All the booby traps had already supposedly detonated, according to the team that had swept the area afterward.
So, what had just happened?
Two possibilities presented themselves.
The first was structural failure. The previous explosion had compromised support columns and load-bearing walls, and the ongoing excavation had weakened the basement's integrity to the point where something had given way. The engineers had warned him about this. He had overruled them because theremoval of the debris was necessary regardless of the clan's compulsion to retrieve the chests that were supposed to be there. The basement couldn't get repaired without getting cleaned first.
But they had been extremely cautious.
Losham hadn't allowed any heavy equipment in there just for that reason. The human debris removal team worked with hand tools as much as possible, and immortals were brought in when heavy sections had to be cleared. None of those activities should have affected the structural integrity of the building.
The second possibility was sabotage.
Kolhood.
The name surfaced in Losham's mind with the bitter taste of certainty. His brother would do just about anything to undermine him. But then any of the brothers could be behind this, individually or working together.
But would they go so far, though? If they still believed the story that Navuh was alive and hiding in the harem, which Dave kept reinforcing, they wouldn't risk his wrath. The mansion was their father's seat of power, and if he ever came back, he would be livid to find his mansion destroyed.
Then again, Kolhood was not a subtle thinker. Blunt moves were his specialty.
When he reached the office, Losham headed toward the panel that concealed the entrance to the private staircase. He pressed the hidden release mechanism, and the panel slid aside, revealing a narrow spiral staircase that descended into darkness.
"Wait here," Rami said. "I'll check if the passage is clear."
"Don't go yet." Losham pulled out his phone. "I'm going to call the head of security first. I just wanted to see if the staircase was still there, and it is."
Losham headed to the massive desk that used to be his father's and was now his, pulled out the throne-like swivel chair, and sat.
Commander Yereth answered on the first ring. "Lord Losham."
"What happened down there?"
"A section of the basement collapsed. A support column that was already compromised in the initial explosion gave way under the weight of the debris. The column was bearing the load for a section of ceiling that spanned roughly fifteen meters. When it went, it brought down everything above it."
"Casualties?"
"Two human workers were crushed. We are trying to get to them, but I don't believe they survived. Fifteen others are injured. Most have minor wounds, but two are in bad condition. We're evacuating them to the clinic."
Losham closed his eyes briefly. Human workers were expendable in the Brotherhood's calculus, but their loss still meant delays, investigations, and the close attention of his brothers, none of which he could afford.
"What's the status of the site?" he asked.
"Buried. All the work that has been done to date is wasted. It's worse now than it was originally."
Losham barely stifled a groan. "So, we are back to the starting point?"
Yereth hesitated. "I don't know, my lord. Right now, it looks worse, but we won't know until the structural engineers take a look at this. I would insist that they check the other support columns in this section."
"Of course. Secure the area and get the buried men out. I don't want anyone to enter the site without my direct authorization, and that includes my brothers. I don't want them to get hurt."
"Yes, my lord."
Losham ended the call and leaned back in his chair. Could Navuh have planned this collapse as well?
Navuh's mind was a convoluted labyrinth. He might not be as brilliant as Losham, but he was unpredictable because his thinking didn't always follow logical routes.
The booby traps in the glass enclosure had been designed to stop unauthorized access to the bodies in stasis and whatever other treasures were hidden in there. But what if there had been a secondary layer? Not explosives because those would have been detected by the ordnance team, but structural vulnerabilities deliberately engineered into the support columns, weaknesses designed to trigger a delayed collapse if the excavation proceeded beyond a certain point.
