her wound.
'Dammit, hang in there, girl!'
The surprise charge, coupled with the fact that before the attackers reached the floor of the city they felt a 100 percent better, caught the remaining Coalition forces off guard. They attempted to hold off the crazy charge, but one by one, and then in a flood, they ran for the Empirium Chamber, where they had seen Tomlinson and the few remaining board members take shelter. Buildings toppled around them and other debris took its toll, and by the time they arrived at the great bronze doors, there were only about five of the five hundred Coalition defenders remaining.
Everett waved the SEALs forward, where they finally had a clear a path to the power lines. The three two- foot-thick cables were clamped side by side and looked like small tree trunks. He stood guard over three SEALs as they laid the charges. As he did so, he saw a familiar face emerge from the gas and steam, followed by four marines. He watched as Jack steadied himself against the increasing movement of the city.
'How in the hell did you survive that little ride, Colonel?'
Collins had to bend at the waist and catch his breath. 'I was just in hurry to get down here and kill Ryan for steeling my Lynyard Skynyrd CD.'
'I have a feeling that Sarah may have had something to do with that. Now let's hope that severing these power lines will get this place to stop shaking.'
As the words were said, another loud crack was heard from high above as more of the Crystal Dome gave way, allowing more Niagara-size waterfalls to strike the western edge of the city.
'I don't think we have too much longer at this wonderful resort spot,' Jack said as he straightened up. That was when he saw Ryan stumbling toward them.
'Colonel,' he started to say.
'Good job over there. What made you--'
'Jack, it's Sarah; she took one in the shoulder. It's bad.'
Collins kept his face neutral, but inside, his blood chilled.
Carl reacted first. 'Medic!'
'Will's with her, but she's lost a lot of blood,' Ryan said, out of breath.
'Go on, Jack, we've got this covered,' Everett said as he placed his hand on Collins's shoulder and pushed a little.
'No. I saw some of the Coalition run into that Empirium Chamber--I want them.'
'Jack--'
Collins turned and left the area at a run.
Everett knew that Jack didn't want to be there if Sarah died. After all the men under his command who had been lost through all the conflicts of his career, this was one casuality he knew would break him for good. Ryan grabbed the medic when he arrived and looked at Everett, who just closed his eyes and nodded for him to go. Then he turned and saw the figure of Jack Collins disappearing into the rising smoke and steam.
'Fire in the hole!'
Everett was grabbed by the SEAL lieutenant and pushed behind a large piece of broken roadway just as the detonator ignited twenty pounds of C-4. When the smoke and rubble cleared away, they saw that the three power cables were shredded and dead.
But, as Everett watched, more water started cascading from the high dome and the ground movement was increasing in its intensity.
'We've had it,' he said to himself. 'Major, Lieutenant, round up our men and meet at the edge of the dry lake bed--'
At that moment, a three-hundred-foot section of framework holding the triangular crystal panels in place gave way to the moving and crushing seabed above it, and the Mediterranean started pouring in as the floodgates were now truly opened.
Atlantis lurched and shook as the tectonic plate could not withstand any more, even though the Black Sea Wave had been halted. The domino theory of the plates was close to becoming a fact that was about to destroy a city that it had failed to crush fifteen thousand years before.
The final death throes of Atlantis had begun.
Tomlinson would not argue with Dame Lilith and Caretaker. He knew that the only way out was the way in which the American assault force had come in to strike them unseen.
'They came through here someplace, they had to,' he said as he examined the flooring.
'Enough,' Caretaker said.
Tomlinson heard the finality in the old man's tone and looked up. He smiled when he saw the small .32- caliber pistol pointed at him as part of the marble ceiling fell from high up. It joined the debris of the ancient quake, and Tomlinson saw that Caretaker couldn't have cared less about the danger of the shaking earth.
'You have cost the Coalition everything. We shall never recover from this, no matter how much of the world's assets we have arranged to hide. We will not attempt to survive this debacle. You will remain here with the rest of the Juliai Coalition.'
Tomlinson stood stock-still and smiled more broadly than before. 'Very noble; spoken like Caesar himself. But, old man, you and those cowards behind you may be defeated, but I am most assuredly not,' he said as he looked beyond Caretaker's shoulder.
The old man's expression never changed as the knife caught him at the base of the skull and was twisted. His brain was immediately rendered useless and the pistol fell from his grip.
Dame Lilith finally saw the mercenary in the darkened chamber as he allowed Caretaker's body to slide from his hands to the broken marble floor.
'You may as well murder me, too,' she shouted above the noise of the quake, and with all the dignity she could muster.
Tomlinson didn't even grace her with a response. He just nodded at the man who held the knife. The big merc, who had so elegantly slaughtered Special Agent William Monroe and his young wife in their home on Long Island, stepped forward and pushed the large knife into the center of Dame Lilith's chest until he felt the blade strike her backbone, and then he slowly withdrew it, watching as the life drained from her eyes. The three other Coalition members backed away from Lilith's assailant but were cut down with machine-gun fire by five remaining mercenaries standing behind the knife wielder.
'You and your men have just become some of the wealthiest soldiers in the history of the world, but for now we must find the passageway out of here, and quickly.'
Will and the medic had to use a stretcher to get Sarah out of the dry lake bed. The bowl had filled to overflowing with seawater as the torrent continued. The pressure was starting to crack the dome and the seabed above them at an alarming rate.
Everett assisted with Sarah the last few feet while in the background a few of the remaining statues and monuments creaked and tumbled to the broken roads beneath them. A geyser of molten rock erupted were the Coalition excavation had weakened the strata of the ancient lava dome that had protected the sunken city for millennia.
Some of the klieg lights started to short out and sparks flew to join the flames in a strobelike effect that added a surrealistic air to the situation, one that Everett knew they would not get out of. With a look toward the Empirium Chamber, Carl knelt by Sarah's side.
'How are you doing, shorty?' he asked, trying his best to smile.
'I don't think it'll hurt ... much longer,' she said as her lips turned down in pain.
Mendenhall looked away.
'No, I don't think it will,' Everett answered with a wink as he watched the medic get an IV line started with a bag of blood plasma. Carl met his eyes and the medic shrugged.
'Where is ... Jack?'
'Where he always is--off playing hero.'
'Ass ... hole,' she commented weakly.
'That was a pretty good idea you had, about the CD interfering with the Wave tones.'
Sarah looked like she had finally passed out, but she smiled. 'Ryan ... managed to ... leave Jack's CD in ... the lake bed. He's going ... to be ... pissed.'
