The Lost City

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

In the darkness of Inti’s tomb, the muzzle flashes of Kruger’s small army illuminated the walls as they marched on the much smaller ECHO team. “Get those bastards!” Kruger yelled. “I want that damned map and the man who brings it to me gets a bigger cut.”

The deafening sound of the skirmish rang out in the enclosed space as bullets traced and criss-crossed in every direction. Chunks of plaster tumbled out of the support beams and Hawke watched with increasing unease as the granite blocks in the ceiling came under fire.

“If those clowns detonate a grenade in here we’re all getting flushed out in a hurry.”

Corzo screamed with depraved joy as he unloaded an entire magazine in five seconds, the bullets spitting out of the muzzle and ripping into the masonry over Hawke’s head.

“Kill them all!” Saqqal yelled. “And get that damned map!”

Rajavi stormed forward and unsheathed a savage pesh-kabz knife. From Iran, the pesh-kabz blade was designed by ancient Persians and Afghans to tear into chainmail armour. Traditionally a thrusting blade, its length and width meant it could be used almost as a short sword in the right hands. Judging by how Rajavi was manipulating it, his were the right hands.

The massive Iranian strongman waved the pesh-kabz in Hawke’s face and beckoned him to come forward. In response, Hawke unsheathed his kukri and took a step toward him. The blade of the savage kukri flashed in the low light. It was a one-handed killing machine carried by Gurkhas for centuries and had gotten Hawke out of many tight situations.

The other man’s response was instant, lunging forward with the pesh-kabz. He slashed it in Hawke’s face, but the SBS man was ready and took a step back, swinging his head to the left at the same time.

Hawke’s opponent wasn't easily deterred and upon Saqqal’s orders he moved in closer to the Englishman and struck out again with the blade. Hawke dodged the second attack and this time brought up the kukri blade in a sweeping arc which slashed through Rajavi’s arm from the cho or notch at the bolster all the way to the tip of the blade.

The Iranian screamed in pain at the wound which the weight and width of the blade had ensured went all the way to the bone. He dropped his knife and staggered back. Blood poured down his arm in spirals and ran off his elbow.

Hawke struck like a cobra, lunging forward and seizing the advantage. When he reached the man he raised the heavy blade and brought the handle down on his head hard, striking his skull with the buttcap of the knife. Anyone else would have been knocked out in a flash, but Rajavi was like a man of steel. With his arm bleeding wildly, he shook off the head strike and lashed out at Hawke, knocking him several yards across the chamber floor.

Chaos reigned in the chamber now and they were all engaged in hand to hand fights for their own survival. Lexi was on a high ridge above the entrance to the chamber fighting a CGF rebel while Lea, Scarlet and Ryan were taking their frustrations out on rebels closer to the pyramid. Luis was keeping back, but now the young Colombian academic called out as Saqqal approached him and raised a blade to his face. “Help!”

From out of nowhere, a grenade blasted Luis and Saqqal off their feet and slammed them against the side of the pyramid where Luis narrowly avoided cracking his skull on the granite side. As he flew through the air like a Frisbee, he released the map and it crashed into the dusty floor with a smack.

Saqqal’s eyes lit up like they were on fire. “There it is!”

Luis scrambled forward to retrieve the ancient map and snatched it up in his hands, but now Saqqal grabbed his knife and approached him once again while all around them the fight raged on.

“Give me the stone, or I will kill you.”

“Help!”

“No one can hear you… they are all fighting for their lives. How will you defend your own life?” He flicked his fingers to indicate that Luis should hand over the stone. “One more chance.”

Across the chamber, Reaper was working his legionnaire magic on Corzo, pummelling him so hard in the stomach he nearly lost his balance. The Colombian rebel was harder than he looked and took the blows without a reaction and then fought back with a vicious right hook which knocked Reaper back a few steps and gave his opponent the time he needed to regain his strength and get ready for another attack.

Both men were working hard to get the better of the other, but neither was giving any quarter as the fight progressed from fists to knives. Hawke watched now as the Frenchman struggled against the much younger man. Corzo was trying to bring his knife up into the bottom of Reaper’s ribcage, and the only thing stopping it was the last few ounces of strength the former legionnaire could muster.

His contorted face dripped with sweat as he grunted with the effort of deflecting the Colombian’s blade, but Hawke saw it was slowly inching its way closer to his stomach. The strain on his eyes was clear enough as they blinked like a madman’s with each inch he edged the blade closer to Reaper’s ribcage. Corzo used his other hand to smash Reaper’s blade to the floor and he kicked it away into the shadows.

Slowly the blade got closer, and Hawke could see his friend was in trouble. He threw the kukri and struck Corzo with the juro, or peak of the blade. The Colombian grunted with pain and shock and stumbled back a few steps, reaching up to feel the gash on his head.

“Merci bien, mon ami,” Reaper said.

“No problem, Reap.”

He watched as Corzo suddenly retreated and saw Rajavi was doing the same. “They’re pulling out!” he said.

“Why?” Reaper said.

Hawke frowned “They must have the….oh no!” He ran over to where he had left Luis and then he saw it. The young man was dead, murdered by Ziad Saqqal and the stone map wrenched out of his hands.

Lea ran over to him, panting with the effort of the fight. “What is it, Joe? Oh God!”

“They killed him,” Hawke said, his voice a low whisper. “He was trying to keep the map from them, and Saqqal murdered him for it.” He took off his jacket and gently rested it over Luis’s body.

They were broken from their shock by the sound of submachine gunfire. Hawke squinted to protect his eyes as wave after wave of bullets blasted the hell out of their corner of the tomb. Behind them from the safety of the entrance tunnel, the Syrian commander had ordered the rebels to stay and finish them off.

In the tunnel behind the men, Hawke could see the heads of Ziad Saqqal, Dirk Kruger, Jawad, Rajavi and Corzo as they bobbed up and down on their way out of the underground complex.

In the new front line created by the rebels, one of the men was now walking toward them with an M60 in his hands and preparing to fire on them.

“We have to get that map back!” he yelled.

“You might have noticed we’re sort of occupied right now,” Scarlet said. She held her handgun at arm’s length and rested the weapon on the edge of the pyramid as she took aim. Moments later three sharp shots found their way home, dropping the rebel playing Platoon with the M60. He hit the dirt like a snake and crawled for cover, badly wounded, but he still had the weapon.

And then someone yelled from above. “Drop it like it’s hot, motherfucker!”

Hawke looked up to see Lexi Zhang. She was still on the ridge above the entrance, and having disposed of her opponent she was now aiming her gun at the man with the M60 below her.

The man’s eyes flicked nervously from Lexi to Hawke. Drop the gun or not drop the gun… He moved forward to put the gun on the floor, but hesitated for a second before starting to rise again.

And he was dead a second later, slamming face first into the dirt. Above him on the ridge Lexi’s smoking pistol was the only clue as to what had happened.

They all turned to look at her. “He was going to shoot,” she said. “I saw it in his eyes. Easier to read than a Mr Man book.”

“I’m glad you’re on my side,” Reaper said.

“And who says I’m on your side, Reap?”

He laughed. “You never give anything away and you never have done.”

“You really do know me, Vincent!” she said, blowing him a kiss.

She turned to walk back down to the main chamber when a rebel leaped from the shadows behind her and drew his gun.

She tried to turn her gun on him but there was no room on the narrow ledge.

He raised his weapon and prepared to fire.

She knew she had only one chance, and so she seized it.

Leaping from the ridge she tumbled over the edge and began to fall to the rocky floor far below.

The rebel was now aiming his gun at her, determined to kill her with a bullet before she hit the dirt.

Hawke aimed and threw the kukri as fast as he could. It spun through the air in a series of flashes until striking the man. The chunky blade buried itself in the man’s throat and sent him staggering off the ledge a second after Lexi.

Hawke put his hands out to catch her, taking a step forward as she fell toward him. She landed with a crash in his arms and looked up at him. “My hero.”

“You, my friend,” Hawke said, taking a step back again so the man crashed into the dirt at his boots, “…are welcome anytime.”

He lowered her to the ground and pulled the kukri from the man’s neck, wiping the blade clean on his jacket.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said with a wink.

“Not that sort of welcome, Lexi.”

“Oh…”

They looked up to see Reaper running over to them. “They’re lining the tunnel with explosives!”

Before anyone could react, a tremendous explosion roared out in the tunnel and in the chamber. They watched in horror as the water from the aquifer flooded down into the tunnel and began to fill it up.

Scarlet sighed. “Oh, happy, joyful day…”

“Saqqal’s an idiot,” Hawke said.

Lea looked at him. “Eh?”

“The tunnel leading up from the hole in the mountain to this chamber was uphill. All the water from that aquifer is going to flow down to the outside of the tunnel.”

“Are you sure?”

“It’s called gravity,” Ryan said sullenly.

“Anyone here ever enjoy going on water slides?”

They all turned to look at him, but only Reaper grinned.

Hawke led them into the tunnel to the location of the explosion. The noise of the rushing water was deafening, but he was right. The water from the citadel’s aquifer was flowing at great pressure through the hole created by Saqqal’s detonation, but gravity was redirecting it straight down the incline toward the hole they had discovered under the rock on the surface.

“Deep breath everyone,” Hawke said. “And arms crossed over the body.”

With that he leaped into the jet and disappeared into the high-pressure white water.

Lea leaped next, and immediately regretted her decision. That lying, bullshitting, sneaky, good-for-nothing, optimistic son-of-a-bitch had definitely not been on any of the water slides she’d been on and that was for keeps. The water was freezing cold for one thing, and next it was moving about ten times faster than any sodding slide.

It spat her out at the other end like a champagne cork and after siding all over the now soaked grass of the clearing she came to a stop and gasped for air as she pulled her hair out of her face. “You bastard!” she said, and scrambled clear of the water jet.

The torrent now spat Reaper out.

“What?” Hawke was standing on the granite slab they’d blown up to make the entrance. He was shielding his eyes and watching Saqqal and Kruger as they were jogging back to their choppers. “They’re nearly at the top… damn it.”

Lexi now fired out and skidded to a halt a second before Ryan.

“What do you mean, what?”

Now Scarlet came through, screaming with excitement.

Hawke turned to Lea. “Eh? You’re really wet by the way.”

She felt the fury rising. “I’m really wet? Of course I’m really freaking wet, you fool!” She walked up to him and got in his face. “That wasn’t anything like a pissing waterslide! That was a freaking torpedo tube!”

“Ah yes,” he said with a grin. “But if I’d told you that none of you would have followed me.”

She leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. “You crazy, mad bastard.”

Breathless and exhausted, they gathered together and began to jog up the hill toward the citadel. Moments later they heard a chopper’s engine starting up.

“We have to hurry,” Lea said. “Or they’re gone — and they’ve got the sodding map stone.”