“They’re back,” Cade whispered in horror. “The beasts are back.” He looked at the hole, his mind racing. “Block it up, quickly!” he called.

Even as the legionaries moved, he heard the sound of slavers running above. And screams. Screams of terror, some long, others cut short in an instant. No gurgles, no cries of pain. Just gone.

These were no raptors. It was far too quick for that.

“Come on!” Cade yelled.

They shoved Imhotep’s tomb, inch by inch, closer to the blocked stairwell. The lid came ahead, leaned against the hole, just as Cade glimpsed the sight of mailed feet skidding down the stairs.

There was the thud of a mailed fist upon the stone, then a frantic crack, crack, crack of metal on rock as the man turned his axe on the thin barrier. Already fissures were forming, but Cade was shoved aside as men rammed the coffin over the top, sealing the men out.

“Let us in!” Jens’s voice called, this time in Latin. “We’ll leave our weapons! There are word unknown here!”

The Codex translated into Cade’s ear, but he ignored the plea. Jens had sealed his own fate.

“Amber, Scott, any luck?” Cade bellowed.

“No!” Amber’s voice drifted back, this time from Boudicca’s tomb. “We’ve started carrying the furniture through.”

Cade turned to the legionaries, who were standing in a semicircle, staring at the stairwell. The sound of axe blows had stopped, and Cade imagined Jens was hiding in the darkness.

“Go back to the tombs,” Cade ordered. “Find any treasure you’ve overlooked. I want every stone, every fancy piece of furniture. Everything! Bring it to that chamber, and the gods will transport us back to the keep.”

The men moved with speed, leaving Quintus struggling to hold the box that had belonged to William Cantelo.

For a moment, Cade was tempted to set up the machine gun, but they could be teleported away at any moment, leaving the precious remnant behind. “Come on, come on,” Cade whispered under his breath. Despite the silence beyond the rubble, he could see the sarcophagus lid shifting back and forth. Then, a gauntleted hand worming through the gap, bracing against the stone floor as whoever was on the other side heaved with his shoulder.

But it was no use—the sarcophagus itself was holding the lid in place, and it had taken nearly ten men to scrape it into position.

Then … he heard it. Almost felt it, so great was the thud above. Dust filtered down from the ceiling. At first, Cade thought a statue had fallen, until he heard the scrape of claws, rasping along the stone.

He could only hope the ceiling could bear the weight as another thud shook more dust free.

The hand grew more frantic, and now Cade saw the sweaty forehead of a man press through the gap. And then, Jens’s face, contorted in a rictus of terror and pain, appeared as he scraped his nose bloody pushing his head through the gap.