The Gates of Hell

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Drake’s booted feet touched the floor of the chamber. Before the others started to descend, he set of a luminescent flare to brighten their way. Immediately, the walls came to life, their etchings now standing out starkly to Drake’s shocked eyes.

Whorls, like the ones on the two portable devices. Now confirmed as being exactly the same as the ones Torsten Dahl and his team had discovered in the Tomb of the Gods back in Iceland.

What manner of ancient civilization had they stumbled onto lately? And where would it all end?

Ben and Karin and the rest of the Delta team repelled down the drop rope until they all crowded around the huge archway of the Gates of Pele. Drake tried hard not to look too deeply into the inky blackness beyond.

Ben and Karin fell to their knees. The actual arch itself consisted of some kind of dull metal, perfectly smooth and symmetrical. Upon the surface of the metal were etched the same tiny markings as the rest of the cave.

“These markings”—Karin touched them carefully—“are not random. Look. I see the same whorl repeated time after time. And the rest of the cave…” She glanced around. “Is the same.”

Ben fumbled out his phone. “This is the pic that Dahl sent us.” He held it up to the light. Drake leaned forward, confident that the Delta team would be alert for intruders.

“So the Tomb of the Gods has some link to the Gates of Hell,” Drake thought aloud. “But what do the whorls mean?”

“Repeated patterns,” Karin said quietly. “Tell me. What kind of markings, ancient or

Modern, consists of many repeated patterns?”

“Easy.” The big Komodo hunkered down next to them. “A language.”

“That’s right. So if this is a language—” She indicated the chamber walls. “Then they tell quite a story.”

“As do the ones Dahl found.” Drake nodded. “But we don’t have time to analyze it now. Kovalenko’s through that gateway.”

“Wait.” Ben gripped the bridge of his nose. “These markings…” He touched the archway. “Are exactly the same as the ones on the devices. To me, that says this gateway is a fixed version of the same contraption. A time travel machine. We’ve already concluded that the gods may have used the portable devices to flit through time and influence fate. Maybe this thing is the master system.”

“Listen,” Drake said quietly, “that’s fine. You’ll figure it out. But beyond that gate—” He jabbed a finger into the pitch black. “Is the Blood King. The man responsible for Kennedy’s death, among hundreds of others. It’s time to stop talking and start walking. Let’s go.”

Ben nodded and stood up, looking a bit guilty as he brushed himself off. Everyone in the chamber drew a deep breath. There was something else beyond the gate that none of them wanted to mention:

The reason Captain Cook had changed the archway’s name from the Gates of Pele to the Gates of Hell.