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Both she and Malone hugged the plinth.
“I hope whoever we just helped appreciates it,” she said.
NI HEARD SOMEONE CALL OUT, THEN HEARD THREE SHOTS fired. He advanced into a smaller, dimly lit space that opened between him and the brightly lit antechamber. He pressed his spine to the wall directly adjacent to the doorway and peered around the corner. Tang and two other men were standing as he was, against the wall for the entrance into the burial hall.
He did not see the foreigner and watched as one of the men swung around and shot through the archway into the burial chamber.
Then another did the same.
Something had commanded their attention, away from him.
He decided to take advantage of the situation.
He aimed and fired.
TANG WAS STARTLED BY THE SHOT FROM BEHIND.
One of the brothers cried out, then shrank to the floor.
The man writhed in pain.
Tang turned to see Ni Yong fleeing one of the darkened doorways, rushing into the next anteroom. He swung his gun around and fired, but Ni vanished through the archway, finding sanctuary on the other side.
Where was Viktor?
The wounded brother continued to moan in agony, exposed on all sides.
Only one thing to do.
Tang shot him in the head.
“DAMN,” 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 passage 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 hell out of here.”
He did not have to be told twice. He accepted the gun and slammed its metal butt 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 bastard 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 Cassiopeia 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. Cassiopeia was watching, too, and together they decided a retreat was in order.
But first he fired a round that sent the three men scattering.
Cassiopeia 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,” Cassiopeia 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 assailants 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?” Cassiopeia 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 space in between wide open except fo
r 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 butt, 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.
