‘You!’ exclaimed Pappas. ‘Now I understand. You had access to the magnetometer’s program. You ’re the one who changed the data. You killed Stowe.’
‘A small error that almost cost me dearly. I thought I had better control of the expedition than I really had,’ Russell admitted with a shrug. ‘And now a quick question. Are you ready to bring out the Ark?’
‘Go fuck yourself, Russell.’
Without a thought, Russell aimed at Pappas’s leg and fired. Pappas’s right knee turned into a bloody mess and he fell to the ground. His screams echoed off the walls of the tunnel.
‘The next bullet is for your head. Now answer me, Pappas.’
‘Yes, it’s ready to come out, sir. The path is clear,’ Eichberg said, his hands up in the air.
‘That’s all I wanted to know,’ Russell replied.
There were two shots in quick succession. His arm moved down and there were two more shots. Eichberg fell on Pappas, both of them shot in the head, their blood now mingling on the stony ground.
‘You’ve killed them, Jacob. You have killed both of them.’
Kayn was cowering in a corner, his face a mask of fear and incomprehension.
‘Well, well, old man. For such a mad old bastard you’re fairly good at stating the obvious,’ Russell said. He peered into the cave, still aiming the gun at Kayn. When he turned back there was a look of satisfaction on his face. ‘So we’ve finally found it then, Ray? The work of a lifetime. It’s a shame yours will be cut short.’
The assistant walked towards his boss, taking slow measured steps. Kayn shrank back into his corner even more, totally trapped. His face was covered in sweat.
‘Why, Jacob?’ cried the old man. ‘I loved you like my own son.’
‘You call that love?’ yelled Russell, drawing near to Kayn and striking him several times with the gun, first on the face, then on his arms and across his head. ‘I’ve been your slave, old man. Every time you cried like a girl in the middle of the night, I ran to you, having to remind myself why I was doing it. I had to think of the moment when I’d finally defeat you and you would be at my mercy.’
Kayn dropped to the ground. His face was swollen, almost unrecognisable from the blows. Blood trickled out of his mouth and from his shattered cheekbones.
‘Look at me, old man,’ Russell went on, lifting Kayn by the front of his shirt so that they were eye to eye.
‘Look at the face of your own failure. In a few minutes my men will come down into this cave and remove your precious Ark. We’ll give the world the punishment it deserves. Things will be the way they should always have been.’
‘Sorry, Mr Russell. I’m afraid I’m going to have to disappoint you.’
The assistant turned sharply. At the other end of the tunnel Fowler had just lowered himself down on the rope and was aiming a Kalashnikov at him.
94
AL MUDAWWARA DESERT, JORDAN
‘Father Fowler.’
‘Huqan.’
Russell had positioned Kayn’s limp body between himself and the priest, who was still aiming the rifle at Russell’s head.
‘It appears you have disposed of my men.’
‘It wasn’t me, Mr Russell. God took care of that. He turned them into dust.’
Russell looked at him in shock, trying to figure out if the priest was bluffing. The help of his acolytes was essential to the execution of his plan. He couldn’t understand why they hadn’t shown up yet and was trying to stall for time.
‘So you’ve managed to get the upper hand, Father,’ he said, going back to his usual ironic tone. ‘I know how good a shot you are. At this distance you can’t miss. Or are you afraid of hitting the unproclaimed Messiah?’
‘Mr Kayn is just a sick old man who believes he is doing God’s will. From my point of view the only difference between the two of you is your age. Drop the gun.’
Russell was clearly outraged at the insult but powerless to do anything in the situation. He was holding his own gun by the muzzle after he’d used it to beat Kayn, and the old man’s body did not offer him sufficient protection. Russell knew that one false move would produce a hole in his head.
He opened his right fist and let the pistol drop, then opened his left and released Kayn.
The old man collapsed in slow motion, crumpling as if his joints weren’t connected to each other.
‘Excellent, Mr Russell,’ Fowler said. ‘Now, if you don’t mind, please take ten steps back…’
Mechanically, Russell did as he was told, hatred burning in his eyes.
For every step that Russell took back, Fowler took one forward, until the former had his back to the wall and the priest was standing beside Kayn.
‘Very good. Now put your hands on top of your head and you’ll come out of this with your life.’
Fowler squatted down next to Kayn, feeling for his pulse. The old man was shaking, and one of his legs seemed to be in spasm. The priest frowned. Kayn’s condition worried him – he was showing all the signs of having had a stroke and his life-force seemed to be evaporating with every moment.
In the meantime Russell was looking around, trying to find something to use as a weapon against the priest. Suddenly, he felt something beneath him on the ground. He looked down and noticed that he was standing on some cables that ended a foot and a half to his right and were connected to the generator that was providing electricity in the cave.
He smiled.
Fowler took Kayn’s arm, ready to pull him further away from Russell if he needed to. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Russell jump. Without the least hesitation he fired.
Then the lights went out.
What was meant to be a warning shot ended up destroying the generator. The equipment started shooting off sparks every few seconds, illuminating the tunnel with a sporadic blue light that grew weaker, like a camera flash gradually losing power.
Fowler crouched down immediately, a position that he had taken hundreds of times when he had parachuted into enemy territory on moonless nights. When you didn’t know the position of your enemy, the best thing to do was sit still and wait.
Blue spark.
Fowler thought he saw a shadow running along the wall to his left and fired. It missed. Cursing his luck, he moved several feet in a zigzag to make sure that the other wouldn’t know his position after the shot.
