“Egypt, mate. We’re going to Egypt. Finally. This is it, Dino. The plan is in motion. The endgame. We’re gonna do this!”
“I’m ready. So long as we sleep in separate rooms.”
“With Wu?”
“I didn’t mean it like—”
“I know. You don’t trust my wandering hands. Maybe I’ll sleep with Wu instead.”
“You think you’re the hot one that can take her pick, eh?”
Karin gave him a radiant, sexy smile. “What do you think?”
“It’d rather take a crate of beers.”
Karin laughed and punched him on the shoulder. Dino winced. She felt almost as close to the young solider as she’d once felt to Ben. Dino was the brother and Wu the close friend. The three of them had formed a bond, unbreakable, entwined until death. Until now, the path had been relatively straightforward and easy. But the hard work was coming. She expected both Dino and Wu to form the solid wall at her back.
“Ready for Egypt?”
Dino nodded. “I’ve been ready since we deserted.”
“Everything set?”
“Yeah. The money we appropriated from Webb’s accounts paid for a nice private jet. Passports are fake, of course. We’re good, Miss Blake.”
“Excellent, Mr. Palladino. Shall we go and kick some arse?”
“Ass, you mean ass.”
“I guess we’re in America, so I do.” They headed back into the house, picked up their packs and Wu and headed out to the car.
No turning back now.
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
Plan C appeared to be working.
When two vehicles appeared, following each other down the blacktop, Drake and Dahl put their misgivings aside and pointed their weapons at the drivers. Happily, they were both male and young and didn’t appear too traumatized as a dozen soldiers crowded in alongside them. Of course, they never saw Vladimir and his men coming over the hill at their backs. With the entire team barely inside the cars, hanging out of windows, wedged so tight even their bones hurt, they made the break for freedom.
Smyth drove one car, Kinimaka the other. Drake was squeezed in beside Luther, with Crouch alongside.
By design.
They talked about the fifth seal. “Of course I remember,” Crouch said indignantly. “I remember the design. The pyramid is from Saqqara, the earliest burial site of the nobles of the First Dynasty. One of the common traits of this mission has been the age of the objects in question. Perhaps this doomsday machine is the earliest of all.”
“Because it is a weapon of the gods?” Kenzie asked. “And thus came first. It makes perfect sense.”
“Why not recap that curse again?” Drake said, for Luther’s benefit.
“Find the seven seals for seven tombs and settle the fate of men. Follow the lost symbol that entombs the Ancient Doomsday Machine. Break the seven seals of Egypt and start the End of Times.”
“No matter how many times you hear it,” Alicia said from the front, “that always sounds nasty.”
“The same could be said of you, bitch,” Kenzie, crammed next to her, said.
“Shut it, skunk.”
Drake urged Crouch to continue. The older man was happy to take his mind off aching bones, bruises and raw wounds.
“Saqqara is in the north and where we should go next. If we can’t stop FrameHub, the CIA and possibly this splinter group fighting for and getting the doomsday machine then we’re all in big trouble.”
“Is it a big place?” Drake knew they all needed rest and to head blindly into some ancient vastness was just foolhardy at this point.
“Relatively. And our rivals will be headed there too. Saqqara comprises underground galleries, funerary tombs, monuments. It’s also famous for having the oldest comprehensive stone building complex throughout known history. It remained significant to the Egyptians for more than 3000 years. Such incredible history…” Crouch tailed off, shaking his head in wonder.
Dahl shouted something back through the open window. Drake had to strain to catch it.
“Any thoughts on why FrameHub would want the weapon so badly?”
“Just the obvious,” Crouch said. “They’re a new entity. Though why they’re clouding the issue with this ransom demand is unclear.”
“That’s exactly what it is,” Drake said. “Muddying the waters. Flooding Egypt with mercs. They aim to steal the weapon in the chaos and use it when they fancy it. They’re kids, spoiled kids at that. It will be another ransom, another game. At least, that’s my take.”
“Sounds feasible,” Crouch agreed.
Luther was listening intently, but remained on mission. “I may be grateful for your help, and all, but you guys are coming in with me. All of you.”
Drake admired his tenacity. “It may have escaped your knowledge that we outnumber you five to one.”
“Doesn’t matter. I never fail.”
“Neither do we,” Dahl said, half out the window and catching some serious airflow. “I’d advise you to re-evaluate.”
“Orders are orders,” Luther said. “Can’t change ’em.”
Drake gestured for Crouch to continue. “Well,” the Englishman said. “I recognized the pyramid at Saqqara. It’s from the third Dynasty, called Djoser’s step pyramid, world-famous and with a rectangular base. We’re getting very close to the seventh seal now, my friends, so we really must hurry. Whoever gets their hands on that machine…” He shuddered.
For the first time, Luther glared at him. “You keep talking about a machine. What is it?”
“Nobody knows. The curse of the seven seals leads the way to, supposedly, an ancient machine that could destroy the world. Don’t get me wrong here — we know this is an olden-day piece of writing and comes with the undesirable tag-word curse, but we started out skeptical too. But so far, each tomb or monument has led us to the next. It may all be hoax, but what if it’s not?”
“I hope it’s a hoax,” Dahl said. “Better for everyone.”
“Agreed,” Drake said. “But we can’t afford not to find out.” He fixed on Luther. “Do you understand that?”
“I’m no thinker. No strategist. I’m a bloodhound — they point me in the direction they want me to go and slap my ass. I’m tenacious. Raw. I get the job done without relying on fancy gadgetry. So no, Drake, I don’t understand it. And even if I did you lot would still be my prisoners.”
“Look.” Alicia struggled to turn around and look the big man in the eye. “Whilst I like the imagery of you being slapped on the ass, you — my old-style, simple, loutish beast — are talking up a steaming pile of crap. Open your damn eyes and wake up to the fight. Soldiers shouldn’t deal in black and white anymore. There’s adversity in much of the world right now, most of it caused by the people that pull your strings.”
“And dude,” Drake added, “it’s not as if they try to hide all of it.”
Luther couldn’t twist his body in order to address Alicia, but replied to Drake. “You think I haven’t heard this before? A hundred, desperate times from outta the mouths of a hundred desperate criminals? Shit, I could have made the speech for you.”
Kenzie groaned. “Well maybe some of them were telling you the truth. So what does that make you?”
Luther hesitated just for a moment. “You guys came outta hiding to chase down some ancient weapon that may or may not exist? Why the hell would you do that?”
“Now that—” Alicia banged the seat “—is a great question. Drake?”
“You’re asking me?” Drake felt defensive. “We all agreed. Even Smyth. We all agreed.”
“I came with you. You came for Crouch. Kenzie came for Dahl.”
“No. We all came to help.”
Alicia shrugged. Kenzie tried to catch Dahl’s eye through the window. “She’s right, Torst. I’m not here to save the world.”