But she was only human and she felt the same emotions as anyone else.
Now, in the gentle soft lighting of the Wizz Air A320 Neo, surrounded by relaxed, smiling people all looking forward to a few days in the Med, she finally let herself slow down and unwind. She felt the tension melt from her shoulders and considered calling one of the flight attendants for a beer. Craning her neck forward she saw Camacho on the other side of the aircraft, head lolled forward and fast asleep with a beer can in his hand.
Maybe leave it for now.
They were sitting at the very back of the aircraft and glancing around the cabin, she saw most of the team were also getting some shuteye. She turned and looked over the wing at an early evening sky stretching away to the horizon over a carpet of smooth pink clouds. It was hard to believe she was in the same world as the carnage she had witnessed back in Budapest.
Foremost in her mind was Jazmin Benedek. They had failed her and now her life was in grave danger. Never in her life had she seen anyone fight with the insane ferocity of the Blood Crew, and to think the young archaeologist was in their hands made her feel physically sick.
She glanced down the row of seats and saw Ryan and Scarlet talking together quietly. Looking at her ex-husband casually chatting with the former SAS captain, she felt a wave of pride. Mocking Ryan had become her favorite pastime, but the truth was he was essential to the team and a central part of every mission. It was thanks to him they were on this plane to Crete.
Earlier, back in the hotel room in Budapest, Ryan had carefully worked his way through half of the files on Jazmin Benedek’s flash drive. Thanks to what he had found, he had managed to translate more of the letters until he had deciphered most of what had turned out to be a lengthy and epic poem carved into the lyre’s soundbox.
With the usual tangents and digressions, he had explained to them all how at the end of his life, Orpheus had known he was dying and had requested that he spend his last days on Crete.
He ordered that his tomb was to be made secret from the world, and that the only place its location was to be recorded was on his lyre. The lyre would then be sailed to the mainland and given to Eurydice, except fate stepped in and sank the ship, sending his secret to the seabed forever.
Or until now, she thought. According to the epic poem, Orpheus had the location of the secret entrance to Hades buried with him in his Cretan tomb in the Cave of Zeus, and while part of her couldn’t wait to find it, another part wished that they failed. She had seen a lot of things in her adventures with the ECHO team, but going into hell itself seemed a bridge too far.
Closing her eyes, she decided to get some sleep before the plane touched down at Heraklion. If she was going to be face to face with the devil himself, she guessed she should be on her very best form.
Kamala Banks gave up trying to sleep on the short flight. Looking around, she saw others in the team had been more successful. The stubbly face of Vincent Reno was rolled over on his shoulder as he snoozed beside her, and beside him the Russian monk Nikolai was also fast asleep with his hands crossed on his lap.
After the insane events of President Brooke’s arrest and the murder of Kim Taylor back in Washington DC, life with the ECHO team had been a relentless roller-coaster ride. None of it felt real, even now. And in a way, she wished it wasn’t. Her career with the US Secret Service was over and she had been officially put on the FBI’s Most Wanted list for her association with these wild and unknown strangers.
And that was the problem. Her safety was now in the hands of a group of people she really didn’t know. It made her feel vulnerable, and she felt overwhelmed by their lifestyle. Always on the road. Chasing down ancient relics and destroying international terror groups. Until a few days ago all of this was something she thought only happened in the movies, and yet here she was right in the middle of it.
Would she ever get her old life back? She was starting to doubt it. These people talked about rescuing Jack Brooke and his daughter from Tartarus like they were planning a Sunday School picnic. Didn’t they realize how hard it would be just to find the place? Never mind break into it and locate the former president.
Finding the way to Hades would probably be easier, she thought, only half-joking. The very idea of it gave her goosebumps, and not for the first time she asked herself just what the hell she was doing with these people.
And just what the hell did thugs like Dimitrov and Kashala want with Hades, anyway? She struggled to find an answer, and the chances of her liking it when she did were slim to nothing. Seeing Lea trying to catch a few zees, she decided to have one last try and closed her eyes, but as soon as she did, she was plagued with devilish visions of what lay ahead of her.
Nikolai’s eyes were closed but he was not sleeping. The Russian monk and former Athanatoi acolyte’s mind had been going wild with worry ever since taking off from Budapest. The Oracle was dead and the cult was scattered to the four corners of the earth, but what he had seen in the Citadel had made his blood run cold. Who were those fierce fighters hidden among the folds of their white robes?
None of it made any sense. In all his years serving as an acolyte in the Athanatoi, no one had ever referred to these strange people. Was that because they didn’t know, or didn’t want him to know? He sighed and shifted in his seat, struggling to find a comfortable position in the cramped space.
At least, he considered, he had found a new purpose in life, even if it was only for a few days. The ECHO team seemed like good people, and he was still fighting to understand how they could trust him after what he had been a part of for so long. He respected that, and the diversity this new life had to offer was unrivalled but he still harbored strong doubts about their sanity… After all, who else would want to race through the gates of hell and come face to face with whatever was hiding down there?
“Everything all right, Kolya?”
He opened his eyes and saw Zeke was offering him some peanuts. He waved them away and smiled. “Everything is good, but going from the Oracle’s iron grip on my mind to a journey into Hades feels like…” he paused as he searched for the right English. “It feels like I have run from a wolf but stumbled onto a bear.”
“I hear you, buddy. In English we say leaping from the frying pan into the fire, and I feel exactly the same way. One minute I’m fighting a bunch of insane monks in an ancient city and the next I’ve got a date with the devil himself. Shit, this is one crazy life.”
Nikolai nodded in agreement. “I must sleep, friend. What about you?”
“Me? No sir, I never sleep on planes. If this sucker pitches down I’m going to be bright eyed and bushy tailed and get me to the door while you’re still waking up.” He stuffed a load of peanuts in his mouth, gave the Russian a wink and closed his eyes. “I’m just messing with you, man. I need my beauty sleep as much as you do.”
Nikolai said nothing, and closed his eyes.
An hour later, the airliner banked to the right and the sound of the landing gear hydraulics filled the cabin as the pilot lined up to land. The sun was gone now, but the island of Crete glittered below in the sea like an electric jewel. They descended further, low enough now to make out individual properties, swimming pools, white stucco villas and dry, desiccated dust-blown hills.
The airport’s outer field raced into view and the aircraft touched down with a light squeal of the tires. Ryan, who had been sleeping for the last stretch, awoke startled, looking around the cabin like a frightened rabbit and knocking his beer over his lap. He cursed as he unbuckled himself and stood up with the others to grab his carry-on luggage.