Michael White - The Medici secret

'A man such as yourself talking about trust. You have sold your career and the trust placed in you by the good people of Italy. And for what? The few pieces of silver I have passed your way.' He shook his head, tutting. 'And you, Signor Cartwright,' Fournier went on. 'Do you have any pearls of wisdom to add? Any words of warning about who we may or may not trust?' Cartwright remained silent.

From his jacket pocket Fournier removed a snub-nosed pistol. He raised his gun and shot Cartwright and Candotti between the eyes.

Jeff crouched down shielding Rose with his body. Fournier had turned his gun on Edie, but he didn't fire. Roberto had a Beretta M9 in his good hand aimed directly at Fournier's head. 'Edie, Jeff, Rose, get out of the way.' They took cover behind the tomb. 'You and I have no quarrel,' Fournier said quietly. He began to back away towards the door. 'And you dare not shoot. If I were to drop this vial…'

Roberto held the Beretta steady for a second, then lowered it. Fournier dived to one side. Crouching low to the ground, he fired once, wide of his target, sped towards the exit and disappeared. Edie, Jeff and Rose emerged from behind the Medici sarcophagi, averting their eyes from the carnage just a few feet away. 'We can't just let that maniac go,' Edie said.

'What do you suggest?' Roberto responded. 'We're not the police. Anyway,' his eyes flickered towards Candotti's body, 'they weren't a great help.'

'Roberto's right, Edie,' Jeff said. 'Remember why we got into this in the first place? To find out who killed your uncle. We know the answer now.'

'Oh great,' she growled. Marching up the marble steps, she stared down at the empty box, hands on her hips. Then suddenly, she yelled and kicked the base of the pedestal.

There was a loud cracking sound from the floor beneath her feet, followed by a high pitched whine and the sound of stone grinding on stone. The pedestal toppled to one side, sending the empty box clattering down the steps. From a point above the entrance to the chamber, a massive stone block slid down from the lintel. It slammed into the floor, making the whole room shudder.

No one moved. All they could hear was the steely sound of small stones and debris falling from the ceiling on to the marble floor.

Tears welled up in Rose's eyes. 'We're trapped aren't we?'

'There's always a way, sweetheart,' Jeff said and put his arm around her shoulders.

In place of the column was a perfectly square hole. Inside lay rows of wooden tubes. Jeff reached in, lifted one out and put it on the floor carefully before picking up another, almost identical tube.

'Scrolls, like the one Sporani found in the Medici Chapel,' Roberto said.

Jeff removed a few more, then spotted something lying underneath. 'There's another box.' 'Can you lift it out?'

'No, it's fixed in place. There's a lock, identical to the other one.' Jeff rolled the cylinders to form the right combination. There was a satisfying click and he lifted the lid.

An identical vial lay nestled in the velvet padding. On the inside of the lid, inscribed in gold was a line of Latin. Roberto translated it: ALL MEN ARE TREACHEROUS. Jeff lifted out the vial and held it up. It weighed almost nothing and shimmered luminous green in the light from the oil burners.

'I know this sounds crazy. But it seems almost alive.' 'For fuck's sake Jeff, be careful,' Edie muttered.

'It looks pretty robust,' Jeff replied. 'Thick glass or crystal. If Tommasini killed himself he must have opened it. Look, this has been expertly resealed.' He pointed to the end of the tube where a stout brass cap joined the glass, a waxy substance had been moulded into the join. 'OK, but even so…'

'So,' Jeff said, passing the vial to Roberto. 'Two vials. One real, one fake?'

Edie laughed suddenly, an edge of hysteria to it. 'Bloody marvellous. We have the vial, but we're shut in with no way out.'

'Damn it!' Jeff walked over to the door. A thin line around the edge was the only indication that there had ever been an opening at all. 'This is ridiculous. How can this happen? How could fifteenth-century engineers construct such a thing?'

'They weren't the first,' Roberto replied. 'Four and half thousand years ago the Great Pyramid was sealed up immediately after the pharaoh was buried. It was all done automatically using an ingenious system of ropes and pulleys. Don't forget who we're dealing with. The Medici were not your average citizens. They had amazing resources at their disposal, and Cosimo and his pals were steeped in ancient knowledge.'

'And the Humanist ideal,' Edie sneered. 'Not much good to us now.' 'What did you say?' Roberto snapped. 'The Humanist ideal…' 'Of course!'

Roberto raised the vial to eye level. 'The Humanist ideal.

'What are you going on about, Roberto?' Edie glared at him.

'Cosimo and his friends were driven by the power of knowledge, but they were also very high-minded. They believed personal integrity was paramount. Note the inscription.' He pointed to the lid of the box. 'They realised the power of the vial. They knew it could destroy their world. That's why they hid it here.'

'So what are you trying to tell us?' Rose asked shakily.

Crouching down, Roberto placed the vial back in its box and shut the lid.

For several moments nothing happened. Roberto stepped back, keeping his eyes glued to the opening in the floor.

'It's not…' Jeff began and stopped. A low rumbling came from the floor and the box sank down into the stone stairs. They watched it descend three feet, four, five. It stopped and a stone block slid across the space sealing the box deep inside the tomb. Then came a new sound, from across the room, the grating of stone on stone. It grew louder. They ran down the steps, reaching the floor as the block of stone in the doorway began to lift. They dashed towards it and ducked under the rock, almost falling over each other into the dark corridor on the other side.

They were picking themselves up in the darkness when, without warning, the block stopped moving. There was a moment of silence. Then came a noise like the growling of some monstrous beast. It grew louder and louder. A tremendous crash came from inside the chamber and they could see through the opening great boulders tumbling through the air and smashing to the floor.

'Quick! The ceiling is coming down,' yelled Roberto. Jeff grabbed Rose and they made their way as fast as they could towards the exit, Roberto limping a few feet behind the others. The walls were shaking and the floor began to crack and splinter. Towards the end of the corridor, they felt a massive jolt like a seismic tremor. Rose screamed. In the grey light they saw a chasm a metre wide shudder across the floor and up the wall. Edie helped Roberto cross the fissure. He slipped, landed heavily and convulsed in pain. 'Come on… the exit is just ahead,' Edie screamed above the noise.

Catching up with Jeff and Rose, they all kept running as fast as they could, not looking back. Lathered with sweat, they emerged into the air. The cold hit them like a sledgehammer, but it was a relief. Night had fallen, and it was not easy finding their way back on to the shingle. But then, the darkness was ripped away as an intense beam of light broke over the mausoleum and a helicopter roared into view, before it banked away to the north.

They could hear voices coming from the direction of the monastery. And out of the night another bright beam cut a swath through the darkness. A small motor launch roared up on to the beach. A Macedonian police officer jumped out and splashed his way to the shore. Roberto led the way and Jeff held Rose close as they crossed the rough ground to follow the policeman.

The chopper was back and was swooping low over the water as they covered the short distance to the edge of the lake. As they made dry land, another officer saw them, broke into a run and called into his radio for assistance.