On the other hand, dynamite and other nitroglycerin-based compounds didn’t require a primary blast as a simple electrical charge or standard fuse would trigger their explosion, but their destructive force was relatively weak when compared to plastic explosives. And for a job like this, weak simply wouldn’t cut it.
No, Sarah was looking for something between the two products. Something that would fully incinerate the bunker yet could be ignited without the hassle of hundreds of detonators. Something simple yet devastating. A chemical with some serious kick.
Something like ammonium nitrate.
The white powder looked more like laundry detergent than a lethal explosive, but Sarah knew the damage it could inflict. In 1947, a shipload of ammonium nitrate detonated in Texas’s Galveston Bay. The resulting blast shattered windows forty miles away in Houston. The shockwave tore the wings off planes flying overhead, and the ship’s anchor was eventually found on the other side of the city. The explosion started a chain of destruction that has been compared to that of an atomic bomb.
All because the shipment overheated.
Sarah popped the lid from the plastic drum and stared down at the substance. The ammonium nitrate in this one container would easily take out the armory, the hallways, and the cell where she hoped the priests were still dying a slow, excruciating death. But that wasn’t enough. She wanted the entire compound to burn.
Fortunately, there were three more barrels of the deadly mix.
Enough to incinerate the compound several times over.
Sarah smiled at the thought.
To ensure that the chemicals ignited, Sarah pulled a brick of Semtex from the shelf. She rigged the package with an electronic detonator that would allow them to flee before the fireworks started, then she dropped the bomb into the barrel of ammonium nitrate and reaffixed the lid. She could now ravage the bunker with a push of a button, eradicating the minions that called it home.
They had ended her friend’s life.
Now she would end theirs.
Sarah secured the detonator in her tunic and grabbed a shotgun of her own. It was time to leave. ‘Hector, how’s it looking?’
‘The hallway is clear. They’ve all rallied at the holding cell.’
She stuffed a handful of shells into her pockets. ‘Simon, we’re leaving.’
‘It’s about time,’ Dade mumbled.
He exited first, with Sarah directly behind him. But instead of running, she paused for a moment to sabotage the lock on the armory door. It wasn’t a permanent solution, but it would prevent the Muharib from accessing their weapons anytime soon. Once she was done, they hurriedly retraced their steps back toward the exit shaft.
Garcia warned them of potential obstacles. ‘There are four guards waiting for you in the room near the hatch. I think they’re there to block your escape.’
‘Are they armed?’ she demanded.
‘Only with swords,’ Garcia informed her.
‘Big mistake,’ she muttered. ‘Simon—’
He cut her off. ‘I know, I know. I’m the distraction.’
Simon took a deep breath then ran toward the exit at full speed. When he approached the room where the guards were waiting, he unleashed a primal scream and ran past their door. The four guards immediately gave chase, none of them bothering to check for intruders that might be approaching from behind. This, of course, was a fatal mistake because Sarah mowed them down like targets in a shooting gallery.
Blood and brains sprayed the walls of the hallway as she opened fire. Round after round tore through them, eviscerating bodies and spilling guts onto the floor.
The guards never stood a chance.
When it was over, Sarah just stood there in the midst of the carnage. Overwhelmed by rage, she could barely remember what she had done. All she knew was that she had wanted them to die, over and over and over again.
Eventually, she looked down at the weapon in her hands.
She was still pulling the trigger on the empty gun.
Dade hurdled the corpses and returned to her side. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Yeah,’ she lied as she tossed her shotgun to the floor.
He followed her lead and did the same. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes. I’m fine. Let’s get out of here.’
Due to the weight of the hatch above, Dade opted to go first. Sarah might have been tougher, but he was stronger. There was no doubt about that.
They climbed the ladder as quickly as they could, one after the other, clearing two rungs at a time as they hoisted themselves toward the surface where the battle continued to rage in the nearby desert.
With the detonator in her pocket, Sarah knew it would be over soon.
She had lost a friend, but she would have her revenge.
She would make them pay for her loss.
Unfortunately, Kamal was thinking the same thing.
78
Dade slid the heavy plate from the top of the chute, giving them access to the desert above. He peeked out of the concrete cylinder like a meerkat looking for a predator and quickly learned that they weren’t alone.
Unable to use the tunnel himself, Kamal had waited patiently near the hatch, playing a hunch that Dade would exit in the same place that he had gone in. His restraint was rewarded when his former colleague emerged from below. Wasting no time, Kamal grabbed Dade by the neck, lifted him from the hole, then tossed him through the air like a bag of trash before he turned back to deal with his accomplice.
A moment earlier, Dade had been blocking her path on the ladder. Now he was nowhere in sight, as if he had been grabbed by Amun and pulled to the heavens above.
Sarah glanced up to figure out how that was possible.
She had her answer a second later.
Kamal’s face filled the space above, soon followed by a glimpse of his gun. In the cramped space of the tunnel, she knew she was an easy target. With those odds hanging over her head — not to mention the ugly brute — she did the one and only thing she could think of to avoid near-certain death.
She released her grip and plummeted to the floor below.
Kamal didn’t care how she died, only that she did. With that in mind, he simply stepped to the edge of the opening and fired a single shot at the woman on the ladder. He watched her fall before he slammed the lid shut and refocused his attention on Dade.
His death would not be quick.
Dade, still reeling from the shock of his unexpected flight, rose to all fours while trying to catch his breath. Unfortunately, this made him an attractive target to Kamal, who charged toward him and kicked him as hard as he could in the midsection. The giant smiled when Dade started to cough up blood, knowing that he had broken some ribs.
‘Get up, you deceitful slug!’ Kamal shouted in his native Arabic. He didn’t care if Dade understood him. He was merely venting his anger. ‘Stand up and face the consequences of your actions!’
But Dade didn’t stand.
He merely groaned in pain.
So Kamal kicked him again, toppling him onto his back.
Kamal glanced down at him without pity and raised his boot above Dade’s face. Then, with as much force as he could muster, he tried to stomp his head into the ground, but somehow Dade found the strength to roll out of the way.
The giant smiled at the effort.
He was having fun.
Sarah opened her eyes at the base of the ladder. Her ears were ringing and her head throbbed from her crash landing on the floor, but she was okay.