“Some of those,” Dahl said. “Don’t sound as though they came from any tomb.”
“Well, that’s the last thing we know, for now,” Cambridge said. “Not only weapons were found at the tombs. Maps were found too.”
Hayden sat back in her seat, taking stock. “You’re saying we’re beat? Even before we start?”
“Of course not,” Cambridge snorted. “We’re taking them apart, and we’re close to exposing Tempest. We’ll work on that end, you work on the weapons.”
“Nemesis,” Dahl said then. “What’s the significance of her dagger?”
“She was the god of retribution, consort of Zeus himself. She gave birth to Helen of Troy, apparently. Her father was Erebus. A winged goddess bearing a dagger, she is ruthless divine justice, a true avenger of crime. Using her scales or tally stick she decided the fate of mortals and gods alike, and rides in a chariot drawn by griffins. It is she that is credited with bringing Narcissus the greatest sorrow of his life, by bringing him to a pool where he saw his own reflection in the water and fell in love with it. In the end, it was what killed him since he couldn’t bear to turn away from the beauty of his reflection.”
“Y’know,” Dahl said, “I have the same problem. Anything else?”
“That’s about it,” Cambridge said. “For now.”
“Good, then what’s—”
“Oh, apart from one thing.”
Hayden sensed it might not be good. “Cambridge?”
“Sorry, the info just came in. Several US powers know you’re in the country now. I kept your identities hidden on the train, of course. But they will yield to pressure from the powerful members of Tempest and launch a manhunt for you.”
“Do we need to leave the country immediately?”
“I’m afraid that you do.”
Hayden started the car. “We’re heading out now,” she said. “Whilst darkness lasts. Just point us in the direction of a friendly landing strip.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Drake wouldn’t listen to the old man until they’d reached a quiet destination, parked the car, and were seated on concrete benches at the edge of a small park. Swings moved to and fro in the distance and the happy sounds of children playing drifted like delicate blessings on warm streams of air. Mai, cooler now, and Luther, having volunteered to watch the perimeter, split up, and wandered off. Drake watched them both go with a substantial question in his heart.
How do I feel?
The place he was at now, with Alicia, had not been of his making. Mostly, it had been of Mai’s. And perhaps here was a chance for her to make a fresh start. Luther too.
Alicia interrupted his thoughts, deciding to play team sweet-talker. “Let’s hear the pitiful confession, Doukas, every scrap. Remember, me believing you is how you get to survive.”
The old man placed a hand on each temple and studied the ground between his feet. “I acquired the chain like you said, from the old tomb. I escaped without detection, by the skin of my teeth. Felt lucky. Took the chain to my home and then began to wonder what the hell to do with it.”
“You didn’t steal for gain?” Drake asked.
“Didn’t even enter my mind.”
“Weird,” Kenzie whispered. “It’s in mine all the time.”
“I kept it and kept it and, like all first-time thieves I guess, grew so paranoid that I had to do something about it. I thought—what would be the best place to hide it? That question overlapped a memory of an old enemy of mine, bringing the perfect place to mind.”
“An old enemy?” Kenzie asked.
“Yes, yes. Lars German. He is the police commissioner around here.”
Drake did a double-take. “Come again?”
“You heard correctly, sir. He is the police commissioner and a childhood antagonist of mine. The man was a bully.”
Drake didn’t like the sound of where this was going. “Doukas—how the hell does your enemy, the police commissioner, tie in to the whereabouts of the Chain of Aphrodite?”
“That is where it gets tricky,” Doukas admitted. “I figured out long ago that the chain didn’t set metal detectors off. Just like half the scientists working inside those tombs. I swathed them in bubble-wrap and tape, then came up with a plan to get inside the station. I walked them right in. I pretended to meet with German to bury the hatchet and, after a cup of coffee, excused myself to go to the toilet. I left it hidden right there, with my enemy, because what better place can you think of to hide it?”
Drake had to admit that Doukas’ plan was bordering on foolproof, but he was furious with the old man. Time was passing and they’d already put their lives on the line. Now they were being told the chain was hidden inside some old police station?
“Is it still active?” Alicia asked.
“Yes, yes, I’m afraid so. Though not terribly.”
“Not terribly? What does that mean?”
Alicia gazed over at Drake. The Yorkshireman stood up and kicked the overgrown grass at the base of the bench. “Does anyone else know?”
He expected a negative reply and received one.
“On the one hand it doesn’t sound like a hard target,” Alicia said. “But on the other, what’s our response if the cops resist?”
Drake stared with sad eyes into the graying skies. “The response will be as light as can be,” he said. “But we have to get that chain and it has to be tonight. Tempest could be scouring this entire town right now with a GPR like ours. We have no time.”
Kenzie squinted then. “Hey, why did our GPR think the chain in the museum was real?” she asked.
Drake shook his head at Doukas. “I have an idea about that,” he said. “Why don’t you tell them, mate?”
“I scraped flecks from the chain,” he admitted. “Added some paint scrapings, coal and water. Made a good paste. You see, I still wanted the chain. Couldn’t help myself. So I kept a small portion of the links.”
“Weirdo,” Kenzie glowered at him.
Drake called in Mai and Luther and then told them the bad news. The team gathered to make a plan.
“A shame we don’t have Yorgi,” Drake said. “The kid makes a fine cat burglar.”
“He was a cat burglar,” Alicia said, “who got caught.”
“Not through his profession,” Drake said. “That was something else.”
“Yes, I know. Family. He should go back there.”
“I could do the job,” Kenzie said. “I’ve carried out similar operations before. But I’d feel safer with someone like Dahl at my back.”
“That’s a much different operation,” Alicia said bluntly. “It’s called doggy-style. Let the grown-ups talk, bitch.”
“I do love a cat fight.” Luther looked between the two of them. “You two ever get it on?”
“Once or twice,” Alicia responded. “Almost as many times as your girlfriend and I.”
“My girl . . .” Luther raised a hand. “Now, whoa. I’m not part of your little life-experiment and never plan to be. I have a job, a calling, and as soon as this Tempest mess is sorted out I’ll be getting right back to it.”
Mai didn’t look happy. Alicia saw it but decided to let it go. There were too many broken hearts already in this team. Kenzie moved next to Drake.
“Do you want me to do it?”
“Not on your own, Kenzie. You shouldn’t have to take on that kind of risk. We’ll all go in together, including Doukas here. Let me tell you this, mate, if you’re still lying I’ll put you in one of those overnight cells, straight through the goddamn bars.”
“I’m telling you the truth.”
“Move out and prep,” he said. “We go in just after midnight.”
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
With no easy choices, they chose the most direct of several problematic ones. A disturbance on the other side of town would draw away the bulk of the night force and, before searching for the chain, they needed to obtain some Tasers. Luther was sent to devise a disturbance.
Everyone els
e headed for the police station.
Drake stood in the darkest shadows, silent, cold as midnight passed. At this rate we’re gonna have to storm the bloody place.
It had already been a long delay, just waiting for an opportunity. At first they had found good fortune—a patch of greenery lay within sight of the police station’s rear gates. They were able to scope out approximate numbers, coming and goings, even civilian activity. Luther’s distraction was due any minute.
Alicia stretched. “I’m bored.”
“But you’re still luckier than us,” Kenzie told her. “Because we’re forced to look at you.”
“Oh, you wound me.” Alicia gripped her heart and doubled over.
“Not yet,” Kenzie murmured, turning away.
Mai watched them and then shook her head. “Please someone, hand me a Taser.”
Drake counted down the seconds, watching the silent Doukas. Luther’s distraction should have happened minutes ago, but with no active comms they were ignorant for now. Luther would probably be too busy to contact them by cellphone. Drake saw a police van leaving the police station, light blazing across their patch of land as it turned into the road. The team hunkered down behind old tree trunks and a thick hedge, hidden on all sides. Darkness set in again, leaving the team to twiddle their thumbs.
“Wait,” Mai said. “That sounds promising.”
The Japanese woman’s hearing was as acute as it could get. Drake heard the noise a few seconds later—the sound of a van approaching.
Alicia saw it first. “We’re on.”
They broke cover, walking briskly and as unobtrusively as possible toward the rear gates of the police station. As the white transit van approached, they slipped out of sight behind the pillars that anchored the gates on each side.
A low buzzing noise signaled the gates being opened by remote control. Drake waited for the van to drive in, bouncing down a ramp into the station, and then slipped around the slowly closing gates, following it down a slope. Alicia and Mai were right behind him, backed by Kenzie. Quickly, they dispersed into the accumulated darkness between parked vehicles and hoped the man studying the CCTV images covering this quiet, small, out-of-the-way police station had missed those last few seconds.
“Silence is golden,” Mai said. “Let’s go.”
At that moment the van came back, followed by two police cars. The gates grated apart and both vehicles raced out. Drake nodded happily.
“That’ll be Luther.”
“Perfect.”
Breaking cover, Drake found himself praying for luck and moved toward the rear doors of the police station. An unusual sentiment when starting a mission, but this undertaking was entirely different. Very little needed to go wrong to turn it into an absolute disaster.
The building had two rear doors—the first a single opening which Drake assumed led to a cage that held a small number of people, and a second with sliding double doors. A well-placed explosive charge shattered the doors, enabling them to crow-bar the frames apart. Mai slipped in first.
The desk sergeant crawled around the side of his wooden counter where he’d fallen, gun in hand. The man’s hand trembled and his eyes were wide. Mai rolled, took cover behind the desk and then jumped silently up onto it. She watched the sergeant crawling beneath her, picked her moment and then dropped down onto his back. With a twist she disarmed him, pocketed the gun and unhooked his Taser.
“Done,” she said aloud, rendering him inert before zip-tying his hands and legs.
“Masks.” Drake slipped his own across his face, before any CCTV could spot them.
A second policeman came into the room, an enquiring expression on his face. The blast had been deliberately quiet, just powerful enough to crack the glass and sound like a hundred different things. By the time this man realized intruders were breaking in, Mai had spun back across the deck, pinned his upper body between her legs and flipped him onto his back. Before he even caught his breath, she’d zip-tied and gagged him.
“C’mon, Sprite,” Alicia complained. “I’m feeling unnecessary back here.”
Mai dragged the second policeman over to the first. “Finally. She gets it.”
Kenzie walked out into the station, foregoing the luxury of a mask. Her words: “I’m already in the system, and it might help maintain the rep, you know?” didn’t exactly reassure Drake, but it certainly wasn’t official that she currently ran with Team SPEAR so maybe her identification would in fact help deflect suspicion.
A rough estimate told Drake there were at least three more policemen to deal with. He saw a corridor to the left and glanced along it—noticed a row of cells. A voice shouted out inquiringly but he ignored it. They found and used a keypad to move further into the building. Beyond a waiting area they found several more rooms with closed doors. Mai slammed through the first. Drake heard an exclamation of annoyance and then a muffled shout. So, that was three to Mai. Not to be outdone, Alicia and Kenzie breached the next two rooms, leaving Drake standing in the corridor.
He hurried to help, saw Kenzie bent over, already tasing her target who had been pouring coffee from his machine. Figuring she was fine he moved on to Alicia and saw her bending a man’s elbow so she could get him in the right position for a gentle tasing.
Now who’s feeling redundant?
“Is that all of them?” Doukas asked.
“Should be. Lead me to the men’s restrooms, quickly.”
Not a sentence he’d ever imagined asking a man.
The old man shoved past, then stopped at the bottom of the corridor. Drake saw no toilet signage, but Doukas was staring at a closed door to the right.
“That’s his office. My bully. Do you think he might be inside and I might borrow a Taser?”
Drake viewed all bullies as cowards and held a memory of a boy from his school days; a boy that stole his lunch money and intimidated him for a year. Somehow, he doubted that boy would try it now.
Ergo: coward.
“Sure,” Drake said. With a quick flick he turned the doorknob and opened the door. The police commissioner was sitting with his legs up on the desk, idly tapping away at a laptop with one hand and holding alcohol in a diamond-cut glass with the other. When Drake rushed at him, he spilt the drink, choked on liquid, and fell off his chair. Drake dragged him around the desk and handed Doukas the Taser.
“One.”
The mask lifted around Doukas’ lips, so happy was he. Drake supervised the tasing and then looked up as the others came into the room.
“Couldn’t handle it alone?” Alicia asked, voice muffled.
“Yeah.” He remembered to be cautious about what he said. “It’s complicated.”
“Oh, I get it,” Alicia said. “I really do.”
Once the police commissioner had been restrained, they made their way to the toilet area. Doukas pointed out the correct stall, upon which Drake climbed to remove the paneled roof and search for the bubble-wrap full of chain links. At first his questing fingertips found nothing, but he knew it couldn’t have gone far. A change of direction and he found it—a medium-heavy package that strained his biceps as he lifted and passed it down to Alicia. Once they were done, they ignored its contents to make haste before any more police officers showed up.
Drake hastened toward the rear doors, passing the men they’d already tied and checking on their welfare. All were fine and, except for the commissioner, they apologized too. As they headed for freedom a nightmarish sound split the air.
Explosion. Drake dropped to the ground. The building shook. Glass shattered somewhere not far away and rubble fell to the floor. Loud voices could be heard as the noise of the detonation faded away.
“In here! Now!”
“I’m not happy breaking in to a cop station, bro. Just the opposite.”
“Quit yer damn whining and move ahead. The tracker’s squealing like a pig in heat.”
“Speaking of pigs, when do I get to blast one o’ dem fuckers?” A new voice.
Dr
ake halted. There was a chance they could slip away unnoticed. “I think the enemy just arrived.”
“Tracked the chain,” Alicia said. “We’ll have to be quick.”
“What are you waiting for?” Kenzie growled. “Go!”
“I don’t—” Mai began.
“We can’t,” Drake said. “They’ll kill those policeman, or at least hurt them. They’re helpless. I can’t let that happen.”
Alicia stopped in mid-stride. “You’re right.”
Kenzie regarded them as if they were insane. “The way out,” she breathed, “is right there.”
“Then use it.” Drake hid behind a corner as footsteps rushed along the bisecting corridor. A hurried estimation put the count at five men. Drake let the first go by and then hit the second, assuming that the first would turn soon anyway. The second rebounded off the far wall and tripped all those pounding behind him. Men sprawled face first, weapons tumbling. Those wearing scarves across their faces lost them. Fingers were broken, curses vented. Drake fell among them.
Kenzie raced past Mai to tackle the first man, grabbing his gun as he sought to level it, and pushing it up toward the ceiling. It became a metal bar between them, rolling back and forth. With a free hand the merc pulled a knife from its sheath but this was exactly what Kenzie wanted.
She smiled. “Thanks, man.”
In mid-thrust he blanched. Kenzie gripped the wrist and let it pass her by, twisted viciously and caught the blade as it fell toward the floor. The merc bellowed as fingers snapped. Kenzie flicked the knife up in the air by the blade, then waited for the handle to fall back into her hand.
The merc’s eyes followed the weapon.
She caught it and rammed it home just under his ribs. All strength fled his body. She stepped away and watched him fall, now holding his gun.
Drake elbowed and kneed and nutted his way through the battle. Every gun he found, he threw back to Mai. Alicia was with him, crawling among the downed men, the narrow corridor giving them little room in which to work. It was more like a hellish death-struggle; a tight, claustrophobic melee with everyone crammed together.
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