Andy McDermott - The Midas Legacy

Eddie raised both arms to block him, but De Klerx had momentum on his side. Both men thumped into the human wall surrounding them. The soldiers retreated, one stumbling over a technician’s chair. Eddie slammed a fist into De Klerx’s stomach, making him gasp, but before he could follow up the attack a North Korean clubbed him with a rifle butt. He yelled in pain, stumbling forward, only to take a blow to his jaw.

Kang laughed. Now having approval from their superior officer, the soldiers broke their silence to jeer and holler at the battle as if it were a boxing match. Or, Nina realised from the sadistic glee on their faces, a cage match, a cockfight. They had enjoyed similar spectacles before, and were looking forward to seeing one of the contestants being beaten half to death.

Or fully.

‘Stop them!’ she cried. Even the head technician was entranced, letting out thrilled little gasps each time a punch landed. ‘This is insane!’ She turned to the Mikkelssons. Sarah was weeping, her face buried in her husband’s shoulder, while the tall Icelander watched the brawl with cold intensity.

‘They are fighters,’ said Kang, mouth curling with relish as blood began to speckle the white-painted floor. ‘Let them fight.’

Nina turned away in disgust as the two technicians in charge of loading the Crucible ran up the stairs to see what was going on. One of the other operators suddenly remembered that he had a task to perform and whirled back to his control panel. He pulled the lever to close the radiation shield, the grumble of the vacuum pumps becoming audible over the accelerator’s whine. That done, he turned back to watch the fight.

The large digital wall display climbed again, two thousand and rising…

Eddie jerked sideways to avoid a kick. He jabbed at De Klerx’s head again, but only caught the Dutchman a glancing blow. A snarl, and another strike came — aimed at his groin. He twisted away from it—

A rifle butt thudded against his shoulder. He gasped, reeling as hands shoved him back into the centre of the amorphous battleground. De Klerx was waiting, his boot heel hitting Eddie’s knee. The Yorkshireman yelled as his leg gave way, only just catching himself as he dropped to the floor. Another swing of his enemy’s foot struck him in the side. The impact bowled him into the soldiers’ shins. They jumped back, a technician looking over their shoulders almost falling as they collided with him. Kang cackled, the others echoing the sound sycophantically.

More kicks, this time from the Koreans. Eddie scrambled clear. De Klerx was right on him, his foot thumping painfully against his hip. He rolled again, this time using the movement to jump upright. De Klerx advanced, balled fists raised. Eddie made a circling retreat, trying to stay out of reach of the soldiers behind him—

‘Eddie! The power’s building again!’

Nina — but why would she tell him that ? He glanced towards her. She was beyond the wall of leering soldiers, another man holding her arm with one hand. The Type 58 rifle in his other was pointed at the ground, not his prisoner. And just behind her were the control panels, the operators gawping at the fight rather than watching their instruments…

He realised what she was trying to tell him. Another glance, this at the stairwell to the lower floor. Nobody was watching it. An escape route — if they could reach it.

Which was a big if.

De Klerx closed in. Eddie hurriedly sidestepped so the Dutchman was between him and Nina — then dropped his head and made a screaming charge at the other man.

They collided with a whump . De Klerx lurched backwards. He hit two of the soldiers, one in turn reeling into Nina and her guard. The redhead arrested her fall on a control panel, slapping a hand down on to it — and twisting the dial controlling the power flow.

It was only a tweak, as she didn’t want to risk drawing attention. She didn’t even know if it would be enough to make a difference. But as her guard recovered and pulled her away, she checked the large display. The numbers were still climbing, now well past four thousand… and rising faster than before.

Nobody else was watching the indicator, though. All eyes returned to the brawl as the soldiers forced the Yorkshireman back into the makeshift ring. De Klerx leapt after him, smashing another blow against his head. ‘You dyke-poking fuck !’ Eddie snarled, anger powering a new volley of punches against the Dutchman. De Klerx bobbed and jinked, blocking most — but then crying out as one cracked his nose. Blood squirted from his nostrils.

He drew away, huffing to clear his airways before wiping his face on his sleeve. Eddie circled to position his adversary between himself and Kang. The soldiers shifted, blocking any retreat. He glanced at the digital display — approaching the five thousand mark — but then locked his eyes back on De Klerx as the Dutchman rushed at him.

Eddie swept up one arm to knock away a punch — only for a second jab to catch him squarely in the face. It was not a fight-ender, but it jarred his senses enough that he was too late to block the next. He fell against the hooting soldiers behind him. They shoved him back into the arena—

De Klerx wound up for a brutal haymaker, Eddie stumbling right into its path. He tried to dodge, but had nowhere to go.

The punch hit his skull like a sledgehammer. He went down hard to the floor, the metallic tang of blood filling his mouth. His vision blurred, sounds suddenly echoing. He looked up, seeing howling faces whirl nightmarishly around him. Kang’s took on form, the little colonel pumping a fist in glee.

De Klerx stepped in front of him, anger joined by victorious exultation. He drew back a foot to smash his steel toecap into Eddie’s defenceless face—

Nina’s voice cut through the hubbub. ‘ Fix the fusebox! ’

The senior technician suddenly realised that nobody was monitoring the particle accelerator. He whirled to check the readings — as the display reached five thousand, sooner than he had expected—

The control room was plunged into darkness.

De Klerx hesitated before delivering his kick — but Eddie had already moved in instant response to Nina’s coded warning, twisting to dodge the attack and grabbing the Dutchman’s foot with both hands.

The technician scrambled for the control to activate the second-stage power supply as the accelerator drew greedily upon every erg of electricity from the rest of the base. The circuit closed with a bang, the lights coming back on.

Eddie forced himself up, still gripping De Klerx’s foot and driving the flailing Dutchman backwards. He hit Kang, sending the short man spinning into Mikkelsson and Sarah. Husband and wife both fell as the Yorkshireman threw De Klerx to the floor.

The soldiers recovered from their momentary blindness, guns snapping up — but their commander and chief of security were too close to their target. The only man with a clear line of fire was Nina’s guard. He fumbled to bring his rifle to bear—

Nina threw herself against him. The man stumbled — and tripped over Mikkelsson. His gun skidded across the floor…

To be snatched up by Eddie.

The Englishman whipped around and pulled the trigger. The Type 58, an AK-47 copy, was set on full auto, its thudding bark almost deafening as bullets ripped through the soldiers and technicians. They fell screaming, blood spouting from their wounds. Bok dived behind the desk, the bullets meant for him instead sending the senior technician flying against the control panels with gushing rosettes of blood across his white coat.

The rifle’s bolt clacked. It had only taken three seconds to empty the magazine, but that was all Eddie needed. The last rank-and-file soldier still alive was Nina’s guard, who lifted his head — only for it to slam back against the floor with a crimson spurt as the Yorkshireman used the empty gun as a club. ‘Nina, go!’ he shouted, dropping the Type 58 and looking for a replacement. None of the dead soldiers’ weapons were in immediate reach — and now Kang was fumbling for his holstered pistol, Bok doing the same.