The Resurrection Key

by Andy McDermott

  She shook off her anger. The Veteres were long gone. It was the Nephilim, their bastard outcast offspring, who now posed a danger. Hate had begat hate, Gadreel and Sidona about to take it out on the race they considered the inferior side of their genetic heritage.

  Unless she could stop them.

  Halfway up. What to do when she reached Sidona? Proving Gadreel’s beliefs about humans true would, ironically, be the best approach: resorting to violence. Even if she could speak the Nephilim language, Nina doubted she could persuade the high priestess to embrace peace.

  She neared the top. Sidona came into view. She sat cross-legged, one hand raised to hold something against a large, spiky node protruding from the ceiling, the other touching the crystal inside the tracker’s toroidal case. The machine was linked by cables to the wall – to the entire pillar. The colossal spire was a confluence for vast amounts of earth energy . . .

  And Sidona now controlled it all.

  Not for long, Nina vowed. If the Nephilim could influence the flow of power across the world, so could she. Deal with Sidona, and she could stop the attack.

  She clutched the spar more tightly as she passed the final prisoners to reach the ledge. Sidona still had not registered her presence, entirely focused on the other world beyond the physical. Again Nina hesitated. She was about to club down a completely helpless, unaware woman. Even though she knew the stakes, it still felt wrong—

  Something changed.

  The light coursing through the crystal shifted in hue, a turquoise glow flowing through the chamber’s walls like dye in clear water. She looked down. One place was unaffected – because it already was the new colour.

  Where the warrior was awakening.

  ‘Oh shit . . .’ Nina whispered. She saw what Sidona was holding against the node: the resurrection key. The qi tracker was again amplifying her control of the earth energy flow, weaponising it – to wake all the Nephilim simultaneously.

  She wouldn’t just be facing one revived warrior. She would be confronting hundreds, emerging from their long imprisonment confused, angry . . . and with Gadreel and Sidona to lead them against their enemies.

  Gadreel, at least. His wife could be taken out of the equation right now. Nina hefted the bar and hurried towards the sitting giant—

  Sidona gasped – and her eyes opened.

  Wu reached the intersection and rounded the corner. Liu had put his torch on the floor, shining it up at the ceiling to act as a makeshift lantern. He only had one prisoner: the girl, tears streaking her face. ‘Where’s the woman?’ she demanded.

  He gestured up the side tunnel. ‘Dead. She tried to run.’

  ‘Chase is coming. Put down the bomb and help me kill him.’

  ‘Where are the others?’ he asked as he started to unfasten his heavy cargo.

  ‘He’s killed them. Move, quick!’ She grabbed Macy and pulled her close.

  ‘Get off me!’ Macy cried, struggling and kicking as Wu forcibly manoeuvred her into position as a human shield.

  ‘Shut up!’ She aimed her gun at the intersection, tactical light illuminating it. Running footsteps grew louder – then slowed.

  ‘Daddy!’ shrieked Macy. ‘She’s got me! There’s another man—’

  Wu angrily clamped a hand over her mouth. Macy writhed, driving her elbow into the Chinese woman’s stomach. The major grunted – the blow was surprisingly painful. She retaliated by cracking her MP7’s grip against the girl’s skull. Macy let out a muffled shriek.

  Liu finally released his harness and carefully swung the bomb to the floor, then raised his weapon. Wu watched the intersection intently. The tunnel had gone silent. ‘Chase!’ she shouted in English. ‘I know you are there! I have your daughter. Show yourself.’

  ‘Let Macy go or I’ll kill you,’ came the blunt reply.

  ‘Show yourself or I will kill her!’ Wu placed the muzzle of her gun against Macy’s head – but frowned. Something wasn’t right, Chase’s voice sounding . . . odd.

  It didn’t matter. He was no more than five metres away, almost impossible to miss at such close range. ‘Turn your light out,’ she told Liu in muttered Mandarin. He obeyed, collecting and switching off the torch. ‘Countdown from three – I’ll turn mine out on one. On zero, fire a sweep around the corner. Move into position.’

  The soldier crept forward. Macy tried to shout a warning, but only stifled moans escaped from behind Wu’s hand. ‘Three,’ the major began. ‘Two . . .’

  At one, Wu switched off her light, plunging the passage into darkness – and a moment later, Liu whipped around the corner and sent a deafening blaze of fire down the tunnel, bullets ricocheting from both walls.

  The MP7’s thirty-round magazine fell empty. Liu switched his torch back on and shone it down the tunnel, expecting to see the Englishman lying dead on the floor.

  He was on the floor – but still very much alive.

  Eddie knew that rounding the corner to face two enemies would be suicide – but he also knew the Chinese would act very soon, the urgency of Wu’s orders a giveaway. He advanced to just short of the junction and silently lay flat on his chest. Gun aimed up at the corner, he waited for the inevitable attack – which went right over his head. The MP7’s muzzle flash obscured him from the soldier’s sight . . . until it was too late.

  Three armour-piercing rounds punched up through Liu’s stomach into his chest. He crashed to the red stone floor, his torch rolling away down the incline to wedge against a wall.

  Eddie jumped up. Wu hadn’t yet turned on her light. He raised the MP7 and whirled around the corner. The sight flared as it found hot targets against cold stone—

  An object was starkly silhouetted against the woman and the girl’s bright conjoined shapes. A gun – pointed at Macy’s head.

  With his sights not zeroed, Eddie couldn’t risk taking a shot at Wu. He sidestepped for a better angle—

  Too late. Wu’s tactical light clicked back on, illuminating the side of Macy’s face. The Chinese agent turned to pull her between them. ‘Drop the gun!’ she snarled.

  ‘Kill her and I kill you,’ he growled back.

  ‘And then you will kill yourself,’ she sneered. ‘Knowing you had let your only child die? You could not live with that.’

  His lips curled in anger – and she responded with a small, cruel smile. ‘Where’s Sandra?’ he demanded.

  ‘Dead,’ came the cold reply.

  ‘She tried to run!’ said Macy, crying. ‘That man shot her!’

  A desperate plan started to form. ‘Macy, everything’s going to be okay,’ said Eddie, fully aware that he had no way to guarantee that. He surreptitiously clicked the fire selector to single shot for maximum accuracy. ‘Just . . . think fast.’

  Macy’s eyes widened in understanding – and she dropped—

  Eddie fired. The bullet hit Wu’s right shoulder, knocking her backwards. She screamed. Macy broke from her hold. ‘Down!’ he yelled as the gun swung towards him. He fired again, but only clipped the woman’s upper arm—

  Both he and Macy dived as Wu’s MP7 blazed. The Yorkshireman rolled down the sloping tunnel as bullets pounded the wall behind him.

  The gunfire stopped. Eddie darted back to the corner, resetting his weapon to full auto. ‘Macy! To me!’ He lunged out to cover his daughter’s approach, finding his opponent—

  Wu had retreated, dropping down behind a large barrel-shaped backpack on the floor. It wasn’t big enough to give her full cover. He grabbed Macy and pushed her around the corner, then fired a burst at Wu as he withdrew. The rounds cracked off rock and metal, but not flesh—

  ‘Daddy!’ Macy shrieked. ‘Don’t shoot! It’s a bomb!’

  He froze. The pack must be some sort of demolition charge; it was big enough to contain several dozen kilograms of high explosive. That would reduce himself, Macy and Wu to their component atoms an
d blast a big hole in Uluru’s innards if it went off . . .

  If it went off. Modern explosives were specifically designed for stability – C4 could be dropped into burning petrol or blasted with a shotgun and still not detonate. If one bullet hadn’t set it off, more wouldn’t either.

  It was safe – which meant Wu wasn’t. He moved to take another shot—

  ‘No, Daddy!’ Macy cried, desperately grabbing his gun hand. ‘A nuclear bomb!’

  That made him pull back. ‘You what?’

  ‘She is right,’ Wu said, voice strained. ‘A sixty-kiloton nuclear demolition charge. And . . . I have just activated it.’

  ‘Well, that was pretty bloody stupid,’ said Eddie. Was she telling the truth? She sounded sincere. ‘Because you’ll be next to it when it goes off.’

  ‘There was always a chance that we would not return from this mission. We accepted that. It was worth it to wipe out those creatures.’ She almost spat the word. ‘Which will happen in . . . twenty-nine minutes.’

  ‘Oh great, a ticking clock,’ he said sarcastically, trying to hide his concern. ‘You just got shot twice, and you must be losing blood – think you can stay conscious for that long?’

  ‘Only I can stop the countdown. And there is no torture you can use to make me. But if you try anything and I am still awake, I will detonate it manually.’

  He caught himself before saying, ‘So what’s stopping you?’ There was nothing stopping her – and if she had to, she would push the button. He had to neutralise her. But how, without being gunned down himself?

  Blindly hosing the tunnel with automatic fire wouldn’t work. He had to be certain of killing her—

  The dead man. If he had grenades, the stand-off would be over in moments. Wu would be killed, but nuclear bombs were precision instruments. Even a grenade explosion was more likely to damage than detonate.

  ‘Macy,’ he whispered, pointing to the dead man’s flashlight, ‘grab that torch. Then go down into the room at the bottom and find Barney. He’s hurt, but he should be able to look after you. He’s near the wall on the right about halfway along.’

  ‘What about the bad guys?’ she said.

  ‘They’re all dead.’ She made a frightened sound. ‘Just . . . try not to look at them,’ he said in a feeble attempt at reassurance.

  It didn’t work. ‘Where’s Mom?’ Macy asked, even more afraid.

  ‘Other side of the shaft. She’s okay – I hope. Now, get the light and find Barney.’

  ‘What about the bomb?’

  ‘I’ll sort out the bomb. Go on!’

  He squeezed her hand. She reluctantly descended and picked up the torch, giving him a last look before continuing.

  He waited for her to get clear, then searched the fallen soldier. ‘Arse!’ A spare mag, but no explosives. The nuke had obviously been more than enough.

  No weapons – but maybe the Chinese could provide a defence . . .

  Nina overcame her shock at the Nephilim’s recovery and swung the spar—

  Sidona whipped up an arm to intercept it.

  The metal rang with the impact, the priestess screaming and scrabbling backwards. Damn it! Her expanded senses had felt the life within the pillar – and warned her the intruder was there. Nina swung at her again, catching her shoulder. The key clanked to the floor.

  Sidona jumped up, towering over her attacker. Her physical presence alone made Nina waver, but she swept her weapon at the Nephilim’s knee. Sidona twisted away, the strike only glancing, but enough to cut her skin.

  The giant’s mouth curled into a pained snarl. She charged at her opponent. Nina tried to dodge, but Sidona used her sheer reach to backhand her hard in the face – then grab her ponytail.

  Nina shrieked as she was hauled off the floor by her hair. She felt strands snapping, her own weight tearing hard at her scalp. She flailed the bar at her attacker’s arm. It hit her elbow, drawing blood – but too late to stop Sidona from hurling her off the ledge.

  She screamed as she fell—

  Her cry was cut off as she slammed down on the spiralling path fifteen feet below.

  But she was not safe. Her legs were over the edge, tipping her into another fall—

  She dropped to a lower turn of the pathway. Her left knee hit the crystal with hammer-blow force. Another scream, but she managed to roll against the wall beneath one of the frozen figures.

  An angry exclamation from above – and Sidona started down the spiral to finish the job.

  Nina looked around. Where was her weapon?

  An echoing clang gave her the answer. The spar had fallen all the way to the bottom of the chamber.

  ‘God damn it,’ she snarled, tasting blood. Pain coursed through her knee, and the back of her head burned where her ponytail had almost been ripped from her skull. But she forced herself back to her feet. She had no choice. If she didn’t fight, Sidona would kill her.

  But how could she defeat a foe almost twice her size?

  Memories rushed back: Eddie training her in martial arts, many years previously. After her experiences in the hunt for Atlantis, where she had been forced into cooperation by more physically powerful adversaries, the lingering humiliation had made her want to protect herself. She was far short of Eddie’s combat prowess, and had not actively trained for some time, but could still deliver a bloody nose to anyone who underestimated her.

  The problem was, she couldn’t even reach Sidona’s nose . . .

  She clenched her fists, then straightened, facing up the slope. The priestess pounded down it. Nina started towards her. Bad idea. Her knee flared again. She could hardly walk, never mind run . . .

  Let her come to you. Let her think you can’t fight . . .

  She let out a loud gasp, stumbling on her aching leg. It was an exaggeration, though not by much. Sidona seemed taken in, however. A cruel half-smile came to the Nephilim’s face as she rounded the spiral and charged at the smaller woman—

  Nina threw herself at the giant’s feet.

  Sidona was too close and moving too quickly to draw either leg back into a kick. All she could do was jump awkwardly over the unexpected obstacle, stumbling as her feet came down behind her opponent.

  Nina swung around. She did have the chance to kick – and drove her boot’s toecap against Sidona’s ankle.

  Giant or not, Nephilim anatomy matched a human’s, the same spots just as vulnerable. Sidona shrieked, staggering – and Nina sprang up and body-slammed her at hip height.

  Sidona sailed over the edge with a scream—

  She hit the path thirty feet below, her right leg folding with a hideous crack of breaking bone. The impact flung her away from the chamber’s inner wall – and she plummeted all the way to its floor. Her terrified cry ended sharply as her skull burst against the unyielding crystal.

  Panting, Nina looked down. The crimson spray around Sidona’s body told her the high priestess was no longer a threat. But the events she had set in motion were still a colossal danger. They had to be stopped.

  She limped back up the slope – seeing to her alarm that the resurrection was well under way. The crystalline threads holding every entombed Nephilim were starting to shrink. She only had minutes before facing an entire army . . .

  Leg throbbing, she finally reached the ledge. The key lay on the floor near the tracker. The device’s laptop displayed the world map, the lines of earth energy flowing through the planet—

  And the Chinese weapon’s target.

  Her breath froze in her throat. The Mandarin was unreadable, but the crosshairs were fixed upon a location she recognised instantly. The eastern seaboard of North America, a third of the way down the United States from the Canadian border . . .

  New York. Her home.

  The pain in Wu’s shoulder and arm almost overwhelmed her, and Chase was right: she was losing blood. But sh
e refused to submit. Even if it cost her her life, she would carry out her self-appointed mission – to burn every last one of the Nephilim monsters from the earth.

  She heard rustling noises. Was the Englishman searching Liu’s body? He hadn’t been carrying any grenades, but Chase could still use his gun to double his firepower. Could she withstand an attack?

  If she couldn’t . . . her mission might fail. Maybe she should detonate the bomb manually, while she still could . . .

  She shifted position to see the control panel. It was set into the boxy protrusion, a twenty-button keypad glowing softly beside the main activation switch. A small LED display showed the timer. It flicked down to twenty-eight minutes. The two minutes already gone had felt like an eternity. Again, maddeningly, Chase was right. She wouldn’t stay conscious until the end.

  So the end would have to come sooner.

  A six-digit code was needed to switch the detonator from the timer to manual control. Once correctly entered, all she had to do was flick the switch. She started to tap it into the keypad—

  Noise from the tunnel. Chase was moving.

  Two digits left, but she didn’t have time to put them in. A figure lunged around the corner into her spotlight—

  She fired – but it wasn’t Chase.

  Eddie hauled the dead man from the floor, awkwardly holding the corpse in front of his body. ‘Come on, Bernie,’ he muttered as he brought his ungainly cargo to the corner – and swung out into the open.

  Wu’s MP7 fired. Bullets smacked into the human shield’s torso, making it twitch and flail – but some of the armour-piercing rounds penetrated to hit the man behind.

  Eddie cried out as he felt searing metal tear into his chest. He lurched back – but saw the glaring tactical light over the corpse’s shoulder. He aimed his gun to the side of the dazzling spot and held down the trigger—