Sam figured he got the easy one out of the two men to take care of, while Tom got the only one with any sense of how to do his job. There were five separate partitions that made up the revolving door, which was designed to automatically start to move clockwise as you enter it. Sam entered the same partition as the first guy, while Tom took the next one with the second guy. This was their second mistake — never separate when there’s going to be a fight.
Sam followed the revolving door around until they reached the hotel lobby. Just before the door reached the point where it opened up, Sam pressed the emergency stop button.
“What the hell did you do that for?” the first guy asked.
The guy reached for his handgun. It was still in his cargo pocket. Sam launched himself at the man, pressing him hard against the hard glass partition, so that he couldn’t remove the weapon from his pocket. The confined space was the only thing that saved Sam’s life. The guy’s right-hand gripped his handgun inside his pocket, and Sam shoved all his weight against that arm so he couldn’t withdraw the weapon.
The first guy glanced at him — as though he was trying to say, what are you going to do? I still have the gun, you’re going to have to let go sooner or later — an instant later, Sam drove his right hand into the man’s pocket. The man fumbled, trying to maintain control of the weapon. Sam squeezed his hand from the outside, forcing him to pull the trigger.
The semi-automatic weapon fired twice into the man’s upper thigh. He wailed in pain, and Sam removed the weapon. The guy dropped to the floor, using both hands to stem the heavy bleeding to his leg. A moment later the revolving door started to move again.
Sam pointed the handgun at the guy. “Get out!”
The wounded man shuffled out of the revolving door into the lobby. Sam stepped into the lobby. Keeping the weapon pointed at the stranger, he glanced back at Tom. The next partition of the door came round. Inside an unconscious man laid on the floor, while a much larger man searched him and removed a small backpack.
Sam glanced at the bloodied heap on the ground. Reassured that the man was still breathing, he looked up at Tom. “Jesus. What the hell happened?”
Tom shrugged. “He made his first mistake.”
“Yeah, what was that?”
“He picked a fight with me.”
Tom dragged the second guy’s unconscious body into the lobby. A concierge and security guard approached. Their eyes darted between Sam and Tom and the two badly injured people on the floor. No one spoke for a moment, as the hotel staff decided their next course of action.
Sam got in first. “I suggest you call an ambulance. This guy looks like he’s going to need some serious help.”
The concierge nodded, as though he was happy to be given a task. “We’ll do that, right away, sir.”
Sam pointed the handgun at the first guy, who was still struggling to stem the blood. He removed his leather belt and handed it to the man. “I suggest you wrap that around your leg if you don’t want to bleed to death.”
The man quickly took the belt and began trying to fit it to his upper thigh without saying a word. His eyes focused on his task, and he noticeably attempted to avoid making eye contact with Sam.
Sam said, “If you ever try to follow me again, I promise I won’t stop with your legs.”
“I won’t! I swear!” the man promised.
Sam and Tom stepped back into the revolving door and outside. They walked casually back toward the main path they’d been using before Sadik had pointed out the two men following them. Poorly hidden behind three boulders, he spotted their guide.
“Come on Sadik, they’ve lost interest in following you, but they might have some friends who haven’t — maybe we should check this place out before they do.”
Ten minutes later they reached the hidden ventilation shaft. Sadik bent down and quickly unlocked the iron grate that blocked the entrance. It was a vertical airshaft, but large hand-holds had been carved into the volcanic rock, making it easy to climb. Sam and Tom followed him down into the ancient subterranean system. When they were all beneath the iron grate, Sadik locked it once more and said, “Welcome to Derinkuyu.”
Chapter Four
The shaft continued about five stories down and then stopped. There was a total of six horizontal tunnels, leading in various directions. Sadik entered the fourth tunnel and headed toward the south. Sam switched on his flashlight. The beam illuminated the chalky walls of the tunnel. The tunnel itself felt like an overgrown rabbit warren. Made with rudimentary tools, the edges were rounded more than sharp. Sam and Tom followed Sadik a few hundred feet until the tunnel broke into three, with two horizontal tunnels and one narrow vertical shaft.
“Which way?” Sam asked.
“We’ll take the long tunnel to the right. It’s a little under a mile long. We’ve entered from a fair way out of the main city.”
“Okay,” Sam said, as he and Tom followed him.
“The name Derinkuyu translates to Deep Well,” Sadik said, returning to his confident role as an informative tour guide. “It was carved out of the pliable volcanic ash rock the surrounds the entire region, called tuff. Inside, there is an extensive network of chambers for various daily activities, including temples, tombs, shops, living quarters, and even livestock pens. It has approximately 15,000 air shafts, and enough room to comfortably hold 20,000 people. Using geophysical resistivity and seismic tomography, it has been determined there are eleven levels, with some descending to a depth of 300 feet, with a total subterranean area of over four miles squared.”
“It was a true underground city, wasn’t it?” Sam said.
“Yes. With additional passages that connect it to other local underground networks, like the one we’re in now.” Sadik spoke reverently. “What’s most unique however, is its ancient security system.”
“A security system?” Sam asked.
“Yes. It’s postulated the place was originally built as a hidden bunker to protect its people from any number of raids throughout the region. The city has many one thousand pound stone doors that could seal the city from the inside. They were on rollers that allowed them to be moved by a single person, but only from the inside. Additionally, each level could be sealed off from the next using the same system.”
“Impressive technology for its age,” Sam acknowledged. “How old is Derinkuyu?”
Sadik sighed, as though this was a common question with no real answer. “Aging the structure has proved very difficult because it was carved out of stone. Thus, there are no quarries to examine and carbon dating is irrelevant. Furthermore, there are no records documenting the construction, and the peoples who once lived here have long since vanished.”
“But there must be theories?” Sam said.
“Of course, but without definitive proof, that’s all they are — theories and guesses.”
“So what are the theories and what do we know for sure?”
“Some of the caves were built by the Phrygians, an Indo-European people, in the 8th–7th centuries BC. When the Phrygian language died out in Roman times, replaced with its close relative, the Greek language, the inhabitants, now Christian, expanded their underground caverns adding the chapels and Greek inscriptions. Of course, there is no evidence that the Phrygians actually built the caves — only that they occupied the tunnels during the 8th and 7th centuries BC.”