destroy it. Best they’ll do is split it into smaller bits, but they’ll still be too big for us just to chuck ’em into the lava.” He looked back at the entrance. “We need a Plan B.”
“What kind of Plan B?”
“My usual kind—blowing something up.”
“But that’s Plan A as well!”
He smiled, then collected one of the explosive charges and a detonator and headed for the lava tube. “Get all your photos—soon as I come back, I’ll set the bombs on the rock and then we’ll get out of here.”
“Where are you going?”
“To make sure nobody gets through that tunnel after we leave.” He jogged away, leaving Nina alone with the Atlantean gods.
She photographed the whole of the temple, then turned her attention to the statues around the meteorite. Whatever Eddie was doing, it was taking a while; he still had not returned by the time she had captured all of the Olympians. She considered taking a closer look at the temple, but curiosity about a more natural wonder won out and she made her way up the slope to the lip of the ledge.
The heat grew more intense the closer she got. Away from the fresh air coming through the lava tube, she found it harder to breathe as well. Coughing, she nevertheless climbed the last few yards to the edge and looked down.
It was like peering directly into hell. The volcano’s conduit dropped dizzyingly down for hundreds of feet, a searing red eye at its end glaring back up at her. The level of the lava below had at some point sunk, leaving a seething molten lake churning in the subterranean magma chamber. The temperature was so great that she could only bear it for a few seconds before withdrawing, but she had seen more than enough. Even at its lowest level of activity, a volcano was still terrifying close up; she tried to imagine what it would have been like when Nantalas unwittingly released the full fury of the earth beneath Atlantis. It was almost too frightening to think about.
What made it more worrying was that she might be able to unleash a similar disaster—or be forced to do so. The sooner the meteorite was destroyed, and with it any chance of the Group’s using its destructive potential, the better.
The thought of the Group made her look back at the entrance, from which Eddie was finally reemerging. Still coughing, she hurried back down to the much cooler center of the bowl. “Are you done?”
He nodded. “I’ll show you on the way out. You got all your pictures?”
“Yes, but I wouldn’t mind getting some close-ups of the temple. Do you need me to help with the explosives?”
“I can manage. You go and get some more photos.”
“It’s a shame they’ll probably be all that’s left of this place,” she said glumly. “How long?”
“I’ll need to find weak spots, so … fifteen minutes, maybe.”
“Okay.” Camera at the ready, Nina went to the temple as Eddie prepared the last three charges.
From the air, the volcano stood out from dozens of miles away, the column of steam at its peak standing tall in the sky like a marker flag.
An aircraft was heading straight for the beacon. Powering over the desert was an AgustaWestland AW101 helicopter, a civilian version of the military Merlin transport. The hold of this particular example had been fitted out with seats, all of which were occupied.
Alexander Stikes, seated directly behind the pilot, would have much preferred the twenty-four places to be filled with mercenaries under his command, but the surviving members of the Group had decided they wanted to witness the discovery of the meteorite firsthand. They had arrived in the Ethiopian capital the previous day and waited in Addis Ababa’s most luxurious hotel, such as it was, for the ongoing search to produce results. It was a harsh irony: one of the world’s poorest countries being visited incognito by a small group of people whose personal net worth outstripped that of the entire nation.
He turned to speak to Warden. “We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Are you sure this is the place?” the Group’s chairman demanded.
“Not one hundred percent, but considering the circumstances it seems highly likely. A volcano would fit nicely with the Atlantean priestess’s reference to the forge of Hephaestus. Benefits of a classical education,” he added at Meerkrieger’s raised eyebrow. “And our aerial reconnaissance drone spotted a vehicle crossing the desert toward it some hours ago; it’s still there.”
“Wilde and Chase?” said Warden.
“Who else?” Sophia