The Secret of the Stones (37 page)

“Move,”
Ulrich insisted with a nod.

“It’s
imperative that we be careful here.
 
You don’t want to end up with a dart in your eye or something.”
 
Sean said sardonically.

Ulrich
wasn’t fazed by the comment, but the guard looked around, his eyes filled
instantly with paranoia.
 

They
were all safely on the other side of the wall when Allyson spoke up.
 
“Do you guys smell that?”

“Yeah,”
Tommy agreed.
 
“It smells like some
kind of gas.”

Flat
Top’s head darted left to right, up and back, panic all over his face.
 
It was easy to tell the man was not
comfortable being in a place so far under the ground.
 
It probably didn’t help that they had no idea what was
waiting for them down there.

“Anyone
got a match?”
 
Sean requested.

“You’re
not going to light a match down here are you?
 
You guys just said you smelled gas.
 
Are we going to just blow ourselves
up?”
 

Sean
smiled at her.
 
“No one’s going to
get blown up.”
 
His light pointed
to a torch hanging on the wall in a sconce that appeared to be carved from the
same rock as the wall.
 
“Why would
someone put a torch there if something was going to explode?”

She
supposed he had a point.
 
Ulrich
flicked a small book of matches at him, hitting Wyatt in the chest.
 
Sean snatched it out of the air before
it could fall to the ground.

A
few moments later, the tightly wrapped rags on the piece of wood were burning
brightly.
 
Sean pocketed the
matches, figuring the German wouldn’t care, and gave the flashlight to
Tommy.
 
He purposefully took a few
more steps forward and stopped.
 
The hallway where they’d been for the last ten minutes opened up into an
enormous, square chamber.
 
In the
center, rising up from an inset lower floor, a pedestal stood as the only
furniture in the room.
 

The
most striking thing about the room, though, wasn’t what stood in the center of
it.
 
It was the fact that the
chamber was empty.
 

Chapter
56

Eastern
Georgia

“Where
is it?” Ulrich demanded loudly.
 
“Where is the gold?!”
 
He
grabbed Tommy by the shirt and pressed the gun deep into the skin underneath
his jaw.
 

“I
don’t know,” Tommy’s voice stammered.
 
“This should be it.”
 
Something in his eyes said that he was telling the truth.

Ulrich
released the gun from his hostage’s neck and carelessly pushed him away.
 
“Is this it, Thomas?
 
Is this your golden chamber?”

“I
don’t know where the gold is.
 
Maybe someone beat us to it.
 
It should be right here.
 
Let’s just look around.
 
If
we are lucky we might find a clue as to where it went.”

Sean
stepped down into the center of the room, lowering his light to get a better
look at the pedestal.
 
It was a
simple design: a perfect, rectangular, stone cube.
 
Unlike the blank walls surrounding it, the plinth was
covered in hieroglyphs, not unlike what they had just seen on the colossal door
a few moments ago.
 
As Sean drew
closer, he noticed an object resting on the top of the platform.
 
His eyes widened in realization.

“Schultzie,”
his voice was firm, trying to contain the excitement.
 
“You might want to come take a look at this.

“Is
that what I think it is?” he blurted out, nearly missing the step down into the
lower part of the chamber.
 

“Yeah.”

They
both stare at a stone disc of nearly identical size to the one Sean had in his
pocket.
 
The medallion was lying on
one side, a picture of an odd looking spider carved into it.
 
Both friends looked at each other
quizzically, unsure what to make of the piece.

Ulrich
and the guard ushered Allyson over to where Tommy and Sean were standing.

“What
is it?”

“I
think it’s the clue to the next chamber,” Tommy replied.
 

“But
where is the gold?”
 
Ulrich had had
enough of the games and riddles.
 
“This was supposed to be a GOLDEN chamber.
 
Not an empty one!”
 
His voice echoed off of the solid walls.

Tommy
shrugged.
 
“All I know is that this
amulet is probably the next piece to the puzzle and….”
 
While he spoke, his right hand reached
over and grasped the stone disc, lifting it off of the podium.
 

As
soon as Tommy had lifted the weight, the ground beneath them started
vibrating.
 
Ulrich and his cohort
braced themselves by bending their knees and putting their arms out to their
sides.
 
Sean grabbed Tommy’s wrist
and looked quickly at where the stone had just been resting a moment
before.
 
A small button protruded
from the center of the pedestal.
 

“Not
good,” Sean said quickly.

As
he did, the grinding sound of stone on stone filled the room as the floor began
slowly rising towards the ceiling

“Put
it back, Schultzie!” Sean shouted over the noise.

Tommy’s
obeyed immediately, realizing what was happening.
 
He cautiously put the disc back on the top of the
stand.
 
As expected, the floor
stopped moving.
 
It had risen about
three feet closer to the ceiling.

“Don’t
do that again,” Allyson requested.

Ulrich
and the guard frantically looked around, concerned the floor might begin moving
up again and if it did, they were jumping back to the main floor where it was
safe.

Puzzled,
Tommy and Sean looked at the stone cube before them, trying to interpret the
hieroglyphs.
 

“Always
good to read the instructions before you activate a three thousand year old
death trap,” Tommy commented with a sideways glance at his friend.
 
“Must be some kind of weight and
counterweight system.”

Sean
snorted a quick laugh.
 
“Yeah.
 
This looks like a story of some
kind.”
 
He ran his finger across
the stone.
 

“Two
men of truth, bring a gift to the great god,” Tommy translated.
 
“By giving up what they had, it looks
like the glory of the gods was revealed to them.”

Sean
moved around to the other side of the pedestal.
 
The epiphany hit him.
 
“The other disc.
 
We must
have to put it on this thing with the other stone.”

Tommy
stepped around to look at what his friend had found.
 
A two inch deep circle had been cut into the stone.
 
“It makes sense now.
 
According to the story, whoever finds
their way here must bring the first disc and leave it before they can find what
they seek.”

Ulrich
was now leaning in close to monitor the discussion while Flat Top stood back,
still uncertain about what was going on.

Feeling
in his coat pocket, Sean produced the original stone disc.

“Boy,
am I glad you brought that,” Tommy sighed, eyeing the artifact with
relief.
 

“Yeah.”
 
Sean crouched down to one knee.
 
The circular indention in the stone
podium mirrored the carving of the two birds, except that the two birds were
raised not indented like on the medallion.
 
Quickly, he removed the spider disc from the top and slid
the stone into place and pressed it down firmly.
 
Somewhere in the cavern, there were a few clicks and then
silence.
 

Nothing
happened.
 

“What
is the problem now?” Ulrich demanded, rather impatiently.

Ignoring
the question, Sean then took the medallion with the spider on it and placed it
on top of the one Tommy had found.

The
ground began shaking again and the grinding sound of the ancient stones resumed
in full decibel.
 
This time,
though, instead of rising, the floor began to sink.
 

“It’s
an ancient elevator!” Tommy shouted over the noise as the enormous device
continued to move downward.
        

Sean
looked a little more suspicious, but was anxious to see where the lift would
take them.
 

The
floor above was gone as they descended into a shaft cut perfectly into the
sandstone.
 
Then, around the edge
of the moving floor, a gap opened up, growing larger and larger until with a
thud, the old machine came to a thunderous halt.
 
The eyes of its passengers searched the dark corners of the
room cautiously.
 
Resting on either
side of the stone lift were two enormous golden obelisks, pointing majestically
towards the ceiling of the room.
 
Their torches and flashlights flickered off of the walls.

Sean
stepped off of the platform toward something that looked like a bronze
birdbath.
 
With a quick nod, Ulrich
motioned for the guard to follow Wyatt.
 

Arriving
at the large dish, Sean looked inside it briefly, then touched his torch to the
material it contained.
 
Immediately, the fuel roared to life, lighting up the entire quarter of
the room.
 

What
their eyes beheld was more stunning that anything they had ever imagined.
 
Sean stepped backwards a moment, nearly
bumping into the guard, who stumbled briefly then caught his balance.
 

Before
them was an entire wall made from square, golden panels.

Tommy
barely spoke above a whisper.
 
“We’re here.”

Chapter
57

Eastern
Georgia

Tommy
hopped down from the stone platform and rushed over to the wall.
 
He ran his finger over the incredible
pieces of yellow metal.
 
It was
more amazing that anything he had ever seen.

Ulrich,
too, seemed in awe of the scene.
 
He moved almost unconsciously from the platform of the elevator to the
main floor of the chamber, his mouth slightly agape at the sight as he moved
closer to the shimmering partition.

The
wall made of pure gold stretched forty feet from corner to corner, reaching
around twelve feet in height.
 
Its
shiny surface was covered with hieroglyphic pictures and strange text, similar
in appearance to the words on the original medallion Tommy had found.
 
Four other dishes accented the corners
of the room.
 
In between the dishes
were four stone boxes resting on the floor.
 
They looked like sarcophagi, but Tommy wasn’t sure.
 
The large containers had the same odd
looking words chiseled into them.

“This…it’s
incredible.
 
I had no idea it would
be so…spectacular.”
 
His voice
choked.
 

Sean
smiled, half excited, half desperate to find a way for them to survive. He knew
they only had a few minutes to make their move.
 
Stepping over to the wall on his left with Flat Top in tow,
he made his way to another large fire plate.
 
This one was made from silver.
 
Again, he dipped the torch into the ancient fuel, and the
wall before him came to life in the fiery glow.
 

He
repeated the illumination process at a third dish, this one made from what
looked like onyx.
 

Allyson
watched Sean’s progression from the safety of the elevator, amazed by the
radiance of the room.
 
As he made
his way to the final saucer, Sean gave her a quick flash with his eyes.
 
What did he want?

Again,
he gave a quick look over to her left with his eyes toward the pedestal on the
elevator.
 

The
disc.
 
Sean wanted her to remove
the disc so the elevator would start going back up again.
 
She shook her head.

He
mouthed to her, “It’s okay.
 
Do
it.”

She
looked over at Ulrich who was now standing directly behind Tommy, raising his
gun to the back of his Tommy’s skull.
 
Sean was nearly to the last dish.
 
Her eyes shot back towards Tommy and again to Sean.
 
As soon as Tommy was executed, the
guard would take that as his cue to kill Sean.
 
Then she would be next.

“I
really must thank you for your help in finding all of this, Thomas.
 
It has been quite an adventure.”
 
Ulrich finally spoke.

Tommy
turned around to find a gun barrel between his eyes.

“Unfortunately,
your services are no longer required.”

Sean
gave her a quick nod as he ignited the final plate’s fuel.
 
The guard stood directly behind him,
raising his weapon as well.
 
His
thick face was completely vacant of any emotion.

Biting
her lip, Allyson reached down and pried the medallions from the podium with her
fingers.
 
Immediately, the ancient
elevator rumbled to life again, rising slowly from the floor.
 

Neither
Ulrich nor flat top saw Allyson’s sudden move.
 
So, when the giant mechanism started moving again, they both
spun around instinctively.
 

Ulrich’s
reaction was less shocked as he realized quickly what was happening.
 
He twisted his arm away from Tommy and
fired off two quick shots that narrowly missed Allyson who crouched behind the
stand of the rising platform.
 
As
he started to lunge toward her, something grabbed him by the ankle.
 

Tommy’s
grip was firm and Ulrich felt himself lose his balance, toppling over with a
thud.
 
Both elbows smashed
unexpectedly onto the solid stone floor.
 
Pain immediately shot through his arms and the crash caused the gun in
his hand to rattle free. 

Across
the room, the guard’s reaction to Allyson had been less coordinated.
 
The big man seemed momentarily confused
by what was happening.
 
However, he
quickly followed Ulrich’s lead and he took aim at the woman.
 

A
shot was never fired from the stocky man’s weapon, though.
 
Before he could pull the trigger, a
sharp and burning pain shot across his head and face with bits of dripping
flame flying past his eyes.
 

Sean
had taken the moment of surprise and moved quickly, swinging his arm as hard as
he could.
 
The torch bashed against
the man’s temple sending sparks and fire swarming around the man’s head.
   

For
a second, the large body staggered, dizzied from the strike.
 
Instinctively, he dropped his gun and reached
up to his face with both hands, screaming in pain.
 
Sean followed the blow with another swing.

This
time, the stocky man was ready.
 
He
recovered from the initial blow and raised his other arm just in time to block
the flaming staff from hitting him again.
 

It
was Sean’s turn to be surprised.
 
He had not anticipated the strong man’s ability to stabilize so
fast.
 
After blocking his attack,
the man grabbed the torch with one hand and Wyatt’s throat with the other.
 

Sean
tried to pry the fingers loose that were cutting off his supply of air, but the
grip was too strong.
 
He swung
wildly at the guard’s face, only getting in a few glancing blows that seemed
less than ineffective.

The
room began to spin as the lack of oxygen started taking its toll.
 
His lungs screamed to breathe, but he
could not force open his throat.
 
With a last ditch effort, Sean jumped and lifted both of his legs in a
running motion, essentially stepping on flat top’s chest and then face with
both feet.
 
The odd movement worked
as Sean’s legs forced free the man’s grasp and sent him reeling backwards
towards one of the flaming urns.

Wyatt
landed on his side and gasped for air, his lungs filling gratefully in
relief.
 
He only had a moment,
though, as the guard had caught himself and was charging toward him like a
bull.
 
Tommy staggered to one knee,
with a hand still on the ground.
 
Only a few feet behind him, another of the dishes burned brightly.
 
The idea came just quickly enough.
 

Running
at full speed, flat top squared his shoulders into a tackling position, ready
to drive Wyatt to the floor.
 
But
just as he was about to hit him, Sean rolled out of the way and caught the
guard with his boot.
 

The
man stumbled forward out of control and before he could stop, he crashed into
the fiery platter sending it toppling to the ground.
 
He reached out his hands to the floor as he fell, but they
landed in the fire that now spread along the floor.
 
The man let out a yelp and withdrew his hands but when he
did, his body collapsed into the flames.
 
His black suit roared to life in a burst of yellow and orange heat.
 

He
screamed and struggled to roll out of the flames to safety as his entire body
became engulfed.
 
Finally, after a
moment, the man was able to worm his way onto a part of the stone surface where
the fire hadn’t reached and he continued to turn over in the dust.
 
A few seconds later the flames had been
smothered.
 
The skin on his face
and hands peeled and blistered from the burns and his flat top hair cut had
been singed down to the scalp.

Then
he opened his eyes to see Sean Wyatt standing over him with his gun.
 
Without hesitation, Sean raised the
weapon and clicked off a shot.
 
The
bullet smashed into the knee, shattering the joint into a bloody mass of tissue
and bone.
 

Wailing,
the man collapsed onto his side, both hands gripped the bloody mess where his
kneecap used to be.

“Don’t
move,” Sean remarked casually as he turned to leave the man twisting in agony
on the floor.

Wyatt’s
attention went to the other side of the room as the elevator continued its
ascent.

Tommy
was hanging onto Ulrich’s foot for dear life, but the strong blonde man was
dragging him along, struggling to get to the gun that was only a few feet
away.
 
Across the room, both
combatants saw an orange-yellow flash followed by a howling scream and then a
gunshot.
 
Neither one could see
beyond the giant column that was pushing the platform of the elevator up.
 

Ulrich
was only a few inches from the gun, his fingers scratched against the hard
floor in an attempt to pull closer to it.
 
He kicked a couple of times, once catching Tommy in the face.
 
Still, the man would not let go.

Tommy
realized his attempt to impede Ulrich was futile.
 
His jaw ached from the black shoe striking it.
 
There was only one thing he could do.
 
In one sudden movement, he released the
blonde man who tumbled forward just beyond the gun.
 
All Tommy could do was dive behind one of the stone boxes
for cover before Ulrich could get off a shot.
 

The
unexpected momentum had thrown Ulrich off only for a few seconds.
 
He recovered quickly and snatched up
the weapon, squeezing off three quick rounds at the sprawling Tommy.
 
The bullets ricocheted off the
sarcophagus and bounced, momentarily, around the room.

“Very
clever, Thomas!”
 
The voice was
sinister as Ulrich stood up, firing another shot just over Tommy’s back.
 
It pinged off the golden wall beside
him.
 

“But
now your little game is at an end,” Ulrich continued.
 
He took a step forward, moving in for the kill, when another
gun popped from somewhere else in the room.

Ulrich
froze in his tracks.
 
Looking down
at his chest, he noticed blood slowly seeping into his shirt.
 
He spun around quickly to return fire,
but his reaction was too late.

Four
more shots came from the other weapon, all of them finding the blonde man’s
torso.
 
His legs wobbled for a
moment, then gave way, sending his now heavy body to the ground.
 

Sean
lowered the weapon and walked over to the man lying on the cold, stone
floor.
 
Blood trickled down
Ulrich’s face from the corner of his lips.
 
His icy, blue eyes were wide with shock.
 
His lungs gurgled beneath the crimson
stained shirt, struggling against the damage the bullets had inflicted.
 

With
a final act of defiance, Ulrich tried to raise his pistol.
 

Another
loud bang from Sean’s gun punched a dark hole through the man’s forehead and
the hand holding the gun dropped lifelessly to the floor.
 

Tommy
peaked out from behind one end of the stone box.
 
He saw his friend standing over the body of the dead
Ulrich.
 
Sean dropped the pistol
onto the ground next to the body.
 

“Cuttin’
it a little close there weren’t ya?” Tommy joked, staring down at his
kidnapper.
 

“Sorry.
 
I was a little preoccupied,” he jerked
his thumb backwards in the direction of the moaning henchman.
 

“What’d
you do to him?”
 
Tommy asked, not
sure he wanted to know.

“Let’s
just say, he won’t be winning any dance contests…ever.”
 
Sean forced a smile.
 

“Should
we call Allyson back down.”
 
The
elevator had gone all the way back up to the top.

“Give
it a second, Schultzie.”
 
He
slapped his friend on the back.
 
“This is what you have spent your life looking for.”
 

They
both gazed in awe at the unimaginable scene before them.
 
Their heads turned a full circle,
taking in the scene.