"If you're right, we should take this one." Nick pointed at the third dot she'd made. "That should lead to the Sphinx."
"Now would be a good time to talk about traps," Selena said.
"You mean like we saw in Tibet?"
"Not again," Ronnie said.
"What traps?" Lamont asked.
"False floors, rolling boulders, spikes that pop out. Spears that shoot out of the walls. Things that drop on you."
Lamont sighed. "You're saying the roof could fall in on us? Thanks a lot."
"There might not be any traps," Selena said, "but I think we ought to be careful. If we're looking, we should be able to avoid them. Just go slow."
"I'll go first," Nick said.
Nick played his light over the entrance of the third opening. It was wide enough for two to walk abreast.
"This one is different. Look at the way it's made. It's square. The walls and floor are finished, smooth."
"We must be getting close to something," Selena said.
They'd gone no more than a hundred paces into the passage when it ended in a granite slab blocking the way. Chiseled into the center of the stone was an elaborate circular carving. Ten sea creatures were set at regular intervals around the circumference, like the numbers on a clock. Each creature was carved on a raised, round stone. Each stone bore a single character in the language of Atlantis. There were dolphins, a shark, an octopus and several kinds of fish, all carved with lifelike precision. Underneath the central design were two more rows of characters in the Atlantean language.
"That looks pretty solid," Ronnie said.
Nick ran his hand over the writing. "Selena, what does this say?"
"Give me a minute."
She stood in front of the wall, concentrating on the strange letters while the others held their lights on the carving.
"It's a dedication to the ruler and a warning not to go any farther. This is a door."
"A door? How are we supposed to open it?"
"The raised characters around the outside of the circle are a combination. You have to press them in the right sequence."
"We'll never figure that out," Nick said. "We'll have to blow it."
"I don't think we can," Ronnie said. "That looks pretty solid. The amount of C4 we'd have to use could seal the tunnel."
"You have a better idea?"
"Figure out the combination."
Lamont pointed his light at the finished ceiling of the passage.
"I think there's a trap up there." They all looked up. "See those lines in the stone?"
The faint outline of a thick rectangle as wide as the door was just visible.
"He's right," Selena said. "That would account for the warning. It's probably rigged to drop down if someone punches in the wrong combination. It would block anyone who wasn't supposed to be here from getting through."
"Yeah, and crush you like a bug at the same time," Lamont said.
"Even if we could blow through the door, that stone would drop," Selena said. "It must be three feet thick. We wouldn't get through that."
"This has to be the right place," Nick said. "Is there anything in that writing to help us get through?"
"The opposite. It says the gods will curse and destroy anyone who dares to enter."
"Guess these folks weren't very friendly," Lamont said.
Selena studied the carving. "Let me think."
Lamont made sure he was standing away from where the stone might fall. He took out another candy bar and began unwrapping it.
"Don't you ever get tired of eating that junk?" Ronnie asked.
"Gives me energy. You want one?" Lamont took a large bite.
"Now I know why you're getting fat."
"Fat?" Lamont looked down at his stomach. "I'm not the one pushing out over his belt."
"That's muscle, not fat," Ronnie said.
"Will you two be quiet?" Selena said. "I'm trying to think."
She looked at the ten characters circling the design. They weren't numbers or the names of the creatures. Each character was one word. The combination was a phrase. She tried reading them in sequence but it made no sense.
Two of the symbols were unfamiliar. She'd seen the rest before, some the first time she'd seen the unknown writing, in the photograph sent by the Russian. She sorted the characters in her mind. They fell into place.
"I think I've got it."
She stepped forward and pushed against a stone with a fish on it. It sank into the slab. There was a grinding noise. Something moved behind the stone face of the door.
"Selena, wait," Nick said. "You're under the trap."
"We don't have anything long enough to push these in."
"What if you're wrong?"
"If I don't do this we're not getting in there."
She reached up and pushed a second stone, this one carved with a dolphin. Again there was a sound of a mechanism moving inside the door. A trickle of fine dust dropped from the ceiling above.
"Wait a minute," Nick said.
Selena pressed a third time. More dust fell from the ceiling.
"Oh, shit," Ronnie said
"One to go."
Selena pressed the last stone and did a quick back flip away from the door, landing on her feet.
A loud rumbling and clanking came from within the walls. The floor shook under their feet. The stone door swung open.
Dim light flickered beyond.
"Open, sesame," Selena said.
CHAPTER 51
"Damn it, Selena, you scared the hell out of me," Nick said. "What if you'd been wrong?"
"But I wasn't, was I? Besides, I would've gotten out of the way before that rock fell on me."
"Maybe. Maybe not. What was the combination?"
"Homeland. It's not one word, it's a four character phrase. The characters were on the design. I just had to put them in sequence. Nothing else made sense."
"Pretty ballsy," Lamont said.
"I'll take that as a compliment," Selena said.
"Wow," Ronnie said, "look at that."
The door opened onto a room two hundred feet long and half as wide. The walls were made of fitted stone, the work of a master mason. A soft, bluish green light came from flickering strips on the walls. Sections of the strips were dark but there was enough light to see hundreds of wooden chests arranged in neat rows. In the center of the room was a table. On top of the table was a smaller chest.
Nick took a step and felt something crunch under his boot. He looked down.
"Watch for scorpions. These black ones are really nasty."
"Why are there always bugs?" Ronnie muttered.
"Technically, a scorpion isn't a bug," Lamont said.
"What are you, mister nature man? It crawls, it's got too many legs and it bites. It's a bug."
"Scorpions sting, they don't bite."
"Whatever."
"I don't believe this," Selena said.
"It's real enough," Nick said.
She walked over to the nearest chest and tried the lid. It was fastened with leather hinges. They fell apart as she opened the chest. She set the lid on the floor.
"What's inside?"
"Scrolls. It's full of scrolls."
"You think all these chests are like that?" Ronnie asked.
"Probably. "
She picked up a scroll. It crumbled into fragments.
"I hope that wasn't what we're looking for," Nick said.
"It will take years to sort through this. If these chests are full of scrolls, each one will have to be treated before it can be opened up and read. It may not even be possible."
"That's not our concern. We've done what we came here to do, find this archive. We'll leave the rest to the politicians."
"How do these lights work?" Lamont said.
Nick looked at the flickering strips. "Probably some kind of phosphorus. Or a chemical compound. Pretty impressive that it still works after all this time."
"The Egyptians are going to go nuts when they learn about this," Selena said. "This room was here long before the pharaohs showed up on the scene. It's proof their historical timeline is wrong."