The Covenant of Genesis

under his weight.

‘Oh, shit,’ he said. ‘Come on, faster, faster! I don’t think it’s gonna hold!’

Nina tried to move more quickly, but Vogler gasped and spat out blood. The movement of the stone lid had momentarily pulled his arm away from his body, releasing pressure on his wound. ‘Oh God, I’m sorry!’ she cried, slowing again.

Vogler forced an unconvincing smile, his face a ghastly white. ‘Not a problem . . . just get us across . . .’

Chase reached the far end, the last block dropping half an inch with a clunk as he stepped on to the statue’s shoulders. He brought the slab round towards its outstretched left arm. ‘Just a couple more feet, come on!’

Nina and Vogler followed, bumping against each other as the slab turned. Nina made footfall on the statue, the Swiss Guard a step behind—

The stone block beneath his foot gave way.

It slipped sideways, smaller blocks ripping loose and falling away. Unsupported, the rest of the bridge broke apart and tumbled down the cliff to smash on the ground far below.

Vogler fell. The heavy slab dropped from Nina’s hands, the broken end barely missing her feet. The impact jarred the other end from Chase’s grip, sending him reeling backwards. He caught the statue’s carved ear, just stopping himself from going over the edge.

Vogler dangled by his fingertips from the broken stub of the bridge. Even as Nina watched, one of his straining fingers lost its grip. ‘Eddie! He’s going to fall! Help me!’

‘No!’ Vogler gurgled as she grabbed his sleeve, blood bubbling from his mouth. ‘No - time! You have to - tell the Cardinal!’ He looked Nina in the eye, fear and panic and pain suddenly replaced by the serenity of self-sacrifice. ‘Tell the Cardinal,’ he repeated.

He closed his eyes.

And let go.

Nina couldn’t keep hold, already weakened by the effort of carrying the slab. Chase seized her from behind to stop her from toppling after him as Vogler plunged, not even screaming. A wet thump echoed up the cliff face.

Chase pulled Nina upright. ‘Oh, Jesus,’ she whispered as she saw Vogler’s twisted body below.

‘We’ve only got six minutes,’ said Chase, drawing her away from the edge. ‘We’ve got to get that stone to the top of the arm. Now!’ He moved to the slab’s unbroken end and pulled it inch by inch across the statue’s shoulder, gouging a furrow through the dirt.

Nina pushed the other end. ‘How’s this going to help us?’

‘We can ride it down the arm like a sledge!’

She regarded him as if he’d gone mad. ‘What?’

‘Trust me! I’ve done it before.’

‘What?’

‘Well, not exactly like this. But I once went down the side of a skyscraper in Shanghai on a sort of sledge, and that was a lot steeper.’ He looked down as he reached the top of the arm. ‘Although the drop at the end was only about five feet, not fifty,’ he added, biting his lip. ‘But the principle’s the same!’ He jumped over the slab to land beside Nina, helping her push it over the edge.

The statue’s arm was dirty and moss-covered, its open palm overflowing with dangling creepers and spindly plants. Beyond it stretched the lake. Nina heard the roar of an engine; in the distance, she saw trees swaying as Callum ploughed his Humvee through the jungle, taking a long, dogleg route to pass round the end of the ravine near the cavern’s northern wall.

She looked back at Chase as she felt the slab shift, teetering on the edge of the slope. ‘If by some miracle we survive this, to hell with waiting until May - we are going to get so married.’

Chase grinned, and they kissed. ‘First things first, though,’ he said as they parted. ‘Kneel on the back end.’ Nina did so, bringing the see-sawing slab back to the horizontal. He straddled the stone in front of her, lowering himself until he was almost touching it. ‘Now grab my waist - and don’t let go.’

‘I’m not gonna enjoy this, am I?’ Nina said as she took hold of him.

‘Nope - but it’ll be a really good bit for your autobiography.’

‘If I get to write it.’

‘You can start after the honeymoon. Okay. Here . . . we . . . go!’

He dropped on to the slab, grabbing its edges - as his weight tipped it over the edge.

Stone rasped angrily against stone, a terrible grinding assaulting their ears. But the moss and dirt acted as a strange form of lubricant. The slab quickly built up speed, throwing up a spray of soil from its front edge. They hit the slight bend at the giant elbow with a crash, the slab slithering sideways, threatening to fall off the carved arm - but they were moving too fast for gravity to claim them, already at the hand—

There was a colossal explosion of soil and vegetation as they ploughed across the statue’s palm, shooting up its splayed fingers and flying out into open space . . .

Nina screamed as the slab fell away - and she lost her grip on Chase. The lake whirled below. They had been flung past the shore, falling towards deeper water - but too fast, gravity eagerly reclaiming its prizes.

She saw Chase twist in mid-air, trying to hit the water feet first. She did the same.

They hit the water.

The impact felt to Nina like landing on concrete - but it was nothing to the much harder blow a moment later as she hit the lake’s muddy bottom. The stone slab smashed down behind her, a shockwave pounding her back. Her breath was knocked from her in a froth of bubbles as silt swirled round her, obscuring her vision.

How deep was she? Her feet brushed the bottom, sending a painful bolt through her legs. She tried to swim upwards, but seemed engulfed in quicksand, her waterlogged clothes slowing her movements to the pace of a nightmare.

A sound. A voice, muffled, muted. Chase, calling her name.

Nina still couldn’t see, surrounded by mud - and he couldn’t see her. She brought her arms as high above her head as she could, but they didn’t breach the surface. He could be just feet away, but it might as well be miles.

With her last dregs of air, Nina screamed. Bubbles roiled up her face - then stopped. Water filled her mouth. She tried to scream again, but there was nothing left . . .

A hand clutched at her hair, her face - then grabbed her collar and pulled as Chase swam down to scoop her up. They broke the surface, Nina spitting out brown water and gasping for air. To her shock, she realised she had been on the verge of drowning less than fifteen feet from the shore.

Chase kept swimming until he was able to put his feet down, then carried Nina the rest of the way. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Hurt my legs,’ she panted. ‘Couldn’t swim . . .’

They splashed out of the lake, Nina in Chase’s arms. ‘Can you walk?’

She tried to move one leg, the result making her wince. ‘I dunno.’

‘Okay, just hang on. I’ll get you to the Humvee.’ The 4x4 waited at the foot of the cliff, the tracks of its sister vehicle disappearing into the trees. Streaming with water, Chase carried Nina to it. She opened the passenger door for him, and he placed her inside. ‘Oh, cock,’ he said as he checked his watch.

‘How long?’

‘Four minutes.’ He climbed into the driver’s seat, starting the engine. The 6.5 litre turbo-diesel growled as he made a U-turn to face along the shore.

‘We’ll never make it,’ said Nina, a chill running through her. ‘Callum had that much of a head start on us, and he hasn’t even got round the end of the ravine.’

Chase pushed down hard on the accelerator. The Humvee’s wheels spun, slipping sideways in a spray of mud and earth before finding grip and surging forwards. ‘We’re not going round the ravine.’

‘We’re not?’

They charged through a stream, kicking up a massive shower of crystalline droplets. ‘Taking a short cut.’

Nina gripped her seat as the Humvee bounced back on to dry land. ‘I don’t think this thing’s gonna fit over that log!’

‘I’m not going for the log.’ Chase swerved round a tree, wheels carving through the water before he straightened out and smashed the 4x4 through some bushes on to a small hill.