‘If we get a load of big stones from outside,’ Eddie suggested, ‘we could block the walls so they can’t close.’
‘I am not a patient man, Chase,’ said Mukobo with a malevolent smile. ‘She has five minutes. That is all.’ Brice held up his left wrist and tapped his expensive Omega watch for emphasis.
‘Nothing like a deadline to focus the mind,’ said Nina nervously. ‘Okay. You reach the trigger point, and if you go forward, the walls close and crush you. You go back, the blades pop out and chop you up. Either way, you’re dead. And I’m dead if I don’t figure this out,’ she added, as much to herself as to the others — including Howie, who was filming her again. She regarded the inscription above the passage. ‘“Only the dead shall enter alive…”’
‘What does that mean?’ wondered Ziff. ‘“The living who enter shall die” — that part is obvious. But how can the dead be alive?’
‘I don’t know. It has to be a clue, though. One of Solomon’s riddles.’ She went to the opening. ‘I need a light.’
A flashlight was procured for her. She shone it down the corridor, grimacing as the beam passed over the bloody mess on its walls and floor. ‘That section of floor drops downwards when you step on it,’ she mused. ‘And when that guy made a run for the far end… it kept dropping. But when Jay turned around and ran back this way…’
‘It came back up,’ Eddie recalled.
‘Yeah. Like his stepping off of it stopped the walls from closing in — but at the same time it triggered the other half of the trap, the blades. You can’t back out; once you go in, you’re committed.’
‘And then you end up as the jam in a wall sandwich.’
‘There has to be a way through, though. There has to be.’ She turned the light upon other parts of the passage, but found nothing.
Brice made a performance of looking at his watch. ‘Tick-tock, Dr Wilde. Time is running out.’
‘So’s my patience,’ she snapped. ‘So shut up.’ The ex-spy smirked. ‘It’s the only way through — you have to run the gauntlet and face Solomon’s test, play his game. So if only the dead can get through, then how…?’ Her eyes went wide. ‘Of course. Duh! Of course!’
‘What is it?’ asked Ziff.
‘I just cracked Solomon’s riddle!’ she said, unable to hold back a smile despite the dangerous situation. ‘“Only the dead will enter alive”, right?’
‘Yes?’ said Mukobo, covering his lack of understanding with menace. ‘Tell us, woman! Now!’
‘Solomon tells you how to get through, if you’re brave enough,’ she explained. ‘What do the dead do?’
The warlord shook his head, puzzled. ‘They do nothing.’
‘Smell after a while,’ Eddie added, ‘but mostly just lie there.’
‘That’s right!’ said Nina excitedly. ‘They do nothing, they just lie there. Or specifically, lie there!’ She pointed at the large floor block. ‘That drops downwards before the walls close in. When they meet, there’s a gap underneath them!’
Ziff gave her an owlish look of surprise. ‘You’re saying that to get through, you have to lie down?’
‘Exactly — you play dead! You do nothing. I think that if you’re lying flat, you’ll be carried underneath the walls.’
‘You think,’ Lydia said.
‘I’m as sure as I can be, yes,’ Nina fired back.
Brice tapped his watch. ‘That’s good. Because your time’s up.’
‘That was never five bloody minutes,’ rumbled Eddie.
‘Time flies when you’re having fun. Well, I’m enjoying myself, at least.’
Mukobo gestured towards the passage. ‘Go through,’ he ordered Nina. ‘If you are right, all is good. If you are not, then’ — a cruel smile — ‘you will die.’
‘No pressure, then.’ She went to the entrance.
‘Nina,’ said Eddie. She looked back, seeing fear and worry on his face despite his best efforts to show no weakness. ‘You sure about this?’
‘Not one hundred per cent, no, but… I don’t really have much choice, do I? If I’m wrong, just… take good care of Macy.’
Eddie nodded. ‘I will. But… don’t be wrong, okay? Let’s all get out of here.’
‘Who is Macy?’ demanded the warlord.
The Yorkshireman glared at him. ‘Our dog,’ he said, unwilling to provide any more ammunition that could be used against them.
Mukobo regarded him suspiciously, then turned back to Nina. ‘It is time. Go.’
‘Good luck,’ said Ziff fearfully.
‘Thanks,’ Nina replied, exchanging a last look with Eddie — then she stepped into the passage.
Her light picked out the wall slots concealing the hooked blades. They were not an immediate worry, though. If she was right, they would only be triggered if she fled back into the first chamber. She moved on, stopping as she reached the passage’s second half.
Her light passed over the floor slab, finding footprints in the dust of ages, Rivero’s and the militia man’s — then, close to the far end, the latter’s gruesome remains. Even his rifle had been crushed flat.
‘Go through, Dr Wilde,’ said Mukobo impatiently. ‘Now.’
Nina took a deep breath… then stepped on to the slab.
It sank under her weight. The ancient mechanism beneath rattled and thumped once more—
And the walls began to close in.
Even knowing what to expect, Nina still felt a jolt of fear. Every instinct told her to run. But she knew her instincts were wrong — or rather, she was sure they were. That was not the same thing.
She quickly stepped forward before lying on her back; if she was going to die, some defiant part of her mind had decided it wouldn’t be on her belly with her face in the ancient dirt. The walls rumbled inwards as the slab kept dropping—
It jolted to a halt. Nina tried to judge if the looming walls would pass above her. From her worm’s-eye viewpoint, it was hard to be sure…
Another jolt — and the slab moved again, sliding forward with a nerve-shredding scrape of stone. Nina held her breath as the undersides of the walls drew level with her arms, then brushed her chest — and she closed her eyes, fear finally taking over.
The walls slammed together—
But she was still alive.
Rough stone plucked at her clothing as she was carried onwards. A moment of utter revulsion as she felt the dead man’s blood drip on to her stomach, then the sound of grinding stone changed, echoing. She had reached the next chamber.
Nina opened her eyes and hurriedly scrambled from the moving slab. The walls behind her were clamped shut so tightly that she doubted a playing card could have been slipped between them. She checked the rest of the room. It was smaller than the first chamber, dominated by the statue at the end of the passage.
Silver sparkled in the torchlight. She examined the palm-sized metal tablet resting inside the figure’s gaping mouth. Old Hebrew text was visible upon it.
A distant, muffled voice reached her. ‘Nina! Are you okay? Nina!’
She scurried back to her point of entry. ‘Eddie, I’m all right!’
His relief was palpable even through the stonework. ‘Thank God! Okay, so now how do the rest of us get through?’
‘That’s a very good question.’ Another passageway led to parts unknown, but apart from the statue the room was empty. She returned to the carved figure for a closer look at the silver tablet.
A rod was attached to the metal plate’s underside, angling downwards into the statue’s throat. Probably part of a mechanism — but what was its purpose?
‘Only one way to find out,’ she announced to an imaginary camera, pulling it upwards.
Metal scraped — then the clunk of something weighty being released reverberated through the room.