‘What are you doing?’ Lourds asked. ‘Shouldn’t we be running?’

Cleena peered round the pillar and took a two-handed grip on her pistol. ‘Running sounds fantastic to me. Do you know where to run?’

‘Haven’t you been here before?’

‘This is my first time.’

‘At least you were conscious when you were brought in.’

‘I was somewhat distracted getting to know all my new friends and trying to work out if they were going to double-cross me. Which they did.’

‘You obviously stink at measuring character…’

Cleena lost the rest of what he was saying when one of Qayin’s followers exploded through the doorway. The swinging lantern he carried made him a perfect target. She aimed for the centre of the man’s body and squeezed the trigger three times in quick succession.

At least two of the bullets caught him and pushed him backwards. He sat down hard and his lantern rolled away. Thankfully, the light played over the doorway so Cleena could see if anyone else approached. Just as she realized the light was going to play in her favour, Qayin or one of his followers realized the same thing. A burst of gunfire shattered the lantern. Cleena waited a moment and fired at where she remembered the doorway was just to keep their opponents on their toes. Almost immediately, a hailstorm of bullets struck the pillar they were hiding behind. Stone chips stung her face as she ducked to safety.

‘Well, that’s narrowed the odds to four to two,’ Lourds whispered. ‘Those odds are a lot better.’

‘Really?’ Cleena responded. ‘Which two did you want to take?’

The professor sighed. ‘Okay, four to one.’

‘Now be quiet. I’ve got to listen. I’d suggest that you do the same before they creep up on us in the dark.’

‘They’re going to be just as hampered by the darkness as we are.’

‘Not if you keep talking. Shut up!’ Cleena turned slightly away from the direction of the door to better use her peripheral vision. She held the pistol ready in her hands and tried not to think of Brigid alone in the world.

Beside her, Lourds suddenly started.

Angry with him even though that noise was not enough to alert Qayin and his followers to their position, Cleena said, ‘Be still.’

Before she could say anything else, someone clapped a rough, calloused hand over her mouth. She twisted and tried to bring the pistol up, but even as she did someone grabbed her wrists. Instinctively, she fired at the shadow that stood out in the darkness round her.

Her body and the body of the man who held her trapped the muzzle flash between them. The hard white-yellow light illuminated the man who held her. A dark robe swaddled his body and his face was a pallid oval within a peaked cowl.

Catacombs

Yesilkoy District

Istanbul, Turkey

17 March 2010

‘Please, Professor Lourds, don’t be afraid.’

After what he had been through since arriving in Istanbul, Lourds couldn’t believe anyone would actually say that. The echo of Cleena’s shot still rang through the large chamber. Now his imagination was in overdrive as he confronted the cowled man.

Many of the documents Lourds had translated over the years involved myths and legends of monsters in places like the catacombs under Istanbul. In fact, some of the work he had done involved stories of horrors during the Ottoman invasion and the fall of Constantinople.

Lourds was prepared to fight for his life, but then something happened that he didn’t expect. The man holding him spoke the same plea – except this time he spoke in Ancient Greek. The dialect was a little off, but it was easy to distinguish the root.

‘What did you say?’ Lourds asked in that same language.

‘My friends and I are here to help you,’ the man said. ‘We have been looking for you since you disappeared this morning. I apologize that it has taken so long to locate you.’

‘Who are you?’

‘For now all that I can tell you is that we’re friends. We’re here to get you out of this place. Please instruct the woman to stop fighting.’

Lourds was suddenly aware that Cleena was still battling against at least one and possibly two men. He turned to her but could not see her in the darkness.

‘Stop shooting,’ he said. ‘These are friends.’

She stopped fighting and leaned into him. Tension tightened her body like a bow string.

‘How do you know they’re friends?’ she demanded.

‘One of them just told me so.’

Derision dripped from her. ‘How have you managed to stay alive for so long?’

‘I happen to believe him,’ Lourds said defensively. ‘He spoke to me in Ancient Greek.’

‘Now there’s a reason to trust someone.’

‘He says he and his friends can get us out of here. Interested now?’

‘We’re doing fine on our own.’

‘Qayin has reinforcements coming,’ the man beside Lourds said.

‘You’re just saying that.’

‘Actually, we followed them in here.’

‘Then where are they? You could be making that up.’

Lourds wasn’t inclined to be so sceptical, but before he could say anything to that effect, the noise of people trying to move quietly at the other end of the catacombs reached them. As he was about to ask if anyone else had heard the noise, someone from that end of the catacombs opened fire.

Acting quickly, Lourds dropped to the ground. Cleena did the same. They were face to face in the darkness, their features intermittently lit by muzzle flashes as bullets crunched against the pillar overhead.

‘Convinced?’ Lourds asked dryly.

She made no reply.

‘Professor Lourds?’ the robed man asked Lourds.

‘We’re coming, but they have us boxed at both ends.’

‘There is another way out. Follow me.’

Running footsteps echoed through the catacombs. Cleena rose briefly to her knees, held her pistol, and fired. Lourds didn’t wait to see the results of her handiwork. He had seen how devastating she could be with her weapon. The mortal screams behind him let him know she had been just as accurate again.

Rising to his feet, Lourds remained crouched as he followed the robed man through the darkness. Several of their opponents turned their lanterns in their direction. The bright lights spilled across Lourds just as he saw a narrow opening in the wall ahead of him.

He followed the man through the opening and into a tunnel. Cleena was on their heels, closely trailed by two more men in robes. Once they were inside, one of the men shoved a recessed section of the wall into place and sealed the opening. One of the men took out a flashlight and switched it on. The bright light hurt Lourds’ eyes and filled the narrow tunnel with illumination. He studied the faces of the five men in the tunnel but recognized none of them.

‘It’s safe in here, Professor Lourds,’ one of them said. He was young, no older than his late twenties surely. A carefully trimmed goatee framed his chin. His eyes were lost in the shadows of his cowl.

Cleena reloaded her pistol. ‘Can they get through that door?’

The man shook his head. ‘Not now. We’ve locked them out.’

Satisfied with her weapon’s readiness, she studied them. ‘Who are you?’

‘As I have stated, we are friends.’ The young man spoke patiently.

Lourds noticed that she had turned so her pistol hand was kept clear of the five men. She could quickly bring it into play. It seemed a habit as ingrained as breathing.

‘I know all my friends,’ she insisted.

‘Perhaps I should have said we are friends of the professor,’ the young man amended.

‘That true, Professor?’ she asked without taking her eyes off the strangers. ‘Do you know them?’

‘Not yet,’ Lourds said. ‘But I’m always open to meeting new friends.’ He looked at her. ‘Especially ones that don’t kidnap me when they first see me. That’s a first impression that’s hard to recover from.’