Matthew Reilly - Temple

One of the missiles slammed into a nearby stone hut, blasted it to rubble, while the other just shot straight down the main street of Vilcafor, heading directly for the massive Antonov seaplane parked at the riverbank, before— shoom!—it whizzed in through the open loading ramp of the plane and disappeared inside its cargo bay.

There was about a second’s delay.

And then the giant seaplane exploded. It was a monstrous explosion, momentous in its force. The Antonov’s walls just blew out in an instant and the whole plane immediately listed dramatically to the left and began to sink into the river and drift slowly downstream.

In the meantime, the Apache that was causing all this damage was still lurching wildly toward its twin. The second helicopter tried desperately to get out of its way, but it was too late. The rotor blades of the first Apache struck the rapidlyspinning blades of the second helicopter and a shrill metal-on-metal shriek filled the air.

Then suddenly, shockingly, the blades of the first chopper ruptured the fuel tanks of the second and the two Apaches exploded in a massive orange fireball that fanned out along the main street of Vilcafor.

Race turned away from the fiery scene, glanced at Walter Chambers in the front seat beside him.

‘Jesus Christ, Walter,’ he said/Did you see that?’

Chambers didn’t answer him.

Race frowned. ‘Walter? What’s the—?’

Purrrrrrr.

Race froze at the sound.

Then he looked at Chambers” face more closely. The bookish anthropologist’s eyes were as wide as saucers and he seemed to be holding his breath.

He was also looking directly over Race’s shoulder.

Slowly—very, very slowly—William Race turned around.

One of the cats was standing at the window.

Right at the window!

Its black head was absolutely massive. It took up the entire window.

The gigantic creature just stared in at Race with narrow yellowed eyes.

It purred again. A deep, resonating growl.

Purrrrrrr.

Race saw its chest rising and falling, saw its long white fangs protruding over its lower lip. Then abruptly the animal snorted and he almost jumped out of his skin and then— whump! all of a sudden, the whole Humvee jolted beneath him.

He spun to look forward.

Another cat had just leapt onto the bonnet of the Humvee.

It stood with its muscular forelimbs splayed wide on the bonnet of the car, its angry yellow eyes staring down at Race and Chambers, boring into their very souls.

Race touched his throat mike. ‘Ah, Van Lewen. You out there?’

No response.

Screeeeeeeeeech

The black cat on the bonnet took a slow, ominous step forward, its claws scraping against the steel hood as it did so. At the same time, the cat to Race’s left nudged the Humvee’s door roughly with its nose, testing it.

Race began tapping his throat mike repeatedly. ‘Van Lewen!’

Van Lewen’s voice came in over his earpiece. ‘I see you, Professor. I see you.“

Race looked over and saw the all-terrain vehicle sitting motionless on the muddy street not far from the Humvee.

‘Now would be a good time to do some of that bodyguard stuff,’ Race said.

‘Take it easy, Professor. You’re safe while you’re inside the Humvee.” It was at that precise moment that the black cat on the bonnet of the Humvee slammed its left forepaw right through the cracked forward windshield of the vehicle!

Glass showered everywhere as the cat’s huge fist-like claw exploded through the windscreen and came to a jolting halt two inches away from the brim of Race’s Yankees cap.

‘Van Lewen!’

‘All right! All right! Quickly. Look under the dashboard!’ Van Lewen said. “Down near the gas pedal. Look for a black rubber button on the underside of the steering column!” Race looked there.

Found it.

‘What’s it do?’

“Just press it!’

Race pressed the rubber button and the Humvee’s engine immediately roared to life.

It wasn’t disabled anymore! Race didn’t know why, didn’t care. So long as it was working.

He quickly came back up from under the steering wheel—and found himself staring into the wide-open jaws of the black cat on the bonnet!

The cat snarled at him—a wild, angry hiss. It was so close, Race could feel it’s hot rancid breath washing all over his face. The big cat writhed and squirmed as it tried desperately to squeeze in through the hole it had punched in the windshield and get to the human flesh inside.

Race leaned back in his seat, away from the frenzied animal’s teeth, pushing himself up against the driver’s side window—where he turned and saw the other cat’s enormous jaws come rushing toward him at frightening speed!

The second cat slammed into the window. The Humvee rocked on its suspension, bounced under the weight of the cat’s stunning impact. A series of lightning-shaped cracks spontaneously appeared all over the driver’s side window.

But the car’s engine was still running, and that was all that mattered.

Jolted into action by the ramming, Race grabbed hold of the gearstick, crunched the gears, found one-didn’t care which one—and slammed the gas pedal to the floor.

The Humvee shot backwards through the muddy main street of Vilcafor.

Jesus! He’d found reverse!

The cat on the bonnet seemed oblivious to the Humvee’s momentum as the oversized jeep-like vehicle bounced wildly over the uneven ground of the village. The demonic animal just yanked its head out of the windshield and began reaching in through the shattered glass with its foreclaw, trying to get at Race.

For his part, Race just leaned back as far as he could, keeping his body clear of the slashing claw, pressing his foot down harder on the gas pedal.

The Humvee hit a pothole, shot into the air for a moment, thumped back down to earth. The cat was still on the bonnet, still clutching maniacally at Race as the armoured vehicle careered down the rainsoaked street in reverse, totally out of control.

‘Will! Look out!’ Lauren yelled.

‘What?’ Race called.

‘Behind us!’

But Race wasn’t looking behind them.

He was looking at the vision from Hell that was reaching in through the forward windshield of the car trying to rip open his chest.

‘Will! Stop! We’re heading for the river!’

Race’s head snapped up.

Did she just say “river’?

He shot a look at the rear-view mirror and caught a glimpse of the black river behind them—approaching quickly—caught a glimpse of one of the American Hueys resting in the shallows, directly in their path!

Race grappled with the steering wheel, but it was no use.

In his panic to get away from the cat on the bonnet, he’d long since lost control of the backward-speeding Humvee.

He yanked hard on the wheel, slammed his foot down on the brakes, but the wheels just locked and in an instant the big Humvee lost all its traction. It just skidded in the mud, aquaplaning wildly out of control. And then suddenly, sickeningly, before Race even knew what was happening, the big vehicle launched itself off the edge of the bank, out into the air, out over the river.

The Humvee flew through the air, soaring out over the riverbank, flying in a high graceful arc. And then it smashed—hard, tail-first—into the glass bubble of the Huey sitting in the shallows.

The inertia of the crash was so great that it sent both car and helicopter floating out into the river proper. It also sent the cat on the Humvee’s bonnet shooting off the hood of the car and completely over the Huey too! The big cat landed way out in the middle of the river, hitting the water with a great ungainly splash.

Within seconds, the crocodile-like caimans were all over it.