The Templar Cross t-2

by Paul Christopher

  "Cazzo merda!" the commando whispered, lifting his own weapon.

  Holliday squeezed the trigger on the MP5 and blew the man back down the hill in a dead tumbling heap. The second man stopped in his tracks, bringing up his own machine pistol, and Holliday turned the weapon on him, firing until the clip was empty. Behind the dead man at the base of the wall a trio of commandos looked up.

  "Go!" Holliday bellowed, turning again and throwing himself over the edge of the sloping sand wall as a hail of fire buzzed up from the squad below. He tumbled down the sand, losing his footing and rolling down toward the shallow ditch at the base of the rampart.

  He reached the bottom with a heavy thump that knocked the wind out of him. As he climbed to his feet and clambered up the far side of the moat he felt a searing sting of heat as a bullet plucked at the sleeve of his shirt. More slugs twitched into the sand all around him as the commandos high above him tried to pick him off. He reached the truck, threw himself into the back and grabbed the pistol grip below the heavy machine-gun mechanism and swung the weapon around on its pivot.

  As Tidyman started the truck and pulled away, Rafi beside him, Holliday dropped the firing lever, locking the belt feed in place, flipped off the safety and angled the gun upward. He checked that the belt feed was running smoothly down into the big ammunition box on the right-hand side of the heavy weapon, took a deep breath and pulled the trigger.

  The heavy-barreled weapon came alive under his hands, jumping like a pounding jackhammer and sending out a pulsing rhythmic thump of huge.50-caliber shells that chewed up the crest of the sand rampart like paper through a shredder, instantly turning anyone still on the summit into so much raw meat.

  The immediate threat removed, Holliday swiveled the big gun around on its mount and faced the helicopters as the truck roared across the stony plain toward the runway. The commandos had landed in a staggered formation that presented a curved line of defense blocking their way. The fat-bellied transports had sliding doors like a minivan and a rear loading ramp. They weren't usually armed but there were three large windows on each side that could be used as positions for a Gatling Minigun or a.50 caliber like the Kord.

  Holliday did a long traverse of the line of choppers moving left to right, aiming for center mass in the middle of the passenger compartments, starting at the cockpit end, firing in short bursts. Even from two hundred yards away Holliday could see the exploding impact of the shells, windshield Plexiglas shattering, metal torn apart, bits of fuselage and chunks of engine flying in all directions. Something flared brightly in one of the center helicopters and then a split second later a huge fireball erupted with an oxygen-eating whump of sound. Jet fuel for the big GE turbines.

  In the driver's seat of the truck, Tidyman jerked the wheel, veering away from the light cast by the exploding chopper. Holliday saw figures running in front of the blaze. Tidyman yelled a warning.

  "RPG!"

  One of the running figures had one of the familiar skinny launchers on his shoulder. An RPG-7, capable of stopping an M1 Abrams, not to mention a tin-can Goat. One round from a weapon like that and they'd be vaporized. Holliday swung left, traversing the gun, then twisted in the opposite direction, reverse-tracking and potshotting the running line of men, dropping them like puppets cut from their strings. The man with the RPG dropped along with the rest.

  They were through, the line of helicopters behind them, the one in the middle blazing like a torch. At least two of the others had been badly damaged and probably more. Heavily armed or not, if the commando group was stranded without transport they were as good as dead; Qaddafi, father and son, weren't known for their compassion. They'd take a flight of old MiG-23 Floggers out of mothballs and blow whatever commandos survived into eternity.

  Tidyman pulled up beside the runway. The Skymaster Holliday had seen that morning was tied down under a Mylar awning beside a line of fifty-gallon drums with hand pumps. Both cockpit doors were wide open.

  "Where's the pilot?" Holliday called out as he dropped down from the rear of the truck. The cockpit of the push-pull twin-engined aircraft was empty. He flinched involuntarily as an explosion sounded behind them. He turned. The fire had spread; a second helicopter was burning now. The commandos had almost certainly expected a quick in and out with a minimum of casualties or damage and now it had all turned to crap.

  "I'm the pilot," said Tidyman, climbing out of the truck.

  "You've got to be kidding," said Rafi.

  "I got my license in Canada when I was fifteen," said Tidyman. "I was flying before I could drive a car." The Egyptian went around to the pilot's-side door and got in behind the little half wheel. Rafi and Holliday climbed in after him, Holliday taking the copilot's chair.

  Tidyman slammed his door shut and latched it, then started flipping switches. Holliday closed and latched the door on his side as well.

  "Egypt had compulsory military service back then," said Tidyman, continuing his explanation. "I spent two years flying Sadat around in one of these."

  Tidyman set the fuel mixture at Rich, the RPMs at High and held down the ignition switch. The engine coughed and died. He released the ignition and went through the procedures again. This time the engine caught. There was a sharp cracking sound from the tail section of the aircraft and then a second impact.

  "Somebody's shooting at us," said Rafi.

  Holliday looked out the window on his right. Except for the flames rising from the burning helicopters the night was black.

  The engine roared as Tidyman advanced the throttles. More bullets hammered into the plane.

  "Time to go," said Tidyman. He released the brake and they rolled out from beneath the Mylar cover, turning hard, the front of the aircraft pointing down the dark runway. Tidyman pushed the throttles as far forward as they would go, set his feet on the pedals and set the flaps at one-third down. The twin-engined aircraft leapt down the runway and threw itself up into the enclosing night. They were airborne.

  18

  "Which way are we headed?" Holliday asked, raising his voice over the steady roar of the engines as they leveled off.

  "Northeast, toward Siwa until someone tells me differently," answered Tidyman as he adjusted the flaps. The only illumination inside the aircraft came from the control panel lights, the little radar screen in the center of the dashboard casting a green, sickly glow over their faces.

  "It depends on where the choppers came from," said Holliday.

  "I saw a logo on the side of the nearest one," offered Rafi. "A red hummingbird."

  "That's the insignia of the Canadian Helicopter Corporation," said Tidyman, shaking his head. "They're the biggest private helicopter company in the world. Mostly servicing oil rigs and air- sea rescue, I think. They've got offices everywhere leasing helicopters to all sorts of third-party users. It doesn't mean anything."

  "The man running up the outer wall said something just before I shot him. Cazzo merda. Italian for holy crap," said Holliday.

  "Our friends from the Vatican looking for a little payback?" Rafi suggested.

  "Looking for the gold more likely," scoffed Tidyman. "Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord, but the cash belongs to mother church."

  "Or they were looking for something else," murmured Holliday, remembering the tomb.

  "Like what?" Tidyman asked curiously.

  "Nothing," said Holliday. "It doesn't matter."

  "Could those helicopters have come from Italy?" Rafi asked.

  "The range is about nine hundred miles, as I recall," said Holliday. "Would that do it?"

  "From Sicily it would," said Tidyman.

  "What's our best landfall closest to Italy?" Holliday queried.

  "Tunisia," said Tidyman.

  "Can we make it?"

  "Yes. Alhazred kept the plane fully gassed up at all times, in case of unforeseen events."

  "I guess he didn't foresee this particular event," said Holliday.

  "He was a fool; he should have seen this coming or something
like it," grunted Tidyman. "Gold in such quantities is a magnet for bad luck and death." The Egyptian adjusted the controls. Holliday watched as the compass needle swerved around the illuminated dial. They were now going sharply north and slightly to the west. "The old airfield at Matfur is still there, just south of Bizerte on the coast. We can refill there if you wish."

  "Sound good to me," said Holliday.

  There was a harsh metallic clicking sound from the rear seat. Holliday turned. Rafi had the muzzle of the big Beretta automatic pressed up against the back of Tidyman's skull.

  "You're even more of a fool than Alhazred if you think you're frightening me with that," said the Egyptian. "You might as well stick the barrel in your own mouth. Shoot me and who flies the plane?"

  "Where's Peggy?" Rafi demanded.

  "Alhazred shipped her out a week ago." Tidyman paused. "Now put down the gun."

  "Do it," said Holliday.

  Rafi ignored them both.

  "Shipped her out? What are you talking about?" He pushed the muzzle of the automatic a little harder.

  "He has a deal with a man named Antonio Neri." Tidyman paused. "He operates a criminal organization called La Santa," continued the Egyptian.

  "Ducos, the Frenchman, mentioned La Santa," said Holliday, remembering. "So did Japrisot the cop. He said that Valador, the crook with the fishing boat, had hooked up with them."

  "La Santa trades in pretty girls, among other things. A pretty white girl like Miss Blackstock would be a bonus."

  "Where would he take her?" Rafi asked angrily.

  "Put the gun down and I'll tell you," said Tidyman.

  "Do it," ordered Holliday sharply.

  Rafi lowered the weapon.

  "Where is she?" Rafi repeated.

  "La Santa has its headquarters in Corsica, that's all I know for sure."

  "Is she there or not?" Rafi demanded.

  "Neri sends girls everywhere. They travel to Albania and from there they're sent all over Eastern Europe. It's the same with the drugs. There's a network."

  "What about the trade in artifacts?" Holliday asked.

  "They go through Corsica to either Marseille or Rome, depending on the final destination," answered Tidyman. "Beyond that I have no idea."

  "That son of a bitch," Rafi said through gritted teeth, "I'll kill him!"

  "Alhazred?" Tidyman said. "Not if I find him first."

  "What's your beef with him?" Holliday said. "I thought you two were partners."

  "I had no choice," explained the Egyptian. "He kidnapped my wife and daughter in Cairo, held them hostage." Tidyman shook his head. "He said I needed an incentive to help him dispose of the gold. When he found out that you were on his trail he threatened to rape and kill Habibah and my Tabia if I didn't bring both of you to him."

  "What changed your mind?" Holliday asked.

  In the faint light from the control panel Holliday saw tears forming in the corners of the Egyptian's eyes.

  "I flew into Bardai, in Chad, yesterday for supplies," said Tidyman, staring dully out through the windscreen at the star-filled night sky, his mind and his heart somewhere else. Far below them the dunes of the desert unrolled like a landscape in an endless dark dream, lit by the rising moon. "I managed to telephone my neighbor in Cairo. I learned that my wife had been killed trying to escape."

  "And your daughter?"

  "Al'hamdu'li'Allah, thanks be to God, Tabia managed to get away. My friends have hidden her. She is safe. I was on my way to kill Alhazred in his quarters when the helicopters came. I went to you instead. You did not deserve to die for that man's perfidy." The Egyptian cleared his throat but made no move to wipe the tears he was shedding for his wife. "His name is not even Alhazred."

  "What is it?" Holliday asked.

  "Bobby Ayoub. He was born in Ottawa."

  "His parents, the doctors?" Rafi asked from the back of the plane.

  "He told you that story?" Tidyman laughed coldly. "His father owned a delicatessen on Elgin Street and his mother was part owner of a bakery. They specialized in pita bread. Both of them died in a traffic accident on New Year's Eve. A drunk driver. Bobby was an only child. He inherited everything, including the insurance. He went to Lebanon with the money and played the big shot; tried to join Hezbollah and the Abu Nidal group but they didn't want him. Tried to go to university there but they wouldn't have him, either."

  "We figured him for a phony," Holliday said and nodded.

  "The bit about Trajan being Vespasian's son was a neat trick," Rafi said. "Especially since Trajan wasn't even born until about fifty years after Vespasian died." Rafi sneered. "He flubbed a lot of other stuff as well, and he couldn't read hieroglyphics, either. He was no archaeologist."

  "He was crazy. Delusions of grandeur. According to him he was destined for great things. A Mahdi for the twenty-first century, sent by God to free his people from the yoke of tyranny, et cetera, et cetera. In reality he was a baker's child and the son of a man who made smoked meat sandwiches."

  "Hitler's father was a customs inspector," said Rafi. "Great oaks from little acorns and all that."

  "He was a wannabe terrorist who nobody wanted," said Holliday. "So he made up the Brotherhood of Isis."

  "Something like that," Tidyman said and nodded, nudging the yoke a little, watching their course on the compass. "Crazy, just like I said." The little pressurized plane was flying at twenty thousand feet now, its optimum altitude for long-distance flight. They were flying so high they couldn't see the flitting batwing moon shadow of their flight across the dunes.

  Tidyman lifted his shoulders in a shrug.

  "The Tuaregs didn't care; they'd been vandalizing tombs and robbing archaeological sites for years, not to mention raiding the odd caravan. Alhazred, or Ayoub or whatever he calls himself, just made it easier for them to sell their stuff to the smugglers and provided them with better weapons. The lying little bastard brought organized crime to the desert, that's all." Tidyman sighed and lifted his shoulders wearily again. "Terrorism isn't about ideals anymore; Gandhi has been dead too long for that. It's just ego and money these days, and that's Bobby Ayoub in a nutshell."

  "You think he'll get away?" Holliday asked.

  "Yes," said Tidyman simply. "He would have had some kind of bolt hole arranged, some kind of plan B. He always did."

  "And when he finds his airplane gone?" Holliday said. "Will he figure it out and come after us?"

  "Count on it." The Egyptian nodded. "When he doesn't find our bodies he'll know. He had an awful temper when he didn't get his way. This will put him right over the edge. He'll come for us with blood in his eye, believe me."

  Flying at just under one hundred and fifty miles an hour to conserve fuel, the eight-hundred-mile flight over the desert took them until just past midnight to complete. The moon was at its zenith as they crossed the Libyan border, throwing the landscape beneath their wings into sharp relief.

  "The only thing I know about modern Tunisia is that George Lucas shot the Tattooine scenes on Luke Skywalker's home planet in a real place called Tattooine," said Holliday, looking down at the desert landscape below. It didn't look any different from most of Libya.

  "That's here, in the south of the country," replied Tidyman. "The country's divided in half: the bottom is barren desert, the top is good farmland, Mediterranean, like the south of Spain or Greece, lots of hills and fertile valleys. They do pretty well for such a small country sandwiched between two big ones."

  "Carthago delenda est," said Rafi, half dozing in the seat behind the copilot's spot. " 'Carthage must be destroyed'; first thing I ever learned in Latin."

  "The Kasserine Pass," offered Holliday. "The first time American soldiers met up with the Germans in World War Two. We got our asses handed to us on a plate. One of the worst defeats in American military history."

  "Good thing you were quick learners," said Tidyman. He eased the yoke forward and the little airplane went into a shallow dive, the sound of the fore and aft engines deepening
.

  "Why are we going down?" Holliday asked.

  "Trying to get under the radar," explained Tidyman.

  "Will they be looking for us?" Rafi asked.

  "Not likely," said the Egyptian. "But the commercial airport at Tunis or the smaller one at Bizerte might pick us up accidentally; we're up pretty high for a light plane; they might be a little suspicious if we suddenly pop up on their screens coming out of the desert."

  "Then take us down by all means," said Holliday.

  They dropped steadily until they were flying at less than a thousand feet above the dunes and arid plains of the desert. Ahead, visible now in the far distance, the wall of the jagged Atlas Mountains stood like a blank, black shadow blocking out the star-lit skies. Abruptly the landscape changed. The desert vanished, replaced by small farms, roads and scattered settlements. The plains became more undulating, spotted with wooded hills that climbed straight-walled, like fortresses still waiting for an ancient enemy. Slowly but surely Holliday watched as the needle of the illuminated compass on the control panel swung to the east.

  "Where is this airfield?" Holliday asked at the end of their fourth hour in the air.

  "Matfur," replied Tidyman. "It was a fighter base in a dry lake bed," he explained. "Both sides occupied it at one time or another during the war. My father called it Muddy Matfur. Originally German, I think. Nobody uses it anymore, of course, it's just a line in the dirt really."

  "And why exactly are we going there?" Rafi asked.

  "If we put down at one of the big airports someone will almost certainly ask questions," answered Tidyman. "If Alhazred or Ayoub or whatever his name is does come after us, we'll be harder to find. It's closer to Kelibia than anywhere else."

  "Kelibia?"

  "A little coastal town on the Cape Bon peninsula, the other side of the Bay of Tunis," said Tidyman. "A dusty little place with hardly any tourists. There's an old fort but that's about it. It's where they ship the women out. It's where the Khamsin docks."

  "Get us there," said Rafi.