Dahl put their case as succinctly as possible. “Decision time. We’re entering Cairo right now and heading for those big, pointy rocks. No doubt, FrameHub’s mercs will be there. Tempest’s agents too. Who else? Maybe the Chinese, the Brits, the CIA. The question is: will you help us?”
Luther looked like he didn’t know whether to help or kill them. Drake kept an eye on the streets, already seeing the signs of a city in chaos. Sidewalks and roads were thronged with people, some running blindly toward danger and some away. Buses and cars were strewn everywhere, most abandoned. Shopfronts were boarded or barred. Screams and yells rang out constantly, like a plaintive chorus of those trapped in Hell. Drake saw men with half-face masks already strutting around.
“It’s gonna get ugly,” he said, “before they turn this around. How does a country recover from this?”
“Depends if it was a Denial of Service attack, or something more sinister,” Hayden said. “Egypt have a world-class IT section. They’ll turn it around pretty quick, but applying that to the real world?” She shook her head. “Months.”
“With FrameHub still out there,” Drake said. “Should we really be turning our attention to Tempest? Feels wrong.”
A rubble-strewn street showed signs of a missile attack, bricks lying in heaps, smoking, with mini-fires all around. Drake stopped the car and ran to help a nearby wandering man, his face so bloody he could not see, and shepherded him along the street to a medic. Dahl forcibly removed a family huddling close to the brick pile, explaining that there might be ruptured gas pipes and other dangers. Luther was quick to jump in too, helping to carry an older woman out of harm’s way.
The team drove on, stopping time and again to help the afflicted. Nobody, not even Crouch with his desperation to reach Giza, not even Smyth with his anger and fear for Lauren, could drive on without helping these uninformed innocents. Twice, Drake and Dahl faced down looters but it was all a mere drop in the ocean. They could not prevent coming atrocities over the next few days.
Another fail, right on the back of the first.
In the end, they could not reach the pyramids by car. They abandoned the vehicles and continued on foot, realizing the distance from outer Cairo to the pyramids was rather more than they’d expected as an hour passed by.
The flames receded and the running people thinned. Out here, groups rested or took stock, fearful of being inside the city now. Drake knew they were waiting for someone to tell them what to do. For an authority figure, for information. He gave as much news as he could, translated by Kenzie, and moved on.
They ran and they walked, Luther at their side, and their rations and weapons were supplemented by the big man.
“Giza,” he’d said. “The last seal. Get to this weapon and then we’ll have our talk.”
Drake had sighed with relief whilst, at the same time, dreading the “talk.” Somehow he didn’t think it’d be a reprimand.
The bright yellow rolling desert surrounded the Giza pyramid complex, a trio of ancient structures the largest of which — the Pyramid Of Khufu — was the oldest of the seven ancient wonders of the world and remained the tallest manmade structure ever built for almost four thousand years. Not a bad final résumé, Drake thought, for a structure that took twenty years to build even if they moved eight hundred tons of stone a day.
To complete the task the builders would have had to move twelve blocks into place, every hour, through day and through night. For twenty years. The math was mesmerizing.
And it certainly looked impressive as they drew closer. Drake knew the outer cladding had been stripped away through the years — once a casing of highly polished white limestone wrapped the entire pyramid, only part of which remained today around the lowest courses.
Crouch shaded his eyes as they approached, the supply of sunglasses running out before they’d reached him. Drake was glad to see his wounds were not affecting him and appeared to be healing nicely. It was the same for them all, although the trauma of the arena would never fade.
“Wait,” Dahl said, gazing hard at the foot of the pyramid.
They paused almost beneath its great shadow. “I see it,” Kenzie said.
Guards lay around the side and at the entrance to the Great Pyramid, and the ground near them was saturated with blood.
“Somebody’s already here,” Mai said.
“Then we’d better be quick,” Crouch said. “Let’s move.”
CHAPTER THIRTY NINE
Outside the Great Pyramid of Giza they came under attack, in the bright light of day. Whoever had killed the guards had left sentries of their own behind who had been patrolling to the left, around the funerary chamber. Now, as SPEAR openly approached, they came running, shouting, threatening with guns.
Drake and Dahl ducked their heads, raised their rifles and fired. Bullets sped across the plateau, embedding in stones and structures and the scattered police cars. If the dead guards had called in a warning it hadn’t been heard.
Crouch ran to the entrance and covered Mai and Yorgi as they raced to join him. Drake and Dahl ducked and covered and ran from shelter to shelter, raising their heads and sights briefly to squeeze off bursts of ammunition. First one sentry and then another fell back, arms akimbo, blood bursting out of their chests. A third dug in, but Luther smoked him out with a flash-bang and Pine ended his life.
“This way.” Crouch waved them toward him.
Drake signaled and called that he was moving. Dahl, Smyth and Kinimaka remained to cover him, wary of more threats, leaving their posts one by one to join the rest of the team at the entrance to Khufu’s Pyramid.
Dahl joined them last. “Moving.”
Crouch ducked in, leading the way. The inner passage was narrow and led down an incline to start with, presently presenting them with two options.
“Upward, to the Queen’s and then the King’s Chamber, or continue down to the subterranean chamber. Input here would be good.”
“Where were the secret passages found?” Hayden asked.
“Heat anomalies saw passages at ground level, the first course of the pyramid and in the top half, above the King’s Chamber, leading to the apex. Nobody knows what was found or if they even looked.”
“Odd. All the other depictions were found low down,” Mai said. “I would say we try the subterranean chamber and passage.”
“Or the King’s?” Kenzie put in. “Him being important and all. Plus, I’d like to know if that secret passage goes all the way to the top.”
They hesitated. In the end the decision remained moot as soldiers began to fill the tunnel below them. The first pointed them out and then the bullets started flying. Crouch and Yorgi crowded into the upward tunnel and the rest jumped in after.
“No room to fight,” Drake said. “We got a problem here.”
Bullets whistled past the opening to their tunnel, non-stop.
Dahl waved an arm out, firing his weapon blindly. A scream paused the hail of gunfire for a while and Drake risked a peek out.
“I’m counting eight,” he said. “And they’re moving pretty fast.”
“We got more trouble,” Kinimaka said, looking up. “They’re coming from both directions.”
“Sounds like my prom night,” Alicia said. “This is gonna be a slaughter.”
It was indeed a kill box, Drake saw. Nowhere to go and two enemies coming at them. Kinimaka decided the way they would go. He was in front and charged at the descending men. A bullet flew past his head, dislodging rock, and then another displaced a large, jagged chunk that plummeted onto his temple stopping him like a rocket would stop a rhino, forcing him to his knees.
The oncoming mercs cheered, still coming. Kinimaka was down, head hanging, groaning and winded.