One by one the group traversed the cenote. By the time the last man made it, Cross had already instructed Simeon and Norvin to advance. They crept along the decorated passage, guns raised. The voices became louder as they neared its end. ‘I see lights,’ Simeon whispered.
‘Careful,’ said Cross, but he was already almost unconsciously increasing his pace, glimpsing wonders waiting ahead. Gold glinted under a strange rainbow glow. He forced himself to slow and listen. ‘It’s definitely them.’
Nina’s voice reached him. ‘… way beyond what I’d expected to find. I mean, we came looking for the angel, but to discover this as well? It’s incredible.’
‘Yeah.’ The other speaker was Eddie Chase. Simeon’s hands tightened on his weapon, while Dalton gulped faintly, his mouth suddenly dry.
‘This will change Biblical archaeology for ever,’ Nina went on. ‘It’s quite possibly the biggest thing I’ve ever discovered. The actual Ark of the Covenant, intact, and in God’s temple as described in the Book of Revelation? Amazing!’
‘Uh-huh,’ came the reply.
Simeon reached the entrance, silently panning his gun across the chamber. The voices were coming from a tent at the far end, lights glinting through thin patches in its ancient coverings. ‘They’re in that,’ he said, his own voice barely above the volume of a breath. ‘Room’s clear.’
‘The Tabernacle…’ Cross whispered, astounded. The cult leader entered the room, then stepped aside to let his armed followers past as Dalton stood beside him. He knew where he was, almost overcome by religious awe at the sight of God’s throne beneath the shaft of spectral light, but managed to restrain his wonderment. His first priority was securing the angel.
Which would be easy. The archaeologist was still talking, her husband muttering the occasional reply. Cross issued an order: ‘Take them.’
Simeon took command, using hand signals to direct the others towards the tent. The men spread out to surround it, while Anna hung back inside the circle of thrones to cover a wider area. The African-American silently made his way to the entrance, reaching out to pull back the curtains…
‘Ay up.’
The voice came not from the tent — but from behind Cross and Dalton.
28
Both men whirled — to see Eddie and Jared emerge from behind the tapestries, guns raised. ‘Chase!’ Dalton cried.
Simeon and the others spun, but the two ambushers had already moved to use Dalton and Cross as human shields. ‘Drop your guns!’ Eddie commanded, grabbing the politician and spinning him around to shove the Desert Eagle’s blocky muzzle hard into his back. Jared simultaneously jammed his own gun into Cross’s face. ‘Do it, or they die!’
‘Drop them!’ shrieked Dalton. ‘He’s a psycho!’
Cross was more restrained, but his face still creased with anger as Jared pulled him around. ‘Do what he says.’
The team lowered their weapons to the floor — with the exception of Simeon, who brought up his MP5 and took careful aim at what he could see of Jared. ‘Let them go,’ he growled.
Cross raised a hand. ‘Put it down, Simeon. That’s an order.’
Confusion crossed Simeon’s face. ‘But—’
‘We’re in God’s temple. I won’t allow it to be desecrated. Only God has the right to take a life in here.’ When Simeon did not respond at once, he shouted, not in fear but anger: ‘Do it!’
With deep reluctance, Simeon placed his sub-machine gun on the floor. ‘Okay, hands up and kick ’em away,’ said Eddie. Guns skittered across the floor, Simeon’s ending up between two of the thrones. ‘Nina? You can come out now.’
Nina emerged from the tabernacle, even with Eddie’s assurance nervous at the sight of Anna, Simeon and five other men watching her. She gingerly slipped past them and crossed the chamber. In one hand she held the angel; in the other, Eddie’s phone, its voice memo app playing a recording. ‘Right,’ said Eddie’s voice from the speaker. She thumbed the screen to silence it, then pocketed the device.
‘Clever,’ said Cross, almost approving. He looked at the tent. ‘So you found the angel, but… is the Ark of the Covenant really in there?’
‘It is,’ said Nina, joining Eddie. She gave Dalton a scathing glare. ‘Oh, hey, Mr President. You’re a long way from the campaign trail, aren’t you?’
‘What are you going to do with us?’ Dalton demanded. He had outwardly regained his composure after his near-panic at finding himself face to face with the Englishman, but there was still fear in his eyes.
‘We’re gonna leave you in here,’ Eddie told him. ‘The Israelis can pick you up once we’ve taken that statue somewhere safe.’
‘And how exactly are you planning on holding us?’ asked Anna, sidling closer.
‘Stay where you are,’ Jared warned. ‘Keep your hands up. All of you.’ The biochemist’s hands were already half raised; she scowled, but brought them higher.
‘We’ll take out that bridge,’ said Eddie, answering her. He addressed Cross. ‘So you’ll have plenty of time to spend with the Ark.’
‘What’s inside the Ark?’ Cross asked Nina. ‘Is it what the Bible described?’
There was no sense that he was trying to buy time to regain the advantage; he was genuinely desperate to know the truth. ‘It is,’ she replied. ‘The angel was in there, but so were Aaron’s staff, a scroll of the Torah — and the Ten Commandments.’
‘I have to see them.’ He tried to move towards the Tabernacle.
Jared yanked him back. ‘Don’t move!’
‘Let him go!’ Anna darted closer, halting only when the Israeli pushed his gun into the cult leader’s cheek.
‘It’s okay,’ Cross told her. ‘Stay where you are.’
‘And you, back off,’ Eddie warned Simeon, seeing that he had used the moment of confusion to move closer to his gun. The black man scowled, but retreated. Jared lowered his weapon, pressing the muzzle into his prisoner’s back.
‘Consider it a trade,’ Nina said to Cross. ‘The Ark for the angel. Whatever you wanted the statue for, after what happened at the Mission there’s no way we’re going to let you take it.’
Dalton shook his head in aggravation. ‘You got something to say?’ asked Eddie.
‘Only that you two have already caused great harm to America by refusing to see the big picture, and now you’re going to do it again,’ he complained. ‘Yes, what’s inside the statue is extremely dangerous, and yes, regrettably lives have been lost. But what I’m doing will strengthen the security of the entire nation, whether or not you’re willing to realise that. That’s what being president is all about: knowing when force has to be applied, and making hard decisions for the greater good.’
‘Nice speech,’ Nina said. ‘Just one minor point — you’re not the president. And the reason you’re not is that you proved you can’t be trusted.’
‘The reason I’m not is because Travis Warden and those other cocksuckers in the Group threw me to the wolves rather than getting their media outlets to spin things my way!’ Dalton exploded. Cross gave him a disapproving glare. ‘Oh, don’t get up on your damn moral high horse, Ezekiel. Not with what you’re going to do. A bit of bad language is nothing compared to—’ He stopped abruptly.
‘Compared to what?’ Eddie prompted. ‘Come on, don’t make this the one time in your life when you don’t want to hear the sound of your own voice.’
Nina stood before Dalton, holding up the angel. ‘You thought you’d have two angels, so I imagine you also had two targets for them. What are they?’