The Europeans moved.
Level 2
West led the way now, leaping down onto Level 2 ahead of Fuzzy, where he landed like a cat- -and was confronted by a crossbow-wielding French paratrooper, the first member of the European force to step off the now-finished crane.
Quick as a gunslinger, West drew a Glock pistol from one of his thigh holsters, raised it and fired it at the French trooper at point-blank range.
And for some reason his his bullet defied Wizard"s Warblers and slammed into the Frenchman"s chest, dropping him where he stood. bullet defied Wizard"s Warblers and slammed into the Frenchman"s chest, dropping him where he stood.
No blood sprayed.
In fact, the man didn"t die.
Rubber bullet.
West fired another rubber round-similar to those used by police in riot situations-at the next French paratrooper on the nearby crane, just as the Frenchman pulled the trigger on his crossbow.
West ducked and the arrow-bolt missed high, while his own shot hit its mark, sending the French commando sailing off the crane and into the lake below, still crowded with panicking crocodiles.
Screams. Splashing. Crunching. Blood.
"Move!" West called to his crew. "Before they switch to rubber rounds, too."
Now everyone in his team had their guns drawn and as they pa.s.sed the crane"s arm, they traded shots with the two dozen French paratroopers on it.
But they got past the crane just as fifteen French paratroopers came streaming off it, and headed down to Level 1- Level 1
-where they saw the Europeans" second second effort to cut them off. effort to cut them off.
Down on the ground level, a team of German Army engineers had almost finished building a temporary floating bridge across the croc lake-in an attempt to get to West"s manhole entrance on the southern side of the cavern before West and his team did.
They had two segments of the bridge to put in place, segments that were being brought across the half-finished bridge right now.
"Go! Go! Go!" West called.
The flaming cavern-already alive with smoke and flames and falling boulders-was now zinging with crossbow bolts and rubber bullets.
The aluminium crossbow bolts were only mildly affected by the Warblers-they flew wildly, but their first few metres of flight were still deadly.
West"s team was running across Level 1, racing the bridge-builders on the ground level.
Big Ears carried Lily. West helped Fuzzy. Princess Zoe and Stretch fired at the paratroopers behind them, while Wizard- coughing against the smoke-led the way, nullifying the traps ahead of them. Above them, Horus soared through the hazy black air.
They had just reached the ladder at the far right-hand end of Level 1 when suddenly a stray French crossbow bolt hit Big Ears in the shoulderblade, knocking him off his feet-causing him to stumble forward onto his face and ...
...fall off the edge of the ledge, dropping Lily over it!
Lily fell.
Thirty feet.
Into the oily water near the base of the ladder, not far from the walkway that hugged the right-hand wall of the cavern.
By chance she landed in both a croc-free and a fire-free s.p.a.ce.
But not for long. The crocs weren"t far away, and no sooner had her splash subsided than a large one saw her and charged straight for her.
Big Ears was dangling over the edge of Level 1 directly above her, helpless. "I can"t get to her!"
"I can!" another voice called.
West.
He never missed a step.
Running full tilt, he just leapt off the edge of Level 1 and sailed in a high curving arc through the air toward the croc-lake below.
The big bull croc that was charging at Lily never saw him coming. West landed square on its back, a mere foot away from Lily, and the two of them-man and croc-went under the black water"s surface with a great splash.
They surfaced a second later, with the frenzied croc bucking like a bronco and West on its back, gripping it in a fierce headlock.
The croc growled and roared, before-crrrrack-West brutally twisted its neck, breaking it. The croc went limp. West jumped clear, whisking Lily out of the water and onto the walkway flanking the lake not a moment before six more crocs attacked the carca.s.s of the dead one.
"Th ...thanks," Lily gasped, wiping oil from her face and still shaking.
"Anytime, kiddo. Anytime."
Ground Level
The rest of the team joined them on the walkway.
Now Fuzzy and and Big Ears were injured. But they were still mobile, helped along by Zoe and Wizard, while West and Lily were covered by Stretch. Big Ears were injured. But they were still mobile, helped along by Zoe and Wizard, while West and Lily were covered by Stretch.
They all hopscotched over the stepping-stone and its wall-hole- inside which the trapped croc still writhed behind Fuzzy"s X-bar-and dashed for their manhole, just as the German engineers brought the final piece of their temporary bridge into place.
Forty armed German troops waited for the bridge to be completed. Some fired wayward crossbow shots at the Seven, while others jammed newly found rubber-bullet magazines into their MP-7 sub-machine guns and started firing.
West and Lily came to the manhole. In they went. The others followed, while Stretch covered them all. Big Ears went in ...then Fuzzy ...Wizard ...Zoe and ...
...the final piece of the bridge fell into place ...
...as Stretch jumped into the manhole and the army of Germans charged over the bridge and the chase through the slipway system began.
The Ante-Chamber (Outward Bound)
Being the last person in a retreating formation sucks. You"re covering the rear, the bad guys are right on your a.s.s, and no matter how loyal your team is, there"s always the risk of being left behind.
By the time the tall and lanky Stretch had landed in the long ante-chamber beneath the manhole, the others were already entering the slipway at the far end.
"Stretch! Move it!" West called from the slanted doorway. "Zoe"s gone ahead to trigger another sliding stone to run interference for us!"
As if to confirm that, a familiar whump whump echoed out from the upper regions of the slipway, followed by the rumble of a new sliding stone grinding down the slope. echoed out from the upper regions of the slipway, followed by the rumble of a new sliding stone grinding down the slope.
Stretch bolted toward the slipway-as a dozen wraith-like figures rained down the manhole behind him, entering the ante-chamber.
Gunfire.
Rapid-fire.
Freed from the effects of the Warblers, the Europeans were now gladly employing live ammunition.
Stretch was done for.
He was still five steps away from the safety of the slipway when the first few Germans behind him went down in a hail of withering fire.
For just as they had fired, so too had someone else, someone standing guard in the doorway to the slipway.
Pooh Bear.
Holding a Steyr-AUG a.s.sault rifle.
The heavy-bearded Arab-who had last been seen getting cut off behind the previous sliding stone-waved Stretch on.
"Come on, Israeli!" Pooh Bear growled. "Or I"ll gladly leave you behind!"
Stretch staggered the last few steps into the slipway and past Pooh Bear just as a dozen bullet-sparks exploded out all around the stone doorway.
"I thought you were dead," Stretch said, panting.
"Please! It"ll take more than a rock rock to kill Zahir al Anzar al Abbas," Pooh Bear said in his deep gruff voice. "My legs may be stout, but they can still run with some speed. I simply outran the rock and took cover in that spiked pit, and let it pa.s.s over me. Now move!" to kill Zahir al Anzar al Abbas," Pooh Bear said in his deep gruff voice. "My legs may be stout, but they can still run with some speed. I simply outran the rock and took cover in that spiked pit, and let it pa.s.s over me. Now move!"
The Slipway
Down the slipway the Eight ran, dancing around the edge of the small spiked pit-the air filled with the rumble of the new sliding stone-then over the diorite pit that was the Second Gate. The cracked and broken remains of the first sliding stone from before lay strewn about its base.
The Eight swung over the diorite pit, hanging from the steel handholds they"d drilled into the rock ceiling earlier.
"Noddy!" West called into his radio mike when he landed safely on the other side. "Do you copy?"
There was no answer from Noddy, their man guarding the swamp entrance.
"It"s not the Warblers!" Wizard called. "There must be someone jamming us-"
He was cut off by six Germans who raced into the slipway and opened fire- -not a moment before the large spike-riddled sliding stone loomed up behind them, rumbling over the doorway to the ante-chamber!
The six Germans ran down the slipway, chased by the sliding stone.
When they came to the spiked pit, one panicked and lost his balance and fell in, chest-first-impaling himself on the vicious spikes sticking up from the stone pit.
The others got to the larger diorite pit of the Second Gate too late.
Two managed to grip West"s steel handholds for a couple of swings before all five of the remaining German troops were either impaled on the spikes on the leading edge of the sliding stone or jumped into the diorite pit to avoid those spikes just as- whoosh! whoosh!-a blast of churning white water shot across the pit, sweeping them away, screaming.
West"s team raced ahead now. The sliding stone had given them the lead they needed.
Having been blocked off momentarily behind it, and not having experienced the slipway before, the remainder of the German troops were more cautious.
West"s team increased their lead.
They swept down the tight vertical shaft to the spike-hole where West had correctly chosen the key of life, the ceiling of the water chamber having reset itself ...
Still no radio contact with Noddy.
Across the water chamber, its stepping-stones still submerged beneath the algae-covered pool ...
Still no radio contact.
Crouch-running down the length of the low tunnel, leaping over its cross-shafts ...
And finally they came to the croc-filled atrium with its handrungs in the ceiling and the vertical entry shaft at its far end.
"Noddy! Are you out there?" West called into his radio. "I repeat, Noddy, can you hear me-"
Finally he got a reply.
"Huntsman! Hurry!" Noddy"s Spanish-accented voice replied suddenly in his earpiece, loud and hard. "Get out! Get out now! The Americans are here!"