The Tomb of Eternity

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Hawke stared at Lea, now lifeless in his arms, and for a moment nothing else existed. Was any of this really happening? He thought about the pain Ryan had gone through dealing with Sophie’s death — how she had died selflessly taking a bullet for him, and now Lea had done the same for him. The idea of her sacrificing her own life for his made him feel sick with guilt even though he knew he would do the same thing for her over and over.

He looked up at the others and saw nothing but desperate faces as his friends waited for him to make the next move.

“Is she dead?” Ryan asked.

“I’m not sure,” Hawke said. “I think there’s a very faint heartbeat but it’s fading fast. Get over here and bring that bloody vial of water!”

A look of expectant surprise crossed the faces of the others as they realized what Hawke was proposing.

Ryan stumbled over to him, tripping on his way and landing in a pile of rotten leaves and weaver ants. He staggered to his feet and handed Hawke the vial he had taken from the fountain before the tomb had collapsed.

“Here!”

“Are you crazy?” Scarlet said. “Didn’t you see what just happened to Vetrov?”

“He took too much,” Hawke said.

“My God, he’s right!” Ryan said. “Remember the ancient Delphic riddle on Poseidon’s half of the map — the golden mean is your measure?”

Scarlet screamed. “Now is not the time for one your lectures, Ryan!”

“Let him speak,” Hawke said, cradling Lea’s head in his arms.

“The golden mean is an ancient Greek concept advocating moderation. Poseidon was giving an oblique warning to anyone who found the map that the elixir must be taken in moderation… great moderation if what happened in there is anything to go by.”

Hawke wasted no time and took the vial in his shaking hands. He unscrewed the tiny metal lid and lowered the vial to Lea’s lips.

“I hope you’re right about this,” Lexi said, watching the life slip away from Lea.

“We have no choice whether he’s right or wrong,” Hawke said, looking at her dying body in his arms. “She was shot very close to her heart. She’s losing a lot of blood and she’s about to die. I thought I’d lost her in Russia in the fire and that was enough for me, thanks. We have to do whatever it takes.”

“But Joe, what if the same thing that happened to the Crocodile King in there happens again, to Lea?” Scarlet said again.

“Like I said… no choice.”

He finished pouring the water and watched as the strange white-gold liquid ran over her dry, cracked lips, wetting them slightly. For a few seconds nothing happened, but then the water sparkled slightly and seeped inside her mouth. It looked almost like it was being controlled to flow inside her.

She coughed and opened her eyes with a terrific gasp as she struggled to reinflate her lungs.

Then he watched the bullet hole slowly grow pale and heal right before his eyes. The blood dried and flaked away and the color of the wound changed from scarlet to crimson and then to paler skin tones. Finally, the skin puckered and a faint glow appeared before the wound was gone and the skin was smooth again.

Lea coughed more violently and blinked several times as she tried to focus on her surroundings.

“Where…”

More coughing.

Hawke put his hand to her lips.

“Shhh, it’s okay. You’re going be all right now.”

“Yeah, so get up you lazy cow,” Scarlet said. She looked at the shocked faces of those around her. “It was just a joke… bloody hell.”

“SAS humor,” Hawke said. “Best ignore it.”

Lea tried to smile, but was too weak to hold it for long. “Did you save my life twice on this mission?”

“Who’s counting?” Hawke said.

“I am, Josiah…” she said with a smirk.

Then a single gunshot slammed into the tree trunk an inch above Hawke’s head. He looked up, stunned, and saw Kodiak standing on the ridge. Vetrov’s Grach was in his hands.

“It’s that bloody Russian!” Scarlet said, automatically returning fire. “Oh… sorry Snowcat.”

“Forget about it,” Maria replied, also returning fire at the assassin. “We can be very bloody.”

Lexi cursed. “He must have been right behind us in the tunnel and got out just before it collapsed.”

With Scarlet, Lexi and Maria returning a savage wave of fire at the Russian hit-man, Hawke and Ryan moved Lea down the hill toward the chopper.

Kodiak maintained the attack, using his sniper skills to pin them down, but he was outgunned three to one, and gradually they were able to turn the tables on him, moving back to the clearing.

When they returned, one of the choppers was already fired up, and the rotors were whirring fast ready for take off.

They climbed inside and Hawke raised the collective, lifting the helicopter off the ground and above the trees.

“How do you fancy some target practice, Cairo?” Hawke said through the headset.

“You know me so well, Josiah,” Scarlet said.

Hawke rolled his eyes, already regretting letting his full name out of the bag. “You know what to do.”

Cairo swung open the side door and loaded the rapid-fire heavy-machine gun bolted to the chopper floor.

“I know she’s good,” Ryan said. “But surely not even Cairo Sloane can find that psycho down in all that jungle?”

“Correct,” she said. “But I’m not aiming for the psycho.”

Hawke made a low pass and she opened fire on the remaining choppers, exploding them all one by one, including the three Vetrov’s team had arrived in. Great plumes of burning oil smoke and fire twisted into the sky as the wrecked flying machines now burned themselves out in the rainforest.

“Let’s see the little bastard get out of this place without one of those,” Scarlet said through the headset. “And no one calls me Cairo anymore, boy.”