Seven Ancient Wonders Read Online Free PDF Page A

second.
    Not only did this allow them to avoid about ten traps, it also enabled them to avoid the most dangerous trap of all in this cavern:
    The Master Snare.
    West knew about it from the Callimachus Text—which he suspected del Piero and the Europeans could have had a Vatican copy of. That said, they could have become aware of it from other ancient texts written about Imhotep V.
    While the other Imhoteps had their own signature traps, Imhotep V had invented the Master Snare, a trap that was triggered in advance of the system’s innermost vault—thus making the final leg of the journey a matrix of trap-beating versus time. Or as Wizard liked to say, ‘Beating booby traps is one thing; beating them against the clock is another.’
    That said, the Master Snare was not so crude as to
destroy
the entire trap system. Like most of Imhotep’s traps, it would reset itself to be used again.
    No, in most cases the Master Snare left you in a do-or-die predicament: if you were good enough, you could take the treasure. If you weren’t, you would die.
    The Callimachus Text stated that the trigger stone for the Master Snare of this system lay in the very centre of the first level, at the base of the ladder there.
    Wizard appeared at West’s side, peered out from the manhole. ‘Mmm, a crane. With that, del Piero and his men will avoid triggering the Master Snare. It’ll give them more time up in the Holy of Holies. Very clever.’
    ‘No, it’s not clever,’ West said flatly. ‘It’s against
the rules
.’
    ‘The rules?’
    ‘Yes, the rules. This is all part of a contest that has been held for the last 4,000 years, between Egyptian architects and graverobbers. And this contest has an honour code—we attack, Imhotep V defends. But by skipping a major trigger stone, del Piero is cheating. He’s also showing his weakness.’
    ‘Which is?’
    ‘He doesn’t believe he can beat the Master Snare.’ West smiled. ‘But we can.’

    West dropped back down to the base of the ladder, turned to his team of six.
    ‘Okay, kids. This is what we’ve trained for. Leapfrog formation, remember your places. Lily, you’re with me in the middle. Fuzzy, you’re the point for the first disable. Then Big Ears, Zoe and Stretch. Wizard, you’ll have to cover for Pooh Bear, who was going to cover the fifth. I’ll trigger the Master Snare.’
    Everyone nodded, game faces on.
    West turned to Wizard. ‘Okay, Professor. You got those Warblers ready? Because as soon as we break cover, those Europeans are going to open fire.’
    ‘Ready to go, Huntsman,’ Wizard said, holding up a large gun-like object that looked like an M-203 grenade launcher. ‘I’ll need maybe four seconds before you can make a break for it.’
    ‘I’ll give you three.’
    Then they all put their hands into the middle, team-style, and called ‘
Kamaté!
’, after which they broke, with Wizard leading the way up the ladder, venturing into the fray . . .

     
     
    Wizard popped up out of the manhole, his grenade launcher raised. He fired it three times, each shot emitting a loud puncture-like phump.
    Phump!-Phump!-Phump!
    The rounds that burst out of the grenade launcher
looked
like grenades, but they weren’t grenades—fat and round and silver, they fanned out to three corners of the giant cavern, little red pilot lights on them blinking.
    The Europeans heard the first shot and by the third had located Wizard.
    A French sniper on the cabin of the crane swung his rifle round, drew a bead on Wizard’s forehead, and fired.
    His bullet went haywire.
    It peeled downwards almost as soon as it left the barrel of the Frenchman’s rifle—where it struck an unfortunate croc square in the head, killing it.
    The ‘Warblers’ at work.
    The three odd-looking silver rounds that Wizard had fired were more formally known as Closed Atmospheric Field Destabilisers (Electromagnetic), but everyone just called them ‘Warblers’.
    One of Wizard’s rare
military
inventions, the