He stepped slowly over to the final plinth and stared at the symbol on the side. It was a human head, but not just any head. He recognized it from before. It was the head of Yum Cimil, the god of death. Tommy looked over at his friend with regret in his eyes. Guilt washed over him. Sean could see it on his friend’s face, the sadness of killing so many people.
Sean couldn’t let it happen. If he was fast enough, he could take the gun from one of the men behind him and turn the tables. It would be risky, but given the circumstances and the prospects of facing certain death anyway, it was probably a risk worth taking. Mind made up, he was about to make his move when he caught a subtle twitch from Tommy’s right eye. No one else noticed the gesture.
Tommy placed both hands on the dial. The tension in the room reached the boiling point. Everyone leaned in closer to see what would happen.
Tommy turned the knob as hard as he could until it would go no farther. Then he stepped back and waited.
He looked up at the ceiling and around at the walls. The others did the same, wondering what was going on.
Suddenly, a deafening thud rocked the chamber. Pike clutched the amulet dangling from her neck, probably as a reflex. The floor beneath their feet began to vibrate. Another loud boom came from outside the entrance to the temple door. A moment later, a ten-foot-wide section of the floor closest to the wall shook violently and then crumbled from view. One of the men watching Sean was standing too close to the perimeter when the giant stone tiles began collapsing. His heels hung over the edge for seconds that seemed like minutes. He flailed his arms around, desperately trying to regain his balance before toppling backward and down into the fiery abyss.
The temperature in the room skyrocketed. Pike spun around, watching the drama play out.
“This is it!” she said with triumph in her voice. “We are at the epicenter of a new beginning for mankind!”
The floor beneath her buckled and she fell forward onto her face. Kirk and Erika rushed to her aide, momentarily forgetting their prisoners. The second guy guarding Sean was now all alone and doing his best to keep clear of the ledge that dropped down into a flowing river of magma. While he was momentarily safe, he had a terrifying epiphany; the floor was sinking.
Sean dropped to one knee and spun around, sweeping his foot in a wide arc until it struck the mercenary’s heel. The man tripped and nearly lost his balance, but he forced his weight forward and stumbled away from the deadly opening. He turned his weapon toward Sean, who was only a few feet away to the left, but it was already too late. Sean sprang at the man and kicked the rifle to the side, then jabbed him in the nose. The guy tried to fight back, but Sean jumped high into the air and kicked out both legs, driving his feet into the man’s chest. He landed with a thud on the hard surface but managed to watch the gunman stagger backward and disappear from view, falling into the lava below.
The odds were improving; however, the fight was far from over.
Kirk spun around and saw his last two men were no longer there. He whipped his weapon around and opened fire. The thunderous shots sounded like a cannon in the confined space.
Sean saw the enemy’s move and took off, running in a circle around Kirk’s position. Kirk swiveled the weapon in an arc, spraying a deadly barrage of bullets at his target, but the reckless shooting spree had immediate repercussions.
Rounds ricocheted off the walls with bright sparks flashing everywhere. One bullet zipped by Kirk, narrowly missing his head by mere inches. He took his finger off the trigger and tossed the weapon aside. His ears rang from the loud gunfire, but he didn’t care. Sean Wyatt was going to die.
He pulled out his big tactical knife and charged at Sean to cut him off in his path.
Sean saw Kirk’s intent and changed his angle, running directly at Kirk. They rushed toward each other like two freight trains plowing down the rails at full speed in a deadly game of chicken. Kirk held the blade menacingly in his hand, ready to tear Sean to shreds.
Kirk made his move first. He swung the knife in a blinding flash, ripping through the air with the tip just a few inches from Sean’s chest. Sean anticipated the attack and hit the deck, sliding like a baseball player under the sharp knife. The second he stopped, he sprang up and drove his fist into Kirk’s abdomen. The killer doubled over, but he recovered instantly and jabbed backward with his elbow, crunching it into Sean’s jaw.
Behind the two men, Tommy lowered his shoulder and barged into Erika, knocking her to the ground and sending her weapon clattering across the floor to the precipice. Tommy pressed the attack and swung his foot at her ribs. Erika was stunned but she was also well trained, and her experience in hand-to-hand combat was extensive. She caught Tommy’s boot with both hands, absorbed the momentum, and then twisted it hard to the outside. His knee torqued in a painful motion a split second before he flipped over in the air, tumbling sideways to the floor.
Erika took the offensive and rolled to her feet. She stepped quickly toward Tommy and snapped her shoe at his face, aiming for the temple to end the fight in one crippling blow. The ground shook again, causing Erika to lose her balance just enough that the kick went high, right over Tommy’s face. He took advantage and rolled toward her other foot, grabbing her by the ankle and yanking it hard toward him.
She lost her footing as the shoe on the ground went airborne. Erika crashed to the floor, knee first. The bone shattered on the hard surface, sending immediate and agonizing pain through her leg. Tommy pushed himself up and stood over the blonde woman.
“Normally, I wouldn’t hit a woman. In your case, I think I’ll make an exception.”
He raised his fist and punched hard at her right cheek. Despite the agonizing pain from her destroyed kneecap, she managed to raise a hand and deflect the blow. With her other hand, she drove her fist into Tommy’s groin, dropping him to his knees amid a fresh swirl of throbbing nausea.
In the middle of the four pillars, Lilian Pike stood up from the ground and braced herself on one of the plinths with both hands as the floor shifted unsteadily below, gradually sinking into the fiery river. She saw the fight raging between Sean and Kirk. She looked to the left and saw Tommy and Erika duking it out as well. Then her eyes shifted to the smoke wafting up around them. The searing heat raked across her skin. The temperature spiked with every second. Lilian panicked as she realized that the if she didn’t escape, the lava would consume her.
She ran to the far edge of the platform and looked down. She looked across the expanse at the wall leading up to the passageway, desperate to find somewhere she could jump to.
Across the room, Kirk swung the knife to the left, then the right, and back again. The blade caught Sean’s wrist on one go-around, opening a fresh cut on his skin and sending a stinging pain through his arm. He jumped back and grabbed the wound instinctively before having to dodge further attacks. He didn’t immediately realize it, but he was being backed toward the precipice and he was rapidly running out of real estate.
Inch by inch, Sean kept shuffling backward as his opponent continued the attack. The knife clipped Sean’s shirt on another pass, ripping through the fabric and barely missing his stomach. Kirk wasn’t getting tired, and there was no sign of him letting up anytime soon.
Sean felt the heat growing stronger from beyond the edge and risked a quick peek to the side. He realized the danger, and with the next swing from Kirk, Sean put up both forearms and struck the opponent’s wrists, ceasing the deadly motion. Kirk wasn’t finished. He altered his position, pointing the tip of the blade at Sean’s neck. Then he put his free hand on top of the other and pushed. The knife started moving toward the base of Sean’s neck despite his best effort to leverage every ounce of strength he could against the attack.
Kirk leaned into the knife handle, using every bit of his weight to outmuscle Sean’s resistance. Searing heat from below washed over the two men, causing sweat to pour from their skin. Humans couldn’t last long in this cauldron, but that was the least of Sean’s worries at the m
oment as Kirk’s superior strength and size forced Sean to his knees.
The sharp knife point was mere inches from Sean’s throat. His muscles burned from the losing battle. He tried to rock forward to get a little momentum against the larger man, but it was no use. Every motion ahead produced an equal motion backward, which brought the blade a millimeter closer to ending his life.
“I always knew you agents were soft,” Kirk spat through clenched teeth. “Pretty boys in your white-collar jobs.” He grunted and pushed harder.
Sean could feel the metal tip graze his skin. He pushed back one last time, using every ounce of strength he could muster. The blade retreated a half inch.
“The thing about us, Kirk, is we have to find ways to win without always using brute force.”
Kirk’s eyes narrowed, and he let up for a brief moment. Sean knew what the guy was doing. He could see it in his eyes. There was a look of fierce determination, of knowing what was about to happen. Kirk raised the blade another inch only to get more muscle behind the next thrust. As he drove the knife down with all his weight behind it, Sean shifted his body. He let Kirk’s weight collapse down onto him and then grabbed the bigger man’s wrists and tugged.
Kirk knew Sean’s plan the second he started going over. Sean rocked back hard onto his shoulders, kicking his legs up like a human rocking chair. Kirk’s eyes went wide as he tumbled over his opponent. His back hit the floor first and jarred the knife loose. The momentum was too great, and he rolled over the edge. Sean stood up and pushed his fear of heights aside for a moment as he stared down at the enemy clinging with white knuckles to the ledge. His fingers slipped, and he kept shifting his weight in a desperate attempt to get a better grip. His feet slipped on the rock wall as he tried to get a foothold that wasn’t there.
Sean stared into Kirk’s eyes. A million smart-aleck one-liners ran through his head, but he didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to.
Kirk didn’t ask for help. He didn’t beg for mercy. First, his right hand lost its hold. Putting all his weight on the left hand fingers was too much. It only took two seconds for the second hand to come free. The man didn’t yell as he fell into the bubbling inferno below. He wouldn’t give Sean the pleasure. All he did was grimace as he plummeted downward.
The second his feet hit the magma, he screamed in agony, but the pain didn’t last long. A moment later, Kirk was consumed by fiery death.
Chapter 40
Chiapas
Erika struggled to her feet, keeping her wounded leg extended out to the side. She swung a hammer fist at Tommy’s face and smashed it into his left cheek. His head snapped to the side and recovered only to receive another blow. She raised her hand again and swung hard, but this time Tommy put up his forearm and blocked it. Both fighters winced from the bones striking each other. Tommy, however, had a little more muscle between the two of them and forced her back with a heavy push.
She renewed the attack, but he sprang from his crouched position, fighting off the nauseating pain in his groin. She jabbed. He deflected. She swung hard with the other fist, and Tommy grabbed her wrist and pulled her close while raising his boot high off the ground. Then he stomped hard at her wounded knee, driving the heel of his foot into the side. The follow-through caused a loud popping sound, and her joint bent at an unnatural, clearly excruciating angle.
Erika screamed and dropped to the floor again, clutching her knee with both hands. Her face contorted in wretched pain.
Tommy loomed over her for a moment before bending down and grabbing her by the ponytail. He yanked her head back, tilting it up to the ceiling. Then he raised his hand high, palm up, ready to smash the side of it into her nose to drive it into her brain.
“Stop!” Lilian yelled from a dozen or so feet away.
Tommy’s head snapped to the side, and he saw Pike standing amid the pillars with a pistol pointed at him.
“Let her go,” she ordered.
Tommy hesitated for a second. Then he saw the streams of lava oozing out of the vents in the rocks above. The slight slope toward the center of the floor caused the melted rock. Soon, the entire platform would be covered in molten lava.
The scientist in him wondered how the magma was being pushed out of the vents, but there was no time to question such things.
He let go of Erika’s ponytail, and the woman fell prostrate on the ground.
“What did you do?” Lilian yelled.
Tommy offered a smug grin. “You were in such a hurry that you didn’t even bother to wonder what would happen if I did the sequence out of order.”
Her face scrunched in confused anger.
“What?”
“The prophecy. The directions to activate the machine. Did you think all of that was just the correct way to do it? By using the wrong sequence, I basically killed the doomsday device, along with all of us.”
Her eyes raged hotter than the lava creeping closer and closer toward them. “You fool! Fix it! Do it now!”
Tommy shook his head slowly. “I can’t. It’s done. Once it’s started, there’s no going back. No redo. It’s over, Lilian.”
“It’s never over,” she said, clutching the amulet with one hand and the pistol with the other. “I can’t die! But you two can!”
“Pretty sure that thing doesn’t work when you’re consumed by hot liquid magma,” Sean said from her right.
She spun to the side and pointed the gun at him, then Tommy, then back again, trying to decide whom to shoot first.
“They killed my family!” she roared. “Do you have any idea what that feels like? To lose everything? Everyone you love? This world needs to be washed away! Can’t you see that?”
“The world does have too much evil in it, Lilian,” Sean said. “That doesn’t mean we kill everyone to make it right again. There’s a better way.”
She shook her head, and a crazed look filled her eyes. He’d seen it before, and he knew what was coming. It was too dark to see her finger tense on the trigger, but he knew that’s what was happening. The muzzle would fire. The bullet would hit him. And this time, there would be no miraculous salvation.
“Goodbye, Mr. Wyatt.”
A low pop came from outside the temple. A pink mist exploded out of her back. Sean saw the hole in her chest and frowned. Where had the shot come from?
Her body wavered for a second before she toppled over onto her side.
Sean and Tommy simultaneously spun around toward the temple entrance.
Standing on the other side of the wide gap was Collin O’Rourke, holding a rifle in one hand. Leaning against the wall next to him was Pablo, grimacing in pain but alive.
Tommy hurried over to the ledge next to his friend and looked across at the other two.
“You’re going to have to jump!” Collin yelled. A burst of sulfury smoke rolled up through the chasm between them.
Sean shook his head. “We’ll never make it!”
Pablo grinned despite the pain from his bullet wound. “That’s why we brought this.”
He produced a black rope from behind his feet and tossed it over the ravine. The bulk of the rope landed beneath Sean and Tommy’s. They glanced at each other with a question in their eyes.
“You know I’m not going first,” Sean said. “Fear of heights.”
Tommy sighed and shook his head. “You’re such a drama queen.”
He grabbed the rope and held it tight. He started to step back to get a running start and then realized something.
“Hey, what is this anchored to?”
“We’re holding it!” Collin said. “Hurry!”
A huge chunk of ceiling broke free and fell between the four men, narrowly missing the rope. The men watched the huge rock drop into the lava below, sending sparks soaring into the air in a bright flash of yellow and orange.
“Come on!” Pablo urged.
Tommy took one step back and then surged forward, rushing toward the ledge. When his toes hit the lip, he jumped as hard as he could and flew across
the chasm. His feet hit the opposite wall, and he dropped a yard or two before the rope went taut. The men above pulled hard, grimacing as they hauled Tommy up the side of the cliff. Tommy kept his grip as tight as he could as he walked his way along the vertical climb until he finally reached the top.
Once he was safely on the landing, Collin took the rope and tossed it back to the other side for Sean. He picked it up, pulled it tight, and ran toward the edge. He leaped as hard. His body flew across the span, crashing into the side with more force than planned. His shoulder took the brunt of the blow and sent a dull pain through his body. He gripped the rope tight, though, and started walking his way up the side of the precipice.
The scorching heat from below washed over him unlike anything he’d ever felt before. Part of him hoped the rope wouldn’t catch fire or melt. He wasn’t sure which would happen first.
The other three men pulled hard, tugging him up the side until he was nearly to the ledge. Suddenly, gunfire popped from inside the temple.
Pike was standing between the flowing streams of lava, shooting her weapon wildly at the four men.
Rounds sailed by, pinging off the rock in the tunnel and on the ledge. Tommy and the others instinctively ducked for cover and momentarily let the rope slip. He was the first to correct the mistake and grabbed it before Sean dropped any farther. The other two renewed their efforts and pulled hard on the rope.
Pike fired the last of her rounds, desperately hoping to hit something from that range. As luck would have it, she did hit something. The bullet tore through the rope just as Sean was about to reach the ledge.
He felt gravity suddenly winning the battle. He let go of the rope and fired his hands out toward the cliff’s edge. His fingers dragged on the smooth rock surface, unable to find a grip.
A split second before he ran out of rock to hold, he felt a pair of strong hands wrap around his wrists. Sean looked up and saw Tommy holding him. Collin wrapped his arms around Tommy’s waist and leaned back as hard as he could.
The Fourth Prophecy Page 30
