The Swords of Babylon

CHAPTER FIFTY SEVEN

Dahl bounded over to the suited man as the last crackles of energy subsided. He smashed a fist into the side of his head, sending his entire frame slithering to the ground.

“Questioning can wait.”

He balanced on the spot, listening. At least the dissipation of the energy tree had temporarily slowed the crumbling of the old tombs.

Bengtsson stepped up. “What on Earth happened here, sir?”

Dahl eyed Olle Akerman, still swinging in the cable car. “We won. And now we need to go.”

Akerman stared forlornly through the empty windows. “Any chance you can get me down now?”

Dahl jumped for the ladder. “Just be a moment.”

Alicia saw the last vestiges of earth energy fade away, then cringed as a high-pitched mewling started up. Her eyes sought and found Russell Cayman, bent double with his nose to the ground, the shattered skull of Kali clenched between his bleeding fingers.

The tombs still crumbled around them. She thought it really was time to get the fuck outta here, but could they risk leaving Cayman alive?

Not a chance. Alicia had no intentions of bringing the psycho back to the real world. She stepped among the statues, now at the center of the tomb, and raised her gun.

“You can’t kill me,” he hissed.

“Just putting down a rabid dog. And this is you getting lucky, Cayman, believe me.”

Cayman looked up at her, eyes wretched and lost. “I don’t want to be taken from my home again. I don’t want to be left by the side of the road. Do it. Do it now.”

Alicia hesitated for a second, wondering what his story was, but the sound of a Desert Eagle booming put an end to any second thoughts. Cayman’s head exploded, his body falling backwards, fingers still not relinquishing their grip on the skull of Kali, even in death.

Alicia turned. Lomas shrugged at her, pretending to blow smoke from the end of his barrel. “We have to get away from here, Taz. Place is falling to pieces.”

The Englishwoman fell in as the bikers and German special ops troops jogged their way back up the shaking passageways. Behind them, the tomb started to steadily cave in. Alicia ignored it and, surrounded by her gang, repeated the words one last time to reinforce the gravity of her message.

“Never, ever, mention that name to anyone beyond this gang. You hear me? If you understand me right, your balls should be starting to shrink.”

A few ‘ayes’ went up, even from the women.

Alicia ran with her new family toward the light.

Kinimaka forced the Shadow Elite boss down the vertical ladder, throwing him the last four feet. All around them, rock faces were crumbling. Even the throne of Odin was starting to develop a myriad of tiny cracks.

Hayden met his eyes. Kinimaka nodded. “Run!”

Dragging their captive, the two SPEAR operatives chased their own footsteps back through the redundant trap system. Mini earthquakes threatened to upend them at any moment, but thankfully the major damage seemed to be confined to the tombs. It was the spectacular end of the gods, the final destruction of their resting places now adding to the insolent disrespect of their deaths. By the time Hayden and Kinimaka neared ground level, the rumblings had stopped, making the Hawaiian pause at the entrance to the gates of Hell.

“I guess that’s the last of the gods then.”

Hayden cast her eyes over the archway, the so-called portal, and wondered about the two devices that complimented it. Whatever had happened to them?

“I guess so. And in truth, Mano, despite what we may have learned, it’s not a bad thing.”

“Damn right.”

“I just hope it’s the same at every tomb. I wonder how the others fared.” Hayden stared at her cell until the green bars flickered into life.

Kinimaka strode out into the open air first, throwing the Shadow Elite boss to the floor at the feet of the gathered military forces. “Last guy we walked out of here,” he said, “is still wallowing in some top secret prison. No one knows where. I expect nothing less but the same for you, asshole.”

Then the day became a blur for Kinimaka. Hayden called Karin and confirmed events at the other two tomb sites and Babylon. Jonathan Gates came on the line and thanked them publicly, along with half the military and cops in Honolulu. A Japanese family somehow managed to wander into the facility and started to take pictures. His sister, Kono, called and said that she needed to see him. She was sure she was being watched. She knew he was in Hawaii, and maybe he could stop on the way back to D.C. And finally, ultimately, Hayden pulled him to the side and led him over to the low rim of the crater.

Beyond, the glittering Pacific lapped at Waikiki’s golden shore.

“We should call a hotel,” Hayden said after a while. “Get cleaned up.”

Kinimaka grunted. “Are you kidding, makamae? My home’s a short drive away.”

Hayden pulled a face. “You want me to go meet your mom?”

“Doesn’t every man want to take home his beautiful girlfriend?”

Hayden still hesitated uncertainly. “Ah, the Hard Rock’s in the other direction you know.”

“I know. We can go there tomorrow.”