Vaill panned his flashlight over the ceiling, where a row of inlaid light fixtures ran the length of the tunnel. High-tech. At the far end of the passage was a metal door. Where the other one was latched, this one, rusted in places from persistent exposure to salt air, had a knob.

“I’m surprised nobody’s come for us already,” Vaill whispered. “Either they didn’t hear that explosion, or with two guards dead, there aren’t that many more left in there, and they’re gonna wait for us to come to them. That’s what I’d do.”

Lou was first to reach the door.

“I got this,” he whispered back.

Vaill took up position to the right, with his back against the wall, gun drawn.

“If it opens, it’s gonna swing toward us,” he said. “Use it for cover. If it’s locked, we may have to unleash the Doberman again and fight it out right here. No hesitation, though, right?”

“No hesitation.”

Lou’s pulse was hammering as he turned the knob. The door pulled open easily and he slipped behind it, creating, for a moment, a makeshift shield. Vaill dropped to a crouch and sprang forward, his weapon leveled at the darkness ahead.

“We’re in,” Lou said with some excitement.

There was nobody waiting on the other side, no targets for him to shoot. Vaill had to be right. What remained of the fortress guards were waiting for them inside.

Lou’s nerves were crackling now. They banished the blackness with their lights. To his left, Lou could quite clearly discern waves churning.

“You hear that surf?”

Vaill nodded.

“How could we be close to the ocean here? The tunnel went straight and level. The ocean would be down and to the left.”

Again, Vaill panned his beam through darkness. He settled it on a rectangular corrugated metal platform, no more than ten feet away. On the other side of the platform was a set of five metal stairs that ascended to a narrow elevated area, lined by a metal pipe railing. Vaill crossed the platform and climbed up to the new space. Lou followed. Below them was a man-made shaft—a long passageway that extended down through the rock, almost certainly to the ocean below.

Lou used his light to indicate a series of partially corroded cables and pulleys, and all at once the layout made sense. From the satellite photos they knew there was a boathouse at the base of the imposing cliff. This platform was part of an elevator, and this shaft a way to move supplies in and out of the castle by sea. They huddled together at the railing, and focused on that section of the castle on their map.