Hoyt spotted the movement and fired, forcing the Russian to retreat as crystalline splinters stabbed at him.
‘Orbach!’ Lock shouted to the man at the lake’s edge. ‘Secure the sample! We’ve got to get it out of here.’ The mercenary nodded, closing the lid over the black poison inside the steel jar and pushing a button. A latch snapped into place, and a red LED turned green to confirm that the container was sealed.
Nina looked fearfully down at the cavern below, then back up at Berkeley as he managed to brace his other foot against the rock. He strained to lift her, raising her by several inches, but still couldn’t manoeuvre her within reach of a firm handhold. ‘Nina, I–I can’t get you any higher!’ Their eyes met. ‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered, the apology completely genuine.
She saw helpless surrender in his gaze — but refused to accept it. ‘Swing me,’ she gasped.
‘What?’
‘Swing me!’ Instead of holding on to the broken nub, she pushed against it, rocking herself sideways. ‘I can reach that ledge!’
‘You’ll never make it!’ The crystal spar she had spotted was about ten feet below her — and almost as far off to the side.
‘I will if you throw me hard enough.’ She gave him a pained grin. ‘Come on, I’m sure you spent your time in jail thinking about tossing me off a high cliff.’
‘Don’t remind me,’ he replied, but with a very faint hint of amusement. His grip tightened as he prepared himself. ‘Okay, you ready?’
Nina took a breath. ‘Yeah.’ She tensed her arm. ‘All right, and… swing!’
She shoved against the rock as Berkeley hauled her sideways. Her legs swung across the gap. Not far enough; she pulled herself back, then pushed again. Another sweep of the human pendulum, wider this time — then again, going even further. ‘One more!’
He complied, grunting with effort. Nina swept back, then pushed herself off the protruding rock for the last time. ‘Let go!’
Berkeley released her — and she sailed across the gap, gravity reclaiming her at the top of her arc. The crystal rushed past—
She threw out both arms to catch it, hitting hard. The impact felt like a baseball bat across her chest, the pain so intense she couldn’t breathe. Her nails rasped at the scabrous surface, but she couldn’t get a proper grip, her own weight dragging her inexorably over the edge…
A gasp of sheer terror — and she dug her clawed hands into a crack in the crystal. Fingernails snapped, but adrenalin blotted out the pain. Drawing on some deep reserve of strength, she dragged herself on to the span, exhausted.
Below, Lock looked around at Orbach as the masked mercenary, carrying the container of eitr, hurried up from the lake towards his employer. ‘Have you got it?’ Lock demanded. The other man showed him the green light on the canister. ‘Okay, good. We need to get moving.’ He raised his voice. ‘Cover us! We’re leaving!’
‘I’m gonna take care of Chase,’ Hoyt insisted, his tone making it clear that he would not accept any orders to the contrary. Lock frowned, but nodded. ‘Franks, with me — the rest of you give the boss cover!’
One of the mercenaries joined Hoyt, the pair hopping from spar to spar as they advanced on the Englishman. The other two resumed their assault on Kagan as Lock and Orbach ducked between the crystalline columns to reach an ascending span.
Kagan saw them go, but was forced to pull back as more bullets smacked against his cover. ‘Chase!’ he shouted in warning. ‘They’re coming for you!’
Behind the slabs of broken black crystal, Eddie had caught his breath, but he now faced other threats apart from the approaching gunmen. The heat at the bottom of the cavern was nauseating, and every inhalation stung as the rising fumes scoured at his nasal passages. He was only just above the surface of the eitr lake — and puddles of the deadly ooze swelled up through gaps in the raft of debris as his weight pressed down on them. He hurriedly sidestepped away from the nearest, horribly aware that a mere splash could kill him in minutes.
If he lasted that long. ‘Go around that end,’ he heard Hoyt order. Footsteps crunched over broken shards on the other side of his cover, the two mercenaries separating to circle him. He raised the Wildey, but knew he would only have time for one shot — he would never be able to turn and aim fast enough to take out the second man behind him.
Unless he drove one of them back, even for a couple of seconds…
A section of smashed stalactite about two feet long poked up nearby, one end submerged in the eitr. As far as he could tell in the unnatural light from the globes, its upper end was free of splattered black oil.
If he was wrong, he would die. But that was about to happen anyway—
Eddie grabbed the stalactite. Momentary relief that it was dry, then he tugged it. Eitr glooped up from below as it came free. He swung it around, using centrifugal force to keep the deadly substance dripping off the crystal away from him — then lobbed it at one end of the makeshift barricade.
‘Fuck!’ Hoyt gasped. The American jumped back from the poisonous missile, arms swinging as he stumbled on the uneven surface.
Eddie took full advantage of his enemy’s moment of distraction, spinning as Franks rounded the opposite end of the broken bridge, SIG at the ready—
The Wildey boomed, the bullet blowing the man off his feet. He crashed down on his back — and part of the unstable floor shattered, the steaming ooze beneath welling up and swallowing him. Limbs flailing, the mercenary was sucked down into the lake.
The Englishman was already rushing in the other direction. He had to take out Hoyt before he recovered—
He rounded the smashed span — to find that he was too late.
Hoyt had regained his footing. Both men’s eyes met as they swung their guns towards each other—
The American fired first — but his shot was not a bullet. His forefinger was on the grenade launcher’s trigger.
Another shotgun blast — and Eddie reeled in pain as the projectile struck his shoulder.
But it didn’t explode. The grenade needed to travel a minimum distance before arming, a safety feature to protect the shooter. Instead, it was deflected away across the cavern.
Hoyt saw Eddie stagger and drop the Wildey, grinning in triumph as he brought his hand back to the rifle’s grip to finish him off—
The grenade hit a cluster of crystals — and detonated.
Eddie was sent sprawling by the blast, broken fragments hitting his back. Though Hoyt was further away, he was facing the explosion, and he screwed up his face in pain as shrapnel stabbed at his eyes. He lurched backwards, this time falling. The rifle landed stock first and was jolted from his hand.
Above, Nina heard the explosion and fought through her fatigue to look down into the cavern. A swelling cloud of smoke marked where the grenade had hit — and worryingly close to it she saw her husband lying face down. Hoyt was a few yards away, one hand to his face — then he shook off the pain to search for his gun. ‘Eddie, look out!’
Eddie heard his wife’s voice through the ringing in his ears. He raised his head and saw Hoyt crawling for the fallen SIG. ‘No you fucking don’t,’ he snarled, forcing himself up with a surge of pure hate-driven energy.
Face cut and bloodied, Hoyt reached the gun — just as Eddie dived at him. Both men rolled across the unstable ground, rivulets of eitr stabbing towards them as the crystals shifted and sank. ‘Twat!’ the Yorkshireman spat as he drove a punch into Hoyt’s stomach. The American let out a strangled gasp. Eddie got on top of him, clamping one hand around his throat as he drew back his arm to deliver another brutal blow at Hoyt’s face—
Hoyt’s groping hand found a coconut-sized hunk of debris — which he smacked against the side of Eddie’s head. ‘Yeah, you son of a bitch!’ he rasped as his opponent cried out. Another strike, and Eddie fell sideways, releasing his hold. ‘Come on, you bastard!’ He jumped up, kicking the Englishman in the ribs and sending him tumbling towards the edge of the eitr pool.