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Maddock knew he wouldn’t be able to outrun the lightning, so he did the only other thing he could think to do. Tossing the empty rifle aside, he drew back his arm and hurled the tomahawk.
He didn’t aim it at TBH, but instead launched it over his foe’s head.
The other man, perhaps confident in his invincibility or lost in his apotheosis was oblivious to the piece of steel whirling above his head. It arced around like a boomerang, and then shot toward him like a guided missile. The energy shield might have protected him from bullets, but the adamantine-infused tomahawk passed right through, seeking out the orb.
There was a bright flash and a pop, like a light bulb burning out, and then darkness.
Half-blinded by the abrupt shift from brilliant light to gloom, Maddock blundered forward, rushing to the barely visible figure slumped on the ground in front of the hummock. TBH lay face down, his body covering the sphere. Because of his white camouflage outerwear, it was difficult to distinguish him from the surrounding ice, but the red stain between his shoulder blades was unmistakable.
Maddock knelt and rolled the man onto his side. The metal sphere shifted with him, as if pinned to his body, which was exactly what had happened. The tomahawk head, drawn by the energy field of the orb, had effortlessly passed through both the energy shield and the commando leader, killing him instantly. The spike on the back of the axe blade had penetrated clear through the man and now protruded from his chest to make contact with the orb.
There was something different about the sphere, though it took Maddock a moment to realize what had changed. The orb was no longer being drawn toward the center of the pyramid. Whatever the commando leader had done to activate it had evidently switched off its automatic homing function.
What the hell is this thing?
“Maddock!” Bones yelled from behind him. “Time to go!”
As if to underscore the urgency of the admonition, a burst of rifle fire ripped through the air in the chamber, followed by several more.
Maddock knew they would never make it to the exit, not unless he came up with a major game changer.
“Really wish I’d read that book,” he muttered as he reached out for the orb. He braced himself, expecting a shock or worse, but the only unusual thing he felt was a slight warmth radiating from the metal, penetrating the thick fabric of his gloves. He tried to lift it but encountered resistance from the body of TBH, which was still pinned to the sphere. He got it free, but only after planting his feet against the man’s torso and pushed with all his might until the axe head tore loose.
He turned the orb in his hands, looking for a switch or control panel, but the metal was smooth, a perfect sphere without any disruptions. “Power on,” he shouted. “Shields up.”
“Don’t say it!” Rose called out, her voice barely audible over the din. “Think it!”
Think it? Maddock shook his head, and then did just that, mentally uttering the same commands.
Nothing changed. But if it did, he thought, would I even know it?
He imagined an invisible barrier, a bubble of energy around him, like something from a science fiction movie, stopping the bullets cold.
He had no idea if it was really there at all.
He turned to find Rose and Bones a few steps away. The latter was firing his captured assault rifle to keep the remaining enemy pinned down, but Maddock knew he would soon run out of ammunition.
“Bones! I’ll cover you. Go! Now!”
Bones gave him a sharp, doubtful look, but then grabbed Rose by the hand, and started across the icy floor toward the outer edge of the chamber. Maddock sprinted after them. The points of his crampons scraped uncertainly on the floor. The climbing spikes were designed for slow deliberate movement, not running, but he stayed on his feet. Directly ahead, searching beams of light cast a shadow-show on the walls of the chamber, accompanied a moment later by the thunderous reports of multiple assault rifles. Maddock expected at any moment to feel the hammer-punch of a bullet, or worse, to see Bones or Rose struck down, but miraculously, they all reached the triangular passage unscathed. Either the orb was truly shielding them or they were just that lucky.
Bones led the way, navigating the passages back to the exterior with uncanny precision. As they emerged out into the ice cave, they found a pair of unusual vehicles—they looked like a cross between amusement park bumper cars and fan boats—waiting just outside the entrance.
Bones shook his head. “I guess now we know how those jokers managed to get down here so fast.”
“What are those?” Rose asked.
“Hovercraft,” Maddock said, approaching one of the sleek vehicles. Its white fiberglass upper hull rested on an air skirt that looked like an enormous inner tube. The open cockpit had a control console at the front, with a long padded bench running lengthwise down the middle. The controls were basic, not much different than a jet ski, with a set of handlebars, a bank of indicator dials and a key in the ignition. He grinned in satisfaction. “And it’s our express ride out of here.”
“You know how to drive it?”
“How hard can it be?” Maddock dropped the orb into the foot well, and then clambered over, straddling the bench behind the console. He turned the key and hit the ignition switch, and was rewarded with a faint hum as the fan assembly at the rear began spinning. The machine was a lot quieter than Maddock expected. During their time in the SEALs, he and Bones had ridden on large military air-cushioned landing craft, big enough to transport Humvees from ship-to-shore. Those sounded a little like the inside of a tornado, but this was barely louder than a lawn mower. As the rushing air pressurized the flexible skirt, the hovercraft began to drift a little. Maddock experimented with the controls and quickly figured out how to more or less make the machine do what he wanted it to.
“All aboard!”
Rose hesitated, so Bones swept her up in his arms and deposited her in the back of the idling craft, but instead of immediately following her, he moved over to the second hovercraft and used his ice axe to tear a large gash in the rubber air skirt.
“That should slow them down a few minutes,” he shouted as he climbed over.
Maddock nodded and turned the nose of the craft toward the mouth of the cave, and goosed the throttle. The hovercraft slid across the ice, picking up speed as it shot into the narrow passage.
“Who were those guys?” Rose shouted.
“No clue,” Maddock replied, not looking back. “But I don’t think they’re working for the government.”
“Then who?”
“You think it could be our old pals?” Bones said.
Maddock shrugged. “Could be.”
“Who are you talking about?” Rose said.
“A bunch of racist nutjobs that call themselves The Dominion,” Bones explained. “We’ve tangled with them before. This is just their style.”
Maddock knew the far-right quasi-religious terrorist group did not have an exclusive on turning ancient relics of power into weapons of destruction, but he did not contradict his friend. “As soon as we can get a call out, we’re gonna drop this hot potato in Tam’s lap.”
“Who’s Tam?”
“A lady we work for sometimes. She does work for the government.”
“You trust her?”
Bones just laughed. He and Maddock had an unusual relationship with Tam Broderick, the leader of a CIA task force called “the Myrmidons,” dedicated to squashing the Dominion permanently. Maddock and Bones occasionally freelanced for her, but when it came to trust, they knew that Tam could be trusted, first and foremost, to do whatever it took to accomplish the mission.
After a few scrapes and bumps, Maddock got the hang of driving, and opened the throttle to full, pushing the hovercraft up the slope like a rocket. It had taken them fifteen minutes to descend the corkscrewing passage, but less than five minutes after leaving the cavern at the base of the pyramid, a light appeared at the end of the tunnel. Maddock didn’t slow down.
“Hang on!”
The hovercraft raced toward the opening and then shot like a bullet from the mouth of the ice cave.
Rose’s screams seemed to echo across the valley, but after just a few seconds, what had been a shriek of terror changed to a whoop of exhilaration as the hovercraft slid down the side of the ice-covered pyramid like a runaway roller coaster.
Maddock allowed himself a grin of triumph, but as the valley floor rushed up at him, his sense of elation fizzled like a dud firecracker.
At first, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. Aside from their waiting snowcat, the landscape was a uniform white, but as they got closer, he saw that it was no mirage.
Surrounding the snowcat, barely distinguishable from the sparkling white ice, were four more camouflaged hovercraft.