spikes. It would carry the climbing rope to the walls, and they would use the rope to maneuver in the vault. He handed the rifle to Mollie. “Don’t drop it.”
Mathias stubbed out his ever-present cigarette and came into the circle of Noel’s arms. He drew in a sharp breath when he was pressed against Lilith’s bosom, but Noel suspected he was reacting to the feel of the gun more than the flesh.
Noel took them between.
It was disconcerting as hell, and Noel felt his stomach trying to climb past the back of his tongue as they appeared in the center of the vault, spinning in the air about seven feet above the floor. He swallowed hard.
Mollie squeaked, and dropped the rifle.
“Scheisse!” Mathias yelled.
Noel managed to get his toe under the rifle and kick it toward the ceiling. Mathias pointed at it, and it began to float. Mollie made another funny noise. Noel followed her gaze to a wall-mounted camera. The lens seemed to be vomiting flesh. Noel had a visceral memory of watching his grandmother grinding pork for sausage. “Be ready,” Noel said to Mathias.
The flesh stream began to expand and take on human features. Only Jaako’s lower legs remained in the camera lens. The Finnish ace had magnets strapped to his hands. He twisted sideways and slapped a hand against the steel of the safety deposit boxes. It was like watching taffy being pulled as he flexed and squirmed and pulled his legs out of the camera. The magnets gave him some purchase for the final tugs, and then Mathias took over making Jaako weightless.
“Okay. Good,” Noel said. He fired the grappling line toward the doorway to the gold room. The first magnet hit on its side and didn’t catch. Noel reeled it in before it hit the floor. He tried again. This time the magnet held.
Everyone held hands, and Noel hauled them along the rope to the doorway. The pallets bulked like the backs of prehistoric beasts in the room. Mollie stared wide-eyed at the gold ingots. “Wow,” she breathed.
“Good-bye, North Dakota, eh?” Noel said with a smile. “Mollie, do your thing.”
She stared hard at the back wall of the inner vault. A wide doorway appeared. It was dark beyond the threshold.
“I thought you set up work lights?” Noel said to Mathias.
“I did-”
Jaako said, “Oh, crap.” There was a metallic shrieking and one of the interior walls slid from its pocket cavity. It was heading straight at them as they hung helpless in midair.
Several things happened at once. The pallets of gold lifted a few feet off the floor, and Noel hit the floor of the vault with a jar. The others rained down around him. They all went frantically scrambling out of the way of the oncoming wall of metal. At the same moment alarms began to whoop, an earsplitting sound inside the metal vault.
Then they were in the room with the gold. They formed a line. Jaako, who was the youngest and the strongest, started the first pallet floating toward the yawning opening. It was like a bizarre bucket brigade as each member of the team gave each pallet an adjustment and a shove, sending them through the fourth-dimensional opening.
They sent sixteen pallets through before Noel’s phone rang. “Get out! Get out! They’re opening the time lock on the vault!” came Cumming’s voice.
“That’s it, we’re done,” Noel yelled.
“But there are still seven pallets,” Mollie yelled from her position at the edge of the door.
“Tough. We’re done.” Noel made a swooping gesture like a woman herding geese, and they all tumbled through the doorway. It irised closed behind them.
And Noel realized he was cold. His breath steamed. They were not in the Congo any longer.
Kisangani, Congo
People’s Paradise of Africa
“Do you like the food?” asked Alicia Nshombo.
“It’s fine.” Actually, it was pretty disgusting. Michelle wasn’t even certain what she was eating.
A table had been placed in the center of the compound, and Alicia and Michelle were seated side by side. A big fire had been built in the middle of the open area. The guards kept adding wood to it, though it was already hot as hell.
“Oooo, entertainment,” Alicia said, clapping her hands like a child. Several of the guards came into the clearing leading a group of men, naked but for small loincloths. Their bodies had been painted with leopard spots.
Across the fire, Michelle saw other men carrying large drums. They sat down and started playing. Then leopards came into the clearing. There were at least twenty. They batted and clawed at each other, roaring and hissing.
“Isn’t this fun?” Alicia said, smiling.
“Well, it’s something,” Michelle replied. One bubble is all it would take.
“I have been doing some thinking,” Alicia said. “In New Orleans, you absorbed a nuclear explosion.”
“You know how rumors are.” Michelle poked at a mysterious piece of meat on her plate. The leopards rolled in the dirt. The men in loincloths began swaying to the beat of the drums.
“Hmmmmm, and our Tom was the cause of that, wasn’t he, Miss Pond?”
Michelle dropped her fork. “What do you want?”
Alicia pouted. “You aren’t being any fun. Did you enjoy your visit to my hospital? The one for the survivors. I am very proud of those. The animals who prey on our women deserve to be punished. It’s women who do all the real work.” She started gesturing with her knife. “Men are very stupid about sex. They use it as a weapon. They use it as punishment.”
“And what about the children?” Michelle asked. “Are they being punished, too?”
“Oh, there must be sacrifices when you’re building a nation.” Alicia put her knife down and wiped her mouth with her napkin. “May I call you Michelle? Michelle, you are a very powerful woman. Oh, yes, I know these things. Even here we see the CNN. Our Tom is very powerful too, but it may be you are his equal. He tried to kill many people in New Orleans, and yet you saved the city.” She popped a morsel of food into her mouth. “Tom Weathers is unpredictable and dangerous. He has been a great help to my brother, but now he is turning the world against us. My proposal is simple. Kill Tom Weathers, and I will not kill your pretty little friend.”
“Maybe I don’t care if she gets killed,” Michelle said. “Maybe I have reasons for being here that have nothing to do with her.”
Alicia rose from the table. “Don’t be silly, my dear. If you did not care about her you would have killed me already.”
She walked close to the fire. Nine of the leopards stopped biting each other and began mewling and purring. They wove themselves around her, and she reached up and undid her kerchief. Her hips swayed to the drums as she undid her dress and let it drop to the ground. Her breasts were pendulous and hung down to her waist. One of the leopards came close. Alicia let it nuzzle and lick her nipples until they hardened, then she pushed it away.
The men in loincloths moaned. They crawled toward Alicia. She proceeded to lick and bite them across their chests and backs until they bled. Each time a man was bitten, he started shaking and convulsing.
The drums beat in time. The leopards started mounting each other. Alicia snapped her fingers, and the men she’d just bitten rolled on their backs and ripped their loincloths away. They were tumescent. One by one, Alicia straddled them. She fucked each one until he came. When she was done, she sauntered back to where Michelle sat. Her thighs glistened.
Behind her, naked men and women crawled into the firelight. The drums beat louder, and the cats ripped and clawed anyone in reach. Bodies slid against each other, hands groping breasts and buttocks. Mouths licked and sucked.
“Do you like our entertainment?” Alicia asked. “It will go on all night. You should stay and watch. You can give me your answer about Tom Weathers in the morning.”
Steunenberg Barn
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
