The Secret of Excalibur

out of here and put on some dry clothes, huh?’

‘Yes, something sexy,’ said a Russian-accented voice from outside.

Nina froze. Standing in the chamber was the long-haired man Chase had thrown out of the window of Staumberg Castle, Zakhar. Beside him was a broad-shouldered, shaven-headed thug with an ugly scar running across his throat practically from ear to ear. Both were armed, the bald man with a pistol, Zakhar with a compact MP-5K sub-machine gun.

‘Hello again, sexy lady,’ said Zakhar with a crooked smile, running his free hand through his hair. ‘Come out here. And you, Jack.’ He looked past Nina, gesturing with the gun for Mitchell to follow her.

Nina risked a glance back as she left the tomb chamber. Chase had moved as soon as he heard the new arrivals, and was now crouching in the cover of Arthur’s coffin. But it wouldn’t take much for the Russians to spot him.

Fortunately, they were more interested in what Mitchell was holding. ‘Ah!’ said Zakhar. ‘Good, you have sword.’

Mitchell raised it, as if preparing to enter battle. ‘Care for a rematch, Zakhar?’

Zakhar smiled again and shook his head. ‘I do not think so. Besides, I already beat you once. Now, put down sword and move over there.’ He nodded in the direction of the back wall.

Mitchell reluctantly placed Excalibur on the floor before following Nina across the room. She looked back at the tomb again. Chase was nowhere in sight - and the two Russians apparently thought only she and Mitchell were there.

‘There’s more here than just the sword,’ she said to Zakhar, indicating the opening. ‘That room’s the tomb of King Arthur - and it’s full of treasure. If you let us go, you can have it. You can have it all.’

‘Treasure?’ said Zakhar. He looked at the door, seeming disappointed by what he saw beyond. ‘I see no treasure.’

‘It’s in the coffins. All of King Arthur’s royal gold and jewels.’

The two Russians exchanged glances. ‘Stand by wall,’ said Zakhar, directing Nina and Mitchell back with his gun. He nodded to the other man. ‘Orlovsky?’

The bald man grunted and moved to the tomb entrance, peering inside and seeing the two stone coffins. He glanced back at Zakhar, then stepped through—

Chase’s hand whipped round from the other side of the opening and smashed the chunk of cut stone into Orlovsky’s face, sending teeth showering out in a cascade of ivory. The Russian let out a gurgling scream and fell backwards, spitting blood from his ruined mouth. His gun bounced from his hand and skittered across the stone floor.

Zakhar gasped in surprise, then whirled and fired his MP-5K at the doorway as Chase lunged back into cover. In the confined space the gunfire was almost deafening. Nina yelled and pressed her hands to her ears as Mitchell dived at Zakhar. He saw him coming and brought the gun back round, still firing. Chips of stone exploded from the walls as the bullets hit. Nina ducked, the line of holes stitching just over her head.

Mitchell grabbed Zakhar’s gun hand, stopping the weapon short just before it reached his face. Zakhar snarled and fired again anyway. The muzzle flame scorched Mitchell’s temple, the American screwing up his face in pain. Zakhar wrenched the gun from his grip, taking aim at Mitchell’s head—

Nothing came from the MP-5K but a dry metal click. The magazine was empty.

Chase heard the sound and ran into the chamber, vaulting over the fallen Russian. ‘Nina, go!’

‘What about Jack?’ she cried, seeing Mitchell struggling with Zakhar. The empty gun clattered to the floor beside the protruding figures of Lancelot and Galahad.

‘Just go!’ He shoved her towards the exit, then turned to join the fight in the centre of the room.

One eye still squeezed closed, Mitchell was unable to react fast enough to block Zakhar as he twisted round and slammed his elbow into his temple. Mitchell staggered back, and Zakhar immediately took advantage, delivering a crunching kick into his stomach. Mitchell crashed against the side wall and dropped to the floor, winded.

Zahkar smiled in triumph, then turned to face Chase.

Who had snatched up the sword and was swinging it at his head, about to cleave it in two—

The Russian’s hands flashed up with shocking speed, palms clapping together to arrest the blade’s swipe just above his forehead. A drop of blood fell from the edge of the sword. For a moment, the two men stared at each other, eye to eye.

Then Zakhar moved.

Chase knew the kick was coming, but despite his best efforts wasn’t quite fast enough to avoid it as Zakhar spun and lashed out a foot, cutting his legs out from under him. Chase stumbled, landing hard in the centre of the painted Round Table. He lost his grip on Excalibur as he fell - and realised to his shock that Zakhar had kept hold of it, bloodied hands still squeezing the blade.

Zakhar flipped the sword over and caught it by the hilt, hands raised high over his head. He looked at Chase, ready to plunge it down like a stake into the Englishman’s stomach—

A bloody hole burst open in his left shoulder.

The chamber rang to the echoing boom of Orlovsky’s gun - now in Nina’s hands. Zakhar lurched round, Excalibur flying from his grip to land at the side of the room. Clutching at the wound, he staggered backward . . . and tripped over the figure of Lancelot.

The key turned.

A harsh scrape of metal came from beneath the floor as some ancient mechanism, held in check since the twelfth century, was finally released.

‘Oh, bollocks,’ muttered Chase.

Nina looked up as a rush of wind came from the nearest of the holes in the ceiling - air being driven ahead of the deluge that was about to come. But there was another, more menacing sound just behind her as the huge slab above the main entrance began its grinding descent. ‘Come on!’ she yelled. Mitchell was getting to his feet, Excalibur not far from him, Chase still on his back in the centre of the chamber . . .

Dirty brown water erupted from the holes above with punishing force, hard enough to sweep up Orlovsky and slam him against the wall. Zakhar fell, landing with a splash and a screech of pain. The chilly torrent hit Chase from all sides at once, making him splutter and choke as he tried to sit up. Only Mitchell, bracing himself against the side wall, was able to pull himself upright. He fumbled for Excalibur, pulling the dripping sword from the muddy froth.

The churning flow surged around Nina’s legs, knocking her back against the edge of the door and jarring the gun from her hand. It vanished into the flood. The slab was still dropping, five feet above the floor, less . . . She ducked under it into the passage outside. ‘Eddie! Jack!’

Mitchell kept moving around the edge of the room as the water rose. ‘Nina, get out of here!’

‘Not without Eddie!’

Battered by the plunging columns of water, half blinded by spray, Chase rolled on to all fours to raise his head above the water. But it wasn’t by much - the room was filling with frightening speed.

And it would fill much faster once the door finally closed . . .

Mitchell reached the exit. Three feet and falling. He dropped to a crouch and leapt through.

‘Eddie!’

The panic in Nina’s voice drove a surge of adrenalin through Chase’s body, punching through the numbing effects of the cold onslaught. He got his bearings, saw the gap reducing to just two feet, eighteen inches, almost touching the surface of the water . . .

Last chance—

Chase sprang upright - then immediately dived forward, landing on his stomach a few feet short of the door and being carried along by the rush of water through the rapidly shrinking gap. The bottom edge of the stone scraped against his heels as he shot through. Over the thunder of the deluge he heard a last terrified scream from Zakhar - then both sounds were abruptly cut off by a ground-shaking bang as the stone slab slammed closed.

The rush of water immediately died down to a trickle, the torrent which had already escaped the chamber sluicing away down the passage. Chase sat up, gasping for breath as filthy water streamed off him.

‘Eddie, are you okay?’ Nina asked, helping him stand.

‘Jesus!’ he spluttered, wiping his face. ‘What is it with you and places full of death