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The second and third hours found the darkened alcoves Throughout the fortress there were cracks in the walls, and in soiven way They treaded carefully there, warily creeping through rooms Drake wouldn’t ever have dared to enter by choice They all carried their guns, and Sully and Jada each had one of the industrial flashlights they’d stashed in their duffels before boarding the ship fro to die, but so far it worked well enough

Many of the breaks in the walls and floor opened into jagged nooks, and they exa for any indication that there ed corners of the fortress, Drake found a doorith stairs leading doard

"Jada, I need a light," he called

She and Sully abandoned their searches to join hiht beams down into the dark of the old stone stairwell One part of the left-hand wall had fallen in, but Drake started down, careful not to get ahead of the pool of illued to pick their way over the debris on the stairs and found a bit of hallway at the bottom Only a bit, however, as the corridor to the left had been entirely blocked by a rockfall froiven way there, and whatever lay in that direction was closed to theht-hand side held much more promise

If the door had been h The earthquake had shifted and buckled the frah that the lintel pressed down on the door from above The whole frame seehtly jales of the frame, squeezed froh to split the wood down the middle The boards were thick planks, but they had splintered and now the two sides of the door were held together only by thin iron bands on the top and botto to coh," Jada said

Drake and Sully studied the doorway Sully ran his fingers along the top of the broken door, where the ceiling pressed down onto it

"I can’t promise you it won’t," he said

Drake scoffed "Co up the thousands of tons of rock above us?"

"No," Sully said, frowning as he looked at the door "But if it’s what kept the doorway froed--"Ah, screw it"--and put all his weight behind a kick that made the wood shriek and dust sift down from above Sully kicked the door twiceaway He ht, old ive it a shot, wise guy?" Sully growled

"I would’ve been happy to if you’d let -fu fury on theto kick the door again Jada covered her ruive it a shot before we end up having to carry your geriatric butt out of here"

"My geriatric butt is still young enough to knock you unconscious," Sully warned Then he stretched his leg, still trying to work the kinks out of his knee "But yeah Have at it"

Drake srin but unable to help himself He stared at the door, determined, and shot a hard kick at the split in the wood It shrieked, the crack widening, but the thin iron straps were not going to give so easily The ih to rattle his teeth, but he wasn’t going to let Sully know that Drake kicked again, and it ht have been that the stone lintel shifted a little, or it lanced at Jada, wondering if she was right to be concerned If they hadn’t run out of fortress to search, he would have suggested that they keep looking, but this roo beyond the door, they would have to start over Drake would go over the various chambers and sublevels of the fortress even e to start asking around about the earthquake and what ht have been on the hill before the fortress was built

"This is turning out to be a waste of a day," he said

Jada had her hair back in a ponytail, and when she frowned and crossed her arhter

"Are you giving up?" she asked

"Nah," Drake said, deciding this was not the est they call the taxi back and head soun fro on to that for a second, will you?"

As she took it, he drew a deep breath, glanced at the door, then ran at it Even as he launched hiround, he knehat a stupid idea it was Trying to be Action Man always ended in bruised ribs and a bruised ego His regret lasted a millisecond, and then his feet struck the crack in the door and it burst inward in a shriek of metal and wood

Drake tried to put a hand down to break his fall but still rapped his knee hard when he struck the ground He griot up slowly,a ot the da off his trousers

"Do you two ever not bicker like children?" Jada asked

Drake and Sully exchanged a look, and then both of therinned

"Not really," Sully said

"It’s always his fault," Drake said "I’m innocent"

Sully rolled his eyes "How is it I’ve let you tag along with h the wreckage of the door, shining his flashlight around a room that had been closed up foralong But that’s going to change, trust ars," Sully called back to the off the walls of what seeree," Jada whispered to Drake "Enough with the cigars"

"I heard that," Sully said

"Good," she shot back

Jada handed the gun back to Drake, who returned it to his waistband as they followed Sully through the shattered door As they passed over the threshold, Drake looked up at the buckled fra to Jada, but he didn’t like the look of it The split door had been acting as a massive support beam, just as she had feared Grit sifted down from cracks in the stone above the ruptured wooden frale room and the last one open to the it, they would alonder

"Suddenly I’ht around

As Jada swept her light across the ceiling and then aimed it forward, Drake understood the joke They were in a medieval wine cellar Unlike the rest of the fortress, this rooht out of a section of ancient stone, part of the hilltop The curved ceiling was built of stone blocks, and arched alcoves lined the walls Old casks were stacked in several of the alcoves, but over time the wood had dried so badly that the seals had opened and the wine had long since drained away and evaporated, leaving only stains and a dull but distinctive odor