The Emperor's Tomb

FIFTY-EIGHT

NI HEARD THE TWO SHOTS AS THE MAN IN THE DOORWAY FIRED at him. But the bullets zoomed over his head and pinged off the walls, causing him to duck and shield his head. Clearly the man had readjusted his aim just prior to pulling the trigger, intentionally aiming high.

He was not going to be so generous. He leveled his gun and squeezed the trigger.

But the man was gone.

His bullet, like the two before, found only stone, ricocheting off the walls, causing him now to drop to the floor.

He sprang to his feet, without using either hand for leverage, and bolted for the exit. A quick peek around the doorway’s edge and another bullet came his way, reeling him back against the wall. Why was the man shooting at him, yet not wanting to hit him? And why was a foreigner here with Tang?

He recalled what the premier told him. The fighter did not crash. It was shot down by a helicopter, piloted by a foreigner, authorized to fly by Minister Tang.

Was this the man?

TANG FLED THE MAIN HALL AND REENTERED THE FIRST ANTECHAMBER. Viktor appeared from one of three darkened archways that led out, his back leading the way, gun pointed behind him.

“I found Minister Ni,” Viktor said.

Tang motioned for the two brothers to take positions left and right. Both brandished their guns, while he held a semi-automatic.

“Is there any other way out?” Tang asked.

Viktor shook his head. “Only through here.”

MALONE WATCHED THE UNFOLDING SCENE WITH INTEREST.

“What do you think is happening?” Cassiopeia asked.

She hadn’t been privy to Stephanie’s briefing, so he explained. “The man there, in the center, giving orders, is Karl Tang.”

He caught a glimpse of a fourth man now inside the antechamber. Viktor. He should have known.

“You think it’s Pau Wen they are after?” she asked.

“Could be. But he seemed to have anticipated this warm reception.”

“That means somebody else is down here. Somebody Karl Tang doesn’t like.”

“Which makes that person our ally.”

“So let’s help.”

CASSIOPEIA GRIPPED THE GUN, READYING HERSELF. MALONE slipped to one side of the plinth, she to the other. Luckily, the jade table had been positioned diagonally, which offered them more protection.

Malone stood.

“Hey, assholes,” he called out.

Tang, Viktor, and the two men whirled.

Malone sent a bullet their way, obviously not to hit anybody but to attract their attention. Which worked. All four retreated from view, two firing rounds as they disappeared from sight.

Both she and Malone hugged the plinth.

“I hope whoever we just helped appreciates it,” she said.

NI HEARD SOMEONE CALL OUT, THEN HEARD THREE SHOTS fired. He advanced into a smaller, dimly lit space that opened between him and the brightly lit antechamber. He pressed his spine to the wall directly adjacent to the doorway and peered around the corner. Tang and two other men were standing as he was, against the wall for the entrance into the burial hall.

He did not see the foreigner and watched as one of the men swung around and shot through the archway into the burial chamber.

Then another did the same.

Something had commanded their attention, away from him.

He decided to take advantage of the situation.

He aimed and fired.

TANG WAS STARTLED BY THE SHOT FROM BEHIND.

One of the brothers cried out, then shrank to the floor.

The man writhed in pain.

Tang turned to see Ni Yong fleeing one of the darkened doorways, rushing into the next anteroom. He swung his gun around and fired, but Ni vanished through the archway, finding sanctuary on the other side.

Where was Viktor?

The wounded brother continued to moan in agony, exposed on all sides.

Only one thing to do.

Tang shot him in the head.

“DAMN,” MALONE SAID. “DID YOU SEE THAT?”

“They shoot their own,” she said.

“Which means they’ll have little respect for us.”

NI WASTED NO TIME. AS SOON AS HE’D SQUEEZED THE TRIGGER, he rushed for the exit, finding safety just before Tang could respond. He bolted into the next anteroom, keeping near a far wall, away from the vulnerable middle, fleeing toward the main doors. If he could make it into the passage leading back to the well, darkness would be his ally.

He slipped into the last antechamber.

He hugged the wall and stole a quick glance behind, catching a glimpse of Tang and the other man as they entered the room he’d just left.

One of them fired.

He ducked, then sent a response, using the moment to slip through the black crease between the partially opened main doors. Once on the other side of the entrance, he was safe from bullets. He could not waste a moment. In the blackness, beyond the lights, he’d be okay.

He turned to flee, but a man blocked his way.

The foreigner who’d shot at him earlier and intentionally missed.

“You don’t know me,” the man said, a gun in hand, pointed straight at him. “But I’m not your enemy.”

The stranger stepped farther from the darkness into the light. Definitely European. Ni burned the face into his memory.

The man handed Ni his weapon, gripping it by its short barrel.

“Knock me silly with this gun, then get the hell out of here.”

He did not have to be told twice. He accepted the gun and slammed its metal butt into the man’s temple.

He then tossed the gun aside and fled into darkness.

TANG EMERGED FROM THE DOUBLE DOORS AND SPOTTED VIKTOR lying on the pavement, his gun a few meters away. His gaze raked the darkness ahead, but he heard and saw nothing.

Ni was gone.

Viktor was picking himself off the floor, rubbing his head. “I was waiting for him, but the bastard was quick. He slammed me in the head.”

Tang had no time for excuses. With no way to safely pursue, he aimed into the blackness and laid down a spread of four shots, swinging his arm from right to left, one wall to the other.

Bullets pinged in the darkness.

Retorts banged off the walls, hurting his ears.

“He’s gone,” Viktor calmly said.

He lowered the gun. “We need to go back inside. Malone, Vitt, and Pau Wen are still there.”

MALONE HEARD FOOTSTEPS, HEADING AWAY, AND SURMISED THAT the two men and Viktor had fled. He had no idea what lay on the other side of the archway for the burial hall’s main entrance.

But now was the time to act.

Heading back to the secret panel through which they entered was too risky. Far too much real estate between here and there. So he motioned to Cassiopeia and together they abandoned the plinth, traversing the ninety feet to the entrance arch in just a few seconds. Luckily, the floor topography was mainly plains and ocean, over which extended a narrow walkway that allowed them to run a majority of the way.

The dead man lay still, blood pouring from his two wounds.

Malone risked a look inside the next chamber and spotted three men, Viktor and Tang among them, reentering at the opposite end, heading straight for them. Cassiopeia was watching, too, and together they decided a retreat was in order.

But first he fired a round that sent the three men scattering.

Cassiopeia led the way as they retraced their path to the center plinth. They made it there just as two more rounds came their way.

Apparently, their pursuers were not going to leave.

They hugged the far side of the plinth.

“You realize we have nowhere to go,” Cassiopeia said.

“That thought has occurred to me.”