They all moved out of the way. The temple fell silent as Snitch Gravel's men fumbled and changed their drilling spot. When the noise started again, Kyle punched the door. He pulled his hand back and shook it, wincing. The door was still there, unbroken and mocking them because it was just wood standing in their way.

"Um... Should we maybe try kicking it?" Jerry asked.

"The angle is even worse for that," Kyle mumbled.

"Then maybe we should just enlarge the hole," Sam said, looking towards Jimmy.

Jimmy nodded. He hated it, because it was going to take time and make it much harder to put everything back, but there was no point if they couldn't get past the door.

"Just let me try something else first," Kyle said, waving them all to the sides.

They complied, watching him as he stuck his back against the opposite wall of the corridor and squinted at the hole. Then, Kyle propped his foot on the wall and charged forward, forearms crossed in front of his face. He plunged through the hole with a deafening crash. The door was definitely opened because Kyle was left with his legs dangling out of the wall.

The drill stopped.

"What was that?" a weak voice asked.

Kyle scurried through the wall, disappearing completely. Then there was another crash and the sound of tumbling as Kyle cursed furiously.

Sam rushed to the hole and looked down, but it was impossible to see anything through the darkness. "A flashlight. Do we still have a working flashlight?"

Kay pushed him aside and hopped in, followed closely by Jessie.

"Watch out for the stairs!" Kyle called, his voice strained and coming from somewhere much lower.

Jimmy looked left and right as he waited for the others to scurry through the hole. The drilling had stopped and the men were talking amongst each other, wondering if they'd really heard anything out of the ordinary. Footsteps indicated that someone might come over to investigate. Jimmy climbed behind the wall and pulled the embroidery over the hole.

Complete darkness engulfed them. He could hear the others going down the stairs as he hurried to place the bricks back and make it look as if the wall was still intact. There were no sounds coming from outside, but he couldn't hear the drill starting either. Finally, he carefully placed the last brick in and, with calculated steps, started down the stairs.

They ended what seemed like three stories down, and the others had stopped at the bottom, waiting for him. Jimmy more likely felt than saw them.

"There's another door here," Sam whispered.

"How did you not break your neck?" Jimmy asked instead, speaking in the direction he assumed Kyle was.

"Forget that!" Jerry cut them off. "Let's keep moving. I still don't hear the drill."

Kyle grumbled. "Get out of the way."

Before Jimmy could even move, another deafening crash filled the air followed by a cold air current and the stuffy smell of closed space.

"No light sucks," Sam said, moving through the new door.

"I think we should try to turn on the flashlights. Eventually change the battery pack first," Jimmy said, already searching inside his rucksack. It was true that everything had gotten wet, but the new batteries were in a foil and maybe they'd survived together with some flashlight parts. If he'd only had the foresight, he could've built a functional flashlights out of all the fried ones. But he needed time and light to do that. He only had darkness and wet stuff.

The others passed him their flashlight, and he spent the rest of the walk through the narrow tunnel trying them out with fresh batteries. Finally, one of them turned on, almost blinding him.

"Hallelujah!" Sam said. "And right on time." He pointed in front where a new door awaited them.

This one was heavy and broad, filled with gold designs and colorful jewels. Good thing they hadn't blindly tried to kick it open because it seemed to be as thick as the wall itself.

"Yeah, I'm not touching this one," Kyle said.

"Maybe we could try to pick the lock," Tom suggested.

They all shifted around to let Tom get to it and try his magic on the door. Jimmy just watched it, getting a terribly bad feeling about this. He was sure that if the jewel existed, it was in there. But they'd never gotten anything smoothly so there had to be something in there that would potentially kill them. And even if there wasn't, there was something out there which surely wanted to kill them. Snitch Gravel's men. The drill was still silent.

"Done!" Tom said victoriously, standing and pulling away from the door.

Sam pressed the handle and pulled it open. It screeched loudly, obviously unwilling to reveal its secret. But the poor door had no choice. It led them inside a cavernous room which smelled of dust and days long forgotten. The walls and floors were polished stone, cluttered with artefacts covered in dust.

"This search is going to suck so much," Sam said under his breath. "Let's head out and search blindly. If you think you found something, ask for the light."

So they spread out and searched through the masses of statues, trinkets, figurines, pots and religious memorabilia. Jimmy couldn't even tell what half the stuff he picked up was, but as long as it wasn't the jewel, it didn't matter. They'd left the flashlight in the middle of the room, so everything was covered in traitorous shadows.

Finally, after what felt like hours, they all sat on an old rug, taking the room in once more.

"Do you think it could be in another room?" Jessie asked, nodding towards a wooden door that led out to their right.

"Could be, but I'm not giving up on this room yet," Sam said. "We haven't checked the floors and walls." Like a given, his eyes fell on the rug under them. "Everyone get up."

Once they scrambled to their feet, Sam pulled the rug away. There was a decorated square of floor there that looked suspiciously like a trap door. A multitude of symbols covered the surface, but there was no hook or ring to pull it open.

"Should we try pressing it?" Jimmy asked.

"Don't think so," Sam answered, scratching his chin. "I think there's a code to open it."

"I think the code is obvious, though," Tom said. "Shiva."

"Could it really be that easy?"Jerry asked.

"Yeah. Think about it," Kyle said. "They weren't hiding stuff from each others. If the old monk is right and they walled this part off to hide from the Nazis, they were definitely setting up security against foreigners."

"And it works like a charm," Sam muttered. "I can't read sanskrit and I doubt any of you can."

"Maybe we don't need to," Jessie said, walking towards a nearby table filled with useless statues and picking up one of them. "At least one of these should have a tag or something."

"That's brilliant," Sam said, moving next to her and picking up another statue.

Jimmy leaned against the wall next to the wooden door, hoping against hope Tom was right and the code was really that easy to crack. He also hopped the door beside him would provide an alternative exit that would lead them around the goons.

"Here, found it," Kay said, tossing a statue of Shiva doing that weird dance to Sam.

Sam turned it over and walked back to the trap door. Jimmy pushed himself off the wall and joined the others around their leader. Sam pressed five different symbols on the square. Nothing happened.

"Well, shit," Sam said.

Unexpectedly, Jerry didn't chastise him and just watched the stubborn door with malevolence, as if it alone was responsible for Sam's bad language. Which was partially true.

"Could it be something else?" Angie whispered.

"I guess..." Sam answered. "Or, I could just be a major idiot." He squinted at the statue again, and pressed four different symbols.

The middle square popped open, revealing a golden ring.

"Shiva is spelled Siva in sanskrit and it's also four symbols in Devanagari. That's one of their alphabets," Sam added with an impatient wave of his hand. "So, ladies and gentlemen..." He reached out and grabbed the ring. "I think we might be on to something." He pulled the trap door open.

It was surprisingly small, and less than a foot deep. Sam pointed the flashlight inside. Bright light shot out and filled the room, blinding everyone. Jimmy fought his impulse to hiss as he covered his eyes and pull away.

"When will we stop getting blinded by these things?" Sam asked, a note of laughter in his voice.

"If it bothers you so much, just give it to us."

Jimmy lowered his arm and stared towards the door. White spots danced before his eyes, but he could see the shapes of bodies. A lot of bodies. And the more he looked, the more Von Crooken's sick grin came into focus.

"Yes, door, of course, screech like death when we come in, but be completely quiet when someone else comes in," Jerry said under his breath.

Jimmy backed away towards the wooden door. Kyle followed, his movements slow and calculated. Sam on the other hand hurried to stuff the yellow jewel inside his rucksack.

"You just put it in to have somewhere to take it out from," Von Crooken said with a shake of his head. "Hand it over."

"No," Sam said, strapping his rucksack on his bag.

Von Crooken grinned again, his eyes glinting with malice in the little light coming from the lone flashlight illuminating the room. "Are you asking me to make you?"

"You're not going to shoot us anyway," Sam fired back.

"Oh, my dear boy. Orders can be misinterpreted."

The blood froze in Jimmy's veins. After the labs, he was sure of it. And it didn't matter if Snitch Gravel later raged at his man, not if they were dead. He wished they'd checked if the door was unlocked. Kyle finally reached him and pressed his back against the door, his hands wrapping around the handle. Jimmy moved next to him and grabbed on to it, too. The others started inching towards them, too, their eyes fixed on the men by the main door.

"You think you can run through there?" Von Crooken asked, his attention drawn to them. "I have men stationed behind that door. You'd be walking into open fire."

"Not if you're not there to give the orders," Sam mumbled and nodded his head towards Jimmy and Kyle.

They both picked up on the meaning right away. As one body, they turned to face the door and yanked at the handle. With a deafening crack, the door came out of its hinges. Jimmy ducked as Kyle swung it towards Von Crooken and his men and released the door, launching it at them.

The others made a run for it down the narrow hallway. Once Billy cleared the entrance, Jimmy darted after him, Kyle right behind him.

🌟🌟🌟

And so it begins! Aren't you excited? They finally got the jewel. The question is, will they be able to keep it?

Much action in the next chapter. So. Close. To. The. End. I can almost smell it

Hope you're enjoying the ride!
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