SIXTY

 

The explosion had rung Pierce’s bell a little, and even though he had looked away and covered his eyes when the shooting started, he now saw everything through a murky green haze. Nevertheless, he could tell that something had changed. The persistent electrical hum… The light, rising and falling… The shekinahs…

Gone.

All of it.

“It’s over,” he whispered. He blinked in a futile attempt to bring the world into focus, and saw Fiona. “You did it.”

He thought he saw a weak smile on her face. “Yeah.”

Then he noticed the Ark—or rather, the lack of an Ark.

It was missing.

His eyes widened.

Did we destroy the Ark of the Covenant?

“No!” Fallon scrambled to his feet and rushed toward her.

“Fallon!” Pierce’s shout went unheeded.

The billionaire’s reaction caught even Lazarus off guard. Fiona retreated a step, but Fallon wasn’t interested in her.

He dropped to his knees where the Ark had been.

“No,” Fallon repeated, dragging his fingers over the floor, as though trying to find some trace of the artifact’s essence. “No. No.”

He rounded on Fiona. “What did you do?”

Lazarus sprang to his feet and started toward them, and Pierce wasn’t far behind. Fiona, however, stood her ground.

“I hit the self-destruct button. The Black Knight is toast.”

“No!” Fallon raged again, and before Lazarus or Pierce could reach them, he drew the unfired pistol from his belt and thrust the muzzle into Fiona’s face. “Bring it back.”

“It’s not coming back,” she said, holding up her hands, displaying the memory metal ball from Arkaim and the crystal sphere from Tesfa’s breast plate. She squeezed them in her fists, and the relics crumbled like pieces of Styrofoam. “Ever.”

“No.” Fallon said again, grinding his teeth together. His finger tightened on the trigger.

Fiona’s lips moved again, but before she could say anything, a section of the cavern ceiling, loosened by the explosion, broke free and came down right on top of Fallon, squashing him like an open hand slapping a fly on a tabletop.

Pierce skidded to a stop a few steps away and stared across the top of the rubble pile at the girl. Fiona had not moved an inch. The falling rocks had come within a hair’s breadth of hitting her, but she had not even flinched.

Lazarus knelt and checked Fallon for a pulse. “Still alive.”

It was almost as if she had known what was about to happen, and that she would be safe. And the falling rocks had looked a lot like a giant hand.

She nodded to him. “Now it’s over.”