Drake skidded to one knee, rifle to shoulder, squeezing off a shot every second after a minor adjustment. His bullets struck bone and flesh, his aim only thrown off when sizzling lumps of hot lead zinged too close for comfort. He was immensely aware of the stunning tomb architecture all around him but didn’t have even a millisecond to appreciate it. His team had no cover, but they more than made up for that in sheer ferocity and perfect aim. Within a few minutes, the men Cayman had situated in the center of the room were falling back, intimidated, decimated and abandoning their only cover. The mercs around the walls had sustained fewer injuries, but even they were trying to inch away.
Then the SAS team took a hit, a young soldier falling backward with a shot to the head and one of Komodo’s Delta team collapsed clutching his throat. Gates’s secret service detail was thinned to just one when the third member of his guard took a stunning round to the vest and then, as he gasped for breath, another to the face.
Drake looked up for the first time. Of course this tomb was a multi-level affair. Still unable to take it in, but fully aware it was one of the wonders of the world, Drake ignored the tomb and pinpointed the places where Cayman’s men were sniping down at them. He nodded at Alicia and Dahl and the three of them fired continuously at the hidden men as the mysterious gale blew and raged around them again.
“Whatever you do,” Alicia cried, “don’t hit one of those fucking coffins!”
Hayden had fanned out to the left, spying a spectacular staircase. Wide at the bottom, it narrowed drastically all the way to the top of the vast cavern, ending in a point where it touched the very heights. The staircase offered a way up to the several ledges and tiers that ran around this circular tomb, and the many niches beyond. Kinimaka followed her, picking off mercs stationed near the stairs.
As she neared the first step, a merc pounded toward her. Hayden shot him point-blank, desperate not to get into hand-to-hand. Her knife wound hurt like a bitch. It would only take one hard, precise punch to incapacitate her.
But she fought anyway. She fought to win the day for her country, for her father, but most of all, for her friends. As the bullets flew, she prayed for them all. As she stepped foot on the high staircase and saw a dozen mercs suddenly jump from the first level up and come screaming toward her, she began to pray for herself.
Ben Blake stood directly behind the Delta soldier who collapsed. He fell with the soldier, aware that Karin and Gates were at his side, and tried to see the wound. But the man’s hands were holding onto his own throat with a death grip. His eyes were wide, full of pain, focused on nothing. Ben touched the man’s wrist gently, feeling the blood running slickly like dark oil. Within seconds, the man had died, his hands falling apart to reveal a fatal wound.
Ben stared, choking back tears and bile. This was about as up close and bloody as war got. There were more terrible aspects of it, Ben was sure, but this soldier, lying still and dead where seconds ago a virile, young man had stood, shook him to his core. It showed him how his daily worries and struggles were irrelevant. How every second of life should be savored. How horrifying death could be.
He rose to his feet, temporarily alone. The remaining Delta man inched forward, covering their international teammates with precision-placed shots. Karin stood next to him, saying nothing. They knew how each other felt. Gates was still on his knees, holding the dead soldier’s hand and whispering something about sorrow.
Ben’s eyes were drawn to the cavern itself. The enormous structure rose hundreds of feet and was as wide as it was tall. It was a huge bowl, comprising of three different levels, not including the floor. Around each level ran a wide ledge. Beyond the ledge, hewn into the rock of the ancient volcano, were hundreds and hundreds of niches. Tombs.
Tombs of the Gods.
The floor level was also ringed with tombs. Ben squinted at several opposite, but unlike the niches in the first two tombs, these were sparsely appointed, containing little except the oversize coffin itself and a few austere carvings. Of course this place had been where the gods had imprisoned the worst of their kind. No tribute necessary.
Komodo glanced back at them. “Stay close!” He gestured for them to join him before turning back to the battle. Ben saw Hayden stuck on one of the two staircases with Kinimaka at her side, beset by the enemy, holding her side in agony.
Komodo veered his team toward her.
Drake kept the snipers pinned down as best he could. When it became clear even their sharpshooting wasn’t going to pin down the enemy for long, Dahl took off toward the cavern’s second staircase with a crazy, weaving run. Drake shouted a warning, but the mad Swede was already up to full speed. He hit the staircase at a dead run, leaping up two steps at a time. Drake saw no option but to follow. The Swede was reckless, but their team really needed to get up higher.
A bullet zinged by, whistling as it parted the air in front of his nose and then Alicia’s. One handed, Drake fired blindly into the enemy as he ran. He hit the staircase six steps behind Dahl and one behind Alicia. Even among the mayhem, his pride took a hit. Then, a man flew over from the side and collided with him, knocking him off his feet. The rough stairs scraped his face. Drake struck toward his opponent’s eyes and throat and brought his knees up to protect his stomach. A knife flashed. Drake palmed it aside. It came again, but Drake shifted inside it, caught the man’s wrist and snapped it. Even then, the assault didn’t stop, but Drake hadn’t expected it to. The knife clattered away. The mercenary brought his bulk to bear, trying to pin Drake to the staircase and smashed his large forehead downward.
Drake slipped aside again. The merc’s forehead connected solidly with the stone edge of the staircase, temporarily stunning him. Drake flipped him over, finished him with a stiff-fingered jab and looked up.
Dahl and Alicia were already partway along the first level. Fierce opposition had forced them to take cover in one of the niches, next to a bullet-pocked coffin.
Drake grimaced. Alicia wouldn’t be happy.
Hayden staggered as the pain ripped through her side. Oddly, it hadn’t been an enemy blow that had hurt her, but a misstep on the stairs, sending both her and her weapons crashing to the ground. Instantly, the mercenaries were among them. Hayden forced herself up, gritting her teeth to hold in the pain, and swiped the first one off the step with a swing of her rifle. The second she clubbed right on the nose. A bullet fired from a handgun pinged off the concrete between her legs and zipped on through. Kinimaka was a giant at her side. Men actually collided with him and rebounded right off the staircase, landing heavily in the dust below. But Kinimaka’s real strength was his surprising speed. Three assailants fell before they even knew the man had grabbed hold of them.
Then, Komodo and his men were with them. They advanced up the stairs. Hayden stayed in place for a while and used her elevated position to fire down upon the disorderly mercenaries.
Then Ben was at her side. “Are you ok?”
“No. Are you?” The lad’s face was deathly white.
“Death is everywhere.” His eyes darted from the fallen soldiers to the tombs of the gods.
“This place was built for death.” Hayden squeezed off another shot, sending another mercenary folding in a wheezing heap.