Heidi and others saw him and fired, peppering him with bullets. The missile flew off target, narrowly missing the rising chopper and climbing up into the sky.
Heidi remained in place for a while, scanning the upper floors of the house and the tower. Hoods appeared out of a multitude of doors to fire, keeping the attackers busy.
“They’re playing friggin’ whack-a-mole,” a man said.
Heidi saw it too. She ran for the far side of the courtyard, taking shelter in the archway of a door with a sliding panel in the middle, kind of like a prison cell. She crouched and, when a Hood appeared, fired an entire clip at him, taking him out of the battle.
Others ran for the far door, venturing inside the castle. The men from the helicopter secured the courtyard and the next floor. Heidi didn’t see Pang and assumed he was inside, searching for the Illuminati leaders.
She spoke up on the comms system. “Main hall is clear. Three enemy down. We’re headed for the far corridor.”
“Approaching far side. Tell air support there appears to be some sort of dock down there and speedboats. Needs investigating.”
“Second floor. Flushing out the rats. Could do with more men up here.”
“Breaching the tower. They have more RPGs!”
Heidi heard an explosion, and saw part of the tower wall shift about eight feet up. Smoke belched through a nearby window. She was up in an instant, rushing to help, seeing a Hood standing at the shattered frame. She fired, taking him down.
She reached the entrance door, pushed inside, and ran up the first flight of stairs. The area beyond was a mess, full of smoke and bodies. Heidi saw three other agents and tried to peer through the smoke.
There were no more Hoods standing. She led the way forward, pushing on. The second floor of the tower was empty of enemies. She stepped onto the next flight of stairs, preparing to climb to the third floor.
Bullets slammed all around her, ricocheting off walls and hitting one man in the jacket. He fell, but signaled that he was fine. Heidi returned fire and then nodded at another man carrying stun grenades.
“I only got three.”
“Fuck it. Use them all.”
With Heidi and another man covering him with non-stop fire, the agent threw three grenades in the air, aiming for the third floor landing. All three exploded at the right time, throwing debilitating light and sound across the entire area above. Heidi waited a few seconds and then started up, gun ready. Hoods were on their knees, scrabbling for weapons on the third floor or trying to raise them. She fired her own gun three times at center mass and moved on.
In her ears, communications were ceaseless.
“No sign of anyone except these damn cloak-wearing assholes.” An American voice. “Moving to the outer walls.”
“Same here.” A British voice this time. “We’re rounding up everyone we can. Most of them seem willing to die.”
“We’re hanging just offshore, on the Med side,” one of the chopper pilots said. “Absolutely no activity at the docks. There are three speedboats and one larger. Spied an entrance halfway up the cliffs too, but no people.”
Heidi wasn’t surprised. The Illuminati would have a secret way out which their leaders would take. The good news was that this was undoubtedly the center of their operations. They’d scuppered another stronghold, made the secret society’s existence even harder to maintain.
She reached the top floor now, cleared it with the other agents and then drifted outside, onto the balcony running around the top of the tower. The courtyard was below and, beyond that, the gate where they’d entered. She could see the place where Jackman had died.
I have no words for the random sadness of his death. Other agents had died too. Men and women that jumped out of bed this morning not knowing...
The next voice in her head belonged to Pang. “Agent Moneymaker, this is for you. The leaders are gone. Meet me back at the car.”
It was as she’d suspected for a while now. The remaining sanctums would decide the outcome of this battle, of Bodie’s fight against the CIA and the Illuminati, and of his resistance to her. They would meet again, she was sure of it.
Which side will I be on?
CHAPTER THIRTY NINE
Bodie tried not to become infected with excitement as he and his team flew to Nepal. It wasn’t the fact that they were closing in on the fifth shrine. It wasn’t that they’d been successful at the other four and, by all accounts, the Illuminati were still struggling with the Algerian cave. It was the incredible site of the fifth shrine.
Nepal. The Himalayas. Everest.
Bodie knew a few facts other than it being the tallest mountain in the world. Its summit was just below the cruising altitude of a jumbo jet. That fact alone blew his mind. It was named after a man called Sir George Everest, the surveyor general of India, who probably never set eyes on the mountain when it was measured around 1852. And George’s surname was pronounced eve-wrist, making the mountain one of the most mispronounced place names of all time.
It was said the mountain grew 4mm every year due to shifting tectonic plates and was 55 million years old. Which meant it had seen the shifting of the world in its long existence, the comings and goings of cultures, races and entire civilizations. Who knew what it would be presiding over two or three hundred years from now?
They had a smooth landing in Kathmandu, but were then faced with the nervy prospect of the final leg of their
