Temple of the Gods

Nina and Larry didn’t need to be prompted. All three charged for the exit. More ground-shaking thumps like a pursuing giant’s footfalls came from behind as the entire tunnel collapsed section by section, displaced air shrieking past. A rock hit Nina hard on one shoulder, but she kept running for the light.

They reached it — and found nothing under their feet as they burst from the tunnel.

It opened on to a steep slope near the volcano’s summit, another landslide having torn away the barricade the Atlanteans had built to block it. Flailing and wailing, the trio arced through the air amidst flying debris before hitting the ground. Larry immediately tripped, Eddie managing a few loping steps before he too stumbled. Nina lasted longest, but even she couldn’t keep her balance on the treacherous surface. They rolled down the hillside before finally slithering to a stop on a shallower ledge.

Nina groaned as a dozen new bruises made themselves known. She sat up and discovered that her camera had caused at least one of them. Its lens had broken off, black dust trickling out of the body. She looked round at a moan from nearby. ‘Larry?’

He lay on his back, one hand over another cut on his head. ‘I’m — I’m all right,’ he mumbled. ‘But I think I’ll just stay here for a while.’ The ground shook, loose stones rattling. He hurriedly sat up. ‘Or maybe not.’

‘Where’s Eddie?’

‘Over here.’ She turned and saw her husband sprawled against a large rock. He gave her a pained grin. ‘Give us a hand, will you?’ As she helped him up, he looked towards the summit. The plume of steam that had been rising from the crater when they arrived was now much bigger — and darker.

‘You were right,’ said Larry as he stood. ‘We made it!’

Another tremor rocked the mountainside. ‘Yeah, but we’re still standing on a volcano that’s about to go Krakatoa,’ Eddie reminded him. ‘We can’t be too far from where we went in, so the Land Rover should be that way.’ He pointed downhill.

‘If your ex hasn’t taken it,’ said Larry.

Nina started down the slope, Eddie following. ‘How would she know where we left it?’ he said.

‘We landed right next to it,’ Larry replied.

‘You came in a chopper?’ Eddie asked. His father nodded. ‘Did the pilot stay with it?’

‘Yes.’

‘Good. Saves us a drive, then.’

‘Again, if Sophia hasn’t taken it,’ Nina added. She pocketed the memory card before abandoning the broken camera. At least pictures of the Temple of the Gods would survive… if they could escape the eruption.

The ledge where they had left their vehicle came into view below; as Larry had said, the AW101 that had ferried the Group into the desert was waiting. The 4?4 itself, however, was not. ‘There!’ said Nina, pointing. The Land Rover was heading downhill. It dropped out of sight as it picked up speed.

‘Shit!’ Eddie spat. ‘That bitch took our ride!’

‘At least she left us the chopper…’

The helicopter’s rotors began to turn.

‘Damn it!’ said Nina. ‘I have got to stop with the fate-tempting!’

‘We can still make it!’ Larry said, overtaking the couple. ‘It took ages to get up to takeoff speed when we flew here.’

Eddie winced at the resurgent pain as he took his hand from his thigh to draw the gun. ‘I’ve got our boarding pass.’

Nina still supporting Eddie, they hurried towards the helicopter. Its rotors picked up speed, the shrill whine of its three Rolls-Royce engines rising. The rear ramp was still open; the pilot had apparently decided that getting off the ground before the volcano erupted outweighed standard operating procedure. ‘Come on, quick!’ cried Larry as he ran for the gaping entrance.

‘Dad, watch out!’ Eddie shouted. He was sure the pilot would be another of Stikes’s mercenaries — and unwilling to accept stowaways. He pulled free of Nina and raised the gun.

Larry reached the metal ramp and hurried up it. The passenger seats were all empty, tarpaulins bundled over the expedition’s supplies behind them.

The pilot was at the controls at the far end of the cabin. He looked back—

And drew a pistol.

Fear froze Larry’s muscles as the gun came round…

Eddie dived at him, knocking him down — and unleashed four shots in mid-air. Two punched through the cockpit windows … but the others hit their target. The pilot slumped over the console, making the helicopter lurch as the cyclic control stick was pushed forward beneath him.

Nina reached the foot of the ramp, seeing from the splatter of blood and brain matter on the windows that the pilot was no longer a threat. She vaulted the two men and hurried up the aisle to pull the dead mercenary back upright. The AW101 jolted again as the stick returned to the neutral position. ‘Are you okay?’ she called down the cabin.

Eddie pushed himself off his father. ‘Are you?’ he asked.

‘I… I think so,’ said Larry, breathing heavily. ‘My God! You…’ He regarded his son, wide-eyed. ‘Eddie, you saved my life. Thank you.’

Eddie feigned a casual shrug, but was unable to keep an appreciative smile off his face. ‘All part of the job. Come on.’ He stood, helping Larry up. The smile quickly faded as he regarded the red-tinged cockpit windows. ‘Buggeration and fuckery. Don’t suppose you know how to fly a chopper, do you?’

‘Well, er, funnily enough…’

‘You do?’ Now it was the turn of Eddie’s eyes to widen. ‘Shit, come on! You’ve got to get us out of here!’ He pushed his father down the aisle.

Larry was already having second thoughts. ‘Okay, I’ve been at the controls of a chopper. The real pilot did all the hard stuff. Like taking off. And landing. I’ve only had about two hours’ experience in total.’

‘That’s two hours more than me and Nina. Do what you can.’ He guided his father to the empty co-pilot’s seat.

‘I don’t really think — oh, Jesus.’ Larry recoiled from the dead man in the neighbouring position.

‘Just don’t look at him.’

‘How can I not? He’s right there! And some of him’s all over the windscreen!’

‘We’ll move him,’ said Nina. ‘Just try to look through the window and not at it.’ She and Eddie started to haul the corpse from the seat.

Larry could still barely contain his nausea. ‘How can you be so… so nonchalant? It’s a bloody dead body! Literally!’

‘Sad fact is, you kinda get used to them,’ Nina said, briefly reflecting on just how much she had changed over the past five years. But there were more pressing matters to think about. They pulled the dead man into the aisle, Eddie dragging him back towards the ramp as she dropped into the newly vacated space. ‘So, Larry — can you fly this thing?’

Still trying to keep the worst of the gore out of his eyeline, Larry surveyed the controls. ‘It’s about five million times more complicated than anything else I’ve ever flown, but… cyclic, collective, that must be the throttle, rudder pedals. I recognise the basics. I have no idea if I can actually get it into the air, though.’

A tremor rattled the aircraft, a thunderous rumble coming from the volcano’s peak. ‘Take your best shot,’ said Nina urgently.

Larry licked his dry lips and gripped the two sticks, placing his feet on the pedals. ‘All right. Okay. How did they do it? The instructor talked me through it once. Let’s see — hold the main rotor in a flat pitch —’ he held the cyclic control in front of him in its centred position — ‘bring the throttle up to takeoff revolutions — I don’t know how fast that is…’

‘Volcano, about to go boom,’ Eddie reminded him loudly.

‘Okay, okay!’ He increased power, the airframe swaying in response. ‘Get it up to speed, and then increase the collective pitch…’

He cautiously pulled up the collective control lever beside his seat. The AW101 shuddered — then rose slightly, its landing gear creaking as the weight on it was reduced. ‘That’s it, that’s it!’ said Nina. ‘Keep doing more of that!’