The jack’s hiss stopped—but was quickly replaced by the whine of the circular saw as the masked man cut into the stone once more. With the jack supporting it, the last piece of the zodiac could be safely cut free of the ceiling.
Diamondback said something to Shaban, and both men moved out of sight. Nina cursed. But at least the camera now had a clear view of the zodiac as it was being stolen. That would hopefully be enough to convince the Egyptian authorities—
Movement forced her to duck back into the darkened room. A muscular Caucasian man with close-cropped gray hair started down the stairs. He was carrying what looked like a chain saw, though its heavy teeth set it apart from the average lumberjack’s tool: a piece of specialized stonecutting equipment. As he descended, he coiled up the saw’s power cable, following it into the illuminated chamber.
“Looks like they’re about to sod off,” Eddie whispered once he was out of sight.
“We probably should too,” said Nina. She stopped the recording, and they retreated through the two dark chambers—only to stop at the entrance to the first room.
“Buggeration,” Eddie muttered. The man was checking the jacks supporting the stone slab.
“We could just run past him,” Macy suggested.
“Yeah, but if he’s got a gun, he’ll have an easy shot at us in that tunnel. We need to get out without anyone seeing us.”
That soon became even less likely. Diamondback swaggered into the entrance chamber, wiping dust from his beard. The saw’s noise died away, replaced by the hiss of the jack lowering. Before long, Gamal and the other man brought another case into the room, Shaban and Hamdi close behind them.
“That everything?” asked Diamondback. “So what now?”
“Now,” said Shaban, “we clean up.” He looked at his watch, then indicated the eastern entrance. “We have just over five hours before the IHA opens that door. Lorenz, how long will it take to seal the royal entrance?”
The gray-haired man looked up from the jacks. “Once we’ve got everything out of here, about an hour to move the block back into position,” he said, his accent Dutch.
“There can’t be so much as a footprint left behind,” Hamdi said, nervously regarding the tracks on the dusty floor.
“There won’t be.” Shaban indicated some gas cylinders beside the compressor. “We’ll use compressed air to clear the floors—by the time the IHA get in, the dust will have settled.” A nod to the man standing with Gamal. “Broma, get started.”
“Shit,” Eddie whispered. “We’ll have to make a run for it after all. Soon as they go back upstairs for their gear, we’ll leg it.”
They waited in the darkness as Broma began erasing stray footprints with blasts of compressed air. The other men moved away from the swirling dust clouds.
“Should we risk it?” said Nina.
“There’s still that bloke by the door,” Eddie said, watching Lorenz check the jacks. “When he moves away …”
Broma suddenly stopped working, peering with a puzzled expression at the floor near the entrance to the dark chamber. Eddie immediately knew why.
He had seen their footprints, freshly made in the dust.
“Back, back, back!” Eddie hissed. Broma followed the new tracks to the entrance. He squinted into the shadows.
Eddie and Nina ducked down behind a section of the ruined pillar. Macy crouched beside a smaller hunk of broken stone as Broma swept a flashlight beam across the floor. He fixed the circle of light on one set of tracks and followed them.
To Macy’s hiding place.
Frightened, she hunched lower—and crunched a small piece of debris under her sole. It was only a faint scrape, but it was enough to make Broma twitch. The flashlight beam locked on to the fallen pillar. He put down the air cylinder … and drew a knife.
Macy froze. The beam exposed more of the pillar as he approached … then found the young woman hiding behind it.
The knife snapped up—
Crack!
A five-thousand-year-old piece of pottery exploded into fragments as Eddie smashed it over Broma’s head. The man fell to his knees against Macy’s hiding place—and Eddie kicked the back of his head, slamming him face-first against the stone. Broma slumped unconscious to the floor.
In the entrance chamber, Shaban looked around sharply at the noise. “Broma?” he called. No reply. He gestured to Lorenz. “Check it.” Lorenz grabbed a pickax and hurried to investigate.
Nina jumped up. “Come on,” said Eddie, grabbing Macy’s hand and quickly following Nina to the other doorway.
Lorenz entered the room, seeing Broma’s fallen flashlight—and the body slumped beside it. He looked around in alarm, spotting fleeing silhouettes in the faint rectangle of light across the room. “Hey!”
“Shit!” Nina gasped. She raced through the next darkened room, passing the light stand and glancing up the stairs. Nobody in the zodiac chamber, but there was no way out either. Instead she ran into the last room, a smaller repository of records with four supporting pillars lit by two more light stands. An opening in the east wall led back into the entrance chamber.
Through it, she saw Gamal running toward her with a hammer in one hand. Backing up, she almost collided with Eddie at the bottom of the stairs. “This way’s blocked!”
“So’s that way!” Macy cried, pointing behind her as Lorenz charged after them.
“Up!” Eddie yelled, taking the steps three at a time. Nina and Macy dashed after him.
Gamal and Lorenz reached the bottom of the stairs simultaneously, rushing up them to catch their cornered prey …
Only to run back down even faster as a screaming Eddie pursued them, the circular saw shrilling in his hands. “Come on, you fuck-sticks!” he bellowed as he chased them into the illuminated room. “Who wants some?”
Gamal clearly didn’t, sprinting back into the entrance chamber, but Lorenz turned to face him. He swung the pickax, trying to smash the saw from Eddie’s grip. Eddie jerked back—and another swipe brought the sharp point alarmingly close to his head. “Whoa!”
The spinning blade was producing a gyroscopic effect, making the bulky and heavy saw even more awkward to wield. Sweeping its trailing power cable out from under his feet, Eddie hefted it, watching Lorenz’s movements closely as the two men circled. He would have to be fast.
Lorenz lunged—
Eddie twisted away from the metal spike—and jerked the saw upward. There was a brief skzzt! as the blade sliced effortlessly through the pickax handle, the head flying across the room. He grunted, annoyed. He’d been aiming for Lorenz’s hands.
It had the desired effect, though. Lorenz dropped the handle’s stump and rapidly retreated into the entrance chamber. Eddie glanced back at Macy and Nina. “Think I’ve got this under control!” he shouted over the noise of the whirling saw. “You two get ready to run, I’ll—oh shit!”
Through the passage he saw Diamondback at the workbench, donning his snakeskin jacket and drawing a revolver from inside it—but the more immediate danger was Gamal, running back past Lorenz with the chain saw in his hands!
EIGHT
Eddie scuttled backward as Gamal ran into the room, his weapon’s cable whipping behind him. The chain saw was smaller and lighter than the circular saw—and its blade was much longer. “Go round the other way!” he shouted to the women, only to realize they had separated. Nina was at the doorway to the stairs, but Macy had jumped the gun and was halfway around the room before she froze as she saw the new threat. Eddie was now between them—and with Gamal coming straight for him, Macy was cut off.
Gamal thrust the chain saw at Eddie’s stomach. He swung his clumsy weapon downward to protect himself, and the two blades clashed. The circular saw was almost wrenched from Eddie’s hands as the edge of his blade momentarily caught in the chain saw’s teeth, spinning metal coming perilously close to his leg. With a strained roar, he hauled the saw back up—as Gamal stabbed at him again.
Sparks sprayed as Eddie’s weapon
rasped along the chain saw’s flat blade before snagging in its teeth once more. The jarring impact knocked him backward, and he almost tripped over the jack’s air hose. Gamal advanced.
Lorenz reentered the chamber. He saw Macy trapped in the corner and moved toward her, fists raised. “Uh, little help?” she cried.
Nina was about to try to reach her when she saw Diamondback running toward the room, gun raised. She dived back to the foot of the stairs as a bullet shattered a scroll container.
Macy backed toward the light stand as Lorenz closed in. Eddie moved to interpose himself, but if he tried to attack Lorenz, Gamal would be able to get a clear strike with the chain saw.
The hose—
He swung the saw—not at Lorenz, but at the floor, slicing through the air line. There was a ringing shrill as his blade carved a groove into the stone, but it was nothing compared with the earsplitting hiss as compressed air surged from the hose’s severed end, sending it whipping insanely about the chamber.
It lashed Lorenz, opening a deep cut in his cheek as it struck him and blasted gritty air into his eyes. He screamed, staggering blindly away from Macy—to smack headfirst into a pillar. He dropped to his knees, groaning.
Gamal backed away from the demented hose—blocking Diamondback’s aim. “Turn off the compressor!” the Egyptian shouted.
“Go round, get out!” Eddie told Nina, gesturing for her to escape through the darkened chambers.
“Not without you!”
“I’ll catch up, just go!”
The writhing hose abruptly died, slapping lifelessly to the floor. Diamondback had shut down the compressor. Nina saw him dart back to the doorway, gun at the ready. She turned and ran as another Magnum round smacked into the wall behind her.
Gamal resumed his attack. Eddie swung his saw defensively, the blades grinding with another shower of sparks. Macy shrieked and took cover behind a pillar as the two men passed, Gamal driving his opponent into a corner.
Something brushed her foot. She looked down, seeing the saws’ power cables shifting as their wielders moved. A memory from the entrance chamber flashed through her mind—the junction box, equipment plugged into it.
Including the chain saw …
Both cables were orange—but the chain saw’s seemed a deeper shade. She grabbed the darker of the two lines at her feet and reeled it in.
Diamondback was about to pursue Nina when his attention was caught by the saw fight. He took aim at the Englishman—but Gamal, back to him, unwittingly obscured his sight as he lunged at Eddie once more. The American released the trigger, impatiently waiting for another opportunity to fire.
Eddie tried to slash at Gamal’s arm, but the uniformed man easily countered, the chain saw biting a chunk out of the circular saw’s casing. Eddie flinched as plastic fragments spat into his face. The sheer mass of the machine was rapidly wearing him down—and behind his adversary he saw Diamondback, revolver tracking him. Gamal jabbed the chain saw, forcing him back. He could feel the heat of the lamps on the back of his head.
Cornered—
Macy felt the cord pull taut. She yanked it as hard as she could.
In the next chamber, the plug popped out of the junction box …
And Eddie’s saw fell silent.
The chain saw’s electrical flex wasn’t darker. It was just dirty—and she had taken hold of a similarly grubby section of the circular saw’s power cable.
“What the fuck?” Eddie yelped. He looked at Macy, crouched with the cable in her hands and a guilty expression. “Macy!”
The blade was still spinning, but slowing—and Gamal had already seen his opportunity, stabbing the chain saw at him. He jerked up the dead power tool like a shield—
The chain saw’s teeth ripped through its casing and smashed the blade’s axle assembly. The steel disk shot across the room like a lethal Frisbee. It clanged off a pillar, whipping at the passage—and forcing Diamondback to dive backward to avoid being decapitated. The blade shot over him and bounced off another pillar in the entrance chamber. Shaban ducked and Hamdi screamed as it flew between them.
Eddie hurled his useless weapon at Gamal. He hoped the other man would make the mistake of trying to deflect the heavy piece of machinery with the chain saw and knock his own blade back into his face, but the security chief spun out of the missile’s way and faced his target again.
His defenseless target.
The chain saw swung, forcing Eddie back against the light stand. Gamal grinned, driving the saw straight for his chest—
Macy pulled the other cable.
The unexpected tug was just hard enough to throw off Gamal’s aim. The blade’s tip slashed through the shoulder of Eddie’s leather jacket, drawing blood—but the wound wasn’t enough to stop Eddie from grabbing his unbalanced enemy and flinging him around—
Into the light stand.
The chain saw carved through the high-powered bulbs—and their power lines. Glass exploded and crackling blue flashes arced as Gamal took the full force of the electricity through his body. Muscles paralyzed, unable even to scream, he crashed onto the tripod. Smoke coiled from his nostrils and eye sockets as he was cooked from the inside out.
Eddie jumped clear. “Bright spark,” he said as he pulled the horrified Macy upright. “Come on!”
Nina ran through the dark rooms. In the glow from his dropped flashlight she saw Broma woozily pushing himself up—and stomped on his back as she vaulted the fallen pillar, slamming him back down.
She reached the short passage. Shaban was by the royal entrance across from her, Hamdi leaning breathlessly against a nearer pillar, ghost-pale. He saw her and reacted in shock. “Dr. Wilde?”
“Dr. Hamdi,” she replied. “I think you’ve got some explaining to do.”
He came toward her. “If you think you can—”
She punched him in the face and continued toward Shaban, leaving the Egyptian official squealing and holding his nose. A crowbar was propped against a pillar; she picked it up, holding it like a sword. Shaban seemed unconcerned, a slight smirk twisting his scarred lip. “Dunno what you’re grinning at,” she said, indicating the case. “You’re not taking that out of here.”
He didn’t answer, but his brief glance to one side warned Nina that something was wrong. She turned her head toward the western exit—and saw Diamondback returning.
Aiming—
A bullet blew a chunk from a pillar as she leapt past a light stand to take cover behind the ornate column. “Kill her,” Shaban ordered.
In the second dark chamber, Eddie heard the shot. “Hide in here,” he told Macy before running into the first unlit room. Broma was struggling to rise again, so he trampled him back down, then saw his knife glinting in the spill of flashlight and snatched it up.
Nina kicked the light stand. Top-heavy, it crashed to the floor, the bulbs shattering and plunging the room’s eastern end into darkness. She ran to another pillar near the sealed entrance. Diamondback jogged toward her. Behind him, Lorenz stumbled into the room, blood on his face. The shadows wouldn’t hide her for long …
Eddie ran in, guessing Nina’s position from where Diamondback was pointing his gun. “Oi!” he yelled. Diamondback saw him, spun, fired—as Eddie ducked behind a column, the wall cratering just behind him.
“Get the zodiac out of here!” Shaban ordered, waving Lorenz over. Hamdi scurried to join him.
Diamondback closed in. Back pressed against the column, Eddie raised the knife. The American’s revolver fetish meant he only had two shots remaining in his Colt Python. Even with a speedloader, it would take him several seconds to re-arm once they were gone, leaving him open to a counterattack.
But he had to use up the remaining bullets first.
A sound from the nearby doorway. Broma had recovered, face gnarled with anger. He lumbered toward Eddie. Shit! That left only one direction he could retreat—and Diamondback was waiting—
From the shadows, Nina saw Diamondback’s face light up with the a
nticipation of a kill. “Eddie!” she cried, flinging the crowbar as hard as she could at the gunman.
It hit his shoulder. The .357 Magnum boomed as his finger flinched on the trigger. Broma jumped back from the bullet impact on the column—and Eddie ran into the darkness to Nina.
“Broma! Lorenz! Take the zodiac!” Shaban shouted, angry impatience rising. Broma hesitated, then crossed the chamber to pick up one end of the case. Lorenz took the other. Hamdi turned and fled up the tunnel, holding his nose. The two men carried the case after him.
“Dammit!” Nina said as she watched the zodiac disappear, before looking at Eddie. “What, you brought a knife to a gunfight?”
“He’s only got one more shot,” Eddie countered. “Then he’ll have brought fists to a knife fight!”
Diamondback was closing on them, but Shaban shouted to him. “Bobby! Come on!”
“What about these two?”
“The zodiac is all that matters—go! We’ll collapse the tunnel and seal them in!”
Nina and Eddie shared an anxious look. “Buggeration and fuckery!” they said as one.
Shaban entered the tunnel. Diamondback followed him as far as the entrance, holding position beside the stone block with his gun raised, daring the couple to show their faces.
“Give me one of those pots,” Eddie said.
Nina grimaced at the thought of another priceless artifact’s destruction, but handed him a container. He hefted it.
Shaban’s voice echoed down the tunnel. “Bobby, move!” Diamondback’s gaze flicked toward the sound, just for a moment—
Eddie sprang out and hurled the pot.
He was already rolling for the cover of the next pillar as Diamondback fired—and hit the container in midair. It exploded like a clay pigeon. Some of the pieces struck Eddie, but he ignored them, only one thought in his mind.
Six shots.
He jumped up, hoping he hadn’t misidentified the revolver and that Diamondback wasn’t carrying a seven-shooter …
He wasn’t. The American turned and sprinted up the tunnel.
Eddie pursued him, lightbulbs flashing past.