Curse of Atlantis (34 page)

“No traps, yes?”
Dimitri
asked, nervously.

“You saw us move through it. Obviously, it’s safe,” Jack responded, sarcastically.

“It’s obvious only to you,”
Dimitri
replied. “We trust nothing.”

Dimitri
nodded to his men in front to cross. Each man hurried across the pit and waited, followed by
Dimitri
, Serena, then Nicolae.

As he crossed, Nicolae stopped and stood in the middle of the sandy pit. He looked around him, taking in the grandeur of engineering. Shaking his head in amazement, he made the final steps onto the stone floor on the other side.

“Boss, we really should hurry,”
Dimitri
suggested respectfully.

Nicolae nodded simply, and waved his hand for all to continue.

Up through the next incline, the nine continued. They rounded the last corner that headed back to the pentagon chamber. The deeper into the pyramid they traveled
,
the more frightening the images of death were etched into the walls and floor.

Ignoring their warnings, Nicolae stared with deep appreciation, and envisioned the craftsmen at work while creating the works of art thousands of years before.

“Nicolae, we really should continue,”
Dimitri
said, delicately.

Hearing his name being called, Nicolae snapped from his trancelike state and continued on.

Leading the group, Jack was the first to enter the pentagon chamber. His stomach fluttered nervously as he eyed the large rectangular door off to
his right. Filing in behind him
, the rest of the group entered and stood in the middle of the room. For a brief moment, all eyes absorbed the architecture and hieroglyphics as the flashlights spotlighted every detail.

Nicolae moved to the altar and scanned its front with his light. His eyes were ravenous with excitement. He looked at the top of the altar, then back over to the door.

“This it! Behind that door is the tomb to the King of Atlantis. I must see it,
NOW
!” he exclaimed, barely able to contain his enthusiasm.

Dimitri
stared at Jack intently, then said, “Ok, where’s the real crystal
?
”

“Behind this altar,” he responded, walking around to the back side.

He reached down and stood up. Staring back at him were four men with handguns trained on him.

“Whoa guys, easy. I’m unarmed. You’ve already check
ed
us all for weapons. We’re clean, remember?”

“You could have hidden one behind the altar,”
Dimitri
responded.

Holding up his radar device, his said, “All I have is this. This crystal’s inside it.”

Jack sat the globe-shaped plastic device on the edge of the altar. As the
Dimitri
stared at it, his memory flashed back to the moment of the kidnapping.

“That? You hid the crystal inside that?” he asked rhetorically. “I kicked that thing across th
e sidewalk. If I had only known.
”

“Clever,” Nicolae said simply.

Javier looked at Jack with admiration. “Very clever,” he added, momentarily forgetting his fears.

“Well, after you guys tried to steal it that first time, I knew I needed to find a way to both hide it and protect it. The radar device was the perfect cover,” Jack said, as he began to unfasten the wing nuts on one half of the plastic ball.

All eyes watched in fascination as Jack unscrewed each nut. When the last nut was removed, he held the bowling ball sized globe
in
his hands and lightly tapped it on the altar. Instantly, each half of the globe separated as he lowered it back to the altar. The plastic halves opened
,
revealing the ancient crystal.

Nicolae hurried over and lifted the crystal off the altar and rotated it in his hands.

“My crystal… and it looks perfect. No damage,” he said, eyeing Jack with contempt. “Lucky for you.”

Jack swallowed hard as Nicolae stared at him with burning anger. Coming around the back side of the altar, he continued his stare.

Suddenly, Nicolae flinched. Jack’s body jolted in reaction to Nicolae’s scare.

“Move away,” Nicolae said in a low, determined growl.

Jack quickly stood aside and watched. Nicolae stared up at his men, nodded, then lowered the crystal onto the pedestal. As the weight of the globe caused the pedestal to sink, he held his hands to the outside, guiding it lower like a parent guiding a child. The crystal sunk lower several inches and stopped.

Softly, a quiet
"
hissing
"
sound could be heard from behind the walls.

“Do you hear that?” Nicolae said excitedly to no one in particular.

As the noise grew in volume, the large door began to open. Every person spun on their heels and watch
ed
in fascination as the enormous block of stone slid from left to right. With each inch that it opened, lights strained through the ope
ning as they all tried to see
the interior of the new chamber.

“My God, it
'
s beautiful,” Nicolae shouted as he darted from the altar and stood in front of the opening.

Inch by inch, as more
of the
chamber was exposed, he stuck his head in to investigate. Looking around, he noticed the large rectan
gular shape of the room, measuring
twenty feet long by fifteen feet wide. Each wall had murals etched into
it,
showing the glory of Atlantis.

“Look, on the other side. Another door!” he shouted loudly.

Shining his light in, it traveled down another narrow corridor. Nicolae’s eyes instantly stopped. At the end of his light, a glint shined from another room.

“Oh my God! Look,
GOLD
!” he shouted, nearly unable to contain his excitement.

He hurried into the rectangular
chamber
, only to hear a shout from behind.

“WAIT!” Jack shouted out loudly.

Nicolae stopped, turned and stared. All eyes were now on Jack.

“W
e should be the first into the chamber, after all, we found this, dug it all out and made it safe to enter. I think we’ve earned the right to be the first to lay our eyes on those riches,” Jack shouted. “I demand it.”

“Demand? DEMAND?
” Nicolae shouted back
incredulously
.

He stormed from the rectangular chamber, back into the pentagon chamber, drawing his gun as he charged.

“Whoa!” Jack yelled, throwing his hands up in defense. “It’s not that important. We’ll wait here. It’s not worth losing our lives over.”

Nicolae stood in front of Jack and shoved his pistol into his face. He squeezed the trigger, only to realize the safety prevented him from firing.

Jack cowered before him and pleaded, “Don’t shoot, man. I’m sorry. I said something really stupid. I got caught up in the moment. We can wait here. There’s no reason to kill me over a stupid mistake.”

Nicolae pointed the gun at Jack’s head again and listened t
o his words. He lifted his knee
and thrust it into Jack’s jaw, knocking him over backwards. He land
ed
against the wall and slumped to the floor.
Lying
motionless
on the floor, Jack pretended
to be unconscious as he had done once before.

Nicolae pointed the gun at him again, then turned to the group.

“You all are pathetic and weak. You deserve nothing.” Pointing to his men, he continued smugly, “We will view the King’s chamber alone.”

He t
urn
ed
to the shorter Russian now guarding Serena.
“Anatoly, watch them. If they move, kill ‘em… kill ‘em all,” Nicolae ordered.

A threatening quiet blanketed the room as Anatoly pointed his gun. Confident of his control over his captives, Nicolae turned to his remaining three men and nodded for them to follow.

“This way,” he said, growing excited once more.

Replacing their guns with flashlights, Nicolae shined his light into the rectangular chamber. His heart pounded with anticipation and he wiped his sweaty hands on his pants. Stepping through the doorway, his mind raced as he studied the ancient artwork etched into the walls.

Turning to
Dimitri
, he said, “This was well worth the wait. Thank you for this.”

“I knew you’d be pleased,”
Dimitri
responded proudly.

“And to think I almost gave up on it all. Sometimes I wonder how I ever became so rich and powerful with such limited patience,” Nicolae reflected as he continued further.

“What you lack in patience, you make up for in brute force,”
Dimitri
half joked, following right behind Nicolae.

Behind
Dimitri
, the other two men eagerly entered the chamber, their flashlights scanning the walls and corridor in front of them.

Moving toward the doorway on the far wall, the four lights flooded the corridor that led to the chamber just beyond it. Bright flashes of gold, red
,
and green reflected off the distant artifacts.

“Wow, rubies and emeralds,”
Dimitri
guessed. “Hope we can handle all this stuff.”

“No problem. We’ve got plenty of equipment back at the truck. We should be in and out in no time,” Nicolae responded optimistically.

Behind Nicolae and
Dimitri
, the two men following scanned the disturbing murals around them. Apprehension began to penetrate their thoughts as they viewed images that depicted savage brutality.

“These Atlanteans must have been a violent people,” one man said aloud.

“Nah, they just don’t want anyone stealing their treasures, so they created images to scare away people,” Nicolae said.

Three feet from the rear of the chamber, Nicolae heard a soft crunch under his foot. Deep behind the walls, a light
"
hissing
"
sound was created by flowing sand. Looking down, he shined the light on the floor. In front of him was an elaborate etching of a sunburst.

“Beautiful,” Nicolae said loudly. “Just look at the detail at this doorway.”

Dimitri
came to Nicolae’s side and viewed the artwork.

“Hmm, very impressive. That’d look nice in front of your office door,”
Dimitri
suggested.

Suddenly, the floor trembled and a tremendous roar sounded from inside the walls of the chamber. A moment later, a door slammed closed to the corridor in front of the sunburst.

Nicolae turned and shot
Dimitri
a frightened stare.
Dimitri
’s face drained of all color. The last two men turned quickly and ran for the pentagon shaped room.

“My God, what have we done?” Nicolae cried out in fear.

“It’s a trap…
RUN
!”
Dimitri
yelled.

As they ran to escape, ironic etchings of men crushed by stone were boldly displayed on the walls before the exit.

Staring into the rectangular chamber, Anatoly watched in horror, the fate of his comrades. As the far chamber trembled, the heavy stone ceiling fell as one large tile. One second, he watched the horror in their eyes, the next he watched their bodies instantly crushed beneath the tremendous weight of stone.

Eerie quiet filled the chambers as each person processed the tragedy.

“Oopsies,” Jack shouted from behind.

An
at
oly spun around and felt the crushing impact of stone against his face, as Jack drove a large rock against his jaw, instantly shattering it and knocking him to the ground. As he lay on the floor, Jack kicked the gun from his hand.

“In your face!” Jack shouted sarcastically. “No artifacts for you.”

Javier instantly turned to Serena and pulled the duct tape from her mouth. Even before she could speak, he pulled her close and hugged her tightly.

“I thought you were gone forever,” he cried, happy tears streaming down his cheeks.

Holding her dad tightly, her own tears flowed unabated.

“Dad, you’re so thin,” Serena responded. “I’m so sorry you went through this.”

“I’m sorry we couldn’t get you out sooner,” he replied
,
barely able to speak.

Burt hugged both Serena and Javier. Suddenly, his eyes widened and he pulled away.

“Oh my God, what the hell just happened?” he cried out in shock.

Staring back at him, Jack smiled a great smile.