The Cult of Osiris

by Andy McDermott

  'Because he's a psychopath? If his plan works, millions of people will die!'

  Khaleel shrugged. 'We are always being warned of the dangers of overpopulation these days.'

  The group came to a stop. After making their way back up through the pyramid, traversing the pit left by the Lady of Rainstorms on a rope attached to the ceiling by spring-loaded climbing cams, they had reached the top of the enormous vertical shaft. 'What're we going to do?' Macy whispered with growing panic to Nina. 'We're almost at the surface, and - and they're going to kill us!'

  'They're not going to kill us,' said Nina. 'We'll get out of this.' But despite her defiant words, she felt as frightened as Macy inside. They were unarmed, outnumbered . . . and out of options. She looked back to Eddie, hoping to see some hint on his face that he had thought of a plan. But his expression was nothing but grim

  Everyone bunched up at the bottleneck. The trooper bearing the case, Hashem, was first on to the stone bridge. 'Come on, hurry up,' Shaban growled. Kralj gave him an uncertain look, then followed a few steps behind. Diamondback jabbed his gun at Nina and Macy. They hesitantly stepped on to the narrow crossing, the chain rattling with the extra weight. More troopers went after them

  About to step on to the bridge, Eddie stared at the chain - then his gaze snapped down to the cogwheel beside the beam

  And the piece of stone wedged beneath it.

  'Nina/ he called, remember when we came in?' She looked back at him, as did Macy. 'There's gonna be a whole lotta shakin' going on.'

  Her eyes widened. 'Macy, grab on!' she cried—

  Eddie kicked away the stone.

  Freed at last, the weight of the large cylindrical block pulled the chain through the pulley -and turned the cogwheels.

  Nina and Macy wrapped their arms round the bridge as the cogs' teeth bashed at the protrusions on each side of the stone beam, making it jolt violently. Hashem, furthest from the pounding wheel, staggered, then dropped his gun and dived for the far ledge. He caught the edge, scrabbling for grip.

  Kralj was not so lucky. Caught completely off guard, he plunged down the shaft with a terrified, echoing scream. Behind Macy, two troopers were thrown into the void, a third man desperately trying to hang on before he too disappeared into the darkness below.

  The last man on the bridge managed to throw himself backwards, colliding with Eddie and Diamondback and sending the remainder of the group tumbling down the sloping passage. Eddie shoved the man off him and kicked Diamondback in the stomach. Nina!' he yelled as he jumped up. 'Get across, get out!

  She was already edging forwards, Macy following. 'What about you?' Nina shouted back. 'Come on!'

  But his end of the bridge was rocking too forcefully for him to get on. Instead, he slammed a boot into the cultist's stomach and looked for his gun. The MP7 had landed near the edge of the ledge. He lunged for it—

  Diamondback's revolver boomed. The American's shot was wild - but it was close enough. The bullet ripped a fingertip-sized chunk of flesh out of Eddie's muscular forearm. He roared in pain and clutched the wound, any thought of grabbing the gun forgotten as he wavered on the edge.

  Eddie!' Nina screamed.

  'Get out of here!' he shouted. 'Get the jar!'

  She looked round, and saw Hashem clinging to the ledge a few feet away. The case was still on his back. She scrambled to solid ground and stood before the trooper. He had managed to pull his shoulders above the shaft's lip, but with the bulky case affecting his centre of gravity he was having trouble finding enough purchase to climb higher.

  Gimme the case and I'll pull you up!' Nina cried. She reached for the container, finding it was firmly attached to his equipment webbing. Thinking he wouldn't be so dumb as to fight her from his precarious position, she pulled at it—

  He grabbed her ankle.

  You gotta be kidding me!' she said.

  He leered up at her and gripped her ankle with his other hand, getting enough leverage to twist her leg out from under her. She stumbled, landing on her backside. He clamped one hand round her calf.

  Macy reached the end of the bridge and jumped up to kick at his arms. 'Let her go!'

  No, get the case!' Nina said. She drew back her other foot, her eyes meeting the cultist's. Don't make me do this.'

  His only reply was a look of angry determination as he hauled himself higher, fingers digging painfully into her leg.

  Her expression hardened. 'Your choice.'

  She smashed her boot into his face. Hashem's head snapped back, and his hands slipped down her leg - then closed vice-like round her ankle once more, his weight pulling her towards the edge.

  Macy grabbed the case, but couldn't get it free of the webbing. She yanked at the straps, trying to release them.

  Nina kicked again, the crack as his nose broke loud enough to be heard even over the booby-trap's pounding. 'Get!' she yelled, punctuating each word with another strike. Off!

  Me! You! Asshole!'

  Even through his pain, Hashem clung with the strength of the fanatical. He kept wrenching at Nina's leg, every tug bringing her closer to the vertiginous shaft.

  Another kick, and one hand slipped free - only for him to reach to the webbing on his chest and pull a knife from a sheath, preparing to stab the blade into Nina's leg—

  She kicked him again.

  Not in the face, but on his other hand.

  The pain as her boot heel hit her shin was intense - but it was nothing compared to the snap of a broken finger. The knife clanged to the floor as the cultist finally screamed, whipping away as gravity pulled him over the edge . . . just as Macy released the clip securing the webbing. He slipped through the harness and vanished into the void, shrieking all the way down.

  Macy fell on her butt, dropping the case at the edge of the shaft. Heart racing, Nina looked across the bucking bridge. Diamondback held the wounded Eddie at gunpoint as the rest of the group struggled upright.

  Shaban would use Eddie as a hostage, she knew, forcing her to surrender the canopic jar in exchange for his life . . . then kill him anyway. The same would happen if she kicked the case into the shaft.

  There was only one possible choice she could make. It was the same choice Eddie had made in a similar situation not long after they first met, only with the players reversed. If she wanted to save him . . .

  She had to abandon him.

  Leaping to her feet, she grabbed the fallen knife and yanked the case off the floor by its harness straps. 'We gotta go!'

  Macy stared at her in shock. But Eddie—'

  Run!' Clutching the case, she sprinted into the passage. Macy gave Eddie a desperate look - then ran after Nina at the sight of guns coming up. Bullets blasted chunks out of the stonework behind her.

  Shaban was red with rage. 'Kill them! Kill them!' he screamed, grabbing an MP7 from one of his men to unleash the remainder of the magazine himself. But the women were gone. With an incoherent scream of pure fury, he hurled the weapon to the floor so hard that its plastic handgrip cover shattered. Fists balled, he looked up and saw Eddie.

  For a moment, the Englishman thought he was going to throw him off the ledge personally, before some semblance of self-control returned. Shoot him!' Shaban ordered. Diamondback grinned.

  Sebak, wait!' shouted Khaleel. Diamondback hesitated at the officer's bark of authority as Shaban whipped round to glare at his unexpected challenger. 'You can use him to bargain for the jar. She won't destroy it as long as she thinks she can get him back.'

  Shaban took several long, deep breaths, still shaking with volcanic anger. You're right,' he finally said. Thank you for stopping me, my friend.'

  I always had your best interests in mind. And mine, of course,' he added with a small smile.

  So we're not gonna kill him?' Diamondback sounded disappointed. Of course we are,' Shaban growled. 'When we have the jar.'

  I'll live to be a hundred, then,' said Eddie, holding his wounded arm. You'll never catch her. She'll get back to Abydos, tell the Egypt
ian government what's happened . . . and then you, mate, will be fucked.'

  I don't think so.' The faintest hint of amusement creased Shaban's scarred face as the chain finallyjolted to a stop. The remaining troopers rushed across the bridge. 'You don't know how we got here, do you?'

  What the hell is thaf?' Macy gasped as she and Nina climbed a ladder out of the pyramid and ran to the Land Rover, squinting in the brightness of the desert sun.

  Bad news.' About a hundred yards away was an enormous military hovercraft, its forward landing ramp lowered and gaping like a huge dull-witted mouth. Khaleel had provided Shaban with more than moral support. But if we can get to the canyon, there's no way it'll be able to follow us.' Nina climbed behind the wheel and put the case on the centre seat, shoving the knife back into the sheath on the harness.

  Macy got in the other side. But what about Eddie?' she protested as Nina started the engine. 'They'll kill him - they might have killed him already!'

  She backed away from the ruin, turning east. 'As long as they think they can use him to get the jar back, they'll keep him alive.

  And how long will they keep thinking that?'

  Hopefully longer than it takes me to figure out how to rescue him!

  Less than happy with the answer, Macy checked the case for damage, then wrapped a seat belt round it to hold it in place. 'Holy crap!' she squeaked, seeing what else was attached to the webbing. There are two hand grenades on this thing!

  Leave them alone,' Nina cautioned.

  But they're jiggling about and banging against each other! What if they blow up?'

  They'll be fine as long as you don't pull out the pins.' She half smiled, remembering a time when Eddie had given her a similar lesson, then focused her attention on the empty plain ahead.

  Shaban's team exited the pyramid to find the Zubr's pilot waiting. The man hastily explained the situation to Khaleel in Arabic before pointing eastwards. Eddie saw a dust trail heading into the shimmering distance. Told you you wouldn't catch her.'

  My hovercraft can do forty knots over any terrain,' Khaleel told him smugly, nodding towards the giant vehicle. Can your truck do that?'

  'Maybe not, but can yours fit down a twenty-foot-wide ravine?'

  It won't need to,' Diamondback drawled. 'We got some other toys.'

  Shaban gave an order, and the troopers raced for the Zubr. 'We can still catch her,' he told the others, gesturing for them to follow. A cruel, crooked smile for Eddie. Til moke sure you have a good view/

  They started towards the hovercraft, Diamondback prodding Eddie along with his revolver. They were about three-quarters of the way there when the roar of engines echoed from inside it. A pair of small vehicles exploded from the Zubr's hold and flew down the ramp, landing in a spray of sand and snarling off in pursuit of the Land Rover. Eddie recognised them as Light Strike Vehicles - militarised dune buggies, little more than an open frame with four wheels, a powerful engine . . . and a machine gun, mounted on a turret above the driver. They weren't attractive, or comfortable - but there was one thing he knew they definitely were, even over desert sand: fast.

  Much faster than the Defender.

  The chase begins,' Shaban proclaimed. He gave Eddie another nasty smile. A shame it won't be a long one.'

  They ascended the ramp. The Zubr's hold was stark and utterly utilitarian, a metal box cavernous enough to accommodate three battle tanks or over three hundred fully equipped soldiers. At the moment, it was home to several dirty yellow excavators and earthmovers, as well as another dune buggy and pallets of equipment and supplies for desert operations. Eddie guessed the Osirian Temple had expected to do a lot more digging to find the pyramid.

  Khaleel went to a control panel and called the bridge on a telephone handset. He issued a command. A few seconds later, a rising turbine whine echoed through the space as the Zubr's main engines started, followed by louder buzzing rasps from the four massive lift fans behind the hold's long bulkheads. The vessel wallowed as air was pumped into the skirt, lifting the hulking vehicle off the ground amidst a swirling cloud of sand.

  Khaleel operated a control to raise the ramp. Hydraulics skirled, the metal wedge slamming shut with a reverberating bang. The wind died away, but if anything the noise became louder as the engines came to full power.

  Diamondback scaled the ladder in the hold's centre, and waited for Eddie to follow him up to the cramped superstructure. At the top, the American shoved him against a wall, pulling his arms behind his back. Eddie grunted at the pain from the bullet wound.

  Shoulda done this in the pyramid,' Diamondback drawled as he fastened his wrists together with a plastic zip-tie. You'd have had a hard time gettin' across that rope over the pit, but I woulda loved to watch you try.

  He pushed him towards a door. Eddie surreptitiously tested his restraints. They were too tight for him to slip loose, the plastic teeth digging into his skin. He needed to find another way to get free.

  If there was one.

  Uh-oh,' said Macy, looking through the Land Rover's rear window. Dune buggy attack!'

  Nina checked the mirror and saw two black shapes pounding through the desert after them. It only took a moment to see that they were gaining. Fast. She searched ahead for anything that might help. The desolate plain was devoid of anything but rippling sand dunes, the ravine still miles distant.

  She glanced at the equipment webbing on the case. A knife and two grenades. Eddie could probably have MacGyvered some ingenious weapon out of them, but since she doubted the

  pursuing drivers would let her get within stabbing range, she was just left with throwing the grenades. And if they saw her doing so, to escape they only had to turn away . . .

  The idea that came to her was so simple it seemed almost ridiculous. But it was their only hope.

  If she could pull it off.

  She scanned the desert again, more urgently. She needed a big enough dune—

  Macy shrieked and ducked as a line of bullet impacts raked across the sand, kicking up dusty little geysers as they homed in on the Land Rover. Nina slid low in her seat, turning the wheel - but not quickly enough. The rear window shattered and holes ripped open in the Defender's aluminium sides.

  Another crackle of gunfire as the second gunner joined in. Burning orange lines of tracer fire streaked past as Nina changed direction again. She knew she couldn't stay out of their sights for long—

  More metal shredded as another burst of bullets stabbed through the bodywork. The windscreen cracked, the window beside Nina blowing out as a tracer round seared through the cabin. A couple of inches lower and it would have hit her in the head.

  She spun the wheel, the Land Rover almost tipping over as it slewed through the sand. A pair of holes exploded in the back of the centre seat just above the case. Macy screamed.

  Nina straightened out, the LSVs turning to follow. She looked ahead. There was a dune, a long, languid zigzag with an angular wind-carved ridge running along it. Perfect - if they could reach it. . .

  Mirror. One of the buggies was about two hundred yards directly behind, following their tracks. 'Take the wheel!' Nina shouted.

  Macy stared in disbelief. What?'

  Take over, drive!' She gestured for her to slide across.

  Macy did so. 'What are you doing?'

  Ninajammed her left foot on the accelerator and hoisted herself up to climb over Macy. She saw in the mirror that the nearer LSV was accelerating, closing the gap to get an unmissable shot. The other buggy stopped firing so as not to hit its comrade. Just put your foot on the gas and grab the wheel,' she said. Macy complied, awkwardly squeezing under her. Tve got an idea!

  In the Zubr's weapons room, Eddie looked over the weapons officer's shoulder to watch the chase playing out on the monitor screens.

  A chase that was almost over. The Zubr's fire control computers displayed the range, bearing and speed of all three vehicles beside the cursors tracking them, and the distance in metres of the lead LSV was rapidly catching up t
o that of Nina's Land Rover.

  Shaban, beside him, banged a fist on a console as the lead buggy fired again. 'The driver!' he shouted at the weapons officer. Tell them to aim for the driver! We can't risk hitting the jar!'

  The seated man relayed the order. Is the box bulletproof?' Hamdi asked nervously.

  Against a handgun bullet, it should be,' Khaleel told him. A machine gun ... I don't know.'

  You'll have to check it when we recover it, Hamdi,' said Shaban. A dismissive glance at Berkeley. 'Dr Berkeley's hands are too shaky, I think.'

  Eddie looked at Berkeley, who was in a corner, pale and sickened. 'Having second thoughts, are you?' he said coldly. Not such a laugh when it's someone you know who's getting shot at. Still, hey, least you're getting paid!'

  Keep your mouth shut,' said Diamondback, shoving him against a console.

  On the screen, the Land Rover drove up o dune, the LSV closing with the gunner taking careful aim . . .

  Nina climbed into the back of the Land Rover, taking one of the grenades with her. Go straight!' she ordered Macy as she scrambled to the rear door. 'Tell me just before we reach the top/

  What are you doing?' Macy demanded, looking back - and seeing the buggy quickly gaining as the Defender slowed on the incline. She planted both feet on the accelerator.

  Just tell me!' Nina peered through the broken rear window. The first LSV was still roaring along in their tracks, less than three hundred feet behind, two fifty . . .

  She gripped the door handle for support, her other thumb through the ring attached to the grenade's pin. Come on, come on,' she said, watching the dune buggy close the gap. It was near enough for her to make out the driver's and gunner's faces, leering expectantly as they prepared for the kill. Come on—'

  We're at the top!' Macy cried.

  Nina jerked her thumb, pulling out the pin - and the spring-loaded spoon popped off the grenade, arming its fuse.