Part 27 (1/2)
Crocodiles lurked at the perimeter of his vision, hovering in the void, just watching the Zodiac's slow freefall.
Then in ultraslow motion the Zodiac hit the bottom, kicking up silt, and one of the crocs moved in.
It glided through the water, propelled by its thick tail, zeroing in on Alby, jaws opening as it approached, and Alby screamed a soundless underwater scream as it rushed at him and- -stopped.
Stopped dead, three inches from Alby's face.
Its snarling teeth were halted right in front of Alby's bulging eyes, and it was only then that Alby saw the great big KaBar knife-Pooh Bear's knife-that had been lodged up into the soft underside of the crocodile's lower jaw.
Pooh Bear had reached over with his free hand and stabbed it up through the creature's jaw, just in time.
But then Alby saw the big man's eyes-they were wide open and bloodshot, running out of air. That lunge, it appeared, had been Pooh Bear's last act on this Earth. He visibly sagged.
Then a second croc advanced from the other side, again coming for Alby, the smallest prey, and this time Alby knew there was no escape. Pooh was done. Astro was too far away.
The crocodile zoomed in toward him, jaws opening, charging.
Running out of air and now totally out of heroes, Alby shut his eyes and waited for the end.
BUT THE END didn't come.
There was no explosion of pain or slas.h.i.+ng of teeth.
Alby opened his eyes-to see Jack West, wearing scuba gear, wrestling with the gigantic crocodile, rolling and struggling the croc bucking and snapping.
And then suddenly someone jammed a scuba regulator to his mouth and Alby sucked in glorious air. Zoe hovered beside him in the water, also scubaequipped.
Then she dashed to the limp Pooh Bear's side and inserted the regulator into his mouth.
He came to life instantly. She moved on to Astro.
As for the fight between Jack and the crocodile, it was now a rolling struggle, hidden amid a cloud of roiling bubbles.
Then all of a sudden, Alby saw the croc bite down hard on Jack's left hand-only to see, two seconds later, Jackextract his hand from the great beast's jaws!
And just as Alby recalled that Jack's left hand was made of metal, he saw the crocodile's head explode underwater and spontaneously become a cloud of red. As it bit him, Jack must have left a grenade in its mouth.
At that moment, Zoe fired a shot through Alby's handcuff and did likewise with Pooh's and Astro's bonds and then Jack was right beside him, sharing his regulator, and Alby found himself being guided to the surface, somehow alive.
They broke the surface together and swam for the rocky island, where Jack pushed Alby up the slope, clear of the waterline, until he could lie safely on the lesssteep upper surface.
Pooh and Astro were pushed up next, then Zoe and last of all, Jack, keeping a watchful eye on the crocs-but thankfully, most of them were preoccupied with eating the corpse of their nowheadless comrade.
Jack lay on the island, sucking in great heaving breaths.
”How did-how did you get out?” Alby gasped.
”There were crocs in the entry tunnel,” Jack said. ”They'd got in by another entrance on the other side, a small cleft in the rock that was probably created by a tremor sometime.
We came out through there.”
Then Jack propped himself up on his elbow and looked back out over the lake. ”Did they head back for Abu Simbel?”
”Yeah,” Alby said.
”They took Lily?”
”And Wizard. Are you angry, Mr. West?”
West clenched his teeth. ”Alby, angry doesn't even begin to describe how I'm feeling right now.” He keyed his radio. ”Vulture! Scimitar! You copy?”
His radio remained silent. No reply.
”I say again! Vulture, Scimitar! You guys still at the dock?”
Again there was no reply. Just silence on the airwaves.
Jack swore. ”Where the h.e.l.l have they got to?”
AT THE SAME TIME this was happening, Lieutenant Colin Ashmont's stolen Zodiac was arriving back at the docks not far from the great statues of Abu Simbel, flanked by two smaller inflatable speedboats-which had been inflated out on the lake and were now filled with the other eleven members of his squad of Royal Marines.
The first convoy of tourist coaches was just now arriving in a parking lot not far from the docks.
Tourists of all nationalities piled out of the buses-German, American, Chinese, j.a.panese-and they variously stretched their legs and yawned.
Ashmont shoved Lily and Wizard out of the Zodiac, pus.h.i.+ng them toward a couple of white Suburbans with tinted windows parked nearby. Iolanthe led the way, striding quickly, all business, carrying West's rucksack with the Pillar inside it.
As Lily and Wizard were guided toward the two British Suburbans, some of the tourists from the nearest bus came closer.
They were cla.s.sic j.a.panese tourists-four older men with Nikon cameras slung from their necks and wearing bulky camera vests and sandals with white socks.
One of the j.a.panese called to Ashmont: ”Halloo, sir! Excuse me! Where statues?”
Ashmont, now wearing a Ts.h.i.+rt over his wet suit, ignored the man and walked right past him.
Lily wanted to shout to the j.a.panese men, to scream- -but then she saw the first j.a.panese man's eyes follow Ashmont, glinting with purpose, and she suddenly realized that something was very, very wrong here.
The four old j.a.panese tourists were arrayed around Ashmont's cars and team in a perfect semicircle.
Heart thumping, Lily scanned their faces, and saw only steely eyes and grim expressions.
And then, fleetingly, she saw the forearm of one of the j.a.panese men...and beheld atattoo on it, a tattoo she had seen before, a tattoo of the j.a.panese flag with a symbol behind it.
”Tank...” she said aloud. ”Oh, no. Oh,no ...Wizard! Get down!”
She threw herself into the bewildered old professor, tackling him around the legs, felling him just as the j.a.panese ”tourist” nearest to Ashmont opened his photographer's vest to reveal six wads of C4 strapped to his chest. Then the kindlylooking little old man thumbed a switch in his palm and he exploded.
FOUR SHOCKINGLY violent blasts ripped through the air as all four of the j.a.panese suicide bombers justdisappeared in identical outward sprays of smoke, fire, and body parts.
The windows of every car in a sixtyfoot radius blew out simultaneously, showering the area with gla.s.s.