The Sacred Vault

She looked back to make sure the tiger was not returning, then nodded. ‘Let’s do it.’

They ran into the clearing. The camera turned to face them. ‘They’ve seen us!’ Nina cried.

Eddie went to the window beside the raised elevator platform and fired his last bullet at point-blank range. The window was toughened, but it couldn’t withstand the power of a Magnum round, shattering into a million crystalline fragments. He looked through. Nobody was in the bunker. Like the first one, it had a computer station at a desk - and a phone.

The opening was too small for him to fit through. He helped Nina slide inside; a chunk of glass still caught in the frame ripped the hip of her trousers, leaving a smudge of blood on the broken window. She grimaced, but wriggled through and hurried to the elevator controls. The metal platform descended into the ground.

Eddie hopped off it. ‘What’s that noise?’ he said, looking along the underground passage. An odd echoing sound reached him.

‘Goats,’ Nina told him. ‘They must keep the tiger chow down here. Someone ought to tell the Humane Society.’

He went to the phone. ‘Okay, let’s see,’ he said, starting to enter Mac’s number. ‘Just hope—’ A tone warbled in his ear. ‘For fuck’s sake!’ he snapped, banging down the receiver. ‘It’s an internal system.’

‘Get an outside line,’ Nina hurriedly suggested. ‘Nine, push nine!’

He tried again, but with no better result. If the phone was connected to the outside world, there was no indication of how to reach it. ‘Bollocks! We’ll just have to make a run for it.’ He glanced at the cut on her hip. ‘You okay?’

‘It just stings. I’ll be fine.’ They ran down the passage. Behind them, a shadow passed over the broken window, something sniffing at the smeared blood.

The third tiger. The male, largest and deadliest of the three.

Nina and Eddie rounded a bend in the passageway to find a pen behind a gated metal fence. A dozen miserable-looking goats reacted in alarm to the new arrivals. Eddie was about to run past when Nina pulled him back. ‘Someone’s coming!’ The ringing clamour of running footsteps echoed down the concrete tunnel.

The only place they could retreat was back into the tiger preserve. Instead, Eddie turned to the pen - and bashed open the gate’s bolt with his Wildey, waving his arms wildly. The goats panicked, leaping and bumping against each other before making a break for freedom. He held out his arms to force the animals towards the approaching footsteps. One got past him, but the others swerved away and charged down the corridor.

‘Now what?’ Nina asked.

‘Go with ’em!’ Eddie ran after the fleeing herd. Nina was about to follow when the lone goat tore back past her, little hooves clicking on the concrete floor. She jumped out of its way, then started in pursuit.

Eddie kept pace with the frightened animals, urging them onward faster and faster down the narrow tunnel. Another bend ahead, the footsteps louder—

Two of the Khoils’ security guards rounded the corner - and were knocked down by the stampede. One man took a pair of sharp horns to the stomach, screaming as blood jetted out. The other threw up his hands to protect his face as other goats scrabbled over him.

Eddie kicked the wounded - but still armed - guard in the head, silencing his screams. But the other man also still had his weapon, sitting up and spotting Nina in front of him. He raised his gun—

The Wildey cracked against his temple. He collapsed.

Eddie shoved the empty Wildey into his jacket, then collected the two men’s guns, Heckler and Koch USPs. ‘Nina, take this,’ he said, holding out the first guard’s weapon.

She accepted the USP, checking the passage ahead. The goats had disappeared round another corner. ‘Looks clear.’

‘There’s bound to be more of ’em, so stay behind me.’

They cautiously moved down the corridor. A shadow looked from beyond another corner - Eddie raised his gun and peered round.

The shadow was only a goat, standing in another bleak concrete chamber at an intersection, a storage area with crates and sacks of animal feed stacked high in recesses to each side. Other goats milled about, unwilling to go any further.

Beyond them was an open metal door - and a flight of stairs leading up. It was where Eddie and Nina had been brought into the tiger preserve, the passage to the first bunker off to one side.

Waving Nina back, he rounded the corner, gun aimed at the stairs. Some of the goats backed away from him - then stopped, unwilling to go further.

Was someone hiding in the doorway? Was that what was scaring them?’

Eddie moved past the stacks of supplies, quickly checking that nobody was lurking behind them before crouching for a better view up the stairs. No one in sight. ‘I think it’s clear.’

Nina warily rounded the corner - then froze at a faint squeak of wood from the farthest stack of crates. ‘Eddie!’

He looked round - but at her, not the sound. ‘What?’

Singh leapt from atop the crates and slammed him to the ground.

The goats scattered, one of them almost knocking Nina over as it barrelled past. By the time she recovered and brought up her gun, Eddie and Singh were grappling on the floor, too intertwined for her to shoot without risking hitting her husband.

The Dalit was on top of Eddie, hand clenched round his gun arm. Eddie twisted his wrist and fired. The USP’s muzzle flame scorched the back of Singh’s neck, but the bullet missed him, cracking off the wall. Singh yelled, then lunged with rage-driven strength - and bit Eddie’s forearm.

‘Jesus Christ!’ Eddie roared as the sharpened teeth sank into his flesh. The pain was so intense that he couldn’t keep hold of the gun. It clanked across the floor. Singh grabbed for it, but couldn’t reach without releasing his animalistic hold on Eddie’s arm. He opened his mouth, blood running down his chin as he groped for the USP once more.

Nina kicked it away just before his fingers closed on the butt. She jumped back as the clawing hand snatched at her legs. ‘Eddie, what do I do?’

‘Fucking shoot him!’

‘I’ll hit you!’

Eddie struggled, managing to land a punch against Singh’s side. In response, the wiry maniac jerked up a knee at his groin. Eddie did his best to twist away, but was still caught a painful enough blow to make him flinch involuntarily - giving Singh an opening. He drove his fist and forearm down into a hammer blow on Eddie’s face, cracking his skull against the unyielding concrete floor.

Eddie’s vision jarred, unnatural colours silently exploding over Singh’s face as the blood-dripping grin widened and dropped towards his throat. He willed Nina to jam her gun against the other man’s head and pull the trigger - but she was no longer there.

He felt Singh’s breath on his neck, the razor teeth about to tear into his throat.

19

Singh suddenly felt breath on his neck.

He looked round - and the tiger that had followed the scent of blood and the bleating of frightened animals into the bunker ripped its mighty fangs deep into the throat of its unsuspecting prey before he could even scream. The huge predator dragged the flailing Indian across the floor, slashing at his abdomen with its claws.

Nina had run backwards in pure reflexive fear when she saw the tiger. Heart slamming like a pneumatic drill, she pulled the bloodied Eddie away from the carnage. ‘Come on, we gotta move.’

‘You’re not kidding!’ he said, seeing the tiger tear out Singh’s throat. The fearful symmetry of its face was marred by a gush of bright red blood. ‘Where’s my gun?’

‘Here.’ She retrieved his USP.

He was about to fire it to scare away the tiger when someone shouted in Hindi from the stairs. ‘Cover your ears,’ he said, pulling Nina away from the exit, past the tiger and its quivering meal. The yellow eyes stared coldly at them with the promise that they would be next, but it didn’t move to attack.

Nina put her hands to her head as Eddie raised the gun. He aimed - not at the tiger, but the floor behind it.