‘Stikes got what he came for, those statues,’ replied Pachac. ‘If he tries to get anything else . . . we kill him too!’ He regarded the broken wall. ‘The water’s falling; we’ll be able to get out now. Come on.’
Eddie waded to the now open end of the temple. Osterhagen followed. ‘This is incredible,’ said the German. ‘If there is gold behind the whole wall, it would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars!’
‘If I were you, I’d start negotiating for a finder’s fee . . .’ Eddie tailed off, the gold forgotten as he took in the view beyond the opening. On the plaza, the Hind’s rotors were building up to takeoff speed – and closer, on the maze of rooftops between the temple and the helicopter, he saw Stikes and four of his men carefully navigating the walls to reach the aircraft.
With a prisoner. Kit. Baine held him at rifle point.
‘Doc, wait here,’ Eddie ordered. Before Osterhagen could reply, the Englishman had climbed through the hole and jumped down on to the skeletal buildings below. He ran along the thick walls after the mercenaries.
The water flowing beneath Nina’s position finally looked safe enough to traverse. She dropped down into it and made her way to the terrace overlooking the square.
To her relief, she saw a welcome face below. ‘Mac!’ she cried, carefully negotiating the waterfall running down the steps and hurrying to him. ‘You’re okay!’
‘My specialist will probably have some harsh words,’ Mac replied, raising his buckled prosthetic leg out of the water, ‘but apart from that, yes, I’m all right. What about the others? Have you seen them?’
Nina looked to one side. ‘I saw Macy over there somewhere - she’d climbed up on to a building, she looked okay. I haven’t seen anyone else, though. Do you know where Eddie went?’
‘In the temple, I think.’ Mac’s gaze returned to the rocket launcher. ‘Let me have that.’
Nina handed it to him. ‘What are you gonna do with it?’
‘Stikes’s helicopter is getting ready to take off,’ he said. ‘Hopefully, that spare warhead is still where we left it; if it is, I’ll see that he encounters a little turbulence.’
‘I’ll tell Eddie to find you,’ said Nina as she headed for the temple. Mac smiled, then limped as quickly as he could down the hill.
A narrow, flooded alley separated two tiers of buildings. Eddie vaulted it, wobbling as he regained his balance on the lower wall, then hurried after the mercenaries.
All five were still armed, and if any looked back he would be in trouble, but their attention seemed fixed on three things: the waiting helicopter, their prisoner, and navigating the walls without slipping. The only thing on Eddie’s mind, however, was violence. He rapidly gained on them, cutting corners in pursuit.
Stikes, leading, dropped out of sight on to a lower tier, followed by Voeker. Kit, next in line, hesitated at the jump. ‘Get fuckin’ down there,’ Baine snarled, jabbing his M4 at him. The other two men stopped behind him in a line, unable to get past. Kit glared back at Baine – then his expression changed to one of surprise. Baine turned—
The last man in the line was carrying his rifle over his shoulder. Eddie grabbed it, swung it round, and fired a burst at point-blank range into his back.
The bullets tore through the man’s body, exploding messily out of his chest – and hitting Cagg. Even mangled by their passage, the rounds still had enough force behind them to rip into his torso. The mercenary staggered, eyes wide in shock, then keeled over and fell into the waterlogged room below.
Eddie struggled to pull the rifle free of the dead man as he collapsed. Baine brought up his own gun—
Kit body-slammed him, knocking the rifle from his hands. It clattered off the wall and landed near Cagg’s body. Baine reeled. Kit grappled with him – and threw him off the wall to the next tier down.
Eddie finally wrestled the M4 free, the mercenary’s corpse toppling on to a wooden beam and hanging spread-eagled over it. ‘Kit! You okay?’
‘Yes. Thank you!’ The Interpol officer smiled in relief.
Eddie hurried up to him. Stikes and Voeker came into view below. The ex-officer was still carrying the case. Eddie raised the M4, but before he could fire, Stikes and his companion leapt down to the plaza, shielded by thick stone walls.
Eddie had found a new target, though. The Hind was not yet at takeoff revolutions, needing to be at maximum power to haul itself airborne – and he saw a man in a jumpsuit slam closed a panel on the engine cowling. The forward cockpit’s canopy was open: the gunner.
The man who had brought carnage to Caracas. Without hesitation, Eddie aimed and fired. The jumpsuit’s jungle camouflage blossomed with dark red. Krikorian crumpled, thumping off the Hind’s stub wing and dropping to the ground.
No way to do the same to the pilot; the rear cockpit was shut, impervious to the M4’s bullets. But he could still deal with the pilot’s boss. ‘Get back up to the temple,’ he told Kit. ‘Osterhagen’s in there – see if you can find Nina or anyone else.’
‘Where are you going?’ Kit asked.
‘After Stikes.’
‘Are you going to get the statues back?’
‘No, I’m just gonna kill him!’
As Kit retreated, Eddie moved to the edge of the wall and pointed his gun at the tier below. No sign of Baine. There was a steep alley between the lower buildings, water still draining downhill with some force. He jumped on to a wall and advanced along it, still searching for the ex-SAS trooper – but then any thoughts of Baine vanished as he spotted Stikes running for the helicopter. He raised the rifle, pinning the mercenary’s back in his sights—
Hands clamped around his ankles.
