The Relic Hunters

CHAPTER FORTY TWO

Bodie heard the rumble, saw the walls shudder. The ground shifted. The stairs buckled. A Hood leapt for him, grabbing his chest and coming in for a head-butt. Bodie flicked him around, shrugged him off down the stairs. Then he leapt straight after the man.

One stair, then another and another. The wood splintered and heaved but he saw the way ahead. Another Hood was upon him, reaching for his collar. The swiftest of glances behind revealed the Illuminati struggling hard to follow, most of them scrambling or stumbling along. The top floor railing twisted and fell, crashing to the floor below. Bodie saw a large patch of the ground floor just tumble away, a stream of wood, concrete and rubble plunging downward in a lethal waterfall.

Another stair. Three from the bottom now. The Hood was uncaring of his peril, intent on impeding the intruder. Bodie put the brakes on for half a second just as the Hood lunged, saw the man tumble headlong straight to the floor and into another hole that had just opened up.

Through the new gap Bodie saw only emptiness and falling debris.

He paused on the last step, then took a flying leap and landed on the edge of the hole, teetering badly. His view ahead opened up and he saw the team battling the ongoing eruption to reach the front door. Gunn was down and then dragged to his feet by Cassidy. Jemma hit a wall and was steadied by Cross. Jeff fell and was scooped up by Cassidy’s other arm. The team fought on.

Bodie flung himself to the ground on purpose, gaining traction, but then the hole started to broaden. He could hear individual explosions now as the house was deliberately, carefully brought crashing down. Not just that, it was disappearing into the earth.

What the hell is below us?

A pit, it seemed. Bodie saw another chunk of floor cave in to reveal a rock wall and a long drop. Something below though. Something straight and hard, something familiar, now being covered by the rapidly disintegrating house.

A Hood must have leapt across the first hole, for now he struck Bodie’s back, sending the thief sprawling. Bodie hit the edge of another hole and put a hand out, scraping his flesh on sharp rubble. The Hood jumped onto his back, pummeling his ribs from above. Bodie bucked and heaved, got into position, then threw the man over his head and straight down the hole. Not even a scream marked his flight path.

Up again. Knees burning, ribs aflame and chest heaving. He was scraped bloody and feeling raw. A terrible clatter and crash sounded from behind and he assumed part of the first-floor had come tumbling down. Smoke billowed all around him. A body hit some remaining paneling at his side and fell forward end over end with its own momentum, dead and flailing.

Now the walls were dissolving. Another explosion and another. Bodie saw one wall buckle at the base and fall away, bringing a huge part of the house crashing down on top of it.

He scrambled through the mess, the smoke, the rubble. He trusted to luck for he had no other recourse. Ahead, Cross threw Jemma out into the street — the door and adjacent wall was missing. Cassidy hurled Jeff after the American and then carried Gunn out.

All around them, the street bucked and heaved.

Bodie noticed the houses on the other side of the street beginning to sag as the chain of explosions reached them.

Oh no…

No way would he make it that far. He was unlikely to escape the house. A chunk of masonry the size of a car smashed down close by, rocking and shaking and bristling with rebar. He looked up to see the high ceiling falling in, deadly wedges of concrete and timber tumbling down toward him.

Bodie had only seconds to think.

He looked back, saw the Illuminati pinned by wreckage and speared to the very ground by iron bar reinforcement and timber spears; saw the Hoods that weren’t crushed struggling valiantly to free their bosses even as a fatal heavy cascade deluged them; he looked forward to see his team still free, still running; left and right to see the collapsing, shattered world that remained.

And then did the only thing possible.

He jumped down into the pit beneath his feet.