have to come into effect, and even that had a major flaw—one that he only had to look up to see. If worse came to worst, people could descend on lines from the top of the crater. Considering the Group’s resources, if they found the place it wouldn’t take long for them to realize that.
And he was increasingly thinking there was no if about it. They had already triangulated the meteorite’s general position based on the bearings taken in Japan and Switzerland, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that the plane he had seen was carrying out reconnaissance. Finding the Temple of the Gods was a matter of money, matériel, and manpower, and the Group had all three in abundance.
He dismissed the grim thought as he spotted a wide crack in the meteorite’s surface, deep enough to swallow his entire arm. That should do the trick.
It would take a few minutes to rig the detonator and place the explosive. He glanced at the towering temple, seeing the flash of Nina’s camera from the second tier. “Might have bloody known she’d wander off,” he grumbled before raising his voice to a shout. “Oi! I’ll only be a couple more minutes—come back down!”
On the temple, Nina heard him, and reluctantly waved to show her agreement. There was still so much more to see. As well as the statues, the walls were inscribed with more Atlantean texts: accounts of the builders’ journey across Africa and how they had constructed the temple despite the extreme conditions.
But now nobody would ever know their story. The temple was well within the fifty-yard blast radius Alderley had mentioned, so blowing up the meteorite would bombard it with debris, smashing the statues and shattering the ancient records behind them. She would be the only person ever to see the hidden wonder of the lost civilization close up.
She knew the sacrifice had to be made, though. Taking one last picture of a statue, whom she took to be Eupraxia, the goddess of well-being, she headed back to the narrow flight of stairs.
By the time she returned to the ledge, Eddie was out of sight on top of the meteorite, lying down to push the primed explosive as deeply into the rock as possible. She aimed her camera upward, trying to get as much of the temple as she could into the frame with the mouth of the crater high above …
A sound caught her attention. A soft scuff, like someone stepping on gravel.
She moved across the temple’s front to the tunnel entrance. Nothing but darkness was visible. She listened for several seconds, but the noise didn’t recur. Dismissing it as just the breeze shifting grit on the floor, she turned away, lining up her photograph again—
Crunch.
The same noise, louder, closer.
She whirled—and saw Stikes emerge from the lava tube, his gun pointed at her. Behind him, other faces came out of the shadows, all equally unwelcome: Sophia, Warden, the other members of the Group. And Larry, held at gunpoint by an unsmiling mercenary in desert combat gear.
“Dr. Wilde!” said Stikes with malevolent brightness. “We can’t go on meeting like this.”
“Eddie!” Nina yelled. “They’re here, they found us! Set off the—”
Sophia rushed past Stikes and slammed a gloved fist against Nina’s jaw. The blow knocked the redhead to her knees. She spat out blood and whipped up one leg, trying to plow a retaliatory strike into the other woman’s stomach, but Sophia neatly sidestepped the attack and drove a boot into her chest. Nina let out a choked gasp of pain.
“What’s the matter, Nina?” Sophia snarled as she delivered another savage kick, this time to her abdomen. “Eddie not been keeping”—a third impact—“up with your training?” She stamped on Nina’s stomach, leaving her writhing and struggling to breathe.
“That’s enough!” ordered Warden. “We need her alive!”
With evident reluctance, Sophia withdrew. Ignoring Nina’s moans, Stikes surveyed the ledge. “Chase!” he called, his voice echoing off the temple. “Show yourself or I’ll kill your father!” The mercenary forced Larry forward, gun pressed hard into his back.
A head slowly rose into view over the top of the meteorite. “Let ’em go, Stikes!” Eddie shouted. “This thing’s wired to blow—if you don’t, I’ll take us all out and this whole thing ends right here.”
There was a flurry of consternation among the Group, some of them pushing back through the mercenaries into the tunnel, but Stikes was unbowed. “You’re bluffing. You won’t let your wife die, especially not at your hand. Or even your father.”