Ackers regarded Dumond with disdain, grabbed his throat, and lifted him several inches off the ground. For the first time, he saw fear in his employer’s eyes. “Shut the fuck up, you little pissant.” Ackers tossed Dumond aside like a rag doll, the smaller man landing in a heap by the control panel. Ackers coolly picked up his assault rifle and walked back out of the niche.
Grabbing the first man he saw, he screamed into his ear, “Where did Randall go!”
The mercenary blinked in surprise and pointed in the direction the professor and his group had run. Ackers released the man from his iron grip and ran off in pursuit.
* * * *
Another quake rocked the cavern, shaking the city violently and causing rocks to plummet from the cavern above.
“This place is getting more and more unstable. We’re running out of time!” Randall shouted.
“How much time left, Dr. Randall?” George asked.
Randall glanced down at his watch while he ran. “Forty-eight minutes.” There was a slight pause. “How did you know that the control panel showed the remaining time?”
“Your response when you accessed the control panel. That’s the first thing I would have checked and, judging by your reaction, I knew we were pushing it.”
“Dad, exactly what happens in forty-eight minutes?”
“I’m not exactly sure, but in forty-eight minutes I think this volcano is going to blow!”
“Forty-eight minutes! We’ll never get out of here in time!” George yelled.
“How could they predict the eruption time of a volcano? That’s impossible!” Sam said.
“I don’t know. Their technology is thousands of years ahead of ours,” Randall said, almost out of breath.
So far his plan was working. The group had zigzagged several times through the streets and eluded Ackers and his men. Of course, Randall thought, Yupanqui’s tribe was probably playing a large role in keeping them occupied. Stopping for a moment to get his bearings, Randall paused at the end of a row of buildings and motioned for Sam and George to be silent and stay put. He walked gingerly to the edge of the last structure on the street and slowly peered around the corner.
Just as he suspected, the Tablet room was directly to their right and about 300 yards from their current location. Unfortunately, there would be little cover for this last dash. He had unknowingly led them to what appeared to be a public square, beautifully landscaped, but with very few structures.
“This looks like a plaza. It must be where they all get together,” Sam said, sneaking up behind her father. “Look over there.” She pointed to a small feature that looked like a fountain, but instead of water, there was smoke.
“The magma is leaching into the water system. It’s finding its way up through fissures in the rock.”
“What are we doing?” George asked, joining them. Seeing the large open space, he commented, “This doesn’t look good.”
“George, on my mark, we run full speed, no stopping! Sam, you’re the fastest, you take the medallion. George and I will draw the attention of Ackers’s men. George, you run diagonally across the square toward that small building in the middle. That will offer you some protection. I’ll run at Ackers’s men to draw their fire.”
“Are you crazy? You’ll be killed!” Sam yelled.
“It’s our only chance. Sam, count to ten after George takes off, and then make a beeline for Yupanqui. If something happens to George or me, you keep going. We need to get that medallion to the tribe. If we don’t, they’ll never get out of here and return home. Hundreds or even thousands of lives are counting on you, Sam. Promise me you won’t stop if something happens to one of us.”
“I can’t leave you!”
Randall held his daughter by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. “Sam, I’ve already cost Phil and Mike their lives, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if thousands of other innocent people died as well. I need you to do this. Promise me.”
Tears welling in her eyes, she couldn’t speak. Instead, Sam just shook her head. “I can’t, Dad, I just found you again.”
Randall took a deep breath. She was stubborn, but he couldn’t blame her, after all, she was his daughter. Finally, he spoke calmly and quietly. “Sam, you know I love you and I don’t want to be separated from you ever again. But we need to get the medallion to Yupanqui and his people. If there was any other way, I would do it, but this is our only chance.”
Sam stood, tears streaming down her face. She nodded in agreement.
“George are you ready? Go!”
George sprinted like an Olympic runner out of the starting blocks, his heart beating like a jackhammer. At the same time, Randall ran in a zigzagging pattern toward the armed mercenaries, waving his arm to draw their attention. His plan worked a little too well. Those not directly engaged in the firefight with the natives turned their attention to him. Small bursts of dust kicked up near his feet as the soldiers fired round after round at him. Less attention was paid to George, but at least one mercenary spotted him and began firing. Sam, waiting and watching from the relative safety of her hiding spot slowly counted to ten. Upon reaching the magic number, she clenched the medallion firmly in her palm and made a mad dash directly toward Yupanqui.
The scene in the cavern was utter chaos. Natives were firing arrows at the soldiers, the soldiers returning fire at the natives. Sam, George, and Randall were running in three different directions with mercenaries trying to shoot them as well. The action taking place looked like a Mad Magazine interpretation of army tactics gone awry. All the while, the clock ticked down toward Armageddon.
Of the three, Sam was the first to reach her destination. She hoofed it up the steps to Yupanqui, holding the medallion out to him as she doubled over in exhaustion, unable to speak. The chief smiled, took the medallion, and thanked her. She collapsed on the ground, her body thoroughly expended with physical and emotional exhaustion. Yupanqui’s men surrounded her, creating a human shield. George arrived at the small structure in the plaza and dove for cover from the gunfire. He landed awkwardly, tweaking his wrist in the process. In spite of the imminent danger to himself, his thoughts turned to Sam and her safety. He looked up at the tablet room and did not see her. In a panic, he stood to search again for her and saw someone lying on the ground at the chief’s feet. His heartbeat quickened, worried that she might be injured or worse. His fear was quickly allayed as he saw her rise to her feet, protected by the chief’s men.
Randall was taking the worst of it. Running toward the soldiers seemed to have an unnerving effect on them. Seeing him as a possible direct threat to their safety, the mercenaries rewarded him with a hail of gunfire. To his amazement, he had not been hit. Yet. His muscles screamed with pain as his endorphin-fueled zigzagging pushed his body to its very limits.
Keeping count as he ran, Randall determined that Sam should have had time to reach the tribe and George should have made it to the shelter by now. He had pushed his luck as far as it could go and he had no desire to see his journey end in this manner. But he was running out of steam and there was no cover to be found. The spray of bullets was becoming more intense – the soldiers only had one target to concentrate on now, and unfortunately for Randall, it was him. It was only a matter of time before they adjusted fire to hit him. Randall needed a plan. Quickly.
Sam watched from up high as her father tried changing course away from the mercenaries. He made a final zigzagging turn, a hornet’s nest of dust balls kicking up all about him and then it happened. He fell to the ground and lay motionless. They had finally gotten him. The soldiers ceased their fire at the Professor and resumed full engagement with the tribesmen.
“Come on, Dad, get up, get up!”
George, oblivious to Randall’s predicament, came huffing and puffing up to the tablet room, no worse for the wear. He sidled up next to Sam and put a hand on her shoulder. “Thank God you’re alright. I thought you were hurt when I saw you lying on the ground up here.” Sam was unresponsive,
her attention fully rapt on something happening in the plaza below. Turning to look, George discovered what she was focused on.
Randall was still motionless. From a distance, it was impossible to see the extent of his wounds. Sam was overcome with a sense of helplessness. It couldn’t end this way. It wasn’t fair.
“I’m going to get him,” George said, starting down the steps to the open plaza.
Sam grabbed his arm. “No, you’ll be killed, too!”
“I can’t just leave him there! I have to do something.”
The cavern began shaking violently again. The ground heaved as if a giant fist had punched the earth from beneath their feet, sending Sam and George sprawling to the ground. The shooting stopped and dust filled the air, obscuring Sam’s view of her father. It also obscured the view of Ackers and his men.
Randall realized it was now or never. As soon as the shaking subsided, he was up and running. Playing possum had given him a chance to rest and he was determined to use every ounce of energy left in him to make it to the tablet room. This time, he didn’t zigzag, he ran straight and fast. The mercenaries, shaken by the latest jolt from the earth, at first failed to realize that their target wasn’t dead. The break in the shooting didn’t last long though as several resumed their deadly sniping at him.
“Look, look George! He’s on his feet and running toward us! Come on, Dad, go!”
From their vantage point, it almost looked like he was running in slow motion, his small body flitting across the open ground. Yupanqui, seeing the situation unfolding, directed his best archers to concentrate fire on the soldiers who were firing on Randall. They watched as the muzzle flashes went off and used them to mark their targets. Several of their arrows connected and soldiers fell to the earth.
Randall was nearing the end of the plaza. There was one block remaining between him and the steps leading up to the tablet room and safety. He reached the intersection of the last street and was greeted with a vicious full body blow. He dropped to the ground, writhing in pain. Ackers had found him.
“Thought you were going to make it? Well, you were wrong. Get up!” Ackers gritted through clenched teeth, picking up Randall like he was a bag of feathers. Bracing his feet, Ackers flipped Randall over his shoulder and slammed him back into the ground. Randall couldn’t breathe, the wind knocked from his chest. Ackers grabbed Randall’s shirt and flung him against a nearby wall, his hand clenched in rage around his throat. Ackers could feel Randall’s Adam’s apple. He squeezed harder. The professor’s eyes were as large as saucers, bugging out of his eye sockets from the pressure. Randall kicked his feet in futility, trying to find Ackers’s abdomen, but had no luck. He dug his fingernails into the mercenary’s arm, and warm red blood trickled down his forearm. The grip only grew stronger. Randall could feel the asphyxiation now, his oxygen-deprived brain beginning to shut down. Ackers released his grip and Randall fell to the ground, choking for breath.
Ackers staggered backward, a hot searing pain in his upper right shoulder. An arrow had dug deeply into his back causing him to release his grip in surprise. Randall watched in disbelief as Ackers reached over his shoulder, grabbed hold of the arrow, and wrenched it from his back with nothing more than a slight grimace of pain. He lurched toward Randall and once again stopped in his tracks. This time an arrow had gone straight through his left bicep. Randall didn’t wait to see the response this time, he struggled to his feet and began running again for the stairs. Upon reaching them, he leapt up two at a time, never turning to see if Ackers was pursuing him. He didn’t stop until he reached the top and collapsed at Sam’s feet.
“Ackers … where is … he?”
“He ran back down the street, holding his arm. Are you alright?” Sam asked as she and George helped him back to his feet.
“Never better.” Randall managed a smile. He glanced at his watch: twenty-six minutes left.
Yupanqui came over and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Thank you, my friend, for helping my people.”
Randall smiled. “Thank you for helping us out of that mess!”
“Come, there isn’t much time, we must get you all to safety.”
chapter thirty-five
Dumond picked himself up and checked for injuries. Shaken, but uninjured, he checked the control panel: twenty-five minutes until eruption. Thanks to Randall’s notes, he had discovered the escape pod rising directly from the center of the power dome and how to operate it. Randall had undoubtedly been keeping this piece of information from him, but once again, he had outsmarted his opponent. Realizing that he had lost his chance to gain the power source, he would have to be satisfied with his opponents being blown to bits when the volcano erupted.
Dumond entered the escape pod. In a matter of minutes, he was safely on the surface above the volcano, calling for his helicopter to pick him up. Oddly enough, another helicopter appeared from the distance, one he did not recognize.
* * * *
“Tom, you’ve got to see this!” the pilot shouted over the helicopter engine’s roar.
“What is it, Jesse?”
“This guy just appeared out of nowhere on the slope of the hill. I don’t know where the hell he came from.”
“Well if he doesn’t get out of there soon, he’s going to be in some serious deep-fried trouble. Take us closer, we’ve got to get him out of there.”
“You sure about that, Tom? This thing looks like it’s ready to blow.”
“I know, but we can’t just leave him there.”
Jesse banked the Sikorsky toward the lone figure.
The helicopter pilot made a beeline for the person on the mountainside. No one was sure how much time they had before the volcano erupted, but it was safe to assume that it would be sooner rather than later. When he had closed to within several hundred yards of the mystery man, he caught a strange sight out of his peripheral vision. Another helicopter appeared out of nowhere. “Tom, are you aware of any other birds that are supposed to be in the area right now?”
“No, we’re the only ones cleared to be in this airspace, why?”
“Take a look at ten o’clock.”
Tom glanced up and to the left.
“What the hell? This airspace has been shut down, does that guy realize how close Misti is to going off?”
Gunfire raked the airspace around the chopper. “Whoa! What’s that guy doing?”
“We’re not sticking around to find out.” Jesse banked the Sikorsky hard to right, bringing it around one hundred and eighty degrees in a matter of seconds. The g-forces brought on by the sharp turn pushed Tom into his seat like a large stone had just been tossed onto his lap. The gunfire abated and Tom looked back at the lone figure on the ground. He didn’t stand a chance against the helicopter that had just shot at them.
“Jesse, we need to get on the horn to the local air traffic controllers and let them know what’s going on.”
“Will do, I just want to put a little more distance between us and that nut job in the other chopper.”
* * * *
The fighting had ended as Yupanqui’s men had dispatched Dumond’s mercenaries. Still lying on the ground by the tablet room, Randall looked up to see the smiling faces of his daughter and George. He rose to his feet as Sam put an arm around him. “I thought I’d lost you, Dad.”
George came forward and grabbed Randall’s hand, shaking it vigorously. “Glad you’re okay, Dr. Randall. We were worried about you.”
“Thanks guys, I’m okay, but I think it’s time for us to get out of this mountain.” Randall looked at Yupanqui. “We’ll follow you, Chief.” The leader of the tribe stood motionless for a moment, which seemed strange to Randall. Then he noticed several figures a few feet in the distance, walking toward them. Most of them were Yupanqui’s tribespeople, but one was significantly taller. Randall judged the height of the bigger one to be about six feet. Obviously he’s not one of them, he thought to himself. Or, if he is, he’s someone pretty important. Randall kept his eyes locked on t
he taller figure. The smaller ones stopped walking, but the last one continued toward them, his pace quickening.
“Dad, who is that? Why is one of them so much bigger than the rest?” Sam asked, unsure of what she was seeing.
“I’m not sure,” Randall replied as he stared at the tall figure slowly moving in his direction. As the stranger approached, a distant glow of recognition struggled to the surface of Randall’s subconscious, fighting its way through the murky depths of his memories. He had seen the tall one before, but where?
Sam was the first to recognize him. “Oh my God, it’s him! Dad, it’s him!”
Suddenly, as if a searchlight had snapped on inside the darkness of his mind, Randall saw the stranger and realized who it was. “Phil!”
Rarely was Randall at a loss for words, but this was one of those occasions. The young graduate student ran up to his mentor and gave him a monstrous hug, lifting him up off the ground. “How are you, Dr. R?” Phil said, grinning like a Cheshire cat.
“How … what … you’re okay!” Randall stammered.
“I’m okay, these nice folks helped me out.”
“But what happened to you? We set you down on the floor and then the earthquake hit and you disappeared! We looked all over and couldn’t find you!”
“To be honest, it’s a bit foggy to me, too. I remember I was fading fast, slipping into and out of consciousness. The last thing I remember, the earth was moving and then things went black. When I woke up, I was in a really bright room, lying on a table. At first, I thought you had gotten me to a hospital … but it didn’t look like any hospital I’d ever seen. The funny thing is, I wasn’t scared. I guess I was in pretty bad shape because I just passed out again, but then someone patched me up. Look, I barely even have a scar!” Phil lifted his bloody shirt to reveal only the faintest trace of where the bullet had pierced his chest. “Next thing I know, I wake up with some of Yupanqui’s people staring down at me. Then they brought me back to the cavern. Pretty weird, huh?”
“After what we’ve been through, it just seems like par for the course, but it sure is great to see you, son.” Randall squeezed his shoulder, thankful for a chance to see his friend again. Wiping his eyes, he said, “We’d better get going; we don’t have much time. Chief, which way is out?”
The Vilcabamba Prophecy: A Nick Randall Novel Page 21