‘Found it two days ago. One they missed. It was half buried where the ground had subsided. Grab this.’ She tossed him the loose end of the rope she’d tied around herself, then pointed at the crack in the slab. ‘I’m going to lower myself down there,’ she explained quickly. ‘Then you throw down that other rope there, and I’ll tie it on. Then you haul me up. Okay?’

Ben was beginning to understand what she was up to, but that didn’t make him feel any better about it. ‘Forget it, Madison. They’ll be here in less than fifteen minutes.’

‘Then quit yakking and let’s do this, goddamnit.’ And before he could stop her, she slipped down through the crack and disappeared. It wasn’t a long way down. He felt the tension on the rope slacken as she hit the bottom. Then heard her muffled voice calling up to him, barely audible over the wind, ‘Okay, now toss down the end of the other rope!’

Moments later, she’d attached the second rope and was yelling for him to pull her up. She re-emerged through the crack, her hair and clothes covered in dust that the lashing rain quickly washed into grey mud. ‘I got it! Now let’s get it out of there.’

At that moment Wolf came running up. ‘We’re good to go,’ he said urgently. Then his stare turned into a frown of consternation. ‘Uh, excuse me for asking, but what the hell are you two doing exactly?’

There wasn’t time to explain. ‘Give us a hand,’ Ben said. Wolf shrugged, and gamely grabbed hold of the second rope. The three of them heaved. Down below their feet something dragged, seemed to catch for a moment and then started moving again. Whatever it was, it was surprisingly heavy, making the rope twanging taut. With a lot of grunting and straining they hauled it inch by inch up to the surface, and as the mysterious object appeared at the mouth of the fissure Ben saw it was some kind of metal box. No – a casket, battered and worn with age, its carvings and inscriptions clogged by dirt.

‘Help me get it out,’ Madison said, and they crouched by the fissure to manhandle the immensely heavy casket through it, gasping as they set it down on the ground. Madison was grinning with pleasure.

‘What’s inside this thing, lead bars?’ Wolf asked, rubbing his chafed hands.

‘Oh, you know, the usual stuff. Bunch of gold and jewels and shit like that,’ Madison replied nonchalantly.

Wolf’s eyes opened wide. ‘Are there more of them down there?’

‘Who knows?’ she answered, directing an acid look Ben’s way. ‘Apparently we don’t have time to find out.’