“We don’t exactly have bonds of trust between us,” said Hawkeye. “I brought you here to listen to some very important information.”
The Commander tilted her head back defiantly. “It appears I have no choice.”
Tank leaned over and whispered in his brother’s ear. “Our power consumption is exceeding safety limits. We can’t stay in stealth mode very much longer.”
Hawkeye nodded his understanding and casually pushed a button on the main console. He then returned his attention to the Chinese Commander.
“I assume you’re already aware that this crater is geologically unstable,” Hawkeye began. “But the situation is far worse than you can imagine. An explosion beneath the main temple in the center of the city is imminent. It’s going to throw gas and dust into the atmosphere, triggering the beginning of a nuclear winter. All life on the earth will begin to die in the months and years ahead. Sunlight is going to be blocked from the planet for an indefinite time.”
Aiko smiled. “So you would like me and my forces to quickly and politely leave the area so you can investigate the ruins, as well as the oil reserve below, all by yourselves. Before this giant explosion occurs, that is.”
Hawkeye sat in a chair opposite Aiko and leaned forward.
“Listen here, Commander,” he said. “We only have a few hours. I freely acknowledge that trust doesn’t come easily between our two forces, but for the moment there’s a bit more at stake than our respective national agendas. My team requires your cooperation. We have a plan to stop the explosion, but we can’t implement it while exchanging hostile fire. We may also need your help in executing this plan.”
“I have no reason to believe you, Mr. Hawke.”
Hawkeye directed Aiko’s attention to the EFV’s command console and pushed the PLAY key beneath the central monitor. The video footage recorded by Titan’s helmet cams came onscreen, showing the violent geological conditions beneath the Temple of Kalpur-az.
“I see lava, fire, and oil,” said Aiko. “That tells me nothing.”
“Do you have a communications device on you?” asked Dr. Madison.
“Yes.” Aiko angled her head towards a pocket in the thigh of her combat suit.
“And is there a scientist accompanying your forces?” Madison asked.
“Of course.”
“Then send him this data I recorded in the chamber.”
Madison produced a disk and held it in the air.
“Untie me.”
“If you make a single move to summon your forces,” Hawkeye said, “the consequences will be . . . severe, to say the least. Quiz, untie our guest.”
Aiko carefully removed a complex-looking device from her thigh pocket.
Madison inserted his disk into a Titan Six instrument. “Give me your bandwidth,” he said, “and I’ll transmit my data to your device.”
The Commander reluctantly complied.
“Send the data to your scientist,” Hawkeye said. “Nothing more. No verbal communication.”
Aiko hit several keys, activating her communicator.
Several minutes elapsed before a voice, speaking in Chinese, issued from the communicator.
“Tell him to speak English, which I’m betting he knows,” said Hawkeye.
Aiko relayed the directive.
“If this data is accurate,” said the Chinese scientist, “then we need to evacuate as soon as possible.”
“The Titan force claims that the explosion’s debris will blanket the earth,” said Aiko. “They are asking for a temporary truce and our cooperation.”
“I need to examine the data more closely.
Several tense minutes elapsed until the voice resumed.
“I cannot validate Titan’s assertion completely, but it’s possible that such a cataclysm might ensue.”
“Recommendations,” said Aiko.
“It is your decision, Commander.”
Aiko looked at Hawkeye. “I must confer with my superior in China.”
Hawkeye shook his head and rubbed his eyes with his fingers, as if fatigued.
“There’s no time,” he said. “I’m also not going to trust this situation to international debate. We’re the only ones on site at what will become Ground Zero for the end of the world in a matter of hours. We can live to fight another day or watch the planet die.”
Commander Aiko looked at each face of Titan Six, surveying their features one by one, as if gauging the team’s sincerity.
“Very well,” she said with no inflection. “What is your plan?”
“Nothing fancy,” Hawkeye said. “Just a small nuclear blast to seal up all the mess.”
He then explained Quiz’s plan to detonate a thermonuclear device within the sub-chamber beneath the Temple of Kalpur-az.
Aiko’s face grew pale.
86TH FLOOR, Jin Mao Tower,
Shanghai, China
Aiko hadn’t spoken with Li Soo Yang, but her chief scientist, Jao Me-Sung, had wasted no time calling the head of the covert branch of the Chinese military. He had relayed Madison’s data to Yang’s office.
“The data is correct,” said the beautiful Dominique Caine, who sat at a computer station in the quiet, plush office. “The blast could darken the skies over earth for five hundred years.”
Yang stood before his video screen, looking at the face of Jao Me-Sung. “Cooperate fully with Titan Global,” he said. “But make sure Commander Aiko understands that, if Titan’s plan is successful, she is to kill them before returning to our headquarters.”
The screen went dark.
“Is that really necessary?” asked Dominique, a troubled look on her face.
“Regrettably, yes. Are you having any problems with your conscience? Or more importantly, with your allegiance?”
Dominique paused before looking up. “No. Of course not.”
Yang had not fully trusted Dominique ever since she had returned from Savage Bay with the Genesis data. His doubt as to her loyalty had now been intensified by her hesitation.
Titan Six
Ruins of Raj Kithune
Hawkeye and Aiko had arranged for Titan forces to meet with the Dragons and Jao Me-Sung in the plaza between the granaries. Madison and Me-Sung shook hands tentatively. Quiz carried the thermonuclear device.
Tank took his brother aside.
“This is awfully risky,” Tank said. “They may still turn on us. I’m not sure they’re convinced of our argument.”
“Half of them are unarmed,” Hawkeye pointed out. “Aiko may not have spoken with her superiors in China, but I’m willing to bet somebody did. Probably Dr. Me-Sung. I was counting on it. I trust Aiko with great caution, but I wasn’t willing to be outnumbered in such a situation. Somebody gave them a green light to work with us.”
“Shrewd, Michael,” said Tank. “I guess that’s why you’re team leader.”
Hawkeye grinned. “I have my moments.”
* * *
Will Langhorne had followed Titan Six to the plaza. He knew that the controlled explosion recommended by the man they called Quiz would put an end to his treasure-hunting days. Since the uneasy truce between Titan Six and the Chinese had commenced, he’d been regarded as a benign presence. As soldiers began to give and receive instructions, Langhorne wandered away casually, as if he were a tourist looking at the ruins.
He was headed for the Royal Palace. He felt certain that he would find something of value there. If he did, he would rejoin the rest and be escorted from the area before the desert crater was sealed forever.
South America still beckoned.
Aft Cargo Hold 6
Aboard the Alamiranta
Pyro had finally completed his laser scan after several failed attempts since the narrow red beam probing the INSERT KEY slot had wavered when the ship began to thread its way between Beatrice’s feeder bands.
He held the finished product in his hand: a slim chrome rectangle four inches long with teeth cut into its bottom edge. To Pyro, it resembled launch
keys he’d seen at military bases.
He looked at the three members of the bomb squad, who had donned their helmets and heavy protective suits. Pyro had not dressed in the appropriate gear since he needed increased dexterity while working inside the torpedo casing. If the weapon blew, well, no bomb vest or shielding would save him. Probably not the bomb squad either, although if their suits gave them some measure of false security, he wasn’t going to take it away from them.
Gingerly, he inserted the chrome key into the housing of the third and final charge inside the torpedo. It fit perfectly.
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and turned the key to the right.
Click.
The key turned smoothly in the slot.
But nothing happened. The digital countdown readout continued.
1:56
One hour and fifty-six minutes.
Pyro stood, massaged his forehead, and wondered why the torpedo was still armed. What had he missed?
Bridge
Aboard the Alamiranta
Nikos Papagantis sat in his raised leather chair in the center of the Bridge, staring at the arching corridor the Alamiranta had entered. DJ’s plan was a good one. The ship couldn’t remain in the eye of Beatrice indefinitely. The storm could stay at hurricane force for several more days, constantly moving erratically across the waters of the Pacific.
The seas ahead were choppy, waves cresting at six feet. The wind was blowing at thirty knots, or thirty-four miles per hour. The conditions didn’t represent anything the Alamiranta couldn’t handle.
Light rain slapped the forward windows of the Bridge.
The gap between bands was four miles wide and fifty miles long. If things remained constant, the ship could be out of danger relatively soon.
With typhoons, however, things were rarely constant.
Titan Six
Temple of Kalpur-az
Titan Six and the Chinese Dragons of the Night descended the stone stairway beneath the temple of the sun god, entering the underground chamber. The fires in the chamber beneath the once-magnificent temple were now brighter, hotter.
“Conditions have deteriorated since we were in here last,” Hawkeye said. “Quiz, are you and Christian ready?”
“We’ll start connecting the crystal to the bomb,” he said. “It shouldn’t take long. I did the prep work back at the EFV.”
Jao Me-Sung stood next to the pair, scribbling calculations in a spiral notebook.
Hawkeye turned to face Aiko.
“Commander, I need your men to hammer the end of this static line into the granite. Spring-loaded teeth will pop open and hopefully secure the line in the rock. After that, fifteen of your men need to stand by in case the line becomes dislodged. If that happens, they’ll have to secure the line — they’ll be the granite.”
Aiko told her subordinates what to do and then returned to Hawkeye’s side. “What does the other end of the line connect to?”
Hawkeye brought Aiko to the opening Shooter had discovered on their first foray into the chamber. They dropped to their bellies and surveyed the inferno of fire, gas, lava, and oil.
“We’re going to fire the steel line across the entire width of the cavern and hope like hell it bites hard enough into the rock on the other side. Quiz is then going to ride the line in a safety harness and decide where he should drop the nuclear device. He’ll have to set the timer and arm the bomb while dangling in midair.”
Aiko turned her head, her eyes inches away from Hawkeye’s face. The two had never before shared such close proximity except when fighting hand-to-hand at Savage Bay. Hawkeye marveled at her beauty. The white scar on her left cheek, a clear flaw in the mind of any woman assessing her own appearance, seemed to make the formidable Chinese Commander even more appealing in Hawkeye’s estimation. It wasn’t that much different, he thought, from a tattoo, only Aiko proudly wore it as a badge of honor rather than remove it via plastic surgery.
Noting Hawkeye’s interest, Aiko swallowed and hesitated. “I . . . admire your team’s courage. It is a very dangerous plan.”
“Like you said earlier,” Hawkeye said in a low voice, “it’s better than sitting around tending a garden.”
Aiko’s face betrayed the slightest hint of a smile. “We’re soldiers. I guess we like the — ” She paused, searching for the right word in English. “ — the adrenaline.”
“It’s like a drug, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Aiko said. “A drug.”
Ops Center
Aboard the Alamiranta
“Titan Six is in position beneath the Temple of Kalpur-az,” Touchdown said. “Telemetry is holding — for now.”
The holographic image behind him reflected the temple, both above and below ground.
“Excellent,” said Caine. “Let’s hope we can get this done quickly and get our team the hell out of there.”
“Excuse me, ma’am,” said DJ, “but I’m showing a target two hundred miles to our northwest.”
“What is it?” asked Caine.
“I can’t get a good read on it,” DJ said. “Could be a freighter.”
“Or another sub,” said Touchdown.
“Let’s get a little clarification before we scramble Titan jets out of Mexico,” Caine said.
“Understood,” said DJ.
The Royal Palace
The Ruins of Raj Kithune
Having climbed the stairs to the porch of the Royal Palace, Will Langhorne entered a great hall that led to several spacious rooms. The paintings on the walls were faded and incomplete, but they portrayed great winged creatures, serpents, and horses. On every wall were depictions of what appeared to be royal couples dressed in flowing robes and holding long golden staffs. Their skin tones were slightly brown, their features similar to the Maya or Aztec. And yet their eyes were lined with dark make-up in the fashion of Egyptian royalty.
The earth rumbled, knocking Langhorne to the cracked tile floor.
The tremor did not quickly abate, however. The mighty palace shook, a rift opening in the floor.
Langhorne staggered to his feet, three backpacks slung over his shoulder.
“That was close,” he said to himself as he backed away from the crack.
The floor beneath his feet suddenly sloped at a forty-degree angle. Another crack had appeared behind the mercenary. Will was sliding, feet first, towards the rift.
Tall yellow flames shot up through the floor as the ceiling began to crumble. Bits of stone pelted the treasure hunter’s head.
The floor tilted more steeply, and Will Langhorne tumbled into the chamber below.
Titan Six
Temple of Kalpur-az
Tank and Hawkeye lay on their stomachs, looking at the sub-chamber that Quiz would shortly enter. Between the men was a titanium firing mechanism that was essentially an electronic crossbow. Taking great care to keep the line untangled, several Dragons had brought the static line across the upper chamber and handed it to the Titan members.
Hawkeye threaded the end of the line into the crossbow. The end of the static line was a three-sided chrome arrow point designed to pierce any surface — even metal — and then flange out to grip its target.
“This thing is going to have one hell of a kick,” Tank said.
“Yeah,” said Hawkeye, “and we only get one shot at this. There’s no reeling it back across fire and lava to try again.”
Tank raised binoculars to his eyes. “We should aim for a relatively smooth outcropping of limestone ten degrees to the right.”
“Let’s do it, brother,” said Hawkeye.
Tank scoped the rock on the opposite side of the broiling cavern and squeezed the trigger. The cable flew from the crossbow, the arrow piercing the limestone target. The recoil snapped his head and shoulder sharply to the right.
“Quiz weighs one hundred and sixty pounds,” Tank said. “We need to see if the line is secure enough to hold his weight.”
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