Atlantis

Chapter 46

The moment he spotted the Hummers parked at the base of a steep rise, Dane pulled the Range Rover behind a rise, blocking it from view. Urging Jade and Avery to wait with the vehicle, and failing spectacularly to convince them, he and the others moved closer to scout the area.

“I’ll bet it’s somewhere on that ridge up there.” Dane pointed to a steeply-sloped wall of volcanic rock. “It stands to reason the entrance would be somewhere difficult to get to, and that doesn’t look like an easy climb.

“Not for some people.” Bones winked. He and Dane had always been competitive when it came to climbing. “So, do we wait until Tam gets here with backup?”

“I don’t think we can. If the Dominion, or anyone, for that matter, is ahead of us, we’d better catch up to them before they find the machine.

“Ladies, you should wait with the Range Rover.” Bones held up a hand.

“Not a chance.” Jade glared at the two men. “We’ve got as much right as you to see this through. Heck, Sofia has more right than any of us. This all started with the Dominion killing her team. Besides, you’re probably outgunned, so you’ll need all the help you can get.”

“Someone needs to be here in case Tam tries to make contact.”

“Have you checked your phone lately?” Sofia held up her phone. “We haven’t had a signal for hours. Might as well be a tin can and string.”

Dane had had this same argument too many times to count, and not only with Jade, and he’d never won.

“No point in arguing. Let’s move.”

They found precious little cover as they moved toward the spot where the Hummers were parked, but they arrived without incident. Whoever had gotten here first here hadn’t left a lookout. Dane made cursory inspection of the vehicles. Both were empty, save a Bible lying on the passenger seat of the second vehicle. It wasn’t confirmation that it was the Dominion they tracked, but it increased the likelihood. Meanwhile, Bones began tracking their quarry, complaining all the while about stereotypes and racial insensitivity. He identified eight sets of bootprints, probably belonging to men based on their size. As they expected, the tracks led up the rocky slope, part of one of the raised rings that gave the Eye its distinctive appearance.

The way up was easier than Dane had anticipated, with plenty of natural hand and footholds. Jade was a skilled climber in her own right, and Sofia held her own. They experienced a bit of good fortune when, approximately two-thirds of the way up, they came upon a climbing rope affixed to pitons hammered into the rocky face.

“Nice of them to help us up the steepest part.” Bones grunted as he heaved his bulk up the rock.

“Putting these in would have slowed them down, at least a few minutes,” Dane added. “We’ll take any break we can get at this point, no matter how small.”

Reaching the top, they fanned out and began searching for the caves that would, they hoped, lead down into the earth and to the fabled lost city. Minutes later, Dane spotted a ledge a few meters below the place where he stood. From this vantage point, only a fraction of it was visible, but his sharp eyes espied it, as well as a scuff mark that might have been made by a boot. He waved the others over and then climbed down for a better look.

Rubble lay scattered across the ledge where someone appeared to have cleared away a rockfall, exposing a dark passageway.

“I think this is it,” Dane said.

“How will Tam and the others find us?” Jade looked doubtfully into the dark cave.

Dane considered the question, then took his cell phone out of his pocket and stuck it in a crack in the rock.

“Maybe they can trace it.” He made a noncommittal shrug before entering the cave.

A few meters in, the cave floor dropped down at a steep angle before leveling off in a small chamber where three round tunnels converged. Seeing no signs left by the Dominion’s agents, they decided to take them one at a time, beginning with the one on the left.

“This is a lava tube.” Jade shone her light around the rock-encrusted tube. “And maybe not the most stable one. There are cracks everywhere.”

Dane looked up at the fragmented crust coating the tunnel and winced.

“Maybe Bones should walk a little more softly,” Sofia said.

“The day a white person teaches me how to walk softly…” Bones began.

“Hello? Latina here.”

“Oh. You shut it too.”

“I’ve got an idea,” Dane said. “How about we hold it down in case there’s a Dominion agent or two waiting around the corner?”

“He’s such a killjoy, but I suppose he’s right.” Bones checked the safety on his Glock.

The lava tube ended in a wall of rubble, and they were forced to retrace their steps. The second passageway was similarly collapsed a short way in.

“That leaves door number three,” Bones said.

They entered the third passageway moving cautiously, not knowing when they might happen upon the Dominion. This lava tube was in a condition similar to the others, with cracks running through the rocks and shattered stones all over the floor, remnants of minor ceiling collapses. More than once, Dane froze when he thought he heard the sound of cracking rock.

“It’s held for more than ten thousand years,” Jade whispered. “Surely it can last a little longer.” She snaked her arm around Dane’s waist and gave him a quick squeeze.

“It’ll be all right. Just keep moving.”

Several anxious minutes later they came to a spot where two tunnels crossed.

“Holy crap.” Bones glared at the tunnels as if they’d given offense. “This is going to take forever.”

“Now I see how Atlantis could have gone undiscovered for all this time,” Sofia said. “It’s in an unlikely location, the cave was hard to find, and even if a local were to stumble upon it, they could wander around down here forever without ever finding anything of interest.”

“And I’ll bet you need a crystal to get inside. Dane thought of the door to the Hall of Records and what Tam had told him about the entrance to the vault beneath the Jefferson Memorial.

“You figure the Dominion will blast their way in?” Bones asked.

Before anyone could reply, a deafening explosion rocked the ground beneath their feet. Dane covered his head as chunks of ceiling began to fall.

“Which tunnel did it come from?” Bones cried, dodging a chunk of rock.

Dane looked around and saw dust drifting out of the nearest tunnel. “That one. Come on!” He grabbed Jade by the arm and ran, Bones and Sofia hot on their heels.

As they ducked into the lava tube, the ceiling continued to crash down. They kept running along the curving passageway, the sound of falling rock loud in their ears. Finally, when they heard no sound except that of their own feet pounding the floor, they stopped to catch their breath.

“What’s your plan, Maddock?” Bones shone his light back the way they had come. The tunnel behind them had completely collapsed. They were trapped.

“We do the only thing we can. Keep going.”