“You think they’re important?”
“We’re not sure yet. What makes it worth looking into is that we found bits of glass in the debris from the explosion that killed one of our agents. No one has found any explanation for it. Especially when the shipment was supposed to be nothing but olive oil, tins, wood, and plastic wrap around shipping cartons.”
Sam recalled seeing the boxes of vials, but at the time, his focus had been on finding and freeing Dimitris. “Had I known . . .”
“Yes. That old hindsight, twenty-twenty.” The sergeant eyed the cliffside, then stood, glancing at Dimitris. “You really think there’s some evidence of this treasure down there?”
“I found some shards from a broken amphora.”
“It couldn’t have been from one of the goat herders?”
“I suppose it could.”
“Except,” Sam said, “we didn’t see the shards until after the helicopter crashed. The impact caused part of the cave wall to shear off.”
Sergeant Kompouras slipped his phone into his pocket. “Any chance you would be willing to take another look? If we prove Poseidon’s Trident really exists, it will be one more piece of evidence against Adrian Kyril.”
Dimitris gave a firm nod. “Count me in.”
“Yes,” Nikos said.
Sam, recalling Remi’s reluctance to enter the cave from the beginning, asked, “How about it?”
“I think I can go in.”
“Let’s do it,” he said to the sergeant. “The more evidence, the better.”
CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO
Once Dimitris retrieved the gear bags from the Asteri, they were able to find a solid spot to anchor their rope almost directly above the cave’s north entrance. Before they started, though, Sam pulled Remi aside. “You don’t have to go down there.”
Remi’s gaze searched his, and for a moment, he was certain she intended to back out. He could see the hesitation, even a moment of fear in her green eyes. But then she took a deep breath, and nodded. “Yes, I do. I am not going to let that man win. And if I have to go back into the cave to take him down, so be it.”
“I’ll be right there with you, every step of the way.”
Sam went first, testing the route, deciding it wasn’t too difficult for the novices—Remi and the sergeant—to scale. Once everyone had descended safely, Sam lowered himself into the chute, shimmying down. Remi went next, the others followed, with Dimitris bringing up the rear.
When Sergeant Kompouras made it into the low cavern, forced like everyone else to move about on his belly, he took a good look around. “Tell me it gets better than this?”
“It does,” Sam said. “But not before it gets worse. Whatever you do, when we get to the tunnels, keep your head down.” As they cleared the domed section and started into the long tunnel, he heard several clunks from plastic helmets hitting the low ceiling. Finally, they emerged into the large cavern, and from there, climbed the rope to the upper chamber. Kompouras moved next to Sam, using his phone to take photos, the flash lighting up the space with each shot. “I’m not sure I wouldn’t have gone into a total panic if I’d been trapped in here.” He glanced down at his screen, then at Sam. “So, where are these shards you found?”
“Over there. To the right of that pool.”
At the base was the pile of rubble where Dimitris had found the shards. Sam shined his light on it, seeing several more. Remi reached down and picked up an elongated piece of terra-cotta, something that looked like it might be the handle of an amphora.
She traced her finger over a distinctive rectangular marking. Sam noticed Greek letters in the middle of it. “What is it?” he asked her.
“Possibly the stamp of whoever manufactured it.”
Nikos took a closer look. “That’s quite the find. They may be able to date the piece based on that.”
Dimitris, digging through the pile of rubble just a few feet away, stood, excited. “Look what I found! An ancient Greek sat phone!”
Remi laughed as he handed the device over to her. She pressed a button. “Battery’s dead, but it looks pretty good otherwise.”
Sam turned his attention up toward the now-blocked cave entrance. The rope still hung down, and he gave it a good tug, then climbed up. “This,” he said to the sergeant, “is where we came in.”
There wasn’t much left of the outcropping that Remi had been sitting on right before the helicopter crashed. The impact had caused a cascading effect, shearing off the ledge, and sending the pieces crashing into a pile of rocks and dust. What had once been a narrow crevice between the cave mouth and the outcropping of rock was now over two feet in width.