Pickers 4: The Pick Read Online Free Page A

and blasting were covered in places by concrete to make even walls and a flat floor. The rear quarter of the space was given over to an entirely man made square arch, wrapped around a gigantic, dark door. The frame of the door had been welded and bolted together from thick sections of steel, then filled with concrete. When it rolled or swung aside, the opening was going to be big enough that both wagons might fit through side by side.
    "How did they hide that they were building this?" Justine said, staring up at the mighty door.
    "The world was crazy for years when things started collapsing. All sorts of things were missed, or forgotten about really quick. We've chased this all over Europe. The people who made this place were incredibly organised."
    "But, how did they keep it secret from the people in town? Where did all the stone they removed go?"
    "I wouldn't be surprised if most of the stone went into bits of the cave that they didn't use."
    Justine shook her head. "And you've found more of these?"
    "Only one near to this scale. But we've found plenty of places where people holed up as the world went to shit. Still, this is the biggest. Even this bit here is more impressive than what we usually find."
    The space was barely wider or taller than the door it led to, made narrower by racks of shelving. They would need to clear out this storage before the wagons could come through, so, as the sounds of hammering started up again, they worked their way along either side of the cave, digging for treasure.
    There was defence equipment in the room, but none of it was deployed. This was a bounty for a recovery team- everything they would need to set up a high tech perimeter while they went about their work. Just like the vault in Spain, everything was robust, and there was a power source somewhere deep below them that had kept batteries charged and ready.
    By the time the hole was large enough to step through, Maxine and Justine had discovered the sentry cameras, and were seeing what they could hide behind to escape the heat sensors. There was a booth full of screens to view the camera feeds on, loaded with technology that made Veronique weak at the knees.
    Now, they had cameras set up to watch the valley, and Veronique had a second tablet, which flicked between views as movement was detected. She kept checking it, but her attention was on the door. In the end, Tony took the new tablet from her- she didn't like relinquishing technology- so that she could concentrate on the plans and blueprints on her old tablet.
    The whole crew was arrayed before the door as Veronique walked back and forth, studying it. There were metal plates held in place by bolts all the way around the arch. Some of them were remnants of the frame that had been used to hold the concrete in place as it set. Two hid the mechanism that released the door. Veronique tapped one to the right of the door and another to the left. Remy and Fabien stepped up to release the panels.
    The panels each hid three large bolt heads with deep hexagonal slots in them. They had fashioned keys for them before leaving the Valley. "Clockwise on the right. Anti-clockwise on the left." Veronique instructed.
    The bolts turned easily, with just enough resistance that they knew they were moving something. Thirty revolutions later, the first bolts stopped moving, so they started on the next ones down.
    When all six bolts were drawn back as far as they would go, there was silent anticipation in the cave. It was as if they expected the door to open all by itself. When it was obvious that wasn't going to happen, it was Fabien who stepped up and pushed the right-most edge.
    The door opened slowly and silently as Fabien pushed it. Lucas joined him, but it could have been a one person job. There was a loud clang as the door settled against buffers in the wall. The sound echoed around the even larger space that was revealed, eventually being swallowed up by the collection of vehicles parked