The Buried Secret

"Incoming!"

The warning came too late. A black pail hit Maddie's bent shoulder and clattered to the soft soil at her feet. An accompanying trickle of dirt found its way down the back of her shirt.

"Watch it!" Maddie complained, tilting her freckled face upward, a single beam of sunlight highlighting her dirt-streaked face. Whisps of thick brown hair escaped the navy bandana wrapped around her head. "That's the third time you've hit me."

"Sorry." 62-year-old Ginny was a spry mid-westerner. This was her first time on an archaeological dig, and her enthusiasm was as abundant as her lack of skill.

Ginny had been the one to find the cistern in which Maddie now knelt. When she had first seen dirt trickling down through the rocks, she had shrieked with excitement, but Maddie had been less than impressed.

When Ginny's excitement did not abate, Maddie had grudgingly fetched a measuring tape and jammed the end between the rocks. To her surprise, the tape had disappeared to a depth of five feet.

The other areas of the archaeological square were abandoned, and Ginny, along with her teammates, Frank, a heavy-set farmer from Pennsylvania, and white-haired Pam, excitedly pulled rocks from the opening. Maddie, at 26 years old, was the youngest by far. In the past five years, she had worked her way up from a volunteer position. Now she headed up one of the six teams at Tel Arjulah.

Finally, the team had cleared the stones, revealing a tidy round hole carved into the bedrock.

"Well," Maddie asked, "who is going in?" Ginny, it turned out, was afraid of snakes and did not care to risk encountering one. Frank could not go down since he was too large to fit through the hole, and Pam was too fragile to risk any injuries. After descending on a rope, Maddie had spent several hours filling pails with soil and passing them up through the hole to her team.

"Hand me down a flashlight, Ginny." Maddie requested. "I think I see something. The flashlight landed at her feet with a soft thud. Maddie picked it up and aimed the beam at the sidewall of the cistern. Sure enough, she could make out the top of an opening.

Maddie pulled a trowel out of her back pocket and began scraping away the earth that clung to the stone surface. The opening was small, but as she shone her light into it, she could see an open tunnel.

"What did you find?" Maddie looked up to see the faces of her team members peering down at her.

"It's a tunnel. I can't tell how far it goes." She replied. "I'm going in." Crouching, Maddie tossed her flashlight and trowel through the small opening, then squirmed through. The tunnel was too small to crawl through, so she inched along on her stomach.

"Look out for snakes!" Ginny called, and Maddie felt a shiver run down her spine. She could hear her heartbeat echoing in the enclosed space. She wasn't afraid of snakes, but she didn't relish the idea of encountering one here.

As she moved slowly and steadily through the tunnel, her mind raced, trying to figure out what they had found. "It's probably a Jewish hiding system from the Great Revolt," she mused. She had excavated such a hiding system and found the bones of women and children whom Roman soldiers had massacred 2000 years earlier.

"Could it be Dinsmore's underground temple?" She wondered. She tried to push the thought aside, but it persisted. According to rumor, Walter Dinsmore, an early explorer, had found an expansive cultic site carved into the bedrock beneath the ancient ruin. He had carefully detailed his exploratory journeys in a series of journals, but after his untimely death in 1915, it was discovered that one journal was missing: his notes on the Tel Arjulah temple.

It might have gone unnoticed if it weren't for the fact that several interested parties had quickly appeared, offering the family significant amounts of money for that specific journal. The news media had picked up the story, and it had created a lasting stir. The family had announced that they would pay a $20,000 reward for anyone who would find and return the journal - an offer that still stood unclaimed over a century later.

Maddie had proceeded about eight feet when the tunnel began to widen out into a cave, and a gaping black hole appeared in the floor ahead of her. She inched forward, shining her light into the inky darkness below. It revealed nothing but emptiness.

She shivered with excitement. This was bigger than a hiding system. This must be Dinsmore's temple. What else could it be?

"Ya, hello." The voice sounded close at hand. Maddie started, and the flashlight dropped from her hand. A brief moment of silence ensued before a dull thud told her that it had landed somewhere below.

"Jurgen? Is that you?" She asked, craning her neck to see who was behind her.

"Ya." The thin, blond German, a volunteer from a neighboring team, bobbed his head. "Sorry to frighten you. You need help, ya? I come now."

"Wait." Maddie replied, "No, don't come yet. I need a rope. Is Frank nearby? ask him for one." She peered downwards to where her flashlight's glow softly illuminated a cavernous chamber. "Make sure it's a long one. Really long."

Working together, Maddie and Jurgen quickly rigged a rope harness, and Maddie carefully descended. Picking up her flashlight, she surveyed her surroundings.

"What do you see?" Jurgen inquired.

"It's a big cavern," Maddie replied. "It looks like there might be an opening at that end." She pointed. "There's some broken pottery down here. Send down a couple of pails for me to fill."

"You are okay until I come back?" Jurgen inquired. "The air is okay for you to breathe?"

"Yes," Maddie responded. "Go on. I'll be fine."

She continued to explore her surroundings. A niche carved into the stone wall of the cavern caught her eye. Approaching, she discovered a small metal box. It was old but not as old as the cavern. She carefully unlatched the lid and opened the box. A sheet of paper, yellowed with age, greeted her eyes. Old-fashioned spidery handwriting covered it.

Maddie directed the beam of her light at the note and read, "October 12, 1915. To whoever finds this, beware. You are in grave danger." Maddie's eyes widened. She swept the chamber with her light. What was that in the corner? Just a jagged rock. Her ears picked up a faint scraping noise, and the hair on the back of her neck stood up.

Crash! Two pails landed on the stone floor, bouncing and clattering.

"Ya, I have come again." Jurgen's voice sounded from above. "You are okay?"

Maddie breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes, I'm okay. Thank you for the pails."

She continued reading. "The contents of this temple will change the way that the world views history. Some would kill to prevent this information from becoming known. Spies from the Central Powers are on my trail. I fear for my life. My advice to you is to leave, shut this place up, and never tell anyone what you have found. Yours respectfully, Walter Dinsmore."

Maddie turned her attention back to the metal box. It was empty except for a small, black book. Dinsmore's missing diary. She opened it and began reading. Dinsmore had meticulously detailed every aspect of the temple. His diary included precise drawings and plans as well as lists of artifacts. As Maddie read, her face paled and her spine stiffened.

"Maddie! You are okay? I do not hear you." Jurgen sounded concerned.

Maddie started and turned a dazed face toward the sound of his voice. "Yes, I'm fine." Her voice was faint. She tried again. "I'm okay Jurgen. Don't worry. Here, I'm going to send you up some pottery."

Replacing the journal in the box, she hastily gathered a pailful of broken sherds. Those should be harmless enough. She tied the rope to the pail, and Jurgen pulled it up.

Moving swiftly, Maddie took the second pail and approached the opening at the far end of the cavern. Passing through it, she entered the next chamber. Her gaze swept the room, taking in the remnants of a forgotten empire. The room was just as Dinsmore's journal had described it. The walls and ceiling were elaborately carved. Dust covered ornate ivory decorations and tarnished silver statuettes, but the gold ones shone as brightly as they had 4,000 years ago. In the center of the room stood a stone stele bearing a long inscription in a cramped ancient alphabet. This was the document that Dinsmore had tried so hard to keep hidden - the inscription that would forever change the history of the world.

For one moment, she paused in indecision. Should she take Dinsmore's advice? He had died under mysterious circumstances in October of 1915, only weeks after the date on the letter. Yet World War I was long past, and the Central Powers were no more.

Then there was the reward for returning the journal. Her mind filling with ideas of what she could do with $20,000, Maddie took out her phone and began photographing the contents of the chamber. That done, she selected samples from the artifacts, placing them carefully in the pail.

Returning, she tied the pail to the rope that once again dangled from overhead.

"Jurgen?"

"Ya."

"Pull this pail up, please, but be very careful. And don't hand it out of the tunnel. I don't want anyone to see yet."

"Ya." Jurgen carefully pulled up the pail and dropped the rope again. Maddie tied the handle of the box to the rope, calling, "Pull this up, too, and don't let anyone see it." As the box disappeared, Maddie added, "I'm ready to come up. Send the rope back down for me, please."

A faint scuffling sound came from above, then silence.

"Jurgen? Are you there?" Maddie's voice rose in pitch "Jurgen? Please answer me!"

Silence.

Maddie's shoulders slumped, and she buried her face in her hands. Could Jurgen somehow be associated with the spies who had murdered Dinsmore? She had just handed the evidence and the journal to him.

Certainly not, she chided herself. Over a hundred years had passed. Surely nobody would kill for a hundred-year-old secret. And Jurgen was not a spy. He couldn't be. He was such a nice young man.

Yet he had taken the evidence and left her stranded. Sitting down, she pounded her fist against the stone floor. Tears welled in her eyes. There was nothing she could do. There was no way out.

Gradually, Maddie became aware of a scraping noise coming from above. She cocked her head, listening. Could someone be coming?

"Hello? Hello!" She cried. "Is someone up there?"

"Ya, hello. It is me, Jurgen. You are ready to come up?"

Maddie sprang to her feet. "What happened? Where did you go?"

"Ya, sorry. The rope, it was frayed. I bring a new one."

Maddie breathed a sigh of relief. Jurgen hadn't abandoned her. He had been looking out for her safety. The end of the rope hit the ground, and Maddie harnessed herself securely. Jurgen carefully hoisted her out of the cavern. Sprawling in the cave beside him, Maddie saw the precious pail and box safely tucked away in a cleft of the rock.

"We will take these?" Jurgen asked, reaching for them.

"Yes, we will take these," Maddie responded. "You won't believe what's down there. This is going to change history, and we are going to be rich, Jurgen. I found a little black book worth $20,000, and you, my team, and I are going to split the reward."