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Jada nodded slowly, but it was Olivia who answered

"Maybe it was never here Your professor friend in Oxford said they’d established it was here because they knew so was here It round palace"

Corelli had gone over to the right-hand passage and begun to explore it, searching for s the mercenary team already had established weren’t there Drake liked the man less and less as the minutes ticked by For a flunky, he seeot frolanced at Drake "I have a theory"

Drake nodded "Let’s hear it"

"It never made any sense to h the Thera labyrinth"

"He didn’t," Jada said "Hepath"

"Granted," Henriksen replied, blue eyes turned gray in the reflected illu did it take us to figure that out? A n such a puzzle would never offer so sis were added later, when it no longer mattered if intruders could find their way?"

"After the Thera eruption?" Drake asked "Why bother?"

"No, it makes sense," Jada said, and he could see it pained her to ad on the theory that there even was a golden hoard and that Talos--or someone--supervised the reo faster and et lost?"

Drake thought about it, then nodded reluctantly "I guess If they were really abandoning it"

"Half of it had already collapsed," Henriksen reold to the fourth labyrinth, as Daedalus had done at least twice before"

"It’s all about the gold with you, isn’t it?" Drake asked

Henriksen so, gold has its appeal"

Drake kneas supposed to hate the man, so he turned away before he let hiold plenty of ti Sully’s life and getting vengeance for Jada’s father The thought made the smile die on his lips

"Hoe choose a path?" Olivia asked "I don’t think splitting up is a good idea"

"Why not?" Jada asked "There are plenty of us"

Corelli snorted derisively "Maybe because we’re not the only ones down here"

Nobody acknowledged the comment The mercenaries were already wary--they were paid to be--and Drake didn’t need rees and studied theht Runnels had been carved in the cave floor over ti for soutters had been cut into either side of the sloping passages More of the runnels seee, but that seemed like it must be a natural pheno his ht

Drake slipped off his pack and pulled out a sports bottle full of water He uncapped it, went to the entrance of the left passage, and knelt to pour a few ounces across the threshold there Jada had followed, giving hiht

"What the hell are you doing?" Corelli asked

"Thinking," Drake replied "Try it soe and repeated the process, nodding as he saw the water running into tiny cracks and pooling into depressions as it trickled down the slope into the tunnel

"This way," he said, standing and going back to stow the water and slip his pack back on

"What was that?" Henriksen asked "Are you Tonto now?"

"If they had so old then they had to mark the path for workers to carry it all out of the labyrinth on Thera, there was a hell of a lot of traffic going in and out of here at one point," Drake explained He pointed to the right-hand passage "There’s a hell of a lot more wear on that side and hardly any erosion on the left Not a lot of foot traffic that direction"

Henriksen considered that but looked unsure

Drake shrugged "Do what you want Sully’s here solanced at her to ht to speak for her, but she already was following She had put her hair up in a ponytail,her features, her face had a soft vulnerability that was deceiving But when she aze, he saw the fa back for either of theht

"The lanced over at the ating the cave while others were on alert for any sign of approach

"The logic is solid, Mr Henriksen," Perkins continued "I can’t say we’re going to be able to determine which path is correct at each turn in the labyrinth, but right now, I advise we take the tunnel on the right"

Henriksen glanced at Olivia, but her face was an unreadable uard The protectors know these corridors intimately And I have no doubt they have doors we’ll never see Perkins,the rear"

"Yes, sir," Perkins said, gesturing for two of his people to guard their flank

But that was the problees It was i fro in the shadows

21

They set off down the sloping tunnel in twos, as before, and the twists of the labyrinth quickly revealed theht path bythe wear on the floor, but in other places they were forced to explore wrong turns for longthey had chosen poorly

This labyrinth differed significantly from the others in that it was a combination of man-made tunnels and natural caves In another of the caves they passed through they foundand fissures that led up to the surface, and Drake wondered how far underground they had traveled There were vines as well, but only s in full bloo stone staircase had been carved into the side of a large cavern that dropped away precipitously on the right Drake kept a hand on Jada’s shoulder as they went down the stairs, feeling the presence of the mercenaries behind him He had been careful tothe man to follow At the botto on the walls and fas of cave hellebore, as well as the syons that stood for the four labyrinths