The Covenant of Genesis (52 page)

A swish—

Pure instinct made him dive and roll as the machete swept over his head. Hamed pulled up. The horse turned and reared, front legs swiping at Chase. He threw up his arms to protect his head, taking a savage kick and falling on his back.

Hamed jumped from the horse, slashing the machete at Chase. He rolled as the blade smacked down where his shoulder had just been. Another roll, springing up as the blade hacked again, narrowly missing his legs.

Behind Hamed he saw Nina crawling from the Hilux’s open cab. The machine gun was pointing towards him. If she could reach it—

No good. It wasn’t loaded, the ammo belt a coiled snake in the ditch.

Hamed advanced, jabbing the machete. Chase ducked back, the two men slowly circling.

Nina groaned, catching the Janjaweed leader’s attention. He leered. Chase had no doubt what his intentions were: kill him, then . . .

‘No you fucking don’t,’ he growled. Hamed might not have understood the words, but still knew what Chase was saying, and grinned malevolently as he lunged. Chase dodged the heavy blade as it whipped past. He tried to knock it from the Janjaweed’s hand, but Hamed anticipated the move and twisted the machete to rip through his sleeve, the blade’s ragged edge drawing blood. Chase jerked away, realising too late that the horse was right behind him.

Hamed shouted a command. The horse reared again, knocking Chase down.

The Janjaweed leader moved in for the kill, raising the machete high to cleave it down through Chase’s spine—

The tip of the ammo belt lashed across Hamed’s face as Nina swung it, tearing bloody gashes in his skin. He staggered back.

Chase jumped up. ‘Here!’ Nina tossed him the belt. He caught one end with his left hand, whirling it - and snagging it round Hamed’s machete arm. He cracked the belt like a whip. Hamed’s arm shot up, the machete flying out of his hand.

Chase yanked hard, pulling Hamed towards him - and delivering a nose-crushing punch.

The Janjaweed leader reeled, but didn’t fall, held up by the ammo belt as Chase caught the falling machete with his right hand . . .

And swung it.

Hamed’s body collapsed, blood squirting from the stump of its neck. His head bounced away down the stream bed, rolling to a stop - at Sophia’s feet. She eyed it. ‘This is no time for football, Eddie.’

Chase didn’t reply, instead going to Nina. ‘You okay?’

‘I think so . . .’ She saw the cut on his arm. ‘What about you?’

‘It’s not as bad as it looks. Just hope he washed his machete after he used it last.’ He crouched and unwound the ammo belt from Hamed’s arm.

Sophia reached them, the rifle over one shoulder, a backpack on the other. After exchanging looks of mutual loathing with Nina, she went to the horse, which had taken its owner’s death with a complete lack of concern, and patted the animal’s neck. ‘You found another ride, then. Although it might be a little cramped for three of us.’

‘Dobbin wasn’t what I had in mind. Give me a hand.’ He spotted and retrieved the Browning, then went to the pickup to push it back on to its wheels. The two women joined him; after a few seconds of effort, it toppled back down. He dropped the ammo belt into the rear bed, tossing other spilled items after it, then hopped into the cab and turned the key. To his surprise, the engine started first time. ‘Wow, these things really
are
indestructible.’

Sophia held up the bubble compass from the Land Cruiser as she and Nina climbed aboard. ‘And I’ve got the perfect dashboard accessory.’ She looked northwest. ‘That way.’

‘The gang’s all here,’ Nina said sarcastically, giving Chase a pointedly questioning glare when she realised Sophia was wearing his leather jacket. He took it back, to Sophia’s annoyance, and put it on.

‘Okay, then,’ he said. ‘Next stop . . . the Garden of Eden.’

T
hey drove through the night, Chase guiding the Hilux across the desert. There was no sign of pursuit, by either the Janjaweed or the Covenant. Even so, the going was slow, with treacherous terrain and only one working headlight to guide them. More than once, they had to dig the truck out when it became bogged in soft sand.

The hours passed, Nina managing to doze fitfully despite the bumpy ride. By the time Chase was forced to stop to refuel from one of the battered cans in the rear bed, the eastern sky had started to brighten. At this low latitude, sunrise came quickly.

‘Okay,’ said Chase, throwing the empty can back into the truck and waking Nina with a start, ‘now we can see, let’s work out where we are.’ He surveyed the surrounding desert for landmarks. ‘Give me the rifle.’

Sophia handed him the Lee-Enfield. He peered through the scope, scanning the horizon. Distant shapes resolved themselves into flat-topped islands of stone rising above the sands. ‘Okay, I see one, two, three mesas.’

‘Let me see those,’ said Nina, taking the photo blow-ups of the Antarctic map from Sophia. The word that had been pronounced as ‘Eden’ on the ancient cylinder lay at the beginning of the Veteres’ long trail . . . between three trapezoidal symbols. Truncated mountains. ‘You think . . . ?’

Sophia examined the modern map. ‘It matches the terrain. Three bluffs - and these dry riverbeds. Four of them.’

Nina looked more closely. Four faint lines wound outwards from the centre. ‘Eddie, how far away are they?’

‘Five or six miles,’ said Chase. ‘It shouldn’t take too long to get there.’ He put down the rifle, regarded the machine gun for a moment, then started to reload it. ‘Just in case,’ he told Nina. ‘The Covenant’ll probably be able to fix some of those Humvees.’

‘But they won’t be able to follow us, will they?’ She looked back. The desert wind was already scouring away their tyre tracks.

Chase’s expression didn’t reassure her. ‘Like I said, just in case.’ He chambered the first round, then climbed back into the driver’s seat and restarted the engine.

‘Of course, Nina,’ said Sophia as they set off, ‘we wouldn’t have to worry about the Covenant if you hadn’t teamed up with them in the first place.’

‘I didn’t “team up with them”,’ Nina protested. ‘I was their damn prisoner, I didn’t have any say in the matter!’

‘All the same, they didn’t have the map.’ She held up one of the photos. ‘Without this, you could have told them Eden was in Ethiopia, or Egypt, or bloody Timbuktu, and they couldn’t have contradicted you. But no, you not only bring them to Sudan, but you even bring them to the right
part
of Sudan! What did they do, offer you a deal?’

‘All right, that’s enough,’ said Chase, giving Sophia a warning look. She made a dismissive sound and turned away. His gaze moved to Nina, holding on her for slightly too long before returning to the landscape ahead.

‘What?’ Nina said defensively, correctly guessing what he was thinking. ‘I
didn’t
make a deal, not like that. “Tell us what we want to know or we’ll kill you” isn’t really a deal.’

‘But you still brought ’em here.’

‘I told you last night, I didn’t have much choice. What was I going to do, say no and get killed?’

‘But why didn’t you give them the wrong location?’ Chase asked.

‘Because - because I . . . Look, they were going to
kill
me, all right?’ Nina drew her arms tightly around herself. ‘I thought that once we were out here, I might be able to get away.’

‘And then find Eden all on your own,’ Sophia said. ‘Since you conveniently brought them right to its doorstep. You used your friends, then you used your
enemies
to get here. You really are quite the little glory-hound, aren’t you?’

‘Jesus, shut up!’ snapped Chase. ‘Fucking non-stop snideyness, it’s like still being married to you!’

Sophia frowned, but fell silent. Nobody spoke for several seconds.

‘She’s got a point, though,’ Chase said quietly.

Nina’s response was louder. ‘
What?
’

‘I know you get obsessive about archaeology, but Christ, this is taking it to a new level! You’ve never voluntarily worked with people who want to kill you,’ a glance at Sophia, ‘to find something before. And I know Matt’s a soft touch, but you still walked all over him to get to Antarctica. He was lucky to get out of there alive - and Bandra and that other guy, David, didn’t.’

‘You’re blaming me for their deaths?’ asked Nina angrily.

‘No, the Covenant killed them.’

‘But you think it was my fault, right?’

‘I think this is a side of you I hadn’t seen before, is what I think,’ snapped Chase. ‘Remember on the
Pianosa
, when I asked you how far you were willing to go for this stuff ?’ He looked at her. ‘Looks like now I know.’ Nina couldn’t meet his eyes.

She
hadn’t
made a deal with the Covenant, she told herself. She had just done what she had to in order to stay alive.

Hadn’t she?

There was no conversation for the rest of the drive. The bluffs drew closer. Still no sign of pursuit. The Hilux bumped over the last dunes surrounding the mesas to find traction on harder, stonier ground, the landscape already shimmering as the sun heated it.

Nina looked up. The steep sides of the first mesa rose a couple of hundred feet above the surrounding desert, the others slightly higher. But the plain between them was devoid of anything but rocks.

‘So is this it?’ Chase asked, turning the Toyota towards the plain’s centre. ‘Not much of a garden spot.’

‘Not now, but it would have been, over a hundred thousand years ago,’ said Nina. ‘Even the Sahara was green once.’ But the area was so desolate it was hard to imagine
anything
growing here, never mind a garden worthy of God himself.

She looked at the photograph again. The text for ‘Eden’ was, she noticed, closest to the northernmost of the huge rocky outcroppings. ‘Head for that one,’ she said, pointing.

They drove across the plain, the sun beating down. The whole place seemed utterly lifeless . . . until Nina noticed a lone bird above the mesa ahead. It glided in a lazy circle, then dropped out of sight behind the flat summit. She waited for it to reappear, but it didn’t.

The technical jolted. ‘Sorry,’ said Chase, slowing as the Toyota descended a slope. ‘I think we found one of your riverbeds, though.’

‘It’s only narrow,’ said Sophia, speaking for the first time since Chase had snapped at her. ‘We must be near its source.’

‘Yeah, but where is it?’ Nina wondered. The shallow channel led to the rising cliff walls of the bluff . . . and stopped abruptly at its base.

‘Must have been a spring here once,’ said Chase, bringing the technical to a stop near the cliff and climbing out. Nina and Sophia followed, gazing up at the wall of grey and orange stone.

‘Maybe the Garden of Eden was on
top
of the mesa,’ Sophia suggested. ‘It would have been a good defensive position, especially if they were worried about animal attacks.’

‘Maybe,’ Nina replied, but the idea didn’t feel right. Shading her eyes, she slowly turned to take in the plain, the other mesas, the surrounding desert . . .

Something in the sky, a pale dot. ‘Is that a plane?’

Chase whirled. ‘Where?’

‘There.’ She pointed.

Chase ran back to the pickup and took out the rifle. ‘What is it?’ Sophia asked as he stared through the telescopic sights.

His reply, when it came, was a horrified whisper. ‘Buggeration . . .’

Nina grimaced. ‘If the next words I hear are “and fuckery”, I’m going to be very unhappy.’

‘And fuckery,’ Chase finished. ‘It’s a fucking Reaper!’

‘That . . . doesn’t sound good.’

‘It’s not. You know on the news, when the White House or the Pentagon show those videos of missiles zooming right at some terrorist and flying down his throat before they explode?’

‘Yes?’

He stabbed a finger at the approaching grey spot. ‘That’s what fires the missiles!’

Nina gawped at him. ‘It’s an
American
plane? Where did it come from?’

‘There’s a US Air Force base across the border in Uganda, at Entebbe. Either that, or a carrier in the Red Sea.’ He shouldered the rifle and picked up the rucksack, tossing it to Nina. ‘Doesn’t matter - it’s here, and in about five seconds some nerd in Las Vegas is going to try to blow us up!’

‘What do you mean, Las—’ Nina began, but was cut off as Chase hustled her away from the technical, Sophia hurrying after them. A dot detached itself from the Reaper and fell away - then lanced towards them at the head of a line of smoke.

An AGM-114 Hellfire missile, homing in at almost a thousand miles an hour.

‘
Run!
’ Chase yelled, but Nina and Sophia were already racing away from the pickup as the Hellfire streaked across the plain and arced down to its target—

The missile struck, nine kilograms of high explosive detonating on impact to gouge a crater twenty feet across out of the rock and sand. The front half of the Hilux disintegrated in a storm of torn metal, the remains of the pickup cartwheeling through the air to smash against the cliff wall. A shockwave of dust and stones tore past the trio as they dived to the ground.

Nina raised her head. What was left of the Toyota slid to the foot of the slope on its one remaining wheel, the machine gun nodding on its bent pole. ‘Son of a bitch!’

‘Get up,’ Chase said, already on his feet. ‘It’ll fire another one in a minute.’

‘How many missiles does it carry?’ Sophia asked.

‘Fourteen.’

‘
Fourteen?
’ Nina gasped, looking nervously at the Reaper. It was still heading for them, less than two miles away.

‘Yeah - and now it’s taken out the truck, it’ll probably switch to an anti-personnel warhead to take out
us
.’ No cover on the plain, and against the steep face of the mesa the Reaper’s targeting laser would pin them like butterflies on a board . . .

‘Split up,’ he ordered. ‘Nina, go that way; Soph, go the other way.’