Temple of the Gods - Andy McDermott [183]
Warden stepped forward, feet crunching through the sloughed-off dirt, and raised a hand to the meteorite – but held his fingertips an inch short, as if afraid that his touch would let gravity reclaim its hold. ‘We have it,’ he said in awe. ‘We have it all. Earth energy, the progenitor DNA . . . we can do it. We can carry out the plan.’
Both Brannigan and Meerkrieger were caught up in his growing excitement. ‘No more conflict,’ said the Australian woman, moving closer to examine the shimmering rock. ‘No more waste. We’ll have control over every single person on the planet.’
‘Total control,’ added the media baron. He signalled for Nina to lower the meteorite; it responded to her mental direction, settling on the ledge with alarming groans and snaps of overstressed stone. She stepped back, breaking contact by separating one of the statues from the others, but the huge rock remained aglow. The larger the object, it seemed, the longer it could hold its earth energy charge. ‘This is incredible!’
Warden was already making plans. ‘Once we get out, we’ll bring in more people, set up lines down into the volcano. We’ll cut the rock open and extract the DNA samples. As soon as we’ve got those, we can complete the sequencing process and release the virus. This is it,’ he said to his two remaining colleagues, his patrician scowl for once overcome by genuine euphoria. ‘This is our moment. We can remake the world – remake humanity! Everything that happens from now on will be according to our design.’
‘Not your design,’ said Sophia unexpectedly from behind them. ‘Ours.’
The Group members whirled – and were cut down as she opened fire with Eddie’s gun. Meerkrieger took two bullets in the chest, convulsing in agony before slumping lifelessly to the floor. Brannigan fell as another pair of shots tore into her. Warden was hit in the shoulder and collapsed with an anguished screech.
He raised a shaking hand, signalling to the mercenaries standing impassively nearby. ‘What are you doing?’ he gasped. ‘Kill her – kill her! Help me!’
Stikes joined Sophia, his self-satisfied smile oozing wider. ‘I’m afraid they’re all loyal to me, not to you.’
‘But they are still loyal to the Group,’ Sophia added. ‘The new Group, that is.’ She took Stikes’s hand.
‘Thank you for giving me full access to all the Group’s resources, by the way,’ Stikes added. ‘Don’t worry – we’ll put them to good use.’
In his desperation, Warden looked to the prisoners for assistance. ‘Do something! Please!’
All Nina could do was shrug helplessly. ‘What can I say? I told you not to trust them.’
Eddie nodded. ‘Saw that coming a mile off.’
Sophia brought the gun back down at Warden. ‘No, please!’ he begged. ‘I—’
A single shot hit him in the forehead, blowing out the back of his skull in a gruesome bloom across the stone. Nauseated, Nina looked away. Larry retched, struggling to hold in a mouthful of vomit.
‘Well then,’ said Stikes amiably, ‘now that’s all dealt with, there’s only one thing left to do.’ He raised his gun and pointed it at Eddie.
‘Just a minute, darling,’ said Sophia. ‘We agreed in Switzerland that I get to kill Eddie, remember? And secondly, business before pleasure – we still need Nina to move the meteorite so we can get out of here.’
Stikes glowered at Eddie, but reluctantly lowered the Jericho. ‘All right.’ He turned to the mercenaries. ‘Watch Chase and his father. Dr Wilde, if you’d be so kind?’
Nina returned to the meteorite. The huge stone began to hum once more as she brought the glowing statues closer, the very air around it tingling. She looked round at her audience: the guards mystified, Sophia and Stikes as avaricious as the late members of the Group had been, Larry still shocked by what he had just witnessed . . .
And her husband giving her an unspoken signal.
Ready.
An almost imperceptible nod, then she turned back to the hulking stone. Slowly, carefully, she brought all three statues together once more.
The expansion of her consciousness