"d.a.m.n," Malone said. "Did you see that?"
"They shoot their own," she said.
"Which means they"ll have little respect for us."
Ni wasted no time. As soon as he"d squeezed the trigger, he rushed for the exit, finding safety just before Tang could respond. He bolted into the next anteroom, keeping near a far wall, away from the vulnerable middle, fleeing toward the main doors. If he could make it into the pa.s.sage leading back to the well, darkness would be his ally.
He slipped into the last antechamber.
He hugged the wall and stole a quick glance behind, catching a glimpse of Tang and the other man as they entered the room he"d just left.
One of them fired.
He ducked, then sent a response, using the moment to slip through the black crease between the partially opened main doors. Once on the other side of the entrance, he was safe from bullets. He could not waste a moment. In the blackness, beyond the lights, he"d be okay.
He turned to flee, but a man blocked his way.
The foreigner who"d shot at him earlier and intentionally missed.
"You don"t know me," the man said, a gun in hand, pointed straight at him. "But I"m not your enemy."
The stranger stepped farther from the darkness into the light. Definitely European. Ni burned the face into his memory.
The man handed Ni his weapon, gripping it by its short barrel.
"Knock me silly with this gun, then get the h.e.l.l out of here."
He did not have to be told twice. He accepted the gun and slammed its metal b.u.t.t into the man"s temple.
He then tossed the gun aside and fled into darkness.
Tang emerged from the double doors and spotted Viktor lying on the pavement, his gun a few meters away. His gaze raked the darkness ahead, but he heard and saw nothing.
Ni was gone.
Viktor was picking himself off the floor, rubbing his head. "I was waiting for him, but the b.a.s.t.a.r.d was quick. He slammed me in the head."
Tang had no time for excuses. With no way to safely pursue, he aimed into the blackness and laid down a spread of four shots, swinging his arm from right to left, one wall to the other.
Bullets pinged in the darkness.
Retorts banged off the walls, hurting his ears.
"He"s gone," Viktor calmly said.
He lowered the gun. "We need to go back inside. Malone, Vitt, and Pau Wen are still there."
Malone heard footsteps, heading away, and surmised that the two men and Viktor had fled. He had no idea what lay on the other side of the archway for the burial hall"s main entrance.
But now was the time to act.
Heading back to the secret panel through which they entered was too risky. Far too much real estate between here and there. So he motioned to Ca.s.siopeia and together they abandoned the plinth, traversing the ninety feet to the entrance arch in just a few seconds. Luckily, the floor topography was mainly plains and ocean, over which extended a narrow walkway that allowed them to run a majority of the way.
The dead man lay still, blood pouring from his two wounds.
Malone risked a look inside the next chamber and spotted three men, Viktor and Tang among them, reentering at the opposite end, heading straight for them. Ca.s.siopeia was watching, too, and together they decided a retreat was in order.
But first he fired a round that sent the three men scattering.
Ca.s.siopeia led the way as they retraced their path to the center plinth. They made it there just as two more rounds came their way.
Apparently, their pursuers were not going to leave.
They hugged the far side of the plinth.
"You realize we have nowhere to go," Ca.s.siopeia said.
"That thought has occurred to me."
FIFTY-NINE.
Ni stood. He"d dove down, lying flat as Karl Tang fired into the darkness, using one of the bulky incense burners for cover. He"d laid still as bullets cascaded off the walls, then watched as his three a.s.sailants disappeared back into the tomb. The man he"d knocked unconscious clearly worked for Tang, but he also apparently possessed a separate agenda.
But who"d called out, then fired from the burial chamber? Should he help them? What could he do, beyond place himself back in jeopardy.
Getting killed would solve nothing.
He had to leave.
Malone caught the shadows reappearing in the antechamber. He"d heard four rounds fired and wondered what was happening. But apparently one problem had either been solved or was no longer a concern. Instead- "Our turn," he said.
He spotted heads peering around the archway, reconnoitering the burial chamber.
"Can we draw them out?" Ca.s.siopeia whispered from the other side of the plinth.
"They"re not sure we"re still here. They see that hole in the wall behind us, too. We could be in there, as far as they know."
Unfortunately, their haven was a hundred feet away, the s.p.a.ce in between wide open except for a few pillars, none of which would provide much cover.
His mind rifled through the possibilities.
Not many.
He studied the tripod of lights that illuminated the plinth. His gaze drifted down to a river of mercury flowing a few feet away-a representation, he surmised, of the Yellow River spanning the ancient empire from east to west. He recalled again what Pau Wen had read to them yesterday. Using quicksilver, they made the hundred rivers of the land, the Yellow and Yangtze, and the wide sea, and machines kept the waters in motion. Were the reservoirs connected? Regardless, what he had in mind should work.
"Get ready to move," he whispered.
"What are you going to do?"
"Create a problem."
Tang spotted shadows on the center platform.
Someone was there. Two forms.
One on either side of the jade table that stood at a diagonal to the hall. His gaze raked the remainder of the chamber and confirmed that there was no other place to hide.
So where was the third person who should be here?
"Kill both of them," he ordered. Then, to Viktor, he made clear, "And this time I want them dead. We need no further distractions."
Viktor seemed to understand that things had not gone right and nodded. "We"ll take care of them."
Malone saw the barrels of two guns, one positioned at either side of the archway.
Both fired.
Bullets popped off of jade.
Time to act.
He dropped back on his b.u.t.t, lifted his right leg, and slammed the sole of his shoe into the tripod supporting the electric lamps. The spindly metal toppled, bulbs exploding in a shower of sparks and heat that ignited the mineral oil. He knew fire-breathers and special effects experts preferred mineral oil since it possessed both a high flash point and a low burning temperature. It didn"t take much for it to ignite, nor did it last long once aflame.
Like magician"s flash paper, it produced a spectacular effect.
Bright flames erupted across the burial hall as the burning oil atop the mercury in the lakes, rivers, and ocean consumed itself. A rush of air echoed off the walls, like a wave rushing to sh.o.r.e, generating quick heat and bright light.
Malone wasted no time, springing to his feet and joining Ca.s.siopeia as they rushed the hundred feet back toward the break in the chamber wall. They avoided more rivers and lakes, but thankfully the western portion of Qin"s empire was more desert and mountain.
The oil quickly exhausted itself, and the light faded. What remained was a dark cloud seeping up from the floor, and he knew what that deadly waft contained.
Mercury.
"Take a breath and hold it," he said.
Tang saw the tripod crash to the floor and then felt heat as the mineral oil ignited in a burst of blinding light. He shielded his eyes with a raised arm. The brother and Viktor did the same.
The unexpected flash left black spots winking in and out, but as his vision settled he saw through the rising clouds of gray-black fog two figures at the far side of the chamber running toward the break in the wall.
"We can"t stay here," Viktor said.
Tang knew the smoke was toxic and its first wisps were only a few meters away, so he retreated from the archway.
Another crack resounded through the chamber and lights began to explode. He heard an electrical surge and something popped behind him in a shower of sparks.
The junction box into which the cable from outside fed power.
"They"re shorting out," Viktor yelled.
Then the world went black.
Ca.s.siopeia kept running, sensing that the electrical current surging through the mercury had finally backtracked through the lines.
The last thing she saw before all the lights extinguished was the wall, about ten meters away.
She stopped short and heard Malone do the same.
"We have to go," he whispered.
She exhaled. "Find the wall. The exit was about twenty meters to the right."
"We might have a minute or so of good air this far over, but we need to hurry."
Darkness was absolute. She could not even see her hands. Carefully, she groped the air and found the wall with the tip of her gun. The flashlight was still in her pocket, but all that would provide was a perfect target for a spray of bullets through the fog.
"Go," Malone whispered. "Fast."
Beams of light erupted from the far side of the hall, the rays threading a path through the cloud, now maybe six feet above the floor and rising.
The beams found the wall and started searching left and right.
For them.
"They have to be there," Tang said.
All three of them used their lights to scan the far side of the chamber for the two figures. The beams were weak, but strong enough.
"Find that opening," he ordered. "That"s where they were headed."
The beams continued their dance. One of them located the break in the wall-and then, to its right, a figure.
Heading straight for it.
"There," he said. "Shoot."
"Hit the ground," Malone yelled, knowing what was coming.
The beam had located Ca.s.siopeia just as she"d made it to safety. He decided not to give anyone a free shot.
He took aim across the room and fired at the center of the three lights.