The Lost Kingdom

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

Drake swam over to Kearns, perturbed at the Seal team leader’s obvious horror. The man appeared to be quite simply dumbstruck, not an emotion normally associated with any Special Forces soldier. Kicking his flippered feet he closed the gap in seconds, twisting his body to glide in.

“What ya got, mate?”

“Explosive device,” Kearns said after a moment. “And it looks like it’s been daisy chained.”

Drake felt his blood run hotter. “What?”

Through the comms shouts of disbelief went up.

Kearns swam as close as he dared, Drake at his side. Together they peered at the small, black circular object, noting the blinking red light on its cover.

“The positioning.” Kearns indicated the nearby underwater structures, mostly buried beneath the sea’s accumulated sediment. He flicked his body sideways, following his own circuit and soon unearthed another device, its light also blinking. “The mad, crazy bastards have mined this entire area to explode and it’ll take your lost kingdom with it.”

Drake stared into the dark depths of the ocean. “I don’t see how they can detonate. That thing’s wireless and wireless signals don’t work down here.”

Kearns held up a hand. “You clearly haven’t been keeping yourself up to date. Whilst it’s true that radio waves carry the wireless signals and are sluggish in water, cutting edge research has developed a prototype that relies mostly on sound waves. A large underwater modem emits chirps that can carry almost a mile. That means—”

“All they need is a boat up top,” Drake cut him off abruptly. “Oh crap, are those lights flashing faster?”

“Move! The good news is that those underwater modems are slower than the old dial-up systems. We have a few seconds.”

“Seconds!”

Drake kicked out, angling his body away from the chain of devices. Was this what the Pythians wanted? To blow up the ancient civilization that they had just found? Had the Chinese refused their offer?

What was going on?

Alicia’s black shape darted past, sleek as a seal. Dahl was already scissor-kicking upwards, bubbles streaking all around him. The Seal team ascended in their wake, but then Kearns drew them up short.

“Slow down, people. Ain’t no quick escape here unless you want the decompression to kill you. Move sideways as fast as you can to escape the blast radius.”

Drake quelled a surge of horror. Depending on the number of devices — and judging by the first two’s distance apart they were going to add up to a shitload — it was unlikely that they would escape the blast radius.

“Move!” Kearns cried, already swimming for his life.

Hibiki took a phone call, the number revealing it was his contact within the Chinese Politburo. Heart thumping, he assumed this must be regarding the outcome of the special emergency meeting in Beijing.

“Guys,” he said. “Sorry, I have to take this.”

Only Yorgi acknowledged his words. Mai and Grace were nestled together in an intense heart to heart — which to Hibiki’s light relief was now actually producing one or two genuine smiles — and Chika was perched on the edge of a tractor tire, staring out to sea.

A sharp voice came through the handset. “Hello?”

“Yes, I’m here. Sorry.” Hibiki heard a sound like rolling thunder behind him and frowned at the skies. The clouds were white and the heavens were blue, not stormy and gray.

“You must act quickly or we’re all doomed. My government… I am shocked by the arrogant greed of my government.”

“What is it? What have they done?”

“Placed themselves before our history. Put avarice and desire before our citizens. Government is but a ravenous glutton, consuming the energies of its greatest natural resource — its public, its society. We are doomed.”

“I don’t understand.” Hibiki almost ducked as thunder cracked again in the bright blue skies.

Mai glanced straight up from her tête-a-tête with Grace. “Oh no.”

“Dai, listen closely to me. We don’t have much time and but a small chance. The inner circle have decided they want Mu destroyed so that they finally have a clear-cut reason to go to war with Taiwan. It’s happening now. They’ve wanted this for years and its finally happening.” The man sounded like he wanted to cry.

“War? War? Why?”

“Check your history later, but for now use every resource you have to try to delay it. Every resource! If China attack Taiwan, imagine what the US will do in retaliation and then…”

Hibiki didn’t need it explaining. The thunder cracked once more above his head and finally he saw its source — fighter planes bearing the flag of Taiwan. They were streaking toward the Taiwan Strait.

“Don’t freak out on me, Dai. One more thing quickly — they also ransomed a historical item today. The Peking Man for something called a Z-box. I don’t know what that is but you can bet your life it’s hugely important.”

Hibiki nodded to himself and ended the call. An upwelling of pure disbelief almost overwhelmed him. Was the world always so close to war?

Ridiculous question. He already knew the first thing he had to do — contact Hayden Jaye.

Mai finally saw the terror in his eyes and rose to confront him. “What is it?”

Hibiki shook his head and then turned his eyes toward the sea. “Mu is about to be destroyed by the Chinese or someone else. Drake’s down there now. And China are starting a war with Taiwan. Business as usual in your world, I guess.”

“It used to be,” Mai said with a blank stare. “I’m not so sure anymore. I think I should talk to that girl, the one that survived the Yakuza attack. Emiko, her name was.”

Hibiki stared at her, shocked to hear her talking this way after all that he had just said. “I forgot to tell you amidst all the latest craziness,” he said. “Emiko walked out on her police protection, slipped away. She’s gone, Mai.”

The Japanese woman’s gaze was far away. “Yes, I really think I need to talk to her.”

Hibiki walked to the edge of the docks and studied the rolling waters. Yorgi came up beside him. “Is there problem?”

“I’m just praying for their safety, my friend. Their safety and my sanity.”

Drake was reaching for the surface when the blast occurred. The percussive force was like nothing he had ever felt, pushing him through the thick water like a giant, unfriendly hand. Suddenly out of control, the shock wave hit him and sent his body barreling forward, arms and legs flailing to both sides. He was vaguely aware of other human shapes thrashing beside him, caught in a tide of madness. Decompression was no longer an issue as they shot toward the surface. Kearns had made them pause frequently even though the clock was ticking. Drake just hoped it had been enough. A pool of white light appeared above, diffused and rippling, and then he was breaking the surface as walls of white water exploded all around him.

The sea burst skyward, rising in plumes of white, forming a ring of destruction around the lost land that had existed beneath. Drake slapped down hard as saltwater swelled and heaved all around him, the sound of the detonation echoing from far shore to far shore. Ramparts of seawater rose up, mighty, stunning in their furious beauty. Quickly, glad only that he still retained his faculties, he dived again, not wanting to be caught underneath a great deluge as the water crashed back down. Again, black slippery shapes clawed at the water all around but the uncontainable chaos made it impossible to stick together.

He breathed deeply, grateful now that the rebreather still worked and that his air still functioned. At last there was a mighty smash from above as displaced gallons came back down. Drake twisted and remained buoyant, holding his position. His immediate worry was for his friends.

To his left, just visible, he saw Dahl, hanging in the water. The Swede was fine, just drifting motionless whilst waiting to ascend. Kearns wove his body quickly around all three of his men to determine their condition.

And then Drake saw Alicia.

Drifting down, head down, the Englishwoman was not moving voluntarily. He flippered over as fast as he could, catching her under the arms and lifting her head up.

“Are you okay?” he shouted. “Alicia! Are you okay?”

No response.

He tried harder. The Englishwoman’s eyes were closed. Dahl came over, followed by Kearns.

“She went up higher than all of us.” He motioned up top. “Let’s go.”

As a team they scissor-kicked their way to the still-seething surface, breaking free of the water and bobbing with the waves. Kearns ripped his mask off and unhooked Alicia’s. Drake steadied her position.

“Well, she’s still breathing,” Kearns said. “Let her sleep it off. Can anyone spot the friggin’ boat?”

“I know one thing that’ll wake her up.” Drake positioned her so that her arms looped over his shoulders. “Slap her ass. Always used to work back in the day.”

Dahl’s face blanched. “I really don’t feel like risking that.”

“And a bloody good job you didn’t, Torsty,” Alicia murmured as her eyes flickered open. “And you, Drake. My peachy bum is reserved for Frenchmen only at the moment.”

Drake nodded at all the bobbing heads. “Not frogmen.”

“No. Frenchmen.”

“All right then.”

The Seals took some time to locate their boat as Drake turned his mind once more to their new predicament. “Ey up,” he said as jets flew over. “That can’t be good. And speaking of not good — does anyone wanna guess at what just happened down there?”

“Somebody blew up Mu,” Alicia said matter-of-factly.

“I know that, but why?”

“Speaking of blowing up.” Dahl removed a watertight case from his suit and then a cellphone. “Our friend Kearns spoke of a wireless signal transmitted underwater. One thing about wireless signals — they can be tracked.”

Kearns finally located their Zodiac using his own tracker and informed the group they were in for a swim. Dahl finished his call to Karin and zipped his cell back up. Together, they set out strong, taking about twenty minutes to reach the upturned Zodiac. Five minutes of clever maneuvering later and they were on their way again, streaking back toward Hsinchu Harbor, its outline becoming more distinct by the second.

Drake called Hibiki. Dahl spoke to Karin. By the time they reached the dock they were all apprised of the new situation and its connotations. The SPEAR team stripped out of their suits and thanked the Seals for their efforts.

All the while Dahl spoke to Karin.

Finally, he hung up. “The wireless signal bounced off a transmitter on the seabed up to a boat — we think — on the surface and then overland to an apartment block—” he shaded his eyes, scanning the bay. “Right… there.”

Drake followed his hand, saw the gray building standing tall a few miles distant. “Wait. You’re saying the people who blew up the Lost Kingdom and are trying to start a war are in that building? Now?”

“I am. Top floor. End apartment.”

“Then what the hell are we waiting for?”