Seven Ancient Wonders

He saw the two American convoys—now merged to become one mega-convoy—thundering across the plain, kicking up an immense dustcloud behind them. Choppers hovered above the great column of vehicles, with one dark-painted Black Hawk out in front.

Ten thousand men, coming right for them.

'By Allah,' he breathed. 'Er, Huntsman . . .'

West joined him, saw the immense American force, and particularly eyed the dark Black Hawk leading the way.

He frowned.

That chopper actually didn't look . . .

He pursed his lips in thought.

The world was closing in on him, and he was fast running out of options.

'Come on, Pooh,' he said. 'We can't stop now.'

They rejoined the others at the tunnel entrance, where Stretch said, 'If this trap system is anything like the others, there's no way we can get in and out before the Americans arrive.'

'If I may be so bold,' Zaeed said slyly from behind them. 'There might in fact be a way . . .'

'What way?' Stretch said suspiciously.

'The Priests' Entrance. The Nazi's diary mentions it, and I have come across this phrase in my own research. Such an entrance is usually a small one, unadorned, used by the priests of a temple to tend to its shrines even after that temple has been closed off. As a royal retreat, the Gardens almost certainly contained temples in need of tending.'

'A back door,' West said.

'Yes. Which means we can enter through this door and exit out the other end, via the Priests' Entrance.'

'If we can find it,' Stretch said.

'If we don't get this Piece,' West said, 'Doris and Big Ears and Noddy will have died for nothing. I'm not going to let that happen. I'm getting this Piece or I'm going to die trying.'

And with that he turned, and gripping Lily's hand, he started for the tunnel behind the waterfall.

Pooh Bear fell into step close beside him, and stole a whisper: 'Huntsman. That lead chopper, the dark Black Hawk out in front of the convoy, did you see it?'

'Yes,' West's eyes remained fixed forward.

'That wasn't an American chopper.'

'I know.'

'Did you recognise the markings? It was—'

'Yes,' West whispered, glancing back at Stretch. 'It was an Israeli chopper. Somehow the Israelis knew our location, and I think I know how. Thing is, it looks like they're trying to get here ahead of the Americans.' He threw another deadly look at Stretch. 'Israel always looks after Israel. Come on.'

And with those words, they entered the trap system that guarded the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

(335)

The flashlight on West's fireman's helmet carved a sabre-like beam through the darkness of the tunnel.

His team followed him, silhouetted by the daylight that penetrated the waterfall behind them. They also wore helmet-lights. Horus flew out in front.

The tunnel was perfectly square in shape, its walls hard, carved from solid rock. And it sloped steadily downward, away from the daylight. Shadowy square recesses were cut into its ceiling, concealing God-only-knew- what. The waterfall behind them roared loudly, a constant shhh—

The first trap struck.

With a heart-stopping boom, an enormous five-ton dropstone fell out of a recess in the ceiling—just inside the entrance—blocking out the sunlight, filling the entire tunnel!

Then, to their horror, the gradient of the tunnel gave the massive block life.

It immediately started sliding down the slope—toward them— forcing West's team forwards and downward. 'Move!' West called.

They all started running down the tunnel, away from the great sliding stone, side-stepping warily around all the ceiling holes they had to pass under.

The great stone slid quickly forwards, chasing after them, an unstoppable pursuer, driving them toward—

A cliff edge.

Thirty metres down the slope, the tunnel simply ended at a gaping black abyss. The tunnel did not seem to continue in any way beyond this dark void. This, it appeared, was the absolute end of the tunnel.

The stone kept rumbling down the tunnel behind them.

West fired a flare into the dark void—

—to reveal that they were standing at one end of a gigantic subterranean cavern shaped like a giant cube, easily fifty metres long and at least ten storeys high.

Their problem: their tunnel opened onto this cavern right up near the ceiling.

The sliding stone kept coming.

Then, by the glow of the hovering flare, West saw the floor of the great cavern thirty metres below him.

It was flat and bare, made of sand.

But there was something wrong about it—it was too flat, too bare.

West kicked a nearby stone off the edge and watched it sail down to the floor of the cavern.

The stone hit the floor.

It didn't bounce.

It just landed with a splonk, embedding itself in the goopy sandlike surface. And then it went under, seemingly swallowed by the semi-liquid surface.

'Ah-ha, quicksand,' Zaeed said, impressed. 'The entire floor is quicksand . . .'

'God, you're just like Max,' West said, snapping round to check

on the fast-moving stone behind them—ten metres away and about to force them into the quicksand-filled chamber.

'This trap system doesn't waste any time, does it?'

But then, turning back to the massive square cavern, he saw the answer—a long line of handbars had been dug into its ceiling; a line that ended at a matching tunnel at the opposite end of the cavern, fifty metres away.

Of course, more dark and deadly trap-holes were interspersed between and above the handbars.

'Lily, here. Jump onto my chest, put your hands around my neck,' West said. 'Zaeed. You got any intel on these handbars?'

Zaeed peered back at the sliding stone: 'I found a reference once to something called the High Ceiling of the Sand Cavern. It said, 'Walk with your hands but in deference to he who built it, avoid those of its Creator.' Imhotep III built this system, so I'd avoid every third handgrip.'

'Good theory,' West said, 'but since I don't trust you, why don't you go first and test it out. Now move.'

Zaeed leapt out onto the handrungs, swinging himself along them, avoiding every third one.

Once he'd survived the first few metres, West scooped up Lily. 'Everybody, follow us.'

And so with Lily gripping him around the neck, West reached up and grabbed the first handbar . . .

. . . and swung out over the ten-storey drop to the quicksand floor.

It was an incredible sight: five tiny figures, moving in single-file, all hanging from their hands, swinging fist- over-fist across the ceiling of the immense cube-shaped cavern, their feet dangling ten storeys above the floor.

The last in the line was Pooh Bear, who leapt off the doorway-ledge a bare moment before the five-ton sliding stone came bursting out of the tunnel, filling the entire passage before falling clear out of it!

The huge square stone thundered off the edge . . . and tipped . . . and went sailing down the sheer wall of the cavern before it splashed into the quicksand with a great goopy splat.