‘You’re not making any deals behind closed doors,’ Lydia said forcefully. ‘We should all be there. It’s our lives you’re bargaining with!’
‘Dissent in the ranks?’ called Brice. ‘I’ll make this clear for everyone — your only chance of staying alive is by dealing with me, and the only person I’ll talk to is Chase. I’m not going to explain myself; that’s just how it will work. Either I deal with Chase, in private, or I leave and let the militia handle things their own way. Believe me, theirs will be a lot more bloody.’
Worried looks were exchanged. ‘So what do we do?’ asked Rivero. ‘Do we trust him?’
‘Course we bloody don’t,’ Eddie muttered, before addressing his countryman again. ‘Brice! I’m assuming you want Mukobo back.’
‘That should go without saying,’ Brice answered. ‘It’s why you should do it that I want to discuss. Other than the obvious incentive of not being brutally slaughtered by a group of drug-addled barbarians, of course.’
‘Hope they can’t hear you calling them that.’
‘I honestly don’t care. They know the LEC is relying on me to supply weapons, so they wouldn’t dare touch me even if they understood English. Which very few of them do.’ He rounded the wall into the open. ‘So what will it be, Chase? You should at least hear me out. I’m sure your friends would want to know that an offer was made, even if you didn’t accept it.’
All eyes turned to Eddie. ‘What are you going to do?’ asked Fortune.
‘We can’t let him make a deal on his own!’ protested Lydia. ‘For all we know, he might sell the rest of us out!’
‘Oh, shut up, for God’s sake,’ snapped Nina. ‘But we know we can’t trust Brice, Eddie. As soon as he gets Mukobo back, we’re all dead.’
‘We still have the Shamir,’ Ziff pointed out. ‘That could give us something to bargain with.’
Eddie made a decision. ‘Let’s find out what he’s offering.’ He shouted to Brice. ‘All right! Come over!’
‘You sure about this?’ asked Fisher.
‘Nope. Fortune, Paris, keep him covered. Howie, quick word.’ He took the young man aside and whispered to him. Howie looked surprised, then nodded and hurried back to the first chamber.
‘Where’s he going?’ asked Lydia.
‘I just want him to check something.’ He returned his attention to the entrance as Brice, hands raised, picked his way over the fallen rubble. ‘Right, everyone without a gun, get out of the way. Fortune, watch the ruins; Paris, watch him. I’ll frisk him.’
‘I’m not armed,’ said Brice as he arrived.
‘If you’ve got a fucking paper clip on you, I’d consider that armed. Hands high, against the wall.’
The former agent took up his awkward position as Eddie conducted a thorough search of his clothing. Apart from a cigarette pack and lighter, his pockets were empty. ‘Travelling light, aren’t you?’
‘I thought you might take a perverse pleasure in breaking anything valuable, so I left everything else outside,’ Brice replied. ‘I have every intention of returning to collect them, though.’
‘That depends on you, doesn’t it?’ Eddie finished the search. ‘He’s clean.’
‘As promised.’ Brice turned towards him. ‘My cigarettes?’
‘Filthy habit. You should give up.’ Eddie tossed the pack and lighter outside. ‘Maybe I’ve seen too many James Bond movies, but I just have a funny feeling about the lighter being a bomb or the fags shooting poison darts.’
‘James Bond isn’t real. If SIS had the budget for gadgets like that in real life, the British Empire would never have faltered.’
‘Yeah, I always thought Alderley having that crappy old Ford Capri instead of some fancy Aston Martin spy car was a bit of a giveaway.’
Brice gave him a half-smile. ‘Poor old Peter never did have the drive to reach the top, did he? Anyway, to business. First, I’d like to see Mukobo before we start negotiations.’
‘You can see him, sure,’ said Eddie flatly. ‘Okay, move.’ As Brice started down the passage, he spoke to Paris and Fortune. ‘Watch things here — if anything happens outside, shout. I’ll be up as quick as I can.’ He followed Brice. ‘If the militia try anything, this bell-end’ll be the first to get shot.’
‘I’m here in good faith,’ said Brice patronisingly. ‘I hope that when you hear me out, you won’t just accept my offer, you’ll do so willingly.’
‘We’ll see.’ They entered the first chamber. Eddie drew the revolver and handed the Kalashnikov to Ziff. ‘Doc, take this and help Fortune and Paris if they need you — or me if I do.’
‘Where are you going?’ asked Fisher.
‘He wants to see Mukobo, and he’s at the bottom of the mine, so we’re going down there. Howie, did you check the batteries like I asked?’
Howie held up one of the torches. ‘Fully charged, man.’
‘Thanks.’ Eddie took it. ‘Nina, I want you to come with me.’
She was surprised. ‘What? Why?’
Brice had his own objections. ‘That’s not the deal, Chase. I talk to you, and you alone.’
‘She’s my wife. What I know, she knows. I found out the hard way that it’s not good to keep secrets from her.’ He gave her a small but genuine smile, which she returned in kind. ‘That’s the deal. And you’re going to accept it.’ He twitched the revolver at the ex-spy for emphasis.
‘Very well,’ said Brice with clear displeasure. ‘Just take me to Mukobo, and let’s get started.’
Eddie indicated the booby-trapped tunnel. ‘You know the way. Lead on.’
Leaving the others behind, he and Nina escorted Brice through the palace and down into the chasm. They descended the last flight of steps to the Chamber of the Shamir. The lanterns were still lit within. ‘Philippe!’ called Brice. ‘It’s me, John. Are you okay?’ There was no answer. ‘What have you done to him?’ he demanded. ‘Did you knock him out?’
‘Ah… no,’ said Nina, truthfully.
‘He’s inside,’ Eddie told him. ‘Go on in.’
Brice strode into the ancient room — and halted at the sight of the warlord’s corpse. ‘What — oh. Really, Chase?’ He shook his head. ‘This complicates matters.’
‘You’re not kidding,’ Nina muttered.
‘You don’t know how much.’ He went to examine the body. ‘Six shots at close range — including one to the balls? Rather a case of overkill.’
‘Well, when someone says they’re going to rape and kill my little girl, I kind of take offence,’ Eddie told him thinly. He fixed the gun upon Brice’s back, thumbing the hammer. The other man froze at the click. ‘And he said you were going to help him do it. Any reason I shouldn’t put the next six into you?’
‘You’ll need the bullets, for a start.’ Brice very slowly and carefully turned to face the other Englishman. ‘If I’m not back within the hour, nothing will stop the Insekt Posse from making an all-out assault.’
‘It won’t go well for ’em.’
‘It will go even less well for you. And you know that, for all your bravado. You may not have been an SAS officer, but you’re fully capable of making a tactical assessment.’
Eddie scowled, but knew he was right: with their limited ammunition, the defenders would be unable to hold back a concerted attack. ‘Okay, then. What’s this deal of yours?’
Brice regarded the lead case. ‘I assume you put the Shamir back in there.’
‘It’s the safest place for it,’ said Nina.
‘Perhaps. But it’s not fully safe, is it? I can still feel that… vibration in the air.’ He tipped his head as if listening to the omnipresent hum. ‘Solomon may have built the palace to shield the Mother of the Shamir from whatever activates it, but even with an inch of lead inside every wall, something’s still getting through. I’d assume that only some kind of high-energy particle or radiation could penetrate this deeply.’