*
Ethan surveyed the image of Krishna on the floor of the temple through the clouds of debris drifting with the currents around them. Although there was debris scattered around the site it was clear that somebody had come down and cleared the area in order to reveal the vast carving. Lucy’s work had saved them valuable time and given that she had not decided to conceal the site after completing her work, Ethan figured that at this point she had not felt as though she was in any danger.
Ethan and Lopez both wore compasses and were quickly able to orientate themselves to north and get their bearings as to where the carved icon was pointing. Ethan noted that Krishna appeared to be pointing toward the south east, and as Lopez pressed a laminated map against the wall of the temple so Ethan produced a diving pen and carefully marked the precise direction on the map.
He saw that the line marked on the map travelled directly through Indonesia, through dense jungles and across vast mountain ranges. Lucy could be anywhere on that line and he knew that they were missing one vital piece of information. He looked at Lopez and placed his hands together as though in prayer and then drew them apart in an indication of distance before shrugging at her. Lopez shrugged back and turned again to the symbol on the floor of the temple.
Although the icon bore the cardinal points of the compass around its edge, allowing for reasonable accuracy in determining direction, there was little to show distance and no markers that Ethan could determine that would let him know how far the location that Lucy had travelled to was, from where they floated now inside the ancient temple.
Ethan began searching the walls, moving past the pillars as he sought some sign of where or what Krishna was portrayed as indicating. The walls were covered with engravings of Hindu gods, some of which Ethan recognized as similar to those he had seen at the Dwarkandish Temple, others less so. Some portrayed Hindus kneeling before fearsome orbs of light that seemed to be descending from the sky and radiating beams of light. He had seen such icons many times at ancient sites just like this one, scholars of archaeology claiming that they were images of men worshipping the life–giving light of the sun, others claiming the fiery orbs of light represented something else entirely less natural.
Ethan completed a full circuit of the temple and met Lopez coming the other way. Her dark eyes behind her mask offered him a helpless expression and she shook her head. Ethan sighed and then he reached down to his belt and pulled out two more glow sticks. He broke them and tossed them into the center of the temple, increasing the light around them. Then he pulled a compact waterproof camera from his utility belt and took photographs of the temple floor, walls and ceiling.
Ethan slipped the camera back into his belt and checked his watch. They only had a few minutes left and they would have to ascend once again to the surface. At this depth, they could not simply float directly up but would have to decompress on the way, allowing nitrogen that would have formed in their blood to dissipate and thus prevent the “bends”.
Ethan led the way out of the temple and into the narrow corridor and was about to strike out for the exit when he saw the flash of a diver’s lamp cutting through the deep blue sea at the far end of the corridor. Ethan halted in time for Lopez to collide with him, and despite being underwater he heard her muffled curse. Ethan pointed frantically back into the temple and she obeyed without question, sensing the urgency in his gesture.
They swam back into the temple and Ethan glided over the scattered glow sticks and picked them up, cradling them in his arms as he swam to the front of the temple and dropped them there before using his hands and flippers to brush debris over them. Lopez helped, and then Ethan pointed to her flashlight and drew his level hand across his throat.
Lopez switched off her flashlight, Ethan doing the same as he took one of her hands in his and with the other reached down to find his life line. The temple was plunged into absolute blackness, the water seeming suddenly colder now in the absence of light and the confines of the ancient building seeming to close in around them.
Ethan checked his watch and saw that they had only five minutes remaining before their oxygen supply would be outstripped by their ascent time. Then, in the darkness, he saw a glimmer of light as his eyes adjusted to the gloom and he spotted two beams entering the tunnel leading to the temple.
*
Sergei was not an experienced diver and he was not comfortable down here in the darkness of the seafloor. The sighting of the Americans boarding the same boat used by Doctor Morgan only days before had given them the lead that they needed, but they had not been able to mobilize quickly enough to intercept them before the boat had launched.
Fortunately, the boat owners were more than susceptible to a bribe of two hundred American dollars, and in one brief meeting with them while the Americans were sourcing their diving equipment the tables had been turned.
The problem was that Sergei and his companion were not well trained, capable of only basic diving at shallow depths, and expert divers could not reach the gulf until the following morning. Therefore, it was down to him to either capture Warner and Lopez or ensure that they never made it to the surface. Sergei was in no mood for negotiations and he knew that the two Americans would be low on oxygen by now. All he needed from them was any evidence they might have recovered and he could leave them down here to rot.
The tunnel entrance to whatever lay beyond was intensely dark. His flashlight penetrated the gloom only a few yards in front of him and he knew that anybody waiting there would see him coming long before he arrived. Sergei reached down to his side and unclipped an ADS underwater rifle that he cocked ready for use. Designed for use by Russian Navy Special Forces and Spetsnaz, the rifle was equipped with standard 5.45 x39mm ammunition fed from the same magazines used by the ubiquitous AK–47 rifle, along with a grenade launcher underslung beneath the barrel. With a range of anything between fifteen and thirty meters depending on depth, the rifle was a valuable weapon and a huge advantage for Sergei over his opponents, wherever they were hiding.
Sergei’s flashlight broke free of the narrow walls of the corridor and he sensed rather than saw the larger cavity before them. Conscious of his bright flashlight beam he reached up and switched it off before turning on his night vision goggles.
The night vision system flickered into life and he instantly saw a hazy green image of the underwater temple before him, the water filled with floating debris as he eased his way inside. The image was grainy and without depth, detail hard to pick out but the clear vision a massive advantage and comfort when compared to the limited illumination offered by the flashlights. One finger curled over his rifle trigger as he pointed the weapon out in front of him and suddenly kicked his flippers and rushed into the temple.
Sergei whirled in a circle as his companion guarded the entrance and covered him with a second rifle, but there was nothing to be seen. The temple was ringed with pillars but there were no divers within that he could see and no sign that anybody had ever laid eyes on the temple’s interior.
Sergei turned as something caught his eye, and he noticed a soft glow of light from one end of the temple. He turned toward it, the glowing light like a lure that drew him in as he aimed his rifle at it and prepared to kick aside the pile of debris partially concealing the source of the light.
Sergei checked over his shoulder and saw his companion aiming in the same direction, his rifle covering Sergei as he turned back to the light and kicked the debris off to reveal a handful of brightly shimmering glow sticks.
Panic ripped through him and he whirled to fire at anything moving inside the temple.
***
XVI
Ethan lunged forward as soon as he saw the lead diver reach down and kick the debris from the glow sticks out of the way. Light filled the temple and Ethan saw the form of a second diver just yards from where he and Lopez had concealed themselves behind one of the pillars.
Ethan saw the diver in the tunnel focussing on his partner as the light bloomed
and Ethan swam toward him. The moment the light grew inside the temple the two enemy knew that they were not alone and they turned as one, wicked looking rifles turning in slow motion in the water as they tried to draw a bead on Ethan.
The diver beside the entrance tunnel spun his weapon around to point at Ethan, the man’s eyes concealed behind night vision goggles. Ethan reached up and switched on his flashlight and directed the beam into the diver’s face. The man threw one hand up to protect his eyes from the vicious blaze of light that assaulted him as he tried to switch off the goggles, and Ethan plunged in and pushed the rifle aside as he tore the diver’s mouthpiece away.
The diver near the front of the temple took aim and fired at Ethan, who ducked down and used his victim as a shield as the bullet rocketed past his left shoulder in a trail of silvery bubbles and smacked into the wall behind him. Ethan hauled the diver from the tunnel, trapping his mouthpiece against his oxygen tank as Lopez darted past them to safety.
The second diver pushed toward them, aiming again as the diver in Ethan’s grip thrashed desperately to loosen his trapped mouthpiece. Ethan yanked hard on it, throttling the diver as he pulled him over as a shield against the second man rushing toward them. He heard the diver’s frantic screams, garbled and muted as he fought for his life, and then the second diver fired again.
Ethan ducked as he hauled the trapped man’s body up and he heard the bullet thump into his captive’s chest, felt the diver quiver in pain and horror as he was hit. Ethan reached around him and grabbed the man’s rifle as he took aim at the second diver.
The second man was close enough that Ethan could see his eyes behind the oxygen mask, the night vision goggles pulled back now as he rushed in. Before Ethan could pull the trigger the diver used the barrel of his weapon to smash the rifle of his injured companion aside, and Ethan knew that he would not be able to prevent the gunman from taking aim and shooting from point blank range.
Ethan relinquished his grip on the stricken man and instead reached out and grabbed the barrel of his assailant’s rifle, pushing it aside as the diver squeezed the trigger and a bullet smashed past Ethan’s ear and rocketed away into the blackness.
The diver’s momentum slammed into the body between them and Ethan was pushed backward and away from the entrance to the temple as he saw the diver’s eyes glaring into his. Ethan slammed onto his back on the temple flags, the dying diver on top of him and the other diver on top of them both, and Ethan knew that he could not hope to win the fight. He saw the fierce delight in his assailant’s eyes, Ethan’s grip on his enemy’s rifle useless now as the diver pushed his feet down onto the flags and stood upright. He pushed up with such force that his rifle was torn from Ethan’s grip, and with a flourish of victory the diver aimed the weapon down at Ethan and squeezed the trigger.
Ethan saw something flash behind the diver’s head and suddenly the delight in the man’s eyes vanished as they flew wide and a cloud of blood puffed onto the water behind him. The diver floated up from the stone flags, his eyes wide and staring and his limbs hanging uselessly by his side.
As he rose slowly up he rolled sideways and Ethan saw a thick bladed knife buried hilt–deep in the back of his neck, the diver’s spine severed cleanly, paralyzing him instantly before he could pull the trigger. Behind him floated Lopez, who reached down and with Ethan’s help hauled the second diver’s body off him.
Ethan looked at his watch and he could see that they were out of time, the oxygen in their tanks no longer sufficient for them to make the ascent back to the boat.
*
Raz stared down into the water and felt his guts convulse as he realized that Ethan and Lopez should have surfaced by now. They could have very little air left and he should have been able to see them as they closed in on the surface.
The fishing boat was now flanked on both sides by two speedboats, each of which was manned by four Russian agents who were armed with pistols and grim expressions. Raz knew that Ethan and Nicola could not hope to prevail against such numbers, especially when they could not reach the surface without risking being shot on sight.
Valentin Kurov’s enormous hand gripped his arm like a vice, the barrel of a pistol jammed against his ribs as the big Russian smiled down at him.
‘Do you remember what I said I would do if I found that you lied to me?’
Raz tried to keep the terror from his voice as he replied.
‘I have not lied.’
Valentin grinned and squeezed his arm harder. ‘Then let’s agree that this is probably going to be your unluckiest day.’
‘There!’
Raz turned as one of the Russians pointed to a cloud of bubbles that burst upon the surface close to the fishing boat’s bow. All at once, Raz realized that he was in the unusual position of hoping that it was Ethan or Nicola reaching the surface while at the same time hoping that it was not them, and that they had escaped their pursuers.
A second cloud of bubbles broke the surface near the first, and then Raz’s heart sank as he saw the two Russian divers break the surface not ten yards from the boat. He saw both of the Russians give a hearty thumbs–up to their comrades, and heard a ripple of grim chuckles from the agents surrounding him.
‘Looks like your friends have become permanent residents, Raz,’ Valentin sniggered in his ear as the pistol was pressed harder against his side. ‘Time for you to join them.’
Raz felt his guts churn and his legs felt weak where he knelt on the bow of the fishing boat and watched as the Russian speedboats pulled gently away to collect their comrades. Behind him, Valentin turned to Ranjit and his son with a grim smile.
‘This boat cost two hundred dollars to hire but our work is complete early, therefore you’ll be required to return the money paid, unless you want to give up the boat and swim home.’
Raz felt a grim satisfaction as Ranjit scowled at the Russian and began preparing to leave as his son angrily reached beneath his shirt for a pouch, presumably wherein he had stashed their ill–gotten gains.
‘Slowly now,’ Valentin cautioned, ‘I wouldn’t want you and the old man to pull out a weapon and cut us all down at once now, would we?’
More chuckles from the other Russians, and then Raz saw the two Russian divers in the water each toss something into the two speedboats. The two divers ducked back beneath the waves as he heard cries of alarm screech out from the Russian gunmen, and then two blasts shattered the silence of the ocean and Raz jerked his head away and instinctively dropped onto the boat’s deck as a blast of heat and shrapnel shot out from the two vessels.
The two Russian divers popped up from the surface again, this time firing controlled shots into the Russians that hadn’t been cut down by the grenades tossed into their boats. Raz saw hideously injured Russians screaming, their bodies lacerated with shrapnel and in two cases missing limbs as the divers’ rifle fire cut into them and silenced them.
Valentin Kurov staggered to his feet in the wildly rocking boat and took aim at the divers, and Raz turned and shoved the big man hard in his side. The muscular Russian tumbled off balance as his shot went wide into the water, and then he whirled to point the pistol at Raz, screaming in fury and his face and chest lacerated with bloody wounds.
Valentin’s shot cracked out and Raz cried out in fear but then realized that the shot had missed him and that the big Russian was staring vacantly at Raz, his legs quivering. Then, he slumped to his knees and fell face first into the boat, two large gunshot wounds in his back.
The two Russian divers swam to the fishing boat and clambered aboard one at a time, each covering the other as water streamed off their diving suits. Moments later, they hauled off their masks and Raz stared in amazement as he recognized Ethan and Nicola.
‘Sweet Krishna!’ he gasped. ‘My friends, I am so glad you’re not dead!’
Ethan said nothing as he and Lopez pumped two more rounds into the bodies of the Russians on the fishing boat and then heaved their bodies over the side and into the water.
Already Raz could see tiger sharks swimming toward them, the blood in the water spreading rapidly. Ethan, his face boiling with suppressed rage, stalked closer to the two fishermen, both of whom collapsed to their knees with hands clasped before them, gabbling in desperate Hindu for mercy.
‘They wish only to live,’ Raz said, uncertain if his stomach could stand the sight of any more death.
Lopez glared at Raz as she replied.
‘You tell them that they either tell us everything about who these people are and who sent them, or we’ll leave them out here for the sharks, got it?’
Raz nodded and relayed the instruction, and instantly Ranjit and his son were nodding frantically and both trying to explain everything at once in garbled union.
‘Tell them to get us out of here,’ Ethan snapped as he hauled off the Russian diving suit and searched for his cell phone to call Arnie Hackett. ‘We’ve got a plane to catch.’
***
XVII
Bellveue, Washington DC
Allison Pierce drove slowly down a street that was littered with garbage piled high in unsightly piles alongside tired and torn chainlink fences. There was little traffic at this time of night off Atlantic and 4th Street, and Allison was more than aware of the area’s reputation.
One of the most dangerous areas of the city, Bellveue was a haven for violent crime and the drug trade, the kind of place that people living closer to the more gentrified areas of the city liked to pretend didn’t exist. Just a couple of miles from the district and within sight of the Capitol across the Anacostia, the area was dangerous during the day and positively lethal at night, and now she was here and driving alone to meet a man who would just as likely kill her as talk to her.
Mitchell’s contact had been in touch with her, all messages by text and she had no idea what he looked like. Mitchell had insisted that she tell nobody where she was going, and do nothing that might spook the supposed informant. She knew well that this whole thing could be some kind of elaborate set–up to get her killed, but if so why wouldn’t Mitchell himself have committed the deed when he had first accosted her? The human foible of insatiable curiosity and the lure of a bigger story kept her following Mitchell’s path.
The Atlantis Codex Page 11
