‘Like when the broken necklace wiped out my lab?’
‘Yes that was an uncontrolled burst, this is much more actively managed, and on a larger scale.’
‘How large?’
‘The positive lightning hits we have are more frequent and last longer in contact with the ground.’
‘Positive lightning, I have heard of it, only discovered relatively recently. The output of the strikes is far higher than normal lightning?’
‘Yes it last milliseconds longer, and the discharge can be up to three hundred giga-joules, per strike. To give you an idea, one giga-joule is equivalent to the amount of energy released by one ton of TNT.’
‘Dear God.’
‘Exactly.’
‘Where does it strike? Not here?’
‘No, we have four conducting towers out in the jungle, each one feeds through crystal conduits under the ground and they meet beneath our feet.’
‘So we are standing on the focal point?’
‘Exactly, you will see soon.’
‘So this blue crystal is the conduit, and the black is the insulator?’
‘In basic terms yes, I do not understand the details fully, but I have a sufficient grasp to operate the system.’
‘How big are the conduits?’
‘Two kilometres long, eight metres across, we have to walk in them to check for cracks.’
‘Now that I would like to do.’
‘Another day my friend, another day.’
On the surface Debra’s team had seen Enzi’s men moving on their position, they were not camouflaged, standing out against the emerald backdrop. Even at two hundred metres away she could see and hear them, stomping their way incautiously through the undergrowth, but Debra knew to close and she would be seen. The clouds above had turned a deep grey and were moving across and upwards, the wind increasing at ground level. Above the gunfire, they could feel the vibrations of thunder, frequent and strong.
Jones noticed that one group had stopped firing, and presumed his team had taken them out. The sky had darkened overhead, but he knew that heavy storms in the area were common. He tried to radio the team to confirm neutralisation of the target, but all he got was static, the thunderstorm interfering with communications, because of the amount of radio waves it was generating. He turned his redundant radio off.
Debra watched as the group moved down to the lower part of the wall, she presumed they had not located her position, but would be able to move more effectively at ground level. This was a wise tactic, they had also spread out, putting some distance between each other, one man now outside her field of fire. Should she trigger the trap now, or wait until the last man had entered? The scout at the front was only a few dozen metres away, even with her camouflage he would see her soon, her thumb hovering over the remote trigger. He stepped closer his rifle levelled at her position, she could not wait.
Jones had seen no gunfire from either position for a few minutes, and presumed victory was his.
‘Enzi, the area is secure.’
‘Thank you Jones.’
But the respondent was not Enzi, but Mastasson, ‘I will be leaving now Mr Enzi, I suggest you remain here, I will return shortly.’
‘Where are you going?’
‘To the complex, to the heart of the mystery, I want my amulets back.’
Enzi was concerned, ‘You mean our amulets?’
‘No Enzi, I mean mine, you are no further use to me.’
For the first time in twenty years, Enzi took hold of a gun, snatching it from Jones’ hand and firing at Mastasson’s face without hesitation.
Jacob was astonished at the wealth of knowledge hidden for all these years, but respected why. A device like this could threaten countries, or destroy them.
‘How many times have you discharged it?’
‘Well honestly, this will be the first. The device is not used often, only when necessary.’
‘Well I hope you practised.’
‘We have, don’t worry.’
Of course Jacob knew that was easy to say, with masses of raw power sitting below their feet, he hoped that they got it right, first time.
‘How much energy do you think is below us?’
Osvaldo Roderigo calmly answered, ‘We estimate it is thousands of exa-joules. Roughly the total energy consumed by the United States in one year. Sometimes we need it all, sometimes we don’t.’
Enzi’s shot ricocheted off Mastasson’s head, back into his shoulder. Enzi fell back in surprise reflexively pressing his hand onto the bloody shoulder, the bullet left a large exit wound due to its tumbling trajectory. Jones attended to the wound immediately. Mastasson gloated, pulling out his necklace, ‘You see, I have Laurent’s necklace, so nothing can harm me. I will be leaving now, and neither you, nor your mercenaries can stop me.’
Mastasson stepped confidently down the wall, Katherine walking before him, her hands tied tight. Archer could see him moving. Now was the time.
Enzi’s men could see someone in the bushes ahead, they levelled their weapons, ready to give one large burst across the area, whether man or beast, they would rip it apart. They never heard the explosion, it was only fifty metres away, above them, pointing down the wall. The American’s call them claymores, they have many titles but only one purpose, death. The cluster of ball bearings were packed against an explosive charge sitting on a sheet of steel. This caused all the force of the explosive to travel towards the target, taking the ball bearings with it. Anything within fifty metres was dead, guaranteed, one hundred metres, survival was still unlikely.
Debra did not have to check on the four men that had attempted to ambush them, she knew they were dead. No screams, no pleading, the high speed steel shredded their bodies at such close range, no one survived. The man nearest to her turned, he was outside the arc of fire from the claymores, but close to Debra’s hide. He knew no one would be firing those weapons from behind him, so he pulled his gun in tight to fire. Debra’s ever present handgun drawn as she fired the claymores, by the time the remaining scout had realised and prepared to fire, she had stood up and put two bullets into him, head and chest. The man fell back; weapon and corpse rolling down the steep wall, joining his comrades. Michael was stunned by her efficient ferocity.
Archer had triggered his set of traps moments later, the team of five men were further away, but the sixty-degree field of fire from the claymore ensured they all died immediately, horribly. Raining steel finished them, just as small raindrops began to fall, the jungle cleansing itself of blood, by the following day the bodies would be meals for many creatures, and the vegetation shredded by the shrapnel would heal.
Jacob thought he heard a noise over the constant humming of the complex, ‘Has the top hatch had been closed? We do not want any unannounced visitors.’ Osvaldo Roderigo checked a display, ‘No it has not, I will see to it.’
He flicked a series of switches to secure the complex, ‘the hatch will stay closed now, until we are finished.
Mastasson had reached the outer hatch, Archer’s bullets having the same effect as the ones fired at Jacob, none.
He was metres from his goal, he saw the hatch move. It was closing. He urged Katherine forward with a gesture of his combat blade, and she complied knowing a knife may penetrate where bullets could not. Laurent’s body was still in the hatch, his eyes still, staring. The hatch jammed as Mastasson clambered in behind Katherine, stepping over Laurent’s corpse which was slowing the hatch’s closure as it attempted to push him ahead of it, ‘First time you have been helpful in a while Christophe.’
Mastasson pulled the body back down into the hatch, allowing it to close fully sealing them inside. The lifeless corpse flopped down the stairs, like a discarded toy doll, coming to rest at the bottom of the staircase.