“How are you doing?” Shawn finally asked. Although she didn’t answer, he was encouraged. She’d not opened her eyes or complained about her panic for several minutes, giving Shawn a moment to calm himself. When the lights had suddenly popped on twenty minutes earlier, he’d panicked, too, rushing from inside the tunnel out to the area beneath the glass deck. He knew he had to replace the heavy glass panel they’d left leaning against the wall. There’d been no doubt that if the glass had been seen standing open, they would have been found.

Just minutes after they’d gotten the glass panel back in place and had scrambled back to the tunnel, they had heard the voices of people arriving on the scene, mounting the glass deck and carrying on a conversation.

While Sana had struggled with her panic attack, Shawn had to fight his own fears that he and Sana might have left some of their equipment in view through the glass deck. For the ten minutes the security people were in the area, Shawn was driven to distraction worrying that they’d be discovered.

He wondered what had attracted the security people. He’d never know for sure, but he admitted that Sana had been surprisingly clairvoyant. It had to have been the piercing, metallic clang of the masonry hammer against the chisel being conducted by the hardpan and marble up into the basilica.

“Can I open my eyes now?” Sana asked suddenly, breaking the heavy silence in the confined tunnel.

“No, keep them closed!” Shawn snapped. Dealing again with Sana’s claustrophobia was not something he needed at the moment.

“How long are we going to stay like this?” Sana asked tremulously. It was apparent she was still struggling, but before Shawn could answer, the lights in the necropolis went off, throwing them into absolute blackness.

“Did the lights go off?” Sana asked nervously but also with a touch of relief.

“They did,” Shawn said, “but keep your eyes closed until you get your headlamp on.” He began wriggling backward in an attempt to extricate himself from the tunnel. When he was free, he turned on his headlamp. Sana joined him a moment later, switching hers on as well.

At first they sat staring at each other. Although Shawn had worried that Sana’s panic might reappear when she opened her eyes, it didn’t happen. Getting out of the cramped tunnel had been enough of a relief to keep her claustrophobia under control.

“Remind me never to take you on another dig,” Shawn said irritably, as if blaming Sana for the scare.

“Remind me never to go!” Sana shot back.

They continued staring at each other for another few seconds, both of them panting as if they’d just run a hundred yards instead of being immobilized for half an hour.