David Golemon - Legend

"Major, that item you were looking for, what color case was it in again?"

"It should be yellow and—"

Jack's words were cut short when he heard a soft beep coming from the far corner that Virginia was backing away from. Then he saw the case. The weapon was lying in a pile of other items from the Zachary expedition. The beast must have deposited it here along with its other finds. It was as if the animal simply brought anything of shiny or colorful material to its nest, its home. It was a scavenger.

The lieutenant commander joined the major, and they both looked down on the case that protected the five-kiloton nuclear weapon.

"Jack, I think we've found what we were looking for."

Jack leaned over and easily unlatched the lid of the protective case. He had sent Sarah and Virginia back to hurry the others in their preparations for getting out of there.

"Damn," he said as he saw the LED readout on the aluminum facing of the weapon.

"Looks like we finally caught a break," Carl said as he looked over Jack's shoulder.

"Countdown's frozen at thirty minutes. Yeah, we may have. Kennedy turned the key but didn't initiate the countdown. I think we may have that creature to thank for that."

"Yeah, remind me to thank him if we run into him," Carl joked.

Jack closed the case and nodded for Carl to take the other end. They both gently lifted it off the stone floor. As they made their way out of the room, they paused and looked at the remains of the soldiers from the past. Then Jack looked at Carl and shook his head.

"Let's be sure not to join these fellas."

"I always liked the way you think, Jack."

They made their way out of the lighted chamber and into the darker passageway. They had gone just past the opening with the descending staircase when they were suddenly flanked by two men with automatic weapons. One came from the main chamber, the other was hidden in the dark opening and came out after they had passed. The man in the back gestured for them to continue on into the main chamber.

As they entered the lighted main water room, Jack saw that Sarah was there with Virginia and the students. They all looked dejected and terrified.

"Ah, this is like old home week. Major Jack Collins and the resourceful Commander Everett, I am but truly amazed. You two are like the taste of bad wine; I can't seem to get rid of you."

"I'm sorry, Jack," Sarah said.

"Do not speak again, senora ," Mendez said as he raised his hand with the gun in it, ready to strike Sarah.

Jack tensed and was about to drop the warhead when Farbeaux's words stopped him and Mendez.

"Stop! You do not strike a lady for being concerned, Senor Mendez."

Mendez's hand was stayed in midair. He turned toward the Frenchman and saw to his bemusement that Farbeaux was looking not at him but at the American major.

Jack looked his way and their eyes locked. They remained fixed like that for a full thirty seconds.

"What is in the case, gold?" Mendez asked as he gestured for his remaining three men to take the case from the Americans.

"I wouldn't do that, mate," Carl said as he was relieved of the weight of the warhead.

Jack continued to look at the Frenchman as he allowed the handle of the case to be pried from his grip.

The two men, the third continuing to hold a gun on the two Americans, took the case over to Mendez. The greedy look in the heavy man's face was one that history had seen millions of times as men of avarice thought they were about to gaze upon a mother lode of riches.

"Gold, artifacts? What is in it?" he asked as he leaned over the yellow aluminum container. He reached out for the heavy-duty clasps.

"Don't!"

Mendez looked up into the face of Farbeaux, who said to Jack, "Explain why he shouldn't open the case, Major."

"By your temperament, I can see you've guessed at it. I prefer not to say anything to the pig," Jack said calmly. He caught Mendez's sneer out of the corner of his eye and just hoped the fat man would make a move in his direction.

"I believe what you have there is a means to seal El Dorado for all time. Am I correct?" Farbeaux reached into his satchel, placed a heavy glove on his hand, then reached inside again and pulled out a greenish lump of stone. It was coursed through with a white, chalky substance. He held it out toward Jack. "To rid the world of the source, this source." The room became silent as everyone stared at the same.

"Mass murder doesn't seem to be a part of your resume, Colonel," Jack finally said.

"The selling of material has always been my way of making ends meet. As you Americans say, I have to keep up with the Joneses."

Farbeaux replaced the enriched sample of uranium in his satchel and removed the glove.

"What you are looking at in the aluminum case, senor , is a five-megaton nuclear warhead. What the Americans fondly call a Backpack Nuke. It's manufactured by the Hanford Nuclear Weapons Facility in Washington State. It is designed for minor troop arrest in a battlefield theater. But would do nicely in bringing down, oh, say a pyramid."

Mendez quickly backed away from the case.

"My Colombian friend may be slow on the uptake, Major, but the man truly does understand death and all its forms. Now as I was saying, this source material is very valuable; even in its rough form, it is capable of creating a weapon of—"

"A dirty bomb, a poor man's nuclear device, I'm still not buying it, Colonel. It's not — you."

"You will share in this also, and you will—" Mendez furiously started to say.

" Senor , please be quiet while we adults speak." Farbeaux smiled as he looked from Mendez to Collins. "Being a supplier of such material to others does not a murderer make. But I admit you're right to a certain degree, Major Collins. Commander Everett, your reputation has preceded you, sir; please do not move another inch toward that fool's weapon," Farbeaux said as he removed his own nine-millimeter and pointed it toward the commander.

Carl stopped inching toward one of the Colombians who, still taking in the situation, hadn't noticed him moving. The man snapped to and shoved him backward.

"As I was saying," Farbeaux's eyes lingered for a moment on Carl and then slowly moved to Jack, "The material has been bought and paid for by a former employer of mine, and his cause is the same as your country's: the elimination of certain terrorist cells across the world. An untraceable source of dirty material that can be sent into mountains and valleys in far-off barbaric places. So you see, our ends are the same."

"I'm afraid you have misjudged Americans, Colonel; we still do things the hard way, and some would say the stupid way. But to introduce radiation into the atmosphere to kill everything along with terrorists, well, the line has to be drawn somewhere."

Farbeaux saw the flick of Jack's eyes toward the darkened corridor from where they had come. He grimaced when he realized the major was playing for time. And Jack had indeed seen something that was sure to occupy Mendez and his men in the next few minutes.

"You're beyond belief!" Farbeaux shouted just as the creature burst from the deep shadows of the corridor.

Farbeaux fired twice as the animal took down the first Colombian by slashing at him with its claws. The Frenchman's bullets did little to slow the beast as it advanced into the chamber.

"Get them in the boat!" Jack shouted toward Carl who had taken out the man he had initially set his sights on — he had simply reached out and snapped the mercenary's neck. Picking up the man's fallen Ingram, he ran toward the cowering students and started to help Sarah and Virginia as they pushed the first boat they came to into the canal.

Several more rounds struck the creature and it roared in pain. It fell to one knee as it grew weak from this and the earlier attack.