Sam, crouched behind the rocks, watched for a moment, then called back at her. “Do you have your sat phone?”
She pulled it from her pocket, looking up Zoe’s number as the helicopter moved in, hovering. Glancing up, she caught a glimpse of the pilot, a woman, and two other men leaning out, looking down at them.
“Get down!” Sam shouted. He pressed back against the outcropping.
Remi ducked as one of the men pointed an assault rifle. Bits of rock and dirt jumped as he peppered the ground in front of them.
Sam drew the little Smith & Wesson, fired once, then ran to the cave as the helicopter banked away. He holstered his gun, then held his hand out to her. “We need to go down.”
Remi craned her head upward, saw the helicopter rising, whipping the dirt and dried brush. She shoved the phone in her pocket, took Sam’s hand, stepped off the ledge, balancing one foot on the cave wall as she grabbed the rope, then started down.
Dimitris and Nikos shouted from below as the helicopter thundered above them. Sam was still near the top, holding the rope with one hand, the pistol with the other.
The helicopter rose over the rocks and cave entrance, one of the gunmen leaning out, aiming his rifle into the cave.
Sam aimed for the pilot and fired. Again and again. Blood splattered across the windshield. The gunman twisted, grabbing the rail before falling to the ground as the chopper rose, spun around, then hit its tail on the massive rocks. Sam rappelled to the bottom. He grabbed Remi’s hand, pulling her behind him as the pilot lost control and the helicopter slammed into the huge rock above them.
CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
It sounded like an explosion echoing through the chamber, the walls rumbling around them. Sam shielded Remi from the falling rocks. Dust filled the air. They pulled up their shirts and covered their mouths and noses, trying not to breathe in too deep. Nikos and Dimitris found them, after they climbed up to the entrance of the lower chamber. As their coughing subsided, Sam heard the hiss of gravel and sand that slid down the cavern walls.
He glanced at Remi, who was patting her pockets. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. But I think I dropped the phone.”
“It won’t do us much good now. Nikos? Dimitris?”
“We’re fine,” Nikos said.
Sam turned back in the direction of what had been the opening of the cave. “Let’s see if we can’t get up there and dig our way out.”
The beams from their headlamps lit up the particles floating in the air. Sam looked over at the pool, where rainwater had collected, the surface rippling from the debris falling from above. They followed Sam past the pool. The cavern entrance was blocked, the spire of rock having fallen right over the mouth. The rope they’d used to make their descent was still there.
“Should we try it?” Dimitris asked.
Sam tugged. It held firm. “Let’s do it.” He looked back at Remi and Nikos. “Stay over there. In case anything else falls.”
He held on to the rope, using it to climb over the rocks that had landed at the base. His foot slipped, knocking one of the larger pieces. It caused a small avalanche, making it more difficult to see. Dimitris waited until it settled, was about to step over, when he glanced at the rubble. “That looks like red clay.” He picked up a rather large shard of thick pottery. There were many pieces scattered with the rock. “Something definitely broke down here.”
Nikos, watching from the other side, said, “Maybe one of the goat herders dropped a jar when they brought it in to fill with water.”
Sam, hanging on to the rope, looked down, the beam of his headlamp hitting the pile of rocks. What he noticed was that some of the shards were sitting on top of the rubble pile. As though they’d fallen from above. He looked up. Pieces of the narrow ledge that Remi had been sitting on near the top had sheared off from the force of the helicopter’s impact.
So why were the shards sitting on top?
Dimitris must have thought the same thing. His gaze followed Sam’s. “Do you think . . . ?”
“Whatever it is, it’s going to have to wait. Let’s find a way out.”
“Sam’s right,” Nikos said. The man’s dust-covered face was tense, his expression mirroring Sam’s. Worried. “We can always come back.”
A moment later, Sam felt the rope moving below him as Dimitris began climbing up the scarred slope. Side by side, they balanced on what was left of the stairs carved into the shaft, their headlamps shining on the rock that now covered the opening. Sam and Dimitris reached up and pushed. It felt solid.
That was both the
good news and the bad.
It didn’t look like it was going to come crashing onto them anytime soon. For now, there was no getting past it. No loose corners that they might dig out, freeing up enough space to get through.