Andy McDermott - The Hunt For Atlantis

Or, he realized with horror, they could just do what they were about to do and toss a grenade down the corridor!

One of the men yelled the Farsi equivalent of “Fire in the hole!,” the ching of the safety lever springing away from the body of the grenade perfectly audible as his companions stopped firing.

It would take Chase several seconds to reach cover through the heavy connecting door, by which time the grenade would have exploded-

He didn’t even try. Instead, he flipped his rifle over and grabbed it by the barrel, wielding it like a club as he whirled to see the dark green ovoid arcing at him-

And hit it with the stock of the rifle, smacking it back up the corridor like a baseball player scoring a home run!

He dived back around the corner as it exploded. Every window along the corridor burst apart, shards of flying glass adding to the lethality of the blast zone as thousands of ball bearings and fragments of the grenade’s steel casing tore through the carriage.

Wind from the broken windows cleared the smoke almost immediately as Chase looked back down the passageway. He could see several dead men, or at least parts of them, but there was no sign of Mahjad-presumably he was in the front carriage with the prisoners.

Turning his rifle back around, Chase hurried towards the front of the train.

“Grenade?” asked Hafez.

“Yes.”

“Eddie?”

“Definitely.” Castille unlocked the Iranian’s handcuffs. “Ready?”

“Always.”

“Then go !”

Weapons raised, the two men ducked back-to-back out of the compartment. Castille faced the rear of the train, Hafez the front.

Castille saw nothing but the wooden walls of the corridor. He said, “Clear-” when two shots cracked almost simultaneously behind him. One was from Hafez’s gun; the other was farther away.

Hafez lurched backwards, stumbling into Castille as a bloody hole exploded in his left thigh. At the far end of the corridor, the soldier who had been stationed outside Nina and Mahjad’s compartment ducked back into its cover as Hafez’s bullet blew a chunk of wood out of the door frame.

Castille grabbed his friend with his free arm and pulled him around the corner at the end of the corridor, lowering him carefully to the floor.

Blood gushed from the wound. Hafez clamped his left hand over it. “Agh! That bastard son of a syphilitic whore shot me!”

From experience, Castille knew Hafez would survive the injury-if he got first aid soon. That was assuming they got through the whole experience at all… “Can you still shoot?”

Hafez hefted the rifle in one hand. “I’m not dead yet-and I refuse to die until I’ve blown that little bastard’s balls off! Go, help Eddie!”

Castille clapped him on the shoulder and pulled open the heavy connecting doors.

Chase heard movement ahead. Someone was approaching from the front of the train.

He ducked into the nearest compartment. Holding his breath, he waited until he heard footsteps, then lunged out, pointing his gun.

Castille was less than ten feet away, pointing a gun right back at him.

“Edward!”

“Hugo!” Chase let out a sigh of relief. “Typical, I go to all this bloody trouble to rescue you, and you’ve wasted my time!”

“You know me, I got tired of waiting for your slow-”

“Don’t move!” rasped a voice from behind Chase.

Chase exchanged a look with Castille. The Belgian’s eyes flicked downwards. Chase gave him the tiniest nod in return.

“Drop your g-”

Chase dropped flat as Castille fired a single shot that whipped mere inches over the top of his head. From the far end of the corridor came a choked cry, followed by the thump of a body falling to the floor. Looking around, Chase saw another soldier slumped against the bullet-riddled rear wall, a gun clattering from his lifeless hand.

“You came to rescue me, I end up rescuing you,” said the Belgian with a sly smile.

“Aw, we’ll just call it evens.” Chase stood again. “Can’t believe he was hiding in the bog! Where’s Nina?”

Castille’s face became grim. “I don’t know, I haven’t seen her. That captain took her into another compartment. And Hafez is hurt, he’s been shot.”

“Where?”

“In the leg.”

“No, where where?”

Castille turned and gestured towards the front of the train. “Down here, come on!”

They raced into the first car. Hafez was still on the floor, covering the entrance with his gun. “Eddie!” he exclaimed painfully. “Good to see you! How did you…”

“You heard all those explosions?”

“Yes.”

“That’s how. Where’s Nina?”

Hafez gestured with his rifle. “I think the compartment at the far end, but the little shit who did this to me,” he looked at his injured leg, “is covering it. Mahjad’s probably in there as well.”

Chase reached into one of his pockets and took out a small steel mirror, angling it so that he could see the far end of the passageway. As he’d expected, the movement attracted a couple of shots, but in the brief moment before pulling his hand back he saw all he needed. “One guy, last compartment, crouched low.” He nodded at Castille. “You up for it?”

“I’ll take the far side.”

“Uh-uh. You got the last bad guy for me. I’ll take the far side.” Chase prepared to jump out and take up a firing position against the outer wall of the corridor. It would give him a better shooting angle-but he would also be more exposed.

“My reverse psychology works again,” said Castille. He raised his rifle. “Ready?”

Chase did the same. “Fight to the end.”

“Fight to the end,” Castille echoed.

Chase reached up and yanked the communication cord.

The entire train shook violently as the emergency brakes slammed on, the wheels squealing over the track. Bracing himself, Chase waited for it to come to a standstill…

“And, go!”

Castille leaned around the corner and took aim. The soldier, still recovering from the sudden deceleration, saw him and emerged from his cover to take a shot. At the same moment, Chase sprang out and slammed against the opposite wall, dividing his quarry’s attention.

The rifles of both the former commandos barked at once. Before he even had a chance to fire, the soldier was dead, flung back into the compartment like a rag doll.

Chase heard Nina shriek in fright. “Come on!” he ordered, racing down the corridor. Castille followed.

The compartment door was jammed open by the soldier’s body. Chase didn’t stop running, instead diving forward just before he reached the door and landing in a perfect roll on the far side. A pistol shot punched a hole through the window inches behind him.

He’d glimpsed the compartment’s interior as he dived past, and signaled silently with one hand to Castille as he regained his footing. One hostage, one bad guy, standing. Go in three, two, one -

Both men whipped around the door, rifles snapping onto their target.

Mahjad stood with Nina in front of him, left arm wrapped around her waist, his army pistol pointed awkwardly at the door. His right hand held Chase’s Wildey, the muzzle pressed against her temple.

Nina was shaking. “Eddie!”

“Drop your guns!” Mahjad yelled. “I’ll count to three. If you don’t drop your guns by then, I’ll-”

Chase and Castille exchanged lightning-fast glances. “Three!” Chase snapped.

The two bullets hit Mahjad’s forehead barely a centimeter apart. The back of his skull blew out, the light in the room instantly taking on a scarlet tinge as the window behind him was splattered with gore. His body dropped to its knees, then slumped backwards and hit the wall with a sticky thud.