The Sacred Vault_ A Novel - Andy McDermott [147]
Zec glanced questioningly at his employer, but Khoil, seeming genuinely startled by the yogi’s rejection, shook his head. ‘Search the Vault. Find the Vedas.’
‘What do they look like?’ Zec asked.
‘According to the text from Atlantis, they are stone tablets with text in Vedic Sanskrit. They will probably be in a container for protection, a box or chest.’
Zec and all but two of the mercenaries spread out to begin their search. ‘You’ll never find them,’ said Nina as Vanita began to pace impatiently, her husband looking up in fascination at the vimana. ‘It’s a big cave, and they could be absolutely anywh—’
‘Found them,’ called Zec from beside the ramp.
‘God damn it!’
Zec and another man brought the chest to the Khoils and opened it. ‘These are them, yes?’ he asked.
Khoil, hands shaking in excitement, carefully lifted out one of the tablets and examined the ancient text. ‘Yes,’ he breathed. ‘The Shiva-Vedas! The words of Lord Shiva himself.’ He looked at Vanita, the light of the zealot in his eyes. ‘We have them! We will wipe away the corruption of the Kali Yuga. A new age - and we will create it.’ He delicately replaced the tablet in the rack, then closed the lid. ‘Chapal, Dhiren! Prepare it for transport.’
The two bodyguards came to him as the mercenaries returned. Mahajan carried a backpack, from which he took a roll of strong plastic netting and a bundle of harness straps. He and Tandon wrapped up the chest so it could be winched away.
‘Now, what about them?’ Vanita asked impatiently, indicating the prisoners. ‘I think they have lived far too long.’
‘I agree,’ said Khoil.
‘Good! Then kill them!’ She glared at Zec. ‘Now!’
Zec nodded, about to issue a command—
Shankarpa dived at Khoil with a scream of rage.
Zec swept up his MP5K, catching the guardian a savage blow across his face and knocking him down by the foot of the ramp. Another mercenary kicked Shankarpa in the chest and aimed his gun at his head—
Girilal snatched up the dagger and stabbed it to the hilt into the merc’s throat.
The other mercenaries whipped round to face the unexpected threat as the trooper fell, a spray of red spurting out from the wound. Zec fired at the old man. The burst of bullets hit Girilal in the chest and stomach, slamming him to the floor.
And in the moment of confusion, Eddie moved—
He grabbed the gun hand of the nearest man and twisted it round, clenching his trigger finger. The shots hit another mercenary at point-blank range, not even his body armour enough to stop them from ripping into his chest. He spun and collided with another pair of men, bowling them over.
Eddie slammed an uppercut into the first man’s jaw, hearing teeth snap under the impact, then tried to wrench the MP5K from his grasp. Even through the nerve-searing pain, the blood-spitting merc managed to resist, crunching an elbow into Eddie’s sternum and knocking him backwards. He tripped over Kit’s injured leg, making the Indian cry out, and fell heavily to the floor.
The other gunmen brought their weapons to bear, fingers tight on triggers, but Zec thrust his own gun into Eddie’s face before they could fire, shoving a boot on his chest. ‘Don’t move,’ he growled.
All eyes were on the two men.
Except Nina’s.
The sudden chaos had opened up an escape route, however briefly. She took it, throwing herself over the bottom of the ramp into the channel between its two halves. Some of the gunmen whirled at the movement, but she was already in the cover of the rising walls as they fired. Stone chips bombarded her like hailstones as she ran.
‘Kill her, kill her!’ Vanita screeched. The mercs rushed to the ramp and unleashed more bullets down the narrow passage, but Nina was clear, sprinting into the depths of the Vault of Shiva.
27
‘Get her!’ Zec ordered. Two of his men ran after the fleeing American.
Vanita turned to Khoil. ‘Bring the helicopter back, now.’
‘The chest isn’t ready,