‘No, you just postponed the execution.’

‘It was working for me.’

‘Look,’ Cleena snarled through gritted teeth, ‘they were going to kill us no matter what. And truthfully, it would be easier for me to get out of here without you.’

‘Oh, really? And if you didn’t have me to hold hostage, who would you use as a human shield?’

Cleena knew Qayin and his men were moving in the darkness. They wouldn’t stay down much longer and reloading her weapon wasn’t an option. She couldn’t do it before they’d be on her.

‘Here’s how this works,’ Cleena whispered. ‘Either you come with me or I shoot you. I won’t shoot you to kill you, but I will wound you. Qayin and his lackeys will be concerned about you now that they’ve seen you can read their mysterious little book. They’ll busy themselves trying to save you. I’ll take my chances in the confusion, but you’ll still remain in their clutches.’ She shook him by the collar. ‘So, Professor, this is your last invitation. Do you want to come with me, or do you want me to leave you here?’

‘Is there an option number three?’

She shook him again.

Lourds gave a brief nod. ‘Let’s do this while my legs are still under me.’

Slowly, Cleena backed out of the room. Instead of reaching the door, she bumped into the wall.

‘What’s wrong?’ Lourds asked.

‘The bloody door isn’t where I left it.’ Cleena slid down the wall.

‘Are you lost?’

‘No. Perhaps a little distracted and disoriented.’

Lourds sighed. ‘Some rescue.’

‘Still thinking about the option of shooting you. It’s getting more attractive.’

The professor shifted, juggling the book in his arms and clapping his hat on his head. He pulled a Zippo lighter from his pocket and flicked it to life. The yellow and blue flame shimmered in the darkness and chased back the shadows.

‘Do you see the door now?’ Lourds asked. He focused on watching Qayin and his followers. The men slunk back into the shadows like cockroaches.

Cleena glanced over her shoulder. The light from the flame exposed a rectangle of blackness.

‘Yes,’ she answered.

Qayin called out of the darkness left in the big room. ‘Professor Lourds, I would advise you not to trust this woman.’

‘I don’t trust her any farther than I could throw my left eyeball. However, trust appears to be a capricious thing down here at the moment. I already know I can’t trust you. She’s still a question mark.’

Cleena backed through the door and glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was behind her. The next room was as big as the last and just as empty.

‘Do you know where we are?’ Lourds whispered.

‘They weren’t handing out maps when they brought us down here, and I didn’t get the chance to leave a trail of breadcrumbs.’

‘So you’re just as lost now as you were a few minutes ago? Only in a bigger room. And these catacombs go on for miles beneath the city.’

Catacombs were one of the most necessary engineering feats for thriving ancient cities. In centuries past, they’d served to store water, food and house the dead. The thought of graves lodged somewhere in the dark walls left Cleena chilled.

‘You are very irritating. And, for your information, stating the problem doesn’t solve it.’

‘Recognizing the problem provides focus.’

‘Do you have to have an answer for everything?’

‘I’m a professor. It’s my job.’

‘Professor,’ Qayin called.

‘He’s closer,’ Lourds whispered.

‘I can hear that. I’m just lost, not deaf. And now that we’re out of that room, they’ll creep up to the doorway.’ It was what Cleena would do in their situation.

‘Professor, are you listening?’ Qayin called.

‘I’m listening.’

‘Don’t listen to him,’ Cleena snapped.

‘I’m buying us time,’ Lourds said.

‘Leave the book,’ Qayin urged. ‘Leave the book and we’ll let you go free. Unharmed.’

‘I don’t believe him,’ Lourds whispered. ‘Do you?’

‘No.’ Cleena kept backing up, dividing her attention between the doorway, the professor and the area behind them.

‘We can find someone else to read the book, Professor,’ Qayin called.

‘Right,’ Lourds whispered. ‘As if they haven’t already been trying. I bet I’ve been the only one they’ve found.’

‘Kind of high on yourself, aren’t you? You seemed to be struggling with that translation.’

‘I read part of it. In twenty minutes, I might add. Under pressure. And without my resource material.’

‘You’re really modest, too.’

‘I’m good at what I do.’

‘They’ll put that on your tombstone,’ Cleena whispered.

‘I thought the objective was to get out of here alive.’

‘Ah, so you are listening.’

Lourds cursed.

‘Professor?’ Qayin called. ‘Do we have an agreement?’

Cleena thought desperately, then seized on an idea. She glanced at Lourds and the Zippo he held in his hand. The lighter had to be getting hot.

‘Set fire to the book,’ she said.

Lourds baulked and looked startled. ‘What?’

‘Set fire to the book. If they care about it as much as they seem to, they’ll be more interested in saving it than in pursuing us.’

Lourds wrapped his arm tightly around the book and held it to his chest. ‘I’m not going to burn this book.’

‘It’s not your book.’

‘It’s not their book.’

A fresh wave of irritation swept through Cleena. ‘You don’t know if that book is even a real artefact. It could be a fake.’

‘I don’t think someone went to all the trouble to fake an artificial language based on outdated Greek for an April fool’s joke. We don’t know what we have here.’

‘Is that book worth our lives?’ Cleena asked.

‘I don’t know. Maybe.’

Qayin spoke again. ‘Professor, if I’m prepared to try to have another linguist decipher that book, then you have to know that I’m also prepared to shoot you and the woman at this point. I’ll take my chances with finding another translator, but I won’t lose that book.’

‘Set fire to the book,’ Cleena commanded again.

‘No. I have a responsibility as a scientist to protect it.’

‘So you can get your name on an article in some dusty science magazine?’

‘That’s not what this is about.’

Cleena cursed. ‘Are you really this stupid?’

Lourds suddenly yelped in pain and dropped the Zippo. The lighter hit the ground and the flame went out. Darkness immediately surrounded them.

‘Oops.’

Unbelievably, Lourds bent down as if to search for the dropped lighter. Cleena jerked on his shirt collar to get him moving.

‘Come on!’ she yelled, then threw a hip into him and knocked him to one side.

Lourds staggered and almost fell. He gagged as she kept hold of his shirt collar and guided him towards the door she’d seen on the other side of the room.

‘I can’t see,’ Lourds protested, and struggled to slow their headlong pace.

‘Neither can they. Keep moving.’

‘We’re going to hit a wall.’

Qayin and his men opened fire behind them. Bullets ricocheted from the stone walls, trailing sparks in their wake.

‘Okay. I see your point.’ Lourds stepped up his pace so he was dragging her after him.

Behind them, Qayin’s followers retrieved their lanterns. Streams of fluorescent lights bounced over the wall ahead of them in time for them to correct their direction before they smashed into stone. Cleena and Lourds sprinted into the next room and took advantage of the partial lighting from the lanterns of their pursuers.

The gunshots echoed inside the chamber and the sound was enough to let Cleena know that the area was immense. Several stone pillars stood out in the darkness ahead of them and created a maze of obstacles. She pulled on Lourds’ collar to slow his breakneck pace.

‘To the left,’ she ordered.

Immediately, Lourds veered to the left. He rounded a thick pillar and halted when she pulled him against it. She fell into hiding beside him and took time to reload her pistol with a fresh magazine. She only had one left after that. The odds weren’t in their favour.