Seven Ancient Wonders - Matthew Reilly [92]
‘What’s it say?’ West asked.
‘It’s about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon,’ she said. ‘It says:
The Hanging Paradise of Old Babylonia.
March towards the rising Sun,
From the point where the two life-givers become one.
In the shadow of the mountains of Zagros,
Behold the mighty falls fashioned by the Third Great Architect
To conceal the path he hewed
A path that climbs to the entry of the Paradise
That mighty Nebuchadnezzar built for his bride.’
West tousled her hair. ‘Nice work, kiddo. Nice work. Wizard’s going to be thrilled.’
The Halicarnassus landed with a roar on Victoria Station’s airstrip just before midnight. It was a classic African night—a swollen full moon illuminated the grassy plains like a floodlight, while the low hills loomed, dark teeth against the moonlit sky.
About a kilometre from the runway stood the farmhouse, its windows glowing orange. The emergency signal—the lights on the juniper bush in the front garden—was not on.
Sky Monster swung the plane toward the hangar dug into the hill at the end of the runway. As it taxied slowly, everyone grabbed their gear, preparing to disembark.
None of them could know that as they did so, two hundred pairs of eyes watched them closely.
Turbines whirring, the Halicarnassus came to a halt just outside the doorway of the brightly-illuminated hangar.
A flight of airstairs waited for it there, just outside the open doors. And beyond the airstairs, maybe forty yards away, stood a welcoming party of one: Doris, standing by the hangar doors themselves.
It was impossible for those on the plane to know that she was standing there at gunpoint.
The plane stopped alongside the airstairs at the entry to the hangar, its nose section poking into the actual hangar (it had to cool down outside for a few hours before it could be brought fully inside for storage).
As soon as it had stopped, its forward side door was flung open from within and Big Ears and Lily—eager to see Doris and show her the Zeus Piece—dashed out of the plane and scampered down the airstairs. Big Ears wore his backpack, containing the Piece.
Not far behind them came Pooh Bear and Stretch, escorting Zaeed—now flex-cuffed again. They emerged from the plane into the fresh night air, began stepping down the stairs.
Sky Monster and West lingered in the plane—Sky Monster to do a post-flight check; West just to collect all his things: notes, parchments, Hessler’s Nazi diary.
It was noisy outside—the Halicarnassus’s four massive wing-engines still whirred loudly, winding down.
Big Ears and Lily were halfway to Doris.
‘Hey, Doris! We did it!’ Lily called over the din, but Doris’s usually warm face was stony, cold—as though she knew something that she couldn’t disclose.
Then she seemed to regather herself, smiled kindly, and called back: ‘Well done, little Eowyn! What a triumphant return. This is all a bit like Gimli returning to Moria, isn’t it!’
At Doris’s words, Lily slowed her stride.
Then she stopped completely.
Big Ears paused, turned to her. ‘What is it?’
Worried, Lily peered fearfully at the dark grassy fields that surrounded the hangar’s entrance. Apart from Doris, the area was completely deserted.
‘Big Ears, we’re in trouble,’ she said evenly. ‘We have to get back to the plane. This is a trap.’
‘How do you know—?’
‘Just go! Now!’ she said with an authority that belied her age.
And abruptly, she spun, grabbing Big Ears’s hand, and together— still twenty yards from the plane—they bolted back towards the Halicarnassus.
No sooner had they moved than all hell broke loose in the hangar.
Every door on every side of the hangar burst open and disgorged dozens of black-clad American troops.
A maintenance door behind Doris was also thrown open and Marshall Judah rushed out of it, accompanied by a CIEF team led by Cal Kallis.
Kallis pushed roughly past Doris and opened fire on the fleeing pair with a god-almighty fury.
When the gunfire started, different people did different things:
West.
He raced to the forward door of the Halicarnassus, to see what was going