‘Sorry, old chap,’ said Ribbsley, his own smoking pistol tracking Callum. ‘But I can’t let you do that.’
‘Good shot,’ Chase said in sarcastic admiration.
‘Before I entered academia, I was an officer in the Rhodesian army. Not a skill-set I draw on very often, but it can be useful.’
Sophia gave him a relieved smile. ‘You cut that rather close, Gabriel.’
‘I knew I could trust you when you gave me back my laptop in Australia, so you could trust me too.’
‘You gave him back his laptop?’ Nina said, angry.
‘Just hedging my bets,’ said Sophia, joining Ribbsley. ‘After all, my long-term prospects for survival with you and Eddie weren’t really any higher than with the Covenant.’
‘Well, you’re safe now,’ said Ribbsley as she picked up a dead soldier’s rifle. ‘Everything’s worked out very well. We found Eden, we have a surprisingly intact Veteres body, and Callum even took care of the Covenant for us.’
‘We also have a stealth bomber bearing down on our heads, and less than fifteen minutes to get clear.’ She looked at her watch. ‘Less than fourteen, in fact.’
‘Once we reach the helicopter, we’ll be out of here in two. Keep them covered.’ He picked up Vogler’s SIG, then entered the burial chamber, reaching into the sarcophagus and tearing at the shroud.
‘What are you doing?’ Nina asked.
‘An insurance policy. And a retirement policy,’ Ribbsley told her as he ripped away the last of the cloth, then gripped the corpse by its neck. ‘The Covenant may have lost its leaders, but it still exists. With this - or rather, with the threat of the DNA evidence it’ll provide - I’ll be able to renegotiate my terms with the new leaders.’
‘Trade the proof for money?’ said Nina in disgust.
‘Something like that.’
Everyone reacted in momentary surprise as Vogler spoke, his quavering voice revealing the intense agony he was suffering. ‘Not . . . the deal . . . we made . . .’ He went limp.
‘The deal you made is no longer relevant,’ Ribbsley told him, straining at the skeleton. ‘Because soon you’ll be dead, and so will Dr Wilde, and this entire place will be a smoking hole in the ground. A shame, a waste, but one has to make the best of changing circumstances.’ With a last grunt, he tore the skull from the body with a dry crack. He looked into its decayed face, then wrapped it in the torn piece of shroud and returned to the larger chamber. ‘Time we were going.’
‘One minute, Gabriel,’ said Sophia. She smiled again, this time with a cat-like malice. ‘There are some people I’ve waited a long time to deal with. And so many choices! Who should I kill first?’ She pointed the gun at Callum. ‘My charming chaperone, perhaps? I’m really going to enjoy watching your boss squirm. Or . . .’ the weapon came round to Chase, ‘the last - and least - of my ex-husbands? ’
‘Hey!’ said Chase, offended.
The muzzle settled on Nina. ‘Or you, Nina?’ Sophia fingered the scar on her cheek as she moved closer. ‘You’ve already given me so much to remember you by.’
‘Glad I won’t be forgotten,’ said Nina.
‘Oh, I won’t be giving you much thought. The media will, though, what with such an ignominious end to your career. The discoverer of Atlantis, fired from her post in disgrace before disappearing and dying in anonymity. Unmourned. Sad, really.’
‘At least she won’t have people lining up to piss on her grave,’ Chase said.
‘They can do whatever they like to my grave, as long as I’m not in it. Unlike our religious friends here,’ said Sophia, ‘I believe that you only get one life, and all that matters in it is winning. I’m legally dead - a spot of plastic surgery, a deal with the Covenant, and Gabriel and I will be free to do exactly as we please. The best revenge, as they say, is living well . . . and I intend to live
Ribbsley walked towards the main door, looking back impatiently. ‘Neither of us will be living if we don’t get out of here, Sophia. Just kill them and let’s go.’
‘Oh, very well,’ sighed Sophia, for the briefest moment glancing at him—
Chase’s hand lashed out, trying to knock the gun from her grip.
He wasn’t quite close enough, only catching the weapon a glancing blow. Sophia instinctively fired, the bullet slicing past Chase to hit the wall behind him. Startled, then enraged, she whipped the gun round at his chest, about to fire at point-blank range—
Nina whipped the penknife from her pocket and stabbed its blade deep into the back of her wrist.
Sophia shrieked and jumped away, trying to fire - but the blade was jammed between the bones of her forearm, paralysing the tendons.
Chase was about to lunge at her, until he saw Callum diving for one of the dead troopers’ rifles. Ribbsley was also bringing up his own pistol. He immediately changed tactics, grabbing Nina and leaping with her into the burial chamber. He shoved her away from the entrance as he searched for Callum’s fallen gun.
Sophia had also seen Callum snatching up the rifle. She hurled herself over one of the stone benches and took cover behind it, pulling the blade from her wrist. ‘Bitch!’ she hissed as she tossed the bloodied penknife away and painfully flexed her fingers.
Callum was about to fire at her, but Ribbsley got off the first shot as he found cover behind another bench near the entrance. Callum was left with no choice but to throw himself into the second, unexplored, burial chamber, disappearing into the darkness.
Chase found Callum’s gun, a Smith and Wesson Sigma 40P, and snatched it up before pressing his back against the wall beside the entrance. He examined the weapon. Ribbsley’s shot had dented the slide, the steel buckled forward of the ejection port. He racked it experimentally, hand over the port to catch the unfired bullet. The slug plopped coldly into his palm as he pulled the slide fully back - but it was extremely stiff, not moving smoothly along its rails. If he fired, there was a very high chance of a jam. He would have to rack the slide manually for each shot. Quickly ejecting the magazine, he clicked the stray bullet into its top before slapping it back into place.
‘Sophia!’ Ribbsley shouted. ‘Are you okay?’
‘That bitch stabbed me!’ she yelled back.
‘Get over here, I’ll cover you!’ Crouching, the professor looked round the side of the bench, gun fixed on the entrance to the second burial chamber.
Chase risked a look round his own doorway. He caught a glimpse of Sophia as she shuffled quickly between two of the benches, but not enough of her to take a shot. He leaned out slightly further, trying to spot Callum - and jerked back as Ribbsley changed targets and took a shot at him, the bullet pitting the stone beside his head.
Another gunshot - but this was closer. Callum darted out to take a shot at Ribbsley, forcing him to duck. The American was about to make a run for the cover of another bench when Chase fired at him. The bullet went wide, but the startled Callum still flinched back into the dark room.
Chase looked at his gun. The spent casing had ejected, but the slide was stuck in the locked-back position, even though there were still bullets in the magazine. Cursing, he forced it forward until he felt the mechanism chamber the next round.
Sophia took advantage of the distraction to hurry to Ribbsley’s position, picking up another SIG assault rifle from one of the dead men en route. Ribbsley looked in dismay at her blood-soaked wrist. ‘My God, you’re—’
‘Never mind that,’ she snapped. ‘Get to the chopper and start it up - I’ll keep them pinned down here until you’re at takeoff speed.’ He looked about to object, but her barked order of ‘Go on, go!’ silenced him. Instead, he waited until she was ready to fire, then made a run for the exit as she blasted two shots at Callum’s position and a single one at Chase’s before dropping down again.
Nina jumped as the bullet hit the burial chamber’s back wall. ‘What’s happening?’
‘Got a bit of a Mexican stand-off,’ said Chase, peering cautiously round the doorway. ‘I’ve got Callum pinned, he’s got
‘How long have we got left?’
‘Twelve minutes, give or take.’
‘How are we going to get out of the cave in twelve minutes?’
‘Let’s worry about getting out of this
