The Mayan Codex

99

The heavy machine guns opened up just as Abi reached the top of the stairs. He shook his head in mute acknowledgment of the instantly transformed status quo.

Asson straightened up from his perusal of the packing hoist’s block-and-tackle system. He had Calque’s arms stretched out behind him, and had already begun winching him partway up.

‘Leave the bastard hanging, Asson. We’ve got trouble. There’s enough crystal meth down those stairs to launch a spaceship. Berith. Rudra. Oni. You three go with Asson and arm yourselves. Dakini. Nawal. This is going to get very messy indeed. If you want to light out, then light out now. Crawl through the agave if you have to. Go straight to the airport any which way you can. Take the codex and the skull with you. Don’t wait for us and don’t look back. Nobody will think the worse of you for it. We’ll stay in touch by cell phone.’

‘We’ll stay and fight with you. You’ll need the extra guns.’

Abi stared at his sisters. Then he nodded. ‘Okay then. We’ll sort out the rest of this shit later. You’ll all need grenades and sub-machine guns and pump-action shotguns. Pistols won’t come into this. If they get that close to us we’re dead anyway. When we leave the building we charge straight at them, giving them everything we’ve got. Vau and Alastor will cover us with the heavy machine guns. If we get into a siege situation, we’re done for. They can call up reinforcements anytime they want and swamp us. So we have to sort them now. Before they know how few people they’re really facing.’