Trifariam, The Lost Codex (2012)

by Diego Rodriguez

  “Noooo!” screamed the woman again, throwing herself onto the floor of the helicopter as if it was a viper. When she got to the door, the helicopter was already a foot off the ground and rising. She hung her arms and part of her body outside the machine but just when she was about to grab one of its straps, a new hail of bullets flew into the aircraft, just to the side of her. “Asshole! Get this piece of junk down there right now, or I swear I’ll kill you!”

  The pilot looked at her without seeming in the least bothered, although he didn’t understand how a woman who at first seemed so demure could turn out to be such a nasty piece of work. “I’m sorry, it’s impossible.”

  The helicopter was already ten feet up and was starting to climb much higher.

  “Are you crazy?!” shouted the woman again. “Don’t you know who I am? Get this thing down there right now or you’re dead!”

  The pilot continued to ignore her. One hundred and sixty-five feet up.

  On the top of the pyramid, the assassin’s body lay in a pool of blood on the ground. His guts were spread across the ground just at the precise spot where the helicopter had landed.

  James’ didn’t have the strength to move and he could barely feel his extremities. Am I going to die? Is this what it feels like? he wondered over and over, while he had been thinking only of his little girl for the last few minutes. The idea of never seeing her again gave him enough strength to remain conscious. Incredibly, now, just as he was about to die was when he had discovered the most important treasure in his life - his daughter.

  Just then, a group of five men burst onto the summit. They were wearing military gear and one of them carried a first aid kit, while the other four were equipped with assault rifles, grenades and a couple of pistols. After sealing the perimeter and checking that the assassin was dead, they positioned themselves in different corners of the summit. Finally, one of them went over to the backpack and slung it over his shoulder after seeing what was inside.

  The one with the first aid kit remained at his side, opened it and after a seconds searching, he seemed to have found what he was looking for. He pulled out an enormous syringe with a needle which went on forever and he quickly plunged it into the professor’s blackened arm, injecting every last drop of liquid. Then he placed two tablets in his mouth and made him swallow them, giving him water. His body was no longer in pain and he was overcome with a sleepy yet pleasant feeling, immediately washing all his cares away. His eyelids were extremely heavy and, just as the four men came closer, he lost consciousness.

  Chapter 60

  The two helicopters circled the air at high speed. They had risen to a considerable height, around 13000 feet, and although the sun was shining brightly it still came up against the odd cloud, a result of the storm that had battered the area almost an hour ago.

  The pilot of the helicopter carrying Mary was trying to dodge the shots from its pursuer. It went up and down sharply, searching for large expanse of cloud where it could hide, but it was impossible. After a few seconds of calm inside one of them, the pilot saw how the Apache was reloading. The gleam of the bullets as they were discharged from the automatic barrel was beautiful and dangerous. They soared through the sky leaving a small trail in their wake, due to them crossing the clouds at high speed. The pilot had to sharply swerve to the left to try and shake them off, although he couldn’t avoid one or two hitting the tail. He quickly gained some more height in order to hide inside another gray cloud which was about to disperse, but it was no use.

  The AH-64 Apache is an authentic military attack helicopter equipped with the most advanced technology on the market. It has a sensor suite for night vision systems, as well as the search, detection and acquisition of targets, automatically adjusting the sight and barrel through the use of infrared. It is impossible for it to fail.

  The pilot looked at the tracking display and immediately knew where to find his victim. “Don’t reload yet,” he ordered the copilot who was already preparing to launch a missile. “We still don’t have the order.”

  The Apache was a helicopter for two crew members sitting in tandem, one behind the other. The copilot was sitting in front and his role was to control the various weapons. Just behind and seated nineteen inches further up was the machine’s pilot.

  “Shoot a round so he comes out. Try to fuck up his toy so that he has to land.”

  The gun started up again and hundreds of bullets, huge in size, disappeared into the clouds. Although the intention had been only to startle them, some of them scraped the helicopter’s blades, destabilizing it.

  After the first round of bullets the helicopter descended quickly.

  Mary felt as if her stomach was in her throat, remaining stuck there. It was a similar feeling to when she went on a fairground ride as a girl. 10000, 8000, 6000, 4000 feet… it was like free fall where the ground drew nearer and nearer. She started to feel nervous after looking through the window, they were at less than 3000 feet and the machine showed no sign of stopping. “You’re crazy! Do you want to get us killed?!” she screamed, getting as close as she could to the front seats.

  The pilot ignored her.

  2000, 1300, 600 feet… and suddenly she felt a force pulling on the helicopter until it stabilized itself at a particular height.

  “You’re crazy!” reprimanded the woman again, this time slapping his shoulder with the palm of his hand, making sure that he could hear her.

  The pilot took off his headphones and with an angry expression on his face, he shouted at her. “Stay out of this, you spoiled piece of shit! If you so much as speak again, I swear I’ll throw you out of the cabin myself!”

  A new wave of bullets flew through the air and lodged themselves into one of the sides of the fuselage, just next to Mary’s seat. The Apache had dropped over thirteen thousand feet in the blink of an eye. It was reloading.

  Right in front of them was a large formation of mountains with a small pass one hundred feet wide that formed a kind of “V” with both sides. They didn’t know if there was a way out, but it was their only means of escape. They went inside at full speed, the absolute maximum at which the machine could travel. They knew that they couldn’t beat them in one-on-one combat and that the only chance they had of surviving would be to cause them to make a mistake due to human error, something that was highly likely given that they had yet to take them down despite all their technology.

  It was a rather dangerous route, and there were several stone blocks on each side which got in their way. The Apache followed them without slowing down, although with so many turns the artillery couldn’t manage to hit its target.

  Inside the pass there was an intense current of air which made it difficult to control the aircraft, and the blades of the helicopter were frequently on the verge of hitting the wall. Several spins to the right were often followed by the same number to the left, all at a dizzying speed.

  “There’s no way out!” shouted the pilot. Mary heard him perfectly. She leaned over between the two front seats and stifled a scream when she saw a vertical wall of a great height which was blocking their way, just under three hundred yards ahead of them.

  “Quick! Move up!” shouted the pilot. His hands pulled the control back as hard as he could. It would be very close.

  The Apache did not slow down its pace. It was being piloted in a much more calm and assured manner, turning the situation into child’s play. With a precise movement the pilot took the machine further up as he saw just how close his prey had come to hitting the wall.

  Just then, the radio beeped; someone was trying to get in touch with them.

  “This is Apache. I’m awaiting your instructions.”

  “This is the control center. You have the green light to take down the target. I repeat, green light. We have what we were looking for.”

  They had already emerged from the mountain range and right below them were a dozen highways and freeways which disappeared into the horizon, where they could see the skyscrapers of a
city.

  The pilot gave a thumbs-up to his colleague, indicating for him to take them down as soon as possible so as to avoid flying over protected airspace. The distance between both had opened up during the call from the control center, now it was about one mile. A small green monitor dropped from the ceiling. It was a kind of radar with three concentric squares, one inside the other. Without them even lifting a finger, the radar automatically positioned the enemy helicopter in the smallest square. Two seconds later, the whistle of an AGM-114 Hellfire missile moving through the air made them smile. It was an antitank missile - it would destroy them as if the helicopter was made of paper.

  Just then, Mary heard their helicopter radar transmit something which made her blood freeze.

  ENEMY LAUNCH. IMPACT IN FIFTEEN SECONDS.

  “What’s going on? Have they fired at us?”

  The pilot was still ignoring her. He simply wiped the enormous beads of sweat which were dripping down his forehead and which sometimes prevented him seeing clearly. They had three seconds left.

  It dropped steeply another 650 feet until it was just over 300 feet from the ground, hoping that the missile would miss its target. However, the projectile turned in the air and followed them. It was a guided missile.

  TEN SECONDS TO IMPACT. NINE, EIGHT…

  “Use the bridge as a shield,” shouted the copilot in a desperate attempt to help.

  The helicopter dropped another 160 feet. When there were two seconds to impact they passed under a viaduct that was 300 feet high that crossed the hollow. The missile crashed into the structure causing a full-blown explosion. The suspension cables couldn’t withstand the impact and melted as if they were made of butter. Its pillars exploded into a thousand pieces, causing the viaduct to collapse in the impact zone. Over fifty cars were trapped in the chaos. The less fortunate ones couldn’t help but topple over the edge, dying in the process.

  The helicopter took advantage of the confusion and quickly rose up. It was impossible to fight against the Apache, it was like an ant trying to kill a beetle. Their only option was to go as high as they could and then jump out with a parachute. With a little luck, the radar would just focus on the helicopter.

  Mary seemed to realize their plans straight away. The copilot had removed his seatbelt and was attaching his parachute. They were climbing up to great heights again, 7000 feet and rising. The copilot explained some brief notions about parachuting, the basics to be able to complete a jump safely. Then he helped her to put on her parachute.

  They were already at 10000 feet and there was no sign of the Apache. They would most definitely be concerned as to what they were up to.

  After doing some manual adjustments, he managed to keep the helicopter stable at that height without the need for human intervention. And although it seemed suspicious that it remained static at such a height, when they realized their absence it would already be too late. They opened one of the side doors. A gust of wind blew into the cabin, making the helicopter swerve from left to right. The altitude demanded great respect, to the point where both Mary and the copilot’s hearts were beating faster than ever.

  “Shit, there it is! Go, go!”

  The Apache again appeared out of nowhere and positioned itself just behind them, less than 3000 feet away. Two seconds later, the radar system kicked in again.

  ENEMY LAUNCH. IMPACT IN TEN SECONDS.

  The pilot grabbed Mary and the copilot by the shoulder. His colleague was already getting ready to throw himself out. “Wait until the missile is three seconds away or its radar will detect us.”

  Nine, eight, seven, six…

  The three of them walked over to the door and when the onboard computer said “three”, they threw themselves out.

  Two, one, zero… The missile hit the helicopter, lighting up the Mexican sky with an immense fireball. In spite of them being quite far away, the force generated by the explosion hit them from behind and caused them to fall even faster.

  It was an incredible sensation, charged with an enormous rush of adrenaline. Although at the start they didn’t stop spinning round, with the help of the pilot they managed to stabilize themselves in the air. They often looked back at the sky in search of the lethal helicopter. They hadn’t seen them jump.

  When they were at less than 3000 feet, the pilot pulled Mary’s cord and she seemed to float up into the air while they continued their descent. Two seconds later, their parachutes also opened. They were safe.

  Chapter 61

  When he opened his eyes for the first time, he could hardly keep his heavy eyelids open for even a few seconds. He seemed to be in a hospital room, or at least that was what he wanted.

  In addition to the lack of windows through which sunlight could enter, it seemed to be some unearthly hour also based on the little noise that could be heard nearby. The square clock hanging on one of the walls struck twelve. Midnight or midday?

  It was a rather strange room. The white walls were the only similarity it had to the hospitals he was familiar with. If it was indeed one of them, it was very special.

  He wasn’t in any pain to begin with; in fact he couldn’t feel any muscle in his body. He was lying on the bed with a couple of pillows under his back, supporting his upper body. He guessed that the medical staff had decided to keep his body upright to prevent any blood clots from forming in his head due to the blows he had received.

  The room was in slight darkness and only the faint light of a table lamp was shining in the distance.

  To his right was a wooden armchair with a cushioned backrest and on top of that was a wooden blanket that was reluctant to fall on the floor. Obviously somebody had been catching up on their beauty sleep while he was recuperating.

  He tried to get up but when he turned around, he felt incredibly intense pain in the knee which had been beaten. After a few seconds, the pain showed no sign of going away, and instead became sharper and intolerable. He carefully put his hands under the blanket and slid them over his stomach, hip, thigh… until he patted his knee. What he felt then was something truly horrific. His knee was extremely inflamed, something which couldn’t be normal; not even a broken bone could cause such an unusual swelling.

  Scared, he turned to the door and shouted for help, but nobody could hear him. The suffering he was going through was becoming unbearable.

  He thought that he was going to faint when he discovered a small electronic device, rectangular in shape and with a singular red button, lying on the table at the side of his bed. In between groans, he pressed it as hard as he could, praying that somebody would come as quickly as possible.

  The doors opened automatically when they detected the presence of somebody, and a middle-aged nurse entered the room. Her eyes widened when she saw the man they had brought in a few days ago writhing in agony on his bed. She took out a syringe from the inside pocket of her uniform as quickly as she could and using the intravenous opening that he had lodged in one of his arms, she injected the whitish liquid.

  He immediately stopped twisting around like a lunatic. The pain faded away until it finally left his body.

  Barely a few seconds had passed since the pains first began, but he thought he had been suffering for over half an hour.

  His eyes closely studied the woman who was in front of him. He didn’t have much time because they were starting to close and it was increasingly difficult for him to keep them open. He tried to speak, but it was impossible for him to get a word out. The last thing he remembered was the nurse starting to use a damp cloth to wipe away the cold sweat that had collected on his forehead.

  At the same time and less than two-thirds of a mile away, five spectacular cars, completely armored and with sophisticated security systems, drove through the rigorous controls which restricted access to the site. The U.S. flags they carried tied to a small mast fixed to the front hood clearly indicated that some dignitary from the U.S. government was visiting them, but it didn’t prevent them from having to show the relevant identifi
cation.

  In single file, they slowly followed a security car which showed them the way they had to go. The convoy included a black all-terrain vehicle with a long-range machine gun hidden in the rear part.

  Eventually they went into one of the hangars, hidden from public view. The five cars parked en masse, one beside the other and just in front of the person who was waiting for them. He was wearing a smart suit with a number of awards and medals pinned on his chest.

  Six individuals, also in suits, got out of the cars and walked slowly towards their host. One of them couldn’t resist asking a question as he drew closer and stretched out his hand, looking obviously concerned.

  “Is it safe?”

  Chapter 62

  The next day, when James woke up, a beam of light shone onto the headboard and partially lit up the room. The clock on the wall was now circular in shape and struck nine in the morning. It seemed as if there was nothing in the room that was familiar to him, this one was much larger, cozier and better lit. He was starting to wonder if everything he thought he had seen had been anything more than a strange nightmare and a product of his imagination, something that happened very often in states of high fever.

  He slipped his hand inside the sheets and patted his thigh, moving down to his knee. He was shocked to find that it was in a normal state and not at all swollen.

  It must have been a nightmare.

  He realized that, just like in his dream, his upper body was slightly tilted on the bed, supported on two soft pillows. The layout of the room was similar; there was even a small wooden armchair with a cushioned backrest which was slightly creased. This time his own clothes were resting on top of it, although it still seemed as if someone had been using it for a period of time. Even the fluorescent lighting, the bedside lamps and the automatic glass doors gave him reason to doubt whether what he had seen had been real or a product of his imagination.