“If you do not open it,” Tyndareus countered, “she will die.”
There was a rushing sound in Gallo’s head, and bright spots began to swim in front of her eyes. But through the haze, she heard Fiona’s response, loud and clear. “Screw you. Let her go, or you’ll never get in there.”
The pressure at Gallo’s throat disappeared as suddenly as it had come, and she dropped like a sack of potatoes. She coughed and gasped, but any sense of relief she might have felt was dampened by the knowledge that Fiona had just made a deal with the devil to save her life.
“Open it!” Tyndareus roared.
“Don’t do it, Fi,” Gallo croaked.
“Get out of here, Aunt Gus. You don’t want to be anywhere near here when this opens.”
Still struggling to draw breath, Gallo pushed herself up on all fours. “I appreciate the offer,” she coughed, “but I’m not going anywhere without you.”
Fiona gave her a sad but strangely satisfied nod. Then she turned to the wall and began to speak.
50
“Something’s wrong.”
Lazarus shot out a hand to restrain Pierce. “Wait.”
On the playing-card-sized screen of Pierce’s phone, which was displaying the video feed from the drone camera hovering overhead, Tyndareus, in his TALOS suit, lifted Gallo off the ground by the neck.
Pierce felt his reaction to that was appropriate. “He’s killing her. We have to do something.”
Lazarus just repeated the single word. “Wait.”
A moment later, Tyndareus released Gallo. She was still alive and conscious, but it was impossible to tell how badly she had been injured.
“I’ll kill him,” Pierce growled.
“Yes. But wait.”
They were less than a hundred yards from the edge of the ravine, and maybe another fifty to the far end, where the drama was unfolding. Pierce knew he could cover that distance in thirty seconds. And then what? Kill more than a dozen armed men, including one who’s a walking tank, all without hitting Gallo or Fiona? Lazarus was right.
On the screen, Gallo sat up and began crawling closer to Fiona. “That bastard, Kenner. I knew we couldn’t trust him.”
“How do we know he’s not just playing?” Carter asked. Her dubious tone suggested she was only bringing up the possibility just to cover their bases.
“It doesn’t matter,” Pierce said. “Plan B is a go.” He turned to Lazarus. “Ready?”
Lazarus nodded and turned to Carter. “You?”
She nodded.
He continued to stare at her. “Felice, you know what might—”
“I know,” she said. “I can handle it.”
Pierce focused his attention on the video feed. Fiona had turned her back to the rest of the group and had her hands placed against the wall as if she was trying to push the slab or rock away, or perhaps…
“Shit,” Pierce said. “She’s trying to open it.”
Lazarus and Carter looked over Pierce’s shoulder at the screen.
“Open?” Carter asked. “How?”
“She’s using the Mother Tongue. I thought there would be a cave entrance or something like that. This explains that inscription on the map. It’s the same as the one we found in the Labyrinth.” In response to Carter’s blank look, he added, “It’s like ‘Open Sesame.’ Makes it possible to walk through walls. The rest is a long story.” He jerked a thumb at Lazarus. “He can tell you all about it.”
“What happens when she succeeds?”
“It’s a doorway to Hell. Short answer, nothing good.” Pierce shoved the phone in his pocket and gripped his MP5K with both hands. “We’ve got to do this. Now.”
“Can she do it?” Lazarus asked. “It’s been years since she learned, and forgot, those few phrases of the Mother Tongue.”
“She’s a fast learner,” Pierce said, followed by, “Cintia, start the countdown. Let’s move.”
Pierce heard Dourado’s voice in his Bluetooth earpiece. “Countdown started. You’ve got thirty seconds.”
Lazarus led the way, staying low but running at a near-sprint. The ravine hid them from Tyndareus’s men, but if any scouts ventured out of the depression, they would be exposed and the element of surprise lost. But with the clock ticking, the most important thing was to be in position when the fireworks started. Pierce tried to count down the passing seconds, but when Dourado spoke again, informing them that they had twenty seconds, he realized he was counting too fast.
Of course, none of that would matter if Fiona succeeded in opening the door before they got there.
They ran parallel to the ravine, following a circuitous route toward Fiona and Gallo. That meant cutting across the blighted landscape and dodging fumaroles. With each step, the ground might give way beneath their feet, dropping them into hidden, superheated pools of water to be boiled like Maine lobsters. It also meant that, if they survived the approach, they would have to fight their way past all of Tyndareus’s men before escaping the ravine.
One thing at a time.