by P. W. Child
“That looks correct,” the archaeologist affirmed. “Now look for a symbol of a king outside his fortress. Hercules promised the Hind to the king only if he came outside to collect it. And then he accidentally freed it during the exchange, remember?”
Nina turned the dial with a crown next to a castle wall and pressed it down.
Click!
“Hell yes!” Nina grinned. Purdue was as nervous as the ladies in his company, while Sam had fetched his waterproof camera to record the interesting safe-cracking developments.
“Dial this one,” Rita suggested. “The next labor is the Cretan Bull.”
Nina frowned. “No, not this one. The next one should be the Boar, shouldn't it?”
“No, the bull. Look at the picture. It’s the bull,” Rita insisted.
“I concur that it looks like a bull, but those aren't horns. They’re ears. It’s the Boar first, I think,” Nina argued.
Rita was losing her patience with the historian. Besides, as an archaeologist she would obviously know better than a historian would. Without any more argument Rita Medley placed the symbol of a man strangling a beast over what Nina knew to be the Boar, not the bull. When Medley pushed the stone down, a host of snakes fell from one of the chamber crevices, landing on all those gathered in front of the wall. Scattering in all directions, they fled from the large snakes in a clamor of fright.
It took over ten minutes to wait for the reptiles to disperse without harming anyone. Rita said nothing, but she knew that Nina had been correct about the Erymanthian Boar being the next labor. She allowed Nina to shift the dial to the symbol of a snowflake.
“Why a snowflake?” Purdue asked.
“Hercules had to corral the boar into the thick snow to catch it,” Nina explained.
Click!
As the women continued unlocking the Vault of Hercules, a battered Guido Bruno was biding his time from a sanctuary in the dark. With every click that sounded through the cave he grew more excited about what was happening. Sure, he took a beating and would probably have to kill his wife before the next dawn, but it was all worth it.
He crept toward where Valdi was supposed to be waiting for the Vault to open, one level up inside a cavern that led nowhere, the perfect place for a temporary vantage. Guido Bruno made sure that he wasn’t being watched or followed as he slipped between two protruding formations, an optical illusion much like the wall inside the mountain in Ethiopia that Purdue had escaped from. There, via the very slender tear in the rock, he made his way up the slightly angular ramp to where the wooden coffins were resting.
“Valdi,” he whispered. “Valdi, where are you?”
“Here,” the low slur answered from Guido's left. Slumped over, the large killer sat waiting, watching the whole unlocking ceremony from the hole over the chamber.
“The Vault of Hercules is about to be opened,” Guido smiled, patting his lapdog on the back. “Are the capacitors in good condition?”
“As you ordered,” Valdi muttered. “What a waste. If they survive, do I get the spoils?”
“They will not die, Valdi. They are older than the infant the Black Sun's men used seventy odd years ago, and there are seven of them to share the charge. Once we have them lined up, it should take no more than an hour to charge them,” Guido mused.
“What about the others? I don't like the men,” the big criminal complained.
“The moment that Vault opens, we whack 'em, of course. See? They're down to the last pairing. Thank fuck my wife's obsession finally pays off, hey?” Guido chuckled. “Now we just wait. After the last key is secured, we wait to see what it looks like before I call in the dogs. Once the party is extinguished...”
“Apart from the black-eyed beauty you promised me,” Valdi interrupted.
“Yes, apart from her,” Guido sighed. “Then we can take our time reining in the power of the Vault.” He leered at Nina down in the water, her full lips and dark eyes prominent now that her black hair was wet and unkempt. She was beautiful, but he hated her with a passion, especially for humiliating him earlier. Guido wished he could kill her for it.
Click!
Curious, he turned to Valdi, “Are you sure you’re not in necrophilia?”
Chapter 32
As the last key clicked into place, Sam was confronted with a bout of reality. Having been tracked by the Archaeological Crimes Unit all this time meant that they were probably already in the area, waiting to arrest Purdue. Too many factors had influenced his decision, and too many of those were based on an erratic emotional upset, he realized. But the time for decisions and pondering upon the moral implications had now run out.
“Sam!” Purdue called, grinning widely as he floated in the clear water. “Are you getting this?”
“Aye,” Sam smiled crookedly as he lifted the lens of his waterproof camera. A deep rumble ensued from the wall where the keys had just been latched in sequence, and the rest of the party swam backwards to put some distance between them and whatever was going to present itself. They were all excited about discovering the arcane legend, but the peril was very real in not knowing what was behind the wall. And since the previous expedition had not survived, it was wise to keep at a safe distance for now.
Nina too, had it in the back of her head that Purdue would soon be on the run. He couldn’t return to Wrichtishousis because it was the first place the authorities would search for him. She’d spent much time at night and during the travel time contemplating his fate. She knew he was resourceful and wealthy enough to elude his pursuers successfully for quite some time. And even though she done her part with warning him about what Charles had told her, she still felt concerned about what would happen to him.
Her attention was called away from Purdue's situation by the opening of the Vault. The high wall began to sink, slowly swallowed by the lake without more than a slight disturbance in the surface of the water. The entire surface shivered in tiny ripples as the massive sheet of marble and rock descended, to the speechless awe of all who watched. Nina, Purdue, Rita, and Sam smiled victoriously at one another, but John Arthur Armstrong was not inclined to delight in what was happening.
Tears filled his eyes for the first time in decades as the suppressed memories flashed back in his head about the holiday he’d spent with his aunt. At once the darting reminiscence of his childhood overwhelmed him, that he really had been inside the Vault of Hercules as a twelve-year-old boy. Here he had to finally face how she’d really died, or else his new acquaintances would have to suffer the same fate. Twitching and wincing, John yelped as he recalled looking in his aunt's eyes as he strangled her. He had to deal with the realization that his murderous streak did not come from prison or unsavory friends, nor from the SAS training he had honed.
To his dismay he had to admit to himself that it was the effect of the elixir his aunt had given him to drink from the Vault. Yes, it had given him godlike strength, but in turn it had also bestowed on him the other side of Hercules—the demigod who murdered his family under the thrall of Hera's evil.
Nina's laughter echoed through the cave and Rita took her hand, lifting it in triumph as they watched the wall disappear under the water. Behind the fallen wall, the Vault of Hercules dazzled. A vast cavern of strange cave formations that had an uncanny resemblance to human and animal forms beckoned. The wet walls of the half submerged, tilted chamber exuded an ethereal, teal-colored glow.
“Sam, are you getting this?” Nina asked.
“God, yes,” he said, mesmerized by the splendor of the vault.
The round chamber exhibited only three things that seemed to be put there by humans: two pillars in the center of the vault, probably to hold it up; an ancient duct that jutted out of the back wall by a few inches; and ten large, sacrificial slabs placed in a circle. Like a sun with rays shining outward, the heads of the sacrificial animals—or humans—would be in the middle and their feet on the end of the slabs. However, the slabs were hidden under the already rising water level.
/> “What is that?” Purdue asked Rita. He pointed at the duct. From it a wine-like liquid was pouring weakly, dripping into the flooding level that threatened to soon drown the Vault.
“Ambrosia,” she ruminated dreamily.
“No, seriously. What is it?” he reiterated.
She looked at him, slightly annoyed. “It is Ambrosia, David. The nectar of the gods. The elixir of immortality, and all that. That stuff is what I’m here for.”
“Got a flask?” Nina jested as she followed Rita and Purdue toward the vault. Sam, wishing to film the entire vault, remained back to do a steady pan shot. The other three could swim straight into the Vault because of the flooding, and they parted, each to investigate something different. As Rita lifted the reinforced canteen to collect some nectar a bullet ripped through her, spattering the wall with her blood. Nina uttered a shocked scream as Purdue stood on a larger rock, staring at the unbelievable scenario in bewilderment.
Sam ducked under the ledge of the tunnel mouth so as not to be detected by the shooter, but he filmed upward from where the shots had originated. There Guido Bruno stood, his gun firing off a whole clip in all directions, the barrel ablaze like a spewing dragon. Nina and Purdue had gone under the water and surfaced near Sam while the twisted Mafioso's malicious cackle screeched through the thunder of the gun.
Purdue motioned for his friends to be quiet. Nina tried to grab him, but he was too fast, having already slid through the water. He moved in the water against the cave wall under Valdi and Guido's vantage point so that they could not see him.
“Did you get them?” the slow words of Valdi reverberated above Purdue.
“Looks like it,” Guido huffed in exhilaration, finally dropping his empty gun. “Bring the daughters down to the water.”
Guido Bruno removed his clothes and dove into the sapphire water, hastening so that the nectar would not go to waste. The water level had risen to only a few inches under the duct, soon to dilute the Ambrosia, rendering it useless. He passed Rita's floating body, simply nudging her aside as he headed for the conduit. While he collected the nectar, Valdi came down to the lake. He was tall enough to walk through the water instead of swimming, and he was dragging the wooden boxes, afloat, behind him.
Sam gasped at the sight of the coffins, knowing what had to be inside. He looked at Nina and she nodded affirmatively. He couldn’t imagine just hovering there, filming while the children were about to be killed, but it was what he’d come for. On the side of the camera a small, yellow light flashed continually as Sam broadcast every moment to MI6 and the ACU via live streaming. He imagined what Paddy had to have been feeling at that moment, to know that his daughter was in one of those boxes, hopefully still drawing breath.
“God, I hope they are nearby or we'll never survive this,” he whispered to Nina, who looked anxious about what Purdue was up to.
“Who is nearby?” she frowned.
With a jolt of shock Sam realized that he’d just betrayed his purpose there, but he hoped to lie his way out. “Help. I hope there is help out there.”
“Don't fucking lie to me, Sam,” she hissed. “I know you and I know when you are lying.”
“Put the boxes on the stones, Valdi,” Guido ordered. In horror Nina and Sam watched helplessly. With Purdue absent, Sam elected to retrieve Sal's gun while Guido and Valdi busied themselves with the girls.
“Hold the camera, please,” he whispered to Nina. “I'll explain everything later. Just keep shooting.”
She reluctantly took the camera from him and watched the sickening scene unfold through the viewfinder. Purdue appeared from the water at the entrance to the Vault, brandishing the ice axe he’d previously lent Nina. With a violent swing he lodged the sharp steel tooth of the axe into Valdi's neck.
“Bad idea, Purdue,” Nina said to herself. “Very bad idea.”
Valdi swirled around and grabbed Purdue by the throat, hurling him against the wall behind one of the two pillar columns. His head hit the rock and Nina saw his white hair stained scarlet. “Oh Jesus, no!” she wailed. Guido heard her and turned around.
“You little bitch!” he seethed. Having no gun, he could do nothing to hurt the historian who was filming him. “Valdi! Get that little whore and drown her. I'll get you another one!”
Valdi came for Nina. From behind him Purdue rose again, swaying wildly to find his footing from the impact of his head injury. “You stay away from her!” he screeched at Valdi, but the huge oaf ignored him.
Suddenly two bullets clapped and Purdue's chest exploded in a mess of blood that tore his diver's suit. Nina could not process what she was seeing, and turned the camera to find where the shots had come from. To her horror she saw Sam Cleave there, smoking gun in hand, now aiming at Valdi.
“You can’t escape, no matter how many bullets you have, you son of a bitch!” Guido shouted at Sam from behind the shelter of one of the children's limp bodies. “You think I would come here with a handful of goons and not have insurance? My people are already outside, ya mook! The Vault of Hercules belongs to Cosa Nostra, to our Roman blood and heritage. No way out for you!” he laughed.
Nina, furious at Sam, threw his camera at him and ducked under the water.
“Nina!” Sam bellowed. “I'll explain! Come back!”
Valdi smiled at the prospect of playing with the sexy historian once he was done with Sam. The clip was empty and Sam had nothing to defend himself with other than a pocketknife, which he pulled and held by his side.
“Come on, bitch,” he growled at Valdi. “I have nothing left to lose, pal! Nothing!”
Chapter 33
Nina watched from a distance through bloodshot eyes as she wept for Purdue. Sam looked absolutely feral, with his long black hair falling over his face and neck while the hair on his arms bristled like a wolf's. The glint of the short silver blade blinded her momentarily as Valdi propelled forward to seize Sam.
Movement grabbed her attention near the Vault. John's giant frame rose from the water in the Vault like a vengeful Titan. Nina looked at the discarded camera she’d thrown at Sam, lying on the floor of the tunnel with the light still flashing, but she could not fetch it now. With one effortless move he slapped Guido upside the head, his strength so impressive that the Sicilian caved instantly from the blow. Then she saw John proceeding to gather up the children, Amber Smith included, and returning them to the safety of the original tunnel mouth.
In the background Sam was in the fight of his life. His face was battered under the heavy fists of the cannibal, but he kept swinging. A fissure from Valdi's lower abdomen to his upper chest opened raw and deep as Sam's blade slashed through his skin. Before giving the monster a moment to recover Sam stabbed him in the eye, then sank the silver fang deep into his groin. Nina hated Sam for gunning down Purdue and betraying him with the tracking device, but she couldn’t help but root for him as Valdi fell to his knees.
Sam's face was void of anything remotely humane as he hailed down his fists on Valdi's temples and nose. A deep growl roared from the journalist as he clenched his teeth in rage. Because of Valdi abducting Paddy's daughter, Sam had lost his friend. Because of Valdi, Igor Heller had managed to avenge his arrest on Sam's best friend. Because of Valdi, the Cosa Nostra was effectively robbing parents of their children and getting away with it. Now Nina hated him too? These were the thoughts that fueled Sam's murderous rage.
“Sam! You can’t kill him! You’ll spend the rest of your life in prison!” Nina shouted.
“Fuck it!” Sam snorted through blood and saliva. “The camera is not rolling anymore. They'd have to prove it!”
Valdi looked at Nina with a glare she could not stomach, and then he smiled. Sam had knocked out his teeth and his split lip stretched in a bloody mess when he grinned at her, a most revolting vision she would not soon forget. “You are mine, pretty.”
“Fuck you, Shrek!” Nina barked. “Sam, kill him.”
The Vault of Hercules was rapidly being engulfed by the lake, and soon
the Ambrosia would be gone. The substance had no notable origin, but John knew full well that it was a miracle compensated for by a malediction. Whatever it contained did turn children into demigods of immense strength, but it would also drive them mad and turn them into homicidal individuals with no off switch. John took a moment to smile at Nina.
“Thank you for bringing me to my destiny, Dr. Gould,” he said. “Back to my childhood, where I first encountered this evil liquid and paid for it ever since. Because of you, I can now put all this to an end.”
“Without you we would all be dead by now, dear Mr. Armstrong,” Nina comforted him with a smile.
John Arthur Armstrong stepped into the Vault of Hercules, just as Sam dealt Valdi his deathblow with a rock to the forehead. Purdue's body was gone, and so was Rita's, but Nina had the young girls to worry about now. She swam towards the tunnel, rousing the girls from their induced stupor. She looked back to the Vault where Guido had woken.
“Hello Johnny boy,” Guido tried to appease the man he betrayed so long ago. “Long time, hey?”
“Are you seriously attempting to make conversation?” John asked, his raspy radio voice sounding like a brooding volcano. “Holy Mother of God, Bruno, I thought you’d have some bloody dignity and take your death a bit more honorably. Then again...” he cocked his head at the ridiculous expectation he’d had for a coward like Guido Bruno.
“If you kill me, you’ll only get wasted outside,” Guido snapped like a schoolyard bully. “My boys are outside, you fucking dunce! My generals, my soldiers, all waiting for my signal to cap anyone who strolls out of here.”
John rolled his eyes. “It’s almost a pity to waste my time dying to rid the earth of a prick like you, you know that?”
“You don't want to do this, pal,” Guido warned, but his voice quivered as he retreated.
“Ran out of little girls to hide behind, you pussy?” John asked as he thundered toward the coward.