like an impregnable fortress wall. One that she intended to ascend. Just a few months ago she’d mastered the rock wall at one of DC’s largest sporting goods stores.
She searched the rocky shoreline, recalling that C?dmon had said something about a path. Switching on the torch, she followed the footprints that he’d left in the sand, tracking them about forty feet.
Right to the foot of the path.
Afraid the torch might attract attention, she switched it off, securing it to one of the elasticized loops on the waistband of her trousers. Hands free, she carefully began the steep climb up the incised stone steps. She wondered whether Barbary pirates or the Knights of St John had undertaken the task of carving what amounted to a staircase into the cliff. No doubt C?dmon would have been able to pull that particular factoid out of his hat. Had he been there.
That thought spurring her on, Edie glanced behind her, able to see that she was only at the halfway mark. Her breathing noticeably laboured, she struggled to keep on climbing, realizing she was pitifully out of shape.
Finally, sheer willpower taking over, her leg muscles having long since turned to rubber, she reached the summit. There being nothing she could do about the scrape on the palm of her hand, she wiped the blood off on her trouser leg.
She could see that she was standing on a flattopped ridge, a pitiless place that in the light of day probably resembled nothing so much as an asteroid. Only the faint whiff of rosemary indicated that it could actually sustain some sort of vegetation.
In the distance she made out a tall tower. That being the only building in sight, she headed in that direction.
As she got closer to the tower, she saw a large canvas-covered truck parked outside, the kind of vehicle one might see on a military base. Hoping it wasn’t loaded with armed soldiers, she headed towards it. Trying to keep as low as possible, she hunched over, running in a crouch. The way people scurried about in the movies.
She hadn’t gone far when she saw a bear of a man emerge from the tower and head towards the truck.
Terrified, Edie came to an abrupt halt. Needing a weapon and needing one quick, she snatched a jagged rock from the ground.
The same kind of strength that had enabled Samson to slay a thousand foes with the jawbone of an ass.
Edie glanced at the pathetic stone clutched in her hand.
If only she had the jawbone of an ass.
85
Pondering his next move, C?dmon stared at the watchtower that loomed a hundred yards away. Absently, he stroked the smooth metal of the MP5, wondering if a little shock and awe wasn’t in order. That would certainly get MacFarlane’s attention.
And, no doubt, get him killed into the bargain. Without ever having set eyes upon the Ark.
No, he needed a far more subtle tactic. Something that would lure MacFarlane’s men away from the tower, where he presumed the Ark was stored, enabling him to sneak inside and decapitate the snake. And maybe, if he was lucky, he could then escape with none of the snake’s bully boys the wiser. The wily fox outwitting the ferocious pack of hounds.
Anywhere else in the world he would have started a fire. However, other than a few wind-blown brambles, there was nothing combustible to be had. He did have the laser light, a last-minute purchase. Perhaps he could do something with that.
Like a man mesmerized by a swaying crystal, he continued to stare at the tower. The Ark of the Covenant was near at hand. Yet completely unattainable.
‘We’ve got a breach on the north-west quadrant. Somebody just tripped the security laser.’
Hearing the disembodied voice in his earpiece, C?dmon’s breath caught in his throat.
He scanned the promontory, searching for that familiar, curly-haired silhouette, knowing he had to find her before MacFarlane did.
86
Standing as still as a Grecian statue, Edie watched as Boyd Braxton threw back the canvas tarpaulin on the military-style truck and opened the tailgate. She assumed that he was about to unload something. Or else he was getting the truck ready
Taking deep measured breaths, she continued to watch Braxton, curious as to why he suddenly pressed a finger to his ear. Just before he pulled his gun out of its shoulder holster, turned on his heel and ran off.
Something had spooked the man. But what could possibly have –
Swivelling her head back and forth, squinting to better see in the darkness, she searched the rocky promontory. It was like searching the dark side of the moon. Realizing that it actually was a whole lot like being on the moon in that there was no place to hide, she began to shiver.
A few moments later four men emerged from the tower, carrying what looked like a large crate. Two other men, stubby machine guns at the ready, followed in their wake.
Without being told, Edie knew that the Ark of the Covenant was inside the crate.
Her heart painfully thudding against her breastbone, she watched as it was loaded into the back of the truck. That done, the two armed guards took up positions on either side of the vehicle, the four porters returning to the tower.
Slowly she backed away from her observation post.
She’d taken no more than three tentative steps when a large hand was slapped over her mouth, an unseen assailant lifting her bodily off the ground.
87
‘Button your lip!’ a distinctly English voice hissed in her ear. ‘We don’t want them to hear us.’
Releasing his hand from her mouth, C?dmon stepped in front of her, Edie surprised to see a machine gun strapped to his chest. He snatched the rock that she still had clutched in her hand.
‘First they would have to know that we’re here —’
‘They do know!’
Grabbing her upper arm, he unceremoniously pulled her to the ground, the two of them squaring off at a squat.
