Andy McDermott - The Hunt For Atlantis

He paused for a second, then leaned around the side of his cover. Right on cue, one of the men across the courtyard jumped up to aim at them-only to reel back and drop out of sight as a single bullet from Chase’s Uzi blew a hole in his face. “One down! If we can nail another one, we can cover each other until we reach those doors.”

More innocent flowers were blasted into potpourri. Castille flapped a hand as fragments of petals rained around his face, their scent at bizarre odds with the acrid tang of burnt gunpowder. “It’s a good thing they don’t have grenades.”

“Yeah, and too bad we don’t either! We could-” Chase stopped as he heard a warning shout. “Oh, you had to bloody tempt fate, didn’t you? Grenade!”

Both men fired at the windows as they sprang up and ran towards them. Behind, a grenade arced down from the other end of the courtyard, landing with a thump of soft soil in the planter.

The glass shattered as Chase stitched a line of bullets up it, diving headlong at the narrow opening. Beside him, Castille did the same. They let go of their guns just before hitting the shower of glass, protecting their faces with their arms as the exploding grenade blew out a huge chunk of marble from the side of the planter and hurled soil and vegetation over thirty feet in the air. A lethal hail of metal flew after the two ex-soldiers, but by then Chase and Castille were already through the windows. What little glass remained in the windows flew after them like razor-edged confetti as they hit the floor.

Chase shook off the fragments of glass. The room was a gallery of some kind, lined with statues. His ears were ringing, but besides the jolt of the hard landing on his elbows and knees and a stinging cut on the back of his head, he didn’t feel any new pain. “Are you okay?”

Castille winced. “I’ve been better!” He held up his left arm; his sleeve had been slashed open and a long jagged cut ran down his forearm, splinters of blood-slicked glass protruding from it.

“Can you fight?”

“Always!” He picked up the G3. Chase looked for the Uzi. It wasn’t there-it must have hit the window frame and landed outside.

He drew his Wildey, pressing his back against the wall next to the smashed window. Castille did the same on the other side. The two guards were running for the French windows, intending to enter the building and cut them off.

A shot from the Wildey blew the lower jaw off one man. He crashed to the ground, limbs thrashing. Castille fired twice, plugging the second man in the chest. He fell into the French windows, slamming headfirst through the glass.

“Come on,” Chase snapped. They needed to find Kari-and Nina-fast.

As they left the gallery, the lights pulsed, then came back on.

Kari was certain Hajjar would try to flee the fortress. If her rescuers were attacking from the main gate, he would head for the helipad, a platform recessed into the northern side of the building.

She mentally connected the routes she’d taken from the helipad to the cells, then the cells to Hajjar’s office. Down another floor, then right…

After restoring power, one of Hajjar’s men hurried back up the stairs-to find his boss waiting for him with an unexpected guest. Apparently today was “beautiful Western women” day at the fortress.

Though he couldn’t help noticing that this one, a ponytailed redhead rather than the taller ice-blonde he’d seen earlier, really needed a shower.

“Bring her,” Hajjar ordered. The bodyguard grabbed her shoulder, pushing her along as he stuck his MP-5 into her back.

“Where’s Kari?” demanded Nina. “What did you do to her?”

Hajjar glared back at her as he jogged along, smears of blood around his mouth and nose. “What did I do to her? It’s what she did to me you should ask about! If I had known she was so dangerous, I would have tied her legs!”

Nina was intrigued, but didn’t have the chance to inquire further as they reached a kink in the corridor. A large window looked out over the mountains-and the helicopter on its pad below. Its rotors were turning, picking up speed.

Hajjar gave the bodyguard orders in Farsi, the man stepping back to hide around the corner where the passageway kinked. Then he turned to Nina. “You, stay here! Wait for your friends!”

“What, so he can shoot them? Screw you!”

He jabbed his blade-hand up against her chin, the point cutting her. She gasped. “When they get here, you will wave to them, make it seem everything is all right. If you say a word, try to give them any warning, he will kill you. Do you understand?”

“Perfectly,” she said, glancing at the bodyguard’s machine gun. Hajjar nodded, then turned away. “Hajjar! Where’s the artifact?”

He patted his satchel. “It is a shame to destroy something of such historic value… but the fifteen million dollars Qobras is paying me to do so is a lot of money.”

“Plus the ten million Kristian Frost paid you as well,” Nina said with disgust.

Hajjar shrugged. “What can I say? Today was a good day for business.” He frowned at the sound of gunfire echoing through the marble-floored corridors. “A bad day for my home, though. It seems I will be spending some of the money on redecorating. But better that than on my own funeral! Good-bye, Dr. Wilde!” He scurried away.

The bodyguard gestured with his gun, directing Nina to stand in the center of the corridor. Anyone approaching from the other end would see her… but not her captor, tucked out of sight.

“Do you hear something?” asked Castille as he and Chase hurried through the fortress.

“Chopper,” Chase confirmed. The distant but rising whine of the Jet Ranger’s turbine engine was unmistakable.

“Merde! I knew we were going to have to deal with that thing, I just knew it!”

“Down there,” said Chase, pointing. They turned a corner.

Kari heard running footsteps as she approached the T-junction leading to the helipad. She raised the MP-5-

Chase and Castille rushed around the corner, both of them with their guns aimed right at her!

“Christ,” said Chase, face cracking into a smile as he lowered his Wildey, “what is it with people not needing me to rescue them today?”

Kari smiled back. “Perhaps I should ask for a refund.”

“Let’s not go that far,” Castille said.

“Where’s Nina?”

“Hiding, if she did what I told her,” Chase replied.

“Are you okay? Where’s Hajjar?”

“I’m fine-but Hajjar has the artifact!”

Castille made a face. “Let me guess, he’s in his helicopter.”

“Yes! Come on!”

They ran up the corridor, Chase leading the way. “Go left at the next junction, then follow it around!” Kari told him.

“How many men does he have with him?”

“I don’t know-I shot the two guarding me.”

Chase gave her a quizzical glance. “You killed them?”

“Yes.” She returned the look. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing! I’m just not used to having clients do the job for me!”

They followed the corridor-then stopped when they saw a familiar figure ahead. “Nina!” Kari called.

“I told her to stay hidden,” Chase complained. “Doc! Are you okay?”

Pressed against the wall, the bodyguard gestured with his gun: wave them to you. Nina raised her hand.