thought of walking through tunnels or rappelling into the vast depths of a cistern no longer bothered her.
Being murdered and left behind in some long-forgotten chamber, knowing that her bones might not be discovered for centuries, was far worse. “I’ll keep an eye out,” she said, replacing the magazine, then putting the weapon in the pocket of her coveralls. She started toward the others.
“There’s something else. Something I haven’t told you.”
He stepped in close. But then Xavier called out that they were leaving, and Griffin moved away, saying, “It can wait.”
His face held that stubborn, closed look she was beginning to recognize, the one that told her he wasn’t about to reveal his secrets to her or anyone else. “Let’s do this,” she said.
“You sure?” he asked.
She wasn’t. Not sure of anything. Especially not him. Even so, her answer was to pick up the pack that Alfredo had given her and walk over to where the others stood waiting.
Sydney eyed the larger packs carried by Xavier and Alfredo. The equipment hanging from both reminded her of what a mountain climber might carry, and then some. “How long are we going to be down there?” she asked.
Alfredo shrugged. “Judging from the distance, and depending on how much obstruction lies between here and di Sangro’s tunnel, not more than a few hours.”
She could only hope that’s all it was. A few hours of walking through the caves she could live with. As long as they were back in time. She and Griffin looked at their watches at the same moment. Not quite five hours before they had to deliver this lost map to Adami.
They filed into the entrance of the tunnels below the basilica. Sydney saw the yellowish rock, and decided it wasn’t as bad as she’d first imagined. They continued on, for what seemed an eternity, the temperature cooling as they descended, then remaining steady. The perfect wine cellar, she thought, grateful for the jumpsuits Xavier’s cousin had provided. In all, their journey consisted of winding through a labyrinth of switchback steps, long passageways, and endless tunnels that seemed to lead down.
And down.
The intense quiet felt surreal. Their breathing seemed to echo off the walls, and the only other sounds heard were their footsteps as they trudged along the rough-hewn floor, and the rattle and clang of equipment hanging from Xavier’s and Alfredo’s packs.
Alfredo broke the repressive silence, telling them that the passageway they were walking through was discovered after a devastating earthquake in the 1980s. He pointed to narrow openings seen along one side. “Crypts,” he said. “After the earthquake, they found huge piles of bones, probably from burials dating back to the 1500s.”
To which Griffin said, “We’re sure one of those isn’t the so-called bone chamber we’re looking for?”
“No,” Xavier answered. “What we’re looking for is a specific sign. The crossbones. I found something that looks like it much farther on, but that’s the dead end I was telling you about. That’s what we’re hoping to find this time around. The secret tunnel into the bone chamber.”
They passed through other tunnels where the archways were shored up with thick timber, something Sydney hoped had been reinforced over the years. And then they had to crawl through low cramped tunnels that led to narrow ledges with sheer drops, and she didn’t dare look down. Every now and then, however, she thought she heard something behind them. Because of the echoes, she couldn’t tell if it was her imagination playing tricks-not that she was about to take a chance. Especially when a small pebble skittered past her feet. “What was that?”
Alfredo seemed unconcerned. “Could be we knocked something loose on our way down. Sometimes the earth shifts, and things just fall.”
Sydney looked over at Griffin, who gave a slight nod, as if to say, like her, he was on guard. They slowed their pace, staying to the rear.
Finally they entered a low-ceilinged cavern, and Xavier swung his light out before them, revealing a vast squared-out area where, in the center on the ground, there appeared to be a large hole.
“That’s where we’re going,” Xavier said, pointing.
“Into the hole?” Sydney asked, changing her opinion of the entire affair in an instant, and not in a good way.
Xavier laughed when he saw where she was looking. “Not down. That massive cistern is one of the dead ends. The one I told you we already checked out. We’re going through that tunnel. There’s supposed to be a hidden passageway up there, which I hope is actually the secret tunnel that leads to the bone chamber.” He shone his light past the cistern, then above, where carved in the yellow
“Are you sure it’s not just some old graffiti?”
“Actually there is a lot of old graffiti, especially down that cistern,” he said, pointing to the large hole in the ground, the one she was grateful they weren’t going into. “But since we’re specifically looking for the signs di Sangro’s men left for us, then this has to be the way.”
Griffin moved toward it. “Why is it upside-down?”
“Not sure,” Xavier said. “Possibly to keep others from recognizing it or paying any attention. I believe there is a hidden opening that leads into another chamber, something that isn’t readily identifiable as a door. With the crossbones on top, maybe they didn’t want to be too obvious.”
“Or,” Griffin said, “it’s a warning.”
“A warning?” Sydney replied, turning her head, trying to view it from different angles. Xavier swung his light across the carving, into the opening, and she could have sworn that a shadow appeared in the form of an arrow. “As long as it’s not telling us to go down. Please tell me that’s not a crude arrow pointing down.”
“Like I said, there’s not a lot down there,” Xavier said, aiming his lamp on the wide opening on the floor of the cave. “A big cistern that leads to nowhere. We’ve already explored it. You can see the top of the ladder anchored at the edge.”
Griffin walked over, looked down the opening. “How far down does it go?”
Alfredo answered. “Maybe an additional thirty meters beyond that ledge,” he said, shining his light into the cistern. “It’s actually a marvel of engineering. Narrow at the top like a bottle, then widening as it gets deeper to make sure it’s structurally sound and doesn’t collapse in on itself,” he said, moving to Griffin’s side, and shining his flashlight down. “Like Xavier said, that’s not where we want to go. Follow the crossbones.” Alfredo turned, shone his light on the carving of the inverted crossbones.
The light drew Sydney’s gaze to the top of the tunnel’s entrance, where she saw the skull and crossbones waver in the light, then disappear in a shadow as he aimed the beam up the long tunnel. “This way,” Alfredo said, starting forward, his voice echoing up the passageway.
Xavier and Francesca followed him in, but Sydney hesitated again, trying to decipher what she’d actually seen.
Griffin stopped beside her. “Something wrong?”
She whispered. “I swear there’s an arrow up there.”
“An arrow?”
Instead of trying to explain, she took her own light, moved it across the entrance of the tunnel and over the skull and crossbones in a sweeping fashion, much as Xavier had done. Perhaps it was the way the thing was carved in the
“You think that’s an arrow?” he said.
“Pointing down.”
And before either had a chance to look further, there was a sharp crack of gunfire. It echoed around the cavern, making it impossible to pinpoint it.
Yellow
Alfredo froze. Francesca and Xavier pulled him up the tunnel, away from the gunfire. Griffin and Sydney each took one side off the tunnel entrance, tried to press themselves into the walls for cover. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing, she thought, switching off her light, pulling her glove off with her teeth, then drawing her weapon from her jumpsuit pocket.
She glanced toward the path they’d taken from the basilica, saw a muzzle flash, then another. The gunshots
