The clank as the grenade hit stone drew the attention of all Frost’s men, eyes involuntarily darting to it-

The dazzling flash of igniting aluminum powder and potassium perchlorate was followed a millisecond later by a deafening bang as the grenade exploded, hitting the senses of anyone looking at it like a blow to the head. Even though the blast was only a fraction of the explosive force of a lethal grenade, it was still strong enough to knock the two nearest guards off their feet.

“Go!” yelled Chase, opening his eyes.

Years of training and experience told him everything he needed to know in a split second. The men circling the prisoners, including Frost, had been caught off guard by the grenade and were briefly blinded and disoriented. But the rest of Frost’s men, farther away, were less affected. And they were already reacting.

He drove a fist into the face of the nearest guard, feeling his nose flatten under the crunching impact. Behind him, Starkman sprang to his feet to deliver a powerhouse blow to the throat of another man.

Chase snatched the MP-7 from the guard he’d just hit and swung it around. A swath of fire spat from the compact weapon’s barrel. The unique 4.6-millimeter ammo of the MP-7 was specifically designed to penetrate body armor-at point-blank range, it ripped straight through everyone it hit.

He caught four of Frost’s men with the burst. They fell, jets of blood spurting from the holes punched through their armor. The more distant men dived for cover, unable to shoot back without endangering their comrades.

Another crackle of gunfire erupted behind him as Starkman opened up at the guards on the other side of the circle. Three men dropped, the cordon broken.

Chase saw that a couple of the prisoners had managed to protect their ears and were lashing out at their captors. The others were as dazed as Frost’s men.

There was nothing he could do for them. Individual survival was all that counted right now.

He spun to see Frost reeling, clutching his head. If he took out Frost, his plan would stop right here…

The young blond man, Rucker, sprung from seemingly nowhere and tackled Frost to the ground as Chase brought up his gun. He fired anyway, but the MP-7 clicked empty after just two shots. Holes exploded in Rucker’s back. The bullets hadn’t reached Frost.

And with their boss flat on the ground, the other men could open fire-

Beyond the mausoleum, Chase saw the Temple of Poseidon. The third one he’d seen-and the first two had been identical inside.

He smashed an elbow into the face of one of the remaining guards and sprinted away. “Get to the temple!” he shouted.

No time to see who was following him, and no time to care either. Off to one side, near the golden wall, Schenk crouched by the bomb. But there was nothing Chase could do to stop him from restarting the timer-the guards were firing!

Bullets sizzling past him, he ran like hell for the Temple of Poseidon.

TWENTY-SIX

Chase sprinted around the wall circling the mausoleum, using it as cover-however temporary. It would take only seconds for Frost’s men to flank it and cut him down.

Running footsteps sounded behind him. Starkman, two more of his men following farther back.

The light from the flashlight clipped to his chest danced crazily over the temple wall. The entrance should be dead ahead…

Dull impacts of metal on metal as bullets struck the golden wall. Someone screamed, and one of the sets of sprinting footsteps became thumps as a body tumbled to the ground.

He didn’t look back. The entrance was ahead, a square of absolute darkness in the wall. Starkman was almost alongside him. The bastard always had been a good runner-

Frost’s voice carried over the noise of the guns, yelling orders. “Kill them! Kill them all!”

Another frantic chatter of MP-7 fire, followed by screams. They were slaughtering the prisoners!

The black square expanded, jittering torchlight revealing the perspective lines of the tunnel inside the temple.

A bullet whipped past so close that he felt its heat, but he was in!

“Those motherfuckers!” Starkman gasped right behind him. “They killed my men!”

“Like you wouldn’t have done the same to them!” Chase spat back. The first corner was just ahead-

Orange light lit the tunnel, a lethal strobing as their pursuers reached the entrance and fired wildly into it. The trailing member of Starkman’s team took the full force of the bullets, his shadow thrashing wildly on the wall in front of Chase.

The corner-

Chase dived around it, Starkman following a step behind as more bullets smacked against the wall. Splinters of stone flew in all directions. Shielding his eyes from the stinging debris, Chase pulled a hand grenade from his webbing and yanked out the pin, the metal spoon pinging free.

He silently counted to three, then tossed the grenade around the corner at the approaching footsteps.

Boom!

Shrapnel filled the air like a swarm of enraged bees as Chase threw himself flat on the ground, dragging Starkman with him. The thunder of the explosion died away. The running footsteps had ceased.

Starkman sat up, recovering his MP-7. “Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” Chase growled. “I haven’t decided if I’m going to let you live.”

“I’ve got the gun,” Starkman pointed out.

“And I’m the only one who knows how to get out of this temple. Come on!” Chase stood, pulling Starkman to his feet. “We’ve got five minutes before this entire place gets blown to buggery!”

“The bomb’s set!” said Schenk. “I disabled the controls-there’s no way to stop it!”

“If you want to stay alive, start running!” Frost yelled to Philby as he ran for the cavern entrance. With a gasp of fright, Philby raced after him.

Down the tunnel, around the corners… and into the chamber containing the Challenge of Strength. The wooden handles above the stone bench had long since crumbled to dust, but…

“Shit,” snapped Chase, seeing that the barbed vertical bars, though gnarled with corrosion, still obstructed the passageway just as they had in Brazil. “I thought they’d have rusted away by now!”

“What are they?” asked Starkman.

“A pain in the arse!” He took his last grenade and moved to the wall by the narrow passage. “Hang on!”

The grenade clacked along the stone floor, exploding halfway down the passage. The blast ripped the corroded metal bars to pieces and filled the air with a blizzard of scabbed metal flakes.

Chase looked along the passage. Only a few of the bars were still intact. “Okay! Follow me down there, on three, as fast as you can!”

“What happens if I don’t?”

“You go splat! One, two, three!”

Chase rushed down the passage, weaving between the stubs of the poles. A misstep could drive one of the rusty spears deep into his leg-although tetanus was the least of the threats to his life right now. “Get ready for the-”

Clunk!

The stone slab under his foot moved.

At least part of the ancient mechanism was still intact. With a rasping groan the ceiling blocks started to descend, dust raining through the gaps between them.

“What the fuck is this?” Starkman shrieked.

“Booby trap! We’ve got to get to the end before we get squashed!”

He ducked to avoid the stalactite-like remains of a pole, unclipping the light from his body armor. With no one on the bench to slow its progress, the ceiling was descending far quicker than in Brazil. But he could move faster.