Zanzibe was given his safe deposit box number. The two men then stepped into the elevator and began their descent into one of the most protected vaults on earth.
Edward said, “Now, they advised me that the last occupants down here left thirty minutes ago. But for that to be true, it would mean that Andrew had already won.”
“Perhaps, my friend, he has?” Zanzibe replied.
“No, that’s not possible. Because if he had, none of this would still be here. It’s more likely that he had someone else sign him out of the vault. You might want to prepare yourself, in case we have company when this elevator comes to a stop.”
“I will be prepared.”
Edward looked next to him, where Zanzibe had already put together his two Uzis. His sharpened teeth glistened like a banshee. And then the elevator doors opened.
Chapter Seventy-Nine
Billie studied the first of the three challenges with intensity. She already knew the answers to all three, but now had a much greater contest to overcome. Inside Poseidon’s temple, the Sphere of Atlantis waited eagerly to release its evil power of destruction. The time was narrowing, and soon she must act to overpower her captor.
It was always a game, but now the price of the challenges was no longer merely her life. Now, failure meant the end of the human race. She considered simply refusing to beat the challenges at all, but with the Sphere of Atlantis already poised, Billie had to reach it with the code if she wanted to stop it.
No, she would have to reach the inner sanctum. But somewhere along the way, Andrew Brandt must die.
The first room involved the challenge of Strength, with its long tunnel and descending roofline, filled with spikes, Billie quickly wondered if Andrew would be naive enough to wish to go through first. She watched as Andrew studied the mechanism that lifted the roof by maneuvering the cantilever. He lifted it up so that the roof levelled, revealing the half opened exit at the end of the long tunnel, and then slowly lowered it again.
The spikes dropped like a machete.
He grinned at her wickedly. “I guess I better let you through first. Then you can open up for me?”
“Why, don’t you think you’re strong enough to work it out on your own?”
“Of course not, that’s why I went to great lengths to bring you here, Dr. Swan. Now, in case you get the urge to keep running once you’re on the other side, may I remind you that only I hold the code to Atlantis.”
Andrew stared at her.
His piercing gray eyes tormented her indecision.
When she didn’t respond, he said, “And that means that this building and everything within it is going to be levelled within the next two hours.”
“And if I help you get through. Then what?”
“Then I win, and you lose.”
“But we all die anyway?”
“No, you die, everyone else dies, but I have all the power that comes with the Sphere of Atlantis and its access code.”
“Doesn’t sound very fair to me,” Billie pointed out.
He sighed. “No, I dare say it’s not very fair. But hey, so long as you and I are together, perhaps you’ll find your chance to win. I doubt it, but it’s the best hope you’ve got, isn’t it?”
She turned to show him her hands were still bound behind her back.
“I’m going to need these off if you want me to make it through the challenge.”
“I’d really rather I didn’t.”
“Then I guess we may as well both lie down here and die. You see, halfway up the tunnel, a lever needs to be pulled to open the final exit. If I can’t reach it, I can hardly help you reach your all powerful sphere.”
He grabbed her forcefully. Placing his knee into the nape of her neck, he removed the handcuffs that bound her. She quickly stretched her arms and moved them to her front. A second later, Andrew clipped them again.
“There. Now you should be able to reach the lever, but still less likely to pick up a rock and beat my skull in.”
She smiled with a meekness that she would never truly feel. “Okay, let’s see how strong you are then.”
Within minutes, Billie passed the first challenge and having reset the lever so that Andrew could follow her, was now studying the second one. This one involved choosing the correct weight to place on the pedestal. Instead of the gold ingots of the Congo temple, this one had bars of solid orichalchum. Each one glowed red in response to their dim flashlights, sending shards of red into the dark chasm blocking their progression.
She stood there considering how to overcome the challenge and get her captor killed in the process. And then Andrew began picking up the ingots and the weights and piling them on the ancient balancing scales. Within two to three minutes, he laughed and carried several of the bars of orichalchum over to the pedestal.
Without asking her if he had chosen correctly, Andrew dropped them.
The pedestal glowed red, and seconds later the hidden bridge swung into position.
“That was lucky, wasn’t it? I guess I might not have needed you after all?”
Chapter Eighty
Sam Reilly arrived at the entrance to the Bank of America on the corner of Wall Street and Water. The building by this stage was swarming with police officers. He stepped out of the car, armed with an M16 machine gun in his hands and a Glock strapped to his left thigh. Tom followed behind with similar armament. In the foyer, the night manager of the vault stood arguing with the senior police officer on scene.
“Good evening, sir.” Sam shook the man’s hand. “My name is Sam Reilly, and this is one of my associates, Tom Bower. Have you been briefed on the situation?”
“My name is Mitchel Sawyer. I’m the night manager of the vault, and no one gets in or out unless they are a current customer of the bank. And I’m afraid none of you are on the list.’
Sam gritted his teeth before he spoke. “Mr. Sawyer, in under an hour, you and just about every other living being on this planet are going to have a really bad fucking ending to their day, unless we stop a madman from committing the ultimate act of terrorism.”
“I’m most sorry to hear that sir, but I’m afraid the vault has very specific rules. In fact, it’s protected by a number of laws, expressly prohibiting you from barging in here like this.”
Sam pulled out his phone and handed it to the man. “I hope this man can talk some semblance of sanity into you before I have to kill someone.”
The man straightened up at the threat, and then took the cell phone.
“Who is it?”
“Just pick up the phone, and you will see.”
The night manager spoke into the cell. “Hello?”
He nodded his head.
Then began trying to explain the system again, before suddenly handing the phone back. Sam took the cell and said, “Mr. President.”
He grinned.
“Of course, Mr. President. I’ll do that.”
The bank manager began to protest again that he really didn’t want to go against the President of the United States of America, but his first duty was to his customers.
Sam stuffed the nozzle of his Glock into the man’s throat.
“I’m sorry Mr. Sawyer. You must have misunderstood me. I said, we need to get into the vault — right now!”
Within ten minutes Sam and Tom were descending the elevator into the vault — alone. Both men removed the safeties from their M16 machine guns.
“From what we know about this guy, he’ll have the entrance to this thing well-guarded.”
Tom rested his finger on the trigger.
And the elevator door opened.