With a pained grunt, Chase shoved it down into the pool. The wood tried to bend back to its original shape when he let go, jamming the bridge against the vertical side. He kicked at it, driving the end into the water with a splash. The remaining caiman surfaced nearby, taking a sudden interest.
“Okay, go!” he shouted, running for the exit. Kari led the way, Nina hesitating as she waited for Chase to catch up.
“Their weight’ll put the end into the water,” Chase said as they hurried down the passage. “Then we’ll see if that croc’s still hungry.”
“Thought it was a caiman,” Nina panted.
“Whatever! Okay, here’s the poles. Kari, you go first, then Nina.”
Even without the incentive of the descending ceiling, they still picked their way between the spiked poles faster than Nina would have liked, the barbs plucking at their clothes. Finally they cleared them, emerging in the confined chamber housing the Challenge of Strength. Chase retook the lead.
“Okay,” he said as they ran, “the second we get out, I want the two of you to run like hell into the jungle. Get away from the temple, then find cover and stay in it.”
“What about you?” Nina asked. “And the others?”
“I’ll get ’em. I’m just hoping that the Indians are pissed off about Qobras blowing up their temple and went after the helicopter. If we’re lucky, there’ll hardly be any guards left.”
“And if we’re not?” said Kari.
“Then I guess we’re fucked!” They came around the last corner, a square of fading daylight ahead. “You ready?”
“No,” Nina moaned.
“You can do it, Nina. Kari, look after her. I’ll catch up as soon as I can.”
“I will,” Kari promised. They were almost at the entrance.
“Okay, get ready…
They raced into the open-
And stopped. There was nowhere to go.
Waiting for them were ten more men in black combat gear, weapons at the ready, standing in a semicircle around the temple’s entrance. The bodies of four Indians lay among the huts; of the rest of the tribe, there was no sign. Castille, di Salvo and Philby were still prisoners, on their knees in a line in front of…
“Hello, Eddie,” said Jason Starkman.
He didn’t look the same as when Nina had met him in New York. The suit was gone, replaced by a military outfit-body armor, equipment webbing holding ammo and a sheathed knife, what looked like a grappling hook slung over his back. A black patch covered his right eye. The sickening memory of her finger digging into something wet made her shiver.
“Arr, matey!” said Chase with a nasty smile as he raised his hands. “Going for the pirate look, are you?”
Starkman regarded him coldly. “I see your sense of humor’s as lousy as ever.”
“Don’t you mean you
Starkman’s face tightened for a moment before he turned his attention to Nina. “Dr. Wilde! I’m
Chase and Kari both moved protectively in front of her. “Leave her alone,” Kari snapped.
Starkman raised an eyebrow. “Kari Frost. Never thought I’d meet you in person. Hajjar should have taken Giovanni up on his offer, it would have saved us all a lot of trouble.” He gestured with his gun, his men advancing. Overhead, the helicopter circled-followed by a
“What happened to the Indians?” Nina demanded.
“Most of them ran off,” said Starkman. He looked over at the corpses. “The smart ones, anyway. Some of them actually thought they could take us on.”
The other men started to search Chase, Kari and Nina. “What do you intend to do with us, Starkman?” asked Kari, her eyes narrowed. “Kill us?”
“Yup.” The casual way in which he said it turned Nina’s blood to ice. “But first, I want to find out what’s in that temple.” He turned away as he took a radio from his belt, giving Nina a better look at the piece of hardware on his back. It was a grappling hook, as she’d thought, but it was protruding from what looked like a fat-barreled shotgun. Most of his other team members were similarly equipped. “Eagle Leader to entry team, come in.”
“What is it with you Yanks and eagles?” Chase taunted. “I had you pegged as more of a budgie.”
Starkman clicked his fingers. One of his men, a mountain of muscle almost a foot taller than Chase, balled his fists together and clubbed the Englishman at the base of his neck. Chase dropped to his knees.
“Eddie!” Nina gasped.
Starkman looked surprised. “On a first-name basis with the clients, Eddie? Or… is she something more? You should be careful about that, you know what happens.”
“You shut your fucking mouth,” Chase growled. Starkman smirked, and seemed about to say something else when his radio crackled.
“Entry team to Eagle Leader,” said the man on the other end. “We’re in the temple, and we’ve located the stolen artifact. It’s in a smaller chamber behind a statue. Jason, this place is incredible!”
“I’m sure it is,” Starkman said dismissively. “What else have you found, Gunter?”
“You won’t believe this, but there’s a map here, an actual map! It’s scribed onto a huge orichalcum sheet on one wall. It shows the location of Atlantis!”
Starkman became a lot less dismissive. “How accurate is it?”
“The continents are quite distorted, but recognizable. And there’s something else, Jason. The map… it shows the positions of landmarks relative to Atlantis. We can use them to work out Atlantis’s exact position!” The man’s voice became more excited. “The northern mouth of the Amazon is marked as being at latitude seven south, just as it said on the artifact Yuri stole, and the Cape of Good Hope is at… there are six dots and an inverted V. We know from our archives that this symbol first appears after eight single units, so it must represent nine. Nine plus six equals latitude fifteen.”
“The Cape ’s at thirty-four degrees south,” Starkman informed him. “The top of the Amazon delta’s at about one degree north.”
“A difference of thirty-five degrees, then, with fifteen minus seven, eight Atlantean units of longitude between them. So one unit is thirty-five divided by eight…” The radio fell silent for a few seconds as he made the calculation. “It’s 4.375 degrees!”
“So what latitude is Atlantis at?” Starkman asked.
“Let me check on the laptop… 4.375 multiplied by seven is 30.625 degrees, and add one degree to account for the position of the delta… Atlantis is located somewhere between thirty-one and thirty-two degrees north!”
Starkman gave Nina a mocking look. “That’s quite a way south of the Gulf of Cadiz. Guess we didn’t need to worry about your theory after all.”
Nina said nothing. The map in the temple had clearly placed Atlantis
Gunter spoke again. “Even allowing for errors-the Atlantean system is not as precise as ours-a sonar sweep of the area should only take a few days.”
“And then we can make sure nobody ever finds Atlantis,” said Starkman with rising excitement. “Good work, Gunter. Plant the thermite charges and prep for evac. Melt the place down.”
“You’re going to
Starkman fixed her with a cold stare. “We’ll do whatever we have to do to stop people like you and your father from finding Atlantis.”
“The greatest archaeological find in history, and all you care about is destroying it so your insane boss can keep the knowledge for himself?” said Nina, her fear overcome by her utter disgust. “You make me
Starkman snorted in disbelief. “Jesus. You really don’t have a clue what’s going on, do you?”
“Why don’t you enlighten me?” she sneered.
“You think your friend Kari here and her dad are looking for Atlantis as a
