Jihad

CHAPTER 39

Dean squeezed forward through the square stone tunnel, trying to ignore the dust that was choking him. Every ten feet or so he came to an opening too narrow to crawl into; he shone his light down them but inevitably saw nothing. The tunnel ahead widened; he pushed toward it slowly, listening to the strange echoes. As he neared the passage, the urge to sneeze overwhelmed him. He leaned over and stifled it against his shoulder, but the muffled sound echoed in the stone passage. Something rippled in reaction — an echo, it seemed, and then the space in front of him exploded, black shards flying at him.

Not shards but bats. Thousands of them.

Dean pressed his head against the floor of the passageway, the air vibrating around him as bat after bat flew by. One hit his head and he felt another and another tripping over his back, their cries rattling his ears. Eyes closed, Dean pressed himself against the stone, waiting for the onrush to end.

When the bats were gone, he pushed forward into a large cavern whose floor was covered with mounds of guano. Dean’s stomach began to turn. As he clamped his hand against his mouth and nose, he heard the ripple of wings again. He ducked to the right, squatting over a mound of bat turds as the mass of bats came back, circling the interior of the vast chamber before returning to their roosts in the ceiling.

“Where the hell am I, Rockman?”

“We’re trying to figure that out, Charlie. Stay where you are.”

“There are bats here.”

“You’re not freaked by bats, are you, Charlie?”

Dean wished nothing less than to have Rockman’s neck within reach.

“Mr. Dean, this is Rubens. It would appear that Red Lion and his people are within a complex of Byzantine tombs about a hundred feet from you. It appears that the metal lining the sarcophagi is jamming the transmission. However, the technicians believe that if you set up the booster unit close enough, they will be able to pick up some of the signal.”

“You’re sure about this?”

“No, I am not. If you believe it’s too risky to proceed, please say so.”

Dean scanned the bat-filled cavern. How much worse could it be?

“Which way do I go?” he said.

“Straight ahead,” said Rockman.

“Figures.”