Gabriel Hunt - Hunt at World's End

Gabriel helped Joyce up onto the statue’s hand. She threw her arms around him and planted a kiss on his mouth.

“What was that for?” he asked.

“For not being dead,” she said. “Yet. Do you have the Eyes?”

“All three of them,” Gabriel said. He patted the vest, where the Three Eyes of Teshub felt like they were throbbing. He noticed they’d grown progressively warmer with their proximity to the statue.

A shotgun blast rang out, and a chunk at the end of the statue’s middle finger broke off. Gabriel peered down. Below, Grissom was aiming up at them. Gabriel ducked back as Grissom fired again, the buckshot peppering the edge where he’d been kneeling. He took one of the gemstones from the vest—the ruby—and handed it to Joyce. “We’ve got to split up,” he said. “Keep them away from Grissom.”

“We’re pretty far from Grissom up here,” Joyce said.

“Not for long,” Gabriel said, and pointed. Sure enough, Grissom had begun making the climb. Daniel tried to grab hold of his leg, but Grissom kicked him away, sending him sprawling.

Gabriel groped for another of the shotgun shells Joyce had thrown earlier; several lay scattered around the palm. He reloaded the gun, then took the vest and climbed with it precariously up Teshub’s bent arm and across to the statue’s massive head, balancing with both arms out like a high-wire walker. He stopped beside one of the figure’s ears. Looking back, he saw that Joyce was still standing on the upturned palm—and Grissom was coming closer by the second.

“Joyce, get away!” he shouted.

She stuffed the ruby under her belt, but didn’t move off the hand. Grissom was started to make his move across, his shotgun strapped across his back.

“Joyce!” Gabriel cried again.

“I can take care of this bastard,” she said. Standing over Grissom, she pulled back one leg to kick out at his head—but he snaked an arm around her other ankle and yanked, bringing her crashing down.

Grissom pulled himself the rest of the way onto Teshub’s palm and swung the shotgun off his back. He leveled it at Joyce. “Get up,” he said. “Slowly.” Grissom kept the gun on her as she did. The ruby glinted at her waist.

Sighting down the barrel of his shotgun from his perch by the statue’s ear, Gabriel cursed under his breath. There was no way he could pull the trigger without spraying them both with buckshot. He thought of what Joyce said back in Borneo, that if he had to make a choice between saving her and stopping Grissom, he should forget about her and do what needed to be done. She’d meant it, and he’d promised that he would. The trigger felt cold against his fingertip. His heart hammered his ribs. Sweat trickled from his forehead.

The question was whether he could do it.

He looked down into Joyce’s eyes and lowered the shotgun.

Grissom came around behind her, using her as a shield, the shotgun pointed up at her head. It was an awkward angle, but by bending over slightly he managed to keep his finger on the trigger. “If you don’t want to see your lovely friend’s brains spread across the desert, throw down the gun and come back here now. This is it, Hunt—the end of the line.” He smiled, but there was nothing of pleasure in it. “World’s End,” he said.

Chapter 24

Gabriel aimed the shotgun again, but all he could see was half of Grissom’s head behind Joyce’s grimacing face. “I’m in no mood to repeat myself,” Grissom called. He grabbed Joyce’s hair, pulling her head back, and with his other hand jammed the shotgun muzzle under her jaw.

Gabriel lowered the shotgun and let it drop from his hands. It sailed down from where he stood until it was lost in darkness. They heard it land on the sand below.

“Very good,” Grissom said. “Now come back here.”

Gabriel walked along the statue’s outstretched arm back to the hand.

Grissom’s eyes narrowed as he watched Gabriel approach. “No surprises, Hunt.” He pushed the muzzle harder against Joyce’s jaw.

“Don’t do it, Gabriel,” Joyce managed to say through clenched teeth.

“I won’t let him hurt you,” Gabriel said.

“You’ve got to—” she began, but Grissom silenced her with another jab of the gun.

“Now,” Grissom said. “Please take the ruby.”

“ Take it?”

“Yes,” Grissom said. “Thousands of years ago, the Hittite Empire hid the Three Eyes of Teshub around the world. Now, I am going to let you have the honor of being the man who gives them back.”

Gabriel lifted the ruby out from under Joyce’s belt. He could see how rapidly she was breathing. She was frightened—but of what? That Grissom would pull the trigger? Or that he wouldn’t, because Gabriel would do what he wanted?

“Let her go,” Gabriel said. “I’ll do it—but let her climb down. Her uncle can get her to safety.”

“Not just yet,” Grissom said. “Miss Wingard is my insurance policy…aren’t you, my dear?” He stroked her cheek with the gun barrel, then turned back to Gabriel. “You’ll do exactly as I say, or she dies. If you run, she dies. If you drop the gemstones, she dies. If you try anything at all, she dies. Am I being clear enough?”

“Perfectly,” Gabriel said. He looked at Joyce. Her eyes pleaded with him not to do it. He looked back at Grissom. “What do you want me to do?”

“You can start by returning to the top of the head,” Grissom said. “Go slowly, so I can see what you’re up to at all times. I’ll tell you what to do next once you’re there.”

Gabriel put the ruby back in the vest’s largest pocket and walked carefully along the statue’s arm. He climbed up onto the shoulder and from there up the slope toward the head. Halfway up, his foot slipped on some loose sand still covering the stone. He groped with his fingers for a handhold and found a seam between stones just deep enough to hold onto. His heart pounding, he looked down at the ground seventy feet below. He’d almost gone the way DeVoe had. He took a second to make sure of his footing, then pulled himself upright and moved slowly until he was standing between the shoulder and neck again.

Up close, he could see that Teshub’s face had been carved from two blocks of stone. A long, narrow seam ran from the bridge of the nose down to the tip of the beard, though, oddly, he saw no mortar in the seam, nothing visibly holding the two pieces together. Using the statue’s ear as a ladder, he climbed up the side of the head.

“Good,” Grissom called when Gabriel reached the top. “Now, give Teshub back his eyes. Slowly! Keep your hands where I can see them.”

Gabriel lay on his stomach and let his head hang down so he could inspect the statue’s eyes. The two sockets looked identical, and measuring them against his hand, he saw they’d fit the emeralds—not the ruby. Gabriel pulled one of the emeralds from the vest. It seemed to hum louder as he brought it near the right eye. As he slid the gemstone into place, he felt it lock in. The glow emanating from the center of the emerald grew stronger until it became a bright green light, shining out across the desert like a lighthouse beam.

He looked over at Joyce and Grissom on the statue’s palm. They were both staring at the beam, awed. Grissom collected himself enough to say, “Now do the other one.”

Gabriel pulled the second emerald from the vest pocket and put it in the socket in the left eye. Another shaft of bright green light shot out from the statue’s head, joining the first. A deep, throbbing rumble sounded from within the statue. It pulsed over and over, almost like a heartbeat.

“Now the last one,” Grissom said.

Gabriel pulled out the ruby. He looked down at Teshub’s huge face but didn’t see anyplace he could put it. The openings in both eyes were filled. The mouth was closed, with no open space between the lips where the ruby could fit. There were no holes for the third gemstone at all.