“Yes, ma’am.” Tucking his gun into his holster, Gavin waved his light ahead of him, then took a tentative step into the darkness ahead.
67
Pitt felt flat ground beneath his feet and halted. He activated his flashlight, pressing a thumb over the beam to allow just a pinprick of light. Scanning around him, it appeared they had reached the bottom of the fissure. The flat landing was surrounded by a trio of locomotive-sized boulders that squeezed against the sheer rock walls.
“End of the line?” Giordino grunted, as he stepped onto the landing.
“Appears so,” Pitt replied. “How’s the professor?”
“The buggers got me in the hip,” Brophy said, as Giordino set him on the ground. His voice was noticeably weaker, but not his spirit.
Dirk joined in checking his wounds under a concealed light. Damp red spots were visible on the right hip and thigh of his trousers. Dirk stripped off a sweatshirt and passed it to Giordino.
“This will help.”
“Thanks, lad,” Brophy uttered, as Giordino split it into two lengths and bound it around the wounds.
Pitt gazed up, spotting the jiggling lights of their pursuers high up on the rock face. They had perhaps a five-minute advantage, and nothing with which to wage a defense.
He turned his light to the boulders, studying them up and down. Near their base, he noticed a faint path that led to the far-right boulder. He followed the vague trail to the far side, where he found a low triangular opening between the boulder and the rock wall. Shining his light in, he saw it led to a carved tunnel.
“This way,” he called out quietly.
Dirk and Giordino appeared a moment later, supporting Brophy between them. On the steps above, Pitt could see the lights of their pursuers getting closer.
“You okay to keep moving, Professor?” Pitt asked.
“As long as these pack mules don’t mind hauling an old bag of bones.”
“I’m afraid it’s a tight squeeze.”
Pitt led them through the opening and into a low, narrow tunnel. He had to duck to keep from scraping his head. Gradually, the tunnel grew in height, if not width, allowing him to stand upright.
“Looks like a natural tunnel that was enlarged,” Dirk said from the rear, noting sporadic pick marks in the ceiling and walls.
The tunnel sloped downhill in a long and windy path. Pitt stopped at one point and listened to a faint rumble.
“I don’t think they’re behind us yet,” Dirk said.
“No, it’s the sea,” Pitt said, as the sound of pounding waves became audible. “We’re near the water.”
“And a way out, I hope,” Giordino replied, sweat dripping down his face from carrying his human cargo.
Pitt picked up the pace, leading the group through a long sweeping curve. Then he came to a split in the tunnel. The main tunnel curved to the right. A smaller passage continued straight. Pitt shined his light into both openings, but there was no visible end.
“Left or right?” Giordino asked.
Pitt turned his light on him. The strain of lugging Brophy was showing on his face. Over his shoulder, the Irish archeologist looked pale, his eyes losing their lucidity.
“Why don’t you keep moving with the professor down the less obvious route,” he said, pointing to the narrower tunnel. “I’ll take a quick look down the other passage.”
As Dirk approached, fatigue wearing on him as well, Pitt waved him on. “You best give Al a hand with the professor.”
Dirk nodded, hustling to catch up with Giordino, who had already moved down the left opening.
Pitt turned and jogged down the larger tunnel to his right. He didn’t have to go far. Forty feet on, the tunnel turned and came to its end. Not at a closed or sealed wall, at a huge cavern.
Pitt entered onto an elevated rise that overlooked the vast elongated space. A natural high-domed ceiling stretched over the cavern. A dozen pinpricks of light penetrated a wall of boulders at the far end, casting a dim gray pallor over the room. The audible crash of waves just beyond told Pitt they were adjacent to the shoreline, and that the cavern may have once been a grotto open to the sea.