The Relic Hunters

CHAPTER FORTY NINE

Cassidy saw them. “What the fuck are you waiting for? Nuke the bastards!”

Bodie was instantly galvanized, somehow knowing exactly what she meant. Play the Illuminati at their own game. Give their fucking events right back to them.

“Yeah,” he said. “Oh yeah.”

He looked around, knowing exactly what he needed.

Jemma tapped his elbow. “What are we doing, Guy?”

“There.” He pointed at two dead Rangers. “Go get those grenades and be ready.”

Cross was already creeping off, understanding the plan without being told. Three more grenades lay to the right. Bodie saw Cassidy and ran straight at her; catching all three Hoods’ attention.

“Bollocks!” he cried, leaping at them, totally in the air and crashing down among them. They scattered, twisted away. Cassidy was free for several seconds and intensely busy.

“Ready?” she yelled, the question a bellow of rage and command.

“Ready!” Cross cried.

“Ready!” Jemma screamed.

“Fix this,” she said and turned, faced the approaching bosses with the RPG launcher balanced across one shoulder.

Xavier’s face twisted in fear and agony, but that was all he had time for.

Cassidy launched the first grenade, aiming for the wall above their heads and the bookcase and balcony alongside. Jemma threw her grenades, one at a time, letting them explode among the artifacts and the huge pillars that held up the pit. Cross launched his too, concentrating on the pillars. Cassidy reloaded and fired the second grenade, this one high into the chamber, shattering the roof where it was least supported.

“No!” Xavier moaned. “You are mad. Mad!”

Bodie struggled with a Hood, kicked another in the face. An ominous groaning came from the pit’s central support and the brickwork looked like it was already buckling. More grenades were thrown, explosions occurring on the ramp and along the balconies; debris, fire and rock blasting out. The remaining Rangers used their own bombs, sending blasts in all directions and disorientating the enemy. Bodie saw gouts of fire and wreckage in every part of the pit and up and down the ramp. Illuminati scattered and Hoods raced after them. Cassidy returned and helped Bodie put down the three Hoods. Heidi shot two more.

“This is the main event,” she said. “It’s just a shame you bastards aren’t down here to see first-hand the kind of terror and carnage you’ve wrought.”

Bodie was first up, then the team were racing after the Illuminati, hitting the bottom of the ramp at top speed. Fires flicked at their ankles. A gas line exploded close by, causing an eruption of flame, a singeing torrent of fire that raged up into the heights of the chamber. Several bookcases toppled, sending their contents down over the collapsing balcony in a surge of debris.

Bodie chased up through the middle of it, death and destruction on every side. A Hood leapt in from the right, incredibly evaporated in mid-air as a second gas explosion erupted beneath his body. Now there remained only Xavier and his acolytes, only three Rangers and the team. Not a man and woman among them was unmarked, not bleeding, not close to collapsing.

The chamber rumbled, the brick pillar support crumbling and waving from side to side. Part of the roof was falling in, the very skies of the Illuminati’s wonder chamber falling down. Bodie was halfway up the ramp, his team at his heels. The Rangers pressed on, faster, and Heidi shouted that they should just “take the leader out.”

Baltasar turned, face as bleak as death and decay. He would not allow that. Heidi recognized him and reached him first and did not back down.

“Die hard, motherfucker,” she said, and launched herself straight at his throat.

Baltasar twisted just a few centimeters, throwing her aside. She hit the railing hard, splintering three of the spindles. Bodie reached down and dragged her up. Now he saw Calypso and Typhon turning too, as Xavier ran on to escape.

“I got the thin bitch,” Cassidy said, running past and attacking Calypso.

“We get the wide dude,” Bodie said, pulling Heidi along by the hand as if they were racing toward a theme park ride.

They stood toe to toe and fought for everything they held dear. Baltasar engaged the three Rangers, moving like fire and shadow. Typhon faced Bodie and Heidi. Calypso moved in fast at Cassidy. The chamber and the pit burned around them, fire flashing and bookcases collapsing, tipping their contents into the fray in constant succession, surrounded by explosions and an inferno-like chaos.

Just what the Devil ordered, Bodie thought wryly as he engaged his opponent.

They struck as one; Heidi and he striking then retreating to different sides. Their opponent blocked and fought back, but he was no match for their combined effort. Bodie jabbed in between two ribs, causing the man to flinch, as Heidi delivered a strike to his neck, forcing him to double over. Bodie’s kick to the face sent his head snapping back and Heidi’s push made him topple backward, skull striking the floor with a loud crack.

He lay unmoving. Bodie considered dragging him clear — the knowledge his befuddled head contained could be invaluable — but looked to his friends first. Always, his friends.

Cassidy was toe to toe with the lithe woman, the two matching each other blow for blow. Bodie saw a surge of books rushing at them down the slope, a lava flow of burning paper, flaming high, and flung himself headlong, tackling Cassidy about the waist and bearing her away. Calypso managed to see it at the last minute and hopped onto the railing, balancing there as it passed like an acrobat with a death wish. Cassidy flung Bodie away, not impressed, and kicked at the railing, splintering it along its entire length. The wooden beam twisted, but Calypso leapt off a moment before it fell, her right knee aimed at Cassidy’s face, her shoulder rolling down for the follow up. Bodie saw Cassidy slip underneath and help the woman on with a little shove but Calypso twisted and turned, landing on her knees, facing the redhead.

Both women breathed for a moment.

The Rangers worried at Baltasar, competent to the extreme but never having faced such a knowledgeable, complex opponent before. The Hood had already broken one’s arm, made another limp and extracted blood from the nose of all three. But they hadn’t taken it lying down. The Hood was staggering, his right leg badly bruised. Blood clouded his own eyes and one of his fingers was broken. He struck out now with what seemed to be a last-ditch effort. Bodie cast around again, worried that Xavier had so long to get clear. That man could affect everything — their future, their lives, the entire world.

Cross and Jemma picked their way to his side. Heidi scooped up a heavy, splintered spindle and moved over to help the Rangers.

Bodie stared hard at the thief and the planner. “Family?”

Two nods were returned. “Family.”

They spun and hit Calypso hard, just as the Illuminati leader sprung at Cassidy. The blows sent her tumbling, spinning, landing right at Cassidy’s feet.

Out of sync for the first time. But it was all Cassidy needed. She knew the skills of her opponent and struck devastatingly hard and fast. A boot to the meat of the neck; a follow-up of a knee to the face, four hard punches to the solar plexus and abdomen and then Cassidy was atop her, raining blows down. Calypso was already sinking into unconsciousness as Cross, Bodie and Jemma came in to help. The fight was over in seconds.

Bodie stood up, held out a hand to Cassidy. “You okay?”

The redhead wiped blood from her face. “Shame she wasted those kind of skills. Could have been a great fighter.”

“Wait,” Bodie said then. “Quickly, we have others to help.”

They ran down to where the three Rangers struggled to contain Baltasar. Heidi had drawn blood from his skull, back and thighs, but was now on her knees, trying to recover from a knife-like kidney punch.

“You good?” He bent down and helped her to her feet.

“If good is agony, then yeah, I’m good,” Heidi gasped. “Bastard caught me a good one.”

Cassidy bounded past her. “Let me help.”

The addition of such an accomplished fighter finished it for Baltasar. Cassidy whipped in where the Rangers distracted the Hood, and broke bones with her punches. Bodie spun as flames washed over them, seeing the broken railing to their side catching fire. The entire length was burning, crackling. A chunk of ceiling crashed down, shattering onto the floor of the pit, but the brick support pillars appeared to be holding. Fires licked around random artifacts and Bodie knew that if they wanted to preserve at least some of them they had to get help.

“I know we steal these things for a living,” he told Heidi. “But I’m still fond of them. You gotta call in the cavalry.”

“We have to get clear first.” Heidi’s face was strained with the rigors of her decision. “I hate the thought of leaving too, Bodie, but we have no choice.”

“Then let’s do it fast.”

Baltasar had fallen, crawling now as Cassidy helped two of the Rangers up the debris-littered slope. The third Ranger rendered him unconscious, but didn’t have the strength to drag his body clear.

Another stream of wreckage piled down the slope, augmented by a ceiling collapse. Most of the rubble landed on Baltasar, missing the Ranger who dived clear.

Together, the team rushed up the slope; battered, bruised and bleeding. The curtains were engulfed in flame, a roaring sound around them like the battle of two dinosaurs. Parts of the material had fallen and Bodie led the others straight through, past the empty jail cells, and through a final passageway. He didn’t take it easy, didn’t slow; there wasn’t time and if Xavier had the balls to arrange a plan or an ambush then good luck to the little fucker.

Bodie helped Heidi, and Cassidy helped the Rangers with Cross lending a hand. Jemma backed Bodie up, running at his shoulder and scanning the terrain ahead. One more passage and then they entered the silk-lined corridor where the far doors stood wide open to give easy access to the underground tunnel.

Through the first guard hut and then the second, they saw evidence that others had fled this way, not the least of which was cast-off folders and wads of money, a jewelry box full of diamonds. Cross reached down to grab the latter and Heidi growled at him.

“Careful there; I never miss a trick.”

Cross held onto the box. The team raced up as best they could; up and out, helping each other along. The last door ejected them into the darkness of late night, into the blessed relief of fresh air and wide spaces, into the choppy bustle that was Olympia train station.

Bodie spied people running here and there; no doubt lesser Illuminati, guards and other acolytes. What he didn’t expect ahead was the appearance of Jeff and Gunn.

Dragging Xavier along between them.

A huge smile broke out on his face. “Now that is teamwork,” he said. “You were waiting for him and backed us up. Great job.”

“Think I broke a finger on his tooth,” Gunn said, cupping a hand.

Cassidy snorted. “Join the club.”

“Thanks,” Gun said, smiling now. “I will.”

Jeff threw Xavier to the floor. The Illuminati leader had been tied by the hands and feet, belts around both. Bodie finally found the reason for the choppy noise that filled the station. A helicopter was waiting.

“We have to go,” Heidi said. “Every rescue service in Greece is coming.”

“We taking Xavier?” Bodie asked as he helped Jeff drag the man toward the noise.

“Damn right we are,” Heidi said. “The leader of the Illuminati is a prize worthy of Zeus.”

Xavier sneered through blood-smeared features as they forced him to move. “Leader?” he croaked. “No. I am not the leader. He left thirty minutes ago and will make sure you all get to know his name.”

“Wait.” Heidi pulled up. “What?”

“Crap,” Bodie said. “But it hardly matters. Your network is smashed. Your home ruined. Your lodges are no longer a secret and your Hoods are all dead. Whomever your leader is, he can’t recover from this.”

Xavier glared over in the general direction of the wrecked HQ, but said nothing.

Heidi waved at the helicopter pilot. “Right, boys and girls, who’s up for a journey home?”