Bodie found a three-sided room of amber and felt a strong recollection of what it might mean. Before he could formulate the thought two Hoods were on him. A knife slashed his sleeve, another stuck his shoulder, but only briefly. The wound bled but the adrenalin meant he felt nothing. He leapt back, then, as the first Hood followed, toppled the amber panel onto him, bearing him to the ground. Another scream issued from above. Bodie saw the second Hood dive in with the knife high, spurred on by his masters, and repeated the pattern, toppling the back wall onto this man’s body, crushing bones.
He flitted away, running in between relics and artifacts, and coming around. Another shot from the gun and a dangerous attacker fell. Four Rangers were down. Heidi head-butted a Hood and then lost her balance, falling to one knee. He smashed her to the floor, raised a knife, then spun as Cassidy shot him down.
Xavier, Calypso and Typhon watched over it all, flanked by the leader of the Hoods — Baltasar.
Bodie, Cross and Jemma were driven back, away from the front of the pit and further among the relics. A small horse found its way into Bodie’s hand and ended up smashing the front teeth from a Hood’s mouth. A knife took some flesh from the back of his hand. He leapt here and there, from bases to marble knees and bronze laps. He toppled a knight onto a Hood, flinching as the heavy armor crashed. He used a plush bed to scramble across and put distance between himself and an attacker, then unashamedly shot the man dead.
It was dog eat dog down here today.
All of a sudden the Statue of Zeus was at his back and Cross was at his side. Two Hoods came at them. Bodie fired but hit a blank chamber — empty. Cross kicked out. Bodie caught his man and flung him back against the statue’s base, the thick white legs like a gigantic pillar rising above. The Hood delivered a kick-punch combination, sending Bodie to his knees, clutching his stomach. He managed to turn the Hood again, and held out a hand as a knife was drawn.
“Careful,” he said. “Look up.”
The Hood did, and blanched, not realizing the prize he fought and struggled against. All Bodie heard was the master’s voice, warning all of his men to be careful. The Hood hesitated. Bodie barged in with everything he had, driving the man back against a forged iron cauldron. In a stroke of luck the blow felled the Hood. Bodie helped Cross with his attacker and then took a second to recover.
“To the end,” Cross said.
“To the end, my friend.”
They jogged back through the maze of relics, finding Jemma on the way, stuck beneath a dead Hood and a small statue. Bodie dragged it off as Cross helped her stand. “Thief,” she said. “I’m supposed to steal these things, not count on them to overcome an attacker.”
“Let’s see where we are,” Bodie said.
They stole closer to the front, some sixth sense warning them to move slowly. Bodie paused behind a gold sarcophagus that might have housed any number of Egyptian leaders still thought lost to time, and peered out.
The Rangers were down to three. Heidi lay on the ground, bleeding. Cassidy fought three Hoods, valiantly standing her ground but making no headway. The Illuminati leader was making his way down the ramp as if sensing victory, flanked by his chosen ones.
“Bodie,” Jemma breathed with fear. “What are we going to do?”
And for once his perfect thief’s mind was blank. The wit and brainpower, the skill and experience, that could read and act on every situation, was as dull as the sky on a rainy day.
“Not my expertise,” he said. “Shit, what do we do?”
CHAPTER FORTY NINE
Cassidy saw them. “What the fuck are you waiting for? Nuke the bastards!”
Bodie was instantly galvanized, somehow knowing exactly what she meant. Play the Illuminati at their own game. Give their fucking events right back to them.
“Yeah,” he said. “Oh yeah.”
He looked around, knowing exactly what he needed.
Jemma tapped his elbow. “What are we doing, Guy?”
“There.” He pointed at two dead Rangers. “Go get those grenades and be ready.”
Cross was already creeping off, understanding the plan without being told. Three more grenades lay to the right. Bodie saw Cassidy and ran straight at her; catching all three Hoods’ attention.
“Bollocks!” he cried, leaping at them, totally in the air and crashing down among them. They scattered, twisted away. Cassidy was free for several seconds and intensely busy.
“Ready?” she yelled, the question a bellow of rage and command.
“Ready!” Cross cried.
“Ready!” Jemma screamed.
“Fix this,” she said and turned, faced the approaching bosses with the RPG launcher balanced across one shoulder.
Xavier’s face twisted in fear and agony, but that was all he had time for.
Cassidy launched the first grenade, aiming for the wall above their heads and the bookcase and balcony alongside. Jemma threw her grenades, one at a time, letting them explode among the artifacts and the huge pillars that held up the pit. Cross launched his too, concentrating on the pillars. Cassidy reloaded and fired the second grenade, this one high into the chamber, shattering the roof where it was least supported.
“No!” Xavier moaned. “You are mad. Mad!”
Bodie struggled with a Hood, kicked another in the face. An ominous groaning came from the pit’s central support and the brickwork looked like it was already buckling. More grenades were thrown, explosions occurring on the ramp and along the balconies; debris, fire and rock blasting out. The remaining Rangers used their own bombs, sending blasts in all directions and disorientating the enemy. Bodie saw gouts of fire and wreckage in every part of the pit and up and down the ramp. Illuminati scattered and Hoods raced after them. Cassidy returned and helped Bodie put down the three Hoods. Heidi shot two more.
“This is the main event,” she said. “It’s just a shame you bastards aren’t down here to see first-hand the kind of terror and carnage you’ve wrought.”
Bodie was first up, then the team were racing after the Illuminati, hitting the bottom of the ramp at top speed. Fires flicked at their ankles. A gas line exploded close by, causing an eruption of flame, a singeing torrent of fire that raged up into the heights of the chamber. Several bookcases toppled, sending their contents down over the collapsing balcony in a surge of debris.
Bodie chased up through the middle of it, death and destruction on every side. A Hood leapt in from the right, incredibly evaporated in mid-air as a second gas explosion erupted beneath his body. Now there remained only Xavier and his acolytes, only three Rangers and the team. Not a man and woman among them was unmarked, not bleeding, not close to collapsing.
The chamber rumbled, the brick pillar support crumbling and waving from side to side. Part of the roof was falling in, the very skies of the Illuminati’s wonder chamber falling down. Bodie was halfway up the ramp, his team at his heels. The Rangers pressed on, faster, and Heidi shouted that they should just “take the leader out.”
Baltasar turned, face as bleak as death and decay. He would not allow that. Heidi recognized him and reached him first and did not back down.
“Die hard, motherfucker,” she said, and launched herself straight at his throat.
Baltasar twisted just a few centimeters, throwing her aside. She hit the railing hard, splintering three of the spindles. Bodie reached down and dragged her up. Now he saw Calypso and Typhon turning too, as Xavier ran on to escape.
“I got the thin bitch,” Cassidy said, running past and attacking Calypso.