Chase took another look to see Callum retreating into the shadows. He fired at him, the Sigma’s slide jamming again. ‘This is fucking ridiculous!’ he growled as he reloaded. ‘None of us can move!’
‘Sophia will in a minute,’ said Nina, hearing a rising sound from outside. The helicopter’s engine.
‘Great, and we won’t be able to go after her because Callum’ll shoot us, and he can’t go after her because I’ll shoot
Callum had reached the same conclusion. Nina and Chase heard him speak urgently into his radio. ‘Abaddon, Abaddon, this is Archangel, urgent! This is a code alpha hold, repeat, a code alpha hold order.’ The response was too muted for them to make out.
‘What’s he doing?’ Nina asked.
‘Telling the stealth not to drop its bombs,’ said Chase.
‘Well, that’s great! Isn’t it?’
‘Yeah, until he tells ’em to start the clock again. It’s still on its way.’ Another glance; Sophia had raised the SIG. She fired two shots at Callum’s position, and Chase unleashed one at hers, the bullet cracking stone as she dropped.
He racked the slide again. The helicopter sounded almost at takeoff speed - which meant Sophia would be about to move. With nobody to give her covering fire, he could guess her tactics: switch the SIG to full auto and spray both doorways with bullets as she retreated.
If he could catch her as she rose to fire . . .
He moved back into firing position, saw Sophia jumping up from behind the bench, took aim—
And was forced to throw himself back into cover - Callum was fixing his sights on
Grit sprayed into his face as another rifle bullet cratered the stone. ‘Twat!’ Chase snarled, a rattle of automatic fire and a hailstorm of lead against the walls telling him he’d missed his one chance.
The firing stopped. Sophia had made it out of the mausoleum.
Which still left Callum to deal with.
The only thing stopping him from escaping was Chase, and vice versa. They would have to face off against each other—
Chase sprang round the doorway at almost the same moment Callum came into view in the other chamber. The Englishman had the advantage that his Sigma was quicker to aim than the assault rifle, but the other man had firepower on his side . . .
Chase fired first - but his damaged gun’s sights were slightly off. The shot zipped past Callum to impact inside the other burial chamber. Callum returned fire as Chase pulled back, struggling to cycle his recalcitrant weapon. ‘Come on, you fucking thing—’
The next bullet was chambered. He whipped back out, instinctively compensating for the misaligned sights as he fired, a moment too late to catch Callum.
The American reappeared - but not lining up another shot. Instead he ran out into the open. He had realised Chase was having trouble with the gun, and used the vital few seconds to reach one of the dead troopers and snatch a hand grenade from his webbing as Chase fumbled with the Sigma.
The slide cycled; bullet loaded.
Too late.
Callum had pulled the pin, lobbing the grenade through the doorway.
Chase instantly forgot about shooting him. He had less than four seconds to find cover before the grenade exploded, filling the room with a storm of shrapnel.
He pulled Nina with him.
Three seconds.
Hiding behind the sarcophagus wouldn’t be enough to save them.
Two seconds.
The only protection was
One—
Nina half jumped, was half thrown into the ancient stone coffin as Chase leapt in on top of her and pulled the edge of the heavy lid.
Sophia heard the explosion as the helicopter took off, dust and smoke swirling from the mausoleum a second later. Either Chase or Callum had got hold of a grenade and used it against the other - but who was still standing?
Not that it mattered. Callum might have ordered a postponement of the bombing, but since Dalton wanted Eden destroyed, it wouldn’t be long before the attack resumed, whether Callum was clear or not.
She still had the rifle, keeping it fixed on the entrance as Ribbsley manoeuvred the chopper towards the cavern’s ceiling. Seconds passed. No sign of anyone. Beside her, Ribbsley frowned in concentration as he watched the narrowing gap between the rock and the tips of the rotor blades.
Movement in the entrance. White hair. Callum.
Sophia fired a burst, forcing him back inside. Ribbsley winced at the noise, but held the chopper steady, guiding it into position directly beneath the hole. Callum reappeared, trying to bring his own rifle to bear, but Sophia’s last bullets made him retreat again.
Ribbsley brought the helicopter to full power. Backwash from the rotors against the rocky ceiling buffeted them, and then they were clear, emerging into the bright desert sunlight.
Sophia took a final look down at the Garden of Eden as the helicopter turned east, towards Khartoum. A brief glimpse of the statue and the plateau, the mausoleum at its heart amidst the carpet of flowers - then it was gone as they moved away.
Ribbsley let out a relieved breath. ‘We did it. We did it!’ He glanced at the wrapped skull in Sophia’s footwell. ‘I think that should give us plenty of leverage over the Covenant. We’ll be able to get a new identity for you . . . and a substantial sum of money, of course.’
‘Can you trust them?’
‘If di Bonaventura becomes the acting head of the Catholic contingent, which I’m sure he will, then yes. If I pitch it to him as a business opportunity rather than full-on blackmail, I think we’ll get what we want.’
Sophia smiled. ‘Marvellous. And then, I think a little petty revenge on Victor is in order.’
‘I thought it might be,’ said Ribbsley with a grin. ‘Who were you shooting at, by the way? Chase or Callum?’
‘Callum.’
‘So Chase is dead? And Dr Wilde too, presumably. Not before time.’
‘I know. Although I would have preferred to kill them myself . . .’ She looked back at the retreating mesa.
‘What is it?’ Ribbsley asked.
‘Something I once said to Eddie. That I wasn’t going to make the mistake of assuming he was dead until I actually saw his body.’
‘Even if Callum didn’t kill him, he’s still going to be blown to bits when the bombs hit. There’s no way he’ll get out of that cave in time.’
‘Let’s hope.’ All the same, she stared back at the mesa until it was obscured from view by the fuselage as the helicopter turned. ‘Goodbye, Eddie,’ she said quietly.
Callum glared up at the opening, then shook off his anger at Sophia’s escape. He had more immediate problems.
He looked back into the mausoleum. Dust was still swirling, but the air was clear enough for him to tell that there had been no movement from the burial chamber, no sounds of life.
Shouldering the rifle, he ran across the plateau, feet decapitating flowers as he headed for the grappling lines. Below, the two Humvees were parked beside the lake almost underneath the giant statue’s outstretched hand, their tracks leading back into the jungle. The 4x4s had flattened most of the obstacles they encountered on
