The narrow tunnel was short, opening to another area in the fortress, built inside the mountain and unfurnished. They followed it through, guided by small amounts of light that managed to filter through gaps in the walls and roof, until they came to the end of the tunnel which opened out to a vast field completely barren except for a large building on the far side.
"Where are we?" Mia asked. The sun was beginning to lower and claw-like shadows cast long across the field.
"We must be outside the city, somewhere west of the curtain wall."
They headed through snow to the building on the other side. It was square shaped, long, like a factory building. It was made of stone and led into another part of the mountain. The double doors were thick oak, banded like they had seen in other parts of the fortress. They pushed the door and were surprised to find it opened easily.
"That worries me," Nate said.
"Why?"
An explosion rocked the ground and walls.
"What the hell was that?"
Behind them, billowing black smoke filtered out of a gaping hole in the wall and the sound of gunfire and voices filled the air. Mercenaries came pouring out of the hole, firing back the way they came. One of them firing off a grenade launcher, the explosions shaking the ground and the reason for the hole in the wall it seemed.
Suddenly Nate was yanked by his arm and pulled inside the building. He turned, about to point his gun at his assailant but...
"Sully!" he exclaimed.
"Hey kid," his friend said. He was dressed head to toe in white snow gear and looking a little worse for wear with black circles ringing his eyes, his face drawn and hair dishevelled.
"You look like shit" Nate said by way of greeting.
"You're not exactly looking a million bucks yourself," Sully grunted.
Mia appeared from around the door, gun raised.
"Whoa whoa" Nate said standing between her and Sully, "It's ok."
Mia lowered the gun, "Mr. Sullivan" she said curtly.
"Mia" Sully replied with a nod of his head, then he pushed past them and closed the door.
"Give me a hand with this, kid" he said grabbing one end of a thick piece of wood. Nate grabbed the other end and, grunting with effort, they slot it in metal brackets, barring the door.
Now that they were safe, Nate rounded on Sully, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't punch you in the face."
Sully held his hands up, "I deserve that, I know I do. But Nate, you have to understand, I felt...I dunno, I just felt a pull. A singular focus. A need for those Jewels. I can't explain it, I know I'm not exactly the most morally upstanding guy in the world but I never felt this way. I just-what I'm trying to say is I'm sorry."
Nate blinked, "Victor Sullivan admitting he was wrong? Saying sorry. I must still be on the floor of the hotel in Budapest."
Sully winced, "Yeah about that, I'm-"
"-Sorry. I know Sully. I know what effect they have. It's...ok."
Kill them both!
Despite it all Sully looked grateful, "Thanks, kid."
"Guys, I'd hate to break the reunion, but I think we need to go," Mia said.
"Right" Nate said, "We need to find another way out of here.
Sully looked at Mia, "What are you doing here?"
"Protecting Museum interests" she said shortly.
They headed down the long hall. Fires burning from chandeliers providing enough light they were able to make their way down without tripping on the chunks of stone and other debris that littered the otherwise empty hall.
"What happened after Budapest?" Nate asked.
"I basically followed the clues. Went to the old Mongolian site in Sarai Batu and realised the Crown Jewels weren't there but discovered the bunker, used the coin and found the map. Found my way here and been searching ever since. Lately I've been trying to avoid those damn mercenaries."
"Have you found anything?" Mia asked.
Sully scoffed, "Not a damn thing and I've searched every square inch of this place."
"Did you find Cook's chambers?" Mia asked.
"Captain Cook? No, I didn't. Must have missed that area."
"So, you didn't find the tunnel?"
"What tunnel?"
"The tunnel that leads us here from Cook's chambers. How did you get here?"
Sully shrugged, "It wasn't easy I tell you, I had to climb my way across the chasm to get to the fortress and then, I dunno, stumbled my way here."
Mia frowned, but said nothing.
Behind them a bang echoed from the door.
"We better hurry," Nate said. "Khanoğlu's men will get here, and if they don't the Ezemshsen will."
"The what?" Sully asked.
"Ezemshsen," Nate said. "Those zombie creatures."
"Why didn't you call them zombies?"
"Because they're called Ezemshsen"
"How do you know that?"
"The nomads told me."
"Nomads" Sully sputtered. "Kid, you better tell me what the hell happened to you since Budapest."
"Well after you cold cocked me-"
"It was a fair fight."
"-I'd just been chased through a city and survived a church falling on me."
"Still fair" Sully said stubbornly.
"Fine" Nate grumbled. "After the brewhaha-"
"-Oh boy" Mia groaned.
"I barely got out of Budapest and-"
He went on to explain everything that happened, beginning with calling Mia and meeting in Moscow, following his trail in Sarai Batu, the car chase and then getting to the mountains and the avalanche where there were separated and meeting the nomads before finally telling him all they found here.
"Did Cook's diary tell you anything more about the treasure?"
"Not from what I have read, the only mention of it has been the path from his chambers which lead us here."
"So it must be here somewhere?" Sully said. "Can I have a look?"
Mia looked at Nate, who nodded and she handed him the diary. He began flicking through it as they reached a set of steps leading down. They descended the stairs, fires still providing light but noticed the air grew considerably colder the further they descended.
"We must be under the mountain by now" Nate said. They reached the bottom of the stairs which opened into another large chamber, this one naturally formed with long, pointed stalagmites and stalactites and deep crevices in the limestone walls. A path snaked its way through until it reached a chasm where a rope bridge had been bolted into the ground and on the other side were three steps cut into the stone leading to an iron door.
"Great" Nate muttered. "Another rope bridge."
Sully patted him on the back, "Come on, Nate. It won't be like Poland-"
"-Or King Kamehameha's burial." Mia interjected.
"Plus, you could jump over this."
Nate held up his hands, "Ok ok. I'm just saying, I haven't had a lot of luck with them lately so maybe you should go first."
Sully shrugged and approached the bridge, he took a few tentative steps and finding that it held his weight he was across the bridge in less than ten steps."
"See," he said smugly. "Not a problem."
Nate turned to Mia, "Your turn."
Mia nodded and took a step out, hands grasping the rope balustrade and when she was about to take another step, an explosion rang out behind them. The sound of bullets and shouts were heard. Mia looked back and another explosion went off. The ground rumbled and chunks of limestone and stalactites started falling, smashing into the ground.
"Go!" Nate yelled but as Mia made to turn, a piece of the limestone ceiling crashed into the bridge, the wooden boards shattering and the bridge fell away. Nate dived as Mia screamed and caught her hand. He strained trying to pull her up while she frantically tried to get hold with her other hand.
Her eyes pleaded with him as she kept repeating, "Don't let go. Don't let go."
Explosions and bullets rang out all around him as the mercs entered the cavern.
Some part of Nate's mind wondered just how many of the Ezemshsen they had killed. The passage must be littered with their dead bodies.
"Come on!" he groaned, slowing pulling Mia up and over until she was safe.
"Thanks," she puffed.
"Don't thank me yet," he said pulling his rifle around and ducking behind a short wall.
"We still need to get across. Think you can make the jump? Sully should be able to help."
"I should be able to-" she stopped. "Where's Sully?"
"What?" He peered around the wall, watching the battle between the mercenaries and the Ezemshsen.
"Sully's gone."
"What!" Nate turned around and saw that Sully had disappeared. "Son of a bitch! And he has Cook's diary!"
A chunk of limestone exploded near his face. The mercenaries had seen them. Nate fired in return sending the mercenaries scurrying in to hiding.
"We gotta jump" he said and before Mia could say anything, he grabbed her hand and ran. Bullets buzzed around them, chips of limestone breaking away as they ran and leapt from the edge of the chasm, time seemed to slow as they sailed through the air, bullets buzzing around them, and then they crashed to the ground on the other side, rolling to a stop a few meters past the edge.
Nate pulled Mia to her feet and they hurried up the stairs and through the door, slamming it behind them, bullets thudding into the iron door. They barred it with a thick piece of wood.
"That won't hold them for long," Nate said.
They hurried through another naturally formed room, similar to the previous one which narrowed into a tunnel that they had to take single file, Nate leading the way until they emerged into a wide cavern.
This one was similar to the others except on the other side was a wooden wall, dividing the cavern and standing at the double door was Sully.
"Sully!" Nate called out.
Sully paused for the briefest of moments before passing through and shutting the door behind him.
"What's he doing?" Mia said.
"He's going for the treasure" Nate told her. "It still has a hold on him."
They reached the doors and pushed but it didn't budge.
"Of course," Nate muttered. He examined the doors, it was just a simple wooden door, no carvings or depictions on it. "Damn it! He was down here before. How else were the fires lit? How could I have been so stupid!"
"Nate?" Mia called from behind him. She was standing on a stone pedestal that stood before the door. He must have missed it in his hurry to get to the door. "It looks like the same pedestal we saw in the bunker at Sarai Batu" she told him as he came over to inspect it.
Sure enough there was a small slot and Nate, pulling the coin out of his pocket, slotted it in. There was a rumbling sound and five tiles on the wall flipped around revealing five images. Before they could take a closer look, the door behind them crashed open, the bar split in two, and in fled Khanoğlu, Spence and a handful of remaining mercenaries taking up the rear, firing back behind them. One of the mercenaries fell.
Quickly, Nate grabbed the coin and pocketed it and the tiles flipped back to their original position, almost untraceable on the wall.
"Leave him" Khanoğlu said. The mercenaries obeyed, leaving their fallen comrade to his fate and shut the door.
"Seal the door!" Khanoğlu demanded. He and Spence turned with two of the mercs while the other two tried to seal the door with whatever they could find. They approached Nate and Mia who had nowhere to hide and Khanoğlu pulled his gun and pointed it at Nate.
"Drop it" he said indicating the rifle slung over his shoulder. He hadn't had time to get it ready. He slowly unslung the weapon and tossed it aside.
"You too" he said to Mia and she complied, tossing the handgun away.
Behind them the two mercenaries barricaded the door and they were safe from the Ezemshsen. At least for the moment.
Khanoğlu looked at them, "Mr Drake, you have once again beaten me to the punch, as they say."
He stopped a couple of meters away from him and indicated the door, "What's behind the door I wonder?"
"I was just about to find out before I was rudely interrupted."
"I am sure this is it, the end of our journey. It has been, as you Americans say, 'a wild ride'"
Nate continued to stare daggers into him but if Khanoğlu noticed he did not show it.
"Do you know why I am after the Crown Jewels, Mr. Drake?"
Nate shrugged, "Because you're a power-hungry egomaniac?"
Khanoğlu chuckled, "No, Mr. Drake. That is not the reason. I have a deep connection to the Crown Jewels. Did you know that I am a direct descendant of the Khan's, Mr Drake?"
"You and about half of Mongolia" Nate snorted.
Khanoğlu smiled, "No, Mr. Drake-"
"Would you cut out the Mr. Drake crap" Nate snapped.
"Fine. As I was saying, I am not only of his bloodline, I come from the direct line of his successors. The chosen ones so to speak. The Khan's were selective with their breeding, but I have traced my heritage back to Güyük Khan and through him to Ögedei and Genghis himself.
"Because of this I changed my name. I was originally Miraç Cengic but discovering my true heritage I took the name Khanoğlu. It means-"
"-Son of Khan. I get it. Look, this is a fascinating history lesson" Nate said. "But what is your point?"
Khanoğlu's smile faded, "My point, Nathan, is that the Crown Jewels belong to me, inherited through the Khan line."
"They belong to England" Mia said, speaking for the first time.
"They were relinquished from England by King John and recovered, in the end, by the Khans. I will now inherit them."
Nate felt the barrels of four guns pointed at him, and knew he had to buy some time.
"This is crazy" Mia scoffed. "There's no way you will get away with it."
Khanoğlu raised his gun and pointed it at Mia, "Oh? And who will know?" he said with an evil smile.
Nate moved, standing between the gun and Mia, hands raised placatingly, "Alright" he said. He indicated the door behind him, "But how do you know they are even in there?"
Khanoğlu shrugged, "If they are not, I will find them elsewhere."
"What, with him?" Nate nodded at Kelvin Spence who was standing in the shadows off to one side. "He couldn't find a hooker in a brothel."
"Cute, Drake" sneered Spence.
Nate looked back to Khanoğlu, "Does he even know how to open this door?
Khanoğlu was silent a moment then he lowered the gun, "Salak, can you open this door?"
Spence moved out from the shadows, his face looking like a pin cushion with all the welts and bruises, and examined at the door, "I'm sure it won't be too difficult. Besides, we can just tear it down."
"With what tools? You want to go back out there?" Nate asked indicating the barred door where Ezemshsen pounding on the door.
"Go on then," Nate goaded. "Open it."
Spence scoffed, "I don't answer to you, Drake."
"But you do to me," Khanoğlu grumbled. "Open the door."
Spence's eyes darted from Khanoğlu to Drake and back, "Fine."
They watched Spence approach the wall, he tested the door, but it didn't budge, "No surprise there" he muttered. He ran his hand over the wall and door, "Thick oak, banded iron, couldn't even get an axe through this."
His fingers brushed over where one of the tiles was hidden, "Feels like there is something here, a slight indentation." He tried prying into it with his fingers, pushing it but nothing happened. He moved on and they watched him for another five minutes, muttering what he saw, trying to logically think it through, all the while the pounding from the Ezemshsen grew louder and louder. Then he turned to the pedestal, noted it was made of stone, with a small indentation on the top, "Perhaps for a key of some sort?"
He crouched down and looked around the surface of the pedestal, pressing here and there but found nothing. Eventually he slowly got up and dusted his hands on his pants.
"Well, Salak?" Khanoğlu asked impatiently.
"With more time I could open it-" Spence began but he was cut off.
"-I tire of your excuses, Salak!" He turned to Nate, "Mr. Drake, open the door."
Nate stared at him, "I have one condition."
Khanoğlu raised his gun and pointed it at Nate's head, "You are not in any position to ask for conditions."
Nate kept his eyes on Khanoğlu's, unblinking and hoped he gave off a nonchalance he didn't feel, "Then you best hope that your man there can open the door."
He seemed to chew on this for a moment, a look of disdain crossed his face as if he had eaten something particularly sour and Nate realised that beneath his stoic facade, he was worried, "What is your condition" he finally asked.
"You let us go. I open the door, Mia stays here while I get Sully. You get your treasure and we go our own separate ways."
This seemed to catch Khanoğlu off guard, he lowered his gun, "You have no interest in the Crown Jewels?"
Nate shook his head, "Look at me. Look around us. This is what they do to people, what they did to my friend. I want to get as far away from them as possible."
Khanoğlu paused as he considered Nate's words, finally he said, "You have a deal, open the door. But I warn you, one misstep and Miss Simmons will be a bullet."
Nate approached the pedestal where Kelvin Spence was still standing, "Excuse me" he said merrily shoving him aside. This seemed to enrage the man and he was about to say something but Khanoğlu interrupted, "Salak! Move."
Spence paused as if deciding what to do, finally he moved out of the way and Nate put his hand into his pocket and suddenly every gun in the room was on him.
Nate put his hands up, "Calm down" he said flustered and then he slowly put his hand in his pocket and fished out the Mongolian coin.
He showed them the coin and then placed it on the pedestal, rotated it and after the rumbling the five tiles rotated, appearing in a line next to the door.
"You never had a chance," Nate said to Spence.
"Fascinating" murmured Khanoğlu while Spence looked flushed. "What do they mean?"
Nate ignored him, approaching the wall and examined the tiles. They were each roughly the size and shape of a hardcover book and on them were painted ships, beneath each one was a name. Mia approached and read them aloud, "Mary of Whitby, Freelove, Friendship and Three Brothers twice."
She lowered her voice to a whisper, "You know Khanoğlu won't let us go, right?"
Nate nodded and whispered back, "Probably not, but it buys us some time. When the door is opened if the Jewels are in there you stay back and open the door behind us."
"What!?"
"If I'm right they won't go for you, they'll go straight for the chamber. They want the Crown Jewels, that's what all this has been about, it's an obsession for them."
Khanoğlu fired his gun in the air, "Stop talking and open the door!"
Mia nodded and stepped back, "What do you need from me?"
Nate studied the tiles, they were all similar ships, colliers with three tall masts, sails unfurled, crashing through waves, but each had some subtle differences. He grabbed at the tile and found he could pull it out. They weren't tiles but square blocks that fit into each slot. He pulled them all out and placed them on the floor.
"They need to be slotted in some sort of order, have you heard of these ships before?" he asked her.
Mia nodded, "I have. They were the ships Cook served on before joining the Navy."
"What was the first ship he served on?" Nate asked.
She studied the blocks, looking thoughtful before she said, "The Freelove."
Nate picked it up and put the block in the first slot, "And the rest?"
Mia told him, having to think about each one. Nate slotted them in: Three Brothers - Mary of Whitby - Friendship
When Nate slotted in the last one - Three Brothers - nothing happened. He tried the door, but it was still locked. He turned to her, "Are you sure that's the order?"
"Give me a second" she said while Khanoğlu stared at them, his face darkening.
"We are wasting time!"
"Swap the last two" Mia said finally.
Nate did so, moving Three Brothers into the fourth slot and Friendship into the last. The wall rumbled and three more slots in the wall rotated beneath the five.
In these slots were more painted ships, these ones were naval warships, each at full sale and cannons firing on an unseen foe. Beneath each one were the names - Pembroke - Grenville - Eagle
"Eagle, Pembroke and Grenville" Spence said before Nate could ask. "Ships that Cook was on in his military career."
"Oh yeah?" Nate said sceptically. "Part of your model ship collection?"
Spence scowled at him, but Mia said, "He's right."
Khanoğlu gave a short bark, that Nate assumed was meant to be a laugh, "My salak finally has a use."
Nate placed the blocks in according to Spence's order and, upon the last one being placed, the wall rumbled again, and four more slots opened up beneath the last one with four more images of collier ships. The names Discovery, Endeavour, Resolution and Adventure were written beneath each block.
"Cook's command ships" Mia said, and even Nate knew this. Before Spence could say anything, Nate had the blocks out and inserted them in the correct order - Endeavour, Adventure, Discovery and...
"Here goes nothing" he said to Mia and rotated insert the block depicting the Resolution and then pressed it in. The wall rumbled and all 12 ships rotated out of view. There was the distinctive sound of a lock turning.
"Open it" Khanoğlu said.
"Remember our deal."
"Yes. Yes. Just open it."
Nateturned to Mia and gave her a subtle nod which she returned, then he pushed thedoor open.