Oracle

by David Wood

  “So?” grunted the billionaire.

  Hodges wondered if the man, in his eagerness to play commando, had bothered to do any map reconnaissance. The stadium, where athlete-warriors from all over Greece had competed in the Pythian Games, was a five hundred foot long open limestone trough, surrounded by a terraced seating area and beyond that, a ring of evergreens. “There are a lot of places for them to hide there. If we charge in, they might be able to slip out the other end. But if we can surround them, cut off their escape, we’ll have them.

  Gutierrez keyed his mic. “All units, converge on that location.”

  Jade counted to twenty and then darted out from behind the stone structure and ran to the next one in line. As soon as she was behind cover, she pressed herself flat against the rough surface and held her breath. She listened, but heard nothing except the insistent throb of her own heartbeat. She counted, and when she got to twenty, she moved again.

  Listen. Count.

  There was a loud snap from somewhere behind her, not a bullet striking stone, but something more like a twig snapping or a piece of glass crunching underfoot.

  Here they come.

  There were more sounds from just around the corner, a clicking noise, a scuffle, grunts and a strange animal cry. Then silence. She tried to assemble the pieces of the auditory puzzle, but her apprehension—her raw primal fear—told her something very bad was coming.

  She tensed, gripping the flashlight, preparing to shine it at the first hint of movement. If Professor was correct and the men hunting them were wearing night vision goggles, then the brilliant LED light would blind anyone coming around the corner, giving her a chance to strike back. If he was wrong, or if her timing was off even by a second, she would give her position away, and they would be all over her.

  “Jade,” hissed Professor. “Coming your way.”

  She let her breath out in a low sigh. The plan had worked; she had been the bait, and Professor—the trap—had caught something.

  A few seconds later, a silhouette appeared from around the corner. In the moonlight, she could see something half covering a silvery-white face and almost panicked.

  “It’s me,” Professor whispered, as if tuning into her sudden alarm. He passed something to her; a small plastic object that looked like a camera, with straps hanging from it. She knew it had to be some kind of night vision device. “Quick. Put it on.”

  Jade slipped it over her head, fitting a small rubber cup. “I don’t see anything.”

  “These things have a tilt-switch that shuts them off automatically. There’s a little button on top. Turn it off and then back on again. Hurry.”

  She did as instructed and winced as a flash of green light hit her fully dilated pupil. The effect was startling. She now saw Professor as clearly as if they were both standing in broad daylight. He had a similar device covering one of his eyes, but that was not his only new acquisition; hanging from a sling over one shoulder was a gun—the kind she always associated with SWAT teams—and there was another one in his hands.

  She looked past him and saw clearly for the first time, the stadium where they had decided to make their final stand. Beyond the mountainside was alive with strange dancing lights. They were beautiful and a little frightening.

  “What are those lights?”

  “PAQ4 aiming lasers. They’re invisible to the naked eye, but with NV, all you have to do is point and shoot.”

  “How did they miss us then?”

  “Lasers always point in a straight line. Bullets aren’t quite as predictable, especially with short-barreled weapons. They probably also didn’t take the time to zero them; just grabbed their new toys out of the box and went hunting.”

  He handed one of the machine pistols to her. “Get the others. We’re going.”

  “Going? I thought we were going to fight here.”

  “We don’t have to. Those lasers show us where they are. All we have to do is avoid them.” He held up his hand and showed her a ring of keys. “If we can make it to the bottom of the hill, we’re home free.”

  Home free sounded overly optimistic, but Jade didn’t argue. Gripping the unfamiliar weapon, she ran along the terrace to the seating area that overlooked the stadium floor. She had told Ophelia and Dorian to hide in the trees above the stadium. What had seemed like a good plan in total darkness was now revealed to be sadly deficient; she spotted them almost effortlessly, crouching down behind tree trunks that weren’t broad enough to conceal them.

  Professor was right behind her. “Keep your finger off the trigger unless you’re ready to shoot,” he whispered. “The laser will give your position away. Hurry. They’re almost here.”

  She grabbed hold of Dorion and lifted him erect. “Stay close. We’re going to make a run for it.”

  “I can’t run anymore,” Ophelia protested, still half-panting from the ordeal of climbing the hill.

  “Then I’ll drag you,” Jade threatened.

  “It’s all downhill from here,” Professor added, as if deciding to play good cop to Jade’s bad. “Just a little further.”

  Despite his assurance, they were soon climbing again. The assault force was converging on the stadium and the only avenue of escape was, once again, up. Fortunately, as the killers funneled into the stadium, the route back down the hill was left wide open. Jade took the lead, easily picking out a trail that cut east across the slope, while Professor brought up the rear, keeping a constant watch on their foe.

  “Pick up the pace,” he advised when they had been running for just a few minutes. “I think they found the guys I took out. They just shut off their lasers. So much for our early warning system.”

  Jade did not tell him that they were already moving as fast as she dared go. The night vision monocular was playing havoc with her depth perception, making her think the ground was closer than it really was, but Dorion and Ophelia were quite literally stumbling in the dark. Fortunately, the path was mostly flat and free of obstructions.

  As they skirted along the top of the theatre, Jade could see all the way down to the museum building, and to the ribbon of asphalt that cut across the slope, right above the Gulf of Corinth. She could also see four cars, probably from a rental agency, lined up on the roadside.

  Almost there.

  Something flashed beside her, as bright as a lightning strike, followed immediately by the sound of tree branches breaking. She looked back and saw one of the aiming lasers stabbing down at them. The shooter was at least five hundred feet away, the distance probably the only thing that had saved them, but Jade’s sense of imminent victory had taken a direct hit. The killers had found them again.

  Survival meant a sprint to the finish.

  “Use your flashlights,” Jade shouted, tearing off her night vision monocular.

  “Jade, they’ll see us!” warned Professor.

  “They already know we’re here.” She turned on her light and shone it down the path. The cone of illumination was paltry compared to the world revealed in the monochrome display of the NV device, but this was a light that Dorion and Ophelia could follow as well. She started running, charging down the hill like the hounds of Hell were nipping at her heels.

  She could no longer see the road, but after about a minute of running, the museum building appeared out of the gloom.

  “Jade!”

  She glanced back. Dorion and Ophelia were still with her, but Professor had stopped. He made an underhanded throw and something sailed through the air toward her. She caught it reflexively and felt the familiar shape of keys in her hand.

  “Get the car started. I’ll try to buy you a few seconds.”

  Jade swallowed as the implication of his words hit home, but she nodded and resumed running.

  They skirted around the perimeter of the museum and scrambled down a dirt embankment at the roadside. Jade let her machine pistol hang from its sling, and fumbled with the keys, pushing random buttons on the alarm remote. The headlights of the second vehicle in the line fl
ashed, and then to Jade’s amazement, it started up.

  Nice, she thought, and then shouted, “Get in!”

  The others were already angling for the passenger side. She almost grinned when she heard Dorion call out, “Shotgun.”

  It was a newer Mercedes GLK 350 compact sport utility vehicle. She slid behind the wheel and quickly oriented herself to the essential controls. The previous driver was evidently a lot taller than she was, but there was no time to fiddle with the adjustment buttons. She scooted forward until her right foot could reach the pedal, and then shifted into gear.

  She cranked the wheel hard to the right and jammed the accelerator to the floor. The Mercedes leaped forward, but then it shuddered to a stop as the front corner met the rear bumper of the vehicle parked ahead of it. A strident wailing noise rose up as the lead vehicle’s anti-theft alarm went off. Jade muttered a curse, but refused to back off, keeping steady pressure on the pedal until, with a tortured groan, the SUV burst free of the snag and shot out across the asphalt.

  There was movement directly ahead, and in the split-second it took for Jade to decide whether to slam on the brakes or keep going, she heard Dorion say, “Look out!”

  Brakes it is.

  The there was a screech of friction and the vehicle came to a complete stop, just a few feet from the man who had emerged from the roadside. It was Professor.

  He clambered into the backseat and shouted, “Go!”

  She went.

  “Wasn’t sure you were coming,” she remarked as the SUV picked up speed.

  He made a noise that might have been a strained chuckle. “What, you didn’t actually think I was going to make some kind of noble sacrifice did you?”

  Actually, I did, Jade thought, but didn’t say it aloud.

  “I was trying to rig up the laser as a decoy,” he explained. “Then you had to go and set off the alarm.”

  “Oops.” Her sense of relief slipped away, replaced by embarrassment.

  “Where are you going? Delphi is back the other way?”

  “If I had gone that way, you’d still be walking,” she growled, embarrassment quickly turning to irritation. The truth of the matter was that she had not given much thought to what would happen after reaching the relative safety of the vehicle. The cars had been parked facing east and it had not occurred to her to turn around and head for town.

  “Too late now. Here they come.”

  Jade checked the side mirror and saw headlights flaring to life behind them. “We’ll just outrun them. This road has to go somewhere.”

  She turned her attention forward again and for the first time since getting into the vehicle, realized that it was equipped with real time GPS. The screen showed their location on the highway; it also showed that they were approaching an almost ninety-degree bend in the road. Jade hit the brakes slowing to a crawl to get through the turn, and then accelerated forward once more.

  The GPS showed that the highway was mostly straight for the next few miles—make that kilometers, Jade thought, mentally dividing the numbers in half. There were a couple of wicked looking switchbacks but beyond lay a small city called Arachova; a total distance of ten kilometers—about six miles—and according to the GPS, it would take about eight minutes at safe legal speed.

  I wonder if we can do it in five. The trailing headlights reappeared in the rearview as the pursuing cars made the turn, and she realized that she would have to push the car—and herself—to the limit to keep them alive that long.

  Jade didn’t need to look at the speedometer to know that they were going a lot faster than the safe, legal speed. She could tell by the vibrations rising up from the road and her own insistent inner voice cautioning her to slow down.

  “Everybody down,” Professor shouted suddenly. A moment later, a series of loud cracks sounded against the exterior of the vehicle and the rear window became a glazed translucent mosaic of tiny glass particles.

  Jade had to fight against every instinct of self-preservation to keep steady pressure on the accelerator. She wasn’t sure how Professor had known the shots were coming; maybe he had seen the lasers with his NV device, or maybe he’d had a premonition of his own.

  “Jade. Give me your gun!”

  She had forgotten about the machine pistol, unused and still hanging from its nylon sling. She uncurled one hand from the steering wheel just long enough to pull the strap over her head and deposit the weapon in Dorion’s lap; if felt like the most terrifying two seconds of her life.

  Dorion handed the weapon back to Professor, and a few seconds later, Jade heard a mechanical clicking noise, the sound of the pistol’s internal mechanism ratcheting bullets into the firing chamber and ejecting spent casings. The smell of burnt gunpowder filler the air but the report was barely audible. In the mirror, she saw a set of headlights abruptly veer left and go out.

  “Got one!” Professor crowed, but his triumph was short-lived. “Oh, you can’t be serious.”

  “What?”

  “More helicopters.”

  Suddenly, Jade’s entire world was suffused with light. The illumination was as bright as sunlight and filled the interior of the car. She flinched away, reflexes overriding every other imperative.

  The SUV started to shudder violently as one wheel left the paved surface. Jade let off the gas pedal and tried to guide the vehicle back but it was already too late. She felt an invisible hand lift her out of her seat as the Mercedes careened down the hillside.

  The blinding light vanished, plunging the interior once more into darkness, but Jade was barely away of this change. It was all she could do to hold onto the steering wheel as the vehicle crashed through small trees and lurched over boulders. Then something struck her full in the face and everything went completely black.

  TWENTY

  Professor did not lose consciousness, but for several seconds—it might have been even longer—he had no sense of where he was. Everything was dark and his nostrils were filled with a strange mélange of smells, some he recognized—gunpowder, pine trees, gasoline, dust—and others he did not. It was the latter, a hot, metallic odor, like electrical wiring about to catch fire, that prompted him to start moving.

  Something was pressing against his face; it took him a moment to realize that it was the side-impact airbag. He recalled being walloped in the head with it, like a mean-spirited blow in a pillow fight. He also felt something soft in his arms.

  Ophelia. He had hugged her close just as the SUV had gone off the road. He felt a measure of relief when she began to stir.

  He raised his head and saw that the interior of the Mercedes was filled with dust or smoke—or more probably some combination of the two—and illuminated once more by the helicopter searchlight that had transfixed them earlier, ultimately causing Jade to run off the road. He could hear it beating the air overhead.

  “Jade? Paul?”

  There were murmurs from the front seat. Everyone seemed to be alive.

  “We have to get moving,” he urged. His hand found the lever, but he had to slam his shoulder against the door to get it open. It finally yielded to his efforts and it was only when he spilled out onto the ground that he realized why he had been so disoriented; the SUV had smashed into a tree and stopped facing down the steep slope at an angle.

  The front door popped open and Jade tumbled out. She glanced up at the two helicopters hovering overhead, shining spotlights down on them and kicking up a small dust storm, then turned to Ophelia who was struggling to emerge from the SUV. “I don’t suppose you brought one of those RPG launchers along.”

  Ophelia shook her head as if the question had been serious.

  An electronically amplified voice sounded from the sky. The words were incomprehensible, but after a moment the voice spoke again, this time in English. “This is the police. Stay where you are.”

  One helicopter—the word “POLICE” was plainly visible in big white letters on its blue exterior—circled slowly, as if looking for a good landing spot. The othe
r one hovered in place, its searchlight beam still illuminating the wrecked Mercedes.

  Jade looked at him. “What do you think?”

  He was about to remind her that the Mexican Army had evidently been working with Hodges and the Norfolk Group at Teotihuacan, but before she could say it, the sound of a bullet striking the SUV’s fender made the point far more eloquently. Barely visible in the darkness beyond the cone of illumination, the killers were moving down the hill toward them.

  Professor pulled Ophelia down the slope, seeking cover behind the tree trunk that had stopped the Mercedes. Jade reached back into the vehicle’s interior, hauled Dorion out and dragged him along after her.

  Professor spotted Hodges’ face amid the crowd of attackers. There had never really been any doubt in his mind that the attack was the work of the Norfolk Group, but here was the proof. “Time to go,” he said, even though he knew they had nowhere left to run.

  “Wait!”

  Professor was almost as stunned by the calm, confident way Ophelia said it, as he was by her actual words.

  “We can’t stay here.”

  She shook her head insistently. “It will be all right.”

  As if on cue, the loud crack of a high-powered rifle echoed off the hillside. Professor knew that sound well; it was a burst from a Kalashnikov rifle, and it had come from the hovering helicopter. He couldn’t tell where the rounds struck, but the advance of the shooters on the hillside stalled.

  Professor felt Jade’s eyes on him, and the implicit question: What do we do?

  He didn’t have an answer for her. His instincts told him to run, but Hodges and the killers were so close, there didn’t seem to be any point.

  The circling helicopter spiraled closer to the slope, close enough that Professor could see that the men inside were wearing dark tactical gear, similar to what he had worn as a SEAL. The pilot brought the aircraft down until the rotor-disk was almost kissing the slope, at which point the uniformed men began pouring forth, rushing toward the wrecked SUV with weapons at the ready.