Seven Ancient Wonders - Matthew Reilly [95]
West was amazed at Lily’s quick deduction—and at Doris’s selfless sacrifice.
‘Nice work, kiddo.’ He stroked Lily’s hair. ‘Nice work.’
It was Pooh Bear who asked what they were all thinking. ‘Huntsman. What do we do now?’
‘I have to talk to Wizard,’ West said, moving to one of the communications consoles.
But just as he reached it, the console—as if by magic—started blinking and beeping.
‘It’s the video phone. . . ’ Stretch said. ‘An incoming call.’
‘It must be Wizard,’ Pooh Bear said.
‘No,’ West said, staring at the console’s readout. ‘It’s coming from Victoria Station.’
West clicked the ‘Answer’ button and the screen on the console came to life. Filling its frame was the face of. . .
Marshall Judah.
He was sitting at a console inside the hangar back in Kenya, flanked by Kallis and some of his men.
‘Greetings, Jack. My, my, wasn’t that a narrow escape for you all. Sorry—’ he corrected himself—‘not exactly all of you escaped.’
‘What do you want?’ West growled.
‘Why, Jack. How could I want anything from you? I already have everything you can give me: the Zeus Piece, to add to the three Pieces I already possess. Oh, and I am not sure if you’re aware of the fate of your friend Epper in Rome. Seems he’s fallen into the hands of our European competitors. I do hope he’ll be all right.’
West tried not to let his surprise show. He didn’t know that the Europeans had captured Wizard’s team.
‘Epper’s capture,’ Judah said, realising with a grin. ‘You weren’t aware of this.’
Shit.
‘Why are you calling us?’ West demanded. ‘To gloat?’
‘To remind you of your status, Jack. Look at you. Look at what you have achieved. Your band of pissant nations shouldn’t have tried playing at the grown-ups’ table. At every juncture in our parallel missions, I have comprehensively beaten you. In the Sudan. In Tunisia. And now here in Kenya. Can’t you see? There is nowhere you can go that I cannot follow. There is nowhere on Earth you can hide from me, Jack. My scientists are at this very instant about to uncover the location of the Hanging Gardens and, unlike you, we have long been aware of the importance of the Paris Obelisk—and in two days’ time, we will use those measurements to reveal the location of Alexander’s Tomb in Luxor: the resting place of the final Piece.’
‘Are you finished?’
‘How about I finish with this: you never had a chance on this mission, Jack. Let me give you a quick lesson in the law of nations: there are big fish and there are little fish. And the big fish eat the little ones. You came up against a bigger fish, Jack, and you got eaten. Your mission is over.’
‘I’m going to kill you, Judah,’ West said flatly. ‘For Doris.’
‘As if you could, Jack. As if you could.’
With that, Judah cut the signal and West found himself staring at an empty screen.
For a long while, no-one spoke.
West just stared at the blank screen, his teeth grinding.
‘Stretch, try and call Wizard,’ he said. ‘See if Judah was telling the truth.’
Stretch went to the satellite radio console, tried every channel that Wizard, Zoe and Fuzzy could be on. He even tried their cell phones.
He received no reply.
‘Nothing,’ he said, returning to the group. ‘There’s no answer from Wizard, Zoe or Fuzzy. They’re off the air.’
There was more silence as the full weight of their predicament sank in.
In addition to their terrible losses at Victoria Station, they had now lost three more people—including the one person who had been their greatest source of knowledge on this mission, Wizard.
Stretch said, ‘Every move we’ve made, Judah’s known it and followed right behind us. In the Sudan. In Tunisia. Now Kenya.’
‘Not exactly,’ Pooh Bear said. ‘Kenya was different: he got to Kenya before we did, not after. He was waiting for us there.’ Pooh looked hard at Stretch. ‘Somehow he knew about our base.’
Stretch bristled. ‘What are you implying? Do you think I informed the Americans?’
Pooh Bear’s glare