‘Safe to move?’ Zane asked the Englishman, who nodded. ‘Then let’s go.’
The little group began its cautious descent towards the arch. They were not wearing camouflage gear, but their dark clothing provided adequate concealment in the pervading gloom beneath the trees. Moving as stealthily as they could, they closed on the Nazis below.
They were about fifty feet from the dig when one of the guards turned. Everyone froze, but he looked into the tunnel, not up the hill. After a moment, Schneider emerged. He spoke briefly to the sentries, one of whom went into the shrine to replace him, then headed downhill.
‘I like the odds even better now,’ Eddie whispered to Zane.
‘So do I,’ said the Israeli. He gestured for his comrades to stop, and mimed attaching a silencer to a gun.
Eddie shook his head as the men fitted suppressors. ‘It’s too risky. The shots’ll still be heard.’
‘Not by anyone in the camp. They’re too far away.’
‘Maybe, but what about the bloke in the cave? If he hears the noise and looks outside to see his mates all keeling over dead, then he’ll scream for help — and Kroll and his goons’ll hear that.’
‘What do we do, then?’
‘Keep it old-school. You brought knives, didn’t you?’
‘We did.’ A small, grim smile.
Zane issued new orders, then he and two of his men, Arens and Galitz, dropped to their bellies and slithered down the hill. Eddie and the others hung back, silenced weapons ready in case anything went wrong. But the three sentries were oblivious to their approach, two of them chatting off to one side of the opening. The third was farther away, looking longingly towards the encampment.
The latter was the danger, Eddie realised. Despite his clear desire to join the rest of the group, he still occasionally glanced back at the arch. If he caught movement in his peripheral vision, everything would go to hell…
Galitz and Arens reached a position ten feet from the pair of guards and stopped, silently rising into crouches. Zane continued towards the third man, going around the other side of the archway to keep himself hidden from the two sentries. Timing was everything; it would be almost impossible to eliminate both men without making some noise, giving him only a couple of seconds to reach the third.
He shifted the hefty combat knife in his hand, the matt-black blade barely more than a shadow. The guard was still gazing downhill. Zane nodded to his comrades. They started across the last few feet to their targets, their leader readying himself to strike the moment they reached them…
The lone guard turned his head.
It was just a glance back at the entrance — but it snapped into a double-take as he saw the pair of dark figures descending upon his fellows. He opened his mouth to scream a warning—
Zane was still eight feet away — but his knife crossed the distance in a fraction of a second. It stabbed deep into the sentry’s neck, rupturing his windpipe with a spurt of blood.
The other Mossad operatives darted forward to grab both their targets simultaneously, yanking their heads back and slashing their throats. But the danger wasn’t over. Zane’s victim was still alive, clawed hands pulling at the knife as he staggered in front of the arch. If the man inside saw him…
The Israeli ran to drag him back — but heard a startled sound from the entrance. He spun to see both Banna and his guard staring at him.
The Nazi whipped up his gun—
The Egyptian leapt at him, slamming him against the tunnel wall. The Nazi staggered, but retaliated by smashing his weapon against Banna’s stomach.
The young archaeologist fell with a winded gasp. His attacker recovered, bringing his gun to bear—
Three bullets ripped into his chest. The Nazi collapsed as the muted thumps of Zane’s gunshots echoed through the trees.
Eddie watched with dismay. ‘Shit!’ he said, raising his Cherokee and looking down the slope. Only in Hollywood did a suppressor reduce a weapon’s discharge to a soft sneeze; three shots from a silenced gun still sounded like three shots, just quieter. He had heard them clearly from his vantage point — but had the Nazis down the hill?
Zane and his companions dragged the twitching bodies behind nearby trees, then took up positions to cover the slope below. The other agents moved to back them up. Everyone waited, senses straining to detect the first sign of danger…
Noises came from down the hillside — but not shouts of alarm or screamed orders. Instead they were almost comically innocuous, faint laughter from some shared joke. A scent of cooking food reached them. ‘Must be their lunch break,’ said Eddie, lowering his gun.
‘Are we safe?’ Nina asked.
‘For now, but we can’t hang about.’ He jogged down the slope, his wife following.
Zane met them at the entrance. The young Israeli was breathing quickly. ‘Are you okay?’ Nina asked.
‘Yeah,’ he replied. ‘That was close, though.’
‘What about Ubayy?’ She looked through the arch. Banna got to his feet, surprise and relief on his face as he saw her. ‘Oh, thank God. Ubayy! Are you all right?’
‘Yes, yes, I am okay,’ he replied, emerging shakily. ‘What about you? You came after me on the train, but then I heard an explosion — and Kroll told me the bridge had been destroyed…’
‘We jumped off,’ Nina told him, before embracing him. He was quivering with the release of tension. ‘Then we followed Andreas’ instructions on the relic to get here — but I see you did too.’
‘Yes, I am sorry,’ he said, stepping back with a hangdog expression.
‘Don’t worry about it.’ She looked up at the arch, taking in the Greek text upon it, then past Banna into the tunnel. ‘What did you find in there? I’m guessing from Rasche’s reaction that it wasn’t what they’d hoped for.’
Banna managed a faint smile. ‘No, it was not.’ He led her into the dark little shrine.
Her husband and Zane came with them, the other Mossad operatives keeping watch outside. ‘Is that the spring?’ said Eddie, seeing the basin. ‘Just that?’
The Egyptian nodded. ‘There is only a tiny amount of water. Kroll and Rasche argued about it. I do not know what they said, but Rasche was very angry.’
‘I’m not surprised,’ said Nina. ‘They came here thinking they’d find enough water to last decades, and all they got was this? It wouldn’t even make a decent cup of coffee.’
‘That doesn’t matter,’ said Zane. ‘What does is that we can stop them from getting it. Permanently. If we blow up this room, they’ll have nothing.’
‘That’s pretty much all they’ve got now,’ Eddie noted as the Israeli headed back outside.
Nina used a flashlight to examine the walls. ‘Yeah, I know. But…’
‘But what?’
‘It doesn’t feel right. This place was obviously built by Andreas and his followers — his name’s here, and here.’ She darted her light across the Greek text. ‘But it’s just a room — and that little puddle’s not the big prize we’ve been led to expect.’
‘I had thought that also,’ said Banna, collecting the photographs. ‘Kroll ordered me to read the text again to see if I had missed something. There was a line about the fish… but it came after the clues that led us here, once we were through the arch.’
‘Yeah, I remember. Something about doing what Andreas did with the fish. But why would you need the fish to find the spring when you’re already at the spring?’ She turned back to the basin. ‘Unless… this isn’t the spring.’
Eddie dipped a finger into the water. ‘Ow!’ he said, in surprise rather than pain. ‘I just got zapped.’
‘That fits what Kroll said about the water he found in Greece — and the FBI analysis of that flask in LA.’ She thought for a moment, then switched off the flashlight.