Major Wu had realised the same thing, starting back towards the entrance – but she only managed a few steps before stumbling. The image shook, dust kicking up from the hill. Macy gasped. ‘It’s an earthquake!’
‘It’s not an earthquake,’ Eddie growled. ‘It’s the same thing that happened in the iceberg – Nina’s powered up the bloody spaceship!’ The picture jolted again. ‘It’s trying to pull itself out!’
‘Choose now,’ said Colonel Wu, watching the horrified Nina with unblinking basilisk eyes. ‘Eddie, or Macy? Who lives, and who—’
The crystal columns in the walls suddenly pulsed, light rippling through them – and the throne room lurched.
Nina reeled against a guard, knocking him to the floor. She managed to regain her balance, but the Chinese soldiers were all thrown off their feet.
Zan also staggered – but Gadreel grabbed him, the Nephilim prepared for the sudden shift. He muttered something. Zan hurriedly tugged a cloth-wrapped object from his pocket and gave it to him.
The truth came to Nina: Zan was Eleanor’s spy, selling his intimate knowledge of the Nephilim and their technology in the hope of finding wealth and freedom outside China. The Millers would eventually expose him as a traitor under interrogation – so he had turned to the only person who could now help him escape.
Zan must have taken the object from the archive. What it was, and what Gadreel meant to do with it, she had no idea. But it was also her only way out: the only way she could protect her family from Colonel Wu.
A rumbling sound echoed through the chamber. Nina looked towards the windows – and saw the packed earth outside shifting, slowly sliding over the crystal.
The fortress was moving, the entire structure burrowing up through the thousands of tons of dirt and debris that had buried it for millennia.
Hui had only just recovered from the shock of the quake when the ground trembled again, less violently – but more insistently, the tremors like the thrum of some giant machine.
Which, she realised, might just be the cause. ‘It’s the fortress!’ she shouted. ‘We need to move!’
She ran for the helicopters. Both aircraft were parked well clear of the domed hill, but still shook, rotor blades flapping and bouncing. Wu recovered and chased after her, the soldiers following as the earth began to slide away underfoot.
A hole opened up before Wu. She almost fell into it, but leapt the widening gap just in time. Behind her, a great ragged cleft tore the hillside apart.
Hui finally reached the bottom of the slope and risked a look back. To her shock, she saw that the hill had grown, its summit rising. She ran faster, hearing panicked cries from the soldiers behind—
One shout became a scream as a man was swallowed by an opening crevice – only to be silenced as tons of dirt rolled over him.
Wu Shun cleared the mound and raced after Hui, enmity forgotten in her fear. ‘What’s happening?’ she cried.
‘The fortress,’ Hui panted in reply. ‘It’s coming out of the ground!’
‘How? How is that possible?’
The scientist’s reply was cut off by a roar of falling rubble as something pushed up through the hill – and continued skywards, the dark shape masked by a cascade of sand and stones. A soldier who had just reached level ground was crushed by a churning wave of falling debris. Another man further back was caught in the landslide and plunged with it over the rising edge, screaming all the way down before vanishing into the chaos.
Dust gushed around the two women, who shielded their faces. The landslip’s fearsome noise reached a crescendo . . . then faded.
Hui squinted through the swirling cloud. To her shock, the hill was gone.
An empty crater was surrounded by a ragged ring of piled debris, the earth and stone that had fallen from the fortress as it rose – but where was the fortress itself?
She looked up . . . and got her answer.
Panic and confusion ran through the control centre as churning earth and billowing dust clouds filled the screen. ‘Mom!’ cried Cheng as he spotted a figure running towards the camera.
‘She’s okay – but where’s Nina?’ said Eddie. Others were behind Hui, but his wife was not one of them—
The image cleared enough for him to see what lay behind the running figures. It took him a moment to process. ‘Okay,’ he said in disbelief. ‘Tell me that’s not a bloody UFO!’
Something hovered over the crater where the hill had been, dust streaming from its dark metal hull. It looked like the fortress Eddie had seen trapped in the iceberg – but much larger, more menacing.
Hui and Wu Shun stood in the image’s foreground, staring up at the impossibly floating juggernaut. Cheng was similarly awestruck. ‘Fuzanglong . . .’ he whispered.
‘What does that mean?’ Macy asked, wide-eyed.
‘It means a dragon – a treasure dragon,’ he replied. ‘It’s a Chinese legend – it lives underground, but can come out and fly.’ He pointed at a detail on the screen. ‘And it has a pearl under its chin, a symbol of qi.’
Eddie saw what he meant. The fortress did indeed bear a distinct resemblance to the head of a Chinese dragon, the windows on its upper section forming sinister eyes – and on its underside, below the elongated snout from which fangs protruded, was a brightly glowing sphere, mostly hidden behind curved plates of armour.
There was more to the fortress than the head section. It had a snake-like rear body, tapering back to a point, though the camera’s angle meant he couldn’t judge its size. All he knew for sure was that it was big.
And Nina was still inside it.
‘We’ve got to get out there,’ he told Cheng. ‘I’m not sitting around while my wife’s trapped in that thing!’
‘I don’t know how!’ the young man replied. ‘If my mother’s no longer in charge, the scientific team won’t have any authority—’
He broke off at the sight of Wu hurrying towards the helicopter, Hui and the surviving soldiers behind her. Cheng covered his microphone as he overheard an exchange between the major and the captain in the control centre. ‘She’s calling for backup,’ he whispered. ‘Colonel Wu is still inside – and so are Professor Wilde and Gadreel. And Zan,’ he added.
‘I’m assuming the sentence for treason in China isn’t two weeks’ community service,’ said Eddie. ‘He’ll do whatever it takes to escape.’
On the screen, Wu Shun issued orders to the soldiers. Cheng looked at Eddie with sudden hope. ‘She didn’t say anything else about my mom – and she told the captain to call the airbase and get more men out there. He’s the only officer here who knows my mom’s not in charge any more—’
‘And he’s got more important things to worry about,’ Eddie finished as the captain made a frantic phone call. ‘You think we can hitch a ride?’
Cheng nodded. ‘If I tell the pilot my mother authorised us to go, they should believe me. I hope.’
‘Only one way to find out.’ Eddie spoke quietly to Macy. ‘Normally I’d want you to stay here where it’s safe. But right now, I don’t want to let you out of my sight! So do you fancy a helicopter ride?’
‘Not really,’ she admitted. ‘But I want to help Mom.’
‘Me too. Let’s see what we can do.’
Cheng surreptitiously checked that the military personnel were not paying him any attention, then they followed him to the exit.
Nina blinked as daylight flooded into the throne room. The dirt covering the windows slid away – to reveal that the fortress was now above the ground.
High above the ground. ‘Oh my God!’ she said, running to the nearest window. ‘We’ve taken off!’
The fortress hovered some sixty feet up. Colonel Wu gestured for the guards to watch Gadreel, then hurried to see for himself, uttering a shocked exclamation.
Gadreel spoke. Nina and the colonel turned as Zan translated. ‘
You have seen what our fortress can do. This is the power of qi – the power of the Nephilim. Now you will honour our agreement, and help me wake my people.’
Colonel Wu’s initial response was a mocking chuckle. He then gave his reply, which Zan dutifully relayed to Gadreel.
Nina sighed. ‘I don’t even speak Mandarin, and I know that was not a big helpful yes.’
‘Did you think I give this . . . caveman anything?’ sneered Wu.
‘Oddly enough, no. And I don’t think he did either.’ Gadreel’s expression was not outrage at the betrayal; rather, it was almost . . . expectant.
Wu didn’t notice. ‘It does not matter. Fortress is ours. It can fly? Good! He fly it to Cangliang. If he not do as I say, I have his people destroyed, one by one.’
Zan passed on his words. Gadreel’s face tightened. ‘I knew you would say that,’ the Chinese translated. ‘So I . . . prepared—’
Before Zan could finish, the giant brought his hands together – and snatched the wrapping from the hidden object.
The colonel saw the movement and shouted a furious command to the guards. Their guns came up—
Gadreel curled the first two fingers of his left hand around a piece of crystal inside an adamantium spiral. He aimed it at the soldiers – and pressed his thumb against an exposed facet.
The crystal glowed. A crackling ball of what looked to Nina like heat haze erupted from the strange object’s end—
Both soldiers exploded.
One instant they were there – the next they burst apart in a red mist. Only extremities remained intact – a forearm, a lower leg, the top of one man’s skull. Their rifles spun from the eruption of gore, the stock of one split and mangled as if a small bomb had detonated inside it.
Gadreel still held his weapon, but part of his hand was gone, his first two fingers and a chunk of the palm blown away. But even with his face twisted in agony, he rushed towards the grisly remains of the dead soldiers.
Nina stared in horror at the carnage – then fear and adrenalin took control, sending her diving behind the nearest altar. Her action snapped Colonel Wu out of his shock. He snatched for his holstered pistol—
The Nephilim scooped up the undamaged rifle with his right hand. It looked almost toy-like in his grip – but was still deadly. Gadreel jammed his forefinger’s tip into the trigger guard as he whipped around, a blaze of fire cutting down the two military technicians.
The colonel’s gun was only halfway clear. He threw himself behind another altar as Gadreel rounded on him. Bullets shrilled off metal in his wake. Then the gun ran dry, bolt clacking on an empty chamber. The Nephilim looked at the empty weapon in confusion.
Colonel Wu jumped up, automatic in hand—
Another shot struck his cover, forcing him back down.
Zan had recovered the damaged rifle, gingerly holding the blood-splattered weapon as if it were dripping in acid. The spy sent two more rounds at Wu’s cover.
The Nephilim dropped his useless rifle and shouted to Zan. The translator looked at him – and the colonel used his distraction to race for the nearest stairwell. Zan spun back, but hesitated, unable to fire on a live target.
Gadreel had no such qualms. He ran to the translator and snatched the rifle from him – but Wu had reached the stairs. He dived down them as bullets tore past.
The giant shouted in anger, then returned the gun to Zan, giving an order that Nina guessed was an instruction to guard the chamber. He came to her, putting down the damaged Nephilim artefact. A strained breath at the pain from his ruined hand, then he spoke. ‘You will help me if you want to stay alive,’ Zan translated.
She eyed Gadreel’s left hand. Blood dripped from the wound, as red as any human’s. ‘You’ll need help yourself if you don’t want to bleed to death.’
‘I will live. I will endure any pain for my people’s freedom.’ He looked towards the mausoleum’s entrance. ‘Bring the resurrection key. It is time to wake them!’
Cheng emerged nervously from the bunker, Eddie and Macy following. A Z-20 transport helicopter, an updated copy of the American Black Hawk, was taking aboard a hurriedly assembled squad of troops. A second aircraft was on its way from the main airbase to collect another group. The captain from the control centre climbed into the waiting chopper. The Z-20’s engines screamed to full power, and it hauled itself skywards, turning east.
Eddie watched it go, then regarded its approaching twin. ‘He didn’t see us. Think you can bullshit your way aboard this one?’
‘I’ll try my best,’ Cheng replied.
‘Daddy!’ exclaimed Macy. ‘You swore!’
Her father grinned. ‘Afraid you might hear a lot more rude words from me, love. I can only watch one thing at once, and if anything kicks off, it won’t be my mouth.’
The second helicopter landed. The assembled soldiers shielded their faces from the gritty wind, then hurried to it. ‘Come on,’ said Cheng, running after them.
Eddie and Macy followed. A junior officer counted the team into the cabin; he looked in surprise at the civilians, deep suspicion rising when he realised two were not Chinese. Cheng shouted an explanation over the idling engines. Eddie tensed. If the soldier knew that Dr Hui had been removed from her post, the only place they would be taken was a cell . . .
The man seemed unsure what to do – but the situation’s urgency, and the presence of the project director’s son, overcame his concerns. He pointed into the cabin. Cheng thanked him, then squeezed inside. Eddie and Macy went in after him, the lieutenant boarding and slamming the door.
With two gunners, ten soldiers and their gear already within, the cabin was a tight squeeze. Cheng took the last empty seat, holding his backpack on his thighs. The Englishman pushed his way up the central aisle and crammed himself into a corner behind the cockpit seats. There were no spare seat belts; the best he could do was wedge his feet against the seat frames and grasp a cargo strap. He used his free arm to hold Macy on his lap. ‘You okay?’ he asked her.
‘I don’t think this’ll be as nice as the flight to China,’ she replied, worried.
‘So long as we get there in one piece, that’s the main thing.’ The engines rose in volume. ‘And then we’ll see what trouble your mum’s caused this time!’
The Z-20 lumbered into the air, following the first aircraft towards the distant mountains.
Gadreel disconnected the cables and lifted the key from the altar, then led Nina to the mausoleum. Zan took up position at the top of the stairs to watch the throne room’s other entrances. ‘He wants you to open his wife’s sarcophagus,’ the translator told her. ‘There’s a hole, like the one in the altar – put in the resurrection key, then place your hand on it.’
‘Yeah, I know what to do,’ Nina replied. ‘I woke him, remember?’
‘Of course. Sorry.’ Zan nodded apologetically, then resumed his sentry duty. ‘I’ll translate if you need me.’
‘You might have to shout.’ Like everything about the new fortress, the crystalline chamber below was larger than its frozen counterpart. The glow from the translucent walls revealed at least fifty sarcophagi, four rings of ancient coffins standing like golden tombstones around a trio of more ornate examples at the room’s centre.
The most elaborate was empty. Gadreel went to one of its neighbours, gazing at the shadowy figure inside before moving on to the third. He indicated the recess at its foot, speaking loudly so Zan could hear. ‘My wife,’ the translator called back to Nina. ‘Wake her first.’
‘What about the poison gas?’ she asked. ‘I don’t see any gas masks in here!’
Zan passed on her concerns. ‘He says the gas will be . . . taken away when the sarcophagus opens. I didn’t understand all the words, but he’s not worried.’
‘I wish I had his confidence in something that hasn’t been used in a hundred and thirty thousand years.’ A sigh, then she
held out a hand. ‘Okay. Let’s get this party started.’
Gadreel didn’t need to understand English to recognise her mockery. He scowled, slapping the key down with more force than necessary. She set it in the recess, readied herself – then placed her palm upon it.
Even prepared for contact with the planet’s hidden energies, the sensation still came as a shock. A moment to recover and gather her thoughts, then she focused her temporary sixth sense upon what she felt around her.
Both Gadreel and Colonel Wu were right: the fortress was at a confluence point for earth energy. An almost overwhelming power flowed through it, irresistible as a tsunami. She fought to ride the current to the far smaller conjunction controlling the sarcophagus. There; her mind felt the flow of force around it, sensed the hint of consciousness within. There were many more nearby, waiting – pleading – to be awoken, but she kept her attention on the closest. Guide the lines, shape them the way she needed—
Done. She withdrew her hand, blinking in momentary confusion as reality inverted. Gadreel spoke as she retreated from the sarcophagus. ‘Did you wake her?’ Zan asked from the stairs.
‘Yeah, I did – and this thing’s about to open, so I’m standing well clear!’
The Nephilim, though, did not move. The crystal lid began to rise. Wisps of gas rolled out – but then a hollow moan came from beneath the coffin. The few vaporous coils that had escaped rolled slowly down to floor level, but the yellow miasma still inside the sarcophagus was drawn into its base. The tubes the mercenaries had broken in the iceberg were not to keep it filled with the gas, Nina realised; rather, to extract it safely before the sleeper awoke.
The crystal took on a turquoise tint. The lid rose higher, revealing the figure within. Another giant, though not so tall as Gadreel. A woman. The fine crystalline tendrils wrapping her body began to retreat, exposing bare pale skin. Nina felt a frisson of primal fear at the sight of her face. Though she had the same non-human features as her husband, she was beautiful – in the dangerous, predatory manner of a lioness or a bird of prey. Nina’s unease was compounded by the Nephilim’s hair. It was red, like hers – but of a shade no human had ever naturally worn, almost the colour of blood.
The Resurrection Key Page 32
