But Alexander could still see, this time from a higher vantage point, in the gaping crater’s hole, looking down as the walls crumbled and car-sized boulders tumbled free, raining into the hole, piling onto the carnage. But somehow, the beam and several larger pieces of bedrock formed a jutting triangular incline that protected part of the chamber from total destruction. Just enough, he saw in a hazy night-vision light, to crawl out and be able to stand, maybe reach the terminals. But his father…
His vision skirted over the barrier, the wall of debris in the center of the Keeper sanctuary. There was Caleb, trying to lift an enormous slab with a metal bar. Sparks were flying from the ceiling, dancing around the alcoves where the scrolls hid like frightened children behind cracked windows.
“Dad,” Alexander whispered, ending the vision and returning to darkness. Then louder: “Dad!” He shifted, reached up and felt Rashi’s neck.
No pulse, nothing.
Revulsion gave way to utter fear as the darkness reclaimed him. Shifting sounds in the room. The floor shuddering, beams groaning still. Please no aftershocks.
“Hideki? Belarus? Anyone? Can anyone hear me?”
“Alexander?” again, his father. A little stronger.
“Dad, I hear you!”
Silence, then: “Oh, thank God. Are you hurt?”
“I don’t know. I’m trapped.” Under poor, poor Rashi.
“I know,” he said. “I saw. Rashi protected you. I saw you were pinned and not moving, but I didn’t know…”
“I’m okay.” He squirmed and was grateful for his natural skinniness when he found he could pull away gradually and slide out from under her. The beam shifted and dust and pebbles fell onto his face. Covering his eyes, he waited, not moving. Feel like I’m playing ‘Operation’. One wrong move and it’s game over.
“Can you see anything?”
“No,” Alexander shouted back. “At least, not with my normal eyes. But I RV’d and saw… I know I can’t get out of here on my own. I’m sorry, I can’t even get to you.”
He heard the metal bar drop. “I know, Alexander. I’m sorry. I saw that the floor collapsed, but the good news is that a lot of material ejected out of the crater.”
“How’s that good news?”
“Well, the stuff above you isn’t solid, and air’s getting in.”
Alexander took a deep breath, relishing the taste, however dusty. “So I won’t suffocate.” He pulled himself out farther, until only his left leg was still caught. Then it was free, and it felt good to be out. He stretched his legs, wiggled his toes. Then tried to sit up.
“Alexander?”
“Fine!” he shouted back, wincing through the effort. “Although everything feels bruised. I’m glad it’s dark, Dad. I don’t want to see—”
“Don’t think about it, not now Alexander.”
He nodded. Once again, face to face with death, but asked not to face it.
“Listen, son. You have to be strong, and you have to do something for me.”
Alexander got to his knees and reached above him, trying to see how much room there was, and whether he could stand.
“Are you listening?”
“Yes, Dad. And I know what you’re going to say.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. I’ve seen it. The computer terminal, the servers.”
“That’s right. Now, there should be a flashlight somewhere, in the computer desk if it’s still in one piece.
After a long minute of fumbling and searching, scraping his fingers on sharp rocks and jagged pieces of masonry, banging his head on something, he touched a flat metal surface. Followed it around to locate a cold handle. Pulled it, reached inside, among a stack of papers, staplers, magnifying glasses.
“There it is.”
The light was painful and almost surreal, bringing into focus a twisted scene of incomprehensible shapes, angles and obstacles. Nothing that Alexander could recognize immediately; it was as if he’d been teleported to some alien prison cell.
“Alexander, do you have it? Can you see?”
“Yep, got it. Now what?”
“The computer . Is it…?”
“Here…” Alexander found the laptop, on its side, the top dented. He opened it and was relieved to see the screen saver functioning. Moved the mouse, and the password prompt appeared. “Working!”
“Okay, you remember the password?”
“Yeah.” Alexander smiled. He secured the flashlight under his chin, and angled his head so it was pointing at the screen. “Sostratus.”
He typed it in and he gained access.
“Good,” said his father. His voice seemed weaker, tired. Resigned. “Now, listen carefully. They’re going to be here soon. And they’re going to get what they really want—”
Alexander touched the charms around his neck. “The Keys. But maybe I could…”
“Save your energy. Your brothers will just RV the keys, and there’s no place you can hide them where they won’t be seen.”
Alexander sighed. He set the flashlight down, pointing straight up and casting freakish shadows around the crushed alcoves, revealing the shattered scroll casings, the shredded documents and tablets. He forced his attention back to the computer screen, where there were six icons, and an open file.
“But you can still help.”
“How?”
“Rashi was on to something. She wouldn’t tell me everything, but I knew… The Keepers found clues in the ancient documents. Something that could help. Hideki was working on it too, scanning portions into the computer. There should be a file, or a series of files, excerpts translated from the original sources.”
Alexander called up the first open file, scrolled down past the scanned cuneiform script and glanced at the translation. “I see it. This first one has something about…”
“Just read it,” Caleb called. “And remember what you can. Read everything she saved out there—then, before they come for you, delete it all. And smash the computer.”
Alexander smiled. “That’ll be fun.”
“Remember it, and you’ll get a chance to tell me—or Phoebe, soon. And hopefully it’ll be enough to stop this.”
“What about you?” Alexander shined the light back to the wall of debris over the smashed conference table, waving the beam back and forth, looking for even a slight crack to look through and see him. But no, if that was possible, he could fit the keystones through and Caleb could try to protect them.
“There’s a hidden exit back this way. Robert showed it to me once, after I said I was concerned about escape if the surface was compromised. A descending passageway that turns at a right angle and tunnels to the harbor. A huge bank-safe kind of door, opened only from the inside, one that then leads down to the harbor. Of course, there’s scuba gear…”
“Oh.” Alexander thought of how his dad didn’t have the best experiences with scuba, and nearly died in that harbor while searching for the Pharos. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, well, it’s got to be done. I’ll get out, and get help. I’ll find a way to save you. But you… Alexander, listen to me. You have to be strong. You’re a Keeper now.”
“But…” Alexander looked around at the shattered walls, the broken alcoves. “All the scrolls…”
“We’ll save what we can,” Caleb said solemnly. “But remember, all of it—the whole collection—was scanned and uploaded to remote servers.”
Alexander had asked his mother about those servers one day, while they were at a café outside the library. He still recalled the glint in her green eyes as she leaned in and whispered: “A lot of places. A cave system in the Himalayas. Another in the Andes. A bunker in Mount Shasta, Washington.”