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Darkness reigned, broken only when wide expanses of the sky were illuminated by extreme electrical activity. Clouds had become more dense, lightning more frequent, rain heavier and rushing gusts of air pushed all living matter to the fringes of survival.
'I'm scared,' Lee whispered in Aaron's ear as their helicopter's engine struggled to move the craft against the wind.
He took her hand and squeezed it.
'I am too.'
'This is insane. Why couldn't we wait? Why couldn't everyone wait until the storm blew itself out?'
'The stakes are ridiculously high... that's why. Billions are at risk.'
'I don't care about billions.'
'But others do.'
She shifted in her seat, away from Aaron as if he were the spokesperson for the protagonists.
'Hey... not me baby, I'm not them. I'm just telling you how I think they see things.'
'Well I don't like it and I don't think we ought to be.... be... way up here in this.' She gestured as she spoke. 'What's going on? Are we mad? Is this some sort of desperate mercy mission we've contrived just to make our dull lives more dramatic, more exciting.'
The helicopter spilled to one side and fell in a powerful down draft. The ground came rushing up. The pilot tensed his grip on the controls and steadied his feet on the pedals and regained control; in one wide swoop, the aircraft resumed its cruising altitude.
'That's the camp up ahead,' the pilot said.
'Thank God!' Lee could not contain her relief.
'Nearly there darling,' Aaron spoke calmly, smiling he slid forward on his seat.
'Some party, there are a lot of people down there today,' the pilot said. 'Look at all those choppers.'
There was a group of small aircraft, mostly helicopters, some had been pushed onto their sides by strong wind gusts but most were lashed and staked firmly to the ground.
'There's an important meeting here today... it's decision day for this mine.'
'You're all fucking mad,' the man said after careful thought.
He had to say it. He had harboured that thought for the duration of the flight. Just hearing the words gave him great satisfaction.
'I told him that years ago,' Lee joked.
The mining camp was a scene of devastation. Roofs were missing, buildings had collapsed, trees were down with their roots exposed, shrubs and bushes lashed at the buildings and the water levels were rising. Nearby, estuaries, creeks and rivers were torrents; the whole mining region was slowly flooding. Lee held Aaron tightly as their aircraft began its descent. Up ahead a helicopter had just lifted off.
The water spraying from the rotating blades of Sir Peter's escape craft gave its pilot concern. But the firmly held gun which Sir Peter pushed into his neck was of greater importance.
'Okay, okay we're in the air, take it easy with that thing. Please, put it down,' the man pleaded with Sir Peter.
'Not yet,' the Englishman said.
Looking out the window at the camp as it moved away from him, the buildings were reduced in scale to childlike toys; they were once his toys. The TransGlobal empire was his sport, his game, and everything it owned he felt were his - his toys. TransGlobal's finances, land leases, buildings, aircraft, cars, trucks, furniture, equipment and staff, everything it had amassed, were his play things. It had all been a game, like those he had learned on the playing fields of Eton - soccer, cricket, rugby - and he was the captain. A captain of industry for certain, by any standard. He had held the reins of one of the largest mining companies the world had ever seen. It had all been his for years.
To his right, Sir Peter could just make out the shape of another helicopter making its descent.
From a distance the two helicopters hovering above the mine looked like distressed insects faltering in flight. A brilliant bolt of lightning pushed upward to a cloud mass seeking its discharge, then another and another in quick succession. Then in a massive flash of white, Aaron and Lee's helicopter was thrust upward, its fuel tanks exploded as if it were an incendiary bomb. Immediately another massive stroke enveloped Sir Peter's craft, swiftly rushing it up into the sky, toward a bubbling, flashing cloud. Then it became a fury-filled fireball, its metallic fuselage and superstructure reduced to strips and sheets and sent in various directions about the sky.
In quick succession massive white bolts hit the office block, living quarters, commissary and warehouses. Then a single stroke uprooted the whole munitions complex and a series of almighty explosions lit the surrounding area, intensely hot fireballs were sent rolling to the heavens. Another huge explosion created an instant crater the size of a football field beside the ship canal and ocean water drained in - a five-metre high wave swept into the open red gash.
The smelting plant was struck five times in less than a minute, the steel structure groaned and squealed as it came apart. The gale easily pushed the loosened roof and walls away. More strikes hit and pushed at buildings near the canal exit to the ocean several kilometres away, rushing gale gusts grasped the remnants and tossed them aside.
Massive lightning bolt followed massive bolt, the thunder was continuous. Again and again buildings were struck, uprooted, overturned and forced skyward by ten metre wide trunks of light: sizzling, hissing, blinding light.
Inside the helicopter fifteen metres from the ground, Aaron and Lee and the pilot were thrust hard against the windshield after the lightning struck them, and it gave way. They were sent somersaulting through the air, Lee and the pilot were rendered unconscious but Aaron was not. He felt the heat of the explosion as the fuel tanks of the helicopter ignited and saw the aircraft break up and hurled about by the force.
The three of them fell within metres of each other. Aaron landed awkwardly but safely on one leg, putting his hands out instinctively to break his fall and rolled sideways.
'Fuck!' he shouted, with a shake of his head. 'Holy Jesus!'
He was sure Lee was dead.
'Lee,' he called to her.
She didn't answer and was still. The pilot was beside her, his head was laid open on one side.
'Lee!' Aaron shouted and gingerly rose to his feet.
He glanced around, the lightning and thunder was continuous, whole buildings were struck, lifted and overturned, and struck again before they hit the ground. The gusting wind and driving torrential rain were merciless. Aaron gasped as massive explosions lit the sky. The whole region was like a war zone.
'Lee,' he whispered and kneeling beside her he raised her head. 'Can you hear me baby?'
He placed a finger under the jawline on her neck and felt for a pulse.
'Thank God,' he said and fell back as tears rolled from his eyes.
Once again he looked about. He thought - could a telephone, radio, anything or anybody have survived in those buildings. He thought not but had to check.
Inside the other helicopter, struck thirty metres from the ground, the captive pilot was truncated by the force of the first explosion. Sir Peter was not so fortunate, he felt the thrusting lightning shaft spear up inside him, blistering his insides. In a fraction of a second, he saw his own arms waving involuntarily before him. In that cleft moment before death, when the pain was unbearable and fear hindered one's thoughts, he saw the entire Lightning Mine basin ablaze with lightning: brilliant sizzling stems, or legs, connecting to a body that resembled a horrific demon or crazed God-figure who danced a chaotic jig as he cracked the sky.
Namarrkon was exacting His revenge.