by Alex Archer
“Roux!” Annja shouted above the noise of the conflagration and sporadic gun battles.
Reloading, Roux looked up at her.
Annja pointed at the statue of Michalis. “‘Death will come to any who trespass and do not come in peace!’ The olive tree. Use the—”
Bullets suddenly spanged off the railing and ricocheted off the wall behind Annja. She dove for cover, spotting Melina Andrianou closing in on Roux.
* * *
MELINA CURSED HER impulsiveness. She’d spoiled her shot at Annja Creed. The woman had been perfectly framed in the hellish light from the liquid fire that now filled the chamber. Melina reloaded her weapon as she stood behind what she believed was a model of the Parthenon. She didn’t know what Annja Creed had been yelling, but the old man obviously figured it out.
Roux sprinted from the ship to the olive tree and shouted at his companion, “Garin!”
Swinging around the Parthenon, Melina steadied her weapon, then had to duck back as bullets from Garin Braden’s machine pistol chopped into the building’s columns, tearing some of them out and driving her farther into hiding.
Making her way back to the other end of the Parthenon, Melina felt the heat from the nearby trickle of liquid fire that was thickening even as she spotted it.
Roux grabbed branches on the clockwork olive tree and finally succeeded in pulling one off. He sprinted back toward the clockwork Michalis with the branch in hand.
Melina fired a short burst at the old man, but he dodged and weaved behind other clockworks, then Garin fired at her again, driving her back. Guessing what Roux planned to do, Melina popped out again, aiming this time at the clockwork Michalis’s right hand and arm.
Her bullets hammered into the clockwork’s limb and tore it away, scattering gears and pieces all around it, leaving a truncated frame at the shoulder. Her weapon cycled dry and she ducked back down as Garin targeted her again. She swapped out magazines as more bullets chopped into the Parthenon. The heat of the approaching liquid fire baked into her sweating face, but she didn’t care.
You can’t offer a laurel branch to a clockwork Michalis when he’s got no limbs, old man. We’re all going to die down here.
* * *
DESPAIR TORE THROUGH Annja as she surveyed the broken Michalis. She didn’t know what would have happened if Roux had succeeded in placing the olive branch in the clockwork’s hand, whether it would have stopped the destruction or merely opened an escape route. Now there was no way she’d ever know.
And Roux and Garin were trapped down there, waiting to die by liquid fire if Melina and her hired killers didn’t get them first.
Annja shifted her gaze to the entrance coming up again. A door had locked down into place there. She hadn’t seen it before because of the shadows, but she saw it now.
Releasing her sword, watching as the doorway cycled toward her, Annja stepped off onto the stone ledge in front of the metallic barrier. Bullets chopped into the stone wall beside her as she tried to examine the door. She hunkered down, studying it, then spotted the bull’s head keyhole.
There’s a way out. The knowledge gave her hope.
Taking the pack from her weight belt, she dug through the contents but couldn’t find the key. Then she remembered that Roux had used it last when he’d opened the box that had contained the clockwork spider.
No!
In the middle of the extra magazines for the MP5 she no longer had, she found a block of C-4. The plastic explosive had the same overall shape as one of the extra magazines. It also had a half dozen timers already affixed to it.
Turning back to the metallic door, Annja pushed the plastic explosive into place along the bottom of it. Maybe Michalis had planned for rams and pry bars and maybe even sapper teams that would dig under the door, but he’d never seen anything like C-4.
Since there were six timers along the plastic explosive’s length, Annja judged that the amount was considerable. Obviously Garin’s men had intended to cut off chunks and use them as needed. She decided to use it all because there wouldn’t be time to use it again later, and if she tried to parse it out, she might not have any effect on the stone and the door.
She pushed that thought out of her mind and set the timer for four seconds, to give her enough time to get away. After activating the timer, she stepped back onto the revolving observation deck and sprinted along it as bullets traced the stone wall and metal floor.
The explosion filled the cavern with thunder and a cloud of smoke that rolled out over the workshop floor like a massive wall of gray-white fog limned in gold by the liquid fire. Vibrations ran through the spinning observation deck, making it wobble and grate against the channels. It slowed and finally ground to a halt.
Reversing directions, Annja ran back toward the door, feeling the observation deck shiver beneath her. When she saw the door still in place, she wanted to yell her frustration. Only thoughts of Roux and Garin dying in the next few minutes prevented that.
Then she spotted the pile of rocks that had fallen from where the ledge had been. The door might not have been blown away, but it had been bowed upward and the stone beneath it had been blasted away.
There was a chance.
Not giving herself much time to think, Annja leaped for the broken area under the door. She knew that if she missed, she’d drop down to the stones below, but not have enough reach to scramble back up.
She slammed into the stone wall but couldn’t find purchase. Sliding, she dug her toes into the side, stretched to feel a ledge above her, then leaped again.
36
Her fingers of one hand caught the ledge. She grabbed hold with her other hand, dug in with her joggers and leveraged herself up. There was enough room under the door to allow even Garin to pass.
Lying on her stomach, her head and shoulders thrust under the door, Annja yelled for Roux and Garin. “Over here!” Enough bare areas and rocks and clockwork remained that she thought they could make it. She waved to make sure they had seen her, but that attracted an instant hail of bullets.
Garin stood and shot the man who had fired at her, then turned and sprinted after Roux, who displayed the grace and speed of a mountain goat as he scrambled across the littered path.
Jamming her body against the door and using her left arm to brace herself, Annja reached her right arm down and hoped that Roux could make the leap when he reached the rocks.
He leaped, their fingertips brushed and he fell back down. Behind him, Garin caught Roux around the waist and hoisted him up. Annja grabbed his hand and pulled, yanking him up onto the ledge with her. Then she turned back to Garin and hoped she was strong enough to lift him.
He leaped and wrapped his large hand around her wrist. He was solid, heavy, and the position was awkward. Annja’s whole body shook with the effort of lifting him, and she saw bullets peppering the walls and pile of stones around him.
Then he was high enough to grab the ledge with his other hand and hold his own weight. Roux reached down and caught Garin under an arm and hauled. A few seconds later, Garin lay sprawled on the stone floor.
Annja forced herself up. “Get moving. Melina and her people are going to be after us.”
Garin reloaded his MP5 and grinned. “You can go ahead. I’ll stay here and make certain they don’t get out.”
A tremor shuddered through the island. Rock split off from the ceiling and tumbled around them. A few of the larger chunks thudded into Annja like hammer blows.
Roux balanced himself against the wall. “Apparently Michalis didn’t just booby-trap his workshop. That liquid gushing into the cavern is feeding into something explosive through that hole in the floor.”
The cavern shivered again, more explosively this time. Freed from its hidden hinges, the metallic door dropped with a hollow sound onto the rocks and fire below. A second
later, a grenade slammed into the stone wall just a few feet from the ledge. Most of the explosion remained in the cavern, but some of the concussive blast washed over Annja, Roux and Garin.
Garin cursed as he fell back from the entrance. “I forgot they had those. Staying here isn’t an option.”
Annja led the way back to the ledge where they’d left their dive gear. Hurriedly, she pulled her tanks and swim fins and scuba helmet on, keeping an eye on the doorway in the wall, which had split. Once the regulator was switched on and air flooded her face mask, she headed toward the water.
The cavern rolled once more and she felt the power of the earthquake getting stronger. She tried not to think of everything that was being lost and concentrated instead on surviving. When she reached the water, she dove in and started swimming back the way they had come.
It wasn’t until she was in the underwater passageway that she remembered the spikes that had shot out of the walls. She hoped that none of them blocked their way.
Or sprung free while they were swimming.
* * *
“COME ON. THEY’RE getting away.” Melina waved on the five surviving members of her assault team. Her men were already in motion, streaking for the entrance because their lives depended on it.
The liquid fire covered the floor now and showed no indications of slowing down. Islands of rock, debris and clockwork provided an archipelago to safety. As she ran, the man in front of her slipped and fell from one of the overturned clockworks into the molten mixture. He died without a sound and melted into the fire as his clothing and hair caught on fire.
Choosing another path, Melina tried to estimate how far ahead Roux had gotten. His lead couldn’t be much. She redoubled her efforts to catch him, sprinting up the metallic door canted at an angle to the ledge above, and throwing herself at it.
Her fingers clawed the ledge and she pulled herself up and over, not waiting to see if anyone behind her needed help. She ran through the passageway, bouncing off the sides as the island shook and thunder cannonaded around her.
She found where she’d done her best to hide the gear, pulling on air tanks, swim fins and scuba helmet quickly. Thank God the ones ahead hadn’t had time to find and sabotage it. Then she picked up one of the APS underwater rifles, checked the magazine and dove into the water. With the rifle thrust before her, she swam hard, pushing herself, picturing how Roux’s blood would look when she released it into the water.
* * *
ANOTHER QUAKE SHOOK the island, causing even the water in the passageway to vibrate. Annja slammed into one of the walls, halfway expected the spikes to spring free at that moment, then let out a breath when that didn’t happen. She kicked her fins again, feeling her way through the darkness by trailing her right hand along the stone wall.
Keep the wall to your right. Just keep it to the right and you won’t get turned around.
None of them had one of the underwater lamps they’d used the first time through. The thought had never crossed her mind and she regretted it now. That was going on the survival list: If you carry a light to get where you’re going, you have to carry one to get back out.
Controlling her anxiety, Annja kept kicking her feet, concentrating on keeping her head clear of the wall. She didn’t look back for Roux and Garin. She wouldn’t have been able to see them, anyway.
A short distance ahead, she spotted the blue shimmer of the opening to the sea. She kicked harder, aiming for that tranquil blue, bursting through just in time to see the great white shark glide through and tear at one of the corpses hanging in the water at zero buoyancy. She backpedaled, staying near the opening, as the large predator took both legs off the dead man.
* * *
“MELINA! MELINA!” GEORGIOS Andrianou stared into the lagoon and held the radio handset tightly, willing his granddaughter to answer.
Black smoke rose from the center of the island and pooled against the low clouds. In several places, the island buckled and cracked open, leaving gaping craters in the forest and grasslands, as well as the beach.
Georgios had no idea what was happening. He’d lost radio contact, and he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d lost Melina, too. More than that, though, he’d lost the opportunity to discover the power that had allowed the man Roux to hold back the years and live for so long. For the first time in a long time, Georgios Andrianou felt death dogging his heels.
He turned to Captain Skarvelis. “Put out the lifeboats. I will see my granddaughter rescued.” And if she had the secret of the clockworks, Georgios would take that, as well.
“Sir.” The captain stared at him. “We sank that other vessel, but she still has crew in the water. If you divide our crew, we’re going to be shorthanded at both ends of the operation.”
Georgios had heard the sporadic gunfire coming from Kestrel’s survivors. Skarvelis had moved Titan away from the encounter site and his men had used the heavy machine guns to dissuade pursuit. However, the lifeboats had proven surprisingly well equipped with machine guns and rocket launchers. Evidently Garin Braden was a man who believed in firepower.
“I gave you an order, Captain.” Georgios drew his sidearm and pointed it at Skarvelis. “Get those boats in the water now.”
Skarvelis closed his eyes. Sweat trickled down his brow. “Yes, sir.” He gave the orders.
“I’m going with the rescue effort.” Georgios holstered his weapon. “If you think about leaving while I’m not aboard, you cannot run far enough or fast enough to get away from me.”
Skarvelis nodded, but he didn’t look at Georgios.
Striding out of the wheelhouse, Georgios went to join the rescue effort. It couldn’t be too late. Such an opportunity to find what his family had been looking for all these years couldn’t just trickle through his fingers. He wouldn’t allow it.
* * *
WHEN ROUX SWAM out of the opening, Annja grabbed his arm and pulled him to the side. She pointed up where the great white glided through the water with the dead man’s legs clenched in that slash of a mouth.
“Shark.”
“I see that.” Roux caught Garin as he swam out of the passageway. In the distance, the great white rolled over and headed back in their direction.
Annja flattened herself against the wall and summoned her sword. Using it to slash was out of the question underwater, but it could still be used to thrust. And she felt more confident with the blade in her hand.
The shark was fifty feet or so from them and closing when Melina Andrianou arrived. Holding the rifle at the ready, she looked at them, then looked at the shark. Thirty feet away, she turned toward them and took aim. The shots sounded strange underwater, but there was no mistaking the effect.
A half dozen steel darts tore through the reef, knocking pieces loose, and embedded in the stone around them. Two of them pierced Garin’s left leg. He howled in pain. Threads of blood streamed up from the wounds.
Sharks can smell a drop of blood in the water for two point five miles. In a sports bar on trivia night, that was a fun fact to know. Now it wasn’t so fun. Annja moved her gaze from Melina Andrianou to the great white. The shark was the deadliest thing in the water at the moment.
Instantly, and despite the dead man’s blood already clouding the water, the shark changed its course and headed for Garin. He pulled his dive knife and set himself, as if the shark didn’t outweigh him by nearly two thousand pounds.
Annja pushed off the stone wall with the sword extended before her, following the blade through the water. The shark altered its course and came for her.
If you turn, you’re dead. It will take you apart.
Staying behind the sword didn’t seem advantageous, either, but Annja had no intentions of remaining helpless against the wall while it came back for her. Or feasted on Garin. Neither was acceptable.
Not fearing a crea
ture less than half its size, the shark stayed on course. It was incredibly fast. At the last moment, Annja flicked the point of her sword, angling the blade so it sank into the shark’s eye. Unbelievably, the shark kept coming, taking the sword up to the hilt. It shook its head, trying to bite Annja, but she used the sword as an anchor point to pull herself out of the way, avoiding the serrated teeth by inches.
She pulled herself against the shark as it kept swimming, hanging on because she was afraid that if she let go in the open water, the shark would turn on her and have her before she could escape. Holding on to the sword hilt with both hands, she threw a leg over the shark and felt the dorsal fin slide up against her calf. She used her leg for leverage and reversed her grip on the sword, turning her hands over one at a time.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Garin kicking toward her as the shark swam in a circle to get rid of its unwanted rider. Garin caught hold of the right fin and angled his dive knife toward the top of the shark’s head. He drove the knife deeply into the shark’s brain at the same time Annja tore the sword along the great white’s body.
The shark wasn’t disemboweled, but it was turned nearly inside out from the massive wound, and it was dead meat floating in seconds. A massive cloud of blood surrounded Annja, Garin and the shark.
Annja tugged her sword free and looked back at Roux. He was on one knee in front of the passageway leading to Michalis’s workshop. His other hand was raised as he stared at Melina Andrianou floating in the passageway.
Without a word, Roux engaged the trap. Almost immediately, the spikes shot out of the walls and pierced the woman’s body. Behind her, the men who had survived the liquid fire in the cavern trap were also transfixed.
The weapon slowly dropped from Melina’s hands as her blood filled the water.
Garin swam in front of Annja and looked at her wide-eyed. “Attacking a great white shark? That has to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
