He squinted and saw several black-clad figures making their way to the city’s eastern side and the sheer face of the mountain there, and realized that the STS troops were making to escape via rappel lines and climbing gear, avoiding the oncoming tourists and guards. As he watched, he saw them dragging the bodies of dead Russians and tossing them over the edge into the plunging gorge.
Ethan turned away and clambered up the endless steps toward the peak of the mountain, his breath labouring in his chest and his heart racing. The sky was becoming brighter with every moment and against it the broken clouds were glowing orange as they were hit by the first rays of the rising sun.
Ethan pulled himself up onto the plateau of Huayna Picchu and squinted as a bright flare of sunlight blazed into his eyes. He barely saw the figure moving on top of the plateau toward him, but in an instant he recognised the shape of a man carrying a rifle and he threw himself to one side as the rifle clattered noisily as it opened fire.
The gunfire smashed into the ground at Ethan’s feet as he rolled behind a crumbling stone wall. The gunfire ceased and Ethan remained in cover as a voice called out to him, the Russian accent filled with delight.
‘Come out, Mr Warner. I have something that you’ll want to see.’
Ethan remained where he was. ‘The American military is here. There’s no way off this mountain, Vladimir. You’re finished, no matter what happens.’
‘On the contrary, it is you and your friends who are finished,’ Vladimir replied. ‘Why don’t you ask your friend Lucy here?’
Ethan cursed and peeked around the edge of the stone wall to see Vladimir holding an AK-47 in one hand while with the other he gripped Lucy firmly around the neck, his forearm around her throat and lifting her chin so that her feet were barely touching the ground.
Under Lucy’s arm was a tightly wrapped bundle of fabric, and Ethan realized that she had been able to find what they were searching for. Vladimir jabbed the rifle up under Lucy’s throat and his delighted smile dissolved into a look of pure hatred.
‘Come out now, or I swear I’ll blow her head clean off her shoulders.’
Ethan searched desperately for something to use as a weapon but there was nothing but dust and soil at his feet. He grabbed a handful of dust in one hand and then he raised them either side of his head as he got to his feet and stepped out from behind the wall.
Vladimir sneered at him as he switched the rifle to point at Ethan while still keeping a firm grip on Lucy’s throat.
‘Excellent,’ he said finally. ‘I’ve waited quite some time for this moment, Mr Warner. You’ve proven yourself to be an extremely annoying distraction from my work and one I’ll be glad to erase from history.’
‘Your men are defeated,’ Ethan repeated. ‘You won’t be able to leave this place without being arrested or shot on sight. Let her go.’
‘Foolish American,’ Vladimir snapped. ‘The Americans are now as impotent as my own men on this mountain, do you think that I don’t know that? You think that you have all the answers, but so often you are so wrapped up in your own ingenuity that you miss the obvious.’
Ethan squinted, the bright sunlight flaring in his eyes between Vladimir’s and Lucy’s head. He thought he saw Lucy vaguely shake her head, her eyes wide as she tried to dissuade Ethan from whatever he was about to attempt. Ethan knew that she would do anything she could to defend the remains bundled beneath Vladimir’s arm, that she was more concerned about finding the cure for Bethany than anything else, no matter how startling the archaeological revelations might be.
Vladimir gestured with the rifle to one side of the plateau. ‘Move over there, stand on the edge.’
Ethan glanced in the gestured direction and saw a raised platform of stone, perhaps once used to worship the rising sun or maybe even perform sacrifices to the ancient Inca gods. He kept his hands in the air beside his head as he moved across to the platform and clambered up onto it. Vladimir turned with his grip still firmly around Lucy’s neck, a fresh smile plastered across his face as he watched Ethan mount the platform and turn to face him.
Ethan glanced down off the edge of the platform and felt his guts turn over and his legs weaken and as he saw the tremendous sheer face of the mountain falling away behind him and plunging thousands of feet into the gorge. The river below was a silvery thread beneath thick banks of mist and early morning cloud that rolled between the mountain peaks. He turned back to face Vladimir, who raised a questioning eyebrow.
‘What do you think the odds are of anybody finding you down there?’
Ethan did not reply as he looked again at Lucy, this time the sun not blinding him but instead shining toward Vladimir and Lucy, Ethan’s own shadow blocking the sunlight from their faces. Lucy again vaguely shook her head as she tried to discourage him from whatever he might intend to do.
‘This doesn’t change anything,’ Ethan said to Vladimir. ‘You’ll never get those remains out of Peru now. Every single law enforcement officer will be watching every single airport, seaport and road searching for you and your accomplices. You’ll be arrested at the first checkpoint you reach.’
‘Maybe, maybe not,’ Vladimir replied. ‘Either way, you’ll be nothing but a damp spot in the centre of that gorge.’
Vladimir raised the rifle to point at Ethan’s chest, and Ethan sidestepped one pace and let the full force of the sunrise blaze into Vladimir’s face. The Russian squinted and jerked his head to one side as he tried to maintain his aim, and at that moment Lucy reached up to grab Vladimir’s forearm. With a single jerk of her head she opened her mouth wide and bit deeply into his flesh.
Vladimir screamed as he yanked his arm free from Lucy, and Ethan rushed down off the platform and crashed past the AK-47 as he opened his right hand and pressed the mud and dust directly into Vladimir’s eyes. The Russian toppled backwards and groaned in pain as the sharp dust and sand scraped across his eyeballs. Ethan purposely let himself fall on top of Vladimir as he shoved the Russian’s head back and it impacted with the ground.
Vladimir growled and his eyes rolled up in their sockets, the white smeared with mud and grime, but he kept a firm grip on the AK-47 and to Ethan’s surprise maintained his consciousness. It was only then that Ethan saw that the Russian was also wearing what looked like a parachute on his back, and Ethan realized that the Russian intended to abandon his own men and leap from the enormous mountain in an attempt to escape into one of the deep gorges surrounding the site.
Vladimir drove his boots up towards Ethan’s groin as with his head he sought to bite Ethan’s face. Ethan jerked back just in time for Vladimir to ram the AK-47’s stock across his jaw. Ethan rolled off the Russian, who delivered a frenzied cloud of blows to Ethan’s face as he struggled to get to his feet, but holding the bundled remains under one arm slowed Vladimir and made him vulnerable.
Ethan grabbed the stock of the AK-47 and pressed it to one side to prevent the Russian from taking a shot and then drove upward with his right boot as he swung his right fist hard across Vladimir’s jaw. The impact cracked out loudly in the cold morning air and seemed to echo of the surrounding cliffs as Vladimir staggered to one side against the stone altar.
Ethan swung a boot at his right wrist and it connected with a dull crack that sent the AK-47 spinning from Vladimir’s grasp. The Russian cried out as the tendons and bones in his wrist cracked and he tried to reach out for the weapon, but the rifle had already gone over the edge. Ethan heard it clatter away down the sheer cliffs into oblivion as he stepped in to finish the Russian off, fists clenched and held before him.