The Giza Protocol: A pulse-pounding archaeological thriller (Eden Black Archeological Thrillers Book 2) by Luke Richardson

Author:Luke Richardson [Richardson, Luke]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-02-24T00:00:00+00:00

28

The sun was passing its zenith as Baxter stopped the truck in the location where the island would once have been. The abandoned cars, which this morning had sat in the shadows of the building, now baked in direct sunlight. Visible heat currents danced, rising from their rusting bodies.

Eden climbed down from the truck and paced along the road. It didn’t take her long to find what she was looking for. “Pull up here,” she shouted, pointing at an access cover at the side of the road.

Baxter nudged the gas, and the truck rolled forwards. Eden beckoned him closer until the truck’s nose sat just over the hole.

Baxter got out of the truck and Mo scrambled into the driver’s seat.

“Get out of here at any sign of trouble,” Baxter said. “We will fend for ourselves if we need to.”

Eden flipped down the tailgate and rummaged through the items they had just bought. First, she selected a large iron tool, which looked a bit like an oversize pry bar. She fitted it into the center of the metal cover and twisted it to the right. Reluctantly, and with a lot of effort from Eden, the heavy metal cover clunked, then screeched from its locked position.

Baxter stepped across and helped Eden heave the heavy cover out of its mounting.

Eden dug out a flashlight and peered into the gaping hole. The first thing to greet her was the cloying, nauseating odor of raw sewage.

“This is definitely a sewer,” Eden said, feeling bile rise in her throat.

“No doubt about that,” Baxter said, taking a step back from the stench.

Eden held her breath and sunk into a crouch. A shaft dropped about ten feet, beneath which the sewer opened into a wider tunnel. Rungs bolted to the side of the shaft oozed with sticky brown liquid.

“Lucky we’ve got the gear,” Baxter said, pulling more items from the back of the truck. Baxter and Eden pulled on thick rubber trousers which went all the way over their shoes and were held up by straps across their shoulders. They then slipped on thick rubber gloves and head torches. Eden shoved the other things they might need into a waterproof sack and slipped it on to her back.

“I’ll go first,” Eden said, stepping towards the manhole.

She glanced around the street. Although cars and pedestrians continued to stream past, no one paid them any attention.

“Lower the cable,” Eden shouted to Mo.

Mo flicked a switch, and the winch on the truck’s front bumper buzzed. Designed to pull the two-ton truck out of sticky situations, the motor would easily handle this challenge. The steel cable slipped slowly down into the void.

Eden peered down into the hole. When the end of the cable reached the base of the sewer, she gave Mo a thumbs up. The motor stopped. Eden dropped into a crouch and sat on the edge of the hole, her feet dangling over the putrid river below. Then, without giving herself a chance to think it through, Eden gripped the cable and slipped down into the world beneath.

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