a shoot where someone broke their leg in a fall, and he was airlifted out in less than ninety minutes.’

‘Where was that, though?’ Eddie asked.

‘The Arizona desert.’

The Yorkshireman shook his head. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if the only chopper within two hundred miles is that mining company one in Butembo — and I bet they won’t be too keen on loaning it out.’

‘We’ve got to get him out of here, though,’ said Lydia. She swapped her sound gear for a torch.

Rivero moved again, trying to bring himself up. ‘No, stay still!’ Nina warned.

‘It’s… it’s okay,’ he rasped. ‘I wanna… get out of here. My camera, someone get the camera.’

‘Forget the fucking camera,’ Eddie snapped, but too late as Howie picked it up. ‘God. Archaeologists, photographers — you’re as bloody obsessive as each other!’

‘Wouldn’t be… here if we weren’t,’ said Rivero. With great effort, he levered himself to a kneeling position. ‘Ah! Jesus fuck, that hurts!’

‘What did you expect?’ complained Nina. ‘You just got slashed by a death trap.’ She glanced back at the passage. ‘Although…’

‘What is it?’ said Ziff, picking up on her change of tone from concern to curiosity.

Eddie heard it too. ‘Oh, for fuck’s sake. We’ve got an injured man here, and you’re already thinking about how to get past the trap that whacked him!’

‘I know what my priorities are, thank you,’ she said, annoyed. ‘It’s just that… it is a death trap. If you go forward, you get squashed when the walls close in — but if you turn back, the hooks get you. The only reason Jay wasn’t killed was because the mechanism was jammed by dirt and didn’t spring fast enough. If someone else tries it now, I expect they’d be torn apart.’

‘Saved by… bad housekeeping, then,’ Rivero said, attempting a smile as he tried to straighten. It faded almost instantly.

‘Just keep still,’ Eddie ordered. He examined the cameraman’s back.

‘Solomon’s inscription suggests that there is a way through, though,’ Nina pressed on, directing her light at the ancient Hebrew text. ‘It says, “Only the dead shall pass alive.” That’s got to be significant.’

‘Maybe it is, but it doesn’t matter, because we’re not going to try again,’ Eddie said with irritation. ‘Jay, I’m going to lift the gauze. It’ll probably hurt, so be ready for it.’

‘If it’s gonna hurt, any chance you could, you know, not do it?’ replied Rivero. The Englishman ignored him. ‘Ah, aah! Oh, you — you fucker! God damn.’

‘Sorry.’ Eddie gently replaced the bloodied gauze. ‘It hasn’t stopped yet, but it’s bleeding less than I thought it would be. I think it’s ’cause you’ve got a lot of fat down there.’

Fisher laughed, a release of nervous tension more than actual humour. ‘Wow, Jay. Who would’ve thought that all those burgers and burritos would end up saving your life?’

‘Ha ha ha,’ Rivero responded with an equal lack of amusement, before giving the director the finger. ‘Fuck you.’ This time, Fisher’s laugh was genuine.

‘He’ll be okay?’ Lydia asked hopefully.

‘He won’t bleed to death,’ Eddie told her. ‘Still needs treatment, though. Got to sterilise it, then he’ll need stitches, antibiotics, all of that. I can do it in the field, but it’d be a lot better to get him to a hospital and let the professionals handle it.’

Rivero nodded in agreement. ‘Yeah, yeah. I definitely want it done by a guy in a white coat rather than a guy in a leather jacket!’

A shout from the entrance shaft: Fortune. ‘Eddie! The others are coming.’

‘Great,’ said Rivero. ‘Let’s go.’ He tried again to stand, this time — with the help of Howie and Fisher — managing to push through the pain and bring himself upright.

The Yorkshireman acknowledged Fortune, then looked back at Rivero. ‘We should carry you — walking might make things worse,’ he warned. ‘You really want to risk it?’

Another nod. ‘I don’t wanna spend another minute in this hole.’

‘Then let’s go. You got a good hold on him, Steve?’

‘Yeah, I’ve got him,’ Fisher replied.

‘All right. Howie, use that light so we can see where we’re going. Nina, make sure none of the gauze comes off.’

‘Actually,’ said Nina, ‘I think it’d be better if David and I stay down here.’

Eddie stared at her. ‘You what?’

‘We can keep working while you get Jay outside, see if we can figure out how to get through the trap—’

An incredulous snort. ‘Are you out of your bloody mind? We’re not leaving anybody down here — especially not to poke around at a death trap in the dark!’

‘I know what I’m doing. I’m sure we can work out the solution and find the way through.’

‘I guess we really do know what your priorities are,’ said Lydia, voice dripping with disdain.

‘Nina, they’re right,’ said Ziff. ‘It’s too dangerous.’

‘But look what we’ve found already! I know we can—’

‘What would you tell your daughter if you got hurt? Or what would your husband tell her if something worse happened?’

Nina had no answer to that — at least, none that she wanted to think about. ‘I… okay, okay,’ she said, with reluctance. ‘We’ll get Jay outside. And then I’ll decide what to do about investigating this,’ she went on, unwilling to surrender completely.

‘Yeah, wouldn’t want someone getting Freddy Kruegered to interfere with work,’ Eddie growled. She shot him a hurt look. ‘Come on, let’s go.’

‘What about the gear?’ asked Howie, regarding the team’s equipment.

‘Leave it for now. You’ll have plenty of time to bring it out before a chopper arrives.’

With Howie using the camera to light the way, Eddie and Fisher began to carry Rivero down the passage. The others filed after them. Nina was last to leave, giving the booby-trapped hallway a final frustrated glance before following.

Climbing the stone ladder was beyond Rivero in his injured state. Eddie had to fashion a sling, fastening ropes around him in a way that would cause the minimum pain as he was lifted up the shaft. That done, he climbed to the top so he, Fortune, Paris and the three porters could laboriously haul the big man to the top of the tower, then lower him to the palace roof.

The Yorkshireman loosened the lines to check the cameraman’s wounds. ‘Shit, it’s bleeding again.’ The gauze was wet with oozing crimson. Whatever it was about the ruined city that deterred insects from swarming couldn’t overcome the lure of fresh blood, bugs already flitting hopefully around Rivero’s back. ‘We need to get this cleaned up, pronto. Where’s the satphone?’

‘Still at the camp,’ Fortune told him.

‘You didn’t bring it?’

‘Mr Fisher did not ask for it. I have many talents, my friend, but I am not a mind reader.’

‘Fuck’s sake.’ Eddie glowered at Fisher as he descended from the tower, but knew he was as much to blame as the director for the omission. ‘Jay, how’re you feeling?’

‘Not great,’ Rivero replied. His face was pale and slick with sweat. ‘Those painkillers you gave me? They kinda suck. Sorry, man.’

‘Not your fault.’ The tablets in the medical kit were prescription-strength, but only intended to dull the pain of minor cuts and contusions, not open wounds. ‘Okay, we’re gonna lower you to the ground and carry you to the camp, and then I’ll have another look at your back while someone calls for an evac.’ He resecured the sling.

Ten minutes later, all the expedition’s members were reunited at the base of the wall. ‘Seriously?’ Eddie groused, seeing that Fisher had taken over the Sony to record proceedings. ‘You’re filming this?’

‘We’re a documentary crew, and I’m documenting,’ Fisher replied. ‘If nothing else, the insurance company will want to see what happened.’

‘Hey, I’d do the same thing,’ Rivero feebly told Eddie. ‘It’s more than just a job to me, man. It’s what I do.’

‘Sounds familiar,’ the Englishman replied, looking at his wife. ‘Okay, Fortune, help me carry him.’

The two men took Rivero’s weight and set off towards the ruins. They soon reached the encampment. ‘Get him in there,’ said Eddie, indicating the largest tent. Paris cleared a space on the groundsheet for the American. ‘If we close the zip it should keep out most of the insects. Someone get me water and the medical kit. Steve, find the satphone.’

‘On it,’ said Fisher, going to one of the backpacks.

‘All right, Jay, we’ll…’ Eddie trailed off, suddenly on alert. Something had changed.

No, worse. Something was wrong.

‘What is it?’ Nina asked as he and Fortune looked around in alarm. Paris also sensed that the situation had changed, dropping to a crouch behind a tree trunk.

‘I can smell fucking smoke!’ Eddie snapped. ‘Everyone down — there’s someone else here!’

He and Fortune ducked, bringing Rivero with them — as a gunshot cracked from the jungle.