Andy Mcdermott - Temple of the Gods

Glas’s men spread out to corral the staff into the storeroom, quickly searching them to confiscate phones. Eddie examined the makeshift cell’s door; it didn’t appear to be lockable. ‘Someone’ll have to keep an eye on them.’

‘I’ll do it,’ volunteered Amsel. Eddie nodded, and the German took up a position to watch both the storeroom and the main entrance. The waiter who had tried to reach the phone glowered at him through the door’s little window.

Eddie hurried for the exit, the remaining men following. He hoped the delays hadn’t made the situation worse for Nina.

Gorchakov picked up Nina’s gun. He turned it over in his hands, then glared at Stikes. ‘Why did you not search her?’ he demanded.

The Englishman was unconcerned by the anger directed at him from around the table. ‘To give her a false sense of security. I knew that if she thought she had an ace up her sleeve, she’d reveal her true intentions sooner rather than later. Don’t forget, I’ve dealt with her before. I know what kind of person she is — and she’s not the type to start blasting away at unarmed civilians. She leaves the shooting to her husband.’

Nina expected him to question her again regarding Eddie’s whereabouts, but he left the comment hanging. Instead, Warden spoke. ‘This is twice you’ve done something without telling us, Stikes — first kidnapping Chase’s father —’ he gave Larry a brief glance — ‘and now this. Don’t make us question our decision to take you on board.’

‘You took me on because you know I get results,’ Stikes replied. ‘And I have. You’ve got Dr Wilde, and you’ve got the statues. Everything you need is here.’

‘If Dr Wilde cooperates.’

‘Oh, she will.’ Stikes gave her a lupine smile. ‘One way or another.’

‘Don’t bet on it,’ said Nina.

He sighed. ‘Are we really going to go through this routine again? I make a demand, you refuse, I put a gun to someone you care about, you cave in.’ He slid the case across the table to Nina. ‘So why not just save everybody’s time and put the statues together?’

‘Nina, I don’t know what the hell’s going on here,’ said Larry with nervous bravado, ‘but, er, much as I’d like you to do what he says so we can all go home, I’m getting the distinct feeling it’s not a good idea. So don’t give this bastard what he wants, not on my account.’

Stikes regarded him with an odd sense of approval. ‘I didn’t think you had that much backbone, Larry. Maybe you and your son have more in common than either of you would like to admit. Oh, and Gerard,’ he added to the man holding Larry, ‘shoot him in the knee.’

‘ No! ’ Nina screamed as Gerard unhesitatingly pointed the gun at Larry’s leg. Stikes snapped up a hand, and the big mercenary stopped, his finger tight on the trigger.

‘I told you,’ Stikes said to her. He gestured at the case. ‘Now. The statues.’

Nina and Larry exchanged helpless looks. The gun was still fixed on his knee; at point-blank range the bullet would shatter the bones, almost certainly crippling him for life — if he survived the blood loss from the wound. Larry’s face was ashen with fear, but he still summoned up some reserve of defiance. ‘Nina, you shouldn’t…’

‘It’s your choice, Nina ,’ said Stikes. ‘Don’t keep everyone waiting.’

‘You son of a bitch,’ she hissed. Until Eddie arrived, she had no choice but to obey. Slowly, her disgust and reluctance almost tangible, she opened the case and took out the first statue.

The effect of her touch upon the stone figurine was immediate, the strange glow bright even beneath the glaring spotlights on the roof beams. ‘And the others,’ prompted Warden, fascinated by the display. ‘Put them together.’

Nina linked the second figure with the first. The glow intensified. Supporting the paired statues in one hand, she picked up the last member of the triptych, the bifurcated figurine now held crudely together with adhesive tape. It made no difference to the effect, the purple stone coming alive with the shimmering blue glow. Just as in Japan, she felt a weird electrical tingling through her hands.

Everyone watching held their breath, even Larry and his captor. The statues shone, the tingle intensifying as she brought the figures closer together. There was another feeling, too — as much as she wanted to prevent the Group from finding the meteorite, her innate curiosity was becoming ravenous, urging her to take the next step and discover the secret of the stone to sate it. She had felt the effect before, in Tokyo; there, she had been caught unawares and snapped back to reality by shock. But now she knew what to expect. She could recreate the experience, and this time be in control…

‘Put them together!’ Warden ordered — but before he could finish speaking she had already done so.

Even prepared for what would happen, Nina was almost overcome by the rush of sensation. Again, there was the feeling of acquiring a new sense that extended far beyond the limits of her body, inescapably linking her to life in all its myriad forms. If what Glas had said was true and all living things on earth originated from one single source, the sky stone, then she was now following the common thread joining them together through billions of years.

And she felt the stone itself.

A sixth — or seventh? — sense, a homing instinct; however she could think to describe it, all she knew was that the thread led her directly to it. There was no life around it now, but there had been, once. She had impressions of heat, light where there should have been darkness, being beneath the ground yet not buried. The feeling was so intense that she could almost see it, a visual echo from the people who had been there long ago.

It was far away, she could tell, but closer than it had been when she was in Takashi’s skyscraper. She knew in what direction—

That thought made her open her eyes. She knew, but now so too did the Group. The joined statues floated just above her cradling palms, shining brightly. Some of the Group were looking at the wall towards which the light was strongest, as if hoping to see through it all the way to the meteorite’s hiding place.

She felt an instinctive urge to follow the path back to its origin—

The statues suddenly moved, gliding silently away from her across the table. She was so startled that she didn’t think to try to grab them until they were out of reach. Meerkrieger jerked aside as the linked figures spun past him.

The glow began to fade… and the statues arced towards the polished wooden floor. ‘Catch them, catch them!’ Warden cried.

Stikes was already running round the table. He dived headlong, landing hard and skidding along the floorboards just in time for the figurines to drop into his hands. He breathed out heavily in relief. ‘Haven’t made a catch like that since I played cricket for Eton.’

Warden rounded on Nina. ‘What happened? How did you do that?’

‘I don’t know,’ she replied, truthfully. The statues had responded to her impulsive thought, as if she had been able to channel and direct the earth energy flowing through them by the power of her will alone. But even in her confusion, she still had enough forethought to keep this to herself. ‘It just sort of — happened . Like they were drawn toward something.’

‘The sky stone,’ said Warden. ‘They were being drawn to the meteorite.’

‘We can triangulate,’ said Frederick Bull excitedly. ‘We know the bearing from Tokyo, and now we know the bearing from here too!’

His brother was already tapping away on his smartphone. ‘The bearing from here was a hundred and forty degrees east, more or less,’ he said, bringing up a map app. ‘It was two hundred and sixty degrees west from Tokyo, so…’ He swiped his fingers across the screen to find where the two lines intersected. ‘Africa! Somewhere in Ethiopia, by the look of it.’