Temple of the Gods - Andy McDermott [185]
Eddie saw the detonator amongst the scattered debris. He dived headlong at it as Stikes’s first shot whipped past. Ignoring the pain of the landing, he twisted the dial to the ‘Full’ position.
Stikes rose, adjusting his aim. His prone target had nowhere left to go . . .
Eddie flicked up the protective cover – and jammed his thumb down on the red button beneath.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened—
Then the meteorite blew apart.
35
The three explosive charges Eddie had placed in the sky stone shattered the great rock’s heart, sending countless pieces flying in all directions. They were still aglow, held in the air by the earth’s invisible lines of force . . . but the smallest fragments almost immediately lost their charge and fell like hail. Most dropped down the volcanic shaft, heading for immolation in the searing magma chamber below, but some hit the ledge – and the people on it.
Eddie yelped as a stone bounced off his head, and looked up to see where it had come from. ‘Oh, bollocks,’ he gasped.
A swirling cloud of glowing rocks hung above him, ranging in size from golf balls to trucks. More energy bolts spat from them, stabbing at the rocky walls of the shaft. But the unearthly lights were rapidly going out, darkness spreading as increasingly larger chunks of debris exhausted their residual energy – and were reclaimed by gravity.
A piece of meteorite the size of a tennis ball smacked down beside him. Another, slightly larger, landed nearby a moment later.
A hard rain was going to fall.
There was danger below as well as above. The ground trembled, a low thunder rising from the base of the shaft as something huge slowly stirred from its long slumber.
The lava lake was boiling with the sudden release of earth energy. The volcano was erupting. Just as Nantalas had triggered a natural disaster in Atlantis, so Nina had here.
‘Nina! Dad!’ he shouted as he stood. ‘Get into cover!’ He started to run for the temple—
Stikes recovered from his shock, raising his gun.
Eddie dived behind the statue of Poseidon as he fired. ‘Get up!’ Stikes yelled to his men as more rubble fell around them, some pieces as big as footballs.
Nina had heard Eddie’s shout and struggled upright, briefly mesmerised by the sight of the asteroid field hanging overhead. She snapped out of it at a cry of pain from nearby. Larry lay on the ground, one hand to his head where a falling stone had struck him.
Another, much larger lump of rock was directly above him, the shimmering glow across its surface fading . . .
She raced forward and seized her father-in-law by his arms. ‘Larry, move!’ she screamed, trying to drag him clear.
The strange light vanished. The rock plunged—
Nina pulled harder, soles scrabbling for grip – and the stone slammed down where Larry had been lying, missing him by barely an inch.
Sophia gasped as she realised the danger she was in. No thought of helping any of the mercenaries, or even Stikes, crossed her mind; she ran for the shelter of the temple.
Ever larger debris pounded down on to the ledge. One of the mercenaries started to scream before being abruptly silenced by a half-ton chunk of meteorite that splattered him like an insect on a windscreen.
Eddie pressed himself against the statue as another boulder smashed to the ground just feet away, showering him with gritty shrapnel. He felt the shock of the impact through his feet – but the other tremors from far underground were rapidly growing stronger. A second panicked mercenary tried to scramble clear as an Olympian toppled. He failed, the falling figure smiting him as mercilessly as its namesake of myth.
Eddie risked a look round his cover. Stikes was taking what little shelter he could find beneath another statue.
But he was thinking of more than mere survival. The Jericho came up—
Eddie ducked sharply back as another round cracked off Poseidon. Even after the last of the floating