Scott Mariani - The Heretics Treasure

Kamal quickly regained his composure, and laughed darkly. ‘Then there’s no time to lose. Move faster.’

Emad prodded the rifle hard into Ben’s back, shoving him onwards. As they rounded the bend in the tunnel shaft, the giant cavern opened up ahead and the torch beams picked out the shape of the rope bridge.

‘Keep moving,’ Kamal said.

More dust and stones showered down around them. It was getting steadily worse. Cracks were forming everywhere, slowly widening. The ridge was crumbling, with them inside.

Another painful jab from the AKS behind him, and Ben stepped out onto the bridge. ‘I don’t know how safe it is for four men to cross,’ he said truthfully.

‘Walk.’

Ben stepped forwards. The bridge gave a long, juddering creak under the extra weight as Emad followed, then Kamal, then Fekri. Ben held his breath and kept moving. The torch beams bobbed and danced ahead of him, throwing long tubes of light into the dark.

Dangling over a bottomless, spike-filled chasm, outnumbered three to one, unarmed with a gun in his back, no possibility of escape and time fast running out. He was sure he’d been in tougher situations-but he really couldn’t remember when.

Just then it got even worse. There was a grinding crack from somewhere high above them, and a huge dark shape hurtled through the beam of light ahead.

It was a falling stalactite, a solid rock spike, as thick as an oak tree, twice the height of a tall man. It narrowly missed the bridge. Seconds later it impacted on the stalagmites below with a roaring crash that shook the cavern and made the bridge sway alarmingly. Ben gripped the ropes at his sides and struggled to keep his footing. Fekri swore in Arabic. His voice was tense and frightened.

Then it happened again. A boulder as big as a large car plummeted not ten feet from where Ben was standing, and he felt the wind as it passed him. Another massive rumbling crash as it shattered into a million pieces on the spikes below. Smaller rocks rained down. A stone the size of a cannonball came crashing out of the darkness above and punched through the wooden slats of the bridge between Ben and Emad. Emad wobbled off balance, almost dropping his weapon as he grappled to stay upright.

Ben felt the impact’s shudder running under his feet the whole length of the bridge. He looked down, and in the dim light he saw one of the ancient ropes beginning to unravel. The outer strands splitting, slowly rotating and peeling away; then the next layer, and the next.

That was when he knew they weren’t going to make it across.

Crack.

They all looked up.

Fekri screamed.

Another giant stalactite had sheared off and it was plunging straight for them. Ben saw its craggy point looming up fast as it speared downwards. In the instant before it hit, he thrust the Maglite in his belt, looped his arm through the side of the rope bridge and held on tight.

Fekri was staring up, open-mouthed, as the massive spike caught him right in the face. It tore off his jawbone and kept going, lancing through his body, tearing him in two.

Then it crashed straight through the floor of the bridge and parted it like thread.

Ben fell through space. The wind roared in his ears as he sailed downwards. He had the rope in a death-grip. There was no time to pray, or even to think. Then a stunning impact as the severed bridge came swinging down and hit the wall of the abyss. Ben was winded for a few seconds, and it was all he could do to hang on. He blinked to clear his head and the pain that shot through his whole body.

He slipped the torch out of his belt and shone it upwards, hanging by one hand. The broken bridge had become a wildly swinging rope ladder, and he was dangling from it like a fly caught on a web.

He shone the light downwards, and his heart jolted.

Kamal’s snarling face was staring up at him. The terrorist had managed to cling on, and he was scaling the rope ladder towards him. Between them, Emad hung limply from the ropes. The impact had smashed his skull. His weapon had dropped into the depths.

Kamal hung by one hand as he grabbed the dead man’s belt and tore him forcefully from the ropes. The corpse somersaulted away into the darkness. A crunch as his fall was halted by the point of a stalagmite.

Kamal’s teeth were bared in hatred as he kept climbing rapidly upwards, his hands shooting up like pistons, one after the other. He made a grab for Ben’s ankle. Ben kicked out for his face, but Kamal dodged the blow. His hand went down to his belt and came up with a combat knife. He slashed at Ben’s legs with it. Ben drew his knees up just in time to avoid the blade, lashed out again and caught Kamal’s shoulder, driving him down several spars of the bridge. The terrorist screamed in anger and pain. The blade of the knife glinted as he flipped it over endwise in his hand, catching it by the tip between finger and thumb. He drew back his arm and hurled it straight at Ben.

The knife cartwheeled through the air. If it had been travelling horizontally it would have struck with lethal momentum, but the near-vertical trajectory robbed it of most of its kinetic energy and Ben just had time to twist out of its way. The sharp tip clanged and sparked against the rock an inch from his head and then spiralled away into the darkness. Kamal came on, punching and gouging. Ben swung down with the Maglite and caught him on the arm. Kamal cried out. Kept on fighting like a wild animal. The two of them swung crazily over the abyss.

At that moment the ropes gave way with a crack.

They hurtled down, locked together, the wind roaring in their ears.

Two seconds of freefall. Three. Four. Then another crashing impact as Ben felt himself hit a stalactite, narrowly avoiding being impaled by its point. He slid and bounced down its conical length. Rough stone tore at his flesh. Kamal’s hands were still locked on to him, punching and gouging frenziedly even as they plummeted to their deaths.

They hit the bottom.

And went plunging underwater with a stunning splash. Dazed by the impact, Ben felt his body go limp. But with the first gulp of cold water he came to his senses and started swimming for his life. Bubbles erupted from his lungs as for an instant he was panicking in the murk, unable to tell which way was up and which was down. Then he realised he was still clutching the precious torch. The light beam sliced through the water and found the surface. He kicked out hard, and let out a wheezing gasp as his head and shoulders burst free of the water.

Kamal broke the surface a few feet away, saw him and swam towards him. His hands closed around Ben’s throat. Kicking wildly in the water, Ben lashed out with the torch and felt it connect with something solid. Heard a grunt of pain. He clubbed him again, harder.

Now the current was carrying them along fast, breaking their hold on one another as each man struggled to stay afloat. Another falling rock splashed down violently nearby, sending up a choking wave of spray. Ben coughed and blinked and flailed desperately against the powerful tide. Felt the brutal scrape of rocks as the surging water carried him through a narrow opening and down another tunnel. He went under for a few seconds, and came spluttering back to the surface, shining the Maglite around him.

Then Kamal was splashing violently back towards him. Something glinted gold in the terrorist’s hand, came lashing down and caught Ben across the shoulder. An inch to the right, and it would have shattered his collarbone. Kamal raised the weapon up again. It was the gold falcon statuette. Ben blocked the blow, twisted the precious artefact out of his hand and smashed it hard into his ribs. Kamal fell back, gasping.

The current was dangerously fast now, threatening to suck Ben under as swirling eddies grasped and tugged at his legs like the hands of water demons intent on drowning him. He kicked against them with all the strength he had left, but with both hands full it was nearly impossible to swim properly. He didn’t dare lose the torch, and he couldn’t let go of the gold statue. It was the evidence he needed to save Zara-it meant everything.