The King's Tomb

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Lea took the steps down to the basement level two at a time. What had destroyed Theodorakis’s day had made hers — someone was making a move to steal the shield and that someone had to be Dirk Kruger, only he was trying to access the museum’s vaults via the tunnels under the Acropolis. This was their chance to nail him once and for all and take the final part of the puzzle for themselves.

“Ready for a fight?”

She turned to see Devlin at her side. He had already drawn his gun and looked like he was champing at the bit for a good old-fashioned showdown.

“I’m ready to bring Kruger to justice, Danny. He needs to serve time for all the damage and destruction he’s brought to this world.”

“He needs to die,” Ryan said from behind them.

“We’re not a travelling courtroom, Ry,” Lea said. “If he gets killed in the crossfire then so be it, but our job is to secure the shield and let the authorities deal with Kruger.”

Ryan said nothing more, but she knew what was making his heart tick at the moment. The grudge he held against the South African was as hard as they came and with good reason. It wasn’t ECHO’s policy to murder their enemies, but sometimes there was no avoiding it. Feelings ran high in a team like this, but they still had to follow the rules or they were no better than the people they were fighting.

Ryan would have to be watched.

She drew her gun as they crossed the basement and then followed the curator to a series of doors on the far wall. “Most of these are storage units, but this one is the access point to the underground system.” He fumbled with a heavy ring of old brass keys before finding the correct one and pushing it in the lock. “It’s so rarely used I can’t remember the last time anyone came down here, but there are other curators so perhaps more recently than I thought.”

“Let’s just get the door open, shall we professor?” Scarlet said.

Theodorakis paused and gave her an icy stare. “I’m doing my best! These keys are very old!”

Hawke got up in his face. “Just do as she says, professor. Whoever’s shooting up the Parthenon right now is on their way here. Don’t forget that.”

With trembling hands, he opened the door and they found themselves at the top of a long stone staircase. Bending around to the right, it was lit by a weak electric lightbulb hanging on a wire above them.

“Cosy,” Lea said.

“You go on,” Theodorakis said, handing Lea the keys. “If this is a terror attack on our city I must make sure my family are safe!”

They watched the curator shuffle back up the steps and then turned to make their way inside the vaults. They soon reached the bottom of the stairs and walked along a short corridor. Lea went through the keys and opened a second, unlocked door which opened onto another much longer and wider corridor.

High stacks of wooden crates towered either side of them, pushed up against the walls of the tunnel and closing them in. Most of the lids were nailed down, but some had been broken up at some point and straw used for packing poked out of the gaps. Hawke peeked inside one of the open boxes and saw an old vase with a depiction of Poseidon painted on the side. “Hello old friend,” he said.

“What was that?” Kim said.

“Nothing. Keep looking for the shield.”

“Oh my God,” Kim said. “I think I found it.”

Devlin peered into the box she was searching. “Well bugger me with a pair of long-handled hedge shears! She has, as well!”

Scarlet gave him a passing look of disgust as she joined them at the box.

Kim pulled the shield from its thick straw bedding and held it up to the others.

“Ryan?” Hawke asked.

“That’s it,” he said. “No doubt.”

Lea felt a wave of relief. “Get on those symbols, Ry!”

They formed a defensive position around the young hacker as he scoured over the carvings on the front of the shield. “I think I’ve got it,” he said at last.

“Well stay away from me then,” Scarlet said. “Because if you’ve got it, I don’t want to catch it.”

He smirked at her. “That gag is older than you are and that’s saying something.”

“Don’t be so damned cheeky,” she said. “You mean that gag just has more experience than I do.”

“Where’s the location of the tomb, Ry?”

“Amphipolis, near Thessaloniki.”

“We’re outta here, guys,” the Irishwoman said.

“Wait,” said Reaper, indicating the other end of the corridor with a nudge of his square, unshaven chin. “Our old friends.”

Kruger’s men rounded the bend in the tunnel and saw the ECHO team huddling around the row of large crates. The electric light above their heads was flickering in the damp, stone tunnel but Dirk Kruger was instantly recognizable. So was Blankov, Venter and a number of other men.

Lea felt her heart skip a beat and gasped as she reached for her gun. Devlin was a step ahead of her and aimed his gun directly at the trafficker’s face. “Drop your guns, fellas,” the Irishman called out. “It’s game over.”

Ryan lifted his gun and pointed it at Kruger. “Goodnight, Dirk.”

Lea heard scuffling behind her and turned to see Reaper pulling Ryan back and forcing his gun hand down. “Not now,” he said. “You cannot kill him in cold blood, mon ami.”

“Watch me!”

“Non!”

“No,” Hawke said. “Reaper’s right. We’re not executioners. Not like this.”

Kruger curled his lip and looked at Ryan with contempt. “Someone change that boy’s diaper. It stinks in here.”

Venter and the men laughed, but Blankov was looking decidedly serious about the situation unfolding in the tunnel. He smiled when a unit of Athanatoi streamed into the other end of the corridor behind the ECHO team. They were trapped between the two forces.

“You look like a bunch of sewer rats,” Kruger said, chuckling at his observation. “A bunch of rats about to die down in this filthy hole.”

“I don’t think so, Krugs,” Ryan yelled. “You’re the only one who’s going to die today.”

Another cackle of delight. “The boy’s making death threats now! Drop your weapons and hand the shield over.”

Ryan gave a sigh of defeat and passed the shield to his nemesis. Kruger snatched it from his hands and curled his lip. “I hope this piece of crap is worth all the trouble it’s given me, Blankov.”

The Athanatoi chief took it from his hands and looked at him with contempt. “It is, now bring the prisoners with us to the chopper.”

“Can’t we just kill them here?”

“The Oracle has decided he wants to kill them personally.”

Kruger and his men marched them along the tunnel toward the Parthenon, but just before they reached the entrance and with the top of the Parthenon visible in the distance, Hawke saw his chance. One of the cultists had gotten too close and now he body-slammed him into the tunnel wall and disarmed him. Firing the weapon at the Athanatoi he killed three of them before turning on Kruger.

“Drop dead, Kruger,” Hawke said.

“No, that’s your job,” the South African screamed back. “All of you men, kill them now!”