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The lights grew brighter as the men holding them moved closer. Maddock squinted against their brilliance but did not look away. He counted six lights in all. Bones shone his own light at them, revealing what Maddock already knew in his gut: the lights were attached to the Picatinny rails of assault rifles. The weapons were wrapped in white camouflage tape, and the men carrying them wore similarly colorless winter coveralls, with matching ski masks and gloves. There was a seventh man in the center of the formation, similarly attired, but without weapon or light. They stopped about ten yards from Maddock and the others, spread out in a semi-circle with their weapons all raised and ready.
“Drop the light, Mr. Bonebrake,” the unarmed man said. “And raise your hands, all of you.”
It was the same voice that had addressed them from the darkness. His face was completely concealed behind a white scarf and goggles.
“Who the hell are you guys,” Bones said, his voice almost a snarl. He lowered the light but did not comply with the other demands. Maddock likewise remained exactly as he was, clutching the orb in a bear hug.
The man laughed without humor. “When I said you should get to know me, I was being facetious. TBH, it would be a waste of time for both of us.”
“Then why haven’t you just killed us,” Maddock said. “Maybe you’re afraid of what I can do with this?”
He thrust the orb forward, and was pleased to see several of the gunmen flinch. It was worth the effort of manhandling the sphere, which wobbled in his grasp like a living thing, struggling to break free and return to where he had found it. Only his firm grip on the tomahawk head kept it from doing so.
The man composed himself and managed another laugh. “I could ask you the same question, but then I already know the answer. You have no idea what it is you’ve found. No idea of its potential. Or how to unlock it.”
“Wrong,” Rose said. It came out as a hoarse, fearful whisper, but she cleared her throat, straightened and took a deep breath. “You’re wrong about that. My great-grandfather literally wrote the book on this place, and I’ve read every word. If you don’t back off, I’ll show you just how much I do know.”
Despite the gravity of their situation, Maddock felt a swell of pride for Rose’s courage in facing down their foes.
The other man cocked his head sideways to look at her. “Ah, Ms. Greer. Yes, I’m familiar with those books. Very entertaining science fiction, but hardly what I would call a user’s manual. If you’re clinging to the hope that you will be able to use the anomaly against us as a weapon, I fear you will know only disappointment before you die.”
Maddock didn’t know if Rose was bluffing, but the fact that the man was still talking told Maddock that he was. And just like that, the pieces fell into place.
“You didn’t know how to find this place, did you?” The silence that followed confirmed Maddock’s guess. He pushed forward. “All this time, we thought you were trying to cover this up, but you were looking for it, too.”
“And you led us right to it,” the man replied. “Bravo, Mr. Maddock. You are as good as your reputation.”
“Crap,” muttered Bones, then looked up suddenly. “Wait. So are you or aren’t you working for the government?”
The man ignored the question. “Cards on the table, Mr. Maddock. I don’t think you know what to do with the anomaly, but I have no idea what will happen if I try to kill you while you are holding it. I’m prepared to take that chance, but all things being equal, I’d just as soon not. So, in the interest of expediting things, I’ll be generous. Put it down, right now, and I will allow the three of you to leave.”
“Uh, huh,” Bones said. “Sure you will.”
The man spread his hands in mock-apology. “I tried. Though, TBH, I would have been disappointed if you had said ‘yes.’”
“TBH? Seriously, dude. WTF? Do you have any idea how stupid that sounds?” Bones turned his gaze to the other gunmen. “Have you told him how stupid that sounds?” He shook his head and added, “SMH.”
The commando leader ignored him, and turned to the gunman on his immediate right. “Try not to hit the anomaly.”
“Wait!” Maddock shouted.
The other man held up a hand, signaling his minions to stand fast. He cocked his head at Maddock. “You’re full of surprises. Or is this where you try to lull me into complacency and then at the last second...what’s the expression? Pull a fast one?”
Maddock shrugged, careful not to lose his grip on the sphere. “You’ve got all the guns.”
“Yes, I do. You would do well to remember that, Very well, then. Put it down and walk away.”
Maddock slowly, carefully, pushed the orb away from his body, holding it out in both hands. “Come and get it.”
“Dude,” Bones muttered in a low voice. “This isn’t usually how we do things.”
Maddock looked his friend in the eye. “It’s the only way, Bones. Just be ready to move as soon as I hand it over.” He let his gaze flick ever so slightly to the right, hoping that Bones would get the message
Bones nodded slowly.
The leader of the commando team—Maddock decided to call him “TBH”—turned to his chief lieutenant again. “If anyone of them so much as sneezes...”
The gunman nodded and squared his shoulders behind the stock of his assault rifle, making sure that the barrel was pointed straight at Maddock.
TBH advanced with slow tentative steps, until he was standing only a couple feet away. He cautiously reached out for the orb.
“Careful,” Maddock warned, just before contact was made. The man flinched as if he had been stung, which was exactly the reaction Maddock had been hoping for. He grinned. “This thing has a mind of its own. You sure you really want it?”
TBH sneered through the scarf covering his face, and then closed his arms around the sphere.
Hidden from the other man’s view, Maddock tightened his grip on the tomahawk head and braced himself for what he knew was coming. “All yours, then.”
He let his other hand drop and stepped to the side, wrenching the tomahawk loose even as the orb yanked the other man forward toward the center of the pyramid. Unbalanced, TBH lurched forward, stumbling as he tried to stay on his feet while being dragged along.
In the split-second that followed, as the gunmen struggled to process what they had just seen, both Bones and Maddock sprang toward them, with Bones rushing the men on the right and Maddock running at the men on the left. The high-intensity tactical lights flashed as the men tried to reacquire the moving targets, but before they could, the two former-SEALs had tackled two of the six gunmen to the icy floor.
Although the commandos had superior numbers and firepower, Maddock and Bones had just turned those advantages into liabilities. The gunmen couldn’t shoot at them for fear of hitting one of their own comrades, which bought the two treasure hunters a few seconds to figure what to do next.
Bones squirmed around behind the commando he was fighting and then reached out with his long arms to grab the man’s assault rifle by the stock and barrel. He pulled it up as if curling a barbell, level with where he thought the man’s throat might be, and then jerked back hard, crushing the receiver assembly into the man’s windpipe.
Maddock’s solution was quicker and more decisive. He slammed his fist—the one holding the tomahawk—into the side of his foe’s head. Although the heavy hood of the man’s white parka muted the sound of the impact, it offered little protection from blunt force trauma. The man went limp, dazed, unconscious or possibly dead. Still clutching the axe head, Maddock snatched up the man’s rifle and squeezed the trigger.
A deafening report filled the chamber. Maddock hadn’t really taken the time to aim, and none of the rounds found their mark, but the eruption of noise and the random impact of bullets against inward sloping walls triggered a hailstorm of ice fragments. The remaining gunmen scattered, sprinting for cover behind the hummock.
“Rose!” Maddock shouted. “Run for it!”
Before she could move however, a fierce shout rose from the center of the hummock. Maddock brought his captured rifle around, shining the tac-light on the commando leader who was now standing without difficulty, gripping the orb in both hands. Even from several yards away, Maddock could tell that something was different. The air seemed to be vibrating, crackling with something like static electricity.
A cold knot of dread seized Maddock’s guts. Without hesitating, he pulled the trigger, emptying the rifle’s magazine at the standing figure, but instead of spattering the ice behind TBH with bloody chunks of flesh, the bullets evaporated with little blue flashes, right in front of the man.
The commando leader never even flinched.
The rifle went silent, its ammunition gone, but through the ringing memory of the thunderous reports, Maddock could hear laughter.
“Well what do you know?” the man chortled. “The anomaly creates an impenetrable energy shield, just like in the Dodge Dalton book. Let’s see what else he got right?”
Then, the orb in his hands began to crackle and dance with long fingers of blue-white lightning.