The God Complex: A Thriller

by Murray Mcdonald

  “I tried but it was such a beautiful clear night and my mind was racing. I’m taking measurements that relate to astronomy, when better than at night?”

  Cash looked around, a bit disgruntled. “What if they’re watching us?” Sophie pointed along the pathway that led back out of the far side of the ruins, gently sloping towards the peak that overlooked the ruins. A hundred yards away, with a bird’s eye view of the entire site, sat Rigs, half hidden amongst the undergrowth.

  “One of my protectors is obviously a little more on the ball!”

  Cash waved at Rigs to come down and join them.

  “How long’s he been there?”

  “All night. Not said a word, just watched me like a hawk.”

  “Menacing?” asked Cash apologetically.

  “I must be getting used to him. It was quite comforting to know he was there!”

  The sound of engines straining reached across to them, quickly followed by a rush of voices. The tourists had arrived. The local buses transported a mass of commercialism up an impossibly steep slope. It was not a journey any of them were looking forward to repeating in daylight; it had been scary enough when they couldn’t fully appreciate the drop.

  The bird call went unnoticed by Sophie but had Cash on his toes in an instant. He grabbed Sophie and ducked behind the wall that obscured their view back towards the entrance. Rigs followed his call at a low run, tucking his binoculars back into this pack.

  “The mother from the hotel elevator!” he said urgently, indicating off towards the entrance, a couple of hundred yards away.

  Sophie tried to look but was pulled back by Cash.

  “He doesn’t mean this hotel or an actual mother! It’s one of the killers from Santa Cruz.”

  “Oh my God!” said Sophie. “It is linked!” she almost shouted with excitement.

  Cash covered her mouth. He had already concluded the same the second Rigs had issued the warning call. They were being hunted.

  “That means she’s one of the guardians!” whispered Sophie. “Protectors of the secret!”

  “I doubt it,” mumbled Rigs to Cash, raising a smile.

  “What?” asked Sophie.

  “Later,” promised Cash.

  “We need to speak to her!” Sophie insisted.

  “She’s here to kill us!”

  “She’s here to kill you two,” corrected Sophie. “They’ve not seen me with you.” She was up and moving before they realized what she was going to do, out in the open for all to see. If either Cash or Rigs went near her, they’d expose her as being with them, tantamount to painting a target on her.

  “Shit!” said Cash through his teeth when she evaded his diving grasp while Rigs strained to see around the wall without giving away their presence.

  “I spot another two with her, they’re scoping out the area. They don’t think we’re here yet.”

  “They did arrive on the first bus,” mused Cash. “They probably don’t know we stayed at the local hotel. Or didn’t think we could have since they knew we weren’t in Peru last night, so they must have known we were in Bolivia.”

  “A leak?” asked Rigs. “They’re not at all interested in Sophie. They’ve not given her a second look.”

  Cash looked over the edge of the building that they were hunkered down in, it was a sheer drop down to a terrace twenty feet below. The terraces ran along the length of the ruins.

  “If we drop down, we can keep tight against the wall and make our way back to the entrance.”

  Rigs opened up his small backpack. His Kimber ICQB pistol sat on top, a silencer by its side. He withdrew the silencer and screwed it in place.

  “Or we kill them now,” suggested Rigs, offering Cash the pistol while withdrawing a 12-inch Mission MPK-T1 knife from the inside of his boot.

  Cash stole a look around the wall. The three had spread out. Sophie was wandering as aimlessly as she could, although to Cash, it looked anything but, towards the girl.

  “I’ll take the guy in the gray t-shirt,” Cash said. “You take the olive shirt.”

  They moved without another word. Cash dropped down to the terrace below, his landing timed and planned not only to minimize the chance of injury but noise. He had the advantage of the pistol, so his route to his kill was far simpler than for Rigs, who needed to get up close and personal.

  Rigs rolled across the gap to the adjacent building and worked his way along the extensive ruins, which offered excellent cover for him. Unfortunately, the olive shirt had moved away from the ruins and had opted to walk down the sacred plaza, a large open area, out of striking distance.

  ***

  Charlie caught sight of the woman who appeared from the ruins ahead of them. Initially she had thought nothing of it, but soon realized the woman was keeping an eye on where Charlie was heading and was trying to engineer a route to cross her path.

  “The woman off to my right, just under a hundred yards,” said Charlie quietly. Each of the team was wearing a tiny state of the art ear piece mic. “She’s working her way towards me.”

  “They’re here, guys. Be on alert,” Steve responded. “Charlie, good spot.”

  Zach, wearing an olive colored t-shirt, moved away from the ruins he had been admiring and stuck to open ground. His eyes desperately tracked any movement from where the woman had suddenly appeared.

  “Liam, anything?” asked Steve. Liam was off to Charlie’s right, skirting the edge of the ruins.

  “I can see the woman clearly but neither of the targets,” replied Liam.

  ***

  Cash heard the voice above. He edged out from the terrace wall and caught a glimpse of the gray t-shirt. He pulled himself in tight against the face of the wall. Gray T-Shirt would have to lean out over the edge to be able to see him. There were steps off to his right that would take him back to the main level, up and behind the man. He couldn’t risk a shot without knowing where Sophie was in relation to the woman.

  Cash edged quickly along the wall and crept up the staircase, keeping his head as low as possible. When he reached floor height, he looked along to Gray T-Shirt thirty yards away, hugging the edge of the ruins.

  ***

  “Movement behind you, boss!” said Liam urgently into the earpiece. “Coming up from the terrace below. I don’t have a shot! I repeat, I don’t have a shot!”

  Steve didn’t wait to react. He dove into the body of the ruins almost instantaneously. Cash’s reactive shot whistled past his ankle.

  “I have the shot!” said Liam

  ***

  Cash spotted the move and tried to get a shot off but Gray T-Shirt moved too quickly. It was as though he had eyes in the back of his head.

  Rigs spotted the glint off in the distance, a scope. A suppressed flash followed. He looked in panic at Sophie. She was fine. It had to be Cash they were aiming at. Olive T-Shirt was still over thirty feet off to his right in the open. He delved into his bag. It wasn’t ideal but he didn’t have time, the situation was getting out of control.

  He pulled out three shuriken, Japanese throwing stars. It had been a long time since he’d used them in anger. Ideally, he’d have been half the distance away. He aimed the star and threw as hard as he could. One of the four points landed behind his target’s ear, it couldn’t have been more perfect. The target slumped to the ground.

  Rigs spun out of the other side of the ruins and made a run towards Sophie.

  ***

  “Zach’s down, I repeat, Zach is down!” said Liam into his mic.

  “Is he moving?” asked Charlie, trying to stay calm. She and Zach had been seeing each other secretly for the previous few months.

  “No,” replied Liam.

  Charlie looked for the woman, off to her right still, about forty yards and closing slowly.

  “Liam, where’s my guy?”

  “I think I got him, no movement from the stairwell.”

  “Keep me covered, I’m going to back up, Steve.”

  ***

  Sophie
was helpless, the woman abruptly changed course and sped towards her. They did know who she was, or at least that she was with Cash and Rigs. She looked around, neither were anywhere to be seen. She was feeling a little less pleased with her plan. The crowds of visitors were starting to spill into the grounds but they were still way off at the entrance. She diverted her course but the woman matched it. A man in a gray t-shirt was also matching her. There were two of them coming for her. Where the hell was Cash? She turned again, spotted a stairwell down to the next level of ruins and raced down it. The woman leapt down, not bothering to find a stairwell.

  The man was right behind her. Sophie turned and ran. She passed through a doorway and turned sharply, her ankle failing to turn as quickly, twisted, sending her crashing to the floor with a scream.

  Rigs spun round. He was close. He heard the crash and the scream. He had to stay out of sight and rely on sounds. The sniper had a bird’s eye view of the entire site. He changed course and zeroed in on Sophie’s whimpers, speeding through the ruins, keeping out of the sniper’s view. He darted back behind a wall, but was too late. The woman who had posed as a mother stood over Sophie, her pistol leveled at Sophie’s head, her back to Rigs. Fortunately, she hadn’t seen him. He pulled out his knife and lunged into the open, in full view of the sniper. Rigs had caught them by surprise and grabbed the woman, spinning her to shield him and Sophie from the sniper.

  With the knife slicing into her neck, the woman dropped her pistol without hesitation.

  “Don’t move,” said Rigs needlessly.

  “Don’t you move!” said the man in the gray t-shirt, stepping out from behind the wall with his pistol aimed directly at Rigs’ head.

  Rigs ignored him and pushed the knife deeper, the blood oozing from beneath its razor sharp edge as it cut deeper into the woman’s skin.

  “Lower your gun or I take her head off right now!” Rigs stated coldly.

  ***

  Steve had his ace in the hole. His sniper had the target in sight.

  “I have the shot!” said Liam into Steve’s earpiece.

  Steve lowered his pistol and was rewarded by the target lessening his cut. All he needed was to give a slight nod and Liam would pull the trigger. He waited for the knife to relax a little more. The last thing he wanted was a slumping body to slice through Charlie’s neck, killing her as a result of a hasty shot.

  Steve dropped his pistol to show he meant business. He hoped the guy would reciprocate. He moved the knife further from her neck, fully exposing his face to the sniper when he leaned against the side of Charlie’s head.

  “I have the shot, give me the signal!” Liam urged.

  The guy moved the knife to a safe position. Steve dipped his head slightly.

  ***

  Sophie’s hands covered her face, muffling her scream when the head of the person standing above her exploded into a bloody mush. The body, minus half its head, crashed on top of her as Gray T-Shirt reached down for his pistol.

  Her screams continued even after the bloody remains were pulled off of her and she was dragged behind a wall.

  “Rigs?” she asked.

  He nodded. Sophie calmed down and looked around to see that the woman had been shot while the man with the gray t-shirt had a knife buried deep in his chest, blood trickling from his mouth as he coughed and spluttered his last breaths.

  “How did you manage that?”

  “I had my ear pressed against hers listening to her earpiece. Their sniper asked for a signal, so when he dipped his head, I moved her head to where mine was and put a knife through his chest,” he said, holding up the pistol he had managed to acquire while getting them into cover.

  “What about Cash?” she asked.

  “He was supposed to have dealt with him,” he said, pointing to the dying gray t-shirt clad man.

  The sniper fired two shots uselessly against the wall next to them. He couldn’t possibly hit them where they were. He followed those with another three, then one then two more.

  Sophie broke into a grin. “He took care of the sniper!”

  “So that’s the secret signal?” smiled Rigs.

  “You don’t miss much in that world of yours, do you, Rigs?” asked Sophie, impressed he’d remembered the signal from the bunker.

  Rigs shook his head and stood up, offering Sophie a helping hand onto her feet. He dug into his bag and with the help of a water bottle and a t-shirt, removed most of the blood on him.

  Two tentative steps proved her ankle wasn’t too bad and under his guidance, they made their way away from the bodies before the first tourists’ screams echoed through the mountains.

  Cash met them as they approached the entrance. The crowds were already trying to leave having discovered the bodies. Cash pushed as tight against Sophie as he could. She pulled away. He pushed back. “Your clothes are covered in blood down this side,” he whispered.

  “Oh!”

  “So where to?”

  “A shower please.”

  “If you insist,” Cash had an email to draft to Travis but that could definitely wait.

  Chapter 40

  Senator Noble had seen the news break from Peru. Four Americans had been killed in broad daylight in Machu Picchu. Four Americans who he knew were linked to DIS. His pulse quickened. This couldn’t be happening. He grabbed the phone.

  “Who are you calling?” The slight Eastern European twang to her accent added an unnecessarily sinister edge to the beauty who had not left his side. So far, the most he had learned was her name, Katya, not that he believed it was her real one.

  “My nephew. We may have a problem,” he said. His nerves were not coping well with the new arrangement. She sat in the corner of his office, having spent the night sleeping in his bed, while he slept on the sofa. Even visiting the restroom required the door to be left open, which she was more than happy to do herself. She had no issue undressing or showering in front of him. Although she was the most flawless female he had ever seen, the darkness behind her captivating eyes belied a violence he had no intention of unleashing.

  She waved her hand regally as though that were acceptable.

  Conrad answered on the second ring. “Uncle Bertie! Enjoying your new companion?” he asked gleefully.

  “We have a problem.” Bertie would bow and curtsy to Antoine, but not the monkey.

  “What?” asked Conrad.

  “Have you not seen the news?” he asked, his rage building.

  “No, I’ve just stepped off a plane,” explained Conrad, re-engaging once he heard the hint of panic in the anger of his otherwise fearless uncle.

  “Your two targets appear to have wiped out a DIS team in Peru, it’s all over the news.”

  “Shit, when?”

  “It broke a few minutes ago. Who knows how long since it happened but I wouldn’t think long.”

  “There’s nothing on them that will connect them to DIS. They know not to divulge any details about DIS - their families will be amply rewarded,” explained Conrad..

  “You’re forgetting one thing. We’re up against actual CIA staff here. We’ve never used DIS staff in this way before.”

  “And?”

  “I’m exposed!” shouted the Senator, failing to understand why Conrad wasn’t seeing it. “I hired the boss, Mike Yates, so there’s a direct link to me and Atlas Noble.”

  Katya sat up in her chair, suddenly taking interest in the situation, especially after hearing the name Mike Yates. Her role was to protect Atlas Noble and Antoine Noble from any fallout as a result of the Senator’s ‘work’. If, even for a second, it looked like the government were piecing together his involvement in the coup attempt, Senator Bertie Noble would suffer a sudden and fatal heart attack, and Katya would disappear invisibly into the night.

  Conrad always considered DIS to be an arm’s length organization with no ties whatsoever to Atlas Noble; that was what made it so valuable. The caliber of staff they were able to recruit far exceeded anything on the open market. The ex-
CIA, DIA and Special Forces operatives, believing they were joining a highly secretive government agency, were willing to undertake roles that guns for hire wouldn’t otherwise touch. It was ingenious, giving Atlas Noble one of the world’s premier and most secretive intelligence agencies. None of that came without having to build some credibility and Senator Bertie Noble provided that as Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

  “Perhaps DIS was inappropriate in this instance then.”

  “You think?” said Bertie sarcastically.

  “Our contacts are telling us that the CIA has cut them loose,” explained Conrad.

  “Cash and Rigs? Not a chance, they’re Travis Davies’ go to guys. That’s why you’ve got four body bags waiting for a ride home from Peru. If that’s what you’re hearing, that’s what Travis Davies wants you to hear.”

  “This Mike Yates, is he the only exposure?” asked Katya, interrupting the conversation.

  Senator Noble nodded at her. Katya relaxed back into her chair.

  “We don’t even know if it is a problem,” said Conrad. “Dead men can’t talk.”

  “We don’t know what they told the CIA guys before they were killed,” said the Senator. “They may have already alerted Travis to DIS’ involvement. They may already have Mike Yates in custody!”

  “They don’t,” said Conrad confidently.

  “You don’t know that!”

  “I do,” he smiled. “You’re not the first loose end Katya was sent to deal with,” explained Conrad. “Mike Yates, I believe, has a byline on page seven of this morning’s New York Times,” he said flatly, then hung up.

  He’d played enough with the old man. DIS had already been pulled from the operation a few hours earlier. Everything the Senator had said was valid, not to mention that Mike Yates was the only link to Atlas Noble in DIS, hence Katya’s extra babysitting role. How she had made a man, particularly one as experienced and capable as Mike Yates, jump voluntarily from a skyscraper to his death, leaving behind a genuine handwritten suicide letter, Conrad had no idea. However, that was why Katya and her very special band of colleagues were the best in the world at what they did. And that was why they had replaced the DIS team in the hunt for Cash and Rigs.