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“I told you he went along with this just to save us,” Jade whispered in Maddock’s ear.
He shot her an angry look, a finger pressed to his lips, signaling her to silence, though it was plainly evident that nobody outside their little group had heard her.
Once past the electronic lock inside the entrance, they moved quickly into the vault. Most of the doors had been left open, as if Hauser’s team could not be bothered to shut them.
A check of the security cameras still showed no sign of Hauser’s group, but Rose’s hatchet head, continued to point the way like a compass needle, and when the inner airlock door opened, the mystery was solved. Although positioned in such a way as to be uncovered by the security cameras, the entire back wall of the vault had swung open to reveal another chamber. And in that vault they found wonders beyond comprehension. There were display cases containing objects of incredible beauty and obvious wealth—crowns and amulets, scepters and swords, but the most impressive part of the collection were the statues. There were at least two dozen of them, assembled in ranks like the terracotta armies found in the tomb of Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang, except these were each eight to ten feet in height, towering over Maddock, and appeared to be made of solid gold. The statues were remarkably lifelike, depicting well-muscled male and voluptuous female figures, all of them exuding power and sensuality. They reminded Maddock of sculpted Greek gods.
The biggest surprise however had been the voices that drifted through the forest of towering metal figures. Maddock and the others had crept forward, close enough to observe what was happening without being noticed, though in fact, the group huddled around the golden coffin were so completely focused on the powerful elemental relics, and the task of arranging them according to ancient Hermetic wisdom, that Maddock and the others might as well have been in an alternate universe.
Jade was correct, though. Kismet was going along with Hauser’s plan because he believed their safety was at stake.
They had to let him know that Hauser’s threat was a bluff, but how?
A few well-placed shots would thin out the opposition, but once the shooting started, there was no telling what would happen. Then there was the fact that Hauser had control of the relics and knew how to use them. He might easily deflect their attack with a force field or roast them all with lightning bolts.
Then fate decided to give them a break. Hauser handed the backpack with the relics to Kismet.
“What’s he doing?” Bones muttered.
“Maybe he’s worried about radiation poisoning,” suggested Rose. “Maybe that’s the one thing that can kill him.”
“Good to know,” Bones said.
“Then it can kill Nick, too,” Christian Garral said, his voice betraying his anxiety. “And us if we get too close.”
Maddock studied the group gathered around Alexander’s coffin. There was no question regarding the loyalties of the five gunmen but what about Leda? Whose side was she on?
Judging by her interactions with her two sons, the answer was her own.
“We need to break this party up.” He turned his head to Bones. “Think you could create some kind of distraction? Something that might draw a few of those guys away?”
“Divide and conquer?” Bones eyes narrowed in thought then a broad grin spread across his face. “I know exactly what to do.”
“Professor, you go with him. When you’re in position, break squelch on the radio. I’ll signal back when we’re ready for you to go, and then I’ll send you the number of targets headed your way. Voice if I can, but if not, I’ll key the mic with the number.”
Bones nodded and then turned to Professor. “You’re gonna love this.”
As the two men moved off, Maddock returned his attention to what was happening below. Kismet had neared the golden coffin and was struggling to align the relics. That they were having a harmful effect on him was plainly evident.
“What’s your plan?” asked Garral.
Maddock quickly outlined what he needed Garral and the others to do, and then waited with the Motorola pressed to his ear, the volume just barely loud enough for him to hear the scratch of static when Bones signaled that he was in position.
Maddock gave a hand-signal to the others to get ready, and then clicked the push-to-talk and whispered, “Do it!”
For several seconds, nothing happened at all. Directly ahead, Kismet had succeeded in rearranging the elemental artifacts, and the subsequent change almost caused Maddock to forget about the plan.
The orb had turned semi-transparent and appeared to be filling up with a substance that looked like liquid light.
Suddenly, a crashing sound—like a bus hitting a brick wall—reverberated through the vault. A fraction of a second later, there was another crash, and then another, each one progressively louder. Hauser’s group were visibly startled by the noises. So was Maddock.
Bones, what the hell did you just do?
He got the answer a couple crashes later when he spied movement among the statues off to his left. They were toppling over like bowling pins, with each one striking one or two more as it fell in a chain reaction. Maddock wasn’t sure how Bones had managed to start the domino effect—each of the statues must have weighed tons—but once begun, there was no stopping it.
The coffin at the center was a few yards removed from the impact zone, but the gunmen nevertheless retreated a few steps. Each impact released a shockwave that vibrated through the floor and buffeted the air. Even after the last affected statue fell, the echoes of the crashes continued to reverberate in the large vault in a deafening cacophony.
Yet, through it all, Nick Kismet did not move. He stood frozen, statue-still, as if in a trance, while beads of glowing energy perspired from the obsidian mirror and were absorbed into the orb.
Hauser was gesturing to his men, shouting words that were inaudible over the ongoing tumult, and three of them moved off, presumably to investigate the disturbance. They approached the statues cautiously,
As the three gunmen disappeared behind the statues, moving warily as if fearing another round of collapses, Maddock broke squelch three times, hoping Bones would get the message. He waited a few more seconds, and then raised his hand. “Now!”
In unison, Maddock and the others emerged from their hiding places, each one of them aiming a weapon at a designated target. Maddock took aim at Hauser and shouted, “Guns down! Nobody move!”
Maddock had instructed his companions to fire at the first sign of aggression, but hoped a display of force would suffice to win the battle without a shot fired. It wasn’t that he was squeamish about bloodshed, but rather because there was no telling what might happen if bullets started flying. Garral seemed to know how to handle firearms, but Rose, Jade and Jimmy looked far less comfortable with their weapons, and if they missed or merely hesitated, their slight numerical advantage would evaporate.
Hauser whirled around, surprise quickly giving way to anger. “Maddock!”
The two remaining gunmen had tensed but wisely had not attempted to raise their weapons.
“I mean it,” Maddock said, holding the weapon steady, Hauser’s face visible just above the luminous Trijicon dot on the front sight. “Make the wrong move and you’re dead. That may not mean anything to you, Hauser, but I’m betting your men might feel differently. Now, get those hands up. All of you.”
As the two gunmen grudgingly complied, Maddock took another step forward and risked a quick glance past Hauser to where Kismet was standing. “Nick, you all right?”
Kismet did not answer right away, prompting Maddock to repeat the question. This time, he got a reply. “Stay back,” Kismet rasped. “It’s not safe.”
No kidding, Maddock thought. Aloud, he said, “We need to get out of here.”
“It’s not that simple. This thing is making ichor.”
Maddock knew the word from Greek mythology. Ichor was the blood that flowed through the veins of the gods. He wasn’t sure what it meant in this context, but it was obviously something bad. “You’ve got the relics, so you’re calling the shots.”
“Get everyone out of here. Now that I know you’re all safe—”
The crack of rifle fire cut him off. It hadn’t come from nearby but from somewhere out in the vault—several shots in quick succession, and not all from the same kind of weapon. Bones and Professor had engaged with the three gunmen who had gone to investigate the toppling of the statues.
The remaining two men flinched and began looking around anxiously, as if weighing their chances at attempting some kind of offensive action, but it was Hauser who ultimately seized the moment. Maddock squeezed the trigger, knowing that his shot would only temporarily take Hauser out of action, but he was a fraction of a second too slow. Hauser ducked under the bullet and sprang at Kismet. In the same instant, the two gunmen broke in opposite directions, seeking cover behind the fallen statues, firing their assault rifles on the move.
Pandemonium erupted in the vault. Bullets were sizzling through the air, sparking off solid surfaces or whizzing harmlessly away into nothingness. Maddock dropped low, quickly assessing his options. There weren’t many. He tackled Leda to the floor, drawing her behind the relative cover of the bier containing Alexander’s coffin. He didn’t know whose side she was on, but figured she was more valuable alive than dead.
He came up on one knee searching for a target, and from the corner of his eye, saw Kismet and Hauser struggling, with the combined elemental relic caught between them. The object wasn’t affixed to anything, yet it remained upright and immobile, as solid as a flagpole, while the two men wrestled for control.
He felt Kismet’s eyes on him and glanced over. The man was shouting something, barely audible over the thunder of battle.
“Get out of here!”
Maddock didn’t know what Kismet was planning, but the advice was sound. He gripped Leda’s hand and pulled her after him, making a break for the edge of the circle of statues where the others were waiting. He was faintly aware of a shift in fire, Jimmy and Garral trying to suppress any action from the shooters as best they could with their bolt-action rifles. He made it just halfway before a brilliant flash—light and heat—from behind him filled the vault, followed almost immediately by a shockwave that slapped him flat, sending him and Leda sprawling.
He thought it had to be an explosion, maybe a hand grenade, but there had been no sound. In fact, even the gunfire close in had ceased. Shaking off the effects of the blast, he scrambled back to his feet. Leda was still down, dazed, but as Maddock reached for her, he saw her gaze flash back to where they had just been. Where her sons were battling for control of the elemental talisman.
Maddock looked as well, and instantly saw what had caused the flash.
At first glance, it appeared that Kismet had ceded control of the relic to Hauser. The latter had both arms wrapped around the relic while Kismet had not only let go but had retreated a few steps.
But there was something different about the relic. It was no longer vibrating at the same frequency as before, nor was ichor pooling on the surface of the mirror. In fact, the Magna of Illusion was no longer in contact with the emerald. Instead, it seemed as if the orb and mirror had rotated upside down so that the emerald, still topped with the Apex, was protruding directly from the top of the sphere, while the mirror was now at its bottom.
Maddock immediately realized what had happened. Kismet had pried the emerald away from the obsidian mirror, breaking whatever kind of circuit had been created. That had been the source of the eruption that had flattened Maddock. The relic had then reassembled itself in a different order.
Hauser’s hands were moving frantically, trying to separate the relics and undo what Kismet had done, but he was already too late. The orb was expelling the fiery substance that had been accumulating inside it. Glowing ichor was oozing from the mirror, accumulating into a fat molten globule underneath the elemental relic.
Kismet snatched something off the ground—Rose’s backpack—and thrust a hand inside. When he withdrew it, he was holding his kukri. Without a moment’s hesitation, he leaped at his brother, swiping the knife in a broad lateral arc. Hauser’s eyes went wide and he ducked away. Instead of taking his head off, only the tip of the blade made contact, gouging a line of red across the man’s cheek. As Hauser let go of his prize, dancing away to avoid another slash of the kukri, the growing blob of ichor fell away, but it did not hit the floor. Instead, it burst like a bubble, evaporating into a glittering cloud that rose into the air and then, as if caught in a vacuum, dispersed in all directions.
Maddock’s attention was still fixed on Kismet and Hauser, so he only caught a glimpse of the ichor mist settling onto the statues, briefly condensing into droplets on their metal surface before being absorbed. But when he spotted motion from the corner of his eye, he turned his head for a better look.
It was no mere optical illusion, no trick of the light. All around him, the giant golden figures were beginning to stir.