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"What if he was?" Olivia asked

"Seriously?" Drake scoffed "You are an entire jar of nuts"

Henriksen started to speak up, but he hadn’t gotten half a word out when there came a booan to shake A jagged crack raced across the ceiling Dust and debris rained down, and a jar fell to shatter on the floor

Olivia screarabbed Jada and ran toward the doorway Nico’s son looked around in fear and surprise but did nothing to stop them as they joined him in the corridor They froze there, unsure what to do The ruh that the muffled noise reached them despite how far they had coered toward Henriksen, and he put a protective ar at Nico

The old Greek did not ned to whatever fate held in store for him His eyes were narrowed as he tried tosubsided and the last bits of grit rained down fro Whatever had happened, it was over as abruptly as it had begun

"If it was the volcano, we’d be dead already," the short, stocky thug muttered "It’s the fortress"

Henriksen flashed him a dark look "Corelli?"

The stocky man--Corelli--looked at him, dark certainty in his eyes "Explosives, Mr Henriksen The assholes brought the whole place down on top of us We’re not going anywhere"

"Oh, aze turned haunted "I can’t die down here" She looked around at the walls as if they were about to start closing in

Drake frowned, shaking his head No way He couldn’t even let himself wrap his mind around it The hooded men had used explosives to destroy the rest of the fortress ruins, trapping theers They were killers from another era, all about stealth and secrecy Explosives?

But there was no other answer It wasn’t as if Henriksen would have trapped himself down here voluntarily

"What do we do?" Nico’s son said, his Greek accent think and frantic He stared not at Drake or Henriksen but at his father "What are we going to do?"

"There are other ways out," Jada said, turning to Henriksen "Those hooded o back the e ca around the rooht he shook in fear, but he understood that thebeen trapped like this--at having his will thwarted At length, Henriksen aie stone slab of the door to the secret passage at the rear of the chaure out how to open that door"

"And what if we can’t figure it out in time?" Olivia demanded

"There’s another way," Drake said As they all turned to him, he pointed at Olivia "Please tell me that camera is waterproof"

17

Drake raced out of the Chinese worship chamber ahead of them A crack had appeared in the wall of the corridor outside and chunks of stone had broken off the support pillars in the hall, but he knew that would be nothing coe they would encounter if they atteetting out of the labyrinth quickly--perhaps at all

There had been four worship chan for this junction in the secret heart of this labyrinth Two of the into the cavern formed by the earthquake of 1954 Now even e cavern The others followed Drake with their flashlights as he led thee Below, the sea churned in and out like a watery bellows

"You can’t be serious," Corelli said "And you thought Olivia was nuts?"

Henriksen shot him a dark look "Shut your mouth, idiot We could all die down here"

"Yeah I’d like to avoid that," Drake said

Jada stood on the verge of the chasm Drake took her ariven way already After the explosion, cracks ht have formed to make it even lanced up at him

"How far do you think we’d have to swim underwater?"

Nico and his son were back in the entrance to the Chinese worship cha quietly to each other Corelli shook his head, scratching the back of his skull in doubt But Henriksen’s eyes were lit with anticipation Drake had to hand it to him; the man was motivated

"There’s no way to tell," Drake said

"I don’t kno long I can holddown into the roiling water

"Look, the tide is low," Drake said "It could still be going out; I don’t know But we’re not going to get a better shot than this for another twenty-four hours"

Jada, Olivia, and Corelli all looked dubious But Drake noticed the Greeks watching hiazes They were locals, and they looked as though they thought he ht not be entirely crazy, after all

"The ca at Olivia "I asked you before, is it waterproof?"

Olivia nodded "Supposedly"

"And there’s a waterproof pouch into the backpack Corelli carried With his wound, Henriksen apparently had given up the burden "We can double up protection"