Andy McDermott - The Tomb Of Hercules

Flaring spots of pain danced in Nina’s vision as the man’s remorseless hold threatened to break her arm, but she saw something through them, rushing past below the grill.

She grabbed at it, not knowing or caring what it was, only that it was her last chance, and swung up her arm-

With a flat thud of metal against bone, the fire extinguisher smacked her tormentor squarely on the temple. Blood spurted from a deep gash as he lurched sideways, only to bounce off the handrail and topple off the open side of the platform…

Into the crusher.

It didn’t even pause as the screaming man fell into its maw, the human body far less resistant than rock. There was a brief wet crunch, then it continued working as if nothing had happened, only now with its rollers and cogs streaked red. The gray rubble being spewed onto the pile turned pink.

Nina didn’t have time to think about the horrific sight as she sat up, her right shoulder burning. She looked down at the processor. Chase was still trapped, the gunman pinning him down, and the drilling machine continuing its advance-

“Dr. Wilde!”

The voice was huge, distorted, booming from loudspeakers. She didn’t recognize it-but then she saw Fang on the walkway below speaking into a telephone handset. His gun was trained on Sophia, standing a few paces away.

“Dr. Wilde!” he repeated. “I know you have the rest of the map! Give it to me, or I’ll kill Lady Sophia!”

“Not a chance!” Nina shouted back. Sophia looked affronted. “Kill your boss’s wife? I don’t think that’d look too good at your next pay review!”

Even from a distance, she could tell from Fang’s expression that she’d called his bluff. But then his face changed. Another malevolent smile. “Then give me the map…or Chase dies!”

No bluffing this time. Filled with fear, Nina looked at the drilling machine. It had slowed its advance on Chase… but was still moving.

“Give me the map!” Fang shouted. “Or he will die! Give me the map!”

“Nina, don’t do it!” Chase yelled. Trapped against the processor, the driller only feet away, he raised his gun and readied himself for a final kill-or-be-killed exchange of fire. “Don’t give it to him!”

Nina tore off her backpack and held it out over the crusher. “Let Eddie go, or I drop it! And nobody gets the map!”

Fang said nothing for a moment, engaged in some internal debate. “Give me the map, and you will all live!” he decided. “Otherwise, you all die!Your choice, Dr. Wilde!”

Clinging to the railing with one hand, Nina extended her other arm as far over the crusher as it would reach. “I swear, I’ll drop it! Let him go!”

“If you drop the map, the Tomb of Hercules will be lost forever! Nobody will ever find it! Is that what you want?”

“Nina!” Chase shouted. “Drop it! Whatever Yuen wants it for, you can’t let him get it!” He was backed as far as he could go along the metal face of the processor, the drill heads still advancing, spattering him with dirt.

Nina shook the backpack. “Let him go!”

“If you give me the map, you have my word that you will not be harmed!” Fang countered. “Think about it! Is the Tomb of Hercules worth your lover’s life?”

Chase prepared to spring out and fire. “Drop it!” Three, two, one-

“Okay!” Nina screamed at Fang, pulling the pack back over the platform. “Okay, okay! I’ll give you the map! Just let him go!”

“Stop the drill!” Fang ordered. The boring machine stopped moving, its lethal prow less than a foot from Chase. The clanking and screeching of the drills wound down. “Chase, you can come out now. You will not be harmed… if you surrender.”

Chase balled his fists in anger, but cautiously looked around the corner as ordered. The gunman still had the MP-5 trained on him, but didn’t fire. Raising his hands, he dropped his Wildey before walking into the open.

Fang’s voice rolled around the chamber. “You made a good decision, Dr. Wilde.”

Nina slumped, trembling with sudden exhaustion as adrenaline and emotion crashed on to her. Even though she, Chase and Sophia were still alive, she knew that her decision would turn out to be anything but good.

Nina, Chase and Sophia were taken to the administration building by Fang and four of his men. Inside, they were brought to Yuen-who, as Sophia had predicted, had been meditating in a private room adjoining one of the executive offices.

Yuen rolled the uncut diamond between his fingers. “Tsk, tsk, Dr. Wilde. Didn’t they tell you at the airfield about the seriousness of diamond theft?”

“Screw diamonds,” said Chase. “What about running an illegal uranium mine, Dick? Who’re you selling it to-Iran? North Korea?”

Yuen sighed and nodded to Fang, who smashed Chase on the back of the head with the butt of the Wildey. Chase gasped in pain and dropped to his knees.

“Eddie!” cried Nina. She tried to help him up, but one of the uniformed guards pulled her away.

“That was long overdue,” said Yuen with a satisfied smirk. He glanced at the Wildey. “Ridiculously large gun, huh? Compensating for something, perhaps? No wonder Sophia left you.”

Chase staggered to his feet. “Do that again and I’ll rip your fucking head off,” he snarled at Fang, who just looked smugly unconcerned.

Yuen went to a desk, on which lay the trio’s personal possessions, plus Nina’s backpack and the briefcase Fang had been carrying. “I gotta say,” he went on, almost laughing as he took the binder from the pack and flipped through the pages, “I never thought you’d actually bring the rest of the map right to me! There I was, about to tell Fang to track you down, and boom! Here you are!” He put the binder in the briefcase with the bound section of the Hermocrates text. “Although I guess my security arrangements need overhauling if you were able to get into the mine so easily. I assume my lovely wife had a hand in that.”

He walked over to Sophia and cupped her chin in his hand. “And you, Sophia! My darling wife, the flower in my garden, the light of my life! What am I going to do with you?” She narrowed her eyes in a disdainful sneer. He lowered his hand and addressed one of the guards. “Keep her somewhere out of sight until the speeches are over, then take her to my helicopter.”

The guard nodded and led Sophia from the room.

“Where are you taking her?” Chase demanded.

“Marriage counseling,” said Yuen. “Now, President Molowe and his minister of trade have just arrived to give some very boring speeches. You should be grateful to me-I’m going to spare you from having to sit through them.” He turned to Fang. “Take them to the processing plant and throw them into the crushers-”

Chase whirled, striking at the nearest guard. He wrested the gun from his hand-

Fang clubbed him again, harder. Chase dropped face-first onto the carpet, blood oozing down his neck. He groaned, moving weakly.

“You son of a bitch!” Nina shouted at Fang. “You gave your word you wouldn’t kill us!”

Yuen looked surprised. “You did?”

Fang nodded, almost apologetically. “I did.”

“Oh.”

“But,” Fang continued, a cruel smile spreading across his face as he toyed with his cane, “I never specified for how long.”

“Well, that’s all right then.” At Yuen’s nod, Fang and the guards picked up Chase, then took him and Nina from the room. “Oh, by the way,” Yuen called after them, the men pausing, “give me his gun.” Fang tossed it to him. “Cool souvenir.”

Nina kicked at her captors, but they were too strong for her, whisking her and the semiconscious Chase out of the building.