‘It’s 42.5 percent tantalum, 32 percent iron, 15.25 percent thorium, 5.72 percent xenon, 2.5 percent mercury…and 2.3 percent unknown,’ Kate recited with a glazed look on her face as she read the
screen in front of her.
‘What?’ Watkins said, snapping his head up from his own device.
‘Unknown,’ Kate said. ‘The last element is unknown.’
Evron moved to stand next to her. She was shaking. He grabbed her arm and steadied it.
‘What is this thing?’ he asked.
‘Last element unknown,’ she repeated. ‘Could be a radioactive element that came from deep space millennia ago…formed in nuclear fusion…I…I need more technical equipment. Need to get it back to the labs for proper analysis.’
‘Well, it’s radioactive all right,’ Watkins said, looking at his screen. ‘Not massively; we’re okay for now. Judging by the output, it has a half-life of two hundred and fifty thousand years. Exposure to these levels for a couple of hours will cause altered blood chemistry that results in anaemia, headache, and loss of fine motor skills. Long-term exposure will result in memory loss, radiation sickness, and cancer.’
‘That explains the high priest and the twisted bodies,’ Cornell said. ‘So, I take it we put it in a lead container ASAP? Is it safe to move?’
‘Yes,’ Watkins said. Kate nodded her assent.
Evron and Cornell slipped on lead-lined gloves from Cornell’s backpack, and they slowly lifted the rock and lowered into a lead case. They closed it and then slid it back into the backpack. ‘Thank God for that,’ Cornell said, closing up the backpack and putting it on.
‘Only thing now,’ Evron said. ‘We can’t go back the way we came. So how the hell do we get out of here?’
Chapter 30
Jared Lockyer burst into the science offices container, gun first, with six of his men behind him.
‘Looks like this was their command centre,’ he said, taking in the scattered cables and equipment around the central table.
‘Spread out. Three that way.’ He pointed through to the science labs. ‘And two that way,’ he said, poking his gun towards the adjoining door to the pyramid entry room. ‘Nelson, you stay with me. Check out the crap in this room.’
‘Got it, boss,’ the nearest man replied. The rest of split off into two parties.
Lockyer moved to the table and immediately started rummaging through the papers and boxes.
‘I’ve never seen you smile so much on an operation before, boss,’ Nelson said. ‘You’re like a kid in a candy store.’
‘Oh, I’m super excited,’ Lockyer said. ‘There’s a new sheriff in town on this site. This is a big score for me. It’s all going right so far, and I even got to kill that prick Cavill for free. Nothing’s going screw this up. I’m going to get that energy source and be fucking rich.’
‘Hey, boss,’ another man called from the pyramid entry room. ‘We got a doorway here…and people.’
Lockyer dropped the papers and hurried through to the next container.
‘Whoa, that’s gotta be the entrance into the pyramid,’ he said, catching sight of the huge metal door and gaping black hole it was designed to seal shut.
He turned to the wounded archaeologists. ‘And what have we here…civilians? In my pyramid? Who the hell are you?’ He pulled his pistol out and let it hover over the wounded.
‘My…my name’s Phil Cranmer. We’re archaeologists.’
‘Ah yes, the lot that were digging the well and discovered this place. And these other two? They look drugged out of it.’
‘That’s Dave Harper and Tina Hagley. They had a stronger dose of morphine before they…’
‘Before what? Before they left?’
‘Um…I don’t have to tell you anything,’ Phil said.
‘Why?’ Lockyer said. ‘Because Cavill and his band of merry men told you I was the bad guy?’
Phil stayed silent.
‘Well…’ Lockyer knelt down to get close to Phil’s face. He gave him a wide-eyed stare. ‘I am the bad guy, and I’m short on time. So you’re going to tell me everything I want to know. Understand?’ He slapped Phil’s, midriff where burns were bandaged. Phil yelled out in pain.
Lockyer stood up. ‘Now tell me, fat man, is that the main entrance to the pyramid?’
‘You can’t torture us!’ Phil said through gritted teeth.
‘Torture you?’ Lockyer laughed and looked around the room at his men.
‘Why would I torture you? That would take far too long.’
He raised his pistol and shot Dave Harper through the head.
The noise in the container was deafening, and Phil and Tina were caught by some of the blood spatter. Phil had the goggle-eyed look of a fish being hauled onto a boat, and Tina was desperately trying to focus her eyes through the morphine.
Lockyer shifted his gun towards Tina’s face.
‘You’ve lost one friend. You can save another. Did Cavill’s men go into the entrance before we turned up?’
‘Yes…yes.’ Phil gulped for air.
‘How many?’
‘Six…I think.’
‘Good. See? Not so hard to cooperate now, is it?’ He turned to Nelson. ‘Get a six-man away team ready and through that hole in five minutes.’
‘Roger, boss,’ Nelson said. He peeled away to start giving instructions.
Lockyer turned back to Phil. ‘I don’t have time to turn this place upside down, so tell me if there’s anything else I might need to know.’ He pointed the gun at Tina again.
‘No,’ Phil said. ‘They searched the whole place but stayed in these two containers. Apart from when two men got in posing as doctors. Then they ran all over the place.’
‘Those two men came from my company. What happened to them?’
‘They killed them.’
Lockyer shrugged. ‘Two less bonuses I have to pay. Can you tell me anything else of interest?’
‘No,’ Phil said, tears rolling down his face. ‘We’ve been sedated most of the time since they were here. Not taking anything else in.’
Lockyer shifted the gun and shot him in the left leg. Phil howled in agony.
‘That’s the entire truth?’ Lockyer asked. Then he shot Phil in the right leg. ‘Next one’s going in your crotch. Then I pop the girl.’
‘That’s it! That’s it! I swear!’ Phil screamed.
‘I believe you,’ Lockyer said.
He shot him through the right eye. Phil’s body collapsed in a mangled mess.
Lockyer knelt down again and cradled Tina’s face in his hand. ‘You’re cute,’ he said.
Tina was desperately trying to keep her eyes open and move through the drug-induced haze.
‘Ordinarily,’ Lockyer said, ‘I’d keep you around a bit longer so we could spend a little quality time together later. Unfortunately, we’re pressed for time…and you’ve seen my face. No witnesses on this one, sweetheart.’
He put the gun to her temple and pulled the trigger. Tina’s body sagged in a limp heap. Lockyer stood up and turned to his men, who were getting kitted up to go into the pyramid.
‘Almost ready, boss. One minute,’ Nelson reported.
‘Good,’ Lockyer said, grinning. ‘You know, I do love this job.’
Chapter 31
‘What the hell was that?’ Harcourt said in the eerie glow-stick light of the pyramid treasure room.
‘What was what?’ Cornell said.
‘You didn’t hear a sound like a moan?’ Harcourt said.
‘No,’ Cornell said. ‘Where’d it come from?’
‘Must be this wall behind me, if no one else heard it.’
‘Was it like the one we heard earlier, up top?’
‘Yes. Just very soft this time.’
‘Check the wall,’ Evron said. ‘Get every light on it. There can’t be anything living down here. Might be wind in an adjacent tunnel.’
Six beams ploughed all over the ancient wall.
‘Can’t see any h
oles or obvious gaps,’ Sansom said. ‘Anyone else?’ He looked from face to face in the dim light.
The others shook their heads.
‘Well, it’s worth a shot,’ Evron said. ‘Since to go back the way we came, we’ll get pinned down in a firefight with Titan.’
‘What’re you suggesting?’ Cornell said.
‘We’ve still got the wall-breaching explosives. Put a square on each of the three remaining walls. Hopefully, one of them backs onto another room or tunnel,’ Evron said.
Rebecca was still feeling every inch of the wall with her hand. ‘Excuse me,’ she said. ‘This is already a world heritage site. I’m not just going to let you blow it up. Plenty of these types of pyramids did have adjoining rooms. Just give me time to see if there is a hidden release for an opening in the wall.’
‘Sorry, doc. Time is the one thing we don’t have. Sansom, remove her from the wall. Harcourt, get the charges on it.’
‘You…you can’t!’ Rebecca protested, but Sansom already had a grip on her arm and was leading her away.
‘Everybody else, go back up the entrance tunnel till you go around a corner. We’re going to put a person-sized blast on each of the three solid walls in here…and the poisonous dust will kick up. So, let’s get back up there for safety,’ Cornell said, turning and leading the way out. Watkins and Edwards looked at each other briefly and did not need to be told twice. They walked out immediately.
Once Grainger had been escorted out, Sansom returned, and he and Evron assisted Harcourt in setting the charges.
All three of them came scurrying around the corner to join the main group a few minutes later.
‘All set?’ Cornell asked.
‘Yes,’ Harcourt said, presenting the detonators in his hand.
‘Good. Blow it,’ Cornell said.
Everybody crouched down and put their fingers over their ears. Harcourt depressed the triggers. They heard a concussive thump, and a wave of energy surged up the corridor and over them.
‘Wonder if the Titan boys heard that?’ Evron said.
‘Well, they’re not here yet. I think we need to wait a few minutes for that dust to settle again. We don’t want to be coming out of here with it covering our clothes,’ Cornell said.
Chapter 32
Cavill’s eyes flew open as he woke with a start. He wasn’t sure how long he had drifted off for.
He slowly moved all his body parts, checking if anything was broken.
‘Thank God for that,’ he whispered. He was bruised, but everything was fine. He checked his watch. He had only been out for ten minutes. He fished out his small torch and played it around the space he was lying in.
He had fallen through the broken ground floor of the building and into to a basement. He groaned as he slowly stood up and started climbing out of the basement.
‘I have to get back to my people,’ he thought.
He poked his head out from the debris of the house. All seemed quiet. He closed his eyes to listen intently for drones in the sky. Couldn’t hear any. He moved out and cautiously made his way through the narrow streets back towards the pyramid.
Given the losses Titan had sustained so far, Cavill was confident all their remaining forces would be in the pyramid or in its immediate vicinity.
He dared not try to raise the rest of his ground team or the away team for fear they had been captured and would alert the enemy that he was still alive.
That they thought he was dead was now his main weapon in the counter-attack.
Finally, he sneaked his head around a building on the main street that gave a view of where his team had set up their equipment on the ground.
He gave a sharp intake of breath. Three heavily armed Titan men were stationed at strategic points on corners of pyramid. In the middle, near the equipment, he saw Lampack and Fabrice tied up on the ground. He had no idea where Rolleston was, or if he had survived the fall in the desert or strafing by drones.
He was glad the two in front of him were still alive and reasoned that they were being held as bargaining chips if his team inside the pyramid made it out with the prize. He knew from experience that some of the Titan guys were stone-cold killers. If they got what they wanted first, his team would be executed.
He decided to move back into the city by a few streets, circle the pyramid, and come in from another angle to see if the stretched Titan forces were covering the other sides.
After moving a few streets, it hit him: Bramwell.
He quickly reached into his plate carrier for his comms device and checked he was back in range of the wireless network. It was still functioning. He changed frequency on his radio and headset to one of the channels Christian Bramwell tracked. If Bramwell had been able to pick up any of the Titan communications, he might have a better picture of the force he faced.
‘Christian,’ he said quietly. ‘Come in, Christian.’
Silence.
He checked the radio settings again. Everything looked in order.
‘Christian—’
The receiver crackled in his ear. ‘Hi, James. I’m here.’
‘Thank God,’ Cavill said. ‘We’re in deep shit. Are there still drones around?’
‘No, they were launched off a carrier in the Gulf of Guinea. They’re operating at their maximum range to get to you. Gone back to refuel. No doubt they’ll be back to support the inbound American forces.’
‘Okay, so here’s the situation: half the team is in the pyramid, the rest outside are either missing or captured by Titan. I need a way to get really close to the pyramid without being noticed. Did you see anything that could help from the satellite mapping?’
‘Mmm,’ Bramwell said. ‘Funnily enough, there is new satellite technology they’ve just finished using in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. This satellite can see underground to detect if there’s anything of archaeological significance there.’
‘Sounds great, but how is that going to help me save my team?’ Cavill said, confused. ‘I’m after an alternate route to the pyramid.’
‘Well, coming to that,’ Bramwell said. ‘While you’ve been offline, I realised we could use the technology on your location now that the big sand dunes are gone. A lot of these ancient pyramids had secret tunnels coming out of them. That’s how they sealed sections of them from the inside. So…I managed to hack the feed of the people using the satellite and rerouted it to pass over your location and do its magic. I’ve got a map showing loads of infrared routes of tunnels radiating out from the pyramid. Some surface in surrounding buildings as exit routes. I’ll direct you to the most appropriate building near you.’
Cavill sagged with relief. ‘Christian, if we were in the same room, I’d hug you right now.’
‘No problem. Move one hundred metres to your right and then fifty metres forward.’
‘Moving.’
Cavill soon came to the two-storey building in question.
‘That’s it,’ Bramwell said. ‘The map shows a tunnel from the centre of it.’
‘The last building I was in had a basement, so that makes sense,’ Cavill said, moving through the entrance. His eyes quickly adjusted in the light, and he moved towards a square hole in the floor of one corner of the room. Pulling out his torch, he saw that it was a basement-type room similar to the one that he had been in earlier. Dropping down into it, he played the torch beam around and found a triangle of rocks up against one wall. The rest of the room was bare. He started pulling the rocks away and soon found a musty tunnel that he could walk through in a crouching position.
‘Christian, I’ve found it. I’m going in. Not sure if I’ll lose you inside. Where does it come out?’
‘It runs all the way to the northeast corner of the pyramid. It’ll take you back into the pyramid, but I don’t know where. It also goes under the line of buildings closest to the pyramid, so you could come out there. Then you’d be as close as you can get without breaking cover.’
‘I don’t fancy getting lost in the pyram
id maze; would burn too much time if that happened. I’ll come out in the last building and go from there.’
‘Okay. Keep straight for about three hundred metres and then look for an exit.’
‘Got it. Going in,’ Cavill said, stepping into the darkness.
Once his entry point had disappeared in the background, he tried the radio again. ‘Christian, you still there?’
‘Still here. Guess it’s not too deep underground.’
Cavill was buoyed by the fact he still had Bramwell with him. ‘It’s hot and heavy work in here,’ he said. ‘I’m sweating like a beast; going to go quiet for a bit.’
‘Okay.’
Cavill kept moving forward with only his torchlight for guidance. He was counting off his steps to make sure he stopped at the correct exit.
Something flickered in the darkness as his light moved over it. Getting closer, he stopped to inspect what it was. He played his light around a small, black tablet about the size of his hand. Reaching down to pick it up, he found the surface to be beautifully smooth, almost soft to the touch. Turning it over revealed nothing. It was the same on both sides. He couldn’t decide if it was made from stone or glass. The edges were half a centimetre thick all round. It didn’t seem to do anything, but it intrigued him, as it seemed out of place with the rest of the stone city.
‘Ancient place must be full of weird stuff,’ he said.
‘What was that?’ Bramwell said over the radio.
‘Nothing,’ Cavill replied, putting the object into a zipped pocket at the back of his plate carrier to look at later in the light.
He continued counting off steps in the darkness.
‘Couple of minutes, I should be at the exit point,’ he said to Bramwell.
Chapter 33
‘Away team still making their way through the tunnels,’ Nelson reported to Lockyer in the science offices. ‘They report hearing an explosion further down.’
‘Shit. Hope that wasn’t the payday going up in smoke. Tell them to haul their asses down there,’ Lockyer said.
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