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He hadn’t walked around the buildings to the well because he wanted to slon his adversary This way, Tang would see hi but not exit
He stepped to the well and gazed inside Less than aTwo makeshift handles had been welded to its surface For all intents and purposes the plug was there to prevent anyone, or anything, fro down the shaft
But he knew better
He gripped the handles, the wet rust staining his skin,it difficult to keep a firm hold
And lifted the plate away
MALONE WAS PUZZLED “WHERE ARE WE GOING?”
Pau knelt down and began to brush away a layer of dust and debris froinally entered this chamber, the room was intact except that I noticed sunken areas in two places”
He understood “Given these three stone tables, that round everywhere—”
“Correct I told you outside about the sy left The reason that is obvious to me now is because of what I found inside this room”
“It’s getting quiet out there,” Cassiopeia said
Malone had noticed that, too “Keep an eye out”
She assumed a position near the exit
Pau co and Malone spotted faintly etched symbols, one on each brick face
“What are they?” he asked
“The one that looks like a house is the symbol for 6 The X with a line above and below is 5 The T-looking one is 7”
He noticed that the lines cluether, which obviously was 4, appeared more often than the other nuh its handle “What’s that?”
“9”
“There’s a pattern,” Pau said “But I confess I was able to decipher it only because the floor itself had depressed”
Malone follohere Pau had pointed
“The numbers 4 and 9 are important to the Chinese 9 is pronounced jiu, which is the sa life and good fortune It came to be associated with emperors 4, on the other hand, is pronounced si, which is the saarded as unlucky”
He inventoried the symbols 4 and 9 and saw that there were two concentrations
“When I entered the chamber, I saw that these bricks”—Pau pointed to a cluster of 9s—“were depressed So was that cluster of 4s I discovered that there were openings beneath the floor that led down to two separate passages”
“So you chose the lucky one,” Malone said
“It seeht selection”
Malone still held a shovel He wedged the blade between two of the floor bricks with a 9 and pounded the sole of his shoe against the top edge The ground was hard but gave way, and he angled the handle, forcing the brick upward
“Hoe doing out there?” he asked Cassiopeia
“Too quiet”
“Minister Tang is on the way,” Pau said
Malone stared down at Pau, as helping free each brick An idea of what to do calanced up and the look on the older man’s face confirmed that he’d determined their next move as well
“That’s scary,” Malone said “I’ to think like you”
Pau grinned “I can’t see where that is a bad thing”
TANG FOLLOWED A RED CARPET THAT FORMED A PATH UP A short set of stone risers into the brick-and-glass building that encased Pit 3 He’d been informed that the hall had been cleared and all exits were ht two men with him, both brothers of the Ba, whom he’d ordered to be stationed nearby
“No one leaves this building,” he barked out as he stepped past three of the uards at the main doors
Viktor Tomas waited inside
“You did well,” he said to Viktor
“Delivered, as promised”
The excavated pit spread out before hi, pointed down, then turned to the two brothers, “Assuash”
He watched as they hustled down a ladder, drew their weapons, and hugged the earthen wall on either side of the portal into Qin Shi’s imperial library