by Tom Hunter
“There’s no such thing as a good uh-oh,” said Josh frantically, getting up and going over to a keyboard set into the table above the control panel. He started tapping away at keys, constantly ducking back down to check the display next to the wires.
“What’s wrong?” asked Shafira, biting her nails again.
“Pin’s chip is more sophisticated than I thought,” Josh told her. “It incorporated a lock out system that triggered a self-destruct timer if anyone attempted to remove it. If I can’t disarm it, it’ll fry the circuit and we’re on our own. I don’t want to be rude, but you need to shut up for a while to let me focus on what I’m doing or my attempts at reverse hacking are doomed to failure.”
Shafira patted him on the back. “Of course. I believe in you. It’s a good thing we’re on our own so you can work. I’ll go away and leave you to it.”
She stepped away to give Josh some space. However, just as he turned to disarm the chip, there was a whirring sound.
“Uh-oh.” Shafira gulped.
“What is it now?” huffed Josh, shaking his head as he glared at her.
“Someone’s called the elevator,” she replied. “It must be Basile. It’s going to be Basile. Right?”
“I hope so,” Josh said, turning back to the circuit board. “But if it’s not, I need you to handle whoever it is. The clock’s a-ticking and if I don’t sort this out now, we’re lost. You can handle them, can’t you?”
“Sure I can,” nodded Shafira, pretending to feel more confident than she actually did.
Pulling out her pistol, she took up a position to the side of the elevator, taking cover behind a pillar in case they were about to be ambushed. She watched the numbers over the door count up agonizingly slowly.
1… 2… 3…
An eternity seemed to pass before the ping announced the elevator’s arrival. The doors slid open to reveal…
“Valentina!” Shafira dropped her gun in her haste to take cover behind the pillar. She cursed herself under her breath as it lay tantalizingly out of reach. She couldn’t risk exposing herself to recover it. The element of surprise was the only advantage she had and she didn’t want to waste it.
The finder made her way out of the elevator, dragging an unconscious Basile along next to her while she kept her gun pointed at his head.
“What do you think, Basile?” she asked. “Does this seem like a good place to end your life?”
Thirty-Eight
Akhenaton and Waleed dodged and weaved down an alley leading away from the Capitol building.
“Don’t these guys ever give up?” complained Waleed, as Akhenaton leaned round a corner and fired an arrow at the soldiers chasing them. “Where’s a helpful ricochet or some friendly fire when you need it?”
“We need to find a way to shake them off our tail,” Akhenaton replied. “We can’t lead them back to Samuel, and these guys are not going to give up the chase until we’re dead.”
He sent another arrow at the soldiers, pulling back to shelter behind the wall as they returned fire.
Waleed snapped open the barrel of his gun to check his remaining ammo, whistling in dismay when he saw how few bullets were left. Patting at his pockets, he found another couple of rounds. They were all he had left.
“I’ve only got so many shots left,” he announced to Akhenaton. “If we don’t figure something out and fast, we’ll be out of ammo and they can take us out at their leisure. I don’t know about you, but I don’t fancy being turned over to the Bruard interrogators.”
“Don’t worry,” Akhenaton reassured him. “As long as God it watching over us, we have nothing to fear.”
Waleed raised an eyebrow at his friend. “Screw it,” he sighed. “Anything’s worth a shot at this stage.” Closing his eyes and clasping his hands together, he raised his head to the heavens. “Dear God,” he intoned. “Please help us out. I want to survive this. I’m too young and good looking to die and I’ve still got a number of scams I need to run. Let me live and I’ll volunteer for an hour or something at a soup kitchen. Seriously. Amen.”
He crossed his heart, and, opening his eyes, grinned at Akhenaton, giving him a thumbs up.
It was Akhenaton’s turn to sigh and shake his head, as he threw Waleed a look that said ‘close enough.’
Waleed’s mood shifted in an instant. He cocked his head, noticing the gunfire had stopped. He held up a finger to tell Akhenaton to be quiet as he tentatively poked his head around the corner.
“Muhla! 'Ant 'ayda! Akhle 'aslihtuk wa'akhraj biadiak,” yelled out one of the soldiers.
“They want us to put down our weapons and go out with our hands up,” whispered Waleed. “But I have a better idea. Follow my lead and play dead.”
Akhenaton frowned, but had no time to argue. Waleed pushed him to the ground and jumped out from behind the corner, tears visibly running down his face.
“You brutes! You callous brutes!” he wailed. “You killed my best friend. He was a good man, better than anyone I’ve ever met. How cruel the fates are that it was he who fell. I should be the one lying there. I’m not even half the man he was. Why, God, why?”
Waleed fell to his knees, sobbing hysterically into his hands.
The two soldiers looked at each other, unsure how to deal with such an outpouring of emotion. One of them stepped forward and prodded Waleed with the barrel of his gun. The thief looked up, his cheeks bright red with emotion, before burying his face into his hands again.
“Wait a minute,” said the soldier who’d nudged him. “I know this guy. He was on the island with those other traitors. I heard that that chick Valentina wanted to have a crack at him herself. Thank the Bruard it wasn’t this one we killed. There’ll be a nice bonus in this for us if we take him in alive.”
“Take me if you want,” sniveled Waleed. “I’ve got nothing to live for now. I hope you can sleep at night with blood money staining your hands.”
“I reckon I’ll sleep just fine,” sneered the soldier, slinging his gun over his shoulder as he moved closer to Waleed.
As he bent down to grab Waleed by the arm, Akhenaton performed a graceful roll, springing lithely to his feet next to the soldier. Caught unawares, it was easy for the Knight to yank the rifle off the soldier’s arm. Making a little grimace of disgust at having to touch a forbidden weapon, Akhenaton tossed it away, while Waleed took out his gun, shooting the other soldier at point blank range.
He turned to shoot the first soldier, but Akhenaton had already dealt with him. Grappling with the soldier from behind, he put him in an arm lock and pressed on his carotid artery, cutting off the blood supply to his brain. In a few short seconds, the guard was unconscious. Akhenaton laid him on the ground, more tenderly than the man deserved.
“You know, Waleed,” he remarked. “It never fails to amaze me how many people fall for your tricks. They’re so corny!”
“Never underestimate the stupidity of morons,” shrugged Waleed, crossing over to pick up the assault rifle from where Akhenaton had thrown it. “And never waste a perfectly good weapon. You might not want to use this, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us aren’t willing to defend ourselves. Now, much as I’d love to stand around and have you tell me how great I am, we really ought to hurry up and catch up with Samuel. Who knows what mischief that man has got himself into without us?”
Thirty-Nine
Shafira crouched down behind the brushed metal panel to the left of the elevator when she saw Valentina stepping out of the elevator doors, hoping she hadn’t been seen. It offered little protection if the other woman turned round, but Valentina didn’t seem to be bothered about securing the room.
“Waleed?” snarled Valentina. “Waleed? Where are you, you little weasel? If you don’t get your butt out here within the next five seconds, I’m going to kill this idiot and move on to find another one of your friends.”
She rapped Basile on the head with her gun. Shafira clapped a hand over her mouth to hold back the cry that almost burst forth. It broke her heart
to see Basile so helpless.
“One… Two…”
Valentina continued to make her way into the main room at the top of the tower, yelling out her countdown, but she stopped in her tracks when she saw Josh still struggling with the comms system.
“My, my, what have we here?” she smirked. “You might not be Waleed, but you’ll do as an appetizer.”
“Busy right now, Valentina.” Josh didn’t even look at her while he continued to work on disarming the chip.
“I see you’re having fun with my little invention,” she observed, which drew a startled look from Josh. “Oh yes, I’m a double threat,” she laughed. “Brains as well as beauty. That chip you’re working on is my baby. I did a pretty good job on it, even if I do say so myself. I can’t imagine you’ve got the brains to fry it, but let’s be on the safe side. One shot is all it’ll take to shut down the entire comms system and by the time it comes back online, our work will be done.”
Slowly, she angled the gun round, moving it away from Basile to point directly between Josh’s eyes.
“Bye-bye, beautiful.” Valentina blew him a kiss, but as she squeezed the trigger, Shafira leaped out of her hiding place and threw herself at Valentina’s arm. She knocked the gun out of Valentina’s grip. It clattered away, sliding underneath a cabinet.
Josh nodded his approval to Shafira, turning to work on the circuits once more. Not even a near death experience was enough to stop him doing his best to call for help.
“So it comes to this, does it?” shrugged Valentina, as Shafira stood in front of her, clenching her hands into fists and putting them up in front of her face as Samuel had taught her. “I suppose there is something rather poetic about killing Samuel’s girlfriend first. You were the one who caused us all the trouble in the first place, after all.”
“Save your breath,” spat Shafira. “You’re going to need it.”
She lashed out at Valentina, who bent over backwards Matrix style to avoid the hit.
“The little kitten has claws,” she snorted. “Shame I’m going to have to put this kitten down.”
She whirled round, kicking out at Shafira, catching her on the side of the knee to force her to the ground.
Valentina towered over the other woman. “I have a poisonous blade in my shoe,” she told her. “One touch of the blade and this will all be over, but where would be the fun in that? No, I’m going to take my time with you. Let’s see just how much work Josh can do as he listens to your dying screams in the background.”
Reaching down, she grabbed Shafira by the hair and dragged her away from Josh to the middle of the room. Shafira scrabbled at her grip, feeling her hair being torn out by the roots, but Valentina was relentless as she threw her against the wall.
Shafira landed heavily, winded, but, somehow, she managed to pull herself upright again, dodging a punch from Valentina, who caught her fist on the wall instead.
“You’ll pay for that,” she swore, licking at her knuckles where blood was welling up.
“First blood to me, I think,” whooped Shafira.
“Go get her, tiger,” muttered Josh, not daring to risk watching the fight as he continued to tap on the keyboard to find the right command to deactivate Valentina’s chip.
Taking advantage of Valentina’s momentary distraction, Shafira jabbed at her twice with her left hand before following up with a cross from her right. She felt a wave of satisfaction with each hit that landed, but her advantage was short-lived. Trying the move again, Valentina anticipated her fists, and she nimbly stepped to the side, grabbing Shafira’s wrist. Holding it in a painful lock, she spun the other woman around, launching her at the doors that led to the viewing platform that ran around the outside of the tower.
Glass shattered in all directions. Shafira was barely able to brace herself, as she landed amidst the lethal shards.
Wincing with agony at the cuts all over her body, she tried to stand up, but she’d badly twisted her ankle in the fall. All she could do was crawl backwards, away from Valentina who was taking her time to sashay towards her.
“Tut, tut, McCarthy,” pouted Valentina. “He should have taught you better than that if you were to stand a chance against me. Didn’t you know that you never repeat the same move? I knew exactly what you were going to do before you did it. This is almost too easy.” She kicked Shafira in the gut, making her writhe in pain, even as she still desperately tried to escape.
“When Samuel finds your broken body at the base of the tower-”
Kick
“I hope he realizes this whole mess is all his fault-”
Kick
“Although his heartbreak will be nothing compared to what I have in store for Waleed-”
Kick
“Quite frankly, Shafira, I’m doing you a favor, sparing you from everything yet to come.”
Kick
With each blow, Shafira was forced perilously closer to the edge of the platform, until there was nowhere left for her to go but to follow Khalil down to the ground.
“Time to say goodbye, Shafira.”
Valentina lifted her boot for one final blow. Shafira managed to grab at her heel, stopping her before her foot connected, but the finder was relentless. Taking hold of the railing set at waist height, Valentina took advantage of her height and the pull of gravity to push Shafira over the edge.
“No!” She screamed as she fell, barely managing to catch hold of the edge of the platform to stop her fall.
“I have to hand it to you. You put up a good fight,” Valentina gloated, standing over her. “Another life, you and I might have been allies, friends, even. But my victory was always going to be inevitable. You bleeding hearts are all the same. You want to save the world but you can’t even save yourselves. You’re going to end up just like Fatima: dead. You’ve got to give the old girl credit. She held out longer against Pin’s torture than I expected. He told me all about it, how she was so determined not to give him anything, how she deluded herself that her death could have some meaning if she could only protect her people. But, like all the others, in the end, she caved. She failed, and so will you.”
Shafira could feel her fingers slipping from the ledge, sweat making it difficult for her to maintain her grip. Desperately, she reached out with her other hand, trying to pull herself back up to safety.
“If it were up to me, I’d have slit your throat back on Pin’s island,” Valentina continued, her tone light as if she were merely discussing the weather. “Worthless soft women like you, spoiled by years behind a desk, could never cut it in the real world. You have no idea the things I’ve done to get where I am today.”
“I’d never want to be where you are!” protested Shafira.
“What? Safe on the platform while you’re about to fall to your death?” Valentina laughed. “I beg to differ, my dear. Now where was I? Oh yes. This little piggy went to market. This little piggy stayed at home.”
She knelt down next to Shafira. As she recited the words to the well-known verse, Valentina danced her fingers up and down the back of Shafira’s hand, teasing her and taunting her into losing her grip.
“And this little piggy went aaargh! All the way down to the ground!”
Suddenly, she did a karate chop at Shafira’s hand, but with a last minute surge of strength, Shafira lashed out with her other hand to catch at Valentina’s wrist.
“Women like me are stronger than we appear,” she growled, yanking at Valentina.
Her kneeling position meant that she was leaning forward and Shafira’s determined tug was all it took to overbalance her. Valentina’s look of panic was priceless as she fell from the tower. But Shafira couldn’t take any pleasure from it, as the sudden jolt was enough to cause her to lose her grip and follow the other woman down.
“Josh!” she screamed, closing her eyes so she wouldn’t have to see her approaching doom…
…only to feel someone grab her wrist, saving her at the very last minute.
She looked up. “
Basile?”
The Frenchman beamed down at her, having thrown himself to the floor to catch her.
“At your service, Mademoiselle,” he nodded.
“Boy, am I glad to see you,” she breathed. “I thought I was dead for sure.”
“I am a gentleman,” smiled Basile. “I couldn’t very well let a lady die for me, now, could I?”
He reached out with his other hand to help pull Shafira back to safety, the big man’s strength easily lifting her. Just as she collapsed onto the platform, her heart pounding what felt like a thousand beats per minute, they heard a cry of victory coming from inside.
“Got you, you bitch!” Josh punched the air in success. “Now when you two have quite finished lounging around out there, I could do with some help in figuring out how to contact the Tunisian military. The sooner we get that done, the sooner we can go find Samuel and the rest and dig them out of the inevitable hole they’ll have got themselves into.”
Forty
Samuel edged his way down a dimly lit stone corridor, trying to find the right speed between moving as quickly as he could to catch up with Pae and Pin, and not going so fast that he’d miss any potential traps waiting for him. With no clues or information from the Knights to guide him, he was running blind.
Burning torches were set into the walls every fifteen feet or so, flickering with eerie, green flames. Samuel got the impression they’d been burning for a very long time, yet the torches showed no sign of running out of fuel. Yet another engineering marvel for Basile to examine after all this was done.
Out of all the places he’d been so far, this was the one that had a vibe that suggested it could genuinely be haunted by a resurrected, bloodthirsty mummy.
The walls were painted with more murals of St. Augustine. This time, the saint was surrounded with babies and children of all creeds and races. He seemed to be welcoming them all as his family, providing no clue as to who his descendants might actually be.
