The Bone Labyrinth by James Rollins Read Free Book Online

gone. With Arnaud and Wrightson turning themselves in, maybe they left.”
    She prayed the two older men were still alive.
    Shortly after the outbreak of gunfire, a bullhorn-amplified voice had echoed from the cavern entrance, demanding that the paleontologist and geologist show themselves. Apparently the attackers had successfully ambushed the French infantry team above and now held the mountaintop. The final command echoed in her head.
    If you both want to live, come out now!
    The order was blasted in English and French.
    Upon hearing that, Wrightson had made a hasty decision. “The bastards are only demanding we show ourselves.” Wrightson faced Roland and Lena. “But not you two. Whoever planned this attack must not know we took you two down here. You weren’t originally scheduled to be here for another day—until the storm accelerated matters. So stay here, stay hidden.”
    While such subterfuge was risky, it was the best hope for all of them. With any luck, Roland and Lena could raise the alarm once it was safe to make an escape. With little other choice, she and Roland had crawled into this crack while the two older men headed up to face their fate. Afterward, Lena remained tense, expecting to hear a burst of gunfire as the two scientists were executed.
    “Someone’s coming,” Father Novak hissed, reaching over to clutch her fingers.
    Alerted by the priest, she noted a soft glow rising from the neighboring cave that led up to the surface. A knot of dark figures, all in black combat gear and wearing helmets, burst into the larger cavern. The beams of their flashlights bobbled as they rushed headlong across the space, ignoring the carefully laid-out bridge of ladders, trampling through this perfectly preserved collection of prehistoric bones and skulls. The team headed directly to the other side and vanished into the far tunnel that led to the strange burial site hidden inside a bricked-up chapel.
    “What is going on?” Father Novak whispered.
    Through her terror, a twinge of anger flared. She knew looting and grave robbing still plagued archaeological digs. Someone clearly had gotten wind of the discovery here, and they were grabbing what they could before anyone was the wiser.
    Scuffling noises, along with the sharper retorts of broken stone, echoed from the far tunnel. Minutes later, Novak squeezed her hand harder.
    “Here they come again,” he warned.
    The team reappeared, retreating just as carelessly through the cavern, but now two of the men carried a long case between them. It looked like a plastic coffin. Lena could guess what that box held. She pictured the Neanderthal remains carefully interred within that Gothic chapel. Such a perfectly preserved and intact skeleton could fetch a tidy sum on the black market. Still, the men ignored the other valuable artifacts underfoot, crushing hundreds of thousands of dollars of relics under their boots.
    Why are they—?
    A muffled boom made her gasp. Smoke and rock dust coughed out of the tunnel the team had just evacuated. Lena stared in stunned disbelief.
    They must’ve blown up the chapel.
    But why?
    The looters vanished out of the cavern, taking their lights with them. As darkness returned, Father Novak began crawling out of the hiding place.
    “We should wait,” Lena warned, snatching at his coat sleeve. “Make sure they’re gone for good.”
    He glanced back at her. “They didn’t look like they were returning, but you’re right. We should remain hidden in these caverns for a bit longer. In the meantime, I intend to see what’s left in the wake of their destruction.”
    He shoved free and clicked on his flashlight, muffling the light with the fingers of his other hand.
    Lena followed him out, recognizing the wisdom of the priest’s assessment and embarrassingly fearful of being left in the darkness by herself. She took a few shaky steps, but her terror quickly ebbed now that she was moving and had a goal, something to focus her attention