Temple of the Gods

by Andy McDermott

  The ninjas knew what he was thinking. They exchanged another look, silently agreeing a plan of attack. Eddie stepped back. Even if they had figured out what he was about to do, he had no option left but to chance it.

  The staff, though less showy, was more likely to fell him than the nunchaku. Donatello was his target, then. The ninja was still approaching, more cautiously. Another couple of feet.

  One more step—

  Eddie bumped into something. Caught off guard, he instinctively glanced at the obstruction – a display case containing a sword.

  Donatello darted forward, the nunchaku whipping up at Eddie’s face. He raised his arms, taking a fierce crack to the elbow from the wooden handle—

  The staff swung like a baseball bat, slamming across his stomach and pitching him backwards against the case. The whole thing toppled and fell, glass exploding beneath Eddie as he landed on top of it. Shards stabbed into his shoulders. He rolled sideways to get clear of the debris as the nunchaku lanced at his head. More glass splintered as it missed by barely an inch.

  Michelangelo raised his staff again, bringing it high over his head to crush Eddie’s skull like a watermelon—

  Eddie grabbed Kusanagi and swung it upwards as the staff lashed down. A sharp crack of wood against metal – and the bo’s end was neatly chopped off by the sacred sword, its edge still keen even after centuries.

  Even with his weapon reduced to two-thirds of its length, the ninja struck again. This time, Eddie used the sword not to parry but for leverage, shoving himself out of the wreckage and rolling on to his feet. Michelangelo’s thrust fell short. Another attack, but this time Eddie was prepared.

  He swung the sword as hard as he could at the ninja’s neck.

  Swordsmanship was not one of Eddie’s combat skills, fists and firearms the majority of his military training. The blade caught the ninja flat-on instead of with its edge.

  But that was enough. The sword made an almost musical ringing note as it hit the side of Michelangelo’s jaw like a hammer. Spitting blood, the ninja crashed through another display, shattering jade figurines.

  Eddie had no time to celebrate. The other ninja made another charge, nunchaku flailing so quickly they were a blur. One of the handles clanged off the sword as the Yorkshireman defensively snapped it up. Donatello instantly adjusted his movements to send the next strike past the ancient blade, the chain looping around it. He pulled back sharply, trying to yank the weapon out of Eddie’s hands.

  This time, Eddie kept a firm grip. He charged, driving the blade at the ninja’s stomach.

  Donatello was too quick, twisting out of the way. He braced himself as Eddie collided with him, then with a rapid movement freed the nunchaku from the sword and turned to strangle his adversary with its chain . . .

  Eddie headbutted him in the face.

  The dark blue of the ninja’s balaclava suddenly blossomed with a damp purple patch around his mouth and nose. Even with his eyes screwed shut, he still tried to attack again. The nunchaku swished through the air—

  Hitting nothing. Eddie had ducked.

  Now it was his turn again – and with a roar he thrust the imperial sword with his full strength, transfixing the ninja through the stomach all the way to the hilt. Donatello gasped, mumbling in Japanese before collapsing face-first into the broken glass of Kusanagi’s shattered display case.

  ‘Cowa-fucking-bunga,’ Eddie rasped, forehead throbbing from its impact with the ninja’s nose. He straightened and looked round. Michelangelo was still alive, on all fours and clutching his truncated staff. But the way to the door was now clear – and his gun was just outside.

  He ran. The last ninja scrambled up, but Eddie was already past him. The Makarov had landed about ten feet beyond the door. He crossed the threshold, bending to snatch up the weapon—

  Something shot past him just before he reached it. The bo staff, hurled like a javelin – not at him, but at the gun. It hit the Makarov and sent it skidding through a set of open doors into an adjoining room.

  Eddie looked back at Michelangelo, who was now searching for something on the ground . . .

  Leonardo’s katana. Michelangelo seized the sword and pointed it angrily at Eddie – then sprinted towards him with a howling battle cry.

  ‘Oh, fuck!’ Eddie ran himself, racing after the gun. The doors had been closed when he dropped down from the vent; the ninjas must have entered through them. Beyond was a traditional Japanese dining room, rows of low tables with tatami mats on which the diners would sit lined up along the polished wooden floor.

  Where was the gun? It had skittered over the slick wood – and ended up beneath one of the tables.

  But which one?

  He reached the first table and flipped it over. No gun. Next table. Still nothing. The ninja’s padding footsteps were rapidly closing. Third table, nothing. He grabbed the next in the row and flung it back towards the door. Still no sign of the Makarov, and from behind came a crack of wood as the katana slashed the little table in two.

  He threw another place aside – and saw the glint of steel beneath.

  The ninja was almost on him—

  He dived for the gun, grabbing it and twisting to bring it to bear. The blade flashed down – and the ninja took two bullets to the chest as Eddie fired at point-blank range. The Englishman rolled to avoid the bloodied corpse as it fell, the katana’s point stabbing into the wood floor to leave the weapon standing beside the body like a tombstone.

  ‘Jesus,’ Eddie gasped, regaining his breath as he shakily stood. ‘Fucking ninjas, they’re like cockroaches!’ He checked the room, trying to get his bearings. There were two exits: the one to the gallery and the vault, and another opening on to a windowed hallway. He hadn’t seen the direction Takashi had gone, so a split-second instinctual decision sent him towards the latter.

  At the hall’s far end to his left was Takashi’s private lift, an illuminated indicator showing that it was stationary at the penthouse level. Takashi hadn’t taken Nina and the statues out that way, then. In the other direction was a set of imposing oak doors. The industrialist’s inner sanctum?

  He ran towards it, gun at the ready.

  The case in her hand, Nina raced into the gallery. ‘Eddie?’ she cried, uncertain – fearful – about what she might find.

  She discovered corpses, which in some grim way was hardly a surprise, but to her relief none was her husband. Three in the strongroom, and a fourth in a dining room through another doorway. Eddie must have gone that way. She ran after him.

  More doors led into the hallway to Takashi’s office. She went through them. Beyond the windows, Tokyo was now a glittering sea of lights beneath the twilight winter sky. She looked round. The elevator was to the left; to the right—

  ‘Eddie!’ she called again, running after him. Her husband slowed, turned, saw her . . .

  And raised his gun.

  9

  Nina froze, shocked – and afraid. Eddie’s expression was one of pure hatred. ‘What are you . . .’ she started to say, but her mouth had gone dry.

  Then she realised that he wasn’t looking at her, but something behind her. ‘Nina, move,’ he growled.

  She whirled. Stikes had just come from the dining room – and also had a gun raised. She was directly between the two men, blocking their lines of fire. A standoff.

  ‘Yes, step aside,’ said Stikes. ‘I should have known you’d turn up sooner or later, Chase. It’s a bad habit of yours.’ A smile of cruel anticipation twisted his mouth. ‘One I look forward to breaking.’

  ‘Move, Nina,’ Eddie repeated. ‘I’ve been hunting this shitbag for three months. He’s not getting away this time.’

  ‘Why don’t you just shoot, Chase?’ taunted Stikes. ‘I gather you’ve been having marital problems – it would save you the cost of a divorce.’

  Eddie clenched his jaw angrily, about to risk darting sideways for a clear shot in the hope of catching the other man by surprise . . . before a thought struck him. Why d
idn’t Stikes shoot?

  Nina started to step aside. ‘Wait!’ Eddie snapped. ‘Stay still.’

  ‘Uh, Eddie,’ she said with a nervous glance between the two guns, ‘what’re you doing?’

  Eddie’s gaze remained fixed on Stikes, whose eyes began to betray his frustration. For whatever reason, he couldn’t risk killing Nina, even if that cost him the chance to eliminate one of his enemies.

  Now it was Eddie’s turn to smile slightly, confusing Nina and infuriating Stikes. ‘Nina, come over here. Trust me,’ he added, seeing her hesitancy.

  ‘I dunno if you noticed, but the guy who hates us both is aiming a gun at me,’ she pointed out.

  ‘He won’t shoot. He can’t shoot. He needs you alive. Come on.’

  ‘Alive isn’t the same as unharmed,’ said Stikes as she started to move.

  Nina cringed. ‘Oh, I was so hoping he wouldn’t say that.’

  ‘He wounds you, you fall, I kill him,’ Eddie told her. ‘He loses.’

  ‘I don’t exactly come out a winner either!’ She was now two-thirds of the way between the former SAS men.

  A faint sound from the other end of the hall. The elevator was descending. ‘That’ll be more of Takashi’s security,’ said Stikes, his arrogance returning. ‘You can’t get away. I’ll tell you what – just drop your gun and I’ll make it painless. One bullet, right in the forehead. For old times’ sake.’

  ‘How about I give you one bullet right in the bollocks? For old times’ sake.’ But Eddie knew Stikes was right – he was rapidly running out of time before reinforcements arrived. He needed to break the deadlock . . .

  A bright light suddenly filled the hallway.

  From outside.

  Eddie looked round in alarm as an approaching helicopter’s spotlight swept over the penthouse. He whipped back to face Stikes, but the mercenary was just as surprised as he was—

  The windows shattered as gunfire raked the building.

  Nina shrieked and ran to Eddie, who dived on top of her to shield her from the flying glass and bullets. Stikes also threw himself to the floor. Wood panels splintered, the drywall behind erupting with great sprays of fragmented plaster as more shots carved through the hallway.

  The firing stopped. Eddie raised his head, seeing the helicopter hovering about fifty metres from the skyscraper. The glare from its light meant that he couldn’t identify the type, only that it was painted black – and had a machine gun protruding from an open hatch in its side.

  But the aircraft was now turning to face the building head-on. The gun wasn’t its only weapon . . .

  Eddie flattened himself over Nina again as a flash of orange fire streaked out from the chopper. A rocket hit the building above the hallway and exploded, the remaining windows shattering. Debris cascaded from the ceiling between the couple and Stikes.

  Nina screamed as a second missile struck overhead, the floor pounding like a drumskin. ‘Holy shit! Who the hell are they?’

  ‘They’re shooting at us, so bad guys!’ Eddie shouted back. He shook off lumps of fallen plaster and lifted his head. They were dangerously exposed here; if they ran towards the elevator, the building’s central core might provide some protection. But that would mean covering almost the entire length of the hallway, making them an easy target for the gunner—

  The floor shook again. Not from an explosion, but a deep, ominous creak of metal and concrete. The helicopter hurriedly retreated. The sound grew louder, joined by the groans and cracks of failing structural supports . . .

  Nina realised the cause with horror. ‘Oh, crap! Eddie, move, move!’

  One of the wind turbines outside toppled like a felled redwood, scything down through the ceiling and tearing a great gash out of the skyscraper as the enormous steel tower ripped through storey after storey before finally being dragged to a halt by the sheer mass of tangled wreckage.

  But the danger wasn’t over. Nina and Eddie suddenly found themselves sliding towards the widening hole as the floor, its supports severed, sagged beneath them. They slithered helplessly down the polished wood—

  Another loud crack – a floorboard springing up at one end as it buckled. Nina grabbed it, Eddie catching her legs and clinging on.

  She was still holding the case in her other hand. ‘Get rid of that fucking box before we both fall!’ he ordered.

  ‘Not a chance!’ After what she had experienced earlier, there was no way Nina was going to give up the statues now. Instead she tossed the case back up the sloping floor to land in the corner near the doors. For a moment, it looked as though it was going to slide back down again . . . then it wedged against another warped board.

  She clawed at the wood with her now free hand until her fingers found purchase. ‘Okay, just hang on,’ Eddie grunted as he stuffed the gun into his jacket and began to pull himself up her body.

  ‘Oh, ya think?’

  He held back a sarcastic response of his own, concentrating on survival. Boots scraping against the floor, he brought himself high enough to reach the board. ‘Got it,’ he said, releasing Nina and edging sideways to support his foot against a cracked plank. As she squirmed up, he twisted to locate the other threats.

  The helicopter was shining its light into Takashi’s office. As for Stikes—

  His former superior officer was on the far side of the gap, scrambling back to level ground. He straightened, brushed off dust, then looked back. His gaze met Eddie’s. A brief twitch of anger, then he smirked and reached for his gun . . .

  It wasn’t there. His look changed to outright anger as he realised he had dropped it – and it had fallen into the hole. All he could shoot at Eddie was a scowl, which he delivered before turning and running for the lift. A flashing red ‘no entry’ symbol on the display warned that it was no longer in operation; the fire alarm had been sounded, and the elevators were programmed to stop in response. Instead, Stikes rounded a corner and passed out of sight, heading for the emergency stairs.

  Eddie cursed at having missed his chance to kill Stikes, then clambered back up the slope to join Nina. They exchanged relieved looks – which were instantly replaced by concern as the machine gun fired again.

  In the office, Kojima desperately tried to push Takashi into the open escape capsule. ‘You’ve got to get out!’ he cried as the piercing spotlight sliced across the windows.

  Takashi resisted, shouting into a cell phone, ‘Two hundred and sixty degrees west! Have you got that? Two hundred and sixty degrees!’ Receiving confirmation, he finally addressed Kojima. ‘The statues, and Dr Wilde – they must be saved! The plan is more important than any one member of the Group. Find them and get them to safety!’

  ‘No, Takashi-san! You have to—’

  The beam locked on to them, pinning the two men in its harsh gaze. Eyes narrowed against the glare, Takashi stared back with a mix of defiance and acceptance. ‘Glas,’ he said. ‘That traitor Glas is behind this—’

  The machine gun spat fire. The windows shattered, a storm of bullets shredding Takashi and his secretary into bloody chunks.

  Eddie regarded the oak doors with concern as the gunfire stopped. ‘Definitely don’t think we want to go in there.’ The pitch of the helicopter’s engine changed, suggesting that it was circling the building.

  Looking for more targets.

  ‘That doesn’t leave us with many options,’ Nina replied. There was another, single door in the corridor wall on their side of the chasm, but reaching it would require going back down the dangerous slope before hopping on to the stub of a beam at what had been floor level. She retrieved the case. ‘Keep hold of my hand until I can jump across.’

  ‘For Christ’s sake, just leave the case, will you?’ He frowned. ‘Wait, what’s in it? It’s those fucking statues, isn’t it!’

  ‘Yeah, and after everything I’ve been through to get them I’m not letting go of them now.’

  ‘After all the trouble they’ve caused, the world’ll be well rid of them,’ he countered. ‘Give ’em here.
’

  ‘No, Eddie,’ Nina insisted, clutching the handle more tightly. ‘I don’t have time to explain right now, but they’re a part of something big – something amazing. I have to find out what it is.’

  He shook his head. ‘No, you—’

  ‘You asked me to trust you a minute ago,’ she cut in firmly.

  ‘Well, trust me. Please, Eddie. It’s very important.’

  ‘All bloody right,’ he said after a moment. ‘I won’t smash ’em, I promise. Now get moving, will you? If that chopper comes back—’

  ‘I’m moving, I’m moving,’ she protested, extending her free hand to him and starting down the slope. He held on to her, leaning forward as far as he dared. She neared the broken beam and took a deep breath, swinging the case in her hand. ‘Okay, and a-one, a-two, and a-three!’

  He let go and she jumped as the case reached the end of its upward arc, its momentum helping carry her all the way to the stub in the wall. She landed – and wobbled, waving her arms before steadying enough to hop across to the open door. The room beyond was a lounge, minimalistically furnished. Nina entered as Eddie made a running jump on to the beam, then without a pause leapt the rest of the way into the room. ‘All right, now what?’ she asked.

  ‘Try to find another way out of here.’ He recognised the room as where he had seen Stikes earlier; that meant there was a way back to the maintenance shaft through the ventilation grille overhead, but it would take more time than they could afford. There was a second door across the lounge, however. ‘You know where that goes?’

  ‘No – but Takashi took me through the rooms on the other side of the building,’ she remembered. ‘If we carry on past the vault, we might be able to get to the stairs from there.’

  ‘Probably run into trouble coming up ’em, but it’s better than being stuck here.’ He drew the gun and went to the door. Beyond was what appeared to be a conference room. More doors led off it, but the one that seemed the best prospect was in the opposite wall. ‘Okay, come on,’ he said, crossing the room. Nina followed, the case in her hand.