Down they went, reaching the caves and bracing against the cold. Hayden met a guard blow for blow, then took a punch to the face as Smyth squeezed by to engage a second. Her head jerked back, just giving Mano enough room to plant his enormous fist into the guard’s nose. Not even a whimper escaped him as he slithered into jelly. Smyth shot the next point blank.
“No fucking around,” he said. “No more.”
Hayden pulled him back. “I found the cave entrance,” she said, “but couldn’t get inside. We have to get down there. It’s below the house, not a part of it. If the others fail, we can defend it.”
Kinimaka looked shocked. “Fail?”
“Worst case scenario,” Hayden said. “But I have to entertain it. Oh, and the Inca treasure is down there too.”
“Ah.”
She engaged the next guard, and took him down in a headlock. He struggled wildly until she increased the pressure on his jugular. “Where’s the key?” she whispered. “The key to the caves?”
“Fu… fu… fu—”
“No, no, no. Do you wanna die, or run?”
Straight into the SPEAR team.
“Run,” he choked. “Please run.”
“Just tell me.”
He balked. Kinimaka dragged over another, more pliant individual. The scrawny guard looked like a toothpick in the Hawaiian’s grip.
“Over there.” He waved. “Office. Safe code is seven-oh-nine.”
Hayden hadn’t noticed an office on her previous reccy, but put it down to anxiety and lack of time. Smyth bounded away and soon returned, the gleaming key grasped firmly in one hand.
“C’mon, guys. Let’s see what’s down there.”
“You really think treasure still lies down in cave system?” Yorgi asked. “And not above somewhere?”
“Nah, he kept it extremely hard to find,” Hayden said. “The man’s a loner. Trusts nobody. I bet he went down there alone and brought each piece back separately. One of the reasons he took so long about it. Wouldn’t want his family torn apart by greed. I bet it’s a warren.”
“Traps?” Smyth asked worriedly.
“Only if Dantanion made them,” Hayden said. “I hope.”
Smyth approached the arched wooden door that barred the entrance to the caves. Hayden heard cries all around and turned swiftly as Fay began to shout and point. Behind them, filling the corridor and the entrance to the caves, came a surge of attackers, mostly guards but with some of the human-spider creatures among them.
She took a Glock offered by Kinimaka. “Thanks.”
“If what appears to have happened to you did happen, I have to say — that took some bravery, Hay.”
“I don’t want to talk about it. They’re coming.”
“Neither would I,” Kinimaka said. “But I know damn well you didn’t do it for yourself.”
Hayden pushed Fay behind her. “Just shut the hell up and start shooting.”
Kinimaka smiled. Hayden couldn’t figure out why, and then the attackers were rushing down upon them, brandishing sharp weapons and clubs, axes and hammers, their cries making her blood curdle.
The attack on the chateau had come early, too early. Many would live or die today depending on the skills of the team and the villagers they’d brought along. Innocents were at risk, but wasn’t that always the case?
She stepped forward to defend them with all she had.
CHAPTER FORTY ONE
Drake let loose the fury of war as a hundred snarling enemies charged.
One shot per man, one downed and another tripped over and then another with each shot. The mags emptied fast but the attackers kept coming. Dahl ranged to the right, Alicia to the left. Mai chose hand-to-hand combat for the first wave, sending each to the ground, and then used intricate holds to twist them against the next. People fell around her, but if they weren’t dead or unconscious they were still extremely dangerous. No reaching for lost weapons here; the cannibals came at her with their teeth.
Kenzie used her Glock; part of the weapons cache they’d liberated from members of the Cusco Militia. A man jumped at her, shot through the chest, but on landing bore her to the ground, bleeding all over her and snapping with his teeth, trying to take the end of her nose off. She held him away with one hand, and brought her gun around with the other.
She pulled the trigger, then moved on to the next.
Drake aimed and fired two bullets, then looked down in horror as something jerked at his arm. Jaws were fastened around his wrist, the teeth gnashing hard at the leather and cloth that protected the flesh. He could feel the points through his clothes, cutting deeper. He smashed the cannibal on the top of the skull, then again, and finally a third time as hard as he could. The figure slumped away; the teeth marks forever impressed in the leather around his sleeve, torn through and almost reaching the skin. He saw a woman leap for Dahl’s throat to be brushed aside by the Swede’s arm.
Not just a battle. This is raw, visceral bedlam.
A bite on his thigh made him scream. Shock and disbelief tore the sound from him. Kenzie came down hard on the offender, unleashing her katana and severing the offending body part.
“Do you like me now?” she asked.
“Fuck yeah.” Drake waded into a group of cannibals. Kicking, smashing with hands, knees and feet, he forced them apart, shooting his weapon until it ran dry.
“Should have kept some, ya knob.” Dahl was close by. “Look up there.”
Drake raised his eyes above fang level. Along the upper reaches of the hall were arrayed a row of interior balconies, mostly for show, but some of Dantanion’s men had climbed up to them and were aiming their bows from above, sighting in on the team. Dahl shot one down, but two more loosed arrows. Bolts slammed into the crowd, parting Curtis and Desiree but hitting neither. Brynn struggled with an aggressor but Mai was soon at her side, flinging the woman away. The villagers still kept hold of their own guns, though did not advance on the crowd, overwhelmed and alarmed.
Drake flinched as another arrow flew down. This one glanced off the polished floor at his feet. A body took him about the waist, but not in the usual sense. This one contained a set of teeth that instantly started worrying at his stomach, biting and tearing and trying to find a way inside. An elbow to the neck sent the aggressor to the floor; a boot to the same area finished him. The next onslaught came and he deflected the leap, allowing the body to fly past. Dahl picked off another archer. Two remained though, and now sent down bolts that struck Mai and Kenzie.
“No!”
Kenzie fell to one knee, gasping. The black bolt had pierced her clothing, but only an inch of skin, flashing through at pace and drawing a long furrow. The wound bled, but she ignored it, stabbing at an oncoming victim. Mai saw the arrow coming and dodged faster than the eye could follow, but even then it would have struck her forehead if a foe hadn’t deflected it with his own. Still it came though, tumbling though the air, striking her with the bulk of the shaft and leaving a mark. She fought on without stumbling, blinking furiously.
Alicia saw her struggling and moved toward her back.
“Thanks,” Mai gasped.
“Wouldn’t want you to miss our showdown, darlin’.”
“Of course.”
Spider creatures now jumped away from the walls and came swarming across the floor. Many hopped up onto the colossal table, and sent pots, pans and plates spinning as they surged across it, bodies cavorting and limbs pivoting at practically impossible angles.
Kenzie, alone, jumped up onto the table and stood tall, immobile, her sword pointed at its surface, resting. “You will not get past me,” she said to them all.
They capered straight for her. With grace of movement, she lifted and swung the katana, a deadly arc of artistry, blade flashing, glinting, and then washed with blood. The downward swing became a sideways sweep and then an upward curve, painting the air with trails of crimson. Three were at her feet, twitching. A dozen more came.