She scooped the spar up, jabbed at another enemy.
Alicia punched hard and evaded, finding she’d run out of enemies after just a few minutes. Casting around, it seemed a little rude to just barge in on Hayden’s brawl, but with a loud cough and a little wave she caught the merc’s attention and brought him over to her side. Eight seconds later he was down.
“You’re welcome,” she told Hayden.
“I had that.”
“I know, but Hay, you haven’t been shot in a while. Thought I’d take that chance right off the table.”
The mercs fought doggedly, handing out bruises and bleeding mouths but failing to stop the SPEAR team for more than a few minutes. When they were groaning, lying practically motionless, their leader dead, Hayden signaled a final sprint for the safe house.
“We all good?”
Crouch and Yorgi came back from the shadows. The pair had never pretended to be fighters, but had taken weapons to use in case they were needed, a plan so well executed the mercs never even knew about the spare backup. Crouch took point now and led them through darker streets, and the team used Smyth and Kenzie to check for any signs of pursuit.
There were none. But there was something else. A brooding darkness lying over the less traveled streets of Cairo, a menace unseen but heavily present. Something that offered violence and fire and the chance of turmoil. Drake had felt it before many times — close to war zones and inside cities fighting for their lives. At border crossings that might be subject to attack. The Middle East was a roiling cauldron of ferocity, madness and religious hatred. Is anywhere safe?
Drake and Alicia checked the side alleys. Mai took a quick sprint across the rooftops.
“Clear.”
Together, they headed to safety.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
FrameHub were both pleased and dubious. Their army of mercenaries had secured the first clue set right at the back of the first seal, but had come across a problem larger than they had anticipated. FrameHub weren’t entirely sure how to process the information, or how best to react.
They were IT gods, not military captains.
The man on the conference call was the leader of the mercs. He called himself Vladimir and spoke with a Russian accent.
“It is an American Special Forces unit called Team SPEAR. They’re off the books, specialists in everything you could name and many things you couldn’t. Taken down some of the world’s worst.”
“It sounds like you admire them,” Piranha said.
“They’re soldiers, and pretend to be nothing else. One time — we were all like that. At least, most of us were. They took out enough of my men to force me to recruit even more.” Vladimir sighed.
“The timetable must not be compromised,” Barracuda said in a robotic computer-generated voice.
“It won’t be. You employed me because I have good connections and get the job done when and how you specify, not for my shocking good looks and bowling arm.”
“Ahh, okay.” Barracuda’s uncertainty made the mechanical voice absurd.
“What do you know of this… SPEAR?” Piranha tried to cover for him.
“Too much to retell,” Vladimir said. “There’s about ten of them, I guess. Mix of nationalities. Here’s the interesting thing — the American government recently disavowed them. These guys’re acting on their own.”
Piranha was confused and didn’t try to hide it this time. “What are you saying?”
“It is too early to know but I do believe they’re acting on their own. That puts them in our territory and easier to kill. No backup, limited tech. All this helps. Also, if the American’s have disavowed SPEAR they will have someone hunting them down, but I haven’t found any details yet. Perhaps you guys could help?”
Piranha weighed and judged the request instantly. “We can find that information, but how will it help?”
“It will tell me the worst of what we’re up against.”
“Okay, I understand. I’ll have the information within the hour.”
“Within the…” Vladimir sounded shocked and doubtful. “Something like that will be deeply classified. It’s hidden behind so many—”
“Please,” Piranha murmured. “I said an hour because we have a retro office Galaga challenge planned. That will take forty-five minutes.”
Vladimir remained silent.
“Did you find out why this team were disavowed?” Manta asked. “That could help.”
“Couldn’t say. Usually though, these things have little to do with a team’s actions and much to do with political maneuvering. I doubt the real reason will be on file.”
“It’s fine,” Piranha said. “Please concentrate on the tombs and the seven seals. This knowledge is vital to our future and thus to yours. We can make you rich, Mr. Vladimir. Just work with us to find that seventh seal. That is your sole and only goal right now.”
“Understood. The seals are crucial. They’re also front and center on many men’s radars right now. What are you boys gonna do about that?”
Piranha smiled at the screen. “Something huge. You will hear about it, be assured.”
Manta snorted. “A Tibetan monk will hear of it.”
Moray glanced at him. “They have Wi-Fi in Tibet, idiot.”
“Yeah, I know that. It was a figure of speech, asshat.”
“Right,” Vladimir cut in. “I’ll let you boys get on with it. Keep me updated.”
“We’re not boys,” Piranha said. “Well, not all of us. Rest assured we have a method to distract the entire world from the seven seals of Egypt.”
“You said that already. I’ll be watching and listening.”
“Good,” Piranha said, unable to come up with anything witty. They needed Vladimir though — somebody out there in the real world dealing with real-world problems and situations. None of them had seen sunlight for months. They were too busy following their mandate: Knowledge is power. Down here they could accumulate vast amounts on everyone and anything, but if the curse of the seven seals was right and led to an incredible doomsday weapon…
FrameHub thought that was ultra-cool.
Vladimir signed off. Piranha shook his head at the entire group and called for FrameHub to reorder. It was bordering on an extremely momentous time.
“Tell me, FrameHub, are we ready?”
“We are ready,” the collective agreed.
“Shall we make them fear us?”
“We shall.”
“Shall we make them cower?”
“We will.”
“Press that start button then,” Piranha said. “It’s game on.”
Piranha arranged his thoughts. With the first seal broken and the clue discovered, the mercs would handle the second seal. Some kind of abandoned tomb according to Vladimir. FrameHub had been formulating a plan for some time now, a game plan, to bring three nations to their knees, and then two of them to collapse. It was a test and a warning, something to make the rest of the world sit up and beg.
Literally.
They were connected worldwide through the computer network. And not just to the Internet but every single thing on earth that required any kind of mainframe or processor. The best hackers of their time had become a divine and superhuman collective, and the world was about to find out what they could do.
Piranha watched proceedings. In their real-life war game three countries would be threatened, all by email message. The first to capitulate to their demands would win, the other two would be destroyed. It was pure gaming rules.