“Keep coming, General,” he called out.
Tucker continued his retreat back to the waterfall cavern and didn’t stop until he was a few steps from the hole.
Kharzin and his men entered the cave cautiously, searching thoroughly. The tallest man waved the other two to stand guard and continued forward alone.
This had to be General Kharzin. He was a bull of a man, stony-faced, much like his photos, but in person, he appeared younger than Tucker had expected.
Tucker raised the rifle level to the man’s chest. “Nice to finally meet you, General.”
Kharzin would not look at him, keeping his face averted, hard and angry. He simply thrust out his palm, even refusing to speak to the man who had killed his daughter. Perhaps not trusting himself to.
“Again, I am sorry for your loss,” Tucker said.
The arm remained up, demanding. “Show me the LUCA.”
Immediately, alarm bells went off in Tucker’s head as the man spoke. The voice was wrong. He stared harder at the man’s shadowy features. Though there was a resemblance to the photos he’d seen of Kharzin back in Istanbul, the man standing before him wasn’t the general.
“Get on your knees!” Tucker shouted, shouldering his rifle. “Now!”
All three men knelt down.
Tucker put his headset back on. “General, this was a bad gamble.”
“Did you really think I would risk handing myself over to you? And now none of this matters. Even in death, my beautiful girl did her job. She brought me what I wanted. I knew she would never fail me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You should have searched Anya after you killed her.”
Tucker’s belly turned to ice.
Kharzin said, “I’m kneeling beside my beautiful daughter right now. It appears Doctor Bukolov is missing one of his samples. Major Lipov, are you there?”
“I am here, General,” the man said, speaking into his headset.
“Kill him!”
Lipov’s arm shot behind his back.
Tucker shifted his rifle and fired, striking the man in the heart.
The two men on the slope yanked their guns up, but he was already moving as soon as he squeezed the trigger. The others opened fire, but he leaped sideways and slammed his heel down on the C-4 patty planted there—igniting its chemical fuse.
Five seconds . . .
With rounds ricocheting off the rock at his heels, he kicked the primed explosive down the neighboring hole and kept going.
Four . . .
Firing from the hip, he sprinted across the cavern for the canvas-covered hole.
Three . . .
He didn’t slow and dove headfirst at the covering.
Two . . .
Ripping through the canvas, he sailed out the hole, landed hard on his palms, and rolled.
One . . .
He pushed himself to his knees, then his feet—and started running down the canyon.
Behind him he heard a whomp, followed by a second, sharper boom.
He kept sprinting as a string of firecrackers—the cache of artillery shells—began detonating.
Head down, legs pumping, he kept going.
Don’t look back! Run!
The pressure wave hit him and sent him flying.
2:39 A.M.
Tucker landed in a heap, blinked hard, and spat out a mouthful of dirt, swearing under his breath. He had survived, gotten the others out safely—but still failed.
Kharzin had a sample of LUCA.
The rumble of engines echoed from the other canyon. The Russians were preparing to leave.
Tucker looked around. Behind him, the cliff face that he just jumped through showed little sign of damage, save for the gout of smoke and dust gushing through his exit hole. But he knew inside, that tiny microcosm of the primordial world was gone, incinerated.
But it was too little, too late.
He pictured Kharzin in one of those SUVs, clutching a buttery-white bulb.
Was there still time to catch him—and, more important, catch him by surprise?
Tucker would never make it out and around to the other canyon, and even if he did, he’d likely just be run over. Instead, he turned and headed back the way he had come, checking his pockets as he ran. He’d lost his rifle, so he would have to improvise. He sprinted, passing through the surge of smoke, and skidded to a stop beside the boulder steps that led up to the plateau. He scrambled like a monkey with his tail on fire. When he reached the top, he paused for a breath, picturing what lay below. He was now standing atop the cavern inside. If the blast there had weakened the structure, he might drop straight through.
Might, maybe, if . . . the hell with it.
He charged across the plateau toward the opposite canyon. As he neared the edge of the cliff, the rumble of the trucks ratcheted to twin roars. Tucker slid to a stop and looked down to see both of Kharzin’s SUVs racing along the canyon floor, their headlights bouncing over the rock walls.
Tucker started running parallel to them, balanced on the cliff’s edge: one eye on his footing, one eye on the SUVs. Somewhere directly ahead of him was the end of the cliff, the section shaped like a pig’s snout. He ignored the voice in his head yelling for him to stop.
Instead, he ran faster and yanked out the two grenades he had stolen from the soldier he had shot. As he reached the cliff’s edge, he dropped to his butt and began sliding down the steep slope of the snout. To his right, out of the corner of his eye, the first SUV raced past him. Skidding along, he pulled the pin with his teeth, but he kept the spoon pressed tightly.
Then he reached the blunted end of the snout and went airborne. The drop was only ten feet, but he was flying. He hit the ground hard and shoulder-rolled, hugging his limbs tightly, clutching the grenades to his belly. As his momentum bled away, he skidded to a stop and rose to his knees. He let the grenade’s spoon pop and hurled it after the lead SUV as it swept past him.
Behind him, an engine roared. Headlights flashed over him. He spun to find the second SUV barreling straight at him. He dove right and rolled out of its way, barely making it. Flipping to his back, he pulled the pin on the second grenade and lifted his arm to throw—
Whomp.
The first grenade exploded, fouling his aim as he let loose with the second. The black chunk of armament bounced harmlessly past the second SUVs back bumper and rolled into the scrub. Escaping damage, the truck sped away, dropping down the ravine that led up here—and was gone.
Whomp.
Bushes blasted away, amid a choke of rock dust.
All that wasted fury . . .
Cursing, Tucker turned to the first SUV. Its right side was on fire, flames licking inside. From the cabin came screaming.
He ran toward the SUV, not knowing if Kharzin was in this vehicle or the one that got away. There was only way to know for sure. He ran to the far side of the burning SUV, where the flames were less intense, and yanked open the passenger door. Heat washed over him, accompanied by a few licks of fire that he dodged.