Ark of Fire

CHAPTER 93

Caedmon ran full speed toward the pencil-thin, erratic green glow.

“Turn it off!” he shouted, able to see that MacFarlane had taken control of the careening vehicle. Able to see that he was steering the truck directly toward the source of the light beam.

Edie turned her head in his direction. With her curly hair wildly blowing all about her, she looked like one of the Furies in pursuit of the wicked among them.

Her expression resolute, she shook her head, refusing to move out of the path of the oncoming convoy truck.

He pumped his legs and arms all the faster, afraid he wouldn’t reach her in time. Afraid she would meet her end in a most hideous fashion. Afraid.

He only had a few seconds, the whole of the world reduced to his pounding heart, the rat-a-tat-tat of automatic-weapon fire, the roar of the powerful engine.

She was just a few feet away.

He could do this.

He could save—

In the next instant, he was airborne, diving toward her, his arms and legs stretched taut.

His heart in his throat, Caedmon plowed into Edie with a thudding impact, knocking her off her feet and out of the truck’s pathway. The laser light knocked from her hands, its beam frenetically arced through the night sky before harmlessly plummeting to earth. Limbs tangled together, the two of them rolled across the rocky terrain, the inhospitable surface providing no leaf or blade of grass to soften the impact.

With no time to inquire as to injuries, he rolled to his knees. His finger on the trigger of the Glock, his arms locked in a firing position, he prayed that he had successfully cleared the jam.

The truck now moving away from him, he took aim at the rear tires, permitting himself one deep, calming breath before he fired six shots in quick succession.

His aim true, he hit the new targets, blowing out both rear driver’s-side tires, the truck abruptly fishtailing, wildly swaying from side to side as Stanford MacFarlane lost control of the mammoth two-and-a-half-ton vehicle. As the truck headed toward the steep cliff that overlooked the sea.

The gun limply hanging from his hand, Caedmon stood motionless, watching in disbelief as the truck went over the side of the cliff.

For the briefest of seconds the red taillights eerily twinkled in the darkness before disappearing from sight. A sonorous Boom! was soon followed by a sudden burst of bright light, the ensuing explosion illuminating the heavens. A surreal swan song for a madman and the coveted Ark of the Covenant.

All was vanity and grasping for the wind, he dazedly thought even as his stomach roiled.

Edie ran to his side, throwing herself into his arms.

“Oh, God! I can’t believe what I just saw!”

“Nor I,” he whispered, holding her tight.