Uncharted The Fourth Labyrinth - By Christopher Golden Page 0,18
was searching for must be at the center of the third labyrinth.”
“Where was that one?” Drake asked.
“That’s the thing,” Gretchen said, glancing back and forth between Drake and Jada. “It’s a mystery. But your father called Maynard a couple of days ago, and when they got off the phone, Maynard was so excited. Your father thought he’d worked out the location of the third labyrinth. He wouldn’t say where it was until he’d confirmed it, but Maynard believed in him. He said if anyone could find it, Luka Hzujak could.”
The two young women exchanged a look of shared sorrow, and Drake lowered his eyes, feeling like he and Sully were intruders. But then Jada touched his arm, and he looked up at her.
“This has to be it,” she said, but she was staring at Sully. “This is why they killed him, Uncle Vic.”
“To keep the secret?” Gretchen asked, doubtful.
“Or to keep Luka from getting there first,” Sully said, turning to Drake.
“Henriksen?” Drake said. “He was already our best guess.”
The security guards’ radios crackled with voices and static. The police were on their way up. They would be upstairs in moments.
“We need to go,” Sully said, looking at Jada.
“Gretchen, listen,” Drake said, staring at her intently. “You said your brother’s working on that dig in Egypt. If we can get there, can you put in a word for us? We need access to that site.”
“What?” Jada asked. “Egypt?”
But Sully was nodding, looking at Gretchen expectantly. “It’s the only way we’re going to find out who’s really behind this.”
Gretchen glanced at the corpse of Dr. Cheney. Then she nodded. “I’ll call him.”
“Good,” Sully said. “I’m sorry, but we’ve got to go. When this is all over, you’ll hear from me. We’ll make sure you get the truth.”
“Thank you,” she said, her expression crumbling as they walked away and she was forced to contend once more with the murder of a man she so obviously had admired and loved.
“Where do you think you’re going?” one of the security guards asked.
“The police are coming up, aren’t they?” Drake said in the most reasonable tone he could muster. “They’ll never find their way through all of this. We’re gonna meet them and guide them through.”
“Right,” the guard said. “Should’ve thought of that.”
“Hey, don’t sweat it,” Sully replied. “None of us is thinking straight right now. What a horrible day.”
“Exactly,” the guard said.
As soon as Drake, Jada, and Sully were through the crouching passage, they bolted along the twisting corridor to the Minotaur’s alcove. They could hear voices and the crackling of police radios coming their way as they slipped silently through the door at the back of the alcove and then hurried along the narrow “backstage” hallway to the staff exit.
“How the hell are we going to get to Egypt?” Sully asked Drake.
“We’ll figure it out.”
“We can’t go yet,” Jada said as they raced down the employee stairwell. “Not until after my father’s funeral.”
Sully stopped and turned to her, taking her by the hands. “Jada, listen. The way he died—it’s going to be days before the coroner releases his body for burial. If Henriksen is behind this, he’s been working on it for a while. Whatever secrets Luka discovered, Henriksen either knows them or he’s trying to crack them right now. If we’re gonna get to the bottom of it, we can’t let him beat us to them.”
Jada looked frustrated and confused. “What if they’re ready to release him and I’m not back?”
“We’ll leave word,” Drake promised. “We’ll make sure either someone is there to claim him or the coroner’s office holds on to his remains until you can do it yourself. But the other problem is that if your father’s killers really are looking for you, a funeral would put you out in public, make you vulnerable.”
Jada narrowed her eyes. “Once they find out you’re helping me, you guys will be targets, too.”
“Nah,” Drake said, smiling. “Who’d want to hurt a guy as charming as me?”
“Sometimes I do,” Sully said. “Come on.”
They hurried down to the first floor, took a moment to compose themselves, and opened the door. No one tried to stop them. Drake had considered security cameras, but he figured that if these staff doors were under video surveillance, either the killer had disabled them to avoid being seen—in which case they had nothing to worry about—or the cops would scan the video as far as the killer and stop there. He hoped.