Read along: Seven Ancient Wonders - Part 15

The Seven hit the base of the rockface. 
The building-sized wall towered above them, black as the night.
Big Ears had already done his work, disabling two hand-chopping traps halfway up the rock-cut ladder.
More excitement, only this happens off screen! This just gets better and better.
Now Princess Zoe leap-frogged ahead. She moved with great athleticism, easily the match of the men.
Did she literally leap-frog? I know that they're having their actions and style dictated by an annoying child, but this is ridiculous. The fact that Reilly has to point the athleticism of the character out is a testament not only to his piss-poor writing ability, being yet another example of telling us rather than showing us, but is also a little suspicious and patronising. Is he implying that ladies are lesser than gentlemen in other circumstances, and that this is an exception which proves the rule?
He can't write male characters, let alone female ones of any substance or depth. The closest we get is this:
About 30, she had shoulder-length blonde hair, freckles, and the luminous blue eyes at only Irish girls possess.
Only Irish girls possess? Reilly mustn't be very well travelled. I suppose we should be thankful that he didn't make Zoe and Big Ears redheads...
Onto the First Level she flew, raising two aerosol cans as she did so, filling two wall holes with a dense expanding foam.
EXTREME GRAFFITI! And did she actually fly?

Radical, Reilly, Radical.
This reference was also compulsory. I'm a little disappointed that it has taken me 15 entries to insert an Avril Lavigne reference.

Whatever evils were in those wall holes were caught by the foam and neutralised.
That's the end of that then.
Expanding foam is the way to defeat all evils, you heard it here first, folks!
Fire? FOAM!
Crocodiles out for blood? FOAM!
Spikes and boiling oil? FOAM!
Cthulhu? FOAM!
No sooner had she done this than she was leapfrogged by the seventh member of the group, the tall, thin trooper named Stretch. Once known as Archer, he had a long, sanguine, bony face. He hailed from the deadly Israeli sniper unit, the Sayeret Matkal.
From my research, the Sayeret Matkal isn't a dedicated sniper unit, it's a reconnaissance and intelligence gathering unit modelled upon the SAS and engaging largely in counter-terrorism works. Emphasis in training is on small arms, reconnaissance, martial arts, camouflage, navigation and intelligence gathering skills, as well as other essential abilities for surviving behind enemy lines, after the unit was re imagined as a commando squad in the 1970s. It's notable for its members not wearing any kind of insignia, which ironically denotes and identifies them as members of the Sayeret Matkal.
Yes, snipers are involved in the army and trained in units, but the Sayeret Matkal is not a dedicated sniper outfit. Stretch is more likely a trained sniper hand picked for the Sayeret Matkal, or a man who joined it and later applied to be a sniper, displaying a natural aptitude for it. I don't proclaim to be an expert, but from what little knowledge I have, the research I have done and how I have been informed special forces and selection for such groups works (by friends in the Armed Forces), this is how I believe it goes down.
A better choice of "mysterious unit" for Stretch to have worked for would have been Kidon, the secretive branch of Mossad, upon whom information is scarce, and thus he could have invented anything. Or even better, he could have chosen the Shaldag Unit, who are known to carry Mauser SR 82/66 sniper rifles (continuing with his gun porn theme) and are the commando force based within the Israeli airforce, the significance of which will become apparent later on when we deal with the team's most retarded member (as if these guys weren't bad enough...).
I'm sorry for that miniature rant, I didn't mean for it to go on for so long, considering my limited knowledge of military workings, but I've not called out Reilly on his misinformation for some time now, and what better time to do it?
Stretch arrived at the right-side arm of the Scar, where he triggered a huge trap from a safe distance: a bronze cage that fell out of a dark recess in the Scar and clattered down into the lake.
How did he trigger it? Did he shoot it?
Had any of the team been walking along the foot-wide mini-ledge in front of the recess, the cage would have caught them and taken them down to the lake, to be either eaten by the crocs or drowned under the weight of the cage itself.
Oh, I wonder if this will be a trap which affects the enemy forces? Is this exciting yet?

Now West and Lily took the lead, crossing the mini-ledge across the Scar, stepping out onto the centre section of the First Level.
Here they found the trigger-stone for the Master Snare at the base of the wall-ladder leading up to Level 2. West made to step on it-
"Captain West!"
No, this is not a sensible character warning West to heed the warnings in the book so far, this is something actually kind of stupider.
West froze in mid-stride, turned.
Del Piero and his troops were staring up at him from the base of their half-finished crane, holding their useless guns stupidly in their hands.
Now, that's just childish.
He also missed an opportunity to tell him that he looked: WEST!
"Now, Captain West, please think about this before you do it!" del Piero called. "Is it really necessary? Even if you trigger the Master Snare, you are only postponing the inevitable. If you do somehow get the Piece, we'll kill you when you try to leave this mountain. And if you don't, my men will just return after the Snare has run its course and we will find the head of the Colossus and the piece of the Capstone it contains. Either way, Captain, we get the piece."
I like del Piero. He is the only character in the entire book thus far to speak any kind of sense, or to have any logical thought. His plan is exactly what anybody would do in this situation, and is the safest course of action for all concerned. Why trigger the traps and get people killed, when you can let the psychopathic assholes trigger it, then just murder/beat up them and take the thing you need?
I wish del Piero was the hero of this book.
West's eyes narrowed.
Take a shot. Can they narrow anymore?
Still he didn't speak.
Take a shot. That sentence is also out of place, because we've heard him speak, only a few pages ago.
Del Piero tried Wizard:
That sounds like he's taking some hip new street drug.
"Max. Max. My old colleague, my old friend. Please. Reason with your rash young protege."
Take three shots. I would pick him up on that exposition-like dialogue, but del Piero is still far more sensible and likeable than our protagonists, so I'll let it go.
Wizard just shook his head. "You and I chose different paths a long time ago, Francisco. You do it your way. We'll do it ours. Jack. Hit the trigger."
West just stared evenly down at del Piero.
"With pleasure." He said,
And with that, he stomped on the trigger stone set into the floor at his feet, activating the Master Snare.
Fuck's sake West.
Take 6 shots for those sentences, two thirds of which are from Wizard's "dialogue" alone. Take another 5 shots for West's monumental arrogance and stupidity. "Oh look at me! I'm untamed and will beat the traps!" He does things solely because it's the opposite of what del Piero wants. He's like a child throwing a temper tantrum, and I can only react thus:

Fuck you, Jack West Junior, and see you next week.