Celtic Empire (Dirk Pitt 25)

As Giordino helped Dirk reassemble the radar, Pitt pointed across the site. “Any hints on where the tunnel might have been located, Professor?”

Brophy shook his head. “Pure speculation, I’m afraid. Somewhere in the vicinity of the chapel, might be a guess. It likely had a peaked roof, which might be what’s depicted in the stone inscription.”

“Then let’s start the search there,” Dirk agreed.

Once assembled, the radar unit was rolled to the chapel ruins and a search made around its interior and perimeter. When nothing appeared, the search was expanded to the huts and large oratory, then on to the hillside above and below the main structures. The men took turns, in pairs, hoisting the device along the treacherous hillside. Other than some small objects and buried debris near the huts, there was no sign of a subterranean passage.

“Nothing showing up around here,” Dirk said, hefting the device over a stone and stopping to rest. “The small oratory is the only area left within the walled grounds.”

“Then that’s where it must be,” Giordino said. He took the grip of the radar unit and manhandled it toward the small structure at the end of the site. Circling the stone building without success, he worked the device up the hillside above it. He stopped at a perimeter stone wall that burrowed into the rising slope of the hill. Studying the radar’s display screen, he turned to the others and raised a fist in the air.

“Underground Al has delivered.”

Dirk rushed over and looked at the screen. A small tube-shaped pocket of white was visible amid the squiggly bands of gray lines.

“It’s small but distinct here,” Giordino said. “It seems to grow larger before fading away as you cross the hill.”

He angled the unit up the hill, Dirk glued to his side watching the display.

“The radar is losing its signal strength due to increasing depth,” he said.

Pitt and Brophy stepped to the edge of the oratory and waited as the two men returned with wide grins on their faces.

“Looks to be a potential passage right where the stone wall abuts the hillside,” Dirk said, pointing.

“Afraid we didn’t bring a shovel this time,” Brophy said.

“We may not need one,” Dirk replied. He followed the contour of the wall until reaching the point where it curled chest-high into the hillside. At the endpoint, he began hoisting off the stacked stones and laying them in an orderly pattern on the ground.

“We can reassemble it in the order it’s taken apart,” he said, as the others joined him.

“I’m sure it won’t be the first time this wall’s been rebuilt over the centuries,” Brophy said.

Pitt and Giordino joined in with the work, exposing a wall of compressed soil behind the stacked stones. As they worked their way to the corner, they came upon a large flat boulder embedded vertically. Dirk brushed away the edges and tried to move it. It wouldn’t budge. He winced at the effort.

“You take the left side,” Giordino said, squeezing in beside him. Together, they heaved against the boulder. They were able to rock it back and forth a few times until it sprang forward, falling flat to the ground.

Behind it was a narrow opening.

“A small cave for storage?” Giordino asked.

“Or something much more,” Brophy said.

Giordino stood aside and waved a hand at the opening. “Your honor, my boy.”

Dirk nodded with a smile, activated a flashlight, and burrowed through the entrance. After a minute or two, the others heard him call to them. Giordino crawled in next, followed by Brophy, then Pitt.

Pitt found a tight crawl space that extended four or five feet in a downward slope, then gradually expanded. He shuffled forward until he was able to rise to his feet, joining the others on a narrow ledge. They congregated there, shining their flashlights into the dark depths beyond.

“What do we have,” Pitt asked, “a cave or a tunnel?”

“Something even better,” Dirk replied, shining his light onto a series of carved steps that led down into the black chasm before them. “A stairway to the deep.”

65

I’ve lost sight of them again.”

Gavin lowered his binoculars and turned to McKee. “I think they might have found something.”