Moon Mask (14 page)

“Those aren’t American soldiers,” he said. “They’re Chinese.”

9:

Fatal Distractions

UNESCO Base Camp,

Sarisariñama Tepui,

Venezuela,

“Chinese?”

King, Sid and Nadia all said the word at the same time, shocked. Raine briefly described how he had noticed the soldiers’ equipment. QBZ-95 assault rifles, Harbin Z-9 helicopters. Only one of them had spoken, and even then Raine had detected the hint of a Far Eastern accent. Their faces were masked by their NBC suits and while the lack of markings and insignia was not uncommon for Special Forces teams, he would have expected some official identification as they were acting on behalf of the U.N.

All in all, he knew that their plan was simple. Most civilians wouldn’t know a QBZ-95 from a BB gun, especially a bunch of nerdy scientists working on a remote mountain top. But Raine had been trained to identify weapons and aircraft and recognise threats. From the moment the troops had landed, he had felt that training slip back to the forefront of his mind. As he had been marched through the camp, he had been building a mental map in his head, pinpointing the location of the helicopters and the sentries as they were posted.

Peering carefully through the tent flap, he updated that map with the enemy’s most recent locations.

There were two guards outside the mess tent’s main entrance, their backs to him. Rain water flowed off their NBC suits. Silently, he closed the flap then made his way through the large tent to the far side. He peeled back the rear exit and pinpointed another two soldiers standing there.

“What’s going on?” one of the scientists asked, leaning up from where he lay. Raine ignored him and returned to Nadia’s side.

“Where’s the mask now?” he asked.

A moment’s hesitation washed over the woman’s face. “I hid it,” she replied.

“I guessed as much.”

“Where?” King asked, concerned for the mask’s safety.

“It is in my lab,” she said.

Raine frowned and peeled back the front entrance once more, just enough to peer more deeply into the small canvass village the expedition had erected. There were five more guards patrolling the perimeter of the camp but the rest of the black-clad figures were sweeping through the tents, systematically searching the labs while waving long wand-like devices around. Radiation detectors.

“It won’t be safe for long,” he said.

“I hid it inside a lead container in my lab and covered it with earth. Even if the soldiers have calibrated their scanners to detect tachyon radiation, the lead should shield it.”

Raine watched the end of an overturned workbench suddenly appear through the doorway of one of the labs. “They’re going to find it sooner or later.” He looked at his three companions. All trace of the mischievous, easy-go-lucky flyboy had vanished. The man in front of them now was focused and intense. “We need to keep it away from the Chinese until the U.S. special ops team gets here.”

“You mean the team you were trying to run away from not ten minutes ago?” King asked bitterly. Raine felt a pang of anger rush through him but fought it back down.

“What do you mean?” Sid asked.

Raine ignored her. “I could try to get it into the jungle. Hide it somewhere where it won’t be found.”

King laughed. “Or sell it to the highest bidder, more like.”

“Ben!” Sid hissed angrily.

Another stab of anger hit Raine but he turned his grimace into an ironic grin. “Still don’t trust me, Benny?”

Sid grasped King’s forearm and shot him an angry look before turning back to Raine. “Couldn’t you just fly it out?”

“Great idea,” he replied. King wouldn’t meet his gaze. “If someone hadn’t shot up my helicopter.”

Sid glared at her boyfriend. “You did
what?
”

“We can’t let the Americans have it,” Nadia cut in, more concerned with the immediate crisis than the men’s differences. “No one should have that sort of power. Not America, not China, not Russia.”

“I agree,” Raine said. “No one should have that sort of power.” He glanced at his companions each in turn. “But short of us trying to hide the mask for another gazillion years, I don’t see what we can do about it. Someone is going to get the mask. Either China or America.”

“And good-old-righteous America is obviously more deserving of such awesome power,” King snarled.

“No. But Nadia is right. No
one
should control that sort of power.” He paused to allow his emphasis to sink in. “No
one
nation should control the mask.” He shrugged. “But that’s just it. This is a UNESCO expedition, right?”

“Right.”

“And UNESCO is a United Nations organisation. The fact that Mister Nipple-inski lied to us means he knows the truth about the mask, and that means the U.N. knows all about it too.”

He had had enough involvement with the upper echelons of global diplomacy to understand everyone’s current position.

“I don’t doubt that the United States government would kill to get their hands on this technology,” he continued, knowing the literal truth behind his words. “But right now their hands are tied. They’d love for this to have been kept secret. They’d have sent in their SFs and taken the mask from under our noses. But we screwed that up for them by alerting UNESCO to our little medical crisis. Now, a dossier about tachyon radiation is sitting on some schmuck’s desk at the U.N. Security Council. The only way for the U.S. to come out of this without looking like a villain desperate to snatch the Moon Mask for their own greedy little purpose, is to come out of it looking like the noble hero. They’ll swoop in under the banner of the United Nations, snatch the mask out of the hands of the unscrupulous Chinese and hand it over to U.N. custody. They look like the good guys while the Chinese look like the villains.”

He paused, reading his companions faces. There was uncertainty there, fear. “Power in this world,” he concluded, “balances on the head of a pin. If what you say is correct, Nadia-”

“Which it is.”

“-then the Moon Mask has the potential to shift that balance dramatically one way or another. If China gets it, the face of global power will shift in their favour. They’ll have the ultimate weapon at their disposal. But if the American team gets it, unless they’re willing to stir up the world’s biggest shit-storm, it will be handed over to the U.N. The fate of the mask will be decided by a coalition of countries, not by
one
single power.”

Silence descended upon them all as Raine’s words sank in. He knew his logic was sound and, despite wanting to resist, he could see King’s face dawn with comprehension. He couldn’t argue.

“The Americans are still an hour away,” Sid pointed out.

“The Chinese will find the mask before then,” Nadia added.

“I need to get to it,” Raine said. “I’ll find somewhere to hide-”

“The tunnels,” King said. Raine glanced at him. He could still see the suspicion in the other man’s eyes but, for the moment, he had no choice but to trust him. “There are almost two miles of tunnels all criss-crossing and intersecting one another below out feet. If we can get to them-”

“We?” Raine asked.

“The Moon Mask is the ultimate realisation of everything I’ve worked for, everything my father worked for. Died for. You think I’m gonna let you run off and stick it on EBay or something?”

Sid’s face paled considerably. “You heard what Sanderson said. They’ll shoot anyone who-”

“I’ve got to do this, Sid,” King cut her off. Raine watched the exchange. It was like some form of telepathy, a silent conversation passing between the lovers’ eyes. After a moment, Sid stepped down.

“Just be careful,” she warned him.

“You just better keep up with me, Benny,” Raine added his own caution.

“I’ll be leaving you standing, flyboy,” he shot back testily before returning his attention to Sid. He thwarted any further objections with a kiss. “I’ll be fine,” he promised.

A look of grim determination set across Raine’s face. “What is it Elvis says, Benny: a little less conversation, a little more action, please?”

He pulled the skirt of the tent up and scanned the camp again, noting the soldiers’ most recent positions and determining the best route to take to Nadia’s lab. A line of shipping crates was dotted haphazardly near the back of the mess tent and would provide some cover from most of the guards except for the two at the tent’s rear entrance.

He dropped the skirt and stood, making his way towards the back of the tent, the three scientists in tow. “We’re going to need a distraction,” he told them.

“Like what?” Nadia asked.

Raine grinned lecherously at her. “You could always flash ‘em.”

Nadia scowled. “This isn’t some ridiculous Hollywood movie,” she said, “and not all men are as pathetic as you as to be distracted by breasts.”

Raine merely answered with a shrug as he moved to crouch behind the rear tent flap. King and Sid parted, the former moving to crouch beside him while the latter followed Nadia out of the exit, holding back the flap just far enough for Raine to see what was going on. Rain pounded on the awning canopy and Nadia had to raise her voice to be heard.

“Excuse me,” she addressed the nearer of the two guards in her usual, stern voice. He spun to face her, aiming his rifle. Nadia and Sid moved to the left, forcing the soldier to turn his back on Raine and King’s position. His comrade, however, continued to eye the tent’s perimeter.

“I want to know why there has been no medical assistance provided to-”

The soldier said nothing but gestured dramatically with his weapon for Nadia and Sid to go back inside.

“Damn it,” Raine cursed, hoping the second guard would also be forced to engage with the women.

The distraction wasn’t working. The second guard stepped closer to the tent flaps. Another few steps and Raine and King would become visible.

Nadia rolled her eyes, realising what she had to do. “Oh, for the love of god,” she grumbled, and then promptly lifted her vest top up to expose her full breasts, supported by a thin sports bra.

Caught unaware by the beautiful, though unexpected sight, the first guard’s weapon lowered slightly. The second caught a glimpse of flesh from the corner of his eye and instinctively spun to get a better view.

This was their chance.

King pushed out from under the tent skirt, rolled across the ground and-

Raine’s eyes were wide as he too was distracted by the show of Nadia’s silky flesh.

“Come on,” King hissed and spurred him into motion.

Raine rolled out of the tent and scrambled to his feet, keeping low to the ground as he led King to the shelter of the shipping crates.

The momentary slip of the guards’ attention was soon replaced by suspicion and they quickly raised their weapons again. Nadia pointed at the reddening on her chest, a symptom of the ‘illness’ and a justifiable reason for flashing her body at them.

Raine and King scrambled into cover just as the second guard swung his gaze around to their position. They remained motionless, holding their breath as the guard’s eyes fell upon the stack of crates, lingered for a second, and then continued a 360 degree survey of the mountaintop.

Raine peered around the crate and, with a single glance, locked the position of each soldier into his mind.

“Stay with me,” he told King then, without another word, he dashed from cover, keeping low, and ran fast to skid through the muddy ground behind one of the science tents. He checked that King was still behind him and was pleased to see-

The dirt at King’s heel erupted under the onslaught of lead and the archaeologist instinctively threw himself forward, skidding on his belly up to Raine’s side.

“Damn it!” the pilot cursed. The canvas of the tent tore apart as dozens of bullets chewed into it and, reflexively, King clamped his hands over his ears. Raine ducked down as low as he could, eyes scanning his surroundings, desperately searching for a more secure hiding place, but there was nothing.

They were caught, out in the open.

10:

Into the Tunnels

UNESCO Base Camp,

Sarisariñama Tepui,

Venezuela,

Screams
of panic erupted from the patients inside the mess tent as the sound of gunfire thundered across the summit of Sarisariñama.

Stood under the awning at the rear of the tent, hands behind her head and her black vest top pulled over her bra to reveal far more flesh than she ordinarily permitted, Nadia rolled her eyes in despair. “Well that didn’t take long,” she grumbled.

With a flick of her eyes, she glanced across the camp to where Raine and King took shelter behind one of the tents. Bullets shredded through the canvass as half a dozen soldiers converged on them.

The two guards gestured at Nadia and Sid, moving forward in an effort to drive them back inside the tent. The two women retreated, ducking partway through the flap. The second guard, realising the situation here was secure, spun and raced off to converge with the other soldiers on Raine and King’s position.

“We’ve got to do something,” Sid glanced in horror. The tent the two men shielded behind was now in tatters, only whatever solid items contained within preventing the men from being shredded. “They’re going to be slaughtered.”

Their guard jolted his rifle at them.

Nadia huffed, exasperated, and then threw the guard a winning smile. “Never send an American to do a Russian’s work,” she mumbled through gritted teeth. Then, without warning, her leg flashed up with such speed and such force that her boot struck the guard’s rifle and slammed it up into his chin. The man’s head snapped back and he crumpled to the ground.

She snatched the rifle up off the muddy ground, brought it up against her shoulder, aimed and fired. The weapon slammed into her shoulder painfully as it spewed out bullets on full auto. Her father had taught her how to use weapons as a young child, growing up in the dangers of Dagestan, but she had never handled anything with such power behind it. Her entire body shook as she tried to hold it steady, spraying a constant stream of bullets at the Z-9 helicopter parked at the edge of camp. Rain lashed against her face, stinging her eyes and the thunder of the weapon assaulted her ears but she didn’t let up until a spark eventually ignited the chopper’s fuel tank.