They continued on and then down steps that had been cut out of the very rock. They passed through huge iron barred gates, installed years before to keep intruders out. There was a large rusting metal sign in Arabic and English explaining that it was forbidden to go beyond this point. The gates had been closed and locked with a large rusty chain and padlock which now lay on the ground, kicked into a corner.
Lights were mounted on the walls which gave off just enough to see where you were going but little else. Ahead the passage appeared dark.
They continued down getting deeper and deeper, the air smelling fetid and dank. Their way was now also lit by portable halogen floodlights presumably placed by Von Werner’s men. Somewhere there would be a generator as cables snaked away into the darkness.
It was getting darker now and the SAS men turned the lights on their guns to see in the dark. Then the ground levelled out and they found themselves in a large pillared chamber. Dennis and Hutchinson flicked on their flashlights and moved the beams around the chamber.
“Archaeologists believe that this was once Herod’s armoury,” Hutchinson said.
“It’s pretty big,” Dennis replied.
“Roughly one acre,” the American said.
“Impressive. It’s cut out of the solid rock, even these pillars,” then the beam of Dennis’ torch caught something on the wall and he went over to investigate.
“What is it Pete?”
Hutchinson had joined him, Tosh standing just behind. Dennis shone his torch up. Gouged into and around the corner were deep scratches in the hewn rock. There were four of them. Dennis put his fingertips into them and was surprised to see that they were as deep as his entire fingernails.
“What the hell caused them?” Hutchinson asked.
“Uh Sir. You might want to take a look at this,” Tommo said crouching over a body.
Tosh went over to the body. It was dry and emaciated and had been dead for many years. The eyes were gone, now just dried sunken holes in a face that was parched. The skin was so tight that the cheek bones were protruding through it. The teeth were mildewed. The throat had been ripped out. The body was twisted and deformed as if it had been broken before death. The only other flesh exposed were the hands and the skin was so tight and dry they were almost skeletal. Dennis bent down next to the body and patted dust away from the jacket. There was an embroidered patch on the left breast. The uniform was dark blue, the lettering gold.
“I guess he was the security guard,” the journalist said.
“What the hell happened to him?”
Hutchinson touched the hand which began to crumble.
“I don’t know. A wild animal perhaps.”
“A wild animal? What is there out here that could do that to a man.”
“No idea. But I hope it’s long gone.”
“How long do you think he’s been here?” Natalie asked, “He looks like he’s self mummified.”
“That self mummification,” Hutchinson replied, “Is due to the dry air down here. No moisture preserves bodies. He’s been here for years, twenty, thirty. Who knows. You saw how rusty that chain at the gates was.”
Dennis moved his torch.
“Look. There are more of those scratches here. On the floor and this pillar.”
They followed them with the torchlight. The walls and floor were scarred with them.
“All that was done by just one animal?” Natalie asked, her fear evident.
Tosh moved closer to them.
“We need to move.”
They left the armoury and descended deeper into the caverns. It became colder the further they went. Then Dennis said, “What’s that?”
“Running water,” Hutchinson answered with a smile, “It runs right through these mountains. It’s never been explored so we don’t know the extent of it.”
Suddenly there was a distant rumbling and the whole cavern shook.
“What the bloody hell was that?” Hutchinson was looking up at the cavern’s ceiling.
“Earthquake?”
“No,” Tosh replied, “it sounded more like an explosion.”
“An explosion. Down here?”
“Come on. Let’s move.”
Further on, the passage became very narrow and they had to squeeze through the gap in the rock in single file. Incredibly there appeared to be light ahead, daylight. Another explosion rocked the cavern. Then the gap widened out again. Hutchinson went to the edge of a deep crevice.
“This drops down….”
He didn’t get to finish what he wanted to say as another louder explosion rocked them again and Hutchinson had to cling to the wall. Dennis grabbed him to stop him going over the edge and the American’s torch slipped from his grasp and fell into the crevice.
“You alright?”
“Yes. Thanks,” Hutchinson replied, “Lost my bloody torch though.”
They looked over the edge for it. It was falling fast into the darkness, lighting up the wall as it fell. Just as the torch disappeared from view it lit something up. Something that was white and moved. It happened so fast they were unable to see what it was but Dennis felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. Whatever it was he was sure it had looked up at him. Hutchinson had seen it too.
“Pete! What the fuck was that?”
Dennis shook his head.
“Don’t know,” he flashed his own torch down there into the dark and listened. There were no sounds, no movement, nothing.
“It was nothing. Just the light playing tricks on us.”
“If you two have finished playing pat-a-cake,” Tosh said, “We really need to get moving.”
The muzzle of a gun jammed into the SAS captain’s neck. The sound of many guns being cocked filled the cavern.
“Drop your weapons,” a Russian voice ordered in English.
“Shit.”
“Hands up.”
They were outnumbered two to one.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Poked and prodded at gunpoint the team were pushed forward into a large chamber that opened out. Daylight fell in a wide beam from high up in the ceiling. Ropes trailed down from it as men abseiled back down to the ground below. The daylight fell onto a huge stone sarcophagus in the centre of the floor. At the edge of the cavern water trickled and ran off into another deep crevice.
Count Otto Brest Von Verner, still terribly scarred, paced around the stone tomb rubbing at it here and there with his hands clearing away years of dust and cobwebs.
“Ah! There you are,” he shouted, stopping his pacing and beaming a smile at the group, “So good of you to join us,” he continued, his manner seeming genuinely friendly.
“Those explosions were you weren’t they?” Dennis asked, as Von Werner’s men stripped he and his group of all weapons and equipment including their phones.
“It was necessary to blow a hole in the ceiling to allow the extraction of this,” he gestured with his hands, “The final resting place of our saviour, the lord Jesus Christ. In a few minutes I have a helicopter coming which will winch this, the greatest treasure in history, to safety. But first there is something I must do….”
Von Werner gestured to the beautiful redhead who came forward.
“I need to heal myself of these trrible wounds. Have you met my daughter Katja?”
“Well you know what they say. You can’t choose your family.”
The beautiful woman looked Dennis straight in the eye.
“It must be terrible love. Having a father like that.”
Katja smiled at him, ignoring his remark.
“That’s very funny Mr Dennis. Very funny indeed. Always the comedian aren’t you. And speaking of friends who have you brought along with you?”
“I am captain John Mackintosh of the british SAS. These are my men. Count Otto Brest Von Werner you are under arrest. You are returning to the UK to stand trial….”