dropped at her feet. McKee rose to her knees, then turned the gun and light to the wall where the flying object had originated from.
The dangling stone banged against the wall, then spiraled toward its tethered pole with a loss of momentum. There was no sign of the person who had launched it.
70
Help me . . . Help me, please . . .”
The cry came soft and weak, but with an unmistakable Irish accent. Gavin hesitated, holding his gun steady in front of him, then moved slowly toward the voice.
The narrow tunnel led into a larger opening, Gavin could see, the voice hailing from the pitch-blackness inside. Breathing heavily from the undulating climb, he tried to calm himself a moment before moving forward. Riki remained a shadow at his side, tucking close without uttering a word.
Stepping into the chamber, Gavin aimed his light and gun at the far corner. Seated on the ground, clutching his bloodied side, Brophy squinted into the light with a look of agony he didn’t have to exaggerate.
“Can you help me?” he asked, his voice suddenly loud and firm.
His words provided a signal to Dirk and Giordino. Crouched on the back side of the rock mound adjacent to the entry, the two men rose and heaved on the silver cross borrowed from the altar. Its lower end was wedged beneath a large round boulder perched at the top of the pile. The stone quickly rocked loose, falling down the opposite side of the mound.
Turning to the sound of the tumbling rock, Gavin looked up too late. The boulder was nearly on him when he attempted to jump back. In a moment of panic, he squeezed off a pair of shots from the Ruger that ricocheted off the rock walls. The boulder struck him on the side, crushing his arm as it knocked him hard against the side wall.
A gasp trickled from his lips as his gun and phone clattered to the ground beside his collapsing body. Then the chamber fell silent.
Dirk and Giordino climbed down the mound in the darkened chamber and turned on their lights.
“I think you got them,” Brophy announced from the corner.
“You made a nice decoy,” Dirk replied. “Are you okay?”
“Dandy, under the circumstances.”
Giordino had already stepped around the rock pile and was aiming his light at the entry. Two bodies lay still on the ground. The nearest was Gavin, who showed no signs of breathing. Stepping closer, Giordino could see the gunman’s head was bloodied beneath him. His skull had cracked when he was knocked against the wall.
Giordino felt Dirk rush past him to the second figure. It was an attractive woman, he saw, lying on her side with her eyes open. Oddly, she showed no apparent sign she had been struck by the boulder.
Dirk kneeled at her side and gently raised her torso. Riki’s face winced as he did so, then softened as she focused her eyes on Dirk. He felt a warm wetness in his hand and noticed a small rip in the side of her jacket. A ricocheting bullet from Gavin’s gun had found her, striking her in the side of the chest. Dirk pressed his hand against the wound, then looked in her eyes under the glow of Giordino’s light.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” she said in a weak voice. “It’s . . . It’s all my mother’s doing. I’m sorry.”
“Me, too.” Dirk saw she was fading quickly. He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead.
“Find it,” she whispered. “Find Meritaten and what she had. Then save us all.” She looked into Dirk’s eyes and forced a smile, then she was gone.
71
McKee crouched at the cavern’s entrance, sweeping her light across the room. She saw now that the timber holding the rope was in fact the mast of a small ship housed in the narrow basin. The ledge on either side of the basin was empty, telling her the assailant was hiding somewhere below with the ship.
She knelt next to Rachel, calling her name to see if she was alive. She was not. McKee stood and retrieved the two-way radio.
“Gavin. Are you there?”
Silence.
“Gavin. Please answer if you can hear me.”
“Oh, I can hear you all right,” came the irritable voice of Al Giordino. “Like the squawk of a turkey vulture.”
“Where’s . . . Where’s Gavin?”
“He and his girlfriend are down for the big sleep. Now if you just—”
McKee let out a wail, then tossed the radio at the rock wall. Giordino’s voice fell silent as the