No time to lose.
“We need those tear gas grenades pronto,” he said.
Calvin dug out the canisters and handed one to Hawkins, who mentally kicked himself for not putting Calvin in place on the other side of the room. Even a delay of seconds could cost Kalliste her life.
“You’re faster than I am with this bum leg. Get to the other side. Give me a single laser flash. I’ll do one flash back to let you know I saw the signal. Count to fifteen. We’ll toss the grenades and move in. Take out anyone in your way. We grab Kalliste and go.”
Calvin took off at a speed Hawkins could never reach with his patched-together leg bones. Seconds later, as Lily made another quarter turn and stopped, a pinpoint of light blinked almost exactly across from where he stood.
Hawkins bit down on the air cartridge mouthpiece and began the countdown.
Lily had completed her 360-degree turn. She lifted the dagger above Kalliste. Hawkins tossed the grenade. In his haste, he made a bad throw. The grenade hit the floor around ten feet from where Lily was standing and skittered toward the blue-headed man.
The dog monster saw the spinning canister coming his way and lunged away from the threatening object, jerking the leash out of blue-head’s grip.
A grenade arced in from Calvin’s position. His aim was better, and the hissing canister slid into the crowd. The women in the long gowns scattered in flight amid a chorus of shrieks.
Hawkins slipped his CAR-15 off his shoulder and moved out from behind the column. He walked with cool deliberation toward the altar. Blue-head had seen him approaching and had his rifle at his waist. But before he could squeeze the trigger, he launched into a coughing fit from the gas rising around him. Hawkins snapped off a shot. The bullet caught the man in the chest. He dropped his weapon and crumpled to the floor.
Hawkins continued past the twitching body through the billowing gray clouds of gas. Lily was coughing violently, but when she saw him coming toward her she struggled to bring the dagger back over the altar.
Hawkins aimed the carbine. “Drop the knife, Lily.”
She got her coughing under control and stared at him with watery eyes that still managed to blaze with fury.
In a surprisingly clear voice, she said, “I am not Lily. I am Potnia.”
“Don’t care who you are. Drop the damned knife.”
Her hands tightened on the hilt of the dagger. Hawkins would have killed her if Lily hadn’t been distracted by the arrival of a second blue-head. He had been on the other side of the crowd where Hawkins hadn’t seen him. He, too, was without his dog monster.
Hawkins had no time to move his aim from Lily to the new target. But as the blue-head brought his gun to his shoulder, preparing to cut Hawkins in half with a quick blast, the attacker’s body stiffened. The rifle fell from his fingers and he pitched forward onto his weapon.
Hawkins heard a voice yell, “Hoo-yah!”
Calvin stepped from the gas cloud, lowered his carbine and stuck the air tank regulator back into his mouth. Hawkins went to give him a thumb’s up, but he faced a new threat. Lily had turned her attention from Kalliste. She staggered toward Hawkins, one hand holding the dagger above her head, and screamed in an unknown tongue. Her face was a mask of fury.
Her drug-induced frenzy was no match for tear gas. She got into a coughing fit and dropped the dagger so she could place her hands over her mouth. Still coughing, she whirled around and disappeared behind the gas cloud.
Hawkins signaled Calvin to keep watch and went over to the altar. Kalliste had inhaled tear gas and was coughing convulsively in her slumber. He shouldered his CAR-15 and lifted her in both arms. As he turned away from the altar, he heard Calvin shout:
“Hawk. Watch your back.”
A figure appeared out of the gas cloud, holding the lapel of his robe against his face as a makeshift gas mask. He uncovered his face for a second to see where he was going. Hawkins immediately recognized him from the material Molly had sent him.
Salazar.
Calvin had removed his air tank to warn Hawkins. He raised his carbine to shoot but when he got a whiff of gas and started coughing. The moment’s delay gave Salazar a second to shout: “Hawkins. Don’t shoot! It’s me. Chad.”
Hawkins hesitated. Salazar spoke again, this time in an English accent.
“For godsakes, guv’nor, lower that blasted gun.”
Hawkins yanked the mouthpiece from between his teeth. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I’ll explain later. I know the way out of this dump. Follow me.”
He covered his face again and pointed. Hawkins lifted Kalliste onto his shoulder. With Calvin taking up the rear, they followed their unlikely savior.
The tear gas had done its job. No one stood in their way as they raced between the rows of mummified priestesses to the chamber door, through the antechamber, then up the stairs. They stepped into the Tripartite Shrine and were headed for the exit when they heard angry voices coming from ahead.
Salazar had been pacing back and forth in the courtyard outside the entrance to the Tripartite Shrine, waiting impatiently for the explosion Leonidas was supposed to trigger with the remote control. What he got instead was an explosion of disheveled priestesses. They burst through the door of the shrine and fell on the ground where they gasped for air, or vomited, or both.
He grabbed a priestess by the arm and ordered her to tell him what had happened, but she couldn’t give him a coherent answer. He turned to Bruno.
“Take the men inside and find out what’s going on. If you come upon that fool Leonidas, shoot him.”
Bruno summoned the other guards and they plunged through the entrance and raced through the shrine to the stairway leading down to the Maze. He paused for a second at the top of the stairs when he inhaled a breath of tear gas, but the mask hiding most of his face filtered out some of the irritants in the gas. He and his men were well paid for their dirty work. And when Salazar gave an order, it was wise to obey.
He told his men to follow him into the Maze.
Chad had been leading the way out of the shrine when he heard Bruno shouting. He herded Hawkins and his friends into the shadows of an alcove. Bruno and his men passed, and they were on the move again. Chad paused to peer out the entrance door, but saw only the stricken gang of priestesses. He motioned for the others to follow him.
Still holding Kalliste in his arms, Hawkins looked around the courtyard for an avenue of escape. His eye fell on the Auroch helicopter.
“Did you come in on that chopper?” he asked Chad.
“Yeah. It’s Salazar’s personal chariot. You know how to fly one of those things?”
“I don’t, but my partner does.”
“I’ll warm up the engines. You follow,” Calvin said.
He tossed his carbine to Chad and raced toward the helicopter. He moved fast, even burdened with his gear bag. Hawkins followed with Chad behind him. He stopped when he heard Kalliste groan. She was waking up but was still too groggy to walk on her own. He was about to start off again when he heard a mellifluous voice say, “You’re not leaving the party so soon, are you, Mr. Hawkins?”
He turned and saw Salazar holding an automatic rifle pointed at his double. Chad dropped his gun and raised his hands in the air. Hawkins looked from one Salazar to the other. Chad had done an amazing make-up job.
“I’m afraid so,” Hawkins said. “Things are getting too confusing at this party.”
“Then let me un-confuse you. I’m the real Viktor Salazar. I’ve seen your photo. It’s such a pleasure to meet you in person at last.”
“Can’t say the feeling is mutual, Salazar. What’s a big businessman like you doing with this gang of looney-toons?”