And then it fell to the ground, its hide peppered with gunshots, its sides greatly expanding and contracting its final breaths before it finally stilled. Aussie took a few steps forward, placed the point of his assault weapon inches away from the beasts head, and finalized everything with a quick burst of gunfire.
The smell of cordite filled the air as the soldiers leaned over the beast, weapons aimed.
The two senior archeologists were clinging to Noah as much as Noah was clinging to them. Alyssa was just as stunned, her mind registering the events at a very slow pace. And Obsidian Hall had somehow backed his way as far from the scene as possible but still within the light of the lamps, with his crotch bearing the stain of wetness.
John Savage, however, stood at the fringe of light with his Glock pointed directly into the wall of darkness, a ribbon of smoke rising from the mouth of the suppressor.
With the toe-end of his shoe, Aussie managed to move a lamp closer, keeping his weapon directly on the creature. Leaning against the wall and biting on his lower lip, with his shoulder rent and bleeding, sat Red who was quickly aided by his brother.
In the circle of light, the creature’s black eyes were at half-mast, the tip of its pink tongue peeking out between its jaws. Its head was large and shovel-like, its ruined hide the color of old pewter. And it was long and thick and powerful looking, the muscles beneath its skin extremely dense.
Aussie tapped the head lightly with his boot, causing the head to roll loosely to one side. “What the hell is it?”
“An alligator of some sort?” offered Butcher Boy. Alyssa moved closer with her hands balled and held close to her bosom. She moved into the light. “You know what this is, Ms. Moore?”
She leaned down and studied it. Her fear left her as curiosity summarily took its place. With her hand, she carefully reached down and grabbed the loose flesh of its frill, lifting it. It felt like sandpaper, very course and rough. And then she raised the lip of its mouth, allowing her to study the teeth and gum line of the upper jaw. Its teeth were small and serrated, the gums oozing a copious red fluid, a living bacteria that was most likely virulent.
She looked at Red. “How are you holding?” she asked.
“I’ll live.”
Don’t be so sure.
Hall came forward, unaware of his accident. “Do you know what it is?”
“I've got a pretty good idea,” she said. “It’s a species of monitor lizard. It’s a relative of the Komodo dragon.”
“I’ve seen Komodo dragons before,” said Aussie. “And this ain’t even close. This thing is huge. It’s gotta be about twenty feet long.”
She stood and clapped her hands clean. “The closest thing I can equate this to would be the Megalania Prisca, a type of monitor lizard that lived about ten thousand years ago, believed to have been seen in Queensland, Australia in 1979.”
“Yeah, I remember that,” said Aussie. “They found footprints on a farm believed to be from this thing thought to have been extinct. Stories of monsters abounded for years thereafter.”
“Extinct creatures are popping up every day,” she added. “It’s not that we kill them off, it’s that we drive these species deeper into terrain. The further we encroach on their territory, the more we’re apt to learn that they never went away at all. But this—” She pointed to the beast “—is somewhat modified from the Megalania Prisca by the hood of its frill. In related lizards, it’s believed to be a defense mechanism, where the flesh expands around its head to make it appear much larger and more aggressive. It’s also believed to be some kind of sensory device, a form of built-in radar used to pick up vibrations whereas the data is processed through olfactory means, and makes a determination of its surroundings. This is in lieu of their senses of sight and hearing, which are extremely poor.”
“This thing didn’t move like it was blind or deaf,” said Red, grunting in pain. “This thing was fast and saw me just fine.”
“I didn’t say they were completely deaf or blind, just that those senses are dulled and are compensated through other means.”
“Yeah, well, the bloody thing is dead, right? No more worries.”
When Obsidian Hall finally released his breath and sighed with relief, it was then that he noticed his accident. He held his hands out by his side in a ‘what-the-hell-is-this’ manner.
“Actually,” she said, “where there’s one, then there’s another, and another, and another.”
“You think the tunnels are full of them?” asked Butcher Boy.
“I can’t answer that.”
For a long moment they listened. And for lack of a better term, the silence was tomblike. And then they heard it — a clicking sound, a tapping in the distance, muted and far off.
Butcher Boy shook his head. “Well, I guess that answers that,” he said, looking down at the lizard. “Apparently this is not the only one.”
And then the tapping stopped, leaving the group within a pall of unnerving silence.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“Now for you, Padre.” Aussie directed his weapon towards John Savage, to a mark right between his eyes. “You want to tell me why a priest is carrying a Glock that’s mounted with an illegal suppressor?”
“I’m not a priest,” he said.
“So you’ve said. Now answer my question.” He maintained his deadly aim. “But before you do, Padre, lower your weapon to the floor. And don’t be stupid.”
Savage looked at Red. But I just saved his life! And then he looked into the darkness of the corridor, looking for the things that lived within. “I need this weapon.”
Butcher Boy pressed the tip of his weapon behind and below Savage’s ear, the barrel was still warm. “That’s a good question, Mr. Savage. Why would a Vatican emissary be carrying illegal wares for a weapon he shouldn’t be in possession of to begin with?”
Savage’s eyes began to move in their sockets, telling Aussie what he was thinking. So Aussie raised his weapon until it was inches away from Savage’s head. “I told you not get stupid, didn’t I? Drop your weapon right now, mate. So help me, I won’t even hesitate.”
Savage sighed and let the weapon fall. “I can help,” he said.
“Yeah, well, I’m not too comfortable in knowing that someone is carrying a weapon that I don’t know about. Especially from someone who’s obviously skilled in marksmanship as you are.” Aussie moved closer to the point where Savage thought the man was going to kiss him on the cheek, prompting Savage to lean away. But Aussie took a couple of quick sniffs and smiled. “You know something, Padre. You stink to high heaven. There’s just something about you that doesn’t smell right to me.” He fell back a couple of steps with his weapon leveled. “So tell me,” he said, his impish smile never flagging, “are there any more bloody surprises about you that I should know about?”
Savage kept his eyes forward and said nothing while Butcher Boy picked up the sidearm. He held it up in display, revealing a suppressor that was as long as the firearm’s barrel, a top-of-the-line model. He tucked the Glock in the rear of his waistband.
Aussie and Butcher Boy continued with furtive glances down the corridor while keeping an eye on Savage, as well. “Who are you, John Savage?” asked Butcher Boy. “Why do I know that name?”
“I was in the military,” he said.
Butcher Boy cocked his head. “You want to jar my memory?”
“Navy SEAL, Team Nine,” he said.