Raine merely answered with a shrug as he moved to crouch behind the rear tent flap. King and Sid parted, the former moving to crouch beside him while the latter followed Nadia out of the exit, holding back the flap just far enough for Raine to see what was going on. Rain pounded on the awning canopy and Nadia had to raise her voice to be heard.
“Excuse me,” she addressed the nearer of the two guards in her usual, stern voice. He spun to face her, aiming his rifle. Nadia and Sid moved to the left, forcing the soldier to turn his back on Raine and King’s position. His comrade, however, continued to eye the tent’s perimeter.
“I want to know why there has been no medical assistance provided to—”
The soldier said nothing but gestured dramatically with his weapon for Nadia and Sid to go back inside.
“Damn it,” Raine cursed, hoping the second guard would also be forced to engage with the women.
The distraction wasn’t working. The second guard stepped closer to the tent flaps. Another few steps and Raine and King would become visible.
Nadia rolled her eyes, realising what she had to do. “Oh, for the love of god,” she grumbled, and then promptly lifted her vest top up to expose her full breasts, supported by a thin sports bra.
Caught unaware by the beautiful, though unexpected sight, the first guard’s weapon lowered slightly. The second caught a glimpse of flesh from the corner of his eye and instinctively spun to get a better view.
This was their chance.
King pushed out from under the tent skirt, rolled across the ground and—
Raine’s eyes were wide as he too was distracted by the show of Nadia’s silky flesh.
“Come on,” King hissed and spurred him into motion.
Raine rolled out of the tent and scrambled to his feet, keeping low to the ground as he led King to the shelter of the shipping crates.
The momentary slip of the guards’ attention was soon replaced by suspicion and they quickly raised their weapons again. Nadia pointed at the reddening on her chest, a symptom of the ‘illness’ and a justifiable reason for flashing her body at them.
Raine and King scrambled into cover just as the second guard swung his gaze around to their position. They remained motionless, holding their breath as the guard’s eyes fell upon the stack of crates, lingered for a second, and then continued a 360 degree survey of the mountaintop.
Raine peered around the crate and, with a single glance, locked the position of each soldier into his mind.
“Stay with me,” he told King then, without another word, he dashed from cover, keeping low, and ran fast to skid through the muddy ground behind one of the science tents. He checked that King was still behind him and was pleased to see—
The dirt at King’s heel erupted under the onslaught of lead and the archaeologist instinctively threw himself forward, skidding on his belly up to Raine’s side.
“Damn it!” the pilot cursed. The canvas of the tent tore apart as dozens of bullets chewed into it and, reflexively, King clamped his hands over his ears. Raine ducked down as low as he could, eyes scanning his surroundings, desperately searching for a more secure hiding place, but there was nothing.
They were caught, out in the open.
10:
Into the Tunnels
Screams of panic erupted from the patients inside the mess tent as the sound of gunfire thundered across the summit of Sarisariñama.
Stood under the awning at the rear of the tent, hands behind her head and her black vest top pulled over her bra to reveal far more flesh than she ordinarily permitted, Nadia rolled her eyes in despair. “Well that didn’t take long,” she grumbled.
With a flick of her eyes, she glanced across the camp to where Raine and King took shelter behind one of the tents. Bullets shredded through the canvass as half a dozen soldiers converged on them.
The two guards gestured at Nadia and Sid, moving forward in an effort to drive them back inside the tent. The two women retreated, ducking partway through the flap. The second guard, realising the situation here was secure, spun and raced off to converge with the other soldiers on Raine and King’s position.
“We’ve got to do something,” Sid glanced in horror. The tent the two men shielded behind was now in tatters, only whatever solid items contained within preventing the men from being shredded. “They’re going to be slaughtered.”
Their guard jolted his rifle at them.
Nadia huffed, exasperated, and then threw the guard a winning smile. “Never send an American to do a Russian’s work,” she mumbled through gritted teeth. Then, without warning, her leg flashed up with such speed and such force that her boot struck the guard’s rifle and slammed it up into his chin. The man’s head snapped back and he crumpled to the ground.
She snatched the rifle up off the muddy ground, brought it up against her shoulder, aimed and fired. The weapon slammed into her shoulder painfully as it spewed out bullets on full auto. Her father had taught her how to use weapons as a young child, growing up in the dangers of Dagestan, but she had never handled anything with such power behind it. Her entire body shook as she tried to hold it steady, spraying a constant stream of bullets at the Z-9 helicopter parked at the edge of camp. Rain lashed against her face, stinging her eyes and the thunder of the weapon assaulted her ears but she didn’t let up until a spark eventually ignited the chopper’s fuel tank.
The entire machine blew apart in a terrific ball of fire, shooting searing hot debris in all directions. The concussive boom slammed into her, knocking her and Sid off their feet and warping the mess tent. Other canvass structures caught alight, rippling heat into the storm drenched arena. Soldiers, taken off guard, collapsed to the ground, shielding their heads as flaming meteors slammed into the mud.
Staggering to her feet, her soaked clothes clinging to her lithe body, she glanced across to see Raine cautiously push himself up out of hiding.
She raised her voice and shouted over the din to him. “Much better than lifting my top, no?!”
Raine shrugged, noncommittal. “Nah,” he replied.
Then he was all action again. King hadn’t anticipated the other man’s speed. Focussed and intent, his earlier warning came back to the archaeologist. You just better keep up with me, Benny.
Raine dashed from cover and pulled a handgun from the back of his waistband. King remembered wondering about the weapon’s necessity yesterday. Now, he was grateful for it.
Raine fired at two of the soldiers as they struggled to their feet. A third charged at him, bringing his weapon up and around too slow. With expert precision, Raine doubled him over with a knee to the groin then dropped him with a chop to the neck. He snatched up his QBZ-95 assault rifle and fired at the other soldiers. Too slow in regaining their wits after the fiery destruction of their helicopter, they were scattered by Raine’s spray of bullets, scrambling for cover behind burning tents and chunks of smoking metal.
But it wouldn’t take long for them to mobilise again. “Benny, move it!”
King’s legs felt like jelly as he ordered them into motion, running up behind Raine as the other man cut a swath through the soldiers. He didn’t let up with the rifle, his eyes expertly locating any movement and putting down resistance before it arose. The storm continued to rage, rain lashing across the summit but King ignored the downpour, shadowing Raine all the way across the camp until they arrived at Nadia’s research tent. Raine threw aside the canvass door, checked the all clear.
“Get the mask,” he ordered.
King didn’t hesitate, darting out of the rain into the tent. His eyes scanned the work stations, his arms sweeping across them and scattering books and computers and microscopes. His body shook violently with an adrenaline overload. It felt as it his heart was going to burst out of his chest, his brain explode!