The Prometheus Objective

24

The 50 Cal bullets sprayed the water around them, tore through the mangroves and blasted the canal walls. Every dogged step, every splashing near-fall, Nina expected to feel the hot lead tear through her flesh, or worse — hear the mortal scream of her son. They half-swam, half-hurdled the last fifty feet, occasionally firing over their shoulders, in the angle and direction of the machine fire above.

There were others out there, ahead of them or following, and she could hear more splashes. All pretense of stealth was gone at this point. She had their hopes pinned on Jacob’s psychic hunch, and he had led them right into a dead end.

She had grenades in her pack, and some thoughts on how to use them to thin the enemy herd, but ultimately that tunnel to the ancient tomb would be their own tomb if help wasn’t where Jacob said it would be.

They made it to the tunnel, wet and scraped and bleeding from tears in their pants and shirts. Bullets held off now, as the chopper probably had to refrain from potential friendly fire. New pops sounded right and left and rained down around the tunnel and tore up the coral foundation. Nina covered Jacob as best she could as they crawled as deep as they could into the recess of the shallow tunnel.

Need to buy time.

She dug into her pack as Jacob hammered another clip into the 9mm. He covered her while shouting over his shoulder. “Alexander?”

The boulder didn’t answer.

Shit.

Found the two smoke grenades and the one concussion. Heard the steps and the scrambling outside, even as the helicopter grew louder, most likely trying to get the right angle to spray the tunnel with 50-Cal bullets.

Can’t let that happen.

She pulled two pins with her teeth. First a smoker. She tossed it so it would roll to the entrance and the courtyard, spinning as it started spraying smoke. Into the path, two figures came around the side, momentarily startled—

— and then she tossed the concussion grenade over their heads. It exploded with a thump, followed by a pair of screams and shredded bone and flesh, gratefully obscured by smoke.

She crouched with the MP5, and as the helicopter engine rumbled ahead, she let loose through the smoke at an upward angle, and side to side for good measure in case any other foot soldiers were braving the entrance.

“Alexander!” she heard again, echoing in the ringing of her ears.

In her periphery, she saw Jacob leaning against the boulder, awful close to the tunnel wall, where there was the slightest gap. He had his ear there, and his gun pointed down.

He seemed to be nodding.

She heard nothing over the firing of her gun, except the answering volleys of the 50-Cal.

Shit. Out of time.

They weren’t going to make it out alive.

But then she felt the hand on her shoulder, forceful, shoving her, and she imagined for a moment it was Caleb and they were back under the Pharos, and he had advance warning of the flooding trap. This time she went with it, right as her clip emptied and she could almost see the red-hot bullets searing in slow motion over their heads as they ducked, running to the opening. Into the billowing smoke, where Jacob pushed her to the left and fell flat with her, rolling to get out of the way…

She rolled, dropping the MP-5 and reaching for her 9mm, looking for a target, though she doubted it would help at this point.

But there it was, hanging just a hundred feet up, nose down at an angle, the pilot grinning with a war high, raining hellfire into the tunnel and through the smoke. He saw them, and started to turn slightly to get a better angle—

But that was as far as he got.

Like it was shot out of a pinball spring, the boulder launched from the tunnel, rolling until the exit, where it just picked up pace, launched into the air and crossed the hundred feet in a blur, crunching into and through the chopper, shattering metal, glass and flesh.

It kept going, trailing wreckage until arcing and splashing down into the bay.

As the pieces fell, as the body tumbled onto the basalt planks amidst the carnage, two figures came out from the smoking tunnel.

The girl held an impossibly long stick, held it forward with difficulty, only now loosening her grip.

Jacob dusted himself off, then grinned at his mom. “Told you.”