‘Damned if I’m going to tell you,’ the former president growled.
‘Damned if you don’t.’
‘Dead if you don’t,’ added Eddie.
Nina shook her head. ‘Face it, Victor, you’re finished. You’ll be directly linked to what happened in Antigua; the place was full of security cameras, so there’ll be plenty of proof that you were there when Cross killed almost a hundred people.’ A flash of fear in the politician’s eyes told her that was something he had either not considered, or been fervently hoping nobody else had. ‘The best you can hope for is to plea-bargain your way into a minimum jail term, but there’s no way you’ll ever get so much as a sniff of power again.’
For a moment Dalton seemed about to break… but then he summoned up a reserve of haughty defiance. ‘I’m not telling you a goddamn thing. And you, Chase,’ he snapped, looking back at Eddie, ‘get that damn gun off of me, you Limey son of a bitch!’
He tried to pull out of the Englishman’s hold. Eddie responded by driving a knee into the back of his leg, making him cry out and stumble.
Jared instinctively glanced towards the scuffle to see if his friend needed help—
A sharp metallic snick, and Anna charged at him, brandishing a glinting switchblade that she had pulled from her sleeve.
Jared caught the movement, but his line of fire was blocked by Cross. He hesitated for an instant, not wanting to shoot a prisoner in the back — then shoved Cross aside—
His shot caught Anna’s left arm, blowing a chunk of flesh from her bicep. She screamed — but had already dived at him, the blade held out before her like a lance.
It stabbed into Jared’s thigh.
He yelled, leg buckling as she crashed against him. Eddie hauled Dalton around as he tried to aim at the wounded woman, but she was shielded behind the fallen Mossad agent.
‘Anna!’ cried Simeon. He hurled himself behind the circle of thrones and snatched up his fallen MP5. Eddie spun to face the new threat—
‘Nobody shoot!’ boomed Cross. ‘No one shoot!’ He raised both hands, turning to address both Eddie and his own followers. ‘There won’t be any killing in God’s house.’
‘Don’t bet on it,’ Eddie snarled, pulling Dalton closer as he kept the Desert Eagle locked on Simeon’s cover. The metal of the throne was thick, but a .50-calibre round was more than capable of punching a hole right through it, and the man behind.
‘He shot Anna!’ Simeon shouted.
Cross glanced at her wound. ‘She’ll live.’
‘You won’t,’ gasped Jared, bringing up his gun—
Anna wrenched her blade around, tearing it deeper into his muscle. His cry this time was a full-blown scream of agony. But despite the pain, he swung the gun towards her…
She swiped it from his hand. The pistol clattered across the stone floor to end up near a tapestry.
‘Nina, get the gun!’ Eddie shouted.
She started forward, only for Cross to block her way. ‘Dr Wilde,’ he said. ‘It seems we have a stand-off.’
‘Like buggery we do,’ said Eddie.
Cross glanced towards his men, some of whom had recovered their weapons in the chaos. Washburn, his slashed cheek now home to a line of stitches, glared at Eddie. ‘We outgun you, over two to one,’ the cult leader said. ‘But I’m not willing to see a bloodbath in this holy place. Unless,’ he added, ‘you leave us with no choice.’
Nina regarded him coldly. ‘Yeah, I was wondering how long it would take before you gave yourself a get-out clause.’
‘I don’t want to do it. But I’m being completely honest; I’m willing to offer a deal. Let us leave with the angel, and I give you my word before God that as long as you remain in this temple, we won’t kill you.’
‘Prophet!’ protested Simeon. ‘Anna needs medical attention. We can’t let these—’
Cross raised an angry hand, silencing him. ‘Those are my terms, Dr Wilde,’ he continued. ‘They’re non-negotiable. If you want to stay alive, hand over the angel.’
Eddie drew Dalton closer, tapping the gun against the grey-haired man’s head. ‘Aren’t you forgetting something? You want me to go all Lee Harvey on your mate here?’
Cross gave his prisoner a dismissive look. ‘You can keep him. I don’t need him any more.’
‘What?’ said Nina, shocked.
‘What?’ echoed Dalton, with considerably more anger.
‘His political connections were useful, and he did suggest that you were the best person to find the angels,’ Cross explained. ‘But right now, the office of the President of the United States is a symbol, if not the embodiment, of the utter corruption of the so-called elites of this world. Do what you like with him.’
Dalton shook with fury. ‘You slimy little son of a bitch!’
Eddie was barely more pleased. ‘We don’t want him either!’
‘Time to make a decision, Dr Wilde,’ said Cross, ignoring him. ‘You can have a shootout that will leave you, your husband and your friend dead—’
‘And you too,’ Eddie warned, keeping behind Dalton as he shifted his aim to the cult leader.
‘But we’ll still have the angel. My followers will carry out the plan. Babylon will fall, even if I’m not there to witness it. Or you can give us the angel and we’ll leave you to give this man first aid.’ He glanced at Jared, then nodded to Anna. ‘Which he’ll need.’ The young Israeli screamed again as Anna ground the knife deeper into his thigh.
‘God damn it!’ Nina cried. ‘You said we wouldn’t be hurt!’
‘I said you wouldn’t be killed. Your choice, Dr Wilde. The only way for all three of you to stay alive — all four of you,’ he added, gaze flicking to the apoplectic Dalton — ‘is to give me the angel.’
Nina regarded the statue in her hand, then looked helplessly at her husband. ‘Eddie…’
‘They’re going to kill us anyway,’ he rumbled.
Cross shook his head. ‘No. I gave my word before God. I won’t break it, and my followers won’t either.’ He gestured to his men. They hesitated, then lowered their guns. Simeon held out, but a second, more forceful signal finally prompted him to obey.
Eddie rapidly reassessed the odds. If he was accurate with the Desert Eagle, he would kill or incapacitate anyone he hit, but he doubted he would get off more than two shots before being cut down. He was also certain that Dalton’s presence wouldn’t deter the gunmen in the slightest, the ex-president now nothing more than a meaty bullet sponge.
But he still wasn’t willing to give Cross what he wanted. ‘If they take the angel, they’ll kill a lot of people,’ he reminded Nina. ‘I don’t want to say this, but the best thing to do is smash the fucking thing right now. Better twelve people die than twelve thousand.’
‘I know, but…’ The numbers made sense in terms of cold logic, a small sacrifice to save countless lives… but there were more than twelve lives in the chamber. She brought her palm to the small swelling below her waist. ‘I can’t,’ she whispered. ‘I can’t do it. It’s just… I can’t,’ she repeated.
‘Shit,’ said Eddie under his breath, though with full understanding and sympathy.
Nina looked back at Cross. ‘I absolutely have your word, before God, that you won’t kill us?’
‘We’ll take the angel and leave,’ he replied. ‘As long as you stay in this throne room, we won’t harm you. I’ve made you a promise, and my followers will keep it too.’ He locked eyes with each of his people in turn. All nodded, even Anna and Simeon. ‘Anna, let him go.’
Anna tugged the blade out of Jared’s leg. The Israeli let out a cry, clapping a hand over the wound as she stood painfully.
Cross held out a hand. ‘The angel?’