The Illuminati Endgame (The Relic Hunters 7)

by David Leadbeater

  “Stay focused,” Heidi said.

  “Yes, well, that’s eight bottles emptied. Discord has the ninth and tenth in his hands. Cronos is stepping back. I think... I think something’s about to happen...”

  *

  Bodie crept forward through pools of darkness, shielded by the stone coffins, eyes fixed on the crucible and the events transpiring around it. He’d managed to duck and cover all the way to the end of the row and now hunkered down in line with Discord and Cronos, but about ten meters to their left.

  Discord emptied the ninth container into its runnel. The man’s arms, sticking out of his robe, were huge and laced with thick veins. His bald head was slicked with sweat. When the ninth vessel was empty, he handed it to Cronos and unscrewed the top of the tenth.

  The time was upon them.

  A cry rang out across the cavern, a cry of triumph. It came first from Discord then Cronos before being taken up by all the Hoods. To Bodie it was gibberish, claptrap of the highest order, but to these maniacs he knew it meant everything.

  He crouched, waiting. Bullets flew across the open cavern but, at the moment at least, nobody was prepared to take a risk. Bodie bided his time.

  A chance would come.

  *

  Lucie gazed with open-eyed wonder as Discord poured the last of the ore into the final runnel. Her fists were clenched, her jaw clamped shut.

  Heidi studied both her and the Illuminati leaders. Every moment they worked was a moment closer to their victory. She knew they had to be stopped but, right now, had no easy access to a weapon.

  She sought around with her eyes. One of the mercs had his back to her and was stationed just to the left of a nearby pillar. Heidi thought she could probably disarm him with a surprise attack, but the risk of crossfire—of catching a bullet from her own team—remained high. As she weighed and measured, Lucie let out a gasp of wonder.

  “Oh, my—”

  It sprang up along the ten runnels: a white-hot trickle of flame. At first it burned low and soft but gradually began to brighten as, one by one, all ten channels caught fire. Lucie watched with awestruck eyes.

  “It’s like assaying gold,” she breathed as if to herself. “The naked eye cannot determine the purity of the metals but... fire can. It’s testing the ore right now. Melting it. Drawing the precious minerals out, the correct elements it needs to work. If there’s enough core material...” She hesitated.

  “What?” Heidi asked.

  “Eureka,” Lucie responded. “I don’t know what, exactly, but I think we’ll soon see.”

  The white flames leapt, licking up at Discord’s face. The High Minerval flinched away. The lines of fire darted toward the black hole at the center of the crucible. The whole area, including the sheer rock face behind the crucible, was washed with a hot, white light.

  Heidi ducked low, not knowing what to expect.

  Lucie backed away, holding her hands up to safeguard her eyes.

  Even from his hiding place, ten meters distant, Bodie was bathed in the white glow, caught in the spotlight, eyes wide, torn between wanting the crucible to reveal its secrets and dreading what might happen when it did.

  Then, the entire cavern exploded.

  CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

  An immense wave of white light erupted from the crucible and flooded the cavern.

  Bodie flinched and fell backward. Those closer, Discord and Cronos in particular, screamed and collapsed. The guards with their backs to the crucible staggered and shielded their eyes.

  The immensity of the cave was floodlit in its entirety, brightness reaching every corner and the highest parts of the roof. The crucible itself was audible: humming, shaking, vibrating like a coin running around the rim of a metal hole in ever-decreasing circles. The source of the light was too powerful to withstand for almost half a minute.

  Bodie sensed the luminescence dimming. The pain behind his eyes, the ache in his head dulled. Still, his retinas retained a dark image as he opened his eyes.

  His enemies were on their knees at the foot of the crucible. Jemma, he saw, was also on her knees, but perched atop a stone tomb, her phone held out in front of her and filming even as she shielded her eyes.

  Bodie rose to his feet, eyes still narrowed as the light faded.

  Discord moaned in pain. Cronos stumbled down three steps and fell headlong. The guards close by were reaching blindly for their masters.

  Bodie saw Lucie step from behind a stone pillar, Heidi at her back. Both women were staring at the crucible.

  And then it happened. The hot, intense light had ignited something in the vast overhanging rock face behind it. Lines appeared on the surface. Not grid lines, Bodie saw, more like outlines. The contours—reliefs, shapes and profiles—of coastlines, of mountain ranges, of valleys and forests and one immense gorge.

  Ancient outlines that should never change.

  Bodie knew he was looking at a four-thousand-year-old map, something created by the Ishtari out of old gold and alchemy, something impossible to discover without knowledge of the prophecy. The heat had caused a reaction that in turn revealed the exact location of Hades.

  Guards stared at it. Cronos hauled Discord up off the floor, saw the map and shouted an order. Mercs and Hoods broke cover in a dozen different places, some taking photos and video while others laid down covering fire.

  Bodie dived to the floor, arms out. He shot a merc in the leg. Three more ran past him.

  Lucie and Heidi ducked back behind the stone pillar.

  Bodie scrambled forward on his hands and knees.

  Anything and everything was possible now. Whatever worked. They couldn’t let the Illuminati escape with this knowledge.

  But the Hoods and the mercs were driven if nothing else. They never stopped firing, forcing their enemies into cover.

  Bodie targeted them one by one from his relatively sheltered and solitary vantage point, but they still numbered at a rough thirteen strong and Bodie had seen another three CIA wetworkers die already. They were badly outnumbered, and fortunate that their enemy didn’t know it.

  Bodie shot another Hood but then something struck him from behind, a heavy lump that bore him to the ground. There was hot breath on his neck, and a hand thrust between his legs found a vulnerable purchase and squeezed.

  Bodie writhed in agony. Adelaide bore down on him, one hand squeezing, the other smashing a small rock onto the back of his head. Bodie saw stars.

  Adelaide just put more pressure on. Her lips were close to his right ear, her body crushing his into the ground. “You missed your chance there, Bodie. You should have killed me.”

  In that moment Bodie wholeheartedly agreed. The gun battle continued around them. Adelaide appeared to be waiting for something to happen. The seconds ticked by.

  Bodie flung an elbow back but hit only empty air.

  Adelaide grunted and then, abruptly, her weight was lifted from his body, her grasp loosened.

  Bodie couldn’t move for a long moment, fighting waves of agony, but in his peripheral vision he saw Adelaide whirl to confront Yasmine.

  The two women traded blows.

  Bodie dragged himself to his knees, wincing and barely able to remain upright.

  Pang and his CIA colleagues were exchanging shots with most of the Hoods, keeping much of the deadly fire contained to that area. It gave Bodie the chance to gauge what was happening near the crucible.

  Cronos helped Discord down the steps. Two of the Hoods guarding them had fallen. Nimrod and the others had surrounded them, still armed but reluctant to draw much attention their way.

  Bodie caught Heidi’s and Lucie’s attention and shouted at them. “This way.”

  Adelaide caught him a solid kick across the jaw. Bodie went down again.

  Yasmine struck Adelaide in the stomach, but the redhead barely flinched. It was a harrowing scene. Any moment, any second, a bullet could come his way.

  And then everything changed.

  A shout went up among the Illuminati
, first from Nimrod’s direction, then echoed among the Hoods. There was a lull, a discontinuation of gunfire.

  It took Bodie a moment to realize they were reloading. And that meant only one thing. “Cover!” he shouted. “Now!”

  Whether everyone made it he didn’t know. Yasmine leapt for a stone coffin. Bodie rolled to another. Adelaide broke away and ran recklessly toward her brethren. There was a long moment of horrible anticipation and then...

  Extended volleys of gunfire filled the cavern. It was a non-stop barrage.

  From his position behind the coffin, Bodie saw a line of his own colleagues taking shelter. He watched fragments of stone fly through the gaps between coffins in a cloudy hail. He witnessed his friends covered in rock dust.

  Bodie took the time to reload his own weapon, but the terrible knowledge plagued him—they couldn’t stay hidden for too long.

  It wasn’t a stretch to think the Illuminati were making their getaway. And where were Heidi and Lucie? They’d had a few seconds to mount an escape attempt before the shooting began.

  A lull in gunfire came at last.

  Bodie scrambled into the open, holding his Glock with arms outstretched.

  The bulk of Illuminati were rushing toward the exit tunnel, Nimrod at their head, holding Discord up and dragging Cronos along. Hoods protected them. Some opened fire again. Bodie searched for his friends.

  Adelaide and four Hoods were forcing Lucie and Heidi to run near the back of the group. Bodie saw Hoods staggering, some covered in blood, others reloading and more falling to one knee to open fire and cover their masters’ escape.

  Pang and his CIA partners fired a few shots but were sent straight back into hiding by a resounding response from their enemies.

  Bodie aimed but didn’t want to accidentally hit Heidi or Lucie. “No!” he cried out in frustration, pulling back.

  Adelaide’s grinning face turned toward him. She had a gun buried into Lucie’s spine.

  Bodie surrendered to that evil leer, knowing that Adelaide was fully capable of pulling the trigger just for fun.

  Nimrod disappeared through the far exit, pushing the High Minervals ahead of him. The Illuminati had planned their run so that Heidi and Lucie came last and were most exposed, limiting the amount of firepower sent their away.

  From his position, Bodie saw Pang taking aim anyway.

  “Wait,” he shouted. “Not yet. This isn’t over yet.”

  “They have to be stopped,” Pang said through the comms.

  “You could hit one of yours, one of ours.”

  “Don’t appraise me on your failings,” Pang grunted.

  Bodie scowled, knowing Pang would do as he pleased. But the risk was incredible. Bodie took matters into his own hands, shaking the situation up by emptying a mag well above Adelaide’s head. The entire Illuminati contingent seemed to shrink as they covered up and fled through the far exit.

  “Like I said,” Bodie muttered. “This isn’t finished yet.”

  Adelaide was last to withdraw from the cavern.

  Bodie leapt out into the open and took a quick glance back at the crucible before giving chase, seeing a charred bowl-like shell. The rock-face above it still glimmered with the map but the glow was fading.

  “Did we get a snap of that?” he asked.

  “Got it,” Jemma replied. “Got plenty.”

  They all emerged from hiding. Fleeing footfalls echoed back along the exit tunnel. Bodie, Cassidy and Yasmine raced toward the rocky archway, giving chase. Pang led his people from the far right, everyone converging on the far end of the cave.

  “Careful,” Bodie said. “These bloody traps—”

  His words were torn away by a deep and devastating blast. The exit they were hurrying toward bellowed out a great mushroom cloud of dust. Fragments chipped at Bodie’s face, the ground shook, and a profound rumbling sound shook the cavern.

  The roof collapsed.

  Bodie saw it coming down in front of him. Saw the ceiling just give way in a deluge of rock. The whole team pulled up, covered in dust, staring at a vision ahead that struck terror into their hearts.

  The falling ceiling had blocked their escape route. The explosion had been localized just outside the entrance.

  They were trapped under the Great Wall of China, in a cavern that hadn’t been discovered in more than four thousand years, with the Illuminati racing toward their final goal with Heidi and Lucie in their custody.

  Hades.

  CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

  Bodie fell to his knees in the cold tomb, covered in dirt and grime. A cloud still billowed through the air. His eyes stung. Everyone inside the cavern stood in shock and fear, confronted by a dreadful spectacle.

  Flashlights were aimed at an enormous pile of rubble, a mound of sharp rock and pulverized stone that rose eight feet above their heads and blocked any chance they might have of escape. It was unsafe with boulders rolling from the top and trickles of dirt descending the mass in countless waterfalls.

  Pang rounded on Bodie. “This was what you did. You. It was your plan to follow them.”

  “It was my plan not to shoot our friends,” Bodie shouted back.

  “Hey,” Cassidy interjected. “This really isn’t the time. We can fight later. Or rather, put your energies into digging.”

  She ran to the base of the pile and started pulling some of the larger rocks free. The movement made the pile shift. Another groan echoed around the cavern. Bodie shone his flashlight at the roof above their heads.

  “Wait,” he said. “It’s cracking.”

  Several flashlights were trained upward. Three black lines with several tributaries had already furrowed the stone to a length of ten feet. Even as Bodie watched without breathing, one of the tributary lines lengthened.

  Cassidy backed away from the pile.

  “It’s a solid foundation up there,” Jemma said. “Unlikely to give way.”

  “Let’s not chance it,” Bodie said.

  “What the hell else are we gonna do?” Pang shouted.

  “Calm down. First, let’s explore this entire cavern.” Bodie was well aware it was a huge expanse.

  Silently, they split up to examine their surroundings. Bodie found a large, clear area beyond the crucible, while Jemma and Yasmine took their time checking the space directly behind it, their position looking extremely dangerous underneath the vast hanging stone face that had contained the map and even now fizzled intermittently with dazzling light.

  Bodie climbed the stone steps to the crucible and took a closer look inside. The various ores had formed hard, rigid rows along their channels so that the surface of the bowl was dissected by ten craggy lines. The hole at the center appeared scorched by the chemical reaction that had taken place. Bodie didn’t touch anything but walked away after finding no help there.

  “Let me try something,” Pang’s voice rustled in Bodie’s ear.

  Immediately he sought Pang’s position in the cavern, worried about what the man was up to now. He saw Pang standing by the pile of rubble, a satphone in his right hand. He was holding it above his head and turning as if searching for a signal.

  “Unlikely,” Cassidy said.

  “But worth a try.” Pang gave up after three minutes of searching.

  Bodie waited for Jemma and Yasmine to finish checking behind the crucible itself but, when both came out shaking their heads, he was forced to face the worst kind of truth.

  “We’re trapped in here,” Jemma said.

  “We don’t have time to be trapped,” Pang said and Bodie agreed.

  “It’s die digging our way out,” he said. “Or die waiting for a miracle to happen. I know what I’d rather do.”

  *

  The air grew stale. Sweat dripped from their faces. Dust and grime clung like an abrasive second skin. Bodie scraped the knees of his jeans to rags, dragging and pushing heavy rocks aside. The pain in his knee had dulled somewhat, but would still need a good dose of painkillers once the adrenaline wore off. They start
ed on the right side of the pile, away from the ceiling cracks, and tried to create a hole large enough to crawl through. At first, they made good progress.

  An hour passed. The hole they’d been clearing was unstable, held up by nothing more than precariously balanced stone and shale. They sought to push the heavier stones to the side of the new hole and succeeded.

  Bodie stared at the gap, contemplating whether a person could fit inside, when the entire cavity caved in.

  Pang swore and fell to his knees, exhausted. Bodie leant against the cavern wall, close to Butcher. As a team, they’d put everything into creating that hole. Now, the air was thin and unhealthy, their muscles worn, and their mouths dry.

  Bodie took the last of his water from his backpack and chewed an energy bar.

  “What next?” Jemma asked.

  “We try again,” he said.

  Twice more they tried, and twice more they failed. What they did gain, though, was to shift a good pile of the rubble that was blocking the exit, thinning out the obstruction. As they worked, Cassidy voiced Bodie’s own thoughts: They should forget the tunnel and move the rock.

  The ceiling groaned like low thunder, the cracks widening little by little. After a while, Bodie chose to ignore the warnings. This was a case of damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

  They worked faster, ignoring muscles aching with weariness.

  Hours passed. Their food and water ran out. The Illuminati drew further and further away and already might be at Hades.

  To that effect, Bodie gave Jemma a short rest and asked her to show the map around to see if anyone recognized it. The answer, unfortunately, was a resounding negative.

  Maybe we’ll escape our tomb to find the world has already ended, Bodie thought. It was a sobering idea and one that made him toil harder.

  In the end, four CIA wetworkers, Pang, Butcher, Bodie and his team rolled, heaved and threw block after block, brick after brick. They pulled from the bottom, ready to leap out of the way in case of a rockfall. These collapses became welcome despite their danger—they shifted more of the rubble faster. Often, they were greeted with a tired cheer. Bodie asked everyone to take a rest, hours later, and looked at their progress.