[Anthology] Killer Thrillers

by Nick Thacker

  “It’s a map,” Bryce said. He understood it now. The circular formation on the wall was a map of the moat — with the temple, the library below it, and the crystal — labeled with a symbol of two concentric circles, similar to that of the city’s marking — below that. “We’re here, see, and there’s another place just like this one up at the top of the map.” He pointed to the symbol. “Here. There are two points that need to be accessed simultaneously to gain access to the innermost chamber of the temple. The crystal’s down below the library — and this is how we get in.”

  “How do you know?” Wayne asked.

  As Bryce spoke, Cole took off again and continued down the shallow moat. Corinne followed him, and Vilocek ordered Beka to stay with them. Wayne, Jeff, and Bryce stayed behind with Karn and Vilocek.

  Bryce guessed they were heading to the other entrance — the other side of the moat. “It’s a hunch, but I’ll bet they built it with two simultaneous access points as a failsafe; a way to keep any single ruler from having too much power — they needed at least two to access the crystal.”

  As he explained, something else dawned on him: Professor Andrews was more right than he’d thought. The two points situated around the circle’s edge were directly across from one another — the point where they currently stood was at the bottom of the circle, but the other was offset from the top just a bit to the left.

  “Vilocek, you said the two materials that make up this crystal, whatever they are, are in some sort of relationship to one another? A ratio?”

  “The golden ratio — yes. 1.618 to 1. And even though it was supposedly ‘discovered’ long before it was dubbed ‘golden,’ many ancient tribes and civilizations that recognized its ubiquity in nature gave it special connotations — it’s no wonder Cole was calling it ‘kora’ or whatever. That was probably the name given to it by the ancients, knowing it was made in the same ratio as so many more things throughout nature.”

  “And that ratio is roughly two-thirds, right? It would take some more accurate measurement, but I think if you assumed the crystal was dead-center in this circle — right below the library under the temple — and you drew lines from each of the points around it into the center, you’d have a sort of pie chart, with one slice about two-thirds the size of the circle, and the other about one-third.

  “That angle at the center would then form what’s called a ‘golden angle,’ according to the end of Jensen’s paper.” he said.

  Vilocek nodded, and Bryce went on. “So then why does Cole want you to stay here? Is it because he healed you back there?”

  Vilocek weighed his possible responses. “No — Cole had nothing to do with my healing. He’s got his own demons to worry about, it seems.

  “Captain Reynolds, I told you — he is critical to this mission. Not just for his ability to point us in the right direction and read hidden symbols on walls — it’s because his bloodstream holds the second most successful version of the serum I was able to develop.”

  “You mean — “

  “Yes — I have the same chemicals running through me — though at a much more optimized level. Cole has been quite indispensable to us thus far, especially in testing the depths of the serum’s potential. For example, whereas he could simply find the symbols due to the blue hue of his skin in their presence, that side-effect is greatly lessened in me. I had to carry the sliver of crystal with me to see the symbols.

  “Since I know that it is stable when in direct contact with the crystal in its active state, I’m worried much less about what would happen when I hold it in my hands. And these side effects — the blue epidermal hue, the shared eidetic memory through transferrable energy — they’re nothing compared what the crystal will allow me to do! Don’t you see? It’s the absolute perfect stimulus. A long-lasting effect that heightens every perceivable human sense, including the physical abilities you’ve already witnessed.

  “As well as my personal favorite — a much improved lifespan.”

  Bryce was less surprised than he might have expected. He knew parts of what Vilocek was planning to do, and he now realized that he’d been thrown into the middle of this — rather unknowingly — by James Whittenfield, Jr., who likely only wanted to find the crystal for its benefits — not its power alone.

  64

  11:44 am

  The men spread out and focused on keeping Jabari and his soldiers at bay while Cole, Corinne, and Beka ran around to the other point indicated on the map. Vilocek stayed down, watching for any change in the map itself, or anything else that might indicate Cole had reached his target. Every few seconds he snuck a glance over the top of the wall to keep tabs on the ongoing battle.

  The remaining Egyptians had all paired up and found cover, and were taking turns hammering bullets into the ground around the moat. Vilocek still hadn’t seen Jabari himself anywhere, but he figured he was behind a stone Moai somewhere, letting his men clear the path.

  They were holding their own, but Vilocek knew they were slowly running out of ammunition. Wayne had grabbed rifles from the two soldiers he’d downed in the moat, but they only had one magazine apiece.

  Suddenly, the map moved.

  “I think they made it!” Vilocek shouted. “Look!” He watched intently as the map slowly started to turn. He noticed that it wasn’t a solid piece of stone — the map rotated around a circular hole in the wall. It was about the size of a common manhole cover, but mounted vertically and set perfectly flush with the rest of the wall.

  As it rotated, Vilocek noticed the two points — their location at the bottom, and the point where Cole and the others had gone — and their adjacent symbols light up. The map rotated a full revolution on its axis, and then fell backwards with a slight hiss.

  Vilocek knew he was finally close to achieving his life’s goal.

  The map and the slice of stone it was cut from fell away from the surface of the wall, revealing a small lighted tunnel. Perfectly round, it didn’t curve around like the others they’d seen — it descended straight toward the temple on the mound.

  Vilocek didn’t wait around for the rest of the group. He dove headfirst into the cramped space, and crawled on hands and knees down the tunnel.

  The others fired a few more shots before following him. Jeff paused at the opening, and dug out his last block of explosives, and placed it on the floor of the moat, just below the opening.

  “It’s not going to get ‘em all,” he said as Wayne followed Karn into the shaft, “but it’ll knock a few out and maybe block the entrance. Just hope we don’t have to come back this way.”

  After setting a delay, he followed the others into the shaft.

  The charge blew about two minutes later. The air in the shaft became thick with dust, and the concussion rang in their ears. Coughing, they pushed through the cloud and continued their descent, finally safe from pursuit — for the moment.

  65

  11:48 am

  This was taking longer than he’d thought. Madu had already lost about fifteen men, and now the five he’d sent toward the moat weren’t answering the radio. Finally, the radio came to life. “Commander Jabari,” the voice announced, “Private Wamse has just reported an explosion at the moat. Four men down, and the entrance to a shaft that Vilocek and the others escaped into is now closed.”

  Madu cursed in Arabic, almost throwing the radio against a statue. Seething, he looked down at his men — they had ceased fire and were looking around for orders. As he scanned the area to his left, something caught his eye.

  Directly below him, running through the moat, he saw the fire haired girl, the man named Cole, and a Vilocorp guard. They had used the moat as cover, and now they stopped just shy of Madu’s position, just past the bridge he’d used to enter the city.

  Cole reached out and touched the wall, and Madu could barely make out a bluish circular glow that appeared at his fingertips.

  The guard seemed to be scanning for enemies, but at least he had shouldered his rifle. He kept lookin
g around as Cole pressed the circle, revealing a shaft that led into the side of the temple mound.

  Madu radioed instructions to the units above in the temple yard, then climbed down from his perch and followed the three into the tunnel. He would neutralize the guard and use the two civilians — like at Petra — as a bargaining chip with Vilocek.

  Three of his men hopped down into the empty moat and walked toward Madu. He waved them over, then poked his head into the round hole. Motioning for his men to follow, he led the way into the darkness.

  66

  11:56 am

  Almost there, Madu thought. He hadn’t been spotted or heard. He’d lost sight of the trio ahead as they turned a corner. He could hear their voices ahead — apparently there was some sort of large opening, like another hall — they’d come across.

  Another fifty feet and Madu reached a section tall enough to stand up in. This section stretched ahead about a hundred feet, and he could see the three others just at the edge of a great hall. He quickened his pace, careful to remain silent, fingering the long straight-bladed knife in his hand.

  He calculated his attack. He’d walk, then start to run only at ten feet out, when it would be too late to react.

  It was an easy kill, but Madu knew that he was getting old and out of practice. He had seen the Vilocorp guards in action at Petra — and their work at Giza — he knew what they were capable of.

  Head to head, Madu knew he wouldn’t stand a chance.

  Usually he would leave those types of battles to the expendable men outside. Their numbers alone should still be enough to squash any lingering resistance.

  But he still had a thirst for action.

  His anger was growing constantly. The longer he had waited, calculating and collecting his thoughts — the stronger the drive to kill had become.

  He was excited to get an opportunity like this — approach from behind, sink the knife deep, and twist. He remembered the feeling of such a kill — it was ruthless; cold.

  But it was effective.

  He didn’t want a prolonged death, one where he could stand over his victim and watch him die. That was a type of arrogance and foolishness that had gotten many good soldiers killed.

  He wanted revenge — swift, effective, and delivered by his own hand. A quick thrust in the back, followed by sudden death.

  He was almost ten feet away — he could smell the guard’s blood.

  He licked his lips and began to sprint.

  67

  11:56 am

  “Go!” Beka shouted in his heavily accented staccato. “What are you waiting for?”

  Moments earlier, They had stumbled to the end of the small tunnel. It opened into a large, high-ceilinged room, stretching far out in front of them. It was almost the same size as the temple three or four stories directly above.

  Rows of five-foot thick, floor-to-ceiling pillars lined the hall on each side. They stretched off in every direction.

  But it was the shining beam of light ahead that drew his attention.

  The bluish light poured upward through a small hole in the ceiling, and emanated from a stone pyramid at the center of the hall.

  The pyramid looked similar to the ones at Giza — the stone was different from the indigenous volcanic rock the many Moai and buildings here were carved from.

  The light itself was coming from the top of another pyramid — much smaller, perched atop the larger base. It was difficult to see the details from where they stood, but it appeared to be about a foot tall and translucent.

  Beka immediately knew what it was.

  The crystal.

  It was unimpressive at first glance. There was no mysterious aura, no feeling of revelatory awe upon finally seeing it.

  But he had a job to do.

  Why was Cole not moving? The boy had just stopped; staring straight ahead.

  He had mostly been aware of them as they descended — he wasn’t talking much, but he’d responded to questions and statements from Corinne with grunts and one-word answers. Though he wasn’t channeling the odd voice like he had in the library, he was clearly not himself.

  “Cole, you ok?” Corinne asked, gently touching his shoulder. He didn’t respond. Beka had had enough.

  “Move, boy — “ he brushed Cole out of the way, and stepped forward into the great hall. Cole sidestepped him, ducking and rolling backwards along the tunnel wall.

  Beka lost his balance, stumbled forward, then regained his footing about five feet from the tunnel exit.

  “What — “ Beka suddenly dropped downward. He’d stepped onto some kind of trapdoor. The fall was sharp, but short.

  He dropped only five feet before landing again on the stone slab. He was uninjured, standing in a rectangular hole — the floor of the hall stretched away from him at eye level.

  Then he saw Jabari. The Egyptian was sprinting from the tunnel toward Cole and the girl, and he had a wicked looking knife in his hand. Beka tried to bring his rifle around. Corinne was backing away from the exit, staring at the Egyptian. Cole didn’t seem to notice — he just stared at Beka without expression.

  Then Beka felt the heat.

  It was a warming sensation that started at his feet and was making its way quickly up his legs. Looking down, he saw a sun-colored liquid seeping around his boots — melting through them. Panicked, he tried to jump up to the rim of the stone box.

  His boots had become a rubbery mess, and what wasn’t already burning was stuck to the stone floor. They sucked at his feet, reducing his jump to an ineffective hop, and he landed again in the lava, splashing more of it higher up on his pants.

  He screamed as the droplets burned through the fabric and sizzled on his thighs. His feet were on fire, and he felt himself sinking — slowly — into the deepening lava.

  Every inch brought fresh, terrible pain. The excruciating shock now held him in place, unable to move.

  He noticed the smell — the charred, fleshy scent of burning death, mixed with a pall of smoke that made his eyes water.

  He lifted his eyes to the others. He thought he cried out to them, though his mind was quickly shutting down — all he could hear were the sizzling pops and squeals of his own flesh melting and dripping from his bones.

  Vladimir Beka was an extremely tough man — and he’d often prided himself on that very fact. As he sank deeper into the molten rock, slowly fading, he wished that his resilience was weaker. He pleaded with God to somehow save what little he had left, but it was in vain.

  No hand reached out to him. There was no angel of mercy to pull him from this personal hell.

  He was alive until the liquid reached his chest.

  Finally Vladimir Beka slipped beneath the surface of the lava, just as it matched the level of the floor and quickly began to cool.

  68

  11:57 am

  “Did you hear that?” Vilocek shouted over his shoulder as they ran down the passage. “It sounded like shouting.”

  He was slowing slightly as they approached the great hall.

  Bryce had heard — it sounded like Beka — but he was more concerned about running blind into another wide-open room. If there was shouting, it probably meant Jabari’s men had caught up with Beka and the others.

  Vilocek stepped into the large hall. The stone floor blocks were large, about four feet on each side. They looked like large tiles, as if they were stepping into a hall built for giants.

  Vilocek’s eyes were fixated on the pyramid in the center of the room. Bryce saw it too, sitting on the top of another pyramid made of dark stone. Vilocek knew this was what they’d been searching for.

  As Vilocek’s foot landed on the first stone, he felt a mechanical disengagement from deep below. His reflexes, heightened in the presence of the crystal, reacted and he tried to jump onto an adjacent stone. He managed to plant one foot, landed, but the other fell with the receding block of stone. Bryce reached out and grabbed the collar of his jacket, just as the others ran up behind him.

  T
hey saw Bryce holding Vilocek up as he caught his footing. He gathered himself and looked back at Bryce. As they watched, the hole in the floor started to fill up with steaming lava. A cloud of sulfurous smoke rushed upward on a wave of oppressive heat.

  “Th — thanks,” Vilocek said, clearly shaken.

  “Don’t get used to it — it seems you’re the only one of us who can get to that crystal, Dr. Vilocek.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Look on the other side of the room.” Bryce pointed. “Cole’s standing on the corresponding slab you’re on. The first stone to the left as you enter the hall.

  “It’s like another form of balance — this machine, whatever it is, requires two people to approach the crystal at the same time. It’s not just about being infused with the serum — there’s still a failsafe built in. You both have to advance to the center at the same time.”

  Vilocek frowned, but he didn’t hesitate. He jumped with both feet onto the next stone directly in front of him.

  Bryce watched Cole jump as well — to the stone directly in front of him. As Bryce had thought, neither movement triggered any traps.

  Vilocek jumped again, his confidence growing. Cole copied his moves on the other side of the hall. Bryce took a deep breath. He didn’t want Vilocek out in the middle of the room with Cole alone. Here goes nothing.

  He grabbed Wayne’s hand and stepped onto the first stone Vilocek had used.

  Nothing.

  He exhaled, nodding slightly. As he did, a shriek rang out from the other side of the room. He knew it was Corinne.

  He jumped ahead again, then was startled to hear gunshots.