Sandi switched on her flashlight. “What the hell was that?”
“He’s blown the entrance to the mine!”
She felt that familiar sensation of terror rise again. “Oh, dear God!”
Without power the ventilation fans in the mine shaft above stopped turning. The drone of their whir ceased with deadly silence.
Sandi swallowed. “How long can we survive without the ventilation fans running?”
Jesse closed his eyes, gave it some thought, and said, “Two days. Three days at most. But I wouldn’t worry about it.”
“Are you kidding me, why shouldn’t I worry about it?”
Jesse folded his arms across his chest and sighed heavily. “Because without power to the water pumps, these chambers are going to flood and we’ll drown in about twelve hours.”
Chapter Nine
Sam Reilly was hurt.
It felt like a giant had picked him up and shaken him until his teeth were loose. It wasn’t a sensation he hadn’t felt before. But it usually only happened when he woke up in the hospital.
He wasn’t in the hospital.
He was in the driver’s seat of his Lamborghini LM002. The large bull bar had taken the brunt of the impact as he collided with a tree. He peered through the windshield. A dirt trail ran just above the river only a dozen or so feet farther down the steep embankment. If he could get the truck started, he just might be able to maneuver his way down there.
That was, if he could get it started.
He turned the ignition. The V12 complained for a moment and then roared into life.
Sam grinned. Antique or not. The LM002 was built to last.
He shoved the gearstick into reverse. The low range reverse turned all four wheels. They spun for a spell, digging in deeper before gaining perch in the harder rock below.
The truck jolted backward.
It wasn’t far. Maybe a few feet. Maybe a little less. It didn’t matter. It was enough. Sam turned the wheel to the left, shifted the gear to first, and the LM002 lazily crept down the steep terrain in low-range gear.
Sam switched over to high range, put it in first, and drove forward. Ten minutes later he’d reached the end of the dirt trail, and was back on Hwy 50 heading east.
He picked up his cell phone and hit redial.
A woman answered the phone. “Hello?”
“Mrs. McKenzie?”
“Yes. Who is this?”
“Ma’am, my name’s Sam Reilly. I was meant to meet your husband today to have a look at a mask he found buried in a mineshaft. I’m afraid I’m going to be a bit late…”
“I’m sorry, what did you say your name was?”
“Sam Reilly.”
“I’m sorry Mr. Reilly; there must be some sort of mix up.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Well, a Mr. Sam Reilly showed up hours ago and said he wanted to have a look at where the mask was found.”
Sam planted his foot hard on the accelerator. “Where’s that man now?”
“He’s with my husband and some other archaeologists. Why, what’s wrong?”
“How far’s the mine from your house?”
She answered without hesitation. “Half an hour, why?”
“Do you have a gun?”
“Yes, of course we do. A Remington pump-action shotgun,” she said, before adding as way of an explanation, “We live all the way out here on our own. Have to protect ourselves. Why? What’s going on?”
Sam said, “I’ll be at your house in twenty minutes. Bring your shotgun. We’ll head up to the mine together.”
Chapter Ten
Jesse grabbed the diamond bladed drill he’d used to set the blast holes. He had brought it down into the obsidian vault earlier under the assumption that the parties interested in the mask were going to want him to fracture the obsidian wall, so that they could retrieve it. He just hoped that if he broke through the wall of obsidian it would lead to an opening. After all, someone must have gotten the mask down there in the first place.
He started the drill and quickly worked at the wall. He was up to his third drill hole when water started to flow down from above, cascading like a waterfall.
Sandi shouted, “What’s taking so long?”
Jesse spread his hands. “Obsidian normally splinters. I don’t know why it’s not doing that here. I’m going to have to try some more drill holes.”
“All right, all right. Just keep going! That water’s going to rise fast!”
Jesse held the drill hard against the obsidian wall and kept its diamond bladed drill head turning. Next to him, Sandi attacked the wall with the pickaxe. Despite her petite size, she threw a considerable amount of energy and focus into the wall.
The water soon reached his knees.
When it was at his waist height, large fissures began forming down the length of the wall.
Sandi grinned. “It’s cracking!”
“So it is!”
As the water reached their shoulders, the obsidian wall gave way to the mounting pressure. A large crack ripped through the wall, causing the volcanic stone to splinter in a spidery web of white, before shattering.
Sandi, unwilling to come this far only to lose the ancient mask, grabbed it as it came free and the wall shattered completely. Water rushed through to the second obsidian cavern on the opposite side, dragging them both along with it.
Jesse fought to stand up.
The water spread out over a larger area and was now no higher than his knees. He ran the beam of his flashlight across the walls of his new environment.
And then cursed loudly. “It’s the same. We’re still trapped.”
Sandi held up the mask. “What a stupid way to die, hey? For some stupid mask…”
Jesse turned his gaze at the mask.
It seemed happier now that it was free. Like the genie let out of the bottle, it had regained some sort of sinister power. The damned thing looked positively evil as it sat their grinning at them in their time of torment.
The second cavern was larger than the first, but that didn’t matter much. The fact was, there was still nowhere for them to go.
Unable to escape, Jesse focused on the mask again.
His eyes widened as he realized what he was looking at. “Holy shit!”
Sandi’s eyes narrowed. “What is it?”
“The entire thing is made out of Alexandrite!”
“I’m sorry. I’m an anthropologist, not a geologist. What’s Alexandrite?”
“Alexandrite is one of the rarest of all colored gemstones. It’s a strongly pleochroic gem — meaning that it absorbs light differently depending on the position of the light. This creates the optical phenomenon of appearing with unique colors, depending on lights and angles. In particular, it exhibits emerald green, red and orange-yellow colors and tends to change from one color in artificial light to another in daylight. The color change from red to green is due to its strong absorption of light in the yellow and blue portions of the spectrum. Typically, alexandrite has an emerald-green color in daylight but exhibits a raspberry-red color in incandescent light. Fine faceted alexandrite over 1 carat is more valuable than sapphire, ruby or emerald.”
“That’s fascinating… So we’re both going to die over a colorful, expensive rock that someone carved in the shape of an ancient caveman?”
“I don’t know what to say…”
The water rose and as it did, they began to float, rising higher in the obsidian vault the higher the water rose.
Sandi floated on her back. “We’re not going to drown; we’re going to float to the top!”
“You’re right!”
Ten minutes later, the water reached the opening through which they had originally climbed down.