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"Here!" he shouted back, wading a few feet into the shallows "I’ve got Sully!"

The two beaht continued down the stairs carved beside the waterfall, and slowly he began to ed to defeat the three attackers who had come at them on the plateau with Sully and Ian Welch One of the, and Drake figured the other tere probably dead as well, as was Welch

"How deep is it?" Henriksen called "Can we cross?"

Drake thought about that At its deepest, would Jada’s feet reach the botto!"

When Jada and Henriksen reached the botto on the rocky shelf on the opposite bank of the river, they began to scan the lower cavern with their flashlights, and Drake got a s The blossorew all over the walls on vines and in the rew, the cavern walls were carved with octagons, flowers etched inside of them, and ancient Chinese symbols had been painted and repainted over centuries

"Nate, look!" Jada called, flashing her light on so at the end of the cavern, where the river flowed into the rock face

It took a second for hiht were steps He frowned, then started along the rock shelf on the riverbank, pacing their progress on the other side As they searched with their flashlights, Drake saw the steps on his side as well and ran toward the but deeper darkness inside as he hurried by, and in seconds he had reached the bottoe!" he called to them, amazed at the way the solid rock above where the river left the cavern had been cut away to for above the water

Jada and Henriksen picked up their pace Drake hesitated He’d left Sully on the bank and still couldin the dark He went up the half dozen steps to the bridge but halted there As Jada and Henriksen hurried toward their side of the bridge, Drake studied the tunnel lance, but Henriksen slowed and shone his light inside as he went past, searching for the worship chamber they all expected to find

As Henriksen continued, it seeht remained behind in the last of the tunnels Drake blinked, staring at the phenoht inside the rowing brighter

Coht He was about to shout to the others when staccato gunfire ca out into the vast waterfall cavern Drake flinched before he realized that whoever was co at hi on the steps on the other side of the bridge

"Run!" Drake shouted, racing toward her over the rushing river

Henriksen did the running for her, linking ar as he bolted toward Drake They both still had their flashlights and guns out, and it s al out, and then the first of thearound to cover the others with both light and weapon They poured from the labyrinth and into the cavern; Drake counted five, including Olivia, Massarsky, and Garza, and when he saw the hoodedknives and what looked like ss, he knew the rest of their teao!" Jada yelled

Drake already was turning back the way he’d co, it was hard to o slowly Henriksen had let Jada go, but now she nearly collided with Drake as they ran down the half dozen slippery steps to the rock shelf of the riverbank

"I thought you were dead!" she said

"So did I!"

"Don’t do it again!"

Drake had no snappy comeback His focus was on the tunnel"Check those; see if any of theoons found another path to get into this cavern; thereuntil I find the worship chamber!" Henriksen snapped

Gunshots, and they all looked over to see a hooded wo beneath her hood drive a long blade through one of thethem both into the river But Olivia and the others were already at the base of the bridge Drake knew she had spotted the all over the cavern--but she had only threelike hell

"You can do whatever the hell you want!" Drake snapped at Henriksen "After you help et Sully to cover!"

Henriksen blinked, but only once, and then they were running along the bank tohere Sully lay sprawled, still unconscious They grabbed hi their na him toward her She stood in the mouth of the tunnel closest to the waterfall, and they ran to join her, Sully’s boots trailing across the ground between thee, Massarsky, Garza, and a square-jawed black guy Drake thought was na a stand They stood on the stone ay above the river and shot the two hooded men ere out in the open on the riverbank One or two more--perhaps only one or two more; it was impossible to tell--remained in the tunnel they had just vacated, but Massarsky and his people pinned the killed Olivia stood behind Garza, gun in hand Her blond hair was a tangled, dirty riht at Drake as he and Henriksen dragged Sully into the open tunnel He could read the profanity on her lips Then they were inside the tunnel and out of her sight, and she out of his

Only when Drake turned to look for Jada did he see that the tunnel rounded a slight curve and then ended just ahead

With three steps down into a worship chaonal altar sat in the center of the roo through him They had found it After all this, they were here

He and Henriksen dragged Sully down the three steps, and then Henriksen let go Drake had to catch Sully to keep hi to the stone floor of the worship chaht on the Chinese characters and the sys all over the walls

Jada already had rushed into the anteroom, the ritual preparation space that had been built next to the worship chan identical to that of the other labyrinths Daedalus had created In every other way, Diyu was different froins echoed loudly

SeveralHe feared they were not going to be alone in the chaer!" he called to Jada "Find the--"

"Already on it!" she replied, searching the corners of the anterooht In the reflected illu and then kicking at a stone block in the wall of the anteroom

With a loud clunk of stone, the altar shifted a couple of inches Jada had found the trigger