The Revelation Code

29

A brief sickening feeling of free-fall and fear—

Impact.

Pain flared through Eddie’s back — then the water crashed over his face, causing a moment of panic before he regained his senses. He thrashed his limbs. No sharp agony from broken bones. Relieved, he tipped himself upright and breached the surface to draw breath, probing with his feet. They touched an uneven floor about five feet below, strewn with debris. Landing flat had saved his life; if he had dropped straight down, he would have hit solid rock and broken both ankles.

‘Eddie! Are you okay?’ cried Nina.

‘I’m fine!’ he shouted, straightening to his full height and bringing the waterproof flashlight above the rippling surface. The water was littered with splintered wood and mushrooms stripped from the walls by the explosion.

The latter reminded him what he was looking for. He surveyed the walls. The cenote widened out at its base to form a bulbous, lopsided cavern, but there were no exits above water level. He lowered the torch under the surface and submerged again.

Nothing was visible. The falling wreckage had churned up the pool, disturbing long-settled sediment. He resurfaced, swearing under his breath. He would have to search blind…

Or would he? ‘Nina! Switch off your light!’ he called, clicking off his own torch.

‘You sure?’ she asked.

‘If there’s a way through to the sinkhole, I might be able to see daylight.’

‘Okay!’ Her light went out. Eddie closed his eyes, letting them adjust to the darkness, then opened them again.

At first he saw only blackness. But then a vague cyan haze took on form to one side. He waded closer. The ghostly sheen gradually became more distinct. Dropping below the water, he saw a rough rectangle of dim light lower in the wall. ‘I think I’ve found a way out,’ he told the others after surfacing.

‘Big enough to get through?’ asked Jared.

‘I’ll find out in a minute!’ He swam across the pool, then submerged again.

There was a passage through the rock, around five feet wide — but far shallower, two feet high at most. That he could see daylight on the far side suggested the tunnel was not long, but if he got caught on a jutting rock…

He resurfaced. ‘Okay, I’m going to try to reach the sinkhole. If I get through—’

‘When you get through,’ Nina corrected. ‘Daughter waiting, remember?’

‘When I get through, I’ll fetch the rest of our gear, then try to push that rock out of the way so I can throw another rope across to you.’

‘See you soon,’ she said. He switched his torch back on and waved it at her, then took several deep breaths and plunged back under the water.

The passage took on form, a pale blue void in the surrounding darkness. He swam into it, finding the highest point. Even that was uncomfortably claustrophobic, and it quickly became even tighter as he advanced. Stone scraped his head. He angled downwards, but within seconds felt rock brush his chest.

He switched tack, using his hands as much to pull himself forward as to swim. The light ahead grew brighter, but the ceiling and floor continued to close in. His heels struck the stone above, forcing him to slow and switch to a more frog-like kick.

The end of the underwater tunnel was now in sight, though. He kept kicking, dragging himself along—

An overhanging protrusion caught his shoulder. He tried to drop under it — only to find he had no more room to manoeuvre, his chest flat against the floor. He shoved himself sideways, but found his way blocked in that direction as well.

He backtracked, heart starting to race as the remaining oxygen in his lungs was consumed. A crab-like crawl across the passage, then he started forward again. This time the floor rose up to meet him, pushing him against the ceiling. Rock nudged his body from above and below.

He was running out of air! Clawing at the floor, he hauled himself through the fissure. The slabs of stone squeezed more tightly against him, his clothing catching on rough edges—

His other shoulder became wedged.

No time to back up and try another route. It was either onwards — or nowhere. A fist clenched around his lungs. He dug his fingernails against the rough surface and pulled, writhing as he tried to break loose…

His pinned shoulder shifted slightly, jacket slipping against the rock — then with a jerk he pulled free. He squirmed past the obstacle and kicked out of the passage.

The sinkhole waited above, a near-perfect circle of blue. He swam to it, breaking the surface with a gasp—

And immediately clamped his mouth shut as he heard voices.

Heart thudding, breathing heavily through his nostrils, he eased himself to the pool’s side. He had emerged near the cave dug out below ground level — and somebody was inside it.

Eddie brought his breath under control, then carefully moved along the pool’s edge until he could see into the cavern. Two of Cross’s men, armed with MP5s, stood within. Both thankfully had their backs to him, watching the tunnel leading to the cenote. A rearguard.

He looked up at the lip of the sinkhole. Nobody else was there, as far as he could see. But he couldn’t hear any engine noises either. For a moment he was worried that Cross had already left, but decided, based on the time between the helicopter’s arrival and the bad guys entering the temple, that they had not yet made it back to their aircraft.

As much as he wanted to help Nina, she and the others would be safe where they were for now. If there was a chance to prevent Cross from leaving, he had to take it. But he would have to deal with the sentries first.

He held on to the ledge with his left hand, then quietly drew the Desert Eagle and brought it above the surface, tipping it to drain the water from its barrel and receiver. He knew he ought to eject the magazine and rack the slide to make sure the mechanism was fully cleared, but doing so would make a noise that the guards couldn’t possibly miss.

He would just have to take his first shot — and hope the second didn’t jam.

The two men were halfway between the pool and the tunnel entrance, both facing away from him, though the man on the left had turned his head towards his companion as they talked. He would be the quickest to react — which made him the first target.

The Englishman raised himself higher in the water, then aligned the Desert Eagle’s sights on the man’s back. A .50-cal shot would go right through him at this range, but it was the second guard who concerned Eddie. If the guy was quick, he might be able to spin around and retaliate before the Englishman could recover from the recoil of firing the huge gun one-handed…

Eddie steeled himself — and pulled the trigger.

The gun’s boom was near-deafening, resounding like the striking of a massive bell. Even with his arm tensed, the recoil kicked it backwards. But the impact on the first guard was far greater. A great burst of gore exploded from the exit wound, blood and viscera splashing over the walls. Already dead, he crumpled to the floor.

The second man jumped in shock, but recovered almost instantly, whirling to face the threat—

The Yorkshireman hauled the gun back down and unleashed a second ear-pounding gunshot. The bullet shattered the man’s shoulder, almost severing his left arm. He was flung backwards, sending a wild spray of fire against the cavern’s ceiling.

Eddie pulled himself from the water. His opponent was down, but not out. The MP5 flailed towards him—

A third thunderous shot — and the man’s head burst apart as if a bomb had detonated inside his skull, only his lower jaw and tongue remaining intact amidst the carnage.

‘Don’t think I’ll be telling my kid about this bit,’ Eddie said as he lowered the smoking Desert Eagle. He glanced at the tunnel leading back to Nina, then reluctantly collected the first dead man’s MP5, slinging it over his shoulder before jumping to grab the lip of the cavern’s overhanging roof. Water dripping from his clothes, he pulled himself up and looked around, spotting boot prints in the dust. He started uphill after them.

He had barely gone twenty yards before hearing the distant whine of an engine. Cross and the others had reached the helicopter. ‘No you fucking don’t,’ he muttered, checking that the MP5 was ready for action as he ran.

The climb was steep and rocky, but he saw flatter ground some way above. He hurried up the slope, hearing the chop of rotor blades picking up speed. It would be at take-off revolutions soon; once it left the ground, it would be out of his weapon’s range very quickly.

Dust billowed over the edge of the rise as the noise reached a crescendo. A moment later, the red and white aircraft rose into view, already tipping into flight away from him…

Eddie whipped up the MP5 and fired on full auto.

A stream of bullets arced into the air after the chopper. He was at the limit of the weapon’s effective range, but sheer firepower was enough to score several hits. Sparks spat from the fuselage as rounds struck home, punching through the thin aluminium to strike more vital components beneath. A puff of smoke came from one of the exhausts. ‘Yeah!’ he yelled as the helicopter lurched. ‘Get back down here!’

Cross grabbed his seat for support as the Bell jerked violently. Paxton wrestled with the controls, an alarm shrilling urgently in time with flashing warning lights. ‘I’m losing oil pressure in number two engine!’ the pilot shouted. ‘I’ll have to shut it down!’

‘Can we still fly on one engine?’ demanded Simeon, holding Anna in place.

‘Yeah, but it’ll be tricky. We should make it back to Ovda, though.’

The landscape swung past the windshield as the helicopter slewed around. Cross spotted something on the hillside below — a figure in dark clothing. ‘It’s Chase!’

‘I told you I should have killed him!’ Simeon snarled.

Cross shot him an angry look, but he had bigger concerns than insubordination. The Englishman fired another brief burst. Norvin flinched, but no more bullets came. ‘He’s out of ammo!’

‘Take us back around,’ said Simeon, grabbing his MP5. ‘I’ll deal with that son of a bitch!’

‘No, we need to get out of here!’ Paxton countered, knuckles white as both hands gripped the shuddering controls.

‘Take us back to the airbase,’ Cross ordered, to Simeon’s disappointment. He looked back at his right-hand man as the aircraft gained height. ‘Don’t worry, they won’t get out of there.’ He reached for the radio. ‘Time to call in a favour.’

Eddie glared after the chopper as it stabilised and headed into the distance. ‘Bollocking fuck-nuts!’ he said, discarding the empty MP5 and squishing back down the mountain. He didn’t know where the helicopter was going, but Israel was only a small country; Cross and his remaining people would probably be on a jet with the angel within the hour.

He dropped back down into the cavern, retrieving the climbing gear before returning to the cenote. The rock blocking the mouth of the passage proved to be as precariously balanced as he had thought; it only took a couple of minutes to force it over the edge. It fell to the foot of the shaft with a booming splash. ‘Eddie!’ said Nina with relief from across the gap. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Yeah, but Cross got away,’ he said glumly. ‘What about you?’

‘I’m fine. Jared’s stable, but from the way he’s been acting, you’d think he was fit and ready to run a marathon.’ The Israeli, sitting against the open door, grinned. ‘And Dalton’s been a moaning prick, but that’s nothing new.’

The politician was hunched against the tunnel wall. ‘You know, I’m getting really tired of your attitude.’

‘And I’m getting really tired of your continued existence. Now, Mr President, kindly shut the fuck up.’ She put both hands to her bump. ‘Mommy doesn’t normally use rude words, hon — that’s Daddy’s department — but sometimes they’re justified. Don’t you use them, though, okay?’

Dalton rolled his eyes. ‘Nauseating.’

‘Yeah, I bet you were a fun dad,’ Eddie snarked. ‘Okay, Jared? We’ll rig up a Tyrolean traverse and use the harness to bring you over.’

He pounded new pitons into the rock and fixed ropes to them, then threw the rest of the coils across the chasm. Jared and Nina caught them and pulled them in. The Englishman then lobbed over the hammer and more steel pegs. Once one rope was secured on both sides, the other was tied to Nina’s climbing harness so it could be pulled back across, then she, Jared and finally Dalton made their way over. ‘Thank God!’ the latter gasped as his feet made contact with the floor.

‘Thank Nina,’ said the Englishman. ‘I would’ve left you over there.’ He set about retrieving the climbing equipment. ‘We’ll need this to get back down to the Landie.’

‘Great,’ grumbled Dalton. It’ll take us hours to drive out of this desert.’

‘If only we’d had access to the CIA’s black funds for a helicopter,’ said Nina sarcastically. ‘You know, Mr President, they really should have revoked your access to all that stuff when you resigned from office.’

‘And you don’t work for the IHA any more, yet they seem happy to fund your whims at the drop of a hat. It’s high time the United Nations had its funding brought into check—’

Eddie jabbed a finger at his face. ‘Oi! Mr Pussy-dent!’ Nina let out an involuntary guffaw at the sheer childishness of the insult, and Dalton’s outraged reaction to it. ‘You know how she told you to shut the fuck up? Shut the fuck up.’ Dalton seethed, but bit his lip at the Yorkshireman’s menacing stare.

‘The only thing we want to hear from you is what Cross intends to do with the angels,’ said Nina as Eddie finished gathering the gear. They started down the tunnel. ‘Where’s he planning to release them?’

‘I’ve got nothing to say,’ Dalton replied stiffly.

Nina blew out an incredulous breath. ‘Seriously? You don’t get it, do you? Cross betrayed you! He got everything he needed from you and then left you here to die. You’ve got nothing to gain by protecting him.’ The ex-president stayed silent. ‘Maybe you think you’re maintaining plausible deniability, and that somehow you’ll be able to worm your way out of responsibility for what happened at the Mission. But trust me: you won’t be celebrating your political comeback when you return to the States. You’ll be in a federal prison on charges of conspiracy to kidnap and murder, if not outright terrorism.’

‘I told you: people like me don’t go to jail,’ he retorted.

‘Then maybe it’s time for a bit of vigilante justice,’ said Eddie, making a show of checking the Desert Eagle. Dalton fell silent.

They emerged in the cavern. Eddie helped Nina out of the sinkhole, then Jared, before climbing out himself. The two men then pulled Dalton up. ‘Are you okay?’ Nina asked Jared, seeing him grimace.

‘Yeah, yeah,’ he replied, not with full conviction. ‘But you’re right, I won’t be doing much on this leg for a while.’

‘Hopefully you won’t have to.’

‘Still got to climb down,’ Eddie reminded them. He started towards the passage through the cliffs, the others following. ‘How long’ll it take before we can tell anyone what’s happened?’

‘I think going west rather than back the way we came will be the quickest route to a highway,’ Jared replied. ‘There’s one running parallel to the Egyptian border. We should get cell reception there.’ They clambered over the fallen rocks and continued along the narrow, winding ravine.

‘So what about it?’ Nina asked Dalton. ‘Your only chance of staying out of prison is to tell us where Cross plans to release the angels. If you help stop the attacks, you might just save your sorry ass.’

‘If I’m going to say anything,’ he replied with disdain, ‘it’ll be through my lawyer to the Attorney General. It sure as hell won’t be to the likes of you.’

She shook her head. ‘You really do think you’ll still be able to get back into the White House, don’t you? Jeez. I know politicians have an inflated sense of self-belief, but you’re outright delusional!’

‘We’ll see,’ was his reply.

‘Twat,’ said Eddie, turning sideways to pass through the tight clench. ‘All right, we’re almost at the cliff.’ The light ahead grew brighter as they neared the last twist in the chasm. ‘I’ll rig the rope, and…’

He trailed off as he rounded the last corner — and heard a rising noise. The others stopped behind him. ‘What’s that?’ Nina asked.

The answer came a moment later as an Apache helicopter gunship rose into view, its cannon swinging towards them.