The Mayan Codex

104

Sabir had to help Calque down the trapdoor steps. Calque’s left arm hung uselessly at his side, and he was forced to descend the steps sideways, like a crab.

When they reached the bottom, Calque let out a soft whistle. ‘I think we’ve just found our way out of here.’

With its 130-inch wheelbase, the armour-plated Hummer H1 Alpha looked like some low-crouching animal, waiting to pounce on its prey.

‘Look at this, man. Gold-plated sub-machine guns. And how about these pistols. What sort of people gild their pistols?’

‘You’d be better off looking for the Hummer keys. The firing’s died down. Someone’s going to be coming in here soon. And this will be the first place they make for.’ Calque was staring at the bricks of crystal meth. ‘Have you ever seen anything like it? You’re looking at ten thousand ruined lives.’

‘The keys, Calque.’

Both men began to search feverishly through the collected paraphernalia in the display cases. Sabir’s military reservist training was beginning to come back to him. He selected two Heckler amp; Koch MP5Ks, because he knew how to use them, and also two of the gold-plated Smith amp; Wesson 469s. One had an engraving of the Mexican eagle figured into its grip, and the other an engraving of a Rottweiler.

‘I’ve got them.’ Calque snatched a set of keys off a communal hook set into the end of the display cabinet.

‘Try them.’

Calque aimed the keys at the Hummer. There was an answering click-click. ‘We’re in business, Sabir. I hate to restate the obvious, but you’d better drive.’

Sabir threw the guns and the rucksack containing the skull and the codex onto the back seat. Then he helped Calque into his seat, and belted him in.

‘Wait. Let me out again.’

‘Are you crazy? We haven’t got much time left.’

‘Let me out, I say.’

Sabir unbuckled Calque from his seat and helped him from the vehicle.

‘Find me something flammable.’

‘For Christ’s sake. You don’t mean to burn this place down?’

‘I’m a policeman, Sabir. Have been all my life. I can’t let this filth get out onto the streets. If you don’t want to help me, leave. But I’ve got to do it. I’ve just got to.’

Sabir sighed long-sufferingly. ‘You’re right. I should have thought of it myself, of course. But I was too busy thinking about my own skin and yours to give much of a damn about ten thousand complete strangers.’

Both men began ferreting through the detritus surrounding the industrial vats.

Then Calque straightened up. ‘I saw hand grenades, didn’t I?’

‘Gold-plated ones. Yeah. They’re probably fakes. You can’t persuade me that anyone in their right mind gold-plates a live hand grenade. But we should be able to tell if they’re real by the weight.’

‘Worth a try, then. Crystal meth produces a highly flammable vapour. The slightest spark can ignite it. Chuck a grenade into one of those vats and the whole place would go up.’

‘The death grip. How opposite. Yes. With us in it.’

‘We’d have eight seconds. Isn’t that right? Particularly if you back the Hummer right up to the vats, Sabir.’

‘Five seconds, not eight. Just how long ago did you do your military service, Calque? The Franco-Prussian war? You like to live dangerously, don’t you?’

‘You’re the one to talk. Shall we do it?’

‘You take one vat and I’ll do a second. But I won’t have time to strap you back in. You’ll have to take your chances leaning out of the window. If you fall out, I leave you. Okay?’

‘Who did they torture, Sabir? You or me?’

‘You, I’m glad to say.’

‘Did you leave me then?’

‘Stupidly, no.’

‘Then you’re not going to leave me now.’

Sabir backed the Hummer up to the nearest of the industrial vats.

Both men removed the safety pins from their grenades, keeping their fingers tight down on the spoons.

‘You on the death grip, Calque?’

‘The death grip. How apposite. Yes. I’m ready.’

‘I’ll call it. Okay? To a count of three.’

‘Okay.’

Calque was half-in half-out of the Hummer’s front window. He had a six-foot throw to the nearest vat. Sabir’s throw was about eight foot. The Hummer’s engine was throbbing quietly beneath them.

‘One. Two. Three. Fire in the hole!’

Both men threw their grenades.

Sabir launched himself back onto the front seat, grabbing Calque by the shirt as he did so.

He engaged the Hummer’s automatic gearshift and aimed it up the ramp.

Then he began to pray.