SIXTEEN

Down!” screamed Chase, throwing himself on top of Nina as shattered stone rained around them. Much larger blocks tumbled to the temple floor below the gaping hole, smashing deafeningly apart on impact.

A fierce wind blew through the gap, whipping the clouds of dust into a swirling vortex. Chase rolled clear of Nina and squinted up at the sunset sky, which was almost immediately obscured by something.

Something big.

The roar of the helicopter’s engines and the machine-gun thudding of its rotor blades were so intense that he could feel them. A Russian-built Mi-26 Halo, the biggest helicopter in the world, designed to carry large loads over long distances.

Large loads-or large numbers of troops.

The chopper moved into a hover directly above the hole. The fuselage doors were open, and at any moment ropes would drop from them so men could rappel into the temple…

“Come on!” he yelled, his voice barely audible over the Halo’s thunder. He helped the women up. “Get to the tunnel! Now!”

“What the hell’s going on?” shrieked Nina.

“It’s the Brotherhood! Get into the tunnel! Run!” He grabbed the still-bewildered Nina’s arm and pulled her after him, Kari sprinting alongside.

Six black lines snaked from the Halo. They fluttered in the downdraft before tightening as men dressed in black combat gear and body armor expertly descended each one, brilliant beams of light lancing out from their chests. Chase saw enough in his brief backwards glance to know they were professionals, ex-military.

And each man was armed with a Heckler and Koch UMP-40 submachine gun, and probably other weapons as well.

They reached the passage, Chase leading the way with the flashlight in his outstretched hand. The noise of the chopper was still audible even as they negotiated the twists and turns and ran through the door into the chamber housing the Challenge of Mind.

“How could they have found us?” Kari demanded.

“I don’t know,” said Chase as they entered the next tunnel. “Maybe they put a tracker on the boat.”

Nina was breathless, unused to the pace. “What do they want?”

“The same thing as us,” Kari told her. “Only they want to destroy it, to make sure nobody can use the information to find Atlantis.”

“And destroy us, too,” added Chase.

“Oh my God!” Nina gasped. “What about Jonathan, and Hugo?”

“Just got to hope they went straight for the temple and bypassed the village,” Chase said grimly.

They reached the last stretch of passage before the drawbridge over the pool. Running footsteps echoed up the tunnel behind them.

“Get to the exit,” said Chase, handing Kari the light as they ran over the bridge, which flexed under their weight. “Wait for me.”

“What are you going to do?” Nina asked.

“Try to stop them from catching up. Go on!” He stopped at the end of the bridge, letting Nina and Kari past. Then he grabbed the endmost plank and strained to lift it from the ledge before pushing it sideways with all his strength. The bridge warped along its length, creaking and groaning.

With a pained grunt, Chase shoved it down into the pool. The wood tried to bend back to its original shape when he let go, jamming the bridge against the vertical side. He kicked at it, driving the end into the water with a splash. The remaining caiman surfaced nearby, taking a sudden interest.

“Okay, go!” he shouted, running for the exit. Kari led the way, Nina hesitating as she waited for Chase to catch up.

“Their weight’ll put the end into the water,” Chase said as they hurried down the passage. “Then we’ll see if that croc’s still hungry.”

“Thought it was a caiman,” Nina panted.

“Whatever! Okay, here’s the poles. Kari, you go first, then Nina.”

Even without the incentive of the descending ceiling, they still picked their way between the spiked poles faster than Nina would have liked, the barbs plucking at their clothes. Finally they cleared them, emerging in the confined chamber housing the Challenge of Strength. Chase retook the lead.

“Okay,” he said as they ran, “the second we get out, I want the two of you to run like hell into the jungle. Get away from the temple, then find cover and stay in it.”

“What about you?” Nina asked. “And the others?”

“I’ll get ’em. I’m just hoping that the Indians are pissed off about Qobras blowing up their temple and went after the helicopter. If we’re lucky, there’ll hardly be any guards left.”

“And if we’re not?” said Kari.

“Then I guess we’re fucked!” They came around the last corner, a square of fading daylight ahead. “You ready?”

“No,” Nina moaned.

“You can do it, Nina. Kari, look after her. I’ll catch up as soon as I can.”

“I will,” Kari promised. They were almost at the entrance.

“Okay, get ready… go!”

They raced into the open-

And stopped. There was nowhere to go.

Waiting for them were ten more men in black combat gear, weapons at the ready, standing in a semicircle around the temple’s entrance. The bodies of four Indians lay among the huts; of the rest of the tribe, there was no sign. Castille, di Salvo and Philby were still prisoners, on their knees in a line in front of…

“Hello, Eddie,” said Jason Starkman.

He didn’t look the same as when Nina had met him in New York. The suit was gone, replaced by a military outfit-body armor, equipment webbing holding ammo and a sheathed knife, what looked like a grappling hook slung over his back. A black patch covered his right eye. The sickening memory of her finger digging into something wet made her shiver.

“Arr, matey!” said Chase with a nasty smile as he raised his hands. “Going for the pirate look, are you?”

Starkman regarded him coldly. “I see your sense of humor’s as lousy as ever.”

“Don’t you mean you half see?”

Starkman’s face tightened for a moment before he turned his attention to Nina. “Dr. Wilde! I’m so glad to meet you again.”

Chase and Kari both moved protectively in front of her. “Leave her alone,” Kari snapped.

Starkman raised an eyebrow. “Kari Frost. Never thought I’d meet you in person. Hajjar should have taken Giovanni up on his offer, it would have saved us all a lot of trouble.” He gestured with his gun, his men advancing. Overhead, the helicopter circled-followed by a second Halo, the downdraft from the two enormous aircraft setting the trees thrashing as if caught in a hurricane.

“What happened to the Indians?” Nina demanded.

“Most of them ran off,” said Starkman. He looked over at the corpses. “The smart ones, anyway. Some of them actually thought they could take us on.”

The other men started to search Chase, Kari and Nina. “What do you intend to do with us, Starkman?” asked Kari, her eyes narrowed. “Kill us?”

“Yup.” The casual way in which he said it turned Nina’s blood to ice. “But first, I want to find out what’s in that temple.” He turned away as he took a radio from his belt, giving Nina a better look at the piece of hardware on his back. It was a grappling hook, as she’d thought, but it was protruding from what looked like a fat-barreled shotgun. Most of his other team members were similarly equipped. “Eagle Leader to entry team, come in.”

“What is it with you Yanks and eagles?” Chase taunted. “I had you pegged as more of a budgie.”

Starkman clicked his fingers. One of his men, a mountain of muscle almost a foot taller than Chase, balled his fists together and clubbed the Englishman at the base of his neck. Chase dropped to his knees.

“Eddie!” Nina gasped.

Starkman looked surprised. “On a first-name basis with the clients, Eddie? Or… is she something more? You should be careful about that, you know what happens.”

“You shut your fucking mouth,” Chase growled. Starkman smirked, and seemed about to say something else when his radio crackled.