Katherine now saw the reason, she calmed down, letting her sense of family override blind rage, realising Mastasson’s tactic. What she knew of Jacob and her father, fitted better than cold-blooded murder. She winked at Jacob, ‘So you are just trying to cover your ass!’ and she smacked him across the face, hard enough to be audible. Jacob looked hurt, and probably was. Katherine packed a punch, he had taught her well. The army had taught her better.
‘I want nothing more to do with you!’
‘But Katherine I was just trying to protect you.’
She stepped back towards Mastasson, who had relaxed since he arrived, that was his first mistake.
Archer didn’t move; the voice behind him a whisper, barely audible over the rain, American. ‘Point your weapon at the ground, hold it by the front grip only. Slowly release your right hand.’
Archer complied but the rifle in his neck remained, he wanted to spin, but was unsure if he was alone. Another voice came at him from his left, ‘Hello Archer, I remember you.’
Thorpe was next to him, also training his weapon, ‘You probably don’t remember me, Thorpe.’
‘I do, you are quite a good shot on the ranges if I remember.’
‘Yes, so keep still, and don’t be stupid, you aren’t my mission.’
‘Who is?’
As Thorpe was about to answer, another voice came out from a few yards away, a Spanish voice, followed by gunfire. The bullets slammed into the body armour of the man behind Archer. Archer turned and hit the ground, taking Thorpe with him.
‘It would appear that we have company, now give me my weapon back.’
Thorpe refused, assessed the threat and returned fire himself. Their position was not given away, but they moved to check for other gunmen, the second man was taken out by one of Thorpe’s team. Archer took the opportunity and drew his handgun, pointing it at Thorpe’s head. Thorpe levelled his Sig Sauer at Archer, and both men stood motionless, concealed in the dark saturated jungle undergrowth.
Thorpe signalled to his men not to take any action and secure the area, while Archer stood deadlocked in front of him.
Enzi could not see his two men drop just yards away, the darkness of the storm and accuracy meant they did not scream. The headshots stopped the message before it left their brains. He and his two remaining men waited, he decided that he must retreat to the boats alone. He slipped down the wall, leaving his remaining hired guns to their fate. The wall was slippery from the rain, he half fell, half climbed down to the bottom of the wall. He began to walk towards the river, the rain-washed the blood soaked dressing, he left a trail of diluted red behind him.
Thorpe’s team took out the remaining two henchmen with lethal efficiency, not even a shot in retaliation. They checked the area, but Enzi was not to be found. Thorpe did not relax, but informed Archer of his mission, ‘I am here to ensure Enzi and his team do not leave here.’
‘Then we have something in common, but I want Enzi if possible, agreed?’
‘You have some history?’
‘You could say that, you see these bruises?’
‘But if he is a threat to anyone I will shoot.’
Archer nodded in agreement, the two men lowered their weapons and relaxed, Thorpe using his throat mike to contact his advance team, ‘Enzi is gone.’
‘The boat, he’s going for the boat.’
‘I thought your people took them?’
‘No, only one, they left the other for me.’
Thorpe informed his team of the target location and Archer moved off with them across the top of the wall.
FORTY ONE
Katherine smashed Mastasson in the face with the handgun that Jacob had discretely slipped her when she slapped him minutes before. She knew Jacob would never harm her or her family, and had used the anger to regain the advantage over Mastasson. She knew the necklaces would protect against projectiles, but not brute force. He stumbled back stunned, falling back against the wall, dropping his knife. She kicked it away and stepped back, towards Jacob. Mastasson wiped the blood from above his eye and nose on the back of his hand, smearing it, ‘So I see you are still close with Father Jacob.’
‘He has always had my back, for most of my life, I never doubted him.’
Jacob stepped in front of Katherine, between her and Mastasson, ‘Give it up Vincent, there is no point in this.’
‘Oh but there is, I have worked hard to obtain those amulets, and I want the power that they give.’
‘Why? It is of no benefit to anyone.’
‘You are mistaken Jacob, with this power, I can control and manipulate the policies and directions of countries. No one will dare oppose me! I will no longer be taking orders, from anyone!’
‘But you don’t know the purpose of this place.’
‘I have read enough, the Bow of Yi, and the Ten Suns.’
‘What do you know about that?’
‘Enzi discovered a manuscript describing the Legend of the Ten Suns, and where it originated. He also found reference to this place.’
‘All references to this place are verbal there are no written records of it.’
‘You are wrong Jacob, the Chinese visited here, took drawings and descriptions back to China.’
‘So all written records of the Treasure fleets were not destroyed by the Mandarins centuries ago?’
‘Not all, some were smuggled out, or hidden away, and over the centuries those documents have been dispersed around the world, private collections, hidden museum catalogues.’
‘So what did they tell you?’
‘That the weapon is capable of destroying stars falling from the sky. The legend is based on a meteor storm which devastated South Asia thousands of years ago. They stopped some of the objects, but not all and the fragments started fires over an enormous area. It shows me that one man can control and unleash the power.’
Osvaldo Roderigo looked at Jacob and nodded in agreement.
Jacob turned back to Mastasson, ‘So you want to be the one to control this weapon?’
‘Of course, I am worthy, you are not.’
‘Sorry Vincent, I cannot let you control this.’
‘I thought you would say that, so I brought some insurance.’
Mastasson, pulled his bag around his body, and removed a device, ‘you recognise this Jacob? Why don’t you tell your friend what it is?’
Jacob took a brief glance at the package, that Mastasson had removed, ‘Osvaldo Roderigo, he has M112 Demolition blocks, with a dead-man’s trigger. There is enough explosive to destroy this room, and collapse the room above, if he lets go of it.’
‘Very good Jacob; and it is armed, so if Katherine was considering shooting me in the head, it would not stop the possibility of it falling from my hands.’
‘Basically if he drops that, everything is destroyed.’
‘See I told you I always have insurance. Now give me the fifth amulet!’
Augusta Fabiola was monitoring the power build up in the conduits underneath the complex and surrounding jungle. Her display did not show a measurement in giga joules or giga volts, as these were created long after the complex was built. Her display showed the level below maximum that energy had attained, she had some room for overload, but if that occurred the energy would discharge without warning and without control. She had never been witness to a firing of the complex, but she had been told by her father of the power. She had recounted the tale to Jacob during their trip upriver.
‘In 1908 my grandfather was called to the complex his necklace glowing, my grandmother stayed in the house to watch my mother who was still young. He entered the complex as we did and he had the same role as I do now, monitoring the energy levels. He said they had only fired it once during his lifetime, but now it was vital. He learned afterwards that a fragment of a comet was due to hit the Asia, so they charged up the complex to stop it.