The Prisoner's Gold

62

As Cobb and McNutt watched from below, the side door of the helicopter slid open. A few seconds later, a thick coil of black nylon rope was pushed from the floor of the cargo bay and dropped to the ground between them.

Sarah looked down from the chopper. ‘Heads up!’

‘A little late, don’t you think?’ Cobb joked.

‘I wasn’t talking about the rope. I meant for this.’

McNutt’s eyes lit up as she lifted the long plastic case to the edge of the doorway and secured it to a drop line. Despite the unmarked container, McNutt knew there was a cache of weapons inside. One of them was a Russian Dragunov sniper rifle. It was an older design, but it was still in wide use throughout the Sri Lankan Army. He raced forward to meet the package before it touched the dirt, cradling it in his arms as if it were a priceless Stradivarius.

When the line was free of McNutt’s gift, Sarah grabbed a hold and stepped away from the safety of the cargo bay. She descended the rope without a harness, gliding down gracefully despite the oversized backpacks she had slung over each shoulder.

A moment later her feet touched down gently on the solid rock.

She dropped the packs to the ground and waved up at the crewman staring at her from the open helicopter door. She gave him the thumbs-up sign, inviting him to wind the rope back into the chopper, then watched as he returned the signal and began pulling in the drop line.

The pilot took his cue and lifted the aircraft higher into the sky.

A moment later, the team was alone on the mountaintop.

When the noise from the rotor had subsided, Cobb touched Sarah on the shoulder. ‘Glad you could make it, Miss Ellis.’

‘Me too, Mister Hall,’ Sarah said, using his alias.

‘Me three!’ McNutt exclaimed as he caressed the weathered barrel of the rifle. The gun had seen better days, but he didn’t care. To him, a well-used rifle meant an accurate gun; snipers didn’t tolerate weapons that couldn’t shoot straight.

Sarah focused on Cobb. ‘If they had told me ahead of time that I couldn’t land the Bell on the plateau, I would have brought the big lady from the start.’

Cobb and McNutt knew she was talking about the Boeing CH-47 Chinook dual-rotor helicopter that Sarah had temporarily procured from a construction company in India a few hundred miles away. The massive Boeing dwarfed the Bell 212 she had just ridden to the site and was capable of transporting roughly 28,000 pounds of freight or personnel. As long as the treasure didn’t weigh more than fourteen tons, they could get it off the mountain in one trip.

‘This is probably for the best,’ Cobb said. ‘You would have been forced to land the Chinook on the ground and then climb up. You’d get up here just fine, but there’s no way we’d be able to hide that big sonofabitch.’ He knew the pilot was waiting for their call in Trincomalee. It wasn’t the best place for a gigantic cargo chopper to go unnoticed, but it was better than the open expanses at the base of the Sigiriya.

‘Either way, there’s no turning back now,’ Sarah replied.

Not only had they removed and destroyed ancient rocks to expose the hidden chamber, they had just flown in reinforcements in broad daylight. Their cover story with the local authorities would last a few days, maybe even a week, but eventually someone would get suspicious if the site remained closed. More calls would be made, and their cover would be blown.

And they still had to worry about the Brotherhood.

If anyone was watching, the team just announced its arrival.

Cobb turned to McNutt. ‘Josh, the only way up here is the stairs. Find some high ground and let me know if anyone tries to reach the summit.’

‘No problem, chief.’ McNutt pointed at the crate of weapons. ‘Before I go, what do you want me to do with this?’

Cobb glanced around the plateau. ‘See that heavy foliage in the southeast corner? Hide the crate in there. They’ll never see it, and it’ll be close by if we need it.’

‘Sarah,’ McNutt said, ‘what are you carrying?’

‘A Beretta, a knife, and several magazines.’

McNutt grimaced. ‘Are you sure that’s enough? I go to bed with more than that.’

Sarah smiled. ‘Thanks for your concern, but I’ll be fine.’

‘Okay.’ McNutt picked up the crate and carried it away.

‘Hector,’ Cobb said. ‘Do you have anything on the Brotherhood?’

‘Nothing yet,’ Garcia replied from the hotel. ‘But I have to tell you that there isn’t a lot of help for us in this country. Closed-circuit cameras are virtually non-existent, and most of the security footage isn’t hardwired to any sort of network. I mean, there are places here that are still using VHS systems! Besides, the Fists could walk from the coast to the Lion Rock and never leave the cover of the jungle. There’s not even electricity out there, much less cameras!’

‘Take a breath, Hector. No one’s asking you to do the impossible.’ Cobb was a bit concerned that the newly confident Garcia had somehow regressed into his former, doubting self.

‘I know,’ Garcia replied. ‘I just want to help. And I can’t do that if I’m blind.’

‘Just keep trying. Check satellite coverage, ATM and traffic cameras, webcams, whatever you can find. Just keep looking. If they’re out there, I’m sure you’ll find them.’

‘Okay, I’ll keep digging around.’

‘Good,’ Cobb answered. ‘Maggie, you’re at the hotel?’

‘Yes, I’m here,’ she assured him.

‘You might as well come over to the rock. I don’t know what we’re going to find inside, but I’d prefer if you were on site if we need you.’

‘When we need you,’ Sarah corrected. ‘I’ve got a good feeling about this.’

‘As do I,’ Maggie agreed. ‘I’m on my way.’

‘You read that, Josh? Maggie is headed up the rock.’

‘Copy that, chief. “Don’t shoot Maggie.” Got it.’

‘Yes,’ Maggie replied. ‘Please don’t shoot Maggie.’

Cobb glanced at Sarah. She was standing tall, with her hands planted firmly on her hips as she stared at the hole in the wall. Cobb could see her foot tapping impatiently, as if she were waiting for permission to dive inside.

‘Hector,’ he asked, ‘are you recording?’

‘Always,’ Garcia said.

‘Good — because Sarah and I are going in.’

It took them ten minutes to set the rigging that Sarah had pulled from the backpacks. They had anchored their lines around a ten-ton slab of stone near the wall’s entrance. To ensure that they didn’t pull any blocks down on top of themselves, they had extended the entry point all the way down to the ground. After securing a soft fabric mat at the lip of the crevasse to keep their ropes from rubbing against the abrasive stone, they had tossed an amber glow stick into the hole to help them judge the distance of their descent.

Sarah went first. ‘You getting all of this, Hector?’

‘I sure am. The rock looks similar to the rest of the mountain.’

Cobb rubbed his hand against the inner wall. ‘It’s too smooth to have been man-made. This cavern is natural. They just sealed it at the top.’

‘But is there anything at the bottom?’ Garcia asked.

‘Let’s find out,’ Sarah replied. She leaned backward and dropped through the air, the black climbing rope zipping past her waist where her belay device was tethered to it. As she came within a few feet of the ground she thrust her right hand back behind her, quickly slowing her descent, and gently extended her legs until her toes touched the ground.

‘The plot thickens,’ Garcia announced as he stared at her footage.

She was facing a tunnel that ran parallel to the ground; one that had clearly been carved into the rock. She turned on her video flashlight and shined it back and forth. ‘It looks like some sort of ancient mine shaft. The walls are braced with wood, and the ceiling is stained with soot.’

‘I call dibs on the biggest nugget,’ McNutt said in her ear.

‘Sorry, Josh,’ she said as Cobb landed behind her. ‘There’s nothing here.’

Maggie groaned as she made her way to the site. ‘That can’t be right. There has to be something. No symbols? No signs? No markers of any kind?’

‘Hang on,’ Sarah said as she and Cobb pushed deeper into the passageway. He turned on his flashlight as well. ‘There’s something on the floor up ahead.’

She could see a large wooden square on the ground, its frame having been cobbled together from scraps of the same sturdy timber that reinforced the tunnel. ‘I think it’s some sort of trap door. Jack, can you move that for me?’

‘I can certainly try,’ Cobb replied.

He dug his fingers into the gap at the edges of the wood and pulled with all his might. The door gave way with a groan, and a dry, dusty smell of ancient air escaped from the hole beneath. The opening was just wide enough for one person to squeeze through.

Sarah shined her flashlight down into the opening and spotted handholds carved into the side of the rock. She cracked another amber glow stick and dropped it into the hole; it fell a hundred feet straight down before it smacked some rock and rolled out of sight.

‘What did you find?’ Maggie asked.

‘Another hole,’ Cobb said as he peered below. ‘This one’s a lot deeper.’

‘Deep enough to hide a treasure?’ Garcia wondered.

Sarah nodded. ‘Deep enough to hide a building.’