The Swords of Babylon (Matt Drake 6)

by Leadbeater, David

  ****

  At every tomb, a towering column of light shot up from the bowels of the Earth. The three vortexes erupted together, unleashing their potent earth energy in one almighty blast. Energized by the tombs, charged and activated by the bones of the gods, crackling bolts of incandescent energy blew the tops off every tomb and fired up into the clouds and skies. The core sizzled around the three men; Block, Cayman and Denney, enveloping them in a cocoon of white fire.

  Hayden lost her grip on the ladder, fell backwards, and hit the rock plateau hard. Kinimaka made a tough choice, and jumped down to help her, cradling her head.

  “Oh, Mano,” she whispered. “You keep saving my life.”

  He bowed his head until their noses touched. “Without you there is no life worth living.”

  ****

  Dahl struggled toward the bright glow, raging through the lightning, cursing when his gun was wrenched out of his fingers as he neared the suited man. His thumb brushed the man’s wrist a second before he was thrust backwards on his knees, pushed by the force of the gale, his slide only arrested by Bengtsson and the other two SGG soldiers.

  Heads bent, they struggled to stand upright in the screaming vortex . . .

  All three tombs started to collapse. First the cliff faces around them gave way, blocks of rock and stone shearing off and sliding down to crash and burst against the floor below. Then the niches themselves started to crumble, a cascade of smaller stones dropping like a devastating waterfall. Extensive cracks ran from niche to niche. Bigger blocks began to shift and rumble, the ominous shattering of enduring rock striking terror into the heart of everyone who heard.

  Hayden’s eyes bored into Kinimaka’s. “We have to get the hell out of here.”

  “Not yet.”

  Kinimaka left her and started to climb the ladder, sword slung over his back. Hayden took a breath and followed, reaching the seat of Odin’s throne a second after he did. Kinimaka strode ahead and literally barged through the power that coursed around Zak Block, shoving forward until he stood face to face with the Shadow Elite maniac.

  “Stop it,” he yelled. “Shut it off!”

  The fanatics eyes flew wide as if just realizing he had forgotten to do that very thing. “It works,” Kinimaka heard him say. “I have the power.”

  “Then prove it. Turn it off!”

  The leader of the Shadow Elite dropped the finger bone he was holding, and at first appeared to try and concentrate and clear his mind. Then he closed his eyes and walked away. Finally, he slapped himself.

  “I can’t.”

  The earth energy, unleashed and unfettered at last, twisted like an electrically charged whirlwind high into the sky.

  Unstoppable.

  CHAPTER FIFTY SIX

  All of a sudden, Kinimaka saw the branches of the towering, crackling tree of lightning stretching towards him. He was instantly reminded of Nikola Tesla’s tree of energy description. He flung the Shadow Elite man aside, thinking he was the source, and backed away fast. But the blazing tendrils continued to test for his presence, as if sensing something. Then one of the stalks shot towards him like a spitting arrow, striking his back. Kinimaka squealed, not ashamed to do so.

  “What the fuck!”

  Hayden fell in beside him. “Oh crap. Now we’re in trouble.”

  “Why?”

  “That lightning bolt just struck your sword.”

  Kinimaka stared in horror as the whole soaring column leaned toward him.

  ****

  Dahl stood transfixed as the lightning tree bent over toward the swinging cable car. He screamed for Olle, and when the Swedish translator stood up, he was grasping both of Alexander’s swords in his hands.

  “Thought they might come in useful,” he started, and then saw the astonishing display of earth energy. “Ah,” he mumbled. “Ah . . . Torsten . . .”

  ****

  Alicia scooted across the rock-strewn floor as the energy tower, containing all the Earth’s elements, bowed down to the ground, a dazzling supplicant. Lomas brandished one of the swords. She picked up the other. Fear and wonder kept her rooted to the spot. Here was a primeval force that could tear the world apart. Here was real power, real might. The kind of display that might persuade a man to worship the gods.

  Then the earth energy gathered its white fire and flashed straight at the swords held by Alicia, Lomas, Hayden, Kinimaka and Akerman, surrounding their blades in a writhing wreath of flickering flame before exploding and firing upward in a shining column straight through the top of the tombs, now channeled from their original purpose by the earth energy inherent in the swords and re-tasked toward something new.

  Alicia watched in awe as the column of light reached its apex and then veered away.

  ****

  Drake held the sword aloft and felt the energy exploding. Above him, beyond the rim of the pit where Mai and Yorgi’s faces peered down anxiously, he saw fires illuminating the skies. The dark night was sunstruck. A wondrous array of crackling and sparkling lights swept the black curtain aside, a spectacular aurora borealis. Was it the end of the world? He didn’t know, but had foresight enough to thrust the sword higher, its tip now clearing the top of the pit.

  Instantly, the world ignited. Vivid bolts of lightning blazed brightly and blasted toward the Earth with the sound of a thunderclap. Vital energy struck and channeled through the entire length of the sword, then flashed down from the hilt to be totally consumed by the bottomless pit of Babylon. A stunning symmetry of shining energy surrounded Drake and the sword, mini bolts of lightning crackled in his hair, between his fingers, across the tops of his boots, but he remained unharmed.

  “It’s a goddamn lightning rod,” he said, amazed. The other six swords were the same, but infused with less power. They attracted the energy and sent it to their more powerful cousin.

  The pit of Babylon devoured every spark of power like a hungry black hole. Nothing stirred down there. Nothing existed. Drake remembered Patterson saying that even the pit itself might be an earth energy vortex. But now he knew better.

  It was a negative energy vortex, consuming everything and anything that was thrown at it.

  Except for Matt Drake. With the help of his friends, he climbed and pulled himself up over the edge of the pit. The sword still flickered, expending the last of its force below, so Drake held it out over the black hole until the lights chasing along its blade finally diminished and the skies were reclaimed by the night.

  Together they sat for a while, mourning the death of Professor Patterson and rejoicing that the world was now safe, but, most of all, worrying about the fates of their friends and team mates.

  CHAPTER FIFTY SEVEN

  Dahl bounded over to the suited man as the last crackles of energy subsided. He smashed a fist into the side of his head, sending his entire frame slithering to the ground.

  “Questioning can wait.”

  He balanced on the spot, listening. At least the dissipation of the energy tree had temporarily slowed the crumbling of the old tombs.

  Bengtsson stepped up. “What on Earth happened here, sir?”

  Dahl eyed Olle Akerman, still swinging in the cable car. “We won. And now we need to go.”

  Akerman stared forlornly through the empty windows. “Any chance you can get me down now?”

  Dahl jumped for the ladder. “Just be a moment.”

  ****

  Alicia saw the last vestiges of earth energy fade away, then cringed as a high-pitched mewling started up. Her eyes sought and found Russell Cayman, bent double with his nose to the ground, the shattered skull of Kali clenched between his bleeding fingers.

  The tombs still crumbled around them. She thought it really was time to get the fuck outta here, but could they risk leaving Cayman alive?

  Not a chance. Alicia had no intentions of bringing the psycho back to the real world. She stepped among the statues, now at the center of the tomb, and raised her gun.

  “You can’t kill me,” he hissed
.

  “Just putting down a rabid dog. And this is you getting lucky, Cayman, believe me.”

  Cayman looked up at her, eyes wretched and lost. “I don’t want to be taken from my home again. I don’t want to be left by the side of the road. Do it. Do it now.”

  Alicia hesitated for a second, wondering what his story was, but the sound of a Desert Eagle booming put an end to any second thoughts. Cayman’s head exploded, his body falling backwards, fingers still not relinquishing their grip on the skull of Kali, even in death.

  Alicia turned. Lomas shrugged at her, pretending to blow smoke from the end of his barrel. “We have to get away from here, Taz. Place is falling to pieces.”

  The Englishwoman fell in as the bikers and German special ops troops jogged their way back up the shaking passageways. Behind them, the tomb started to steadily cave in. Alicia ignored it and, surrounded by her gang, repeated the words one last time to reinforce the gravity of her message.

  “Never, ever, mention that name to anyone beyond this gang. You hear me? If you understand me right, your balls should be starting to shrink.”

  A few ‘ayes’ went up, even from the women.

  Alicia ran with her new family toward the light.

  ****

  Kinimaka forced the Shadow Elite boss down the vertical ladder, throwing him the last four feet. All around them, rock faces were crumbling. Even the throne of Odin was starting to develop a myriad of tiny cracks.

  Hayden met his eyes. Kinimaka nodded. “Run!”

  Dragging their captive, the two SPEAR operatives chased their own footsteps back through the redundant trap system. Mini earthquakes threatened to upend them at any moment, but thankfully the major damage seemed to be confined to the tombs. It was the spectacular end of the gods, the final destruction of their resting places now adding to the insolent disrespect of their deaths. By the time Hayden and Kinimaka neared ground level, the rumblings had stopped, making the Hawaiian pause at the entrance to the gates of Hell.

  “I guess that’s the last of the gods then.”

  Hayden cast her eyes over the archway, the so-called portal, and wondered about the two devices that complimented it. Whatever had happened to them?

  “I guess so. And in truth, Mano, despite what we may have learned, it’s not a bad thing.”

  “Damn right.”

  “I just hope it’s the same at every tomb. I wonder how the others fared.” Hayden stared at her cell until the green bars flickered into life.

  Kinimaka strode out into the open air first, throwing the Shadow Elite boss to the floor at the feet of the gathered military forces. “Last guy we walked out of here,” he said, “is still wallowing in some top secret prison. No one knows where. I expect nothing less but the same for you, asshole.”

  Then the day became a blur for Kinimaka. Hayden called Karin and confirmed events at the other two tomb sites and Babylon. Jonathan Gates came on the line and thanked them publicly, along with half the military and cops in Honolulu. A Japanese family somehow managed to wander into the facility and started to take pictures. His sister, Kono, called and said that she needed to see him. She was sure she was being watched. She knew he was in Hawaii, and maybe he could stop on the way back to D.C. And finally, ultimately, Hayden pulled him to the side and led him over to the low rim of the crater.

  Beyond, the glittering Pacific lapped at Waikiki’s golden shore.

  “We should call a hotel,” Hayden said after a while. “Get cleaned up.”

  Kinimaka grunted. “Are you kidding, makamae? My home’s a short drive away.”

  Hayden pulled a face. “You want me to go meet your mom?”

  “Doesn’t every man want to take home his beautiful girlfriend?”

  Hayden still hesitated uncertainly. “Ah, the Hard Rock’s in the other direction you know.”

  “I know. We can go there tomorrow.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY EIGHT

  Jonathan Gates accepted the hugs from Karin and Lauren Fox, and even Komodo. This was a team he could depend on, enhance, and trust to always have his back. When Smyth and Romero came forward, he heartily shook their hands. It had been a good outcome to a terrifying situation, and one to be celebrated, but he had the dreadful feeling that it would not always be so.

  What was coming next?

  Monsters swam near the surface, and there was always another one waiting to rear its twisted head. New threats were the staple diet of the men and women who safeguarded the free world. For them it would never end.

  Gates soon excused himself and left Karin and her colleagues to their celebrations. He took a moment to talk to Lauren Fox outside the main comms room.

  “Thank you,” he said. “I know you were prepared to see through all I asked.”

  Lauren had flown down to D.C. at his request. Now she explained her most recent experience in New York.

  “My apartment was being watched, sir. At least, from the ground floor. Who knows if anyone broke in and bugged the damn place?”

  “I find it hard to believe that General Stone figured you out, let alone found you so quickly. Are you sure it was his men?”

  Lauren blinked, and fingered the threads of the old cardigan she wore. “Who else could it have been?”

  Gates voiced his thoughts. “You’re on record as being part of the SPEAR team. Confidential records,” he stressed. “But records nonetheless.”

  Lauren frowned. “I don’t like the sound of that. I’ve been around, sir. I know how confidential those things actually are.”

  “Then stay here.” Gates didn’t respond to her cynicism. His own impression was that the government’s security systems were quite thorough. “Just for now. On my dime. I’ll make some enquiries.”

  Even as the New Yorker started to smile, Gates turned on his heel and walked away. It was time to get back to his office. There still remained a matter that required urgent attention. As he walked, he passed by the heavily barred, steel door that led to the facility’s underground escape route. Whoever designed it to surface in the Pennsylvania Mall was a genius. More escape routes than the New York Zoo.

  He laughed aloud, then looked around self-consciously. It wouldn’t do for a senator to be seen laughing to himself. No point in giving the opposition ammunition. He allowed himself one more grin by entertaining the idea of suggesting the same escape route strategy to President Coburn, before slipping his game face back on and stepping out into the open air.

  He saw the Secret Service agents straight away. That was good, normal. Beyond them was a second car, government issue, also watching. Why would they send two?

  Don’t be an idiot, he thought. We just escaped a calamity. Of course they would assign more men to your safety.

  Well, the calamity was over. And now he had that other urgent matter to attend to.

  Pulling out his cell phone, he called Sarah Moxley. It seemed a good day for a celebration after all.

  ****

  Matt Drake drove Mai and Yorgi through the sand dunes to Camp Babylon. The crisis across the world had been averted, and he was hoping it was time to take a break. He felt like he’d been fighting hard for months on end, ever since the gods first reared their divinely hideous heads.

  Now it was time to soak in a little sunshine, a little Mai-time, and a little Dinorock time. All the good things in life.

  He chose not to think about Mai’s crisis, not yet.

  As they bounced over the rugged roads and sandbanks Mai took five minutes to call her sister, Chika, and then Dai Hibiki. She asked about Gyuki and about the old clan. She asked about recent sightings and recent assassinations across the globe. She listened quietly for a long time, eyes unreadable in that true Japanese manner. When she ended her call, Drake spoke up.

  “You know, Zanko told me that Zoya knew Coyote.”

  Mai didn’t take her eyes off the road. “Hmm, well, I saw Zoya too, Matt. I wouldn’t put much faith in Zanko and Zoya if I were you.”

  “But still,” Drake breathe
d. “We should revisit her place sometime. Maybe we’ll find some clues.”

  “Maybe.”

  The U.S. Army camp came into view. Drake showed his I.D. and, after confirmation, drove through the inner gates and took a little time out in the camp barracks. After a shower and a meal he sought a quiet corner to make a call.

  “Hey mate, how’s it going?”

  Ben Blake grunted down the line. “Not bad. Finally got myself a new bird, anyway.”

  Drake laughed. “Thank God. Thought you were licking the other side of the stamp for a while there.”

  “Piss off.”

  “What’s her name?”

  “Stacey.”

  “Stacey?” Drake laughed. “As in Stacy’s Mom? Has she got it going on?”

  “Like I haven’t heard that one already. Even my dad said it. What the hell do you want anyway?”

  “I wanted to tell you,” Drake said somberly. “The Odin thing’s finally over, mate. The tombs are gone. The device is gone. It’s all finished. Thought you should know.”

  Ben was silent for a long time. Then, “Thank God.”

  “Well, thank Drake, at least.”

  “Next time you’re in York . . .”

  Drake smiled in the dark. “Yeah, next time.”

  ****

  Mai Kitano watched Drake’s shadow from her own world of darkness. She could tell when he smiled, when he frowned, when he grew sad, all through observing his body language.

  It was what she had been trained to do. By them.

  By the Clan. The people who owned her. The bastards who had purchased her from desperate parents, without giving the barest hint of what they would ultimately use her for.

  And what had they done? she thought. Turned her into a killing machine, a mindless, mechanical robot with gears so twisted she could never return to her former self – innocent, free, full of promise. The young Mai had a whole life of potential before her. They had taken that with the selfish detached greed of monsters.