The Seven Seals of Egypt

CHAPTER FORTY TWO

Shattered pieces of Khufu’s tomb landed all around them and upon them. The team sighted the attacking mercs and unleashed a hail of gunfire, but the force was too strong and reckless, overcoming them in minutes. The helicopter at their back repositioned slowly, moving until it hovered outside the great hole that had been blasted in the side of the pyramid.

“They’re going for the capstone,” Crouch said. “They just breached the secret passage.”

Drake guessed as much. He smashed a running merc in the face as he raced past, then braced for a return punch of the production of a weapon, but none of the men were fighting. They were running straight for the still-smoking hole.

Chains dangled from the bottom of the helicopter, curled in a heavy iron mass for now. The quicker mercs grabbed hold and began to unfurl them, dragging them into the new hole. More soon joined, lending their strength to the task. Some fought with Luther, Molokai, Mai and Kinimaka, but only a few, causing a distraction. Others took cover and took potshots. The area was in chaos; frantic.

Drake slid over to Crouch. “Ideas?”

“I don’t bloody like it, Drake! FrameHub have researched this. Acting on Intel received inside the pyramid they blew a hole in just the right spot. Now they’re planning to drag it free. This is the same alliance of nutter that just sent Egypt to the Dark Ages.”

Drake caught his drift. “You think they’re gonna set the capstone up top?” He raised his gaze to the apex of the currently flat-topped structure. “No way. Even FrameHub aren’t so stupid.”

“They’re gamers. Juvenile madmen with incredible power at their fingertips. And they’re ghosts, gods. I think they’ll do it just for the kicks.”

Drake took it all in; the hovering heavy-lift chopper, the twenty or so men attaching the chains; the way the others were pinning his people down; and then: something else.

Vladimir and Saint stood just inside the ragged hole, supervising their men. As he watched Vladimir turned to the chopper pilot and gave the sign for two minutes.

And then he gave the sign for up.

Maybe it meant something else, but Drake wasn’t taking any chances. He spun, took a deep breath, and screamed at the team.

“Forget them! We have to grab the capstone. These madmen are going to start up the machine.”

Most of the SPEAR team turned, Karin too. Luther and Molokai continued to take out hidden enemies. Pine was looking over and so was Dino.

He gestured again. “If the pyramid is the weapon, the capstone is the key. Once placed, it’ll power up. We can’t afford to let that happen!”

He surged forward, running headlong into danger. Dahl was at his heels, Kenzie too. They evaded bullets, dodged a grenade. They went through three men as if they were made of dough. Alicia joined them and then came Smyth and Hayden. They were deadly karma, angels of death.

They passed by the chopper just as it began to thunder, rotors spinning harder, rising slowly off the floor. From inside the tomb came a terrible and tremendous grating roar, the sound of age-old stone being moved, being dragged, being torn out of its resting place. The pilot poured on the power. Mercs came surging out of the hole, desperate not to get crushed. Vladimir and Saint came with them.

They ran straight into the SPEAR team.

Drake met Saint head on, not even slowing momentum as he timed a headbutt to perfection. If he’d been wrong even by a millisecond it could have ended disastrously but it ended with Saint recognizing him and receiving a shattered nose bone and cranium at almost the exact same time.

Saint fell instantly, the shortest bout in history.

“That’s how you fight.” Drake spat on the jailor and fight orchestrator. “That… is how you fight.”

Dahl rammed into Vladimir, taking the merc boss right off his feet and carrying him ten paces before using that incredible momentum to throw him into the jagged pyramid wall. Vladimir struck hard, twisted, and screamed from the pain caused to his back. He went down like a sack of spanners, inert. Dahl leapt over to ensure the job was done.

Drake fought more mercs, sending a punishing blow to stomach and then chin. But again, they chose not to engage; all running past him without acknowledgement.

“This is becoming annoying,” Alicia said. “Are we even visible?”

“Well, they’re sure feeling us.” Kinimaka wrenched his hand out of a folded merc’s stomach, moving aside as the man dropped at his feet.

Another bunch ran past. Drake fought with one and then the most horrendous screeching that he’d ever heard rang out. The chain grew taut, the chopper strained, its engine groaning. It rose by the meter. The huge chains grumbled. And then, through the hole, Drake got his first glimpse of the ancient capstone that had been formed to top the Great Pyramid.

It came through the hole, dragging blocks and showers of mortar with it, a small pyramidion in contrast to Khufu’s but looking large and deadly to Drake. It swung free, lifted by the chopper, passing close to Drake’s flying body as he dived aside. Kinimaka ducked under it, caught in its shadow for many seconds, leaving Drake with the paradoxical wish both for the chains to hold and to break — but not right now.

The capstone, still shining, still covered by white polished cladding, swung under the chopper and then began to rise faster as the pilot learned its weight and dimensions. The mercs fought hard now, their primary job done, and the SPEAR team communicated as best they could.

In battle.

The capstone rose higher. Drake looked to their last chance; the grounded choppers.

“Dahl!” he cried. “With me!”