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Every head but Aliyah’s whirled around to face back toward the stairs and the source of the voice. Something was moving there, a lot of somethings.
It might have been only his imagination, but Maddock thought he could see dozens of shadowy forms spreading out in either direction, just beyond the faint reach of their combined lights. Hauser, he knew, never went anywhere without a coterie of hired killers and this time would be no exception.
“Nobody move,” Maddock whispered, unnecessarily. His friends were all still as statues.
The man himself materialized a moment later, stepping into the light. His face was partly concealed behind a set of night vision goggles, but after just a few steps toward the group, he flipped the low-light device up out of the way to completely reveal his grinning visage.
“Curious advice, Mr. Maddock. Moving targets are so much harder to hit.”
Maddock shrugged. “I’ve killed you twice already. Maybe the third time is the charm.”
It wasn’t completely false bravado. He and Bones had been in stickier situations, although at that moment, he was hard-pressed to remember any, but the one thing experience had taught him was that there was absolutely no value to treating any situation as hopeless.
Hauser gave a short humorless laugh. Despite his strong handsome proportions, the man looked cruel and predatory—part-Adonis, part-werewolf. He closed to within ten feet of them, and then stopped with his hands resting on his hips. He regarded them all for a moment, one by one, his stare sharpening into daggers of hate as he met Maddock’s stare, then he brought his gaze back to Kismet. “Surprised to see me, brother?”
“Not really.” He thrust his chin at Hauser. “Frankly, I’m a little surprised it took you this long to bounce back after getting your ass handed to you back at Plymouth.”
Bones gave a snort of laughter. “Nice.”
Hauser shrugged. “I was otherwise occupied. I knew you’d end up here eventually.” He paused a beat. “Well? Have you figured it out yet?”
Kismet’s expression twitched a little. “I’m not really in the mood for guessing games.”
Hauser’s grin deepened. “Oh, but this one is the best. Maybe your new friends can help.” He glanced at Maddock, his nostrils flaring angrily. “Interesting company you’re keeping, BTW.”
Bones let out an audible groan. “This again? Oh, wait. I’ve got one. FWIW, you’re a dick.”
Hauser ignored the jibe and returned his attention to Kismet. “A hint then.” He made an expansive gesture. “The lost tomb of Alexander the Great, hidden away for at least two thousand years. Locked up tight, and the only keys that can open it are the four anomalies one of which was sealed within. What does that tell you?”
Maddock, curious despite himself, considered Hauser’s question, but Kismet merely shrugged. “That someone else got here first. We already knew that.”
“Ah, but how? Look around you. This place has been cleaned out, and yet there are no tunnels. This wasn’t the work of tomb robbers. Whoever did this knew how to unlock the door and then seal it up again.”
“They didn’t use the orb,” Rose said. There was a quiet defiance in her tone.
“I’d say the mirror is out, too,” Jade added, jerking a thumb in Aliyah’s direction. “Her magicians had the mirror this whole time and didn’t even know there was anything here.”
Hauser nodded, still looking at Kismet. “Which just leaves your little bauble. The Garral family heirloom.”
Kismet cocked his head sideways. “You think Adam Garral took it?”
“That makes sense,” Maddock said, thinking out loud. “Garral had the Apex and he probably had access to the mirror. We know he was looking for the orb. Maybe he came here first.”
“But what did he do with it?” countered Rose. “Where is it now?”
Hauser continued smiling. “I like the way you think,” he said, sounding like some kind of nightmarish motivational speaker. “But you jumped to the wrong conclusion. If Adam Garral had found Alexander’s tomb, believe me, the world would know about it.”
Kismet looked up sharply. “Prometheus.”
Hauser nodded. “Did you never think to ask, of all the people in the world, why our dear mother chose to leave you with Christian Garral.”
Kismet just stared back, dumbfounded. Maddock suddenly felt like an intruder in the other man’s family drama. If not for the guns he knew were pointed at them at all, he would have excused himself. But like it or not, he was already caught in the conflict.
“Prometheus wanted the Apex,” he said, still trying to work it out for himself. “And they knew Christian Garral had it.”
Hauser bobbed his head from side to side in a vague nod but kept his eyes on Kismet. “They wanted what it would unlock. This. The tomb of Alexander and all its secrets. The fourth anomaly was only a very small part of what was once kept here. Once the door was open and the treasures removed, our mother returned the heirloom to your adoptive father.”
He paused a beat. “It’s always the long game with the old guard. Always an experiment. If they had wanted the Apex anomaly, they would simply have taken it, but they were content to let Garral keep it. I suspect they wanted to observe how you would interact with it.”
Kismet kept staring a few seconds longer then shook his head as if waking up. “If you already had the Emerald Tablet, why come after—”
“But I don’t have it,” Hauser hissed, cutting him off. “Those fools buried it away, just like they bury everything. The power to reshape the world... Reshape reality itself, and what do they do with it? Put it on a shelf where no one can reach.”
“That’s why you want the elementals,” Rose said. “You’re going to war with Prometheus.”
For the first time since stepping into the light, Hauser’s smile became genuine. “The Antarctic anomaly would have sufficed to accomplish my plan, but with three anomalies, nothing will stand in my way.”
“Just one little problem with that,” Kismet said, straightening a little. “You don’t have three anomalies. In fact, by my count, you don’t have any.”
“Threats, brother?” Hauser shook his head sadly. “Are you sure that’s how you want this to go?”
“Violence seems to be the only language you speak.”
“That, and textese,” Bones added.
“And yet,” Hauser countered, “You are all still very much alive.”
“No thanks to you,” Jade put in.
“Oh, but it is entirely thanks to me,” Hauser retorted. “At this moment there are a half-dozen assault rifles trained on you—on all of you—”
“This seems familiar somehow,” Bones muttered.
“I underestimated you and your friends in the past. I won’t make that mistake again. If you show even the slightest hint of resistance, my men will open fire. That won’t pose much of a problem for you and I, dear brother, but I think your friends will not fare so well. If I wanted you dead, we wouldn’t be talking right now.”
“So why are we still talking?” Kismet asked, sounding genuinely curious rather than defiant.
“Understand this, brother. I am going to take the three anomalies in your possession. There’s nothing you can do to stop me. Whether I take them over the dead bodies of your friends is up to you.”
“Me?”
Hauser took a step closer and then reached out to clasp Kismet’s shoulder. “We’re brothers, Nick. They took that from us. She took that from us. Kept us apart and in the dark, all for the sake of their great experiment. Doesn’t that gall you?”
“So, this is about revenge? Against our mother? Against Prometheus?”
“Not revenge. It’s about taking what is ours. Our birthright, brother.” He gave Kismet’s shoulder and emphatic shake. “They set us against each other from the beginning, cast us as rivals in their little drama. Cain and Abel. Jacob and Esau. Romulus and Remus. When all the while, we ought to have been Castor and Pollux. Brothers, fighting side by side, seizing control of our destiny and taking what we are owed. That is what I’m offering you brother.”
“Offering me?”
Hauser let go and took a step back. “Come with me, and I’ll let them live.”
Before Kismet could answer, Aliyah raised her head and let out a wail of dismay. “No. You must not.” She pushed away from the bier and threw herself at Maddock, grasping the strap of Rose’s pack in another attempt to tear it away. Despite her ferocity and the swiftness with which she had acted, Maddock’s fingers curled tight on the straps, refusing to give it up.
“No!” Aliyah shouted again, giving the pack a futile shake. Then, still holding on with her left hand, she raised her eyes and her right hand, index and middle fingers extended, and spoke again in a low voice that seemed to vibrate in the still air.
“A’teh!”
Her hand came down quickly in a straight line to point at the pavement. “Mal’kut!”
Maddock didn’t recognize the strange language, but he intuitively grasped that Aliyah was attempting some kind of magickal ritual, perhaps trying to unleash the power of the relics.
Can she do that?
Her hand came up until it was level with her heart and then moved out to her right shoulder. “Ve Gev—”
The incantation was silenced by a thunderous report. Maddock felt another hard yank on the pack strap as Aliyah Cerulean jerked backward, almost lifted off her feet by the impact of a bullet. A spray of blood misted the bier behind her and then she crashed down atop it once more, this time on her back in a supine position, like an offering on an altar.
Maddock tore his gaze from her and looked back at Hauser, who now held a smoking semi-automatic pistol in his extended right arm. The fierce predatory grin was back. “We’ll have none of that,” he said, and then swung the muzzle toward Maddock, reaching out his left hand, palm open. “Give me that pack. Now.”
Before Maddock could even think about what his response would be, Kismet stepped in front of the gun, hands raised in a show of surrender. “Don’t,” he said, imploring. “I’ll go with you.”
He turned back to face Maddock and reached out for the pack.
“Stop!” Hauser barked. He moved around Kismet, keeping the gun trained on Maddock. “Sorry, brother, but you’re already too close for my comfort. Back up now, or my men will open fire.”
Kismet held his ground a moment longer. “Give me your word. No one else dies.”
Hauser inclined his head. “If that’s what it takes.”
Kismet took a step back. “Give them up, Dane.”
“He’s going to kill us all anyway,” Jade hissed.
Kismet held Hauser’s stare. “No, he’s not.”
Maddock hesitated. His gut told him that Jade was right and that giving up the relics would only seal their death warrant, but at the same time, what choice did they have? Or was this some bold gambit on Kismet’s part?
“Trust me, Dane,” Kismet said. “This is the only way.”
Maddock looked over at Bones, saw the mixture of disbelief and anger in his friend’s eyes, read the unasked question there. Are we really doing this?
But Kismet was right. They were out of options. With no better alternative, Maddock knelt and placed the pack on the floor.
Hauser moved in quickly, snatching the pack up off the floor, and then darted back out of Maddock’s reach. “That’s better,” he said, hefting the pack onto one shoulder. He waggled the gun at Maddock. “All right. All of you, move closer.”
Kismet spoke quickly. “I swear, if you hurt them—”
“They are as insignificant to me as insects on the sidewalk.” Hauser gave the pack a meaningful shake. “Especially now that I have these. But I won’t tolerate further interference. Or delay. Maddock, do yourself a favor and make sure I never see your face again.” He turned back to Kismet and gestured into the darkness. “It’s time to go, brother. We have business elsewhere.”