echoed across the cavern. At least two shooters, maybe more. She closed one eye to preserve her night vision. Hoped the reflective stripes from the jumpsuits didn’t make them more of a target. Aimed. Fired.
33
“We’re sitting ducks here,” Griffin said. “We’re going to have to try to make it up the tunnel. Follow the others.”
Sydney fired off two more rounds, hating herself for even thinking about what she was going to say. “No.”
“No?”
“We need to go down.”
“No. We don’t separate.”
“If we go up, we’re leading them right to the others. Xavier knows his way around here. He thinks there’s a hidden passage up there. The arrow pointed down, and we may be their only chance for escape.”
“It was an anomaly. Shadow play.” A shot hit the
“From everything I’ve heard on this di Sangro guy, he was far too intelligent to let some shadow get in the way. The skull and crossbones is upside-down, so it makes sense the arrow would clarify.”
He fired off a round, then, “How sure are you about this?”
“You have a better idea?”
She heard him taking in a deep breath, as though coming to a weighty decision. “We go down.”
He fired again.
Answering gunshots. Sydney pressed herself into the wall, then leaned out, fired a couple more rounds.
“Ready?” Griffin said.
She looked over to where she thought he was on the opposite side of the tunnel entrance, imagining she could see him in the dark. “Yeah.”
“Cover me, wait a second, then follow.” Griffin fired twice, then ran into the main cavern.
Sydney fired. Again and again. Figured she had about seven rounds left. Someone or several someones were running down the main entrance. She waited a heartbeat, jumped out, fired a volley, then ran like hell.
Griffin flashed a light on then off. He was perched halfway into the entrance of the cistern in the floor, one hand gripping the ladder anchored to the
She tucked her gun into her waistband, grabbed the rope, slipped it on, pulled. “I already hate this idea.”
Griffin was heading down. “If you fall, try not to take me with you.”
“I really, really hate this idea.”
“You said that,” he replied, then disappeared from view. The light from his headlamp cast an eerie glow from the depths of the cistern. It was just enough light to let her see the flexible-sided ladder, which, in her mind, didn’t look sturdy enough for one person, let alone two at once.
Shouts from the tunnel entrance, one saying, “This way!” gave her all the impetus she needed to get on the ladder and start down. She sat on the ledge, grabbed the top of the ladder, then felt for a rung with her foot as she let herself over.
Griffin called up, “Keep your body close to the ladder, and your hands no higher than your face.”
She took the first step down, trying to ignore the vibration of the cables that reminded her of all the nothingness between her and the bottom of the cistern. The damned thing held Griffin, surely it could hold her.
Foot down, hand down. Foot down, hand down. The ladder swayed beneath her weight, and she glanced up, saw an even brighter light sweeping over the top of the cistern entrance.
“They’re going down!” someone shouted.
The word
Griffin no doubt heard it. “I’m turning off my lamp.”
The world around her went black.
Her arms were wrapped around the ladder, and she clung tightly as it swayed in the darkness. Afraid to move, afraid to breathe. The dark petrified her. “I can’t do this.”
“Keep going,” Griffin said.
“I can’t.”
“I really don’t want to die down here.”
And neither did she.
“
Sydney looked up, was blinded by the light.
She felt the rope around her waist tighten.
“Take my hand.” And then she felt Griffin’s strong grasp as he took her hand in his. “Feel for the ledge with your foot.”
“I can’t see.”
“Trust me.”
“I don’t even trust myself.” But she stuck her foot out, tapped, felt the ground beneath her feet, allowed him to pull her toward him.
A shot cracked through the cavern, echoed off the walls around them.
Griffin pushed her to the ground, away from the edge. Whoever was after them would have to climb down the ladder to get them, unless she and Griffin made it easy by standing out toward the edge of the ledge.
Something they weren’t about to do.
“Come on out, we’ll spare your lives.”
Laughter, then another voice saying, “I have a much better idea.”
“The ladder,” she cried, realizing the men were pulling it up and out of the cistern.
Griffin held her arm. “Stay back,” he whispered. The ladder scraped against the ledge, then the mouth of the cistern.
“Leave them,” she heard from above. “Let’s go after the others up in the tunnel. After all, they know what we want. To follow the skull and crossbones.”
“We come back in a few years, and make crossbones out of the two down there?”
More laughter, and the sound of receding footsteps. Then a shout followed by several shots fired.
And then nothing.
Griffin sat side-by-side with Fitzpatrick, the darkness surrounding them completely, the quiet almost deafening. The cold started to seep in, now that the adrenaline rush had left, and he felt Sydney shivering next to him. It had been at least ten minutes since Adami’s men-no, not Adami’s men-whoever they were had pulled up the ladder, leaving them down here on the ledge of the cistern. And seemingly an eternity since they’d heard the gunshots that could only mean one thing. The others were dead. And even if a rescue team arrived, how would anyone know where to find them?
“You okay?” he whispered.
“Fine…” Her breathing was strained, but at least she wasn’t shivering anymore. “I’m fine.”
“Let’s hope the others made it out safely.” His words rang hollow. He’d lost two friends, Alessandra and Tasha, because he’d let his guard down, and he’d failed to rescue Tex. And now the professor and Xavier and Alfredo-never mind the mess he and Sydney were sitting in the midst of. He knew better than to let outsiders in. He should never have let Sydney leave the States. He should have marched her off the plane the moment he saw her walk on. “Maybe they’re getting help now.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“What?”
“November. Giustino said you had a hard time with November. What happened?”
