And with that she ducked out of his sight, making a half-turn and dropping to one knee to brace herself as she took aim.
Eddie realised what she meant at the same moment as Macy, Kit and Osterhagen. ‘We’re gonna get wet again—’
Nina pulled the trigger.
The grenade’s small expeller charge blasted it out of the launch tube, flying clear of Nina before the main rocket booster ignited and sent the warhead streaking towards the rear of the cave at over six hundred miles an hour. It hit the wall the Incas had built to constrain their water supply – and exploded.
The echoes of the detonation faded . . . to be replaced by another sound. A low, crackling rumble.
Pent up behind the ancient dam were hundreds of thousands of gallons of water. Even with the river blocked, the level had hardly fallen, only having a tiny hole through which to escape.
That hole was now widening.
The cracking of stone blocks grew louder – then with a splintering boom, the wall gave way.
And a tidal wave burst into the cavern.
35
The fountains erupted into geysers as the pressure behind them increased a hundredfold. Water exploded around the palace, sweeping over the terrace and down the broad stairways towards the shocked people below.
Mac grabbed Macy, yelling ‘Run!’ She broke into a sprint, the Scot behind her.
Simultaneously, Eddie ran for the closest shelter – the Temple of the Sun. He swatted Osterhagen’s shoulder as he passed him, hoping the German would get the message and follow. Kit, further away, also made a break for the entrance.
‘Evacuate!’ Stikes bellowed, rushing for the steps leading down the temple’s side. His men raced after him.
Pachac and his followers were the least prepared, lacking the understanding of Nina’s plan or the mercenaries’ training. The great wave was almost on them before they broke through their dumbfoundedness and started to move.
Macy leapt on to a wall just as the water thundered past her. Mac, two paces behind and slowed by his artificial leg, was not so lucky. The frothing surge swept him away, also snatching up Pachac and his men, and Kit, bowling them all down the stairway towards the city’s lower levels.
Eddie ran into the temple just as the wave caught him and Osterhagen, throwing them against the inner wall. The two men were tossed like driftwood into the Punchaco’s chamber.
Outside, Stikes and his men changed direction just before the flood consumed them, running on to a narrow ledge along the temple’s flank rather than down the steps. Most of the flow took the steeper, wider route, human flotsam tumbling helplessly within it – but the rearmost mercenary slipped as a pursuing bore of water washed beneath his feet and fell with a scream into the maelstrom.
Choking, Mac managed to bring his head above the water – and saw danger dead ahead. The path down into the city made almost a ninety-degree turn at the bottom of the stairway. He was about to be flung against a wall.
Two buildings abutted each other to one side, a narrow gap between them—
He lashed out with his left leg. His foot wedged into the crack – and his ankle bent at an unnatural angle as he jerked to a stop.
His prosthetic ankle. The joint creaked and strained, the force of the water threatening to rip the straps securing the artificial limb to his knee. Water pummelling his face, he bent at the waist to grab the prosthesis itself with both hands, taking the weight off the bindings.
A hand clamped around his arm. Pachac, his extra weight about to snap the metal bone – then the Peruvian lost his grip and was gone.
Kit also glimpsed the approaching wall. He held his breath, powerless to prevent the collision—
The current swept the fallen mercenary in front of him, the other man taking the full force of their impact with a crack of ribs. Winded and spinning, Kit saw pillars along the front of a building. He grabbed at them, the water’s relentless push forcing his fingers from the first before he managed to get a grip on a second. He hung on as the flood surged past him, carrying the other men away downhill.
Stikes and his remaining men jumped from the ledge as the bore rushed around their feet, landing on the walls of the roofless buildings on the tier below the temple. A waterfall gushed down behind them. ‘Fuckin’ ’ell!’ gasped Baine. ‘That ginger bitch is a fuckin’ psycho!’