The police opened up, and the neighborhood was instantly transformed into a war zone.
Grant saw a face appear in the window to his left. He took aim and fired. For a soldier trained to hit targets at over two hundred yards without a scope, the distance to the neighboring house across the street was practically point-blank range. The man’s head disappeared in a red mist.
Morgan fired her own weapon, but Grant didn’t take the time to see if she hit anything.
Bullets from high-powered rifles continued to slam into the tactical vehicle. The armor would protect them, but Grant knew that some of these drug cartels carried heavy weaponry like rocket-propelled grenades. If they used one of those, the situation would deteriorate quickly.
More gunfire erupted from the back of the three houses. Benitez yelled at his men in Spanish. Grant hoped he was telling them to fire gas at the other houses because if they stayed out here much longer, they’d be cut to ribbons.
Grant had expected coughing gang members to spew from the main house after the tear gas took effect, but he realized that no one had left the house. It was highly unlikely that a drug cartel would have gas masks, and in a confined space like that, covering your face with a rag wouldn’t do much good.
So what were they doing? Maybe they were holed up in the garage.
He saw that Morgan still had her goggles hanging from her neck. He tapped her on the shoulder, and she twisted around, a wild look in her eye betraying how amped up she was by the gun battle. He gestured at the goggles and took them from her. He leaned out so he could see through the truck’s windshield and held them up to his mask.
No red crosshairs in the garage. He panned over the rest of the house. Nothing.
Until he looked down.
The crosshairs were descending below street level. Then they disappeared, no longer able to penetrate the dirt that shielded the ID dust from the sensors.
Grant dropped the goggles from his face.
“We’ve got to move in now!” he shouted to Morgan. “We’re losing the Killswitch!”
“What? How?”
“Captain Benitez was right. They’ve got a drug-smuggling tunnel.”
FORTY-SEVEN
“Did Colchev see you?” Tyler asked Jess.
She was sure he hadn’t turned her way when she popped out. “No, but they’re headed straight for us. They’ll see the opening any minute.”
With Colchev and his men only a few hundred yards away, Tyler and Jess couldn’t come out of the secret passage without being spotted. Unarmed, Jess knew they’d be easy prey.
“At least we won’t be ambushed like on Easter Island,” Tyler said. “That gives us a small advantage.”
“What are we going to do?”
“I’ve got to collapse the chamber. It’s the only way to be sure. We can’t let Colchev get his hands on the xenobium.”
“You’ll be killed!”
“This isn’t a discussion.” He took the lead apron from her and stuffed it in the backpack. He gave her the crowbar and said, “Come on.”
Carrying the backpack, Tyler ran toward the central chamber. Jess followed, expecting him to climb back up to the pillar, but instead he crossed the chamber and went out through the larger main entrance on the opposite side.
The wide passageway turned right and ended at a brick wall after another thirty feet.
With a look of concentration, Tyler examined the wall, then turned 360 degrees.
“What are you doing?” Jess asked.
He laid a hand on the wall. “This is facing south, right where we found the entrance to the pyramid when we were searching for Colchev. I’ll bet the priests walled it up before they buried the whole place with mud.”
“What’s your point?”
He dropped the crowbar by the wall. “You’re going to use that to hack your way out of here. You’ll need to hammer the crowbar with another brick to chisel out the mortar.”
“Are you serious?”
“We can’t go back the way we came in, so this is the only other choice.”
“But it could take hours. They’ll be here any second.”
“Which is why we will have to make them think you’re dead.”
“What do you mean, ‘dead’?”
“Just trust me.” She began to protest, but he shoved the backpack into her hands. “Follow my lead.”
“But Nana—”
“You and Fay will be all right.”
“Will
“That’s not important.” He rushed back to the central chamber. Several approaching lights reflected off the walls of the secret passage on the other side. They didn’t have much time until Colchev and his men entered the room.
When Jess moved to join Tyler on the pillar’s riser, he stopped her before she got out of the chamber’s main entrance.
“Stay there with your back against the wall,” he said. “Don’t make yourself a target.”
She turned off her lantern and stepped to the side so that the pillar stood between her and the secret passage, leaving just enough space so that she had a slim view of the opening.
Tyler set his lantern down and pulled on the top disk. A few more bricks rained down. Another strong pull, and the whole ceiling would fall.
He waited, keeping tension on the handle.
The lights stopped just outside the chamber.
“Come in, Colchev!” Tyler called out. “But don’t shoot. We’re unarmed.”
Colchev’s lights were extinguished. After a moment, Jess could see a man crawl out of the gloom, survey the chamber, and pull back quickly.
“Let us see your hands!” came a booming basso voice.
“I can’t do that,” Tyler said, the body of the pillar between him and the secret passage. “Did you see the collapsed bricks in that chamber you passed?”
A pause. “Yes.”
“The same thing will happen in here if you try to fire at us.”
The lights went back on. A young man dressed in jeans and a denim jacket emerged carrying a submachine gun. He took a look around the chamber, including the ceiling. Then he nodded.
Colchev and a bearded companion, both armed with pistols, followed the first man into the chamber with Fay propped in front of them. Colchev put down the metal case Tyler had used to secure the Easter Island xenobium.
“Nana!” Jess shouted. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. Don’t give them anything for me.”
Still as gutsy as ever. Jess breathed a sigh of relief.
Colchev’s eyes went from Jess to Tyler. “This isn’t going to end well for you, Dr. Locke.”
“Maybe not. But then you won’t get the xenobium.”
“You have it?”
Tyler nodded in Jess’s direction. “She does.”
“How do I know that?”
“I’m sure you have a radiation detector. You should be able to tell from there.”
“Zotkin,” Colchev said. The man next to him took out a meter like Tyler’s and waved it around.
