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  Yashiro took note of the four refuse bins on the opposite side of the room next to a hinged metal hatch on the floor. The hatch covered a man-made shaft leading to the lava tube below the complex. As he started to make his way silently toward the refuse bins, he heard the sound of voices coming from the corridor outside the locked door.

  In a panic, he leaped over to the closest bin. Lifting its lid, he threw himself inside and landed on a soft mound covered by a canvas tarp. With fear racing through his mind, he squirmed sideways and pulled the canvas tarp free from the mound. He covered himself just as the door to the supply room opened.

  Yashiro, with his eyes closed tight in terror, heard the sound of two men talking as they approached the refuse bins. He felt his bin starting to roll on its metal wheel casters. When Yashiro finally found the courage to open his eyes, he discovered the glazed, dead eyes of his friend Wari staring back at him. Yashiro fought the urge scream as the bile rose from his stomach and caused him to gag.

  Even after days, Wari’s body was perfectly preserved with no sign of decomposition because of the Psycho-Energetic Mind Snap gun. Only his slightly glazed eyes showed any hint of death.

  The anger of the senseless murder of his friend now overcame his fear. He knew this was the fate planned for him if he remained. Yashiro steadied himself to the task at hand, as he heard the sound of the motor that opened the large metal hatchway leading to the tunnel below. He felt his bin starting to swing freely as it was lifted by a pulley that attached to four corner hooks of the refuse bin. Yashiro held his breath, hearing the sound of the electric motor to the lift diminish in volume as the bin was lowered down onto the tunnel floor below.

  Almost there, he thought, feeling the cool air of the lava tube wash into the bin. After a few moments, he felt the soft thud as the bin touched down on the rock floor of the lava tube. He heard one of the men climb down the steel ladder that was attached to the basalt walls and undo the hooks on the refuse bin. The man then pushed Yashiro’s escape bin to the side so that he could lower the remaining three.

  After what seemed an eternity, Yashiro heard the muffled thud of the metal door above him closing, thrusting him suddenly into an eerie silence. Taking a deep breath, he threw off the canvas that was covering him and climbed out of what was to be Wari’s coffin. He knew they would probably dump his body into the sea long before heading to the airport in Santa Cruz.

  The small-framed scientist kept still for a moment, allowing his eyes to grow accustomed to the low lights of the lava tube. His eyes adjusting, he noted that the tube ascended upward about one hundred eighty feet to the cave entrance and then down to the helipad outside. In the opposite direction, the tunnel made a gradual decent into the deep, dark recesses of the volcano.

  Making his way slowly toward the exit of the lava tube, Yashiro saw the first of many overhead lights. They were suspended from an electrical conduit and spaced about thirty feet apart.

  He saw one of the emergency kits mounted on the cave wall and opened it to retrieve its halogen light. Yashiro knew they were stored there in the event the complex ZPG power supply ever failed. Being that it was still night time, he knew he would need the light to traverse the rocky terrain of the caldera outside. Yashiro checked his light as he continued walking upward toward the entrance and began to think that, just maybe, his desperate plan would succeed.

  Just then, he heard the sound of footfalls coming from ahead of him and his hopes of success were dashed. With no time to get back into the bin, he panicked, turned, and started running for his very life. Headed down the lava tube in the opposite direction, he ran past the ladder as the hatch above was being raised. He then heard the shouts of the men chasing him from behind. Seconds later, the excited shouts in the lava tube were drowned out by the deafening echo of gunfire. Yashiro felt a hot stinging pain in his left arm. Feeling the warm trickle of blood flowing down his forearm, he continued to run and ignore the blinding pain. The light from his halogen lamp flashed wildly on the black basalt walls and cast bizarre shadows as he continued to descend into the darkness of the lava tube.

  7

  Around the same time Yashiro had been crawling through the ventilator shaft in his attempt at freedom, Eli Turner and Maria Santiago were painstakingly sliding the circular stone slab from the entrance of the tomb that had been sealed for almost two thousand years.

  Out of breath and exhausted from their endeavor, they laid the cover stone gently on the floor of the cave. The two silently looked into the darkened tomb, both lost in thought as to what they might find in its interior. Even the staunch Captain Saune’s interest was piqued as he and the private climbed out of their darkened crypt and joined the two archaeologists.

  Holding the lantern out in front of him, Eli strained to peer inside as the flickering light reflected the swirling dust surrounding the entrance, disturbed by their recent digging.

  “Here, Dr. Turner, use my flashlight,” the captain said as he offered his light to Eli. “It has a lot more power to it.”

  “Thank you, Captain,” he said, taking the light and pointing it at the opening. “Let’s see what we have inside.” He smiled at Maria, then launched out on all fours and crawled head first through the tiny orifice.

  Making his way through the entrance, he was immediately struck by the peculiar, muffled silence of the tomb’s interior. His eyes now adjusting to the darkness, he focused the beam of light starting from his left, and then slowly scanned along the perimeter of the tomb. The light’s beam danced off the glittering crystals embedded in the black basalt rock, then came to rest on a mummified corpse near the rear of the burial chamber.

  “Come on in, Maria. We have human remains in here,” Eli yelled as he continued his visual sweep of the crypt’s interior.

  On the far right, he focused the light’s beam on an ancient amphora still intact. It was standing upright, surrounded by the scattered potsherds of other broken amphorae that littered the tomb's sandy floor. “Be careful of your hand and foot placements, Maria. There may be other fragments of papyrus lying about.”

  Maria slowly came up behind him carrying the lantern, which bathed the once darkened room with a soft, yellow ambiance.

  “There’s not much in here, Dr. Turner,” Maria noted, coming to his side.

  “I’d never grow tired of this, Maria. Even if the tomb was empty,” he said in an awed whisper. “Knowing this crypt was last visited almost twenty centuries ago is quite a humbling experience.”

  “These mummified remains are well preserved,” Maria said as the two made their way over to the ancient, dust-covered corpse. She began taking photographs of the remains lying in the thickened dust of what was once bedding. “I’d say this was an adult male, but definitely not a Guanche based on his short stature.”

  “Maybe this was our friend Simon, whose name was found written on the parchment,” Eli offered. “I guess there's no way we'll ever know for sure.”

  “Look at the condition of that amphora,” she said excitedly as she carefully crawled over to the earthen vessel on the other side of the crypt. It was surrounded by the bones of an animal. “Early Mediterranean, and, based on the design, I’d date it around 30 to 60 A.D. Most likely Roman from the design of the two handles at the top and its broad middle. We found others similar to this off the coast of Lanzarote. The animal remains look to be that of a goat.”

  “Maybe that was this guy’s last meal,” Eli said with a laugh, pointing back at the human remains.

  “Always the pure scientist,” she said to him with mock disapproval.

  Eli noted that the amphora was slightly faded from its centuries of entombment, but its artwork was clearly visible through the film of dust on its exterior. The six-inch opening at the apex was covered by a material that folded down about five inches from the opening, and was wrapped by some type of cord that effectively sealed its contents.

  After she finished taking photos, Maria put the camera in her vest pocket and carefully placed her
hand on the amphora’s cover, gently feeling the material.

  “This is most likely goat skin,” she noted, lightly brushing the centuries of dust from the cover.

  “It probably belonged to that poor fellow over there,” Eli said, pointing to the animal remains lying about. “Let’s see if we can get this out to the brighter lights of the cave where we can study it better.” Moving around to the back of the amphora, he said, “You take the top end and I’ll support the base.”

  “Okay, Dr. Turner,” Maria said as she gently pulled the top toward her. Eli grabbed the base with both hands and gently lifted it. With their prize in tow, the two slowly backed their way out of the crypt and into the main tunnel.

  After setting the amphora down on one of the backpacks, Eli gazed at the ancient relic that once used to hold items such as wine, salt fish, and olive oil. In the brighter light of the cave, he could see the intricate dark red pattern painted around the amphora at its center, with smaller curved pattern lines painted toward the opening.

  “Hand me my tool kit, Maria. I want to remove the cover skin and see what we have inside before we crate it up and send it to the university,” Eli said, kneeling down beside the ancient artifact.

  Maria dug out the small tool kit from Eli’s backpack and handed it to him as the two soldiers, now intrigued by the find, silently moved closer to get a better view.

  “Okay, here goes,” he announced as he grabbed the long nose pliers from his kit, then gently started to untwist the ancient twine from the amphora that kept its contents secure for centuries.

  “Are you sure you want to do this here, Dr. Turner?” Maria asked, questioning Eli’s decision as he continued working on the vessel.

  “It’s not holding up too well,” Eli said. He ignored her question as the two thousand year old twine, mummified by centuries of arid conditions, fell apart in small pieces. “Here we go,” he whispered as he gently grasped the petrified goatskin covering. Lifting upward, it slowly came off in one piece as Maria took some more photographs. “So far so good,” he said, setting the skin on the ground, then taking a deep breath. He took the light, leaned over the amphora, and directed its beam into the interior.

  “What do you see, Dr. Turner?” Maria whispered in an anxious voice.

  “It looks like a small papyrus, Maria.”

  “There’s nothing else?” Maria asked expectantly.

  “If you mean, is there a grail in there? No,” Eli said flatly. “Such is the way of our profession…one mystery reveals another. We still may have an important find here. It looks well preserved and—” his observations were cut short by the startling sound of gunfire reverberating from outside the cave.

  Eli watched as Captain Saune sprang instinctively into defense mode. He motioned Eli and Maria to get down as he drew his side arm. Using the wireless transmitter, he tried to contact his men outside.

  “They're not responding. You two stay here, out of sight,” he said as he and the private sprinted off toward the entrance and faded away into the darkness.

  “Do you think we’re being raided by looters?” Maria asked nervously as she knelt down beside the amphora.

  “Either that, or our new friend Alton Burr,” Eli replied as he stared off into the darkness where Captain Saune and his man had been a moment before. “I have a bad feeling about that guy.”

  “I’m sure the guards outside will take care of the situation,” Maria said hopefully.

  “The papyrus!” Eli exclaimed as he stood up and reached his hand into the amphora. Ever so gently, he grasped the ancient parchment by its end. When he slowly slid the papyrus out of its ancient sanctuary and into the light of the cave, a lightly rolled parchment was revealed.

  “Dr. Turner, what are you doing?” Maria gasped, startled by his actions. “That should be done at the university.”

  “No time for that now, Maria. If the worst should happen, I don’t want this to fall into the hands of looters or the likes of Burr,” Eli said as he deftly opened the flap on his backpack and carefully slid the document into the pack between two peanut butter sandwiches. Setting the backpack down, Eli knelt, scooped up some dry sediment of the cave floor, and proceeded to pour handfuls into the amphora.

  “If they are looters, all they’ll find is an amphora and what looks to be a document crumbled to dust after many centuries.”

  Hearing the sound of footsteps echoing in the cave and heading their way, he looked up to see Captain Saune and his private slowly appearing in the low lantern light of the lava tube. They were walking toward them with their hands behind their heads. The shadowy images of three men dressed entirely in black appeared behind them pointing AK-47s at their two captives.

  Eli could tell by the Captain’s eyes that he was mad as hell at being captured without a fight.

  They must have been waiting at the cave entrance and easily surprised the two soldiers, he thought. He also noted the terrified look on the private’s face.

  The group slowly approached the two archaeologists as they stood up, startled by the scene playing out before them.

  “Good evening, Dr. Turner,” said one of the black clad figures as he pulled the ski mask from his head. “I trust my men and I haven’t disturbed your work here?” he said with a grin and then shouted an order to his men in Japanese. The other men in black removed their masks and motioned by gunpoint for Saune and the frightened private to join Eli and Maria.

  “Who in the hell are you, and what right do you have coming in here holding us at gun point?” Eli yelled, glaring at the obvious leader of the three assailants. The man smiled at him in return.

  “You are in no position to ask questions here, Turner.” The man sneered as he swiftly swung the butt of his weapon upward to strike Eli. A glancing blow to the side of his head sent him sprawling backward and hitting the ground.

  Eli felt the blinding pain as he hit the ground, but somehow managed to remain conscious.

  He heard Maria scream, “Stop it! Don’t hurt him.”

  Maria knelt down beside the elder man and cradled his head, wiping the blood that started to flow from the open gash to his temple.

  “Bind them,” the leader barked to his subordinates as he took off the satchel he had over his shoulder and laid it down. “I’m afraid you’re little expedition has made my employer nervous. We cannot have the prying eyes of the scientific community or the media at our back door right now, so we must end your little archeology project. Unfortunately, we didn’t expect resistance from the two soldiers stationed out front, but that evidence can be cleaned up quickly enough before the accident is discovered in the morning.”

  “What accident?” Maria said glaring at their antagonist.

  “No more questions,” the man barked as he set about his task.

  The other two mercenaries bound Eli and Maria’s hands and feet with plastic tie wraps, and then unceremoniously threw them down at the tomb opening. Captain Saune saw the look of confusion on Maria’s face at the leader’s comments, but he knew exactly what was going to happen.

  They have no plan to let us leave the cave alive, he thought as he desperately looked for a way to manage a counter-offensive against his captors. Saune eyed the men carefully, and saw to his horror that the leader was removing packs of C-4 from the satchel he had carried in. He now understood what was to happen. They planned to seal them inside the cave with explosives.

  “How is Dr. Turner?” he asked Maria, trying to distract her from her shock as he closely watched the men in black setting the C-4 packs along the walls of the cave toward the entrance.

  “Uh…I think he’s okay,” Maria answered tearfully.

  “I have one hell of a headache,” Eli said, his eyes still closed, “but I’ll be fine.”

  “I’m afraid none of us will be fine for long,” the captain said tersely. “They’re placing explosives on the cave walls, and I don’t think they have plans of letting us out before they seal this lava tube. If I’m right, it’s our friends fro
m the Bishamon facility on the ridge above that have been watching us.”

  As he spoke, he heard a crackling noise on his wireless transmitter’s earpiece, which was still in his ear, then the sound of a voice.

  “Hello…anybody home?”

  Outside the lava tube in the camp, Josh Turner and Samuel Caberra knelt silently on either side of the cave’s entrance as the light misty rain slowly tapered off. Both of their minds were focused and their bodies steeled for action.

  After their arrival on Tenerife, Josh and Samuel, along with their driver Paulo, had made their way up the access road toward the archeology camp. They were less than a quarter mile distant when Paulo had suddenly pulled over to the side of the road and shut off the engine.

  “What’s the matter, Paulo?” Turner asked, looking at the driver staring off into the misty darkness.

  “I thought I saw a muzzle flash, Josh,” Paulo said as he continued staring ahead into the gloom. “It looks like it came from the site.”

  “Are you sure it wasn’t lightning?” Turner asked, peering into the darkness ahead.

  “I’m positive,” he replied.

  “It might be looters raiding the camp,” Samuel said from the back seat. “Your dad was concerned that it might happen.”

  “Dad and Maria are still there,” Turner said in a worried voice. He turned to look at his friend in the back, and saw the concerned look on his face. “We have to get up there now, Samuel.”

  “We should go from here on foot, just in case something is wrong, Josh. If there is trouble, they’ll hear us coming in the rover. It’s not that far from here.”

  “Paulo, I want you to head back and get help,” Turner said as the two men opened their doors and got out of the vehicle. “Keep your lights off until you make the far bend in the road up ahead. From there, you’ll be okay.”