A fresh wave of terror hit Abigail. Riley was hopelessly outnumbered. How would either of them get out of this alive? All she could do was sit there and watch the unconscious man.

  She was flooded with relief when Riley crawled back to her. “I’ve taken out four of them,” he said. “There are likely more out there. Could there be a back way out of this temple?”

  “I have no idea. If it was simply a temple, then yes, but it’s in a cavern. I have no idea if there is a back way out of this cavern.”

  “You’re doing well,” Riley said. “It’s almost over now. All we have to do is find another way out and then everything will be all right.”

  Abigail shot him an incredulous look. He made it sound so easy, but she knew that the reality was far worse than he had indicated.

  She pointed to the huge pile of treasure by the back wall. “There should be a doorway behind that wall,” she said. “If there is a back way out, it will be through that door.”

  “We won’t be able to use chem lights because if anyone’s out there, they’ll see us. Just use the night vision goggles, but we won’t put them on until we’re back in the dark. Okay?”

  Abigail gave him the thumbs up.

  Riley told her to wait and then crawled around the wooden chest. He nodded to her and indicated she should follow him. They both crawled quickly until they were behind the pile of treasure. It was only when Abigail stood up, she realized how sore her legs were. They cramped painfully. She stopped for a moment and dug her heels into the ground to try to relieve the cramps.

  Riley held out his hand and she took it. They hurried out the doorway into the posticum.

  There, standing in front of them, was a man with a gun.

  27

  SARDIS: UNDER THE ACROPOLIS NORTH

  It happened so fast Abigail scarcely had time to take it in. Riley kicked the gun out of the man’s hand. The man aimed a punch at Riley and within nanoseconds they were engaged in a fight.

  Abigail stood back helplessly, not knowing what to do. She looked around anxiously in case the sounds attracted any other Vortex agents, but there were none. She noticed a statue of Artemis holding an iron spear. She tried to remove the spear from the statue’s hand so she could use it as a weapon, but it was stuck fast. She picked up a beautiful jug, intending to hit the agent over the head if she could get a clear shot at him. Yet, try as she might, there was no opportunity.

  The fight seemed to last forever. Abigail couldn’t tell whether Riley had the upper hand. Both men seemed to be landing punches.

  Riley stepped backward and then forward again. Abigail saw a slight movement under his foot, the white chem lights affording visibility. She took another look and saw the same striations on the marble that she had seen when Thatcher had fallen into the pit.

  “The marble!” she called out to Riley. “Where you just had your foot. Just like what happened with Thatcher.”

  Riley gave no sign that he heard her, but he at once maneuvered the man onto the marble. The man grabbed Riley’s neck, and for a horrible moment Abigail thought Riley would fall with the man into the crevice.

  Riley lifted up both hands and moved them out and downward, thus breaking the man’s grasp at the very moment the panel opened.

  The man disappeared from view.

  Abigail hurried over to Riley. His breathing was coming in ragged bursts. “You’re bleeding,” she said, touching her fingertips to the gash across his forehead.

  “Good work,” he said by way of response. “You did well.”

  Abigail opened her mouth to say more when a loud crack rent the air. She froze. “What was that?”

  “Berat’s dynamite! We can’t go back the way we came. Let’s look for another way out.”

  The exit was blocked. Abigail’s stomach muscles clenched so hard they hurt. She went cold all over. Then a disturbing thought occurred to her. “That means any Vortex agents will head this way, looking for another way out too.”

  Riley nodded. “We have to hurry.”

  Abigail pointed to the striations on the marble. “See those marks there? Don’t step on anything that looks like that.”

  “You can be certain I won’t,” Riley said.

  He took her hand again, which made Abigail’s heart flutter. She silently scolded herself for thinking about her attraction to Riley in circumstances such as these.

  The two of them carefully made their way around the back of the temple. The illumination from the chem lights did not reach that far. Riley signaled that Abigail should put on her night goggles, and she did so.

  They reached a corbeled arch, an entrance to another tunnel, without encountering any more booby-traps or Vortex agents. Abigail was relieved, but if there wasn’t another way out, then they were doomed.

  Riley touched Abigail’s arm. “There’s an inscription there. Can you read what it says?”

  “It’s hard to see,” she said. “Can I use my flashlight?”

  “It might not be safe,” he said. “Maybe there are Vortex agents still in the tunnels behind us. Only use it as a last resort. Try to see if you can read it first.”

  She peered at the inscription and then said, “It’s okay. I can read it. You know, maybe those Cretan architects did build this place after all. The inscription says, ‘Beware the Minotaur’.”

  “Wasn’t he half man, half bull? He lived in caves in Crete.”

  “Not in caves,” Abigail corrected him. “In a labyrinth. If I were to guess, I’d say the inscription means we’re about to enter a labyrinth.”

  “That doesn’t sound good.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” Abigail agreed with a shudder. “We could easily get lost. In the legend, Ariadne gave her lover, Theseus, a ball of twine so he wouldn’t get lost in the labyrinth, but we don’t have a ball of twine.”

  “So the reference isn’t a clue?”

  Abigail was confused. “What do you mean?”

  “The Minotaur isn’t a reference to something else, like to a passage in an ancient work that gives us a further clue?”

  Abigail rubbed her forehead hard. “I doubt it. And if that’s the case, then it’s of absolutely no help, as I can’t remember any ancient writings on the Minotaur. Except Plutarch,” she added darkly.

  Riley stepped closer. “Plutarch?”

  “A biographer and historian who lived around the time the Book of Revelation was written. You won’t like what he said about the Minotaur’s labyrinth.”

  “Try me.”

  Abigail sighed and quoted,

  “After wandering in the labyrinth, they could find no possible way out, so they ended their lives there in misery.”

  “You’re right,” Riley said. “I don’t like it. Look, we’ll have to take things as they come. Let’s go inside.”

  Abigail was reluctant to go into the tunnel, but Plutarch’s words urged her forward. If they couldn’t find an exit this way, then they would be trapped in there forever.

  They were only fifty or steps into the tunnel when the tunnel branched into two. Each tunnel entrance had an inscription over it. “This inscription is from the first century,” Abigail said. “Someone much later than Croesus found this temple. Maybe it was Bulut’s ancestors.”

  “You can date it by looking at it?” Riley said.

  “It’s chapters and verses from the Book of Revelation’,” Abigail told him. “The Book of Revelation from the Bible was written around 96 AD, seven hundred years after Croesus.”

  “So it seems to me we’re presented with a choice. One tunnel is booby-trapped and the other one isn’t.”

  Abigail clutched her stomach in fear. “Or maybe they’re both booby-trapped.”

  “Okay. So it seems the inscriptions were written at the end of the first century A.D. or later. Clearly, the treasure hasn’t been stolen, so I’d hazard a guess that the tunnels were built by someone protecting the treasure and leaving instructions as to the safe way out.”

  “Maybe.” Abigail’s head was spinning. She wasn’t sure that Riley was making any sense until the realization struck her. “Of course! Eymen’s interest in the Book of Revelation and all the clues from the Book of Revelation! These inscriptions must have been left by Eymen Bulut’s ancestors, the group protecting the copper scroll.”

  “Actually, I think you’re right. What do the inscriptions say?”

  “The inscription on the right says, ‘Revelation Chapter 2 Verse 13’, and the inscription on the left says, ‘Revelation Chapter 2 Verse 14’.”

  “That’s it?” Riley said, unable to keep the concern out of his voice. “We don’t have a Bible on us. How do we know what the verses mean? I presume they offer clues as to what we’ll meet inside the tunnels.”

  “I was raised Brethren,” Abigail told him. “My grandparents were very strict and I had to memorize large portions of the Bible. I can’t remember these verses word for word, but I am fairly sure that Verse 14 complains that some people follow the teaching of Balaam. That represents the tunnel on the right.”

  “And what about the tunnel on the left?” Riley asked her. “Verse 13?”

  “That one says,

  ‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast to my name, and you did not deny my faith.’”

  “Pergamon,” Riley said without missing a beat.

  “Yes, and that’s written over the tunnel to the left.”

  “All right, so Revelation was speaking in a favorable manner about the people in verse 13, which is the tunnel on the left, and in an unfavorable manner about the people in verse 14, and that represents the tunnel on the right.”

  Abigail agreed, thinking it through as she spoke. “Yes. I think we’re right about the clues. We have a choice of two tunnels, so we are making an educated guess that one is booby-trapped and the other one isn’t. Verse 13 speaks about people favorably, whereas the other verse doesn’t. On those grounds, I think we should take the tunnel on the left.”

  “We will still proceed carefully, just in case,” Riley said.

  Abigail was about to agree when the bright white light of a chem light burst behind them. Riley acted quickly, pulling Abigail into the darkness of the tunnel.

  Abigail’s heart was in her mouth. She knew they had no choice but to edge forward quickly without knowing what could be in front of them.

  Just ahead of them, the tunnel took a right-angled turn to the left. Riley rounded the turn and then pulled Abigail around after him, holding her close to him.

  They were so close she could feel his heart beating and his breath in her hair. She was trembling and he tightened his arms around her.

  The man following her must be the man Riley had knocked unconscious, the man who had fallen next to her. Or maybe it was another man entirely. For all she knew, it was a whole army of men.

  Over the sound of her beating heart, she could hear boots crunching. It did sound like only one man. Maybe if he took this tunnel, Riley would have the element of surprise. She jumped as a chem light flew into the tunnel, illuminating everything.

  Abigail couldn’t hear the man enter and she wondered if he had walked into the other tunnel.

  All of a sudden, a scream rent the air.

  “He’s taken the other tunnel,” Riley whispered in her ear. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

  Abigail didn’t want Riley to let her go. She felt safe in his arms despite being in such a predicament.

  He detached from her and moved silently away. It was only after he had gone that Abigail wished she had told him to be careful in the tunnel.

  Presently, he returned. “I didn’t venture far inside the tunnel, but there was no sign of him.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t go in,” Abigail said. “There might have been a floor trap onto spikes or something.”

  “At least you know you chose the right tunnel,” Riley said brightly.

  Abigail forced a smile. “Let’s hope both tunnels are not booby-trapped. I don’t think they are, though,” she added.

  Riley tapped her elbow and urged her forward. “I think it’s safe to use our flashlights, if not chem lights, at this point.”

  They crept along the tunnel shining their flashlights over the rocks and the rubble on the ground.

  Abigail was terrified that boiling oil would suddenly pour on their heads, even though she knew it wasn’t a logical fear. She realized most fears weren’t logical, but the notion afforded her no comfort.

  For a few steps, Abigail thought they were climbing, and hoped they would come out onto the surface any minute. She was dismayed when their tunnel ended and their flashlights shone over the entrance to another two tunnels. Each had a verse from Revelation over it.

  “The inscription over the tunnel on the left says ‘Revelation Chapter 2 Verse 17’ and over the tunnel on the right it says, ‘Revelation Chapter 2 Verse 16’.”

  “What do they mean?” Riley said.

  Abigail’s mouth ran dry. “Um, I don’t know,” she stammered. “My mind has gone blank.”

  “That’s understandable under the circumstances,” Riley said. “Don’t worry, it will come back to you. This is all a terrible shock.”

  Abigail nodded. She ran through the seven churches of Revelation in her mind. First the church of Ephesus, then Smyrna. Finally, she said aloud, “I’ve got it! Verse 16 is about the church of Pergamon. It says,

  ‘So repent. If you do not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.’”

  “So that’s the tunnel to avoid,” Riley said. “The tunnel to the right again. I assume Verse 17 is favorable?”

  Abigail nodded and quoted the verse.

  “To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that nobody knows except the one who receives it.”

  “I don’t pretend to understand that,” Riley admitted, “except for the fact that it definitely seems favorable.”

  Abigail let out a long sigh of relief. “Thank goodness I remembered the verse. Yes, it looks like we go into the left tunnel again.”

  They stepped into the left tunnel, shining their flashlights over the tunnel walls and the ground. Immediately, something whizzed over Abigail’s head.

  “Bats again!” Riley said. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes, fine.” Abigail fervently wished for a breath of fresh air. “The bats smell pungent, and the tunnel air is no better.”

  “Bats are great news, though,” Riley said. “Bats live at the entrance to caves. This surely means we’re close to the exit.”

  The thought that she might be getting out of that place soon filled her with renewed hope. Maybe she would survive this after all. If only the tunnels remained wide enough for her to stand upright.

  As they progressed further along the tunnel, there was an increasing amount of rubble on the ground. Abigail didn’t know whether it was the result of earthquakes or simply the ravages of time. Riley helped her over the worst of the rubble. She went carefully, not wanting to twist an ankle.

  “We’re going up, although slowly,” Riley said.

  That’s what Abigail had hoped. “Do you have any idea how far it would be to the surface?”

  “Not a clue, but the bats give me hope.”

  “I hope there are no more tunnel choices,” Abigail said, just as they rounded the corner and were met with two more tunnel entrances. She groaned aloud.

  The inscription over the tunnel to the left said, ‘Revelation 2:19’ and the inscription over the tunnel to the left said, ‘Revelation 2:20.’

  Abigail rubbed her brow furiously. “Verse 20 is about Jezebel, I’m certain of it, but I can’t quite remember what Verse 19 says.”

  Riley hurried to reassure her. “That’s okay. We know the left tunnel is the tunnel we shouldn’t go in, so this time we take the tunnel to the right.”

  “I’d better make sure,” Abigail said. She shut her eyes tightly and then said. “Oh yes, I remember now. Verse 19 states,

  ‘I know your actions, your love, faith, service, and patient endurance, and that your latter actions are better than your former actions.’”

  “Definitely favorable! The tunnel to the right it is.”

  Once more, they proceeded carefully along the tunnel. Abigail hoped they wouldn’t come across any more tunnels. She was also afraid the tunnels would circle and take them back to the Temple of Artemis. Still, no Vortex agents had appeared behind them, not since the man who had gone into the wrong tunnel.

  As they continued, to Abigail’s dismay, the tunnel became a little smaller, forcing Riley to stoop although Abigail could still stand upright.

  “I can see light at the end of the tunnel,” Riley said with a laugh.

  “Are you sure?”

  Abigail’s eyes took a moment to adjust and then she said, “Yes, it does look a bit lighter there.”

  “Turn off your flashlight.”

  Abigail did as he said, and to her delight, he was right. There was a faint glow ahead. Abigail was so relieved, she was afraid she would burst into tears.

  Her relief vanished in an instant when they moved toward the light and found themselves in a round pit. It had been made by human hands; Abigail estimated many centuries earlier.

  A narrow hole was above their heads through which Abigail could see a narrow strip of blue sky.

  Riley touched the walls. “It’s like some kind of a well.”

  Abigail was aghast. “We’ll never be able to climb up these walls!”

  “We won’t need to,” Riley said. “There’s a rope.”

  Abigail hadn’t noticed the rope due to the vegetation and tree roots growing in the cracks between the stones.

  Riley turned over the end of the rope in his hands. It was awfully thick.

  Abigail looked at it askance. “I wonder how old it is. It doesn’t look too good.”