The Messiah Secret - James Becker [127]
‘I’ve broken the end off,’ he said, ‘but now I can see that a hole was cut through the stone and this wedge driven into it.’
Bronson repositioned the chisel in the centre of the mark and hit it again. This time, very few chips of stone flew out, but the whole lump of stone that had been driven into the hole moved slightly inwards.
‘That’s more like it!’ he said triumphantly. He drew back the hammer and hit it again.
The chisel travelled almost all the way through the hole as the stone wedge vanished from sight. There was a hollow thud as it landed on the floor of the cave somewhere on the inside of the stone door.
‘Brilliant, Chris,’ Angela said, as he stepped back.
‘That looks like another one,’ Masters said, pointing at a spot about three feet off the ground and directly below the hole where Bronson had shifted the first stone wedge.
‘I’ll do it,’ Cross said, taking the hammer and chisel.
Bronson moved back to where Angela stood watching, when a sudden thought occurred to him.
‘Just a moment.’ He picked up his rucksack and pulled out a torch then walked across to the hole he’d revealed and shone the light inside the hidden chamber.
‘What can you see?’ Angela demanded.
‘Nothing very much,’ Bronson replied, ‘except maybe the stone of the wall opposite. But that wasn’t what I was looking for.’
‘So what were you checking out?’ Masters asked.
‘The hole itself,’ Bronson replied, turning away from the wall. ‘It’s tapered. It’s wider on the inside than the outside of the door.’
‘So?’ Masters asked.
But Angela had already grasped what he meant. ‘So you mean the stone wedges—’
‘Exactly,’ Bronson said. ‘The holes taper from the inside to the outside, so they must have been put in place from within the tomb itself. Unless there’s another way out of there, whoever drove those wedges into place is still in there, on the other side of that wall.’
66
‘Oh, God,’ Angela muttered, and even Masters looked a little pale.
‘Yeah, well, he’ll just be another stiff, won’t he?’ Cross muttered, and with a massive single blow of the hammer drove the second wedge completely through the door.
Immediately the whole stone wall shifted very slightly, a movement they heard rather than saw.
‘Looks like we could have lift-off,’ Cross said. He dropped the hammer and chisel and picked up the crowbar again. He slid one end into the hole he’d found before, and pulled as hard as he could on the other end. This time, the massive stone door moved perhaps half an inch to the right.
Cross changed the position of the crowbar slightly and pulled again. Within fifteen minutes, the three of them – Cross, Masters and Bronson – had moved the door as far as it would go to the right, so that the top edge was resting against another block of stone.
Masters glanced at Bronson and Angela. ‘Your privilege, if you want it,’ he said. ‘You’ve earned it.’
‘What about me?’ Donovan called out angrily from behind them.
‘You can wait your goddamned turn,’ Masters snapped.
‘Let me go first,’ Bronson said. He picked up his torch and stepped forward. But before he entered, he bent down and looked down at the channel in the stone floor that had been exposed by sliding the door over to one side.
‘I was right,’ he said. ‘They used stone rollers.’ Then he straightened up and walked into the inner chamber.
For perhaps two or three minutes the others watched the beam of the torch dancing around the inner chamber, fitfully illuminating the walls and floor and an oblong stone shape. Then Bronson reappeared.
‘It’s safe,’ he said, ‘and there’s at least one really old corpse in there, though he’s just bones and rags. We’ll need as much light as possible.’
Masters grabbed a couple of torches and followed Bronson and Angela inside.
All three of them paused just inside the inner chamber and looked around them.
‘Did you touch anything?’ Angela asked, sending the beam of her torch travelling around the small room.