Andy Mcdermott - Temple of the Gods

Not great, but better than nothing. ‘Over this side, quick!’ They scrabbled over the ridge and half ran, half slid down to the nearest large rock and crouched behind it. Nina cautiously peered round the boulder to find the Black Hawk.

It was changing course, turning sharply to head towards them. ‘Oh, crap,’ she squeaked.

Eddie was already searching for better cover, but nothing presented itself. Wherever they went, the Black Hawk could simply hover overhead. ‘So much for ’em not being able to shoot at us.’

‘This is not my fault! Any ideas?’

‘You don’t have a white flag, do you?’

Even if she had, it became clear a moment later that they wouldn’t get the chance to use it. A man leaning from the Black Hawk’s cabin opened fire with a machine gun. Bullets cracked noisily off the rock above them. Nina shrieked and scrambled round the boulder in an attempt to keep it between her and the helicopter; Eddie followed, stone chips biting at his heels. Choking dust swirled around them as the aircraft descended.

The assault continued without pause. A chunk of stone the size of a human head splintered from the rock and smacked down between Eddie and Nina. ‘Jesus Christ!’ she cried, flinching away — and in her peripheral vision catching movement at the top of the ridge.

The Security Forces had found them.

‘Eddie!’ She dropped flat as more gunfire struck from a different direction. More men were climbing over the hill.

Their orders were obviously to kill the intruders. Eddie gave Nina a last despairing look, grabbing her hand as the Black Hawk moved directly overhead—

The gunfire stopped.

The helicopter briefly hung above them, then veered away. Nina squinted through the billowing dust to see the troops also departing, one man with a hand to his head as if listening to a message through an earpiece — and unable to believe what he was hearing. He glared at the couple, then lowered his weapon and followed his companions out of sight.

Eddie wiped grit from his face. ‘What the hell? Why did they stop?’ He risked raising his head to look for the Black Hawk. It was on a course back to its home base.

‘You got a problem with that?’ Nina asked. ‘Because I don’t.’

‘Neither do I, but why are they just fucking off like that?’ He double-checked the ridge, expecting to see the pursuing troops lurking in wait, but it appeared that they really had retreated. ‘Stay there and keep down — I’ll see what’s going on.’

‘Shouldn’t we, y’know, run while we can?’ Nina called after him, but he ignored her and quickly scaled the ridge, dropping to his stomach near the top and peering over it.

The troops had indeed retreated, but not far. One man was surveying the ridge; he did a double-take as he spotted Eddie, pointing him out to his fellows, but none of them took a shot at him, or even raised their weapons.

‘What are they doing?’ Nina asked as he returned.

‘I dunno, but I don’t like it. They don’t want to kill us — but it doesn’t look like they’re going to let us leave either. They didn’t look happy about it, though. Somebody’s ordered them to stand down.’

‘Who?’

‘I wish I knew. But I get the feeling they’ll keep us here until we find out.’

That turned out to be the case. After several minutes, they heard another approaching chopper: not the Black Hawk that had attacked them, but a much smaller OH-6 Cayuse scout helicopter. It passed over the bowl, then moved to land near the abandoned tank.

Another few minutes passed, then a man appeared at the crest of the rise. ‘Dr Wilde! Mr Chase!’

Eddie leaned out, regarding the new arrival cautiously. He was an air force colonel, carrying something in one hand: a satellite phone. ‘Yeah? What’s up?’

‘Can I come down to you?’

Nina and Eddie traded bewildered glances. ‘Sure, why not?’ Nina called out.

The colonel picked his way down the slope, almost slipping on some loose gravel at its foot, but managing to retain his footing and dignity as he reached them. It was clear from his disgusted expression that he didn’t want to be dealing with them at all, but was obeying orders from above. He held out the phone. ‘I’ve been told to give you this.’

Still confused, Nina accepted it. She held it to her ear, tilting it so Eddie could listen in. ‘Hello?’

‘Dr Wilde, hello,’ said an unfamiliar voice. The accent was American, a refined New England baritone.

‘Who is this?’

‘You don’t know me — at least, not yet. But I think you’re aware of the organisation I represent. I’m the chairman of the Group.’

Nina couldn’t help but be suspicious. ‘So… what do you want?’

‘I want to talk to you. Both of you, in person. Since I’ve just saved your lives, I hope you’ll show your gratitude by agreeing to meet me.’

Under the angry eyes of the troops from Silent Peak, Nina and Eddie were led to the helicopter, which flew them to Nellis Air Force Base northeast of Las Vegas. A jet waited for them, larger than the Lear; a C-37A, the US military’s version of the Gulfstream V business aircraft, luxuriously appointed as a VIP transport. They were accompanied by two air force officers, who like the colonel appeared displeased to have been assigned this particular escort duty. Once in flight, they sat at the cabin’s far end, occasionally shooting dirty glances towards the couple.

Since there was nothing else that could be done, Eddie chose to stretch out in a reclining seat and doze through the eastward flight. Nina regarded him jealously. She was too concerned for her racing mind to allow her to rest. What she had heard about the Group was apparently true; if they had enough influence to intervene in the internal security of the US military — quickly enough to halt an ongoing search-and-destroy operation — then they must have direct access to the very highest levels of the American government.

And they had used that power to save her and Eddie’s lives. She was grateful for that… but what price would be asked in return?

By the time the plane landed, night had fallen over the eastern seaboard. The two officers took them down the steps to the runway, where a limousine waited. Eddie peered inside. A man in a dark suit gestured for him to enter. ‘Come on in, Mr Chase,’ said the stranger. ‘Sit down. You too, Dr Wilde. I won’t bite.’

‘I might,’ Eddie muttered, climbing in to sit facing him. Nina hesitantly took a place beside her husband.

The man in the back seat was in his sixties, tall and broad-shouldered in a way that suggested he had been an athlete in his youth. Despite his age, he was obviously still strong and in excellent health. His grey hair was slicked back from his prominent forehead, a pair of rectangular spectacles giving him a stern, patrician air. He had a downturned mouth that didn’t seem accustomed to smiling. ‘Welcome to Washington,’ he said. ‘I’m glad to see you both alive and well.’

‘I’d be gladder if I knew what the hell was going on,’ said Eddie.

‘Well, that’s what I’m going to tell you.’ He pushed a button to speak to the driver. ‘Let’s go.’ The limo set off, the Gulfstream retreating beyond the darkened rear window.

‘Okay,’ said Nina, ‘my first question is: who are you?’

‘My name is Travis Warden. You may have heard of me, or you may not. It depends how closely you read the financial pages.’

‘They’re not really my thing,’ she admitted.

‘That’s true for most people. Which is why the histrionics aimed at the financial world over the past few years are ironic at best, and hypocritical at worst. Anyone taking the time and effort to analyse the data that was freely available would have seen that the boom before the economic crash was unsustainable. But —’ he shrugged — ‘nobody wants to believe that the good times will ever stop rolling, so they fail to plan for the inevitable.’ He gave his passengers a meaningful look. ‘Well, almost nobody.’