by Chris Ryan
Amber took the other pickaxe and helped Paulo make the hole bigger.
Li crawled in, then stuck her head back again to report what she’d found. ‘It’s fine. Not much damage.’
Miguel consulted the map. ‘OK, we go in there, then knock another hole through to the next room.’
The party squeezed through the opening and Miguel inspected the left-hand wall. ‘Paulo, make a hole about here.’
Paulo lined up the axe. ‘With pleasure.’ He took a couple of big swings and Amber helped him enlarge the hole.
Li went through first. ‘Clear,’ she called.
Amber followed. Alex handed her the night vision goggles and climbed through, awkwardly because of his injured hand. Paulo followed, then Felipe, then finally Miguel.
‘Hey, this is the kitchen,’ said Li. Her torch picked out a steel sink, taps and a draining board. ‘Anyone fancy a cup of tea?’
Miguel consulted the plans. ‘The next wall to take out is’ – he pointed – ‘there.’
Amber flashed the torch over. ‘You mean the one with the big hole in it?’ Sure enough, there was a big hole like the one they’d made in the other wall.
‘Felipe,’ she asked, ‘have you got a problem with rats here?’
Felipe was looking at the hole, tight lipped. ‘Human rats. Looters.’
Amber played her torch over the walls. ‘But how did they get in here? They didn’t come down the fire escape. There must be another way out.’
Li bent down to step through the hole, but Alex stopped her. ‘We’d better be careful. They might still be here. Take the goggles in case someone’s hiding.’
Li handed her torch to Alex, then put the goggles on and stepped carefully through the hole.
On the other side was a bigger room, like a garage. To her left was a mass of rubble. To her right was a carved stone stele like the ones in the entrance, partly wrapped for transit – but nothing warm and breathing.
‘All clear,’ she called back.
The others came out carefully.
‘Hey, Felipe,’ she said, ‘you’ve got one treasure left intact.’
Felipe put a hand on the stele and looked up into the beautiful stone face. ‘That’s on loan from Mexico City. I’m glad we don’t have to tell them we broke it.’
Amber’s voice called him back to reality. ‘Felipe?’
They all turned. Leaning against the outside wall was a ladder. It led to a long dark hole like a letter box, just below the ceiling. Outside, it must be at ground level.
Felipe looked up the ladder. ‘That was a window. We blocked it off for security reasons. Not that we ever thought anyone could get a stele out through it.’
Amber shone her torch on the ground. ‘Well, someone’s unblocked it.’ A couple of breeze blocks lay broken on the dusty floor. ‘Guys, we have to be very careful.’
Miguel was holding his torch over the plans. He spoke in a quiet voice. ‘Were we looking for the workshop? Because it’s there, where that pile of rubble is.’
The other torches converged on the wreckage. Pieces of ceiling, chunks of wall from the floor above, formed an impenetrable mountain.
Felipe walked towards it with heavy steps. ‘Jorges?’ he called. ‘Jorges?’
The whole room held its breath, waiting for a reply. There was nothing. Just the constant sound of sand and pebbles settling.
Paulo looked over Miguel’s shoulder at the plans. ‘Can we get any further round?’
‘No. The other walls are solid concrete. We can’t smash through them with what we’ve got.’
Paulo strode forward with his pickaxe. ‘Then we dig.’
Miguel set to with his crowbar. Felipe used the other pickaxe. The others took what they could find: Li seized an ancient axe; Amber found a long stick leaning up against the stele. It was covered with carvings but it was good when used like a cricket bat to whack lumps of concrete onto the floor. Alex pulled pieces of masonry away with his good hand.
Paulo dug the axe in and was suddenly thrown violently aside.
He rolled over and looked up. In the incomplete light from the torches, he saw something he didn’t want to see.
Debris was trembling down the heap like it was alive.
Paulo picked himself up. ‘Get out,’ he yelled. ‘It’s coming down!’
He raced towards the ladder, the others hard on his heels. Lumps of masonry tumbled after them as they climbed to the hole. In moments they were outside on the grass.
‘What happened?’ said Amber.
‘I don’t know,’ said Paulo. ‘I must have hit something unstable.’ Behind him, Miguel and Felipe gasped, getting their breath back.
Li looked through the window using the goggles. The debris was still falling, spreading the pile across the floor like a cold lava flow. It now blocked the hole they’d cut in the wall. ‘This is weird,’ she said.
She handed Alex the goggles. ‘Here, you have a look.’
Alex saw Paulo’s pickaxe sticking up. Under it, something was moving, jerking like a big animal trying to surface. What was it? Then he had an idea.
‘Felipe, how is that animatronic dinosaur powered? Is it mains or battery?’
‘Battery. Why?’
‘I think it’s come to life. Paulo, look at where your axe is.’
Paulo took the goggles. There was his axe, the handle at forty-five degrees, like a fence post trying to remain upright after a rock fall. And there was an object about three metres long like the tail of a swimming shark. It jerked fitfully and whacked against a square concrete pillar, sending lumps of masonry tumbling. Further up the pile, the jagged pieces of broken wall and ceiling were rocking dangerously.
‘My axe must have completed a circuit. It’s turned the dinosaur on.’
Miguel was shining his torch in. ‘It’s destabilizing the entire thing. See that pillar it’s hitting? That’s holding up what’s left of the upper floor.’
Paulo knew what that meant. He gave Li the goggles and turned to climb back in. ‘I’ve got to stop it or it’ll bring down everything.’
‘Do you think you should go back in?’ said Felipe. But Paulo was already shinning down the ladder. Li, Amber and Alex watched him nervously.
He reached the ground. The end of the tail was five metres away. The pickaxe had gone in high up, around where it met the hind legs. He crept closer and his torch picked out the row of plates along where the top of the spine would be. Some child part of his brain thrilled – it was a stegosaurus! Then something hit him hard and slammed him into the pillar.
Paulo stayed there for a moment, winded. It was like being knocked down by a car.
Li’s voice called out. ‘Are you OK, Paulo?’
Paulo gasped a couple of times and finally got his lungs working. ‘It’s really heavy.’
He heard Felipe. ‘Of course it is. It’s a model of a very big animal.’
Li’s voice rang out. ‘Watch out!’
Paulo looked behind him. A vicious spiked thing was hurtling towards him. He dived out of the way. It whistled past him, dug into the pillar, then flicked away, leaving a sprinkling of concrete dust. Of course. The stegosaurus had four vicious spikes on its tail. It lashed upwards and Paulo saw ragged masonry tumbling towards him like huge boulders. He pressed himself flat against the pillar, eyes closed. The tail thundered past, missing him by centimetres. If he didn’t get that axe out and break the circuit, he’d be buried.
He heard one of the others shout from the window. But it was too late – he screwed up his courage.
He lined up the torch on the axe handle and ran for it. The tail came searing towards him again. His boots scrabbled on the loose rubble and he leaped forwards. As he landed, one of the sharp fibreglass plates along the stegosaurus’s spine dug into his chest. But he had to get the job done. He pulled the pickaxe handle.
Just as suddenly as it had started, the monster was still.
Paulo took a breath, seeing if his lungs would inflate. Not too bad. No blood
. Amazingly, nothing seemed to be broken.
Li was picking her way towards him, wearing the night vision goggles.
Paulo’s face was grinning with delight. ‘Hey, frog-woman,’ he said, ‘I fought a stegosaurus.’
But Li had seen something else. A small glowing glove, rising like Excalibur from the greyish rubble. ‘Hey,’ she called, ‘we’ve got a survivor!’
Felipe stuck his head through the window. ‘Jorges?’ he called out.
A shrill voice replied, ‘Daddy!’
In moments the group were back down the ladder. Li was already digging, pulling away masonry from where she had seen Jorges’s arm. As the others reached her she looked in the hole and saw a face, a miniature Felipe, glowing about half a metre down. His eyes and mouth were wide, white-hot pools of wonder.
‘He’s all right,’ she gasped. ‘He’s all right. Let’s dig.’
Six pairs of hands began to pull debris away. In no time, they had widened the hole. Li reached in and hauled the little boy out.
Felipe hugged him hard, like he would never let go of him again.
The others shone torches into the hole. It was deep; reaching beyond the floor and into the foundations of the basement. Shattered fibreglass and wires mingled with the masonry; the remains of the stegosaurus.
‘Paulo,’ said Miguel, ‘if you hadn’t stuck the pickaxe in the dinosaur tail I don’t think we’d have been able to move all this.’
Felipe lowered Jorges. ‘Come on, Jorges. Your sister’s waiting.’
But as Felipe tried to lead him away he dug his feet in, refusing to move. ‘There’s somebody in there.’
Li, Paulo, Alex and Amber responded as one: ‘In where?’
Jorges pointed back to the wall of rubble. ‘In there. He was talking.’
Amber clambered over the masonry. The ceiling debris had fallen away to reveal broken pieces of dinosaur bone, snapped remains of steel cable. ‘This is the T. rex!’ she shouted. ‘The last bit we couldn’t get to.’
Paulo and Li began to climb after her. ‘Careful, Amber,’ called Li. ‘That doesn’t look very stable.’
‘Amber!’ shrilled Jorges. ‘He said your name.’
‘When?’
Jorges shrugged. ‘A while ago.’
Amber yelled at the jagged mass of bones. ‘Hex! Hex! Are you in there?’ She turned round. ‘Who’s got the goggles?’
‘Me. I’m looking now.’ Alex was wearing them, scanning the wreckage. Was there the slightest trace of body heat?
Three glowing faces looked at him, the question in their eyes. Are we too late?
24 HEX
‘Come on, Alex,’ said Amber.
Alex stared hard. There was no obvious glowing figure like there had been with Jorges, but was that just the faintest wisp of luminance from a person breathing?
It was the only possible clue. He pointed. ‘Start digging there.’
Alex kept the goggles on as they pulled the pieces of concrete aside. His three friends were exhausted but they worked like maniacs. Alex watched their glowing figures become brighter and hotter as their bodies went into top gear. Li levered debris away with her bare hands. Paulo and Amber pickaxed the rubble with a vigour that bordered on fury. But he saw no new glow.
Amber pulled aside a large piece of masonry. It cut her and the blood oozed bright white on her hand, but she took no notice.
The wisp of breath became suddenly bright like a flame.
‘He’s there!’ cried Alex, pointing.
Amber levered a chunk of concrete aside and heard a voice.
‘Hey, watch where you’re putting that pickaxe.’
She flung the axe down and pulled the masonry away with her hands. As it came away it released a strong smell of stale air and sweat.
Hex’s face and hair were caked in dust, as though he had been made up to look like a statue. ‘Hi,’ he grinned. But his eyes behind the smile were hollow and exhausted.
Li peered forwards. The smell hit her nostrils. ‘Phew, smells like a Turkish wrestler’s armpit in here.’
‘Well,’ said Hex weakly, ‘I have been trying to exercise to keep up my morale.’
Paulo’s face was the next that Hex saw. The curly hair and easy smile were the same as ever. ‘Hey, amigo, what took you so long?’
Shakily Hex got to his feet. It felt weird to stand up; as if he had been permanently moulded into one position, like a doll. It felt unreal. In a minute he’d wake up and he’d be in that airless dark hole again.
Behind Paulo was Alex, still wearing the sling, holding the night vision goggles in his good hand. ‘Hey, man, how are you doing?’
‘I hope you’ve been taking care of our toy,’ said Hex. He was working on autopilot, talking to people but not really feeling like he was there.
‘Is anyone else in there?’ Li was peering into the hole. ‘Oh,’ she said. ‘Paulo?’ she called.
Hex watched as Paulo climbed past him and into the hole. He found himself talking again. ‘She died. There was nothing I could do.’ Even that seemed unreal. Surely he’d wake up in a minute.
Paulo pushed some masonry away to make the hole bigger. ‘We’d better get her out.’
Li squirmed into the hole. ‘No, Paulo,’ Hex heard her say in a low voice. ‘Jorges might see.’ After so long hearing nothing, even the slightest whisper sounded loud. And everyone was so efficient, doing everything so briskly. Hex felt like he was moving in slow motion.
‘She’s stiff anyway,’ said Paulo. ‘Been dead for a few hours.’ He looked at Hex. ‘Are you OK?’
Hex nodded. That felt like autopilot too.
Amber was looking into the hole. ‘That’s quite a small space you were in.’ She looked at the body. ‘Who was she?’
‘A researcher.’ Hex didn’t want to talk about it. Amber had a cut on her forehead. Hex kept wanting to look at that instead of her eyes.
Amber nudged him. ‘I see you kept yourself busy.’
Hex realized his palmtop was still glowing in his hand. There was a text file open on it; the letter he had been writing. Swiftly, he pressed a key and deleted it.
Amber peered over his shoulder. ‘What’s that?’
‘I’m just saving my game,’ said Hex. He closed the palmtop and tucked it away in his belt pack.
In the growing light he could see into the hole. He looked at the body he’d spent so long with. The lolling head. The short dark hair. At least he’d closed her eyes.
‘We’ll come back for her later,’ said Paulo. ‘Let’s get the others out first.’
Hex followed them to a ladder by a window. There was a big man he didn’t recognize and Felipe, the curator, with a mini-Felipe caked with dust like he was. They must have just rescued him.
‘Hi, Hex,’ said Felipe. ‘Good to see you out and about.’
‘I’ve had a good rest while all my mates have been running around,’ smiled Hex. It was easier to make jokes with strangers.
Felipe sent Jorges up the ladder first, then went up behind him. The sky was getting lighter.
Miguel watched Felipe exit safely and signalled to Amber and Li to go up ahead of him. ‘Ladies first.’
‘No,’ said Amber. ‘You first. You’re nearer.’
He was about to object, and not just out of chivalry: it was ingrained as part of his training – get the civilians out first. But he had to hand it to these kids, they seemed as professional as the slickest firefighting team he had worked with. Even the guy who’d been buried all that time – he looked a bit punch drunk, but he was in control and staying with the others, looking for what needed to be done next. Miguel gave Amber a small salute, and gladly climbed the ladder ahead of her.
He disappeared through the window at the top and Alpha Force were alone. Alone – and complete. For a moment, they all looked at each other, seeing four faces – the four people they were closest to in the entire world. No gaps, no one missing. The fatigue of the night was catching up with them. No one could move. No one felt like
moving. Outside they heard the first sounds of the dawn chorus.
It was Amber who broke the silence. ‘Er – are we going to leave or have a group hug?’
A sound behind them in the gloom shocked them out of immobility. ‘Hold it right there.’
The five friends turned. Two figures were approaching them. One of them held a big torch, which threw the area around them into darkness.
They torch came closer, like a searchlight.
‘Were you in the quake?’ said Alex. ‘We’ve been looking for survivors.’
The men laughed. Paulo caught a glimpse of something metal and shiny reflecting off their torch. A gun.
It was the looters. And they were armed.
Alpha Force knew when to play it safe. They’d been heroic enough for one day. Human life was more important than a few treasures, however old. Slowly, they put up their hands.
The men came closer. ‘Stand aside.’
Paulo shrugged. ‘Sure.’ He stepped away from the ladder.
The others followed.
‘Put down your weapons.’
Weapons? Paulo was still carrying a pickaxe. He put it down. Li lowered the night vision goggles to the ground.
The light from the window was growing, lighting the plaster and dust that rose like mist inside the room. The two men approached. One was well built, with broad shoulders and an aggressive attitude like a boxer. He had something in his hand; something wrapped in a sack. The other man was thinner and wiry and held the gun nervously.
When the light allowed them to get a proper look, Alpha Force silently committed details of their appearance to memory. It was habit, as natural as breathing. You never knew if it might be useful.
The boxer shone the light on Alex’s sling. He moved it to Amber’s face, then Li’s. ‘It’s them,’ he said. ‘A black girl, a Chinese, an injured guy. They found the tomb robber in the jungle and took him to the police.’
Alex tried to put all his weariness into his voice. ‘You just go. We don’t care who you are or what you’re doing. We’ve had a long night. We just want to get out and have a long bath.’ And he meant it.
‘Do them,’ said the boxer.
Alex, Paulo, Li, Hex and Amber caught something in his voice. They knew when someone was bluffing – and he wasn’t. In all this chaos it would be easy to get away with killing them. Even though it would be obvious that they weren’t casualties of the quake, the looters would have no trouble escaping.
