Deep Sea One (20 page)

"Look at that," Purdue pointed, shaking his head at his bodyguard's eccentricity. Nina smiled at the childlike act of the tough girl she knew nothing about and her catching eyes reveled in the surreal sight.

"It reminds me of a science-fiction poster where the ethereal ray beams on the mere mortal marked for anal probing," Nina said matter of factly, provoking a chuckle from the others.

"Wait, a ray that marks. A ray that marks?" Purdue's voice escalated to an excited huff. "My God! Are we morons?"

"Could very well be," Sam jested wryly, with a bit of a shrug which made Nina giggle.

"Sam, the indicator is right in front of us," Purdue smiled and motioned like a gleeful madman.

"Calisto?" Sam perpetuated his mock idiocy, which had Nina in stitches behind Purdue's back, prompting Gary to crack a smile too. Purdue sighed, aware of the journalist's teasing sense of humor. He merely pointed at Calisto and said, "The sunbeam marks the spot, people!"

Astonished at the positive development they quickly analyzed the positioning of the waning ray of light on the floor and placed a satchel where Calisto had stood. Following the contours of the adjacent jagged borders, they could ascertain the particular bay closest to the location point. Nina noted it. Now that they had the approximate site recorded it was still quite an area to cover without a precise orientation, but Sam had the solution in theory. If Purdue could obtain the software for it, it would improve their accuracy considerably.

"According to the rough chart we have, we can map the coordinates on the computer according to scale," Sam proposed.

"Done. That would be exceedingly simple to design and map out," Purdue bragged, once more restored to his confident presence. "Besides, from a rough estimation it looks very much like our vicinity, actually. It might be closer to us than we could have guessed. How convenient," he smiled.

"Where is Calisto?" Sam asked. Nina looked about but also found that she was missing.

Purdue and Gary were standing where the sunray had now abandoned its peephole, discussing the possibilities of obtaining a jet to get them back to the United Kingdom as soon as possible.

"Maybe she went to take a piss again," Nina remarked in her cattiest sneer. Sam found her bitchiness amusing, the way in which she occasionally felt threatened by Calisto, who could not care less what she thought. He found it endearing, but of course would never dare tell Nina this, for fear of being called a prick and banned from her life again.

"Seriously, though, she is nowhere to be found," Sam persisted.

Nina knew that Calisto had pulled her disappearing act at least three times already, yet another reason for her not to trust Purdue's voluptuous lapdog. Although her altitude sickness did have her by the balls, constantly plundering her body with nausea and pain, Calisto had recovered considerably since they entered the shrine. Nina found her constant vanishing act unnecessary for her level of resilience.

No more than a second after Nina finished talking, Calisto's powerful body glided through the dark toward her. She placed her hand over Nina's mouth, in case the historian had a reflex vocalization. Calisto looked at a shocked Sam and whispered urgently, "Sam, Nina, get your stuff NOW and move as quickly and quietly as you can."

Removing her hand from Nina's mouth, she stopped her from uttering anything with an index finger on her lips and proceeded, "See that hole between those two jutting rocks there?" she pointed swiftly, "Go through there. You'll come out just a few meters from the river down below. Wait there for us. I have to get Mr. Purdue out of here before they get here," she said in an even voice evident of her calm under fire.

"What's going on?" Sam asked quickly, as he took Nina by the arm and started toward the perilous little crevice that terrified the claustrophobic Nina instantly.

"Villagers and militia. Our presence was discovered when the portal opened, of course. I have been monitoring their progress all afternoon. Now GO!" she urged. Nina did not have time to take her foot out of her mouth for the second time misjudging Purdue's bodyguard.

"Sam," Nina's voice shivered, desperate for support in the insurmountable exercise she was forced to face again.

"No worries, love. I've got you," Sam reassured her, recalling her meltdown in the hatch of the ice-lodged submarine during the Wolfenstein expedition. As Sam and Nina started through the tunnel to their escape, Calisto drew her Makarov and came straight for her employer. At first glance the sight of her swiftly approaching frame and cold eyes threw the two men into a confused panic. Gun grasped tightly by her side, she quickly explained the situation as she locked her other hand over Purdue's vest and pulled him forcefully to safety. From the tunnel that led to the exit of the Godwomb they heard the sound of an approaching mob.

"Oh, my God, we're dead," Gary whined and pinched his eyes shut.

"Shut up and listen," Calisto snapped impatiently, "When I tell you to run, you head for that small crevice where Sam and Nina crawled through, all right?" Purdue and his pilot nodded in compliance. This was the second time his new bodyguard had effectively spirited him away from certain death. She was in her element now and they dared not question anything she said under the threat of violence while the voices and thumps of swift feet stole rapidly toward the grotto. Gary looked at her dirty fingernails tipping soiled fingers as her hands gripped the Russian firearm she branded.

Calisto's voice was steady, her words specific and disciplined while in contrast her body appeared exhausted. Perspiration stained her shirt and her skin was patched with dirt that they had not noticed until now in close quarters. Purdue wanted to ask, but it could wait. His heart thundered at the appearance of the furious village militia, branding AK47s, MG42s and various close-assault weapons.

"Go! Now!" Calisto shouted as she ran the other way, abandoning her shelter to serve as diversion from the fleeing men she was paid to protect. Like a sudden tap on a hornet's nest, the glimpse of the intruder set them off. At once the mob charged in fury, pointing toward the sprinting woman in muted gestures and whispers.

Before Purdue crept into the small hole in the rock face, he looked back at the attackers. They appeared to be Buddhist monks, but their behavior was decidedly heathen. Although their rage was well-founded as a pillaging of their deity's holy shrine, he did not think they had the right to resort to lynching explorers like swatting flies. For an instant he wanted to go back and help Calisto, but unfortunately she was expendable. It was what she was hired for. He, on the other hand, had a purpose to the world and the organizations and societies who benefitted from his reputation and connections. Purdue had once more survived his greed.

☼

Chapter 26

A rain of knives and machetes lodged themselves in the loose pile of rock behind the bolting trespasser as the monks moved forward and filled the chamber. There were about fifty armed men, all in pursuit of Calisto. She took refuge on top of a ledge behind a cluster of cave formations and waited. When they all climbed up the wall below her, their faces distorted in sadistic delight at what they had planned for her.

These were not the men from the village the Purdue party had passed through. She reckoned that they were men of faith and creed guarding the secrets of the shrine, but they were certainly not blessed with the grace and humility of the Eastern dogmas they served. Perhaps they were like the Templar Knights, warriors of God employed specifically for the dispatch of thieving heretics. They must have known about the rule of silence. Their guns remained quiet and their voices low as they leered at her with vindictive lust and she knew that they would afford her a most exquisitely painful death.

Calisto shifted her feet sideways as she moved toward a hidden chasm she discovered while surveying the walls earlier. Sam swinging from the ceiling was hardly her idea of engaging interest and while the others stared at his efforts on the drawing, she had slipped away to assess the probability of alternative escape routes. As the rest of the group concentrated on finding the relic, Calisto did what she was there to do—she covered their asses. Spending her time assessing the security risks and preparing for any eventuality that might arise should they be discovered, she constantly returned to the entrance to establish the progress of their advancement.

It did not surprise her when she reviewed the surroundings and beheld the spies navigating the rocks and river, drawing ever nearer while Purdue and his colleagues were blissfully unaware that they were being stalked. She elected not to share this information with them, as it would only cause discord and paranoia among them and without a doubt get them killed. When she was not determining the position of their hunters, she was devising a security measure. There was not much to work with, but being grossly outnumbered she utilized what she could.

Now she was about to find out if she was going home or going down.

Calisto detached her belt buckle as her agile pursuers started up the rock face with consummate ease, cutting her expected time for flight considerably. Nervously she fumbled to get the stainless steel plate off, her sweaty fingers slipping awkwardly in her haste. A strong grip restrained her from an unexpected direction, throttling her from behind as another monk leapt onto the ledge from the opposite side. Their silent determination gave her the creeps, as if they were puppets of a willful and dark entity, unable to direct themselves.

Calisto could not employ any combat with only a few inches of rock to set her feet on, but she did her best to rid herself of her attacker. Gnashing her teeth in rage she used her substantial force and weight to fling herself against the wall. The lean monk at her back went with her and with a swift pivot found himself between a rock and a vicious bitch. A devastating crack traveled through his torso as the woman crushed him against the impervious wet wall, disabling him for good. She shed him from her and finally pulled the buckle free. Now they gained on her from all sides at an alarming speed.

Calisto turned and found the crevice she had marked for the occasion a few hours earlier, thrusting the steel item between two dripping curtains of ancient granite and mineral. With that she bolted from the ledge, landing hard on the uneven surface of the cavern floor.

"Shit!" she panted as her legs gave way under her clumsy landing and skinned her palms and knees. With lack of light in the early evening she could not judge the distance below properly before she leapt. A short distance from her was the opening she showed to the others in her expedition and gathering herself and ignoring the stinging in her ankles, she made for the crevice.

The knife-wielding monks changed direction to arrest her while those with guns exited the shape-shifting mouth of the shrine to secure the exterior and look for the other intruders. Dark, monstrous shapes played on the vast walls as the monks lit their fire torches in the tunnel above while the others were charging toward her. Calisto drew her weapon and locked her eye on the glint of her belt buckle. Before the mob realized, the kneeling woman pulled the trigger, just hitting the plate on its edge.

But it was good enough. Alarmed at the noise and its consequences, the men turned to look at Calisto's target. Not only did the clap of her gun resonate through the rock, but her bullet grazed the steel with a damning cling, the ricochet of which conducted its tremor through the rock. She provided four more thunderous shots for good measure, making the grotto reverberate with an unholy clamor. Stumped, the monks stared to see what would ensue while Calisto wasted no time in escaping while they were occupied by their imminent doom.

She had positioned the old copper and steel bowls from the pile Sam had shown her, in strategic places throughout the cavern to escalate the efficacy of the sound waves. The last piece, the metal gong she had lowered from the peak of the shrine into the sun-drenched chimney, would collapse the roof onto the murderous mob should they be lured inside. And that was what she was gazing up at under the blessing of the sunray when her colleagues discovered its significance to the map.

Deep from the bowels of the Godwomb came the low shudder of thunder, emanating through every crack and crater, every fissure and pointed formation that adorned the hall. Racing to reach the tunnel above, they scuttled up the wall to get to the corridor that held their salvation. From above the rumbling became deafening and from the disassembled crack where the sun used to find its way in, a shower of loose debris rained down and crashed to the floor below and all those who could not flee on time. Thus the blade in the depiction on the ceiling was removed from its hilt, much as the true item, before the rest of that roof caved in on the cowering monks who could not climb to the tunnel in time. Even those who made it into the tunnel perished under the falling picks of dislodged formations that plummeted onto them, piercing their flesh and bones.

But the entrance stood firm. The face of the deity prevailed as was expected from a god and from the outside the shrine was perfectly intact, still. However, it was now left in the state it was, unable to close up once more without the necessary acoustics to activate its shift. In silent devastation the remaining armed monks stood, regarding the doorway above which two glaring eyes leered down on them, caught forever in this form. A grotesque ambience came from it and filled them with dread. A broken god was an angry god, so they had to reconstruct the face of Mañjuśrī without delay.

From a distance well away the Purdue expedition listened to the crumbling of the Godwomb with confounded faces and respectful silence. Nina, especially, was shaken to tears for the destruction of the shrine and the end of a holy structure worshipped for centuries. Sam placed his arm around her as she sobbed to the fearsome din of the earthquake under their feet. In the dark of the new night they could not see anything and making a fire for light to still their nerves would be detrimental to their successful exodus.